Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 238

The theme for this fortnight is Here Comes Summer.  This means that anything that means summer to you is perfect, although if the connection isn't obvious, it'd be great if you could mention the reason!

Although the idea of sitting on a beach in high summer doesn't appeal to me at all, there's something about the idea of an old-fashioned deck chair on a sandy beach that just seems to me to mean, 'summer'.

I started by masking most of the card, leaving just an oval in the centre. I applied some distress ink for the sky, and used a scrap of paper to give an uneven edge to the bottom of that. Then, I created a sandy lower half in the same way. Of course, I forgot to mask off for the sun, so I added that after using Pan Pastel.

Once that was done, I masked the oval, and stamped a selection of seashells and starfish from the Card-io Majestix range using Memento ink. When that was done, I added a little Memento ink to the background.

To complete the card, I cut the deck chair using a Joanna Sheen die, and completed the scene with a few more images from the Card-io set.

I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 45

The challenge for this fortnight is Autumn Colours! Now, a few weeks ago, another design team had a similar challenge, and I posted a couple of suitably-hued Christmas cards. But, I actually made four, so here are the other two!

Like the other two, these have background made using my gelli-plate and acrylic paint. I do love the rich colours you get with this technique!

Other than that, I've used dies from Joanna Sheen (border), and a magazine freebie (tree), and I can't actually remember whose die the oval is. I completed the card with some sticky gems - the last five I had of this size and hue.

A different stencil this time - but similar colours and technique. The card was completed with die cuts from Sizzix and Joanna Sheen, and some gold ribbon.

I do 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 37

Our challenge for this fortnight is Summer Fun!

I got out some dies from Joanna Sheen I've had for a while but never used, and came up with this.

The beach huts and deck chair are Joanna Sheen dies, the landscape was cut using dies from Creative Expressions, and the clouds and sun were a mix of Creative Expressions and Die Cutting Essentials magazine.

The sentiment was stamped using one of a set from Creative Expressions and it was cut using a Sizzix die.

Quite fiddly in some respects, but also quite satisfying to try something different.

I do hope you can join us this time.