International Art and Soul Challenge 43

Our challenge for this fortnight is Layer it Up or, in other words, not clean and simple!

One of my acquisitions at Ally Pally in April was a stamp from Dimension Fourth which is a segment of a map of around Paris. My son's girlfriend lived in Paris for a year as part of her degree, and I know she loves the city, so to be honest, I bought the stamp with her in mind.

I used it with some images from Crafter's Companion Destinations CDRom.

I stamped and shaded with various Distress Inks, and, as you can see, used several layers.

I hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 218

Our theme for the fortnight at Crafty Cardmakers is Autumn Colours. No other requirements, other than to link back to the challenge blog, so it would be lovely to see what you can come up with.

I've reached the point in the year when I'm pretty up to date with cards, and I've got a reasonable selection in my box, but of course, the biggest card-sending occasion of the year - Christmas - is looming. So, especially since I've got a couple of Autumn Colour challenges to make for, I've made some autumn-hued Christmas cards!

This first one started as a first print off my gelli-plate. I added some acrylic paint then applied a stencil (Sheena Douglass). While the stencil was in place, I brayered a piece of copy paper on top,and got the grid pattern.

Once it was dry, I got out my Kaleidoscope Autumn Colours ink pad, and shaded the background with my Ink Dusters. Then, I used stamps from a Leoni Pujol set of swirls and snowflakes, and added those. The sentiment was stamped with the same ink pad, using a stamp from a Sweet Dixie set, and again, some colour was added in the background.

The die cut was done with a Joanna Sheen border die.

I edged the backing and sentiment with some Rusty Hinge Distress ink, and added some matting.

The background for this one came from the same gelli-plate as the last one, but this time, I used some mixed-media card after the stencil had been removed. There still seemed to be a lot of paint on the plate at that point, so I used another piece of card and took a second impression. I used that sheet for the immediate background to the tree.

Dies used are from Sizzix (the frame) and Joanna Sheen (the tree). To complete, I added some sticky gems, some translucent gold snowflake ribbon and some rust-coloured ribbon from my stash.

So, two more Christmas cards done - but there will be a couple more coming soon!

International Art and Soul Challenge 42

Our challenge for this fortnight at International Art and Soul has the theme Natural World.

I decided to give some stamps from Creative Stamping Magazine an outing for this.

I added a little extra grass using an older stamp, but otherwise all stamps are from the magazine.

I masked the otter, and added some background colour using Ink Dusters, Memento ink and torn copy paper, then finally coloured the otter with Promarkers..

I hope you can join us this time!.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 217

Our challenge for this fortnight is All Creatures Great and Small. Other than that, you can enter any project you like!

I started with a stamp from Pretty Quick which I stamped with Memento ink, and the sentiment which I stamped with Versafine ink - both in shades of blue. I coloured the result with Spectrum Noir pencils, added a little matting and layering and a few feathers from my stash, and that's it!

I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 41

This fortnight, we'd like you to use a non-craft item or recycle something. Now, when I read the requirement for this, I didn't spot the 'recycle' option, so I headed in another direction altogether. I had just got a couple of new dies with images I love, and thought I'd like to do a stained-glass effect. Some trawling around the internet later, and I came across a technique called caught in crystal and I decided to have a go, although I didn't follow it exactly. First problem, find some of the right floor polish. Fail!  Couldn't find any of it in the major supermarkets. Wandered to our local shops, and in the one called Cheapjacks (I'll let you work out what sort of shop that is) there was some polish which, although it was a different brand, sounded like the right stuff. (Astonish is the brand name.) I bought it and had a go.

The die is from Pretty Quick, and as a lover of anything Mackintosh-esque, I love it. I stuck the die cut to the front of a piece of acetate. then, on the back, I used acrylic paint to colour the main image parts. Then, it got really messy. I poured floor polish over the back and added a little perfect pearl powder. With hindsight, I could have added a lot more, but I was wary of overwhelming the image. Then, I added a little glamour dust glitter which really isn't obvious in the photo. Finally, I put some scrunched tissue paper on the back and left it to dry. I attached the result to some silver card with brads, and that's about it. I don't know if I'll use the technique again. It's really messy. You only realise that your work surface has an incline from front to back when you try something like this and find acrylic floor polish heading towards your carpet. And, several other attempts I made failed abysmally!

I hope you can join us this time!