No longer so distressed!

Well, 10.30pm has just passed, so it is time to declare the winner of my little competition. Not many entries - obviously nearly everyone but me had already got a Victorian Velvet Distress Inkpad! I loved Jules's suggestion that I had sneaked into her front room and taken a pic of her dusty coffee table, (which sounds a lot like mine!) but I'm afraid that was not the case! In fact there was just one correct answer, so my superfluous pad will be finding a new home with

CRAFTIMAMMA (LESLEY)

Well done, Lesley! I'll be posting it off to you tomorrow, and hope it cheers you up after your cold.

Thanks very much to everyone who did enter. The mysterious object was indeed a Tim Holtz/Ranger Blending Tool!

Out of my comfort zone

This week, the  fabulous Allsorts Challenge Blog is one year old! So their challenge for the week, is, naturally, birthdays. Here's my entry.

It's quite different from my usual style. Generally speaking, I don't do cute, and I don't do fruit! Nor do I do hot colours. I much prefer cool or muted tones - blues, purples, greens, and my work tends to be nature, arty or vintage inspired. However, I thought that for such a celebration something a bit more lively was called for!

The background paper (which includes the flourish & the trims at the bottom) was a freebie from Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine a while ago. The cake and sentiment stamps are from a set by Impression Obsession. It took me about 10 minutes to make, which again is unusual for me! Normally I like to take my time, and often get part way through a card, leave it & come back to it later, to see whether I'm still happy with the direction it's taking, or whether I've changed my mind, before I finish it off. That's because I hardly ever have a plan in mind before I start! I just collect a few things together and see where they lead me.

Anyway, you'll gather that this card was some way outside my comfort zone, and that being the case, I'm also entering it for this week's Tuesday Taggers, whose theme happens to be "Step out of your comfort zone"! Funnily enough, now I've done it, I actually quite like it! And I managed to use up a bit of old stash too!

I'm just too distressed!

Somehow (long story - don't ask!) I have found myself the proud owner of TWO brand new Victorian Velvet Distress Ink pads. Now, I don't need two, so I have decided to give away the spare. For a change, instead of blog candy, I thought I'd have a little competition.

To enter, identify the object in the picture below, and leave a comment to say what it is. Closing date will be this Sunday evening, May 16th, at 10pm. I will put all correct answers into a draw and Mr. Random Dot Org will select the winner. The prize may also include a little extra surprise!

You may enter as many times as you like, but one answer per comment, please. In the event that no-one correctly identifies the object, all entries by followers of my blog (which will include anyone who becomes a follower between now and the closing date) will go into the draw to choose the winner . Good luck!

Butterflies and Blossoms 2

I've been wanting to make an exploding box for ages. I got as far as making the box and decorating the outside a while ago, but never finished the inside. Anyway, finding myself with some time when for once I had nothing I needed to do and nowhere I needed to go, I set to work and completed it. And since I had always intended it to be on my favourite theme of butterflies and flowers, and since the Sir Stampalot Challenge this month is just that, and since the challenge allows two entries as long as they are different types, I'm entering it along with the card I made earlier!

Here's the closed box. The papers and butterflies are from the Artylicious Butterfly Bliss CD, with Prima flowers.

Inside there are three layers. The square printed pictures are from Crafty Individuals, stamps also by Crafty Individuals along with Cherry Pie and Art Impressions. Other decorations include stickers, more Prima flowers and text printed from my computer.

Looking down on the inner layer:

Middle layer:

And finally the outer layer:

I've really enjoyed this challenge, and all the other entries I've looked at so far are gorgeous. Of course, I know we wouldn't want the butterfly theme every month, but...... maybe every few months?? ;-)

Butterflies and Blossoms, and my favourite things!

Well, some of my favourite things! The Sir Stampalot Challenge for May is right up my street, as is the prize! Butterflies and/or blossoms tend to appear on most of my cards, and anything by Tim Holtz would find a good home in my craft room, so this is one challenge I couldn't miss.

The only materials I've used for this card are paper and one shade of ink. Having finally managed to get my hands on some of the new Distress inks, I think Chipped Sapphire is going to become my favourite colour. More of a purply-blue than the denim of Faded Jeans, and just what I was hoping there would be in the new range. The flower stamp is an old favourite, by Funstamps. I've had it for years but use it often, as it's so pretty and versatile. Here I've used a favourite technique to colour it. I'm not sure what it's really called, but I call it the magic painting technique, because it reminds me of those children's painting books which appear to have blank pages until you paint over them with plain water, and the picture magically appears. I used to love them when I was a child (and confess I still do!).

I stamped the image with Chipped Sapphire, and then, with a fine paint brush and clean water, drew out some of the colour from the outline to shade it in. By using more or less water and blotting areas you want to be paler, it's possible to vary the depth of colour. When I've used this technique before, I've always done it with Adirondack rainbow inkpads, and this is the first time I've tried it with a single colour, but I really like the result. The Distress ink works perfectly for it. And to think that when Distress inks first came out, I didn't see what all the fuss was about! Now I wouldn't be without them.

The background stamp is Dots & Flowers by Hero Arts, the sentiment by Darkroom Door, the circle and oval shapes were cut with my Nestabilities and the butterflies were punched from paper coloured with the Chipped Sapphire ink. The overall effect reminds me of Delft Pottery. And, of course, blue and white is one of my favourite colour combinations.