A Dragon a-flying

Welcome

I have a (tween) grandson who loves dragons. He had a birthday coming up, and I was saying to a friend that I had no dragon stamps, and she brought out this image and allowed me to stamp it off!

I was a bit intimidated in the colouring, but settled down for an afternoon's painting with mica paints.

They gave a fabulous sheen to it, and I was pleased with the result.

The extra 'wing' stamp I painted to match and popped it up on some foam dots

The sentiment was white embossed on a snippet of purple card, and layered over a snippet of green

My friend also gave me some of these wonderful deep blue sparkles that I added

I finished the inside with the same colours of card that I used on the sentiment.

I am linking this to:

Polka Doodles Challenge Week #25 - Anything Goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge #2225 - Anything Goes

A Gem of a Challenge Week #13 - Anything Goes

Dare 2 B Artzy June Challenge - Masculine

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge #184 - Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations June Challenge - Masculine

Crafty Calendar June Challenge - Anything Goes

Send A Smile 4 Kids June Challenge - Tweens or Teens

This was made for a tween grandson

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Fathers Day/Masculine

Colour Crazy Challenge Week #24 - Anything Colouring Goes

A Purple Swap...

Welcome

This is a card I made for a local swap group - following this  tutorial from Natasha Foote.

I know my partner for this round loves purple so that set my colour theme.

It took me four 'sessions' to finally get this done, but I quite enjoyed it - apart from when the gelatos did not do what I expected - I must play with them more!!

First session - I embossed the card and used gelatos to loosely colour the card, activated with water and then left it  to dry and 'booked' it overnight to flatten. 

Second session,  I ran the card through the embossing folder again, then glued on the die cuts and left to dry. Unfortunately, being wet and then dried, it lost some of the dimension.

Third session I added water to purple Brushos powder, and painted the background and dried it again.\

By this time my heat gun was getting a good work out!

 Fourth and final session, I sprinkled over the same Brushos and activated, mopping extra off the flowers. Then when it was dry, I rubbed some Inka Gold gold paste over the flowers and some of the background with my finger. 

Happy with the panel I mounted it on mirror card and then a red base. Die cut the greeting from the mirror card and layered it on two other white layers of card before adhering it to the panel. 

I then tried to photograph it, avoiding the glare from the gold.... not the easiest card to make, but I was pleased with the outcome :)

My swap partner also liked it.

I am linking this to:

Dream Valley Challenge #272 - Add a Sentiment

Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge #2224 - Anything Goes

Cardz 4 Galz Challenge #175- Die Cuts or Punches

Craft Rocket June Challenge #93 - Girls

Addicted To Stamps Challenge #431 - Make Your Mark

Crafty Gals Corner June Challenge #232 - Anything Goes

Elliebelle's Crafty Wednesday June Challenge - Anything Goes

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Add a Sentiment

The Paper Shelter Challenge #516 - Favourite Colour

Purple is the favourite colour of the recipient of this card

Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #547 + 548 - Anything Goes

A Little Knitting...

Welcome

Over the past few years... yes, years, I have been gradually using up oddments of wool in my stash to make a blanket, and I also bought a few new balls of wool along the way, 

This is the finished article!!

The small centre blocks were all knitted together as I went, and the first layer of stripes were also knitted onto that block - and then RSI and cubital tunnel struck, so it came to a grinding halt.

You can see here that some thinner wools were knitted together, and that sometimes I used only small sections of one colour, just using up the 'bits'

I was given some variegated acrylic yarn, and  crocheted the edges to give a colourful finish and a firm edge.

I also made up a handful of crocheted circles to tie it all together, and added them to the centre panel to brighten it up a wee bit, and to, in one instance, hide an 'oops'.

So that was my wee bit of knitting.

Coffee and Flowers

Welcome

I'm not sure how the time rushed by quite so quickly - I was going to post again before this but...

This is a card I made recently, using a Catherine Pooler background stamp.  It was embossed with white ep, and then painted with mica paints.

This gives some idea of the sheen they gave

The sentiment is an old S/B die, that I cut in gold card, and stacked over two layers of white, but it still got lost on the card face, so I then added a slightly offset layer of black

I recently purchased these gorgeous blue gems, and when I realised the matched the flowers so beautifully, I added them to the three blue flowers and a couple of others for added bling

I kept the inside simple with some geometric pink Washi tape

and because the recipient loves her coffee - I made this tag, using STAMPlorations dies and stamp - Stamped using Espresso ink - some twine finished it.

I am linking this to:

Patties Creations Challenge #195 - Anything Goes

Colour Crazy Challenge Week #23 - Anything Goes Colouring Challenge

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #232 - Anything Goes

The Paper Shelter Challenge #515 - Flower Power

Creative Fingers Challenge #233 - Anything Goes

Polka Doodles Challenge Week #24 - Anything Goes

Allsorts Challenge #680 - Any Stamped Image

Allie's Angels Challenge - Anything Goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge #2224 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #547 + 548 - Anything Goes

Black and White Only

Welcome

There is a new challenge at Word Art Wednesday starting today, and our  wonderful sponsors are 

Stix2 Anything  with a package of their products - and I can say their product is wonderful, having once won a package!!

I wanted to teach this technique (taught by Natasha Foote) at my class yesterday, so decided I would use it for this card for demonstration purposes as well, as I was running a bit late in the making of it, so it was a two for one effort.

With the scripture having a masculine edge to it, I chose this stencil with the gears on, which turned out to be rather spectacular done in black on white

I have found when I did this one other time, to stop the stencilled pieces from getting lost on the background, I wiped the edges across the black ink pad - I also did that to the edge of the card base as well.  I have tried to show this in the photo below.  

I mounted the panel using clear foam tape from Stix2 Anything, and the dimension shows in this photo also.

I did finish the inside with some finely printed black and white washi tape, but the camera would not focus on it and all the images were blurred.

I am linking this to:

Jan's Digi Stamp June Challenge - Anything Goes

Digi Chooseday Challenge Week #23 - Anything Goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge #2223 - Anything Goes

Unicorn Challenge #77 - Monochrome

Arty Divas May Challenge - Anything Goes

Clever Dexter Challenge #30 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore June Challenge #100 - Anything Goes

CCC Digi Creations Challenge #137 - Eileens Anything Goes Challenge

Creative Crafters Challenge #52 - Anything Goes

QKRStampede Challenge #445 - Anything Goes

Gizmos and a Bow...

Welcome

I seem to be blogging a lot of cards with a steampunk look/theme, and this was probably one of the ones that I have enjoyed making the most.

Be warned, this is a photo heavy post, but I will refrain from a long dialogue.

The concept for this card came earlier in the year when I purchased a 3/4 Designs card kit of papers and ephemera called Gizmo Escapades .  The papers are fabulous quality, and I have since purchased other packs for future use...  

I trimmed a sheet of printed paper,  distressed the edges,  then sponged Versamark ink through  a diecut piece of acetate, acting as a 'stencil', then clear embossed it.  The next step was to sponge the sheet with Vintage Photo DI - it turned out exactly how I had envisaged it. 

I had spent some time cutting out all the printed sheets of elements in the kit, so all I had to do was to select the ones I wanted to use - I then added glossy accents to parts of them, and left them to dry.

The ribbon was some my grand daughter brought home from a birthday party, and it toned perfectly with the card, and I managed to get a tiny and tidy bow made - it doesn't happen every time ;)

The bow was glue dotted onto the largest element, and then I stamped the sentiment, die cut it and distressed it to match the card, then attached it to the bow with some string

I couldn't resist this bee - they are not my favourites, but this one...

The inside was finished with another home made stencil, and I used not only the same DI, but a couple of times I touched the brush onto some blue ink to reflect the colours in the ephemera. 

I have heard the the recipient loved it!

I am linking this to:

CCC Digi Creations - Eileen's Anything Goes Challenge

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge #183 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz Challenge #598 - Anything Goes

Polka Doodles Challenge Week #23 - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar June Challenge - Anything Goes

Corrosive Challenge for June - Anything Goes

We Love 2 Create Mixed Media Challenge #6- Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #545 + 546 - Anything Goes

A Gem of a Challenge Week #12 - Anything Goes

Beyond the Blue Challenge #63 - Flowers

Steampunk and Fishy

Welcome

I recently bought a new stamp set from the local shop that had been imported, and unbranded.

They have a Steampunk look to them, and I love them, and I have several men in the extended family who love to fish!

This card started with a 'mop up' piece, using Catherine Pooler Aquatini ink, then sprayed with a silver mica spray to further mimic water

I stamped and silver embossed the image, and then painted it with mica based paints.

I wanted to frame the image, and ended up cutting two hexagons using Hero Art Infinity dies from silver mirror card, and offset them around the fish.

The sentiment was sliver embossed on vellum which I cut to a double banner shape, and mounted over a thin scrap strip of the same mirror card.

I also added a rectangle of card under opposite corners of the main panel, and used a silver pen to freehand 'stitch' around the balance of the panel.

I used a Riley's Funny Bone Stamp in the centre.

I am linking this to:

Crafting Happiness June Challenge - Anything Goes

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Digi Chooseday Challenge Week #22 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations June Challenge - Masculine

Paper Fun Day Challenge #42 - Anything Goes, Opt Masculine

Crafty Friends June Challenge #156 - Masculine

Moving Along With the Times June Challenge # 143- Masculine

Elliebelle's Crafty Wednesday June Challenge - Anything Goes

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Little Critters

Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #545 + 546 - Anything Goes