Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 203

For our first challenge of 2018, Bling's the Thing here at Crafty Cardmakers. So, we want to see some shimmer, shine and glitz!

For this, I decided to do some stamping, but wanted to come up with a shimmery background first, so I got out my Twinkling H2Os which have been gathering dust for a while.

I recently bought some really cheap watercolour paper (from either a Pound shop of possibly The Works; can't remember). And while it has an unattractive greyish tone, is really really good at taking a lot of water without distorting much. So, I started by getting it fairly wet, and added some Twinkling H2Os both by brush and by pouring excess off the top, mixing and blending the colours as I went. When this was dry, I got out my stamping platform and some magazine freebie stamps, and stamped and embossed some flowers. I used Versamark ink and a bronze coloured embossing powder.When I'd done that, I coloured the flowers with more of the same shades of Twinkling H2Os. As a central image, I stamped and embossed more of the flowers onto a die-cut octagon of white card, and finished with a sentiment.

I completed the card with bronze mirror card and some green sticky gems.

I hope you can join us this fortnight.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 148

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More the challenge is to make it sparkle!. Oddly, when I saw this, I didn't reach for my glitter collection. Instead, I saw an opportunity to get out my Twinkling H2O watercolours which I haven't used in ages.

The image is from Floppy Latte Designs and I printed it onto watercolour paper. The background paper is from a magazine freebie pad I've had for some time. The flowers were made using watercolour paper painted to match the image and cut using Sizzix dies.

Having done one card, I decided to do another in a completely different colourscheme.

I hope you can join us this time.

I'd like to enter this card intot he following challenges:

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 137

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want you to 'Make one for Christmas'.

We're sponsored this week by


This week, I worked with an image from Beary Dust called Dyanna.

Now, it's not a specifically Christmassy image but she does look ready for a night out! I teamed her with a freebie Christmas paper from Jak Heath which she offered last year? It's beautifully subtle, and she offered various different shades. I decided to go a little bit traditional, and go for the green. I combined the Beary Dust image with the background in Photoshop Elements and added a suitable sentiment. Now, that was particularly easy because these Beary Dust images give you the ideal (for me) png options. They're transparent in the background, but solid black or white within the image. So, no messing around, just place, size, and print. (I'm never sure why other digi artists don't offer this option. All transparent is almost as difficult to use as a jpg!)

So, once I'd done that, my work was almost done! Well, actually, I added some colour to Dyanna - giving her dress a hint of green (too subtle a hint to be obvious in the photo ...) and doing her flesh and hair tones. Then, since they were still on the table due to a different project, I used one of my irridescent Twinkling H2Os to give her earrings and eyeshadow a bit of shimmer. I matted onto some pearlescent card from the Papermania Capsule collection, and cut some snowflakes from the same card using a Cuttlebug die in my Wizard.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

ABC Christmas where anything goes,
I Love Promarkers where they want Christmas,
Willow Sketchie where the theme is Christmas,

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 77

This week at Crafty Cardmakers it was my turn to choose the challenge. So, I kept it fairly simple, but there's an extra twist if you want to go with it. I want Autumn-themed cards. So, autumn colours or scenes, or, better still, Autumn festivals (but not Hallowe'en!) There are loads of Autumn festivals - but only one seems to have challenges galore, so here's your chance to celebrate something different! And, if you choose a challenge that's not so well-known, I'd love it if you'd explain a little about it when you post.

We are sponsored by

Milk n' Coffee Digital Stamps
Cute digis for cute creations 
 

I've actually made two cards for this challenge. The first uses an image from our new sponsor. It's called 'Girl Collecting Chestnuts', and it's got a beautifully autumnal feel.

I took an element from the image, and used it to create a border in Photoshop Elements. For me, that's one of the advantages of using digital images - you can make papers and embellishments from the image itself really easily. I coloured with Promarkers, and matted using a Spellbinders die cut, and paper from the Papermania Capsule collection, finishing with some sticky gems.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafts and Me where anything goes,
Inky Impressions where they want Autumn colours,
Die Cutting Divas where they want Autumn colours,
Sarah Hurley where the theme is Autumn,
Two Sisters where anything goes,
Challenge Up Your Life where anything goes.

And, as an example of a 'Not a Hallowe'en Festival', I thought I'd do something on Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night. Having decided to do that, I trawled around trying to find some suitable images and failed. So, I was forced back onto my own devices. Now, I don't consider myself at all artistic - I can't draw to save my life. So, it was with some trepidation that I show you what I came up with!

I started with some black card, and onto it I painted some 'fireworks' using irridescent Twinkling H2Os. I roughly edged the card with the same colours, and mounted that onto some silver mirror board that I embossed in my Wizard using a Sizzix folder. Then, in Photoshop Elements, I put together a multi-coloured version of the traditional Bonfire Night rhyme, which was also matted onto silver board.

I must admit, I'm not entirely happy with the result, but I doubt I'll ever be happy with anything I've done 'freehand' like that, so it's here for all to see!

I hope you can join us this week, and I'm really looking forward to learning about some new Autumn festivals!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Whimsy where they want 'sparkly things',
Craftymess where anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 76

Our challenge today is called Indian Summer and is hosted by Mynnette 
Mynnette would like to see a created scene using any nature themed stamps you have, digis welcome. Examples of nature themed stamps are leaves, grasses, wildflowers, etc.  Anything nature and autumn! Plus use only oranges, yellows, and reds for colors (black/brown and white/cream are allowed as well).  Perhaps a sentiment of gratitude or autumn would also be appropriate!

Here is some inspiration for you~

  
We are sponsored by

DI'S DIGI DOWNLOADS 

I've used an image from the recently closed Digi Doodle Shop. I was really sorry to see the shop close - they had a wonderful range of landscape images which I love (and bought!)

I coloured the image with Promarkers. The paper is from the Papermania Capsule Collection, and I finished with some glittery brown card, some ribbon, and some stamped leaves I made last year! I embossed in gold and painted them with Twinkling H2Os. I made more than I needed then, but they work perfectly with this image!

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card intot he following challenges:

Paper Pretties where they want something Autumn-inspired,

Can You Digi It? where the theme is 'Indian Summer',

Everybody Art where the theme is 'Autumn',

Passion for Promarkers where the theme is 'Autumn Leaves',

Crafty Creations where the theme is 'Autumn Leaves',

Digistamps 4 Joy where the theme is 'All the Leaves are Brown',

I Love Promarkers where they have a 'male theme' this week. (Hope you consider this card 'masculine' enough!

Deicious Doodles where the theme is 'Autumn',

Emergency Crafters where the theme is 'Autumn Leaves',

Pattie's Creations where anything goes.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 59 - Don't Use Flowers!

Here's a chance to make a male card, or a general card, or even something as girly as you like, all we're asking is that you don't add flowers! Of course, looking around blogland, that might prove to be quite a challenge.

Our sponsors this time are Digi Doodle's Shop and One Stop Card Crafts.

I decided to use a Digi Doodles image I won a while ago, and this one is probably my favourite. It's called 'Waterfall'.

I watercoloured the image - mainly with Aquamarkers, although the water uses Twinkling H2Os for that little bit of shimmer. The background paper is from Paper Cellar, and I edged it with turquoise ink. The swirls are Spellbinders die cuts. And that's it!

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Cupcake Craftroom where anything goes,
Emerald Faerie where they want swirls,
Stamp N Doodle wehre anything goes,
The Paper Shelter where anything goes,
Inky Impressions where anything goes,
Crafty Emma's where anything goes,
House of Gilli where anything goes,
Stamp and Create where anything goes,
Gingerloft where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 83

This week at One Stitch at a Time, the challenge is anything goes! So, what're you waiting for? Our sponsors this week are the Stamping Boutique, and I was lucky enough to work with one of their images, and I liked it so much, I've used it four times (so far!)

 In this one, I printed the image onto watercolour paper, and coloured it with Twinkling H2Os.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
PapertakeWeekly where anything goes,
Crafty Emma where they want to see red,
Kraftin' Kimmie where they want sparkle and shine,

Secret Crafter where they want shine,


The other three were all printed onto my usual Ryman card, and coloured with Promarkers.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
One Stop where anything goes,
Little Claire where the theme is Christmas,


All the papers and chipboard shapes come from the pad and package that were the freebie with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine - and I've got to say, I found them fairly inspiring! I added some Distress Ink around the paper edges, and some ribbon, and that's about it!

Our sponsors this week are

and

Hope you can join us this week.

Long Time, No Blog

I haven't been around much lately. Although I've been at home, I'm anxiously awaiting various paperwork from banks so I can get my mums accounts submitted and things handed over to the solicitor. And the banks keep making mistakes and taking forever to correct them. It's looking like I might not get it all finished in time for going back to school in a couple of weeks which is crazy.


What with hanging around, waiting for the postman, and generally fretting about things, I haven't done a lot of cardmaking. I've taken leave from OSAAT because I'm just not reliable at the moment, and Crafty Cardmakers/Spotlight is taking a break because so many DT members just needed some time away for various reasons. Still, I make cards as a recreation, so the other day, while I was frustrated at yet another mistake in the figures I was sent, I decided to calm myself with a little watercolouring.

A while ago, I tried out my Aquamarkers and wasn't that impressed, but I stuck with them, and having found a better watercolour paper, I'm getting better results. (I've still got concerns about some colours specifically which seem to sink into the paper instantly and defy all attempts to move the colour at all.) And, when I'm feeling a bit down, what better than to think about fairies and fantasy creatures?

(Entered into the following challenges: Die Cut Dreams where the theme is pink, green and coffee,

Stamps R Us where 'anything goes'

Corrosive Challenges where the theme is 'girlie'

Stamp Insanity where 'anything goes)

 

(Entered into the following challenges: Stamps +Fun where they want 'mythical creatures'

Fashionable Stamping where the theme is hand-made flowers,

Simply Stamping where the theme is 'punch it up'

Art Impressions where 'anything goes.)

Both Ching Chou Kuik images, of course. The top card uses some of those gorgeous MME papers from a magazine. In the case of the second, I coloured as I wanted to, and then found I didn't have any paper to match. so, I got out some yellow card, tapestry stamps and distress Inks. I've also used a Martha Stewart border punch on that one.

The flowers in both are made using a Martha Stewart cornflower punch and card coloured with Aquamarkers and Twinkling H2Os.

(Entered into the following challenges: Cards for Men where 'anything goes',

Here Come the Boys where the theme is brown and oranges,

Lollipop Crafts where the theme is 'make it masculine' )

This one is quite different. I love my Blossom Kaleidacolor ink pad - so much so that I've been wanting to get a few more. I finally ordered a couple - Autumn Leaves and Berry Blaze. I've got to say, I'm not as impressed with the colours on these. The thing I love about the blossom one is that the colours blend to give other colours which are very different to those in the pad while all the shades work beautifully together. With these two newer pads, the colours do work well together, but you only seem to get the basic five shades you started with. Still, Craft Stamper had a lovely leaf stamp recently, so I stamped it with the Autumn Leaves pad, using various combinations of the colours. The background uses the same pad, with the colours added to a non-stick sheet and 'smooshed' with some water.

(Entered into the following challenges: Bunny Zoe where they want Easel cards,

Shabby Tearoom where the theme is summer with a photo inspiration,

Dream Valley where there is a colour theme,

One Stop where the theme is 'bold and bright'

Stampman where they want summer colours,

I Love Promarkers where they want easel cards.)

And finally, a card for my sister and her partner. They got the keys to a new house just a few days after Mum died. It needed quite a lot of work, so they didn't move in right away, and instead pulled the place apart. They're due to finally move in in a couple of weeks.

The image is a Dover Books sample I've had for a while. It's actually a colouring page, but meant to be much bigger. Shrinking it to card-sized made it a bit fiddly to colour, but I was happy with the result, using Promarkers. The paper is from Papermania, and the sentiment is computer generated.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 51

One of my favourite themes at Crafty Cardmakers this time - Butterflies! I think if I were to sort my craft goodies by theme, butterflies would probably come third to flowers and fairies!

I started with the butterfly - a beautiful digi from Delicious Doodles which I printed and coloured with Sakura Stardust pens in a range of blues, greens and copper. I then made some paper using the same image, coloured digitally, in Photoshop Elements.

The flower is from Prima, and I coloured it using Twinkling H2Os, and finished it with a sticky gem which I coloured to match using a Promarker. I used a Martha Stewart border punch. The 'stem' ribbon was coloured with Promarker, and the card was finished with a bow.

Hope you can join us this time!

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 63 - Bling It On!

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want to see some bling! Gem stones, mica, glitter - you name it, we want to see it!

We're sponsored by One Stop Card Crafts who're offering a £10 voucher,.

And, Digis with Attitude who're offering three digis of the winner's choice.

This week, I got to work with someone who's new to the Stitchy Bear shop - Glitterbabe. I chose her 'Bluecap' image, even though I have no idea what a bluecap should look like. (I'm really not knowledgable about flowers at all!) But, going from the name, I decided on some blues!

I printed the image onto watercolour paper, then painted it with Twinkling H2Os. The background was white card, stamped with Versamark ink and clear embossed before being sprayed with Radiant Rain in matching shades. The flower is from Prima, similarly sprayed, and finished with a gemmed brad, and I added a couple of feathers to complete. The lace is from Hobbycraft, but because it's so transparent, I threaded some white ribbon through it to give more emphasis to the white.

I hope you can join us this week.

I had a comment last week about the fact that I'd specified how I'd fulfilled one of the challenge requirements, and I'm not sure if I offended or not. Please, don't be offended! I'm on a couple of DTs and I know it's sometimes hard to see if someone has fulfilled the requirements - especially if they don't describe how they made their project and if something could be done in several ways, or if the photograph is small. I'm just trying to save you from having to scour through the post to find out! If it's more irritating than helpful then I'll stop!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Paper Pretties where they want flowers,
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge where anything goes,
Truely Scrumptious where anything goes,
A Spoonful of Sugar where anything goes,
Clear it Out which wants us to use any colouring medium (Twinkling H2Os and Mica sprays)
Get Hippity with Ippity where they want a main image of flowers,
Bunny Zoe where they want us to use lace,


Kaboodle Doodles where they're playing 'Tic Tac Toe' or where I come from 'Exes and Ohs' and I've chosen the bottom row - digi, lace and flowers,
2 Sisters where they want us to use a digi,
Little Claire where they want sparkle (Twinkling H2Os and Mica Sprays).

Crafty Cardmakers Embossing Challenge

This time on Crafty Cardmakers, we want to see your embossing! It can be heat embossing, or dry embossing by machine or hand - it's up to you!

This time, we're sponsored by Joanna Sheen, who's offering a £10 voucher to the lucky winner.

As is often the case, I couldn't make up my mind, so I've got a couple of cards to show you.

This one uses a background which I stamped in gold ink then embossed with holographic clear powder. Then I edged the card with more of the gold ink. The image is a die cut I bought while on holiday a while ago. I heat embossed it, first with a blue ultra-thick powder, for about four layers, and then with some gold ultra-thick powder, before stamping the result with a floral background stamp while the embossing was still melted.

I finished the card with some matting, and some sticky gems coloured with Promarker.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenges where anything goes,
Paper Pretties where they want texture (embossed dragonfly and background),
Crafty Creations where anything goes,
Sew Many Cards where anything goes,
Stamp Something where anything goes,
AI Factory where they want something from a nature walk (dragonfly),
Creative Inspirations where they want glitzy and bling,
Card Cupids Blog where they want no patterned paper (hope this counts - it wasn't patterned when I started!).


And then, there's something a little different!

The image is from Crafts and Me, and was stamped (in black) and heat embossed (clear). (One tip I picked up some years ago when I was struggling with stamping in general, was to put your colour with ink and emboss clear as it tends to record more detail because the embossing powder 'smudges' when it melts.) I've watercoloured the image with a combination of Aquamarkers and Twinkling H2Os.

The background is Coredinations Chocolate Box card, and I used a Spellbinder's Borderability (for the scallops), and embossed with Cuttlebug folders in my Wizard, then sanded to reveal the blue shade underneath.

The flowers are from some gorgeous lace I'm hoarding (and yes, I've got it in two different widths - I like it that much!) The lace and the ribbon are both from Hobbycraft.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown where they want die cuts (borderability die with scallopped edge)
Top Tip Tuesday where they're having a flower frenzy,
Papertake Weekly where they want punches or die cuts (borderability die with scallops),
Everybody Art where they want flowers,
Creative Craft Challenge where they want distressing (distressed embossing),
Clear it Out where they want ribbon or trim (ribbon and lace pieces),
Fabulous Friday where they want ribbon,
Really Reasonable Ribbon where anything goes,
I Did it Creations where they want ribbon and lace (the flowers are from a piece of lace).

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 49

One Stitch at a Time is having a birthday! And to celebrate, there's candy on some DT blogs, and loads of prizes for this week's challenge. And the theme for the challenge is 'Pretty Things'.

Sponsors this week: The Stamping Boutique, Robyn's Fetish, Copic Markers, Hobby Habitat, Dezina World, and Robin's Nest. How's that for a lineup?

'Pretty' is one of those words that describes so many possiblities. For me, it means lovely colours, shiny things, lace, flowers, butterflies. I loved the image I chose for this challenge. It's a silhouette from Floppe Latte which is available from the Stitchy Bear shop. In fact, I liked it so much, I used it in two different ways!

This first project is fairly traditional - except that I've used Twinkling H2Os instead of my usual Promarkers. I thought the 'pretty' tag suggested adding that bit of sparkle. I adjusted the colour of the silhouette in Photoshop Elements before printing it onto watercolour paper. Then, I tried to reproduce a gradient effect using the paints. The papers are from the Papermania Capsule collection, and I've coloured some Prima flowers with the paints I used in the image.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Pear Tree Designs where it's a 'Free for All',
Craft Your Passion where 'Anything Goes'
Charisma Cardz where the theme is 'Myth and Fantasy'
Sweet Stamping where the theme is 'Love Bug' or an insect on your card (butterfly in image).
Little Claire's where 'Anything Goes'

And now for something a bit different. This time, I've gone for a largely digital effect.

I coloured the image in Photoshop Elements - the sky is a pale lilac shading in to turquoise but doesn't show well. Then, I printed five copies on polyester film. I cut panels to size, and cut out rectangular apertures using my nesties to make the 'fairy light'. The card uses the last printed image, and I've mounted it on holographic card. Here, I've also used my borderabilities and some ribbon, and on both, I've added a die cut butterfly.

Here's a picture of what I'm calling my 'fairy lights' where you can see some of the shading.

I'd like to enter this into the Simon Says Stamp challenge which is for 'Anything but a Card.

And a close up of the card so you can see the detail.

I'd like to enter this card and 'fairy light' into the following challenges:
Top Tip Tuesday where the theme is 'Frame It',
Stamping with the Dragon whose theme is 'Anything Goes'.

Hope you can join us this week, and don't forget to check out the other DT members' beautiful creations..

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 47 (Post 2)

This is my second OSAAT post of the day - scroll down for a Hope Jacare image!

I was also lucky enough to be able to work with one of our Sponsor's images from Make it Crafty - a pretty background called 'Petals and Palings'. I teamed it with an image from Robyn's Fetish called 'Daisy Days', printed the combination on watercolour paper and coloured with Aquamarkers. I was lucky enough to win these last year, but I've neglected them! I added some extra colour depth with Twinkling H2Os, but reverted to my Promarkers for the skin tones. The flowers are Prima, shaded with Twinkling H2Os.

The paper is one I made myself, using the basic bloom shape from the Robyn's Fetish stamp.

I hope you're inspired to join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Top Tip Tuesday who also want to see flowers
Paper Minutes who want to see flowers
Moving Along with the Times whose theme is 'Spring'
Do You Stack Up whose theme is 'patterned paper'

Faux Cloisonne (Again)

Or, I really should say this is the first time. A few weeks ago, I made this post, but said the idea inspired me to make a card for a swap. Well, I now know the card's been received, so I can post it here too!



This time, I used a fairly old butterfly stamp, embossed it in gold and painted them with my twinkling H2Os. When that was dry, I painted over the colour with a clear varnish. The detail butterflies were stamped on two layers of fantasy film - I can't actually remember which colour because it didn't seem to matter which I used, it always looked about the same. The theme of the swap was 'transparent', and the butterfly wings just about comply with that. After that, all I added was some ribbon from an Autumn collection I bought in Hobbycraft.

Autumn Challenge Crafty Cardmakers

I was watching Create and Craft one night recently, or at least, it was on in the background while I was doing something. It was late and I got up to switch off the TV and a moment later I was hooked by someone doing a demo of what they called 'Faux Cloisonne' and I just had to have a go. Can't show you the card I made that night because it's needed for a swap, but when I saw this challenge on Crafty Cardmakers, I decided to do something similar.



The stamp is part of a set of clear stamps I bought in Partners, and I embossed the images in gold on dark brown card. Then, I pulled out my Twinkling H2Os and painted the leaves in Sunflower, Solar Gold, Indian Copper and Spiced Pumpkin. Once the paint was dry I coated each stamped image with 3D glaze and left it to dry. The card then just needed a topper, and I did that with an embossing pen and gold powder. I also painted on some gold Crafty Notions Shake'n'Spray then did the same with some die-cut leaves I've had in the house for a very long time. A bit of layering and ribbon and that was that! I must admit I love the effect, so there may be more of it in the future.

Peacock Card

I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to watercolour - but I loved this image of peacocks, and had to have a go. I used twinkling H2Os, and I was fairly pleased with the result. The background paper was made from a couple of elements of the original digital image and coloured to match the main image using Photoshop Elements. The original image is from Dover Books - I got it as one of their weekly sampler images.