My inky travels along life's rocky road

Friday 30 March 2012

UKS ATC Swap April 2012



I'm trying to get ahead while I have the time. Faces is the theme of the swap organised by Vonny on UK Stampers for April. As I've just done some face themed twinchies I tried to use different stamps but essentially the stamping and masking technique is the same. Oddly enough this is the first time I've ever done a set of ATCs which are identical but in different colourways. Not earth shattering I know but something new for me. I matched each colourway to a mood
  • blue - sadness, DI tumbled glass, broken china, faded jeans and Adirondack eggplant.
  • green - jealousy, DI bundled sage, crushed olive,  peeled paint and Adirondack meadow.
  • red - anger, DI spiced marmalade, rusty hinge, barn door and Adirondack red pepper. 
The face is an old Rubbadubadoo image and the BG text is by Just for Fun - I'm making an effort to use old forgotten stamps. The main text is stamped with my alphabet wheel stamp - I'm into banners in a big way at the moment so all my little strips of text are being cut in a v-shape. I spritzed water on the completed ATCs so that the DIs would react to add a bit of interest and finished with some co-ordinating card candy.

Thursday 29 March 2012

LIM 60 - Take 3 Challenges



For this weeks LIM Challenge Chrissie & Mandi have asked us to combine 3 challenges from previous weeks. As a relatively new participant it was a good opportunity to try out some of the past challenges.
A busy week meant I didn't have too much time to spend on this. I used a strip of washi tape, a butterfly cut & emboss die and some star shaped gems. The text is part of a quote 'dance in the moonlight and reach for the stars'. The weeks I chose were:
Week 9 - a touch of red
Week 12 - off centre
Week 16 - butterflies
Week 43 - a bit of bling
Week 55 - diecuts & punches

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Gothic Arches - Bedazzled



The current challenge over on the Gothic Arches blog is 'Bedazzled'. The BG is bundled sage DI through sequin waste, Brilliance orange sponged through a TH flourish negative and an Anita's starburst stamp. The image is from an old Erté diary embellished with a gold pen, silver glitter and black enamel accents. Some computer generated text and a beaded pin complete the arch. I bought some buttonhole pins in black and pearl from a florist wholesalers and I'm having fun adding beads and making my own decorative pins. It's a great way to use up the odd leftover bead that languishes at the bottom of the container.

Sunday 18 March 2012

LIM 59 - Masking

This is a quick entry for this week's Less Is More challenge the theme of which is masking. I decided to go monochrome for another card for a male. I stamped the 4 square stamp onto the card and onto a scrap piece of card. I cut out one of the squares on the scrap with a scalpel and used the rest as a mask to stamp the pocket watch stamp (Rubbadubadoo) in different positions. A text stamp completed the card. Hope you like it.

UKS Twinchie Swap - Faces

Stitcharama-girl is hosting a faces themed twinchie swap on UK Stampers. I am still on a mission to use up scraps and a search through one of my many bags of leftovers revealed three twinchie sized backgrounds. I think they had dusty concord, worn lipstick & scattered straw DI on them. I stamped various images, the first two are from grab bags and the last is from an Oxford Impressions sheet. All 3 were masked and I overstamped a background stamp. I stamped some text and added some dots with a Uni Posca pen.

Monday 12 March 2012

LIM 58 - Script


This week's LIM challenge is to use some script on a one layer card in addition to any sentiment text. I love script as a background and use it often but it struck me that script didn't only have to mean roman script so I dug out my All Night Media chinese calligraphy stamp and stamped it in Memento london fog. I'm developing a real fondness for greys - my last 2 ink pad purchases have been london fog & Stazon stone grey. The bird is a Simple Expressions stamp and the text is by Stampsmith. I know Chrissie & Mandi are not keen on floating branches but the brush style of the image didn't seem to need grounding and didn't look right anywhere but in the middle of the page. Hope you like it and I hope to be able to see everyone else's creations this week.

Sunday 11 March 2012

UKS ATC Swap March 2012

This month's ATC swap on UK Stampers is organised by Vonny and the theme is 'freedom'. I thought of the suffragette movement and Emmeline Pankhurst and managed to find a suitable image online. I'm making an effort to revisit old techniques/fads so I decided to use a slide mount. I used a template to draw the slide mount, coloured it with broken china DI and ran it through a CB embossing folder. I ran a brayer with brushed corduroy over the embossing to highlight the raised edges and attached the image. For the BG I made a mask from TH's flourish die and used the die cut and the waste with the same DIs. I also used a PA text stamp in Stazon stone grey. I attached the text with some staples (another item I haven't used in a while).

Friday 9 March 2012

UKS Postcard Swap March

Sam who is organising the postcard swap on UK Stampers gave us a theme of 'windows' this month. This postcard is the result of inspiration from 2 sources. Firstly Cardcraft on UKS had posted a canvas that had very striking eyes on it and this reminded me that I hadn't used this Hampton Arts stamp (butterfly eye) for a long time. Secondly Rustycage on UKS had created a beautiful vividly coloured postcard for the swap and that made me think that I hadn't used any bright colours for a while. It hasn't come out exactly as I had imagined but those eyes do give me the creeps!
First I stamped the image and masked it. Then I dabbed various blue DIs over the card and stamped Impression Obsession's geologic in Impress cerulean blue. The BG also has a PA text stamp that says 'do not look inside' but unfortunately it doesn't show up very well. The butterfly was coloured with coloursoft pencils and I painted iridescent medium over the wings for a soft sheen. The border is made up of a Penny Black flourish and a Studio G flourish and I have added dots with a white Posca pen. The text is computer generated - I love this Dymo font.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

LIM 57 - Neutrals

This week's challenge on the Less Is More blog is to use neutrals. I love neutrals, I always favour creams/browns/greys when I have to choose a colour, so WHY did it take me so long to make a card this week?????? I dithered about what I was going to do until finally I decided that as I had to make a birthday card for a male friend I would use that to make a neutral card. The card blank is ivory and the stamp is another grab bag special stamped with Adirondack ginger. I used a scrap (yes I'm on a mission to use them) of brown card embossed with a CB candy cane folder. I had the perfect matching eyelets but I don't own a Big Bite and my Crop-a-dile didn't reach far enough so after much searching I found my old punch & setter (you know the noisy ones you have to hammer). The text is a printed sheet from Craftwork Cards. I'm not going to be able to visit everyone but I will try to get around to as many of you as possible this week.

Monday 5 March 2012

Gothic Arches

This is a fortnightly challenge that's been running for a while but has recently been revitalised by Effie and Lynn, two very talented crafters who I chat with on UK Stampers. You can find more info here. I thought I'd give it a go as the theme resonated with me - DS2 will be leaving for university this year and I have the perfect PA stamp (kids plate 5) for this. My BG is made from Impress inks tapped onto a piece of acetate, spritzed with water and then some card is smooshed over to pick up the ink. The swirl border is an Inkadinkadoo inchie stamp stamped in Impress cerulean blue. I added some CI birds and a bit of glossy accents to add a touch of dimension.

Sunday 4 March 2012

Tim Holtz Tag - March




This month's Tim tag IMO is quite minimalistic and seemed a departure from his usual style. That's not to say I didn't enjoy making it - the mosaic technique is fiddly but I liked the effect. There are quite a lot of substitutions but I've tried to be true to the original which you can see here.
I used tea dye & brushed corduroy DIs as I didn't have walnut stain or vintage photo. Instead of the woodgrain stamp I used a woodgrain embossing folder by Craft Concepts. Unfortunately this meant I couldn't stamp straight onto the tag so I stamped onto a scrap of card. I spritzed a homemade perfect pearls spray. The text is from TH's life's possibilities set. The butterflies are a die from Sizzix/ Hero Arts. The papers are from DCWV flower stack. Not having any wonder tape I used my usual carpet DST which turned out not to be heatproof. When I tried to heat the verdigris embossing powder all my carefully stuck on mosaic bits lifted and moved into a lump as the DST melted. What you see is my 2nd attempt. The melting DST left a sticky residue on the diecuts which was enough to stick the new mosaic pieces and the embossing powder. Then I put glossy accents over the mosaic pieces. I didn't have any foliage pieces so I used some punches to complete the tag.
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