Things with wings

The theme for August's Stampalot Challenge is right up my street! It's

TAKE FLIGHT

Now that should give plenty of scope - birds, insects, fairies, angels, or even aeroplanes spring to mind -  but for me it just has to be my favourite subject, butterflies!

I've been a bit awol over the past few weeks, busy with various things which have kept me away from blogging (some of which were crafty stuff, but more about that another time!) but I did manage to make my butterfly cards.

For the first one the butterflies are from a Hero Arts Framelits set. I've stamped them on to printed papers from Crafty Individuals (Book 3 Springtime) and then cut them out with the Framelits die included in the set. I've used the same papers for the centre circle, and for the banner (banner stamp by Waltzing Mouse and butterfly word by Crafty Individuals). The doily is by Cheery Lynn.

My second card showcases one of my latest acquisitions, by Prickley Pear, which is fast becoming one of my all-time favourite butterfly stamps, along with the others in the set!

Here the butterfly has alighted on a background of Trimcraft papers ("Neighbourwood" by Helz Cuppleditch) with an Aspects of Design (by The Stampman) Nestie frame stamp, sentiment by The Craft's Meow, and ribbon from my stash. The butterfly has a matching die (available separately) which makes cutting it out so easy.

There are two different sets of the Prickley Pear butterflies, and I have to confess I bought them both! How could I have resisted when they are all so beautiful? You'll be seeing plenty more of them in the not too distant future!

But back to August at Stampalot Challenge. The prize is fabulous, as usual.

My lovely teamies have come up with some absolutely gorgeous designs, so do pop over to the Challenge Blog for plenty of inspiration. I have a feeling that this month's theme is going to be very popular, and I'm looking forward to seeing lots of winged things, butterflies or not!

Butterflies!

Less is More has my favourite subject for Week 16's challenge - Butterflies! Great, I thought! But since butterflies tend to make an appearance on many of my cards, even if only tiny, coming up with something I haven't already done before wasn't so easy! Fortunately I hadn't yet got round to using my new Aspects of Design Framie 5 stamps bought a while ago from The Stamp Man, so this was the ideal opportunity.

Very simple, just cut out the stamped image with the matching Nestie (Labels 5) and coloured it with Cosmic Shimmer paints. Added the sentiment (Inkylicious).  Then stamped a flight of Crafty Individuals butterflies across the bottom.

Card number 2 is already in the making!

Celtic Inspiration

I'm a big fan of Celtic Art, and I've had a Celtic design laser-cut border (by Rayher) languishing in my stash for a long time, waiting for a suitable opportunity to use it. When I saw this week's Less is More Challenge, which is a sketch, I knew I'd found one.

I stamped the bottom third of the card with some Celtic text (Judikins), layered the border on to a black background, stamped the Celtic knot circle (source unknown), cut it out and added a scalloped border (with my Nesties) and a sentiment (Inkadinkado).
 
 
 

I wasn't sure at first whether to stick with black and white, or whether to add a bit of colour, because a lot of Celtic artwork is very colourful, but I decided in the end that my card would work better in monochrome.




 

It was a great sketch to work with, and one I'll probably use again.
 

Sally and I had a trip up to Once upon A Stamp on Saturday.  I bought some new Nesties, Labels 5, in preparation for the eagerly awaited arrival of some new stamps I've just ordered from The Stampman. They're made specially to fit the Nesties, and they've got butterflies on! What more could I possibly want? (Well, butterfly stamps to fit ALL my Nesties would be good - I've dropped a hint to Jill!) When I first saw the new stamps on Jill's blog I thought I must be in stamp heaven! I'm clearing a space on my desk so that I can get to work with them as soon as they arrive.....

Footprints

I'd like to begin this post with a big thankyou to everyone who has commented on my blog.  I was thrilled to get 48 comments on my entry to Week 5 of the Less is More challenge, a record for one post for me, and I can assure you that every single one is much appreciated and makes it all worthwhile.

It's now Week 6 of Less is More, and they want to see a one layer card with the intriguing theme of "Off the Edge". My first thought was of footprints marching on to and off the page. Trouble was, I didn't have a footprints stamps, but I figured it would be a fairly easy shape to carve by hand, so I made one from an eraser. I did, however, have the perfect sentiment to go with it, from an Aspects of Design set by The Stampman. I've had the set for a while, but haven't had occasion to use the sentiment before, and it's one I really like. I stamped that first, then made the footprints walk across the page in different colours of Versamagic inks.

I think this is a great theme, and some of the examples already posted at LIM are fantastic. I feel a second entry coming on, if I get time this week!

Parks and Gardens

This week's challenge at Allsorts is called "Park Inspiration", and they want our entries to be inspired by gardens or parks. There's a £10 voucher to be won to spend at One Stop Card Crafts! Well, of course, parks and gardens say "nature" to me, and since that's my favourite theme it was no hardship to come up with a card to fit.

Having recently treated myself to the Katzelcraft "Nature & Travel Quotes" set by Isabelle Norris, this was the perfect opportunity to use some of them. The background was stamped with Versamark and clear embossed, to act as a resist, and I coloured over the stamping with various pigment inks. Then the embossing was removed by covering it with kitchen paper and ironing over it with a hot iron.

The sentiment is an Aspects of Design stamp from The Stampman. (Such a pity they had to spell "marvellous" the American way.) It's from a sheet called (IIRC) "Rambling", but I can't find it on their website now. I bought it at a low sale price some time ago, so I'm wondering whether it's now no longer available.

The butterfly, from the gorgeous "Patchwork Butterfly" sheet by Elusive Images, is coloured with Promarkers and has a touch of Diamond Glaze on the flowers and body, although it's hard to see that in the photo.

Amazing Blog Candy from The Stamp Man!

Jill is giving away either a complete set of the new Tim Holtz Distress ink pads (12 new gorgeous colours!) or the complete set of the 12 new re-inkers to two very lucky winners!

If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning , hop over to Jill's blog for all the details. This really is a fantastic prize!

The Stamp Man Blog Hop Winners!

The winners are announced!

H – Jill - Selection of Moonglow products - JulyeB
N - Janet - Choice of one of the new 3 Kay Carley DVDs - Charlotte
Y – Debbie - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Susan
T – Michelle - 400 assorted round brads - Helen
O – Vix - Selection of Moonglow products - Cheryl
Y – Tracey - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Stamping Sue
O – Avril - 400 assorted round brads - Wilma
U – Kay - Choice of one of the new 3 Kay Carley DVDs - Shairon
A –Teri - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Laura
N – Emma - Selection of Moonglow products - Ginger
D – Lisa - 400 assorted round brads - Zoechaos
Y – Sarah - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Sid
O – Christine - Choice of one of the new 3 Kay Carley DVDs - Brenda
U – Lynne - 400 assorted round brads - Julie Riley
R – PatR - Selection of Moonglow products - Lynne in NI
S - Lyn (blackdragon) - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Sally H

If you haven't already, nip over to Jill's blog, because some of you need to choose your prize.

Congratulations to all the winners! I'm sure you'll enjoy your prizes, which were generously donated by Jill. Even if you were not one of the lucky ones, I hope you enjoyed the blog hop. I did, and am delighted that because of it I've found so many more lovely blogs to visit. And thank you very much to everyone who left me such lovely comments. Once again, a big thank you to Jill for organising it. It certainly brightened up the cold and icy start to the year.

Last chance to take part in The Stampman Blog Hop!

The Stamp Man Blog Hop closes at midnight tonight! If you haven't joined in yet, you can still do it by starting from Jill's Blog. Lots of lovely prizes to be won, and fantastic inspiration to be seen on the blogs along the way. Still time to enter the Awards too.

It's been great fun, and many thanks to Jill for organising it. Looking forward to the next one!

The Stamp Man Blog Hop, Candy, and Award Event

The Stampman Blog Hop, Candy and Award Event is now open! To join the fun, you need to visit each participating blog in turn, beginning with Jill's at The Stamp Man. You should have come to mine from Christine's (Ladylace's Crafting Space), and the next one to visit is

Pat's (Pats Card Making Passion).

There are lots of fantastic prizes to be won. If you haven't reached mine from Christine's, I'd suggest you go back to Jill's (The Stamp Man Blog) to start from the beginning. Each blog you visit will give you a code letter and tell you about about one of the prizes. You'll need to collect all the letters and at the end email your final answer to Jill. The last port of call will take you back to The Stamp Man blog which will tell you how to do that.

The code letter for my blog is  U

The prize is 400 ASSORTED ROUND BRADS.

To be eligible for a prize you will need to leave a comment on ALL the blogs in the hop.

Now about the Awards! These are to showcase everyone's best project from 2009! This is what it will look like! All the details are on The Stamp Man Blog, so hop over there to find out how to take part.


I think my own favourite project was the one I did back in June, where I made two cards using exactly the same design but with completely different colouring  and style. One was sweet and simple, the other grungy! It was really interesting to compare the effects. Most people seemed to prefer the grungy version. Here are the cards. To see how I made them, check out the post here.

Anyway, I'll let you go off and get started. The Event will end at midnight GMT on Sunday 3rd January. Don't forget to post your link on The Stamp Man Blog to your best project, and hop around all the blogs! I hope you have lots of fun on the way!

The Stamp Man Blog Hop, Candy, and Award Event

Jill at The Stamp Man is organising a post-Christmas Blog Hop, Candy and Award Event. It's going to be great fun, with awards and giveaways, and it will run for a week from Sunday 27th December to Sunday 3rd January. Read what Jill has to say about it by clicking on the link in my side bar, and please spread the word by posting the news on your own blogs, because the more people who join in, the better!

The main thing to remember for now is that it will all begin next Sunday, the 27th December  on The Stamp Man Blog, so make sure you check in there then to get all the instructions. Hope to see you all there!

Oldie but Goodie

It's great to learn new techniques, and I am always on the lookout for new things to try, but sometimes it's good to revisit the old ones. I quite often go back to shaving foam marbling, simply because the results are good, and it's such fun to do. I like shaving foam particularly as a marbling medium because it is possible to have some control over your finished pattern. What you see in the tray is what you will get on your paper.

Thus, in the easel card shown here, I was able to make a landscape effect with more blue at the top and more brown at the bottom. The larger trees are from Clarity Stamp, and the deer and tiny trees in the background are by Stampscapes. The greeting is Inkadinkado. On the angel card I used a panel of marbled paper as a feature, stamped with  a Stampington stamp. The sentiment is also by Stampington. The angel is from the "Christmas" miniatures book by Crafty Individuals.

For the holly card, I revisited not only an old technique, but also an old stamp! It's from The Stamp Man. Having stamped it on the marbled paper, I embossed it with sparkle embossing powder & then coloured the leaves and berries with Promarkers to make them stand out more. I mounted it at an angle over a piece of printed paper. The message button is from Craftwork Cards.

The final card is very simple, just four squares of card, three stamped with a snowflake (Stampington), the other holding a Craftwork Cards message button, and strips of silver ribbon to finish it off.


Well, it was fun to go back to the marbling, but tomorrow Sally and I are off to the Open Day at Sir Stampalot, looking forward to seeing what's new, & also meeting Brenda. Can't wait....

Fab Stamp Man Blog Candy!

Jill at The Stamp Man is giving away some fantastic blog candy! The prize will be a choice from 3 of Kay Carley's recent designs, the gorgeous Aspects of Design Funky Flowers, Funky Frames, or Fancy Flourishes. Nip over to Jill's blog to stake your claim. These really are beautiful quality stamps (they're all on my Christmas wish list!) and Jill has some lovely samples using them on the blog. The closing date for the candy is midday on Tuesday, 15th December.

How many days until Christmas.....?

Another card made with the Brilliance Ink background. The flower stamp is from the Aspects of Design sheet "Summer Flowers", by The Stamp Man, (currently on sale at half price while stocks last!) and the sentiment is by Crafty Individuals. I used my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug to cut the circles and the label and punched a few flowers out of the leftover Brilliance-inked background paper.



Now I really should make some Christmas cards......

Ideas from The Stamp Man

I managed to catch The Stamp Man's recent show on Create and Craft, and really liked Jill's ideas for making backgrounds with Brilliance inks. She put the inks on to a craft sheet, sprayed them with water and then laid her paper on top to pick up the ink. It gave a lovely, shimmery, watercolour effect. The link above is to Jill's blog, where she explains how to do it. I've had Brilliance inkpads for years and never thought of using them in this way. Of course, I had to try it out, and here are the first two cards I've made.



I wanted a marble effect for the Roman gods, so I used starlight black, galaxy gold and moonlight white Brilliance inks. I inked up two pieces of paper. The first one took up some of the ink, then I picked up what was left with the second piece which gave it a lighter coverage. I used that piece for the background and stamped and clear embossed the image on the first piece.



For the second card I used pearlescent sky blue, pearlescent purple and pearlescent orchid. All stamps are Aspects of Design by The Stamp Man, except for the sentiment, which I think is by Papermania. Border punch is by Martha Stewart.

More Distress Ink landscape

Having got to grips with Michelle's technique with my previous card, I decided I should now try coming up with my own designs, so here's the first. The small fir trees on the left and the stag are from Stampscapes. Their stamps are perfect for this style, as are those from Beeswax, whose stamp is the tree on the right.

The outer frame is also made with Distress inks, and it's a piece I had left over from making the card I described earlier here. The vertical "Happy Birthday" filling in the space at the side is an Aspects of Design stamp by The Stamp Man.

At the moment I'm finding it a bit difficult to gain precise control over the inkpads when using them direct to paper, but I daresay that will come with practice. It's quite fun seeing how the landscapes turn out and then deciding what to use as a focal point to enhance them. I have a feeling I'm going to get hooked on this technique!