My inky travels along life's rocky road

Tuesday 30 October 2012

LIM 91


There is a simple sketch on this week's Less Is More blog of a strip running down the length of a card divided into 3. I decided to turn the sketch around and used some papers from DCWV rose tinted christmas. I edged the pieces with pumice stone DI and added some snowflakes cut from a garland and a glittery wooden tree. The sentiment is a stamp I had made.

Monday 29 October 2012

Calendar Challenge Week 5 (revised)


I was not happy with my original page for the Craft Barn challenge so I decided to change things around a bit. I kept most of the original elements but added some smaller flowers and moved the tape flower.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Calendar Challenge Week 5


This week's challenge on the Craft Barn blog is to use some tape - either homemade or ready made. I used some decorative tape to make a ruffled flower according to some instructions from Tim Holtz. I stamped the stem from Hampton Arts watercolour daisy and coloured it with coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. The background flower stamp is by Prima stamped with Versafine crimson red and Stazon mustard. I used washi tape on the corners and across the page.
Edited to add - well I woke up this morning saw this and wasn't happy at all with it. I just think it looks a mess and so I've deleted it from the Craft Barn blog and am in the process of tweaking it. Sorry if you've already commented on it. Watch this space!

Friday 26 October 2012

KTZ Christmas Challenge S2/C3


The requirement for this was a shaped card, not a rectangle or square. I cut the star shape from a HOTP template, it is hinged on the 2 left hand points. I coloured it with spun sugar DI and added some worn lipstick DI shading and a speckle stamp around the points. The bird is by KTZ  stamped with Versafine crimson red.

Thursday 25 October 2012

KTZ Christmas Challenge S2/C2


For this card we had to use a transparency. It doesn't show well on the scan but the middle section with the baubles is on acetate. I stamped the Whispers stamp with Stazon and coloured on the reverse with permanent markers. The patterned strips are from Dovecraft 'Tis the Season. The text is Hero Arts. The pic below shows the acetate section more clearly.


Wednesday 24 October 2012

KTZ Christmas Challenge S2/C1


For this card we had to follow the layout and the colours of a poster (see below). I made a rectangle template through which I applied various colours of ink that I felt most closely represented the colours on the poster. They were spiced marmalade and worn lipstick DI, Impress spring green and Adirondack stream. The text is from a Woodware set of Christmas words and I embellished with snowflake brads. I love these challenges as they really make me think outside the box and attempt things I wouldn't normally have a go at. My first thought on seeing this poster was 'oh no!' because I couldn't see how I could translate this into a Christmas card but I hope I've pulled it off.


Sunday 21 October 2012

Calendar Challenge Week 4


This week's challenge on the Craft Barn blog is to doodle on our calendar page. I have coveted this diamond mosaic Stampers Anonymous stamp for a long time. When Tim Holtz announced it was being re-released as an unmounted stamp in a classics set I had to buy it. Using my stamp positioner I stamped it several times over some pearlescent lime green card with Versafine olympia green. I doodled over some parts of the pattern with a red pen and edged the page with Versafine spanish moss. The red zig-zags were cut with a Die-namics chevron stripes die.

KTZ Christmas Challenge S1/C1


For this card we had to show a clock or make a reference to time. Thank goodness for this Crafty Individuals stamp that I loved when I first saw it. It's the London skyline (complete with Big Ben) with a Christmas tree to which I added a gold star. I used spun sugar, wild honey, stormy sky and faded jeans DI to attempt my version of a winter sky - you know when the sun has just set and the sky is pink with a dark blue streak at the top. Santa & his sleigh is another CI stamp and I added the text from a small stamp that I've had for years which has an image of Santa's hat on it. Well that's all 3 cards for week 1 done I only hope that inspiration strikes as quickly for the other 9 weeks!

Saturday 20 October 2012

KTZ Christmas Challenge S1/C3


Card 3, week 1 is a monochrome card in white, grey or blue. Although the card looks black in the pic it is a sort of slate grey and I've embossed it with the CB snow folder. I used a Memory Box die, a punched circle for the moon and a text stamp that I had made stamped in Brilliance starlite black.

Katzelkraft 10 Semaines avant Noël S1/C2


...or for all you non French speakers 10 weeks before Christmas. This week marks the return of the challenge on the Katzelkraft forum to make 3 cards a week according to recipes set by our lovely mod Christou. This is the second card this week which requires us to take inspiration from a poster for Coca Cola (see below). I decided to use the colours, the swirls and the upright 'things' as my inspiration. All the stamps are by Katzelkraft (KTZ) coloured with Whispers markers. The quote reads 'let's share in the joy of Christmas'.

Thursday 18 October 2012

Tim Holtz Tag - October


I have to own up that I am NOT a fan of Halloween. I suppose if I lived in The States I would have grown up with it as a festive occasion but here in the UK, except for a few small areas where it has been traditional to celebrate it, I feel it's an occasion manufactured by stores in order to sell pumpkin shaped lollipops, witches hats and other ghoul related stuff. Halloween is definitely my bah humbug moment and I wasn't looking forward to this month's tag but I have to say I enjoyed making it and I'm happy with the end result.
For this month's Tim Holtz tag I used a crumpled book page and stuck it down with creases as instructed. Not having the correct dabbers I used Stazon in pumpkin and imperial purple DTP and then sponged extra colour to fill in any gaps. I thought the Sizzix embossing folder cracked would give a good approximation of a spider's web and highlighted that with Memento London fog and a good spritz of gold spray.  The skeleton and the 'boo' are 2 picks that I think I saved from some cupcakes a few years ago. The calendar and text were computer generated and coloured with spiced marmalade and brushed corduroy DI. I edged the calendar with black Stickles and added an eyelet and some co-ordinating ribbons. I'm really pleased with the texture and the look of this background.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Katzelkraft Card of the Week


This week's challenge was 3 words  - circle, sewing and wood with an added requirement of splatters. Although I started my cardmaking journey making cross stitch cards I am reluctant to pick up a needle and shy away from any sewing challenges but I decided to give it a go. The main image is by Katzelkraft from the winter plate which I got in a Craft Barn goody box (they don't call them goody for nothing!). It fulfilled the wood challenge and cutting it with my framelit die gave me a circle. I coloured the image with coloursoft pencils and Sansodor and added some glamour dust for snow. The paper is from DCWV Retro Prints (the first paper stack I ever bought). I used a HOTP template called Easy Stitches to help pierce some holes and then threaded some embroidery thread through. The splatters are a small Prima stamp I picked up at ally pally called firefly although Katzelkraft does a great splatter stamp that has been on my wish list for a while. I can see this little robin making an appearance on several Christmas cards this year.

Sunday 14 October 2012

Calendar Challenge Week 3


March's page for the Craft Barn Calendar Challenge has to have some green, yellow and white. This week the DT on the Craft Barn blog have been highlighting the use of oil pastels. I bought some of these a while ago so was interested to see how the DT had used them. I was particularily keen to try using them with Sansodor as Jane has done here. My base card is  pearlescent Bazzill in a creamy yellow colour embossed with a Cuttlebug paisley folder. I coloured the Hero Arts tulip stamp with Whisper markers in green yellow & orange and spritzed with water. I stamped off the first image onto scrap paper, sprayed again and used the second image. I then spritzed a gold shimmer spray over the image which is giving a slightly blotchy appearance to the tulips. The mat behind the image and the strip behind the calendar is made of 3 different green oil pastels scribbled diagonally and then rubbed with Sansodor. This year I am planning on binding my calendar with my Bind-It-All so I am leaving a 2cm  allowance at the top.

LIM 89


Thanks to everyone who commented on my entry last week. Hopefully I'll be able to visit more of you this week. The one layer challenge on the Less Is More blog is wings. All the stamps I've used are by Katzelkraft and were stamped with Stazon stone grey. The images were coloured with Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor.
Edited to add - my duh moment - I know my bird is meant to be a hummingbird but for some reason I decided to give it a kingfisher's colours!

Saturday 13 October 2012

Katzelkraft Card of the Week


This week we had to take inspiration from a Dior perfume advert (see below) with the added requirement of using layered papers. Being in autumn/winter mode at the moment I found it really hard to focus on spring colours but if it doesn't require some use of the little grey cells then it isn't really a challenge is it? I finally came up with the above card. The green BG is embossed with a Cuttlebug bloom dots folder to which I added some punched retro flowers and gems. The Suzy Blu image was stamped with Brilliance pearlescent beige and cut out. I then restamped parts of the stamp on various other paper/card and pieced the image together. The legs, skirt and collar were stamped with Impress cherry pink on pink card. The top was stamped on Crafty Individuals patterned paper. I cut out a hat shape from pink card and stamped it with a patterned stamp and gave her a pink belt. I have a Memory Box die for making rolled roses but it was too big so I punched out a small circle from pink card, cut out a spiral shape from it and rolled it into a rose. I sponged some cherry pink ink onto the edges of the rose for shading. The text is by Katzelkraft.

Thursday 11 October 2012

LIM 88 Take 2


My 2nd entry for this week's Less Is More Challenge is a quick card using Tim Holtz's hanging sign Sizzix die. I have glued the post and left the sign hanging free from it's jump rings. The number font is Sizzix Retro Metro and the little dingbats are cut from a Cuttlebug typewriter alphabet die.

Monday 8 October 2012

Calendar Challenge Week 2


Bright colours are required on this week's Craft Barn Calendar Challenge. February is usually a grey and dismal month so I'm sure some brightness will be just perfect for a February calendar page. I wanted to give a nod to Valentines Day but I didn't want that as my main theme (I'm getting too old for all that stuff!). This Crafty Individuals stamp fitted my requirements with a few hearts in the background. The page background uses the Stazon technique (basically rubbing a few Stazon colours randomly on the page). I used mustard, azure and blazing red over a Cornish Heritage Farms stamp. I highlighted some parts with a white pen - I have a Sakura white pen, an Inkessentials white pen and a Uni Posca white marker pen but I never seem to get the results I want from them. The Uni Posca is the best but I need to get a thinner version so that I can add detail more accurately. I left the image and month tab plain white because I wanted a contrast to the bright colours and it also helps pick up the white in the BG. So that's it for today  - a welcome touch of brightness on this wet and miserable day.

Sunday 7 October 2012

LIM 88


Apologies for the blurry pic. I have not had a chance to take part in the Less Is More Challenge for a few weeks. This week's challenge is 'Silver'. As I haven't got around to making a single Christmas card yet I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make a start. Because of the various demands of Royal Mail I make thin cards for the UK, normal cards for India (the local postage is relatively cheap) and small, light cards for overseas. The card above falls into the last category. I bought this Marianne die in Holland this summer and cut it out from silver card. I made a small mask and used a splatter stamp with dusty concord DI in opposite corners. A bow finished off the card. Quick & simple which is just what I need for the stack of cards I have to make.

Monday 1 October 2012

Katzelkraft Card of the Week


This week's card is a sketch using at least 1 Katzelkraft stamp. I used Crafty Individuals paper for the background, a TH lace border die and swiss dots embossed card. The butterfly and text are both by Katzelkraft and stamped with Stazon rusty brown.

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