WW #58 - BE THANKFUL

So many ways of being thankful, that being the theme over at Wicked Wednesday ATCs this week. I decided to go with a sort of harvest card in the style of Tim's November tag.

I used a cream base card, stamped the grasses with embossing ink and added clear powder which I heat set. I then used various distress inks on the background and 'flicked' water over it to add some 'bleached' areas. I stamped the word thankful (a Hero Arts stamp) in black Archival and the background stamps with distress ink wiping away any ink from the embossed grass. I then stuck a little array of tiny leaves and an acorn to the bottom corner. Oh, and I roughed the edges of the card too.
It's a cutie eh?

WICKED WEDNESDAY #57 SNAILS OR STRIPES

Guess what? I won the WW challenge last week. A $10 voucher for Stitchy Bear digis - and I've already spent it. So, THANK YOU once again to the wonderful DT at Wicked Wednesday.

This week their theme is snails or stripes. I knew at once what I wanted to do and whilst I haven't really used stripes, I have incorporated some lines:

2 snails having a fun game of noughts and crosses. The big snail is leaving 'slimey' crosses whilst his mate leaves 'slimey' circles. I wonder who will win?? hehe
Simple ATC. I just used a quickie glue pen to draw the board lines and embossed them with black powder. The snails were stamped in Archival and carefully cut out, coloured with distress markers and mounted on 3D foam on the base card. I also used a distress marker to colour the border. The circles and crosses were made with picket fence distress stickles.

WICKED WEDNESDAY ATC - #29 - YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

We could certainly do with some sunshine in the UK today. Storms have caused havoc in the south and are now venturing north to me. At least the lovely cards that the Wicked Wednesday ATC DT have made bring a smile and warmth to your soul.
I decided to heat up my melt pot and make a face for my sun. Here it is:

I used alcohol inks for the base card giving the effect of a lovely blue sky. The rays are stamped in saffron Archival ink. I coloured the ruff with mustard seed distress stain and stuck everything down with multi matt medium including the defintion which I cut from an old dictionary.
Right then, next task........

WICKED WEDNESDAY ATC #23 - FLYING THINGS

I love this little challenge blog. I met most of my friends through making ATCs so they are special little cards. Wicked Wednesday ATC has some varied themes to have a play with and this week is no exception. I was going to use an air balloon stamp but decided that would be steampunk, and you know me and steampunk - I will crack it one day. So instead, I decided to search out ALL my butterfly stamps and use ones which would fit an ATC. This is what I ended up with:

Bit difficult to photograph in order to show the acetate ones,

A direct photo shows the silicone too much,

I tried to cover the 4 blobs of silicone I used to make the acetate stand out but failed on a couple of them. Still, you get the drift. I used black Archival to stamp a mix of butterflies and little beasties on the base card, coloured them with distress markers then distressed over the whole card. I then found some acetate packaging and cut a butterfly border with a Tim Holtz on the edge die. Cut in half this just fit along each 2.5" side. I used a mix of alcohol inks to colour this. I managed to hide 2 of the silicone blobs with little 3D peel off butterflies.
I think the first angled photo will be my entry this week. Another bit of fun.

WICKED WEDNESDAY ATC # 22 - OVER THE RAINBOW

I'm on the ball this week with my entry for the Wicked Wednesday challenge - Over the Rainbow.

I made a sky and ground background with alcohol inks and stamped some little trees with black Archival. The bluebirds were squashed into an embossing pad and then covered with sparkly blue embossing powder. I coloured the rainbow with Copics and added a little Wizard of Oz image. Simple but it took a while and I had fun again.

SDC #32 - CLEAN AND SIMPLE

The Stampotique Designers Challenge this week is a non-Stampotique stamp week, which means you don't have to use their stamps if you don't want to. As I only possess one together with some stamped images given to me by a very generous crafter, this challenge is 'up my street'.
Having said that, the theme Clean and Simple proved harder than I thought and my little card took me 2 days to do!!!!

I used a 6"x6" white card base and stamped the swirl with Archival black. The image is so clear from the La Blanche stamps. I then stamped Dream, again in black Archival, let it dry a few seconds before using a water brush to colour over it with weathered wood DI. Three black gems in the corner and job done.
I really like the effect of this simple look despite my pondering - used to grungy and layering!! - and may just make some more.
Why not pop over to the Stampotique challenge blog and have a go yourself.

INSPIRED TO CRAFT TODAY

Having seen the fabulous projects from Tim's workshop at Harrogate and again this morning from the Stitches trade show at the NEC, I just had to get inky.
I have a box full of flowers I bought from QVC some time ago, and because some of them are really big, I hardly ever use them. Time to give them a go me thinks.

I began by cutting a piece of mountboard to just over 4" square, I then used all the inks in the photo to distress it all over.
It came out bright and cheery which is just what I was after.

I then had a rummage in my clear stamp drawer and found this little mushroom stamp. Using black Archival, I stamped it onto 3 different descriptions of mushrooms in an old dictionary, distressed the images and cut them out.







I already had a grungepaper set of leaves which I used at the base of the card after having stamped a couple more in the corner. I used a fine black pen to draw lines around the card, stamped Tim's flight of birds in archival ink and assembled the whole thing to end up with this.

I think it will make a rather nice matt for a 5" or 6" card. The best bit was - I had fun.

INKY NOEL

I had a play with alcohol inks yesterday in order to make bases for a batch of ATCs.

I used stream, denim, stonewashed and silver which I dabbed all over the cards. I then stamped the tree and word using archival ink. The beads were white so I coloured those with the alcohol inks and stuck them to the bottom of the card with glossy accents. I managed to find enough oil on water effect snowflakes which again I stuck down with glossy accents covering the little hole in the middle with a seed bead. I then fastened the snowflake brad using my crop a dile.

As usual, I made a mess and had fun.

B for BIRD

Must have been on a roll yesterday because I made a couple of ATCs too.

This one is inspired by an article in the August Craft Stamper magazine called 'Alter That!' The challenge was to alter a clock but Gail Milburn, the designer, also made a tag which I think is fab. It looks a bit Tim Holtzy and that's what caught my eye.

I used grey card for the base which I stamped swirls on with Ranger Archival ink in black. I then used some worn lipstick distress ink down one side. I gathered some black and white tartan ribbon and roughly sewed it to keep the gathers which I stuck to the bottom edge of the card. I have some sticky webbing which I struggled to fray before adding that to the card behind a chipboard letter B. Both the bird and crown are acrylic stamps which I have stamped, blended and added to the card with 3D foam.

It's different anyway!