Footprints on the Moon

Hadn't used the Brushos for ages, so having a few spare minutes, and some lovely new stamps from Stamps By Me, I thought I'd get them out and have a play.

First I stamped and masked the moon, and then made the background with the Brushos using the sprinkle & then spray method, blotting it after spraying to lighten it up as it was quite dark. Some of the paint leaked under the mask a bit, but I quite liked the effect. I thought it looked like clouds over the moon and gave it some dimension. Serendipity!

The Stamps By Me set has the trees, the moon and two sentiments. I particularly liked the one I've used here, but I thought the picture needed something else to help tell the story, so I added the rabbit & buzzard, along with a few grasses at the bottom, all from Inkylicious.

I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Clair ink and embossed it with WOW Neutral Ultra Shimmer Regular powder, which has the most gorgeous sparkle, but the photo doesn't do it justice. You can perhaps see it a little better in the next one.

And here's the rabbit gazing at the moon! (And probably hoping the buzzard doesn't spot her!)

 

It's quite a while, well before Christmas in fact, since I had chance to make something just for the sake of it, rather than for a particular person, event or occasion, and I really enjoyed doing this one. When I make cards for family and friends, I tailor them to the recipient and usually know what I'm going to do before I begin. Not that I don't enjoy doing those too, of course, but I love having the creative freedom to pick out a few stamps and inks etc. and just see where they lead. When I started making this card I had no idea how it was going to turn out, but I'm happy with the result!

Stamping Sensations May Challenge

Well, at last it's beginning to feel a bit more like spring up here! I'm looking out of my craft room window on to a bank of beautiful daffodils across the road. They were at least three weeks later opening than last year. It's even getting warmer - we only need two jumpers on now instead of three! Roll on summer, though, we need more sun!

Anyway, we have a lovely new challenge for you at Stamping Sensations, and our theme is

***** EMBOSSING AND TEXTURE *****

Any kind of embossing will be acceptable, dry or heat embossing, and there is endless scope for adding texture to your projects.

Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Tonic Studios, who have donated an awesome prize! A Peruvian Lily Stamp and Punch set and a gorgeous lattice window die, both from the Pick of the Bunch range designed by our very own super-talented Ruth Hamilton!

What a gorgeous prize! I want one! The Punch and Stamp sets really are stunning. Just imagine creating a lovely window box full of flowers in front of that lovely lattice window.

So, on to my card. I have incorporated both types of embossing.

The dry embossing helps to create the texture, as do the layers and embellishments. I stamped the fuchsia (from Tonic Studios' Pick of the Bunch range by Ruth) and heat embossed it with Wow! Neutral Ultra Shimmer embossing powder, which has a gorgeous sparkle. You can just about see it in the next photo. It was then coloured with Promarkers and cut out with a Nestie Labels 4 die. 

It is sitting on a background dry embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The left hand side of the background has a lily (also from the Pick of the Bunch range) stamped over Gelli printed paper. The join is covered with a strip punched with a Tonic Studios border punch. The diecut butterfly is by Cheery Lynn, and the sentiment by The Craft's Meow.

My lovely teamies have some absolutely gorgeous samples for you this month, so do pop over to the Challenge Blog where I'm sure you'll be inspired!

A Treemendous finish to the year!

It's our final challenge for 2012 at Stamping Sensations, and the theme is

TREEMENDOUS!

Plenty of scope there. They could be Christmas trees, if you haven't yet finished your Christmas cards, or if you have and you can't bear to contemplate any more festive foliage, any other kind of tree will be perfect! If you're a lateral thinker you might go for family trees, or shoe trees... or not! But whatever your arboreal aspirations, we want to see them!

Trees being one of my favourite topics, I have really been looking forward to this month! When I was at Stamp Magic in October, I couldn't resist buying the fabulous Inkylicious Christmas Tree Flourish, and that is what I've used for my card.

I stamped it with Versamark ink on to white card and embossed it with WOW Neutral Ultra Shimmer embossing powder, which gave it the most gorgeous shimmery sparkle which unfortunately is hard to see in the photo. I then covered the whole thing with Chipped Sapphire Distress Stain, which the embossed areas resisted, of course, and matted it first on to white card and then a piece coloured with the same Distress Stain. The computer generated sentiment was cut with a Nestie label die, and the little snowflakes with a Tonic Studios punch. Quite a simple design, but I don't think the tree needs anything more to complement it.

Our lovely sponsor this month is Visible Image, a British company based in South Wales, who have a fantastic range of stamps. They have given us this amazing selection for our prize.

So, if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning, show us your Treemendous creations. Just remember that your entry may be combined with no more than five other challenges (that's 6 in total including ours), otherwise sadly it will be ineligible. My talented teamies have come up with some brilliant inspiration for you, so don't forget to check it out on the Challenge Blog. I can't wait to see yours!