My inky travels along life's rocky road

Tuesday 28 November 2017

Rebel Stampers ATC Swap - Theme


The theme for this month's ATC swap is 'Festive'. I used 2 of my old favourite snowman stamps by Funstamps and Hobby Art. I tore some sparkly wallpaper sample for the snow drifts and double embossed the snowmen, first embossing the outline and then using embossing pens for the detail. I used white puff twinkle embossing powder on the hats. The ATC blanks were embossed with the snow folder and the sentiment is a stamp I had made many years ago.

Wednesday 22 November 2017

Rebel Stampers ATC Swap - Technique 2


For my second single layer stamping technique ATC I decided to do something in a completely different style. It's been ages since I used the grid technique and I love the effect.
The focal image is  by Tin Can Mail. I stamped it onto the ATC blank with Versafine onyx black. I used a die to cut out a mask for it and covered it up. The surrounding segments were all done in the same way - post-it notes created a small sector which I coloured with cracked pistachio DI, black chalk was run along the edge of the post-it notes and then I used a stamp with Versafine smokey gray. the stamps are all from a Personal Impressions set called Zendoodles except for the bottom centre swirly one which is by Paper Artsy and the one to the right of that which is by Kaisercraft. So lots of masking and stamping but I'm pleased with the effect.

Tuesday 21 November 2017

Rebel Stampers ATC Swap - Technique


The technique we have to use this month is single layer stamping. I have interpreted this to mean a one layer ATC. I decided to use a Wplus9 stamp set, watercolour anemones, that I fell in love with when I saw what had been made with it. Unfortunately I have not had a lot of success with this set but I decided that a little practice might help. I used scattered straw, wild honey and spiced marmalade DIs after trying a few colour combos. Although the stamps are grouped into sets to help with layering I still find it hard to line them up but I think the idea is to give a loose, watercoloured effect. I added some small leaves which are part of the set with Versafine Spanish moss. To continue the watercoloured look I added some splatters of watered down spiced marmalade after covering up the flowers and then stamped the sentiment from  Kaisercraft's shine bright set.

Thursday 9 November 2017

People have birthdays in November too...




I have a lot of birthday cards to make in November for friends and family. It's a pleasant respite from Christmas and gave me the chance to use this new die which I loved as soon as I saw it online. It has a joyous quality about it and I decided to pair it with a colourful alcohol ink background. I haven't played with my inks for a long time but the introduction of Yupo paper has seen an increase in their popularity. The base for my inks is not Yupo paper but as I was clearing out some files I found these subject dividers that had an almost plastic feel to them so I thought they would be a good base for alcohol inks. I used cranberry, lettuce and eggplant and left some of the base clean for contrast. A large circle punch gave me a moon and the text is leftover from a Dymo-style sheet. I mounted it onto a cream blank.
 

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Quick & Easy Christmas Cards



The weather has been dull and gloomy and so my pics are unfortunately even worse than usual but hopefully they will give you some ideas if you are struggling to complete handmade cards for everyone on your list. I used to send out a LOT of cards every year but a combination of factors including the proliferation of email, high postage costs and retirement mean that the number of cards I have to make has fallen. I like to make a few different types so I don't get bored but I try and keep them CAS (like me!) The small cards are 4" square, the tree is a standard A6 and the reindeer is somewhere in between (I had some envelopes I wanted to use up).
They are fairly self-explanatory but here's a quick description of each one starting in the top left-hand corner:
1. A Cuttlebug embossing folder with a strip of washi tape. The sentiment by Papermania is on a diecut rectangle (a hinged stamp positioner makes accurate stamping of the sentiment quick and easy).
2. A Tim Holtz die with Stickles dotted on for berries. The holly in the corners is a punch and the sentiment is one I had made many years ago.
3. The tree and the star are from the same die set as card no2. The sentiment is a very old Hero Arts one.
4. A Cuttlebug embossing folder with a Joy Crafts die. The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted. I've added a red nose from the waste from a small hole punch.
 
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