International Art and Soul Challenge 26

Our challenge this fortnight is to incorporate some texture into your project. It can be a card, or pretty much anything you like so long as it's got some texture.

I decided to start with an embossed background and see where that took me. This is the result.

 Before embossing, I used my new Creative Expression Chalk Cloud inks to shade a piece of Clarity card. Then I took some textured watercolour card, and stamped the arrangement (stamps were magazine freebies.) I had to mask the bunch of flowers before stamping the stalks. then I used the same inks to watercolour the image. The only exception is that I had used the Subtle Sage green ink in the background, but when I used it to watercolour, it was hardly any different from the blue shade, so I added another layer of colour - this time using Sweet Apple. I ran a black marker around the watercolour paper and grey mat, before completing with some grosgrain ribbon and a crochet flower from my stash.

The colours are a lot more subtle than I usually go for, and watercolour techniques are definitely not my strong point! I do find that the ink doesn't seem to blend as well as I've seen demonstrated. I used Clarity card because a shiny card is recommended and that's what I've got. I definitely need to spend some more time using these inks. I'm not sure how long they'll last. I bought several at Ally Pally in September, and one of them was obviously dried out when I opened it. My credit card receipt was from Creative Expressions, so I emailed them.It took a very long time for them to get back to me - something I experienced once before when my Ally Pally tickets didn't turn up on time. The did eventually get in touch and sent a replacement, but I was disappointed with the fact that it took several weeks, and definitely made me less inclined to want to play with the inks.

I look forward to seeing your seeing what you come up with!

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.

Watercolouring with Distress Inks and Making Flowers

The other day, I decided to have a flower-making day. I wanted to try out some ideas using some of the newer punches I've got. And to make them a bit more interesting, I first prepared some card coloured with distress inks. (Thanks, Jack, for the tip to dry each colour separately - it definitely worked better that way.)

Some of the flowers looked great, but there's no way I could use them on a card - they'd be much too big - but I've put them away for boxes and such. But some others were fine, so I made a card to show them off.

Since I had the distress inks out, I decided to have a go at watercolouring with them. (Well, the brown is actually Momento ink because I don't have a brown DI.) I'm not sure how well it'd have gone if I'd had very specific colours in mind - or if I'd been doing a flesh tone - but I was happy enough with the result. The image is one I was lucky enough to win from Digi Doodles recently. I printed it on watercolour paper. (If any of you are lucky enough to have a Clas Ohlsen near you, check out their art supplies - the watercolour paper I used is from them and it's light enough to go through my printer with ease.)

The flowers used a mixture of a Martha Stewart cornflower punch and various sun punches, and all colour is distress ink.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Daisy Doodles where anything goes (providing you use a digi)
Paper Creations Ink where they want flowers,
I Did it Creations where the theme is nature,
Sparkles Forum where the theme is 'punch it',
Jellypark Challenges where the theme is 'punch it',
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
Digi Doodles where anything goes,
Totally Gorjuss where the theme is 'as you like it',

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.

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'

Art Deco

I've seen some Art Deco stamps by Card Craft UK a few times and been tempted, but hadn't bought them. Then, I spotted them reduced online, and decided I'd waited long enough. This weekend, I've coloured up two images, and this is one of the results.

I watercoloured the image. (I'm getting braver!) I used watercolour pencils for the skin and hair tones, and my Twinkling H20s for the rest. I made the three flowers which are painted to match the image, and finished it off  with some punched leaves and a swirl.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:
Let's Ink it Up where the theme is 'anything goes'

And the other one.

Very different in that this one is coloured with Promarkers. Some flowers made by me, the rest by Wild Orchid Crafts or obtained from the local pound shop.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:
The Crafty Pad where they want 'Girly'.

Hope you're all having a great weekend. I'm going to get back to learning to crochet!

The Nights are Fair Drawin' In ...

For the One Stitch at a Time special Autism Event, go here. (There's candy to be won there too!)

As we used to say as teenagers, mimicking older folks as it got dark earlier and earlier in the afternoon. Of course, there's still a way to go to the shortest day, and living in the south as I do now, night never falls as early as it did when I was growing up. But still, there's an autumnal coolness to the evenings, and a lot of leaves blowing in the breeze.

And all that's just to introduce a card!

I was feeling uninspired yesterday, and spotting a couple of autumn colours challenges, decided to dig out some leaf stamps I've never used. I embossed the image in gold on brown card and then spent a happy while colouring them with Twinkling H2Os. I've got loads of them now, so I shouldn't be short of embellisments for Autumn cards.

Then, last night, I was playing around in Photoshop Elements. I used some autumn-coloured gradients and the cookie cutter tool using a bare tree image, added a setting sun and shadow background, and you can see the result. It's printed on Ryman Matte photo quality ink jet paper, but it might've looked better on a glossy paper. Not sure about that. The card in the background was embossed in one of my new Papermania embossing folders. These look just like the Cuttlebug ones but are significantly cheaper. I'm not sure they emboss quite so deeply, but it's still a good result. The sentiment is one of a set of film based ones I bought a while ago from The Fruit Pixie. They're all in brown shades so not always suitable for what I'm doing. And the image seems to me to have a slightly dreamy quality - it's definitely not exactly life-like!

A complete contrast to today's other offering too.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges: Allsorts who are looking for Autumn colours, Charisma who want us to do something new (I've never designed my own image like that before),  Paper Play Challenges who want Autumn colours, Fairy fun Fridays who are looking for embossing.

Christmas Cards

Not entered for anything, but I thought I'd post a few of the over one hundred I made this year.



This one is magazine freebie! The image was a stamp which I watercoloured and the backgroud paper came direct from Papercraft Essentials.



This is a simpler one - two stamps from my See Dees collection and I've embossed them in silver. The paper is one I put together.


This one is similar, but embossed in gold and the paper is from Debbi Moore.








This is another pair of See Dees stamps, embossed in clear and coloured with Sakura Stardust pens.












This one is a recycling special. The main image is the front of a card from last year which I loved. I added some backing paper and ribbon, and there it is!









And finally, this is one I did for my other half. The stamp is one I bought from Mad About Cards in one of their 50p specials, but too late for most of my Christmas cards. I suspect it'll be heavily used next year. I inked part of it in black and embossed it with clear powder, then inked the stars with clear and embossed in gold. The background is my first attempt at the cling film technique from The Stampman, although using a different product. The background card is wizarded using a Cuttlebug folder.

Non Traditional Christmas Card

The new challenge on the Crafty Cardmakers Blog is either to make a Christmas card in non-traditional colours or to use traditional colours and a non-Christmas image. Well, I went for the former.



I used a brass stencil - a Dreamweaver one, I think - and watercoloured the hat, scarf and carrot nose. I then added embossing pen to the star and wording and embossed them in silver. The card background is stamped in Versamark Baby Blue with a snowflake stamp which was one of the first I ever bought some years ago, and finished it with some blue and silver ribbon.

Sketch Saturday 72 and Colour Create 29

Two challenges, one card.



The first is a sketch challenge from Sketch Saturday and the second is a colourscheme from Colour Create which called for red, yellow, black and white.

I'm one of those who find it difficult to incorporate black in cards, but I remembered that I'd made a paper with those colours from a Dover Books sample ages ago. Of course, I couldn't find it, so I had to start from scratch. The original is an outline of fans against a background, and I took one repeat of the background, coloured it, and made it into an A4 sheet. The two parallel backing sheets were made by inking up my new Spellbinders Impressiblity (it's called 'Floral Stone') and embossing pieces of white and yellow card with red and black. A bit of matting finished both of those. The image is one of the Sarah Kay stamps I bought recently. I added some ribbon, flowers and a sentiment and that's it. The sentiment is kind of an experiment. I like the look of the new stamps from Spellbinders that are sized to fit nestibilities. It's a great idea, but when I looked, the only set I thought I'd use in terms of the sentiments was just too big to be practical for cardmaking. So, I decided to do my own! I played in Photoshop Elements, sized a circle and placed each letter and symbol separately. (Unfortunately, there's no option to have anything other than a horizontal line as a baseline for text in that software, so I had to twist each letter separately and place it.) Next time, I'll probably make things a little smaller, but the theory works and of course, I can have any wording I like - and any image (within reason) in the middle, so it looks like I might have saved myself some money ...

Crafty Cardmakers Ribbons and Fibres Challenge

Several years ago, I got a bouquet of flowers that had some pink, lacy fibre tied in a bow for decoration. I kept it and I've been looking for a reason to use it ever since. Well, thanks to the latest challenge at the Crafty Cardmakers blog, I've done it.



I've used one of my new Sarah Kay stamps again, this time watercoloured with the colourscheme in mind, added some satin ribbon and some little flower gems.

And there will be no more cardmaking for now - the new Stargate Universe is due to start soon, and if it's even half as good as the original series, I'll be hooked.

Two New Stamps

And to celebrate, I've made a couple of cards. Typically of me, I don't plan the card in advance, and in this case, I just stamped the images and coloured them as the notion took me. Then, of course, I've got the job of trying to find all the bits I need to make a card.



This first one had a ready-made flower left over from a recent swap on the Crafty Cardmaking Yahoo group. I scrambled through my papers and found the plaid-style one which is actually a little more pink than lilac, but which somehow just seemed to work colour-wise. The other paper is from a collection I got ages ago. It won't cut on my trimmer, tending to bend instead, but I was fairly pleased with how it cut in my Wizard.



This second one was actually harder. Although I've got a whole book-full of bluish papers, this one was the best option. Then, when I tried to pull out the pink from the image, it didn't work at all. It took me a while to realise that using the yellow of her hair (and of the flower centres on the paper) would be a better option for introducing a different colour.

I assume it's because of my total lack of any artistic background that things like that aren't more obvious to me. I think I'm pretty good at working out what works and what doesn't when I look at it, but I've got to try it out. I can't just 'imagine' it and know.

The detail on the stamps is very clear and they both stamped easily. I like the Sarah Kay stamps but would like to find some that are a little less old-fashioned looking. I'd like to get something as detailled as these, but still with a full-featured face. And preferably without animals. (Fussy, aren't I?)

And both photos were taken on my now two-week-old camera phone. I'm reasonably impressed with the quality - it's certainly not noticably lower than from the rather elderly camera I usually use.

A Couple of Challenges!

Haven't done any of these for a while. I think the whole business of getting back to work after the summer kind of got in the way.



There's a new challenge blog that Vixykins pointed out - Crafty Catz and they wanted a card with a green/blue/brown colourscheme. Then there's Sketch Saturday which is what I based the layout on.

The image is a freebie from Squigglefly which I've watercoloured with marker pens. I printed the image onto matte coated ink jet paper which, while it keeps the ink outline more intact during watercolouring than any watercolour paper I've tried, sometimes seems to 'grab' colour and refuse to let it go. I'm still working out the best way to use that paper, and I did manage some fairly even colour gradations. The overall effect is a little fussier than I usually go for, but that's one of the things about sketches - they get you to try things you wouldn't otherwise.

The border is done with a lattice borderability die from Spellbinders and the background paper is from a Papermania set.

Blue Green Swap Card

The image is one of my Dover images - this is one of the flower set I bought a while ago. I printed it on my preferred Ryman matt coated paper then watercoloured it with marker pens - something I'm practising at the moment. The problem is that I like solid blocks of colour, so getting myself to consider shades is hard work - and that's before I start on my lack of skill.

The backing papers are both made by me using my trusty Photoshop Elements.

I was going to put up another one, but I've just searched for the photo and can't find it. Why do I take multiple photos of some cards but forget others?

My next challenge is to make a wedding card at the request of a colleague. The wedding's taking place in Barbados, and she's going to get me information on names, date, colours and/or photos, but the venue's really throwing me. I get the feeling I should reflect that, but it seems very unwedding-y to me. (But then, beaches and a hot climate really don't appeal to me at all.)

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.