Vintage Nature

Thanks to Brenda and her gorgeous projects (see here and here) using their products, I've recently become a fan of Nicecrane Designs, owned by the lovely Ignacio. Once I saw his gorgeous butterflies, I knew I had to have them, and on browsing the site I discovered so many more equally lovely designs. They are all in the form of downloads (instant gratification!) and many have a vintage feel.

Like Brenda, it is unusual for me to make cards with little or no stamping on them, but Ignacio's designs are so pretty, I had to make an exception for them! I ordered several sets, and Ignacio also very generously sent me some freebie sets too. (NB. I have not been asked to promote his products, I'm just telling you about them because I like them!)

Anyway, once I'd got them downloaded, I set to work to make a few cards. Now, I struggle with cards for men. Or rather I did! Nicecrane has some lovely Old Map images. They're sold as bookmarks, but I made mine into a card.

I did do a bit of stamping here! The base card was stamped all over with an old freebie map stamp from Craft Stamper Magazine, with the bookmark image matted on to a thin gold border and placed on top. I didn't want to detract from the image, so the only embellishment is a little sentiment banner. (Banner stamp:Waltzing Mouse, sentiment: Clarity Stamp, a freebie from a show.)

Nicecrane has several sets on a nature theme, which is right up my street. My favourite is called "Colorful Nature", with vintage-style images of birds and animals. I used the four bird pictures to make a set of cards. It looks as though I cut them out with a Nestie label die, but though I have one of those it was the wrong size, so I just cut away each corner with a round hole punch.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot just a teeny-weeny bit of stamping (a tiny border by Waltzing Mouse)! Apart from that, the images are simply mounted on to a background cut with Martha Stewart punch-around-the page punches, and each is matted on different coloured Bazzil card which I inked around the edges to continue the vintage feel. I think they make a pretty set.

Thanks for looking!

Highlight of my day!

I absolutely loved Paula Whittaker's article in this month's Craft Stamper (issue August 2012). Such a brilliantly simple idea! She has used ordinary highlighter pens & Distress Ink to make fabulous backgrounds. I couldn't wait to try out the technique.

Here's what I made.

I used Inkylicious Satin Silk ArtCard for the highlighter backgrounds, and stamps by Inkylicious and IndigoBlu.

If you haven't yet got your Craft Stamper, you can see a gorgeous bonus project by Paula on the Craft Stamper website, though you'll have to buy the mag to get the instructions for the technique. Well worth it, I reckon! I had a lot of fun doing it.

Challenged to Inspire, Part 2

Happy Mothering Sunday, everyone! It's a beautiful morning here, hope the sun is shining for you too. I've just watched a pair of buzzards fly past the kitchen window, and a pair of exceptionally cute baby bunnies are keeping the grass tidy at the back!

Here is the card I made from the second kit which the Stampalot DT were given for this month's "Take Inspiration" Stampalot Challenge. This kit (details of which are on the Challenge Blog) is entitled "A Krafty Affair". I loved these DPs (by My Mind's Eye), which were chosen by Janice, and they and all the items in the kit are available from Sir Stampalot. The papers are double sided, so I took photos to show each side.

I made an easel card, and turned the diecut hinges into posts to hold the bunting, which I cut with Whimsy dies.

I decided I wanted to use the celebrate sentiment, which was a Craft Stamper freebie (I masked off the border which surrounds it), and then searched through my stamps for something suitably celebratory. The only one which seemed to fit the bill was my one and only House Mouse! (Inherited from my late MIL  - as you know, I don't do cute!) The Happy Birthday is by Papermania. The scalloped borders were cut with Nestabilities, and the one around the Happy Birthday was cut by hand.

 Anyway, that's the second part of this month's Challenge. If you haven't entered yet, there's still plenty of time, and Janice has now revealed the prize, which is as stunning as usual!

And I can also let you in on the exciting news that was hinted at earlier. The 1st of April will be Stampalot Challenge's 2nd birthday! It's been a fantastic two years, and the fact that the DT has remained substantially the same since the beginning says a lot about what a great challenge it is, and I'm honoured to be part of such a fab team. However, much of our success is down to Brenda's inspirational leadership and the tremendous amount of work she puts into it. So thanks, Brenda,  and here's to many more Stampalot Challenges. We're going to be celebrating, so don't forget to look in on April 1st and join in the fun!

Sir Stampalot September Challenge

We're back to a set theme for this month's Stampalot Challenge, and it is

It's A Frame Up

We want to see a frame somewhere on each project! Plenty of scope there, I think. Just make sure that your frame is an actual "feature" of the design, rather than simply matted layers. For my example, I took inspiration from an article by Emy Buxton in the July 2011 issue of Craft Stamper magazine, where she used stamping and masking to create a frame for a scrapbook page.

I made my frame by masking off a rectangle of the base card and stamping round the edge of the mask with tiny stamps by Rubber Stamp Tapestry, using VersaMagic inks. The picture inside the frame is from the Miniatures book "People & Places 2" by Crafty Individuals, and the card is completed with a sentiment by Darkroom Door. Quick and simple to make, but I love the effect of the floral frame.

Here's the delectable prize donated by Sir Stampalot this month! Check out those gorgeous ribbons! Some fab stamps too, and lots of other goodies, so get those entries in!

And on the subject of Sir S,  HOT news! Watch out for a new weekly feature that Sir Stampalot are promoting, starting tomorrow. It’ll be called ‘Freebie Friday’ and it’ll be sent to you via their email newsletter so if you haven’t already signed up, you’ll need to sign up before end of day today, here. 

Or use the “stay in touch… sign up to smudges” icon on the home page of their website (left hand column).

I started the new job this week. So far so good! Quite different from my previous one, in that I flit from school to school (9 schools in two days!) instead of being in one school for the whole day, but I have certainly enjoyed my first two days. And it's lovely to be able to drive to work through beautiful countryside. Bit of a hold up yesterday morning when I met the school bus which serves several local village schools coming towards me on a narrow country lane, and had to reverse so he could get past. One or two slow tractors as well, but I can cope with things like that! So much better than being stuck in traffic jams going into the city.

Went to have another look at our new house the other day. I'll leave you for now with a photo of the view from the window of what will be my new craft room! If it looks that good in the rain, imagine what it's like when it's sunny with blue skies! I can't wait until we can move in!

Sir Stampalot Special Challenge

Here is my entry for the Sir Stampalot Special Challenge, hosted by Brenda. The challenge is to celebrate Sir Stampalot's relocation to new premises, and so the theme is "Moving", which is open to interpretation.

My card has two "moving" elements. Firstly, the main flower picture has been moved from its original location by image transfer, and secondly, inside the card there is a pop-up.

For the image transfer I used one of my own photos. With my graphics programme I altered the colour and toned down the background, and then printed it out on to photo-quality inkjet paper to give a good clear print. I'd never tried image transfer before, so I followed the instuctions given in the February 2010 issue of Craft Stamper. I did the acrylic paint method, which was very easy and worked a treat. One might ask why I didn't just use the original photo! Well, I wanted to try image transfer, and also I wanted the softer look which the method provides. And, of course, it was a way of interpreting the theme. I was very pleased with the result.

The background was splattered with ink and stamped with a flourish by Crafty Individuals. A Hero Arts butterfly and word by Inkadinkado completed the front of the card. Inside I used the Hero Arts Dandelion frame, more Hero Arts butterflies, grasses by Elusive Images from Graphicus and a sentiment stamp which I've had so long I can't remember who it's by!