Stamping Sensations October Challenge

We had some wonderful entries for our poppy photo inspiration challenge at Stamping Sensations last month, but for October we are moving from flora to fauna! Our theme for this month is

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

Plenty of scope here, I think. Furry, feathered, scaled, creatures of land, sea or air, cute or realistic, the choices are endless.

We have a fantastic sponsor too - the well known and very popular Penny Black, who have donated a super prize.

For my sample I decided to go for something a bit different for a change and made a screen card.

 All the stamps I've used are by Penny Black, and so are the butterfly stickers. The patterned background papers are by Prima, and the flower diecuts are from Memory Box. The border punch at the top is one of my favourites and I've had it for many years, but I've no idea now where it came from. I used Woodware punches to make the little vellum flowers.

I'm sure this will be a popular theme, and I will look forward to seeing lots of lovely entries! Remember you can enter up to three times, combine with other challenges and make whatever type of project you like, as long as it follows our theme. The DT have some absolutely gorgeous samples for you, so don't forget to have a look at them on the Challenge Blog. 

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!

Poppies

We have some poppy inspiration for our September Challenge at Stamping Sensations! A field of beautiful poppies (Brenda's favourite, of course!).

We'd like you to take inspiration from the photo for your projects, so for instance you could go for the colours, the general scene, or the poppies themselves. I've gone for all of those!

First of all I made the background scene. I hand drew the field and distant hills with watercolour pencils, overstamped the trees and drew the fence. Next I drew in the distant poppies, making them slightly more defined towards the foreground.

The main poppy image was then stamped over the background picture, coloured with Promarkers to make it stand out, and the flower centres dotted in with a black gel pen.

I hand cut a frame with an arch-shaped aperture from white card, drew a black border around it and mounted it over the picture. The whole thing was mounted on to the red patterned background paper, and finally on to an 8" x 8" base card. The frame was decorated with various diecuts, a stamped bee and some little butterflies, and a sentiment. Glitter glue was added to the insects' wings.

The gorgeous poppy stamp is by our lovely sponsor for September, Chloe Endean of Chloe's Creative Cards. Her "Stamps By Chloe" range has something for everyone, including Christmas stamps and a great selection of sentiments. Chloe has very generously donated a super selection of her products worth around £50 for our lucky winner this month!

The Design Team have produced some really lovely samples for you, so do go and have a look at them on the Challenge Blog. We are looking forward to seeing all your poppy-inspired projects!

Here's what I made my card with:

Main poppy image: Poppy Border from Stamps By Chloe. Tree stamps: Crafty Individuals. Bee stamp: Tonic Studios (by Ruth Hamilton). Tiny butterfly stamp and sentiment:  Hobby Art.
Diecuts - Prim Poppy, Chloe Stem, Fuchsia Sprig, all by Memory Box. Leaves (Flourish Leaf Strip) by Cheery Lynn. Sentiment cut out with Spellbinders label die. Background paper from my stash (very old!).

Marooned on a desert island!

We're half way through this month's Stamping Sensations Challenge, where the theme is Wings & Things With A Touch Of Vintage.

It's my turn to provide the mid-month inspiration, and I've used one of my favourite butterflies, by Prickley Pear Stamps, and coloured it with Distress markers. The doily is a Cheery Lynn die, and the background papers are magazine freebies, the top part being overstamped with a little butterfly from Hobby Art. The portrait is of my Great Grandmother, cut out with a Nestabilities die and mounted on to another Nestie diecut. The sentiment is by JustRite.

Over the next few months the DT members are taking turns to choose 6 crafting items which we would take to a desert island! I had to think long and hard about which items to take to my desert island! I tend to use quite a variety of materials and techniques in my crafting, so trying to choose just six items was very difficult. However, these are what I decided upon:

1) Colouring medium (we are allowed 5 colours). Distress Ink Refills - Salty Ocean, Mustard Seed, Bundled Sage, Picked Raspberry & Shaded Lilac. I've gone for the refills rather than the inkpads as they would be more versatile. I could stamp with them, paint with them in various dilutions, and mix them to make other colours.

2) Craft knife. The one essential item I couldn't be without! I use one daily. It would also be very practical on a desert island, as it could be used for all sorts of things besides crafting! (But please can it include an endless supply of spare blades too, Brenda??!)

3) Metal ruler. Again, an essential item! For measuring, and cutting along with the knife.

4) Water brush. To do my colouring with. Could be used wet or dry.

5) Set of butterfly stamps. Would have to have some butterflies! Don't mind which, as long as they are not cute!

6) Set of permanent ink drawing pens. I'd use my time on the island to learn how to draw! Then I could make a variety of cards, not just butterflies! I could sketch scenes on the island, flowers, etc., do Zentangle, pen and wash pictures, and because the ink would be waterproof, I could write a message and send it off in a bottle for someone to find and rescue me. On the other hand, with the sun, sea and sand, endless time to craft, and no housework, I might just decide to stay there!

It occurs to me that it would be an interesting exercise to see just what we could do with our six items. Thought filed at the back of my mind for future reference!

Along with the above we are allowed 50 sheets of card. I would want them all to be white, as I could colour any I wanted with the Distress ink refills. Hmm. 50 sheets would not last very long. Maybe I'd better be rescued after all!

There's still plenty of time to enter this month's challenge if you haven't already (or you could enter another project - we accept up to three per challenge!) There's more inspiration on the Challenge Blog, so do go over and have a look!

Adirondack Sky!

We've had some amazing skies lately. Tonight's sunset was particularly stunning.

Sally will like it, it's her favourite colour combo! What do you reckon, Sal? Purple Twilight, Mountain Rose, and Peach Bellini?! Nearly as good as your ink-dusted backgrounds. Life imitating art, definitely!

Some more of this week's aerial artworks!

Stamping Sensations August Challenge

It's August, so time for another challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month our theme is right up my street! It's

*** WINGS AND THINGS AND A TOUCH OF VINTAGE ***

Another chance to get out the butterfly stamps, and I couldn't resist this gorgeous new one from Inkylicious. It's called "Vintage Butterfly" - what could be more perfect for the theme!

I stamped the image with Versamark ink on to patterned paper (Webster's Pages) and embossed it with clear ink to act as a resist. Then I painted over the whole thing with gesso, wiping it off where it was covering the embossing.

Next I cut a small panel of the patterned paper, matted it with a thin gold border and placed it alongside the image. Having slightly distressed the edges of the paper, I then matted the whole picture on to some Bazzil Basics card, the border being cut with a Martha Stewart punch. To embellish the card, I made some paper beads, using the same papers.

The card was completed with some ribbon (two separate pieces, one on top of the other). The yellow ribbon is quite old, being inherited from my mother, although I don't think it's actually vintage! Apart from the butterfly stamp, all the materials used are old stash. I'm trying very hard not to buy new stuff and to get some of the old used up (though some, like the butterfly, are simply NOT to be resisted!) and so far I'm not doing too badly!

Of course, you want to know about this month's prize, and it's a cracker! Our lovely sponsor is Crafty Devils, and they have generously donated a £35 voucher!  They are one of the UK's leading papercraft specialists, supplying over 10,000 products for card making, stamping, scrapbooking, die cutting and more, so the lucky winner will definitely be spoilt for choice when it comes to spending their voucher.

Please do pop over to the Challenge Blog to see what my talented teamies have made to inspire you this month. I think this is going to be a very popular theme, and I can't wait to see all your lovely entries. Don't forget, it doesn't have to be a card, it can be any type of project as long as it follows the month's theme, and you can enter up to three times, so more chances of winning that great prize or being in our top three!

80 years young

Our choir conductor is a lovely lady who has just celebrated her 80th birthday, though you wouldn't know it to look at her! She doesn't seem a day over 65! I can only wish to have her vitality and joie de vivre when (hopefully!) I get to her age!  I wanted to make her a special card, and this is what I came up with.

 I used a Go Kreate die to cut the components for an easel card, which I covered with papers from Crafty Individuals' Background Papers pad Book 1. The lilac stamp (Toomuchfun Rubber Stamps) is one I've had for nearly 20 years! It was coloured with Promarkers and it and the sentiment (Inkylicious) were cut out with Spellbinders Labels 4 dies. I kept the embellishments quite simple, as I didn't want to cover up too much of the pretty papers.  The butterflies are made with dies by Cheery Lynn, and the flowers with the Small Multi Flower Rose Die by Britannia Dies.

 Here's a closer look at some of the details.

Here's the card in its box.

And here's the box.

The only brief I had for the card was "She likes pink and lilac"! However, I'm pleased to say that she liked it!

Haven't made much else lately. I'm wilting in the hot weather! I suppose we shouldn't complain, but just a few degrees cooler would be lovely! One of the things I've been planning to do in the school hols is reorganise my craft room. My younger grandson (aged 4), who likes to come & do crafty things with me, told me the other day that my craft room needs a good tidy up! (I have a sneaking suspicion that his mum might have said something similar to him about his toys!) However, I must admit he's right. The shelves are all mixed up and things have started to creep on to the floor. Time to make a start, I think.......

Stamping Sensations July Challenge

For a change we have a sketch for you this month at Stamping Sensations, designed by our very own Tracy, and also we would like to see summer colours. You can combine the sketch with summer colours, or just follow the sketch, or just use summer colours, it's up to you!

Our lovely sponsor for July is the very popular Little Claire, who have generously donated a bumper prize, including some of their newest stamps!

I've used a Little Claire owls stamp (which just happens to be my all-time favourite owl stamp!) for my card. Or should I say part of the stamp. To make it fit with the sketch, I masked off the two outer owls before I inked it up.

The owls were coloured with Promarkers to match the colours in the background paper, which is from the Shades Of Summer Background Papers pad by Crafty Individuals.

 The circles (plain and scallop) are Spellbinders dies, the scallop border die is by Die-namics and the leaf punch is by Leone Em. A ribbon and some little pearly flowers provided the finishing touches.

I am really looking forward to seeing this month's entries! If you'd like the chance to win those gorgeous goodies from Little Claire, do pop over to the Challenge Blog, where my talented teamies have come up with some beautiful samples to inspire you. It's amazing how they are all so different considering we have all followed the same sketch!

Citrasolv-ed!

Whilst browsing Pinterest one day recently, I came across some artwork that I really liked. Diffuse, mystical backgrounds, to which various elements had been added. I followed the links to see how it was done, and thus discovered Citrasolv art. It involved using a cleaning solvent (Citrasolv) to break up the inks in a printed picture, giving amazing effects!

Here's the Citrasolv website, where you'll find lots of info and examples.  

I couldn't wait to try it! The only problem was I didn't have any Citrasolv! It is, of course, an American product. Anyway, back in about 1995 while visiting the USA, I bought some stuff called Goo Gone. Like Citrasolv it is a citrus based cleaner, albeit made with petroleum distillates, which Citrasolv doesn't have. My American host was using some to get rid of the sticky mess left by labels when you try to get them off, and because at that time I had never found anything here which would do that easily, I bought some to bring home.

 

I didn't know whether Goo Gone would work in the same way as Citrasolv, but decided it was worth a try. I had about a third of the bottle left (been using it very sparingly!) First I tried it with an old magazine, but nothing happened. The inks didn't shift at all. Apparently many of the artists on the website use National Geographic mags, something to do with the type of ink and the fact that the photo pages are clay coated. So I scrounged a couple of old copies from my daughter.

 

They worked a treat! The Goo Gone produced some great papers, which I then scanned on the computer. Just wish I'd thought to scan the original photos too before I altered them, to compare. I'll remember next time! Since you'll never get the same result twice, it makes sense to scan your original altered pic, which you can then keep, and use a printed copy in your project. Once you've got your printed copy, you can then enhance it however you wish.

These are a few of the best results. 

And here's a card I made with the first one. I used my graphics programme to add the butterfly (one of my own photos) , and stamped the sentiment (by The Craft's Meow).

To the second paper I added a stamped fairy, some leaves hanging down from the top (both Lavinia Stamps) and some tiny butterflies (The Craft's Meow). I used a fine drawing pen to turn some of the blobs into flowers, and enhanced some of the elements, including the fairy's wings, with glitter glue.

Knowing I would want to do more, (and by then having only a few drops of my precious Goo Gone left!) I went online to see if I could get hold of some Citrasolv. Found it on Am*z*n, and ordered some forthwith. 

There's a very good YouTube video by Cathy Taylor, one of the artists profiled on the Citrasolv website. Once you find that one, which is a good one for the basic instructions, it will then lead you to others. 

I haven't yet had time to try it with the Citrasolv, but I have high hopes for it! And if it doesn''t work, at least I have a replacement for the Goo Gone! 

Hedgerows

The hedgerows and verges around here have been stunning this year. Masses of wild flowers and grasses stretching for miles. Cow parsley, buttercups, dandelions, comfrey, vetches, speedwells, bluebells, red campion and more. It was such a gorgeous day, one day last week as I was driving home from work, that I just had to keep stopping and taking photos.

I happened to look over the bridge over the river just in time to see a heron take off. (It's almost in the centre of the photo - you can see it better if you click on the pic to enlarge it.)

A sunset pic to finish off with!