August at Stamping Sensations

We're keeping up our easy challenges for the summer months at Stamping Sensations, although up here in the frozen north one might dispute that it's summer! Ok, I exaggerate a bit. Not quite frozen, but a few nights lately have come close. Actually, we did have summer the other week. Just the one day. The temperature on our outside thermometer hit 30C, in the shade, but the next day it reverted to type. Since then it's been cool, grey, wet, misty, with just the odd dry and bright spell. Still, at least the midges haven't been quite so bad as usual here. Always a silver lining!

Anyway, our August Challenge couldn't be easier, since it's

* * * * * ANYTHING GOES * * * * *

So, whatever you like, with the one proviso that as we're a stamping challenge, we need to see stamping - rubber, polymer or digi (not pre-coloured) - as the focal part of your project.

I always find it quite difficult to decide what to do for an "anything goes" theme. Too much choice! So this time I thought I would close my eyes, pull out one of my stamp binders at random (I keep my stamps in A5 ring binders on shelves), and use a stamp or stamps from the first page in the binder. As luck would have it, I picked my Penny Black binder, and the first page contains the "Enamor" set which I bought some time ago but hadn't yet used. Been dying to get the stamps inked up, as they are so pretty, but hadn't had chance. Next question was how to use them.


One of my favourite techniques is to stamp with Distress Inks and colour the image by pulling the colour from the image lines with a water brush. However, this time I decided to add a twist. Instead of colouring in, I pulled the colour away from the flower image to make the background, leaving the image itself uncoloured. The butterfly and sentiment are from the same set. I mounted the picture on to a Spellbinders diecut and backed it with patterned paper by Prima. Nice and simple, job done!

Here's the finished card.

I'm hoping to see lots of gorgeous entries this month to brighten up our dull days! And with the prize on offer, there's no reason not to get busy with your projects! Our lovely sponsors for August are Foil Play, who have donated a fantastic £35 voucher to be spent in their online shop. They have a huge selection of items for your cardmaking and crafting, not just foils. What's not to like? So get those entries in and good luck everyone!

One For The Guys

 Making my sample for our March Challenge at Stamping Sensations was certainly a challenge for me! Our theme for this month is

* * * * * ONE FOR THE GUYS * * * * *

and it is the subject I struggle with the most, being more inclined towards pretty floral or nature motifs than macho masculine stuff !

However, I rose to the challenge and came up with this. I'm on a mission at the moment to revisit some of my oldest stamps, especially those that haven't seen daylight for a long time, in order to justify still giving them houseroom! This lovely Boat Scene (by Stamps Happen, now sadly defunct) was always one of my favourites and I don't know why I haven't used it more often, except that just about all the men in my family have received an example of it at one time or another.

I began by stamping it twice, on white card and a mottled sandy coloured card (another ancient item of stash!). I cut the framed part out of the sandy card, lined it up with the image on the white card, fixed them together and then coloured the whole image with Spectrum Noir pencils. I stamped the birds (Stampin' Up) at the bottom and finally used an old toothbrush to flick various shades of watercolour paint all over the card.

We have a lovely new sponsor for March!  Foil Play have "an extensive choice of over 11,000 products to help you to create beautiful and enjoyable craft projects, including a huge selection of rub on foils, ultra fine glitters, toppers, die cut and traditional decoupage".No minimum order is required, and postage is free if you spend over £10. They are offering the lucky winner a whopping £35 voucher to spend in their online store.

We've had some fantastic entries for our last few challenges, and I'm sure this one is going to be no exception. I'm really looking forward to seeing lots of projects for the men (or boys)! Should you need any inspiration, pop over to the Challenge Blog, where my brilliant teamies have some great stuff to show you. Good luck, everyone, and thanks for looking.