Isa's Alpha Challenge- K and a last minute Wednesday Stamper

After being stuck for a good 'K' word for Isa's alpha challenge this week, I was suddenly struck with inspiration: Kimono. I bought some new stamps recently from Non Sequitur, and had yet to ink them up. The oriental look is so popular at the moment, so I wanted my first effort to be good. I am quite pleased with this, but not with the photo! I may change it tomorrow if I get the light and the time.
To the challenges. Isa's challenge, other than using the letter 'K' was to use black and white, plus one other colour, and to use a script stamp in the background. This week's Wednesday Stamper theme was handmade paper. This card combines both challenges.
The background paper I stamped the text stamp (by Judikins) on is a Japenese Mizutama paper. It has tiny metallic flecks in. The geisha figure was stamped on the origami paper and on white paper, then carefully cut out. The letters for the word are from my stash (All My Memories, I think!). And that's about it, pretty simple for me! All it needs is a new photo taken in daylight, so that the flash doesn't light up all the reflective surfaces. Come back tomorrow!

Edited to add new photo, The flash has gone but it has a slight colour cast. I think it's time to make a lightbox!

Isa's Alpha Challenge- J

This week has been a bit of a struggle for me, time-wise, so I am very happy to be able to post this card at last! Isa is back from her Summer holiday, and she has put her challenges onto a new blog. You can see the button for it on my sidebar, with the Wednesday Stamper and TMTA buttons. I like Isa's challenges, as the only real rule is that you need to use a word on your entry that begins with the alphabet letter of the week. Then there are a couple more options which you can choose to use, or not. I tend to try all of the options, as I like a real challenge!
This weeks letter is J, with the extra options of using a bright yellow and making a Christmas card. As you can see, I have done all three. I couldn't think of another word other than Joy, but Christmas is not the season to get all funky for me, I love it in all of its traditional glory!
The stamped panel is a yellow metallic watercolour background, stamped with the Hero Arts script in Distress Ink Vintage photo, and the Hero Arts harlequin background in Versamark, then brushed with Perfect Pearls. The other panel is an image transfer of a K and Co Christmas paper, transferred using Matt Medium onto gold Mirri card. Then both the panels were edged with Versamark and gold embossing powder. The letters for the word 'Joy' were changed to gold with my new Sakura Pen Touch pen (the budget alternative to a Krylon pen), then distressed by touching it whilst still wet. I did the same to the stars. The cardstock is Bazzill.
As usual, you can't really see the overall effect in a photo. Doing an image transfer over a bright gold card gives a real depth to the translucent image, rather like the gold backing on costume gems. And many thanks to Julie and Carrie, who have both done photo step-by-steps on their blogs. This time I found it easy, and only made a couple of holes in the image with my fingernails as they are quite long! The tip I really liked was to use a baby wipe to take off the backing paper, I found it much easier than a wet fingertip (and much safer, as no jar of water waiting to be knocked over!)
PS I was really surprised and delighted to find that my Wednesday Stamper entry for last week is on the Sampler. Thanks so much, Wednesday Stamper!

Isa's weekly challenge- 'I'

Isa's challenge this week, as well as the usual alphabet theme, is to use something transparent and to use stitching. This is my entry, which I am quite pleased with, although I don't usually do sparkly. Maybe I should also enter this for UK Stampers' 'Cute v. arty' challenge, as this is a bit outside my usual style. Maybe I'm not quite comfortable with it because I only used three stamps!
The inside of the card is a wash of watercolour paints, some sparkly, over stamped and embossed in white with my well-used Stampendous stamp. The outside of the card was stamped at the top using A Stamp in the Hand's 'Field of Sky', one of those useful stamps, then embossed with holographic sparkle powder and over washed with sparkly watercolours.
It all happens on the acetate wrap on the outside. I stamped and embossed the Anita's dragonfly in white, then cut the same shape out of Art Institute's Fantasy Film in Aurora and glued it behind with Glossy accents. Then I did a separate dragonfly, this time embossing in holographic sparkle then cutting out the glued layers and mounting it over the first dragonfly, again with glossy accents. I pricked then stitched the word 'Iridescent' with sparkly floss and glued on the flower sequins with Sakura quickie glue. To attach the wrap to the card I ran a line of the quickie glue down the spine of the card, then weighted the edge to make sure it dried in position.
I think I need to start using more sketches for my cards, as this one uses the same basic layout as two others I have done this year! Funny how you are always drawn to a layout you are comfortable with! Oh well, off to 2Peas to look at sketches!

A little taster...

...of my card for Isa's weekly challenge. I got a little stamping done last night, but more importantly, whilst I was getting the baby to sleep, I figured out what I wanted to do for Isa's 'I' challenge this week, and for the 'Artistic license' ATCs. Both ideas involve acetate, which I love working with, and this photo shows the start of the 'I' card, looking through the acetate at the background. But that's all I'm going to say for now about the stamping, as I will post all of the details when I finish the card!
What I will say is that I actually bothered to make use of the super-macro setting on my camera, and I am really pleased with the resulting photo. For once, the shimmer and shine show as well as they do in real life. Julie recently showed some photos of fireworks on her blog, and used the manual settings on her camera. The photos were amazing, and inspired me to get out the handbook for my camera. It's 144 pages long, all in English! I will start to wade through it, as the photos I take don't always do justice to the subjects, and I can already see the difference in this morning's photos. (I didn't want to bore by putting on the one I took on auto, trust me, this one is tons better!) So hopefully there will be some photos to look at in the coming weeks!
PS I needed a dragonfly for this card, and this is the stamp I have, but in my mind, I did it with the gorgeous Technique Tuesday stamp I didn't buy at Newbury, mmm, lovely!

Isa's weekly challenge- 'G'

Hurray! The first of my weekly challenge entries is done. This ATC is for Isa's weekly challenge. I was puzzling over interesting words beginning with the letter 'G', and I got hit by inspiration! This doesn't happen all of the time to me, so I did rush into my craft area and get going as soon as I could. Then I had to rush back to my computer to create the background text, which is from the various spam emails I get trying to sell me pills I definitely don't need! I am fascinated with the computer generated text that these emails contain, they make no real sense but have a gothic, whimsical feel. (If you haven't received this kind of email, lucky you.) I also have this great Cherry Pie face image, which also has a gothic feel, so there we are!
All of the images are stamped in black Stazon onto white card. Stamps are by Cherry Pie, Tanda Stamps and PSX, and I coloured the eyes with blue felt pen, washed over with a metallic watercolour paint. The black line at the right hand edge is narrow black velvet ribbon. Isa's extra options this week were to follow a sketch for the layout and use alphabet stamps, both of which I have done!
I ended up with four ATC sized backgrounds, so may do another three ATCs in this vein. I think 'Vampire's kiss' may have to be one of them, very traditional!

Isa's weekly challenge- 'E'

You will recognise the backgrounds used in this card from yesterdays post. I ended using all three for this card.
Isa's challenge this week was the letter 'E', with the added extra options of using Distress Inks in blue, pink and brown, plus using some swirls. I have gone for soft versions of the colours and swirls, to fit with my subject matter. As usual, the card is more interesting in real life, as I have used a wash of Perfect Pearls and some gold Krylon pen, which don't really show up in the photo.
The stamps are all from Cherry Pie Art stamps (my favourite Klimt stamps again!) stamped in Ancient Page in Sandlewood. Ancient Page is a water-resistant dye ink, so I could use watercolours over the image. I highlighted the swirls on the garments with Sakura Souffle pen in white, then added a wash of Perfect Pearls in copper (from the metallics set) over the top. The areas of flesh were watercoloured with Distress Ink in Tattered Rose, and the lips were highlighted with Sakura Stardust pen in Red. The words were added with Sakura Souffle pen, and yes, that is my handwriting this time, as I couldn't use the computer to create white writing! The metal embellishments are Papermania and 7Gypsies.
The colours are much softer than I usually use, but it's nice to experiment a bit!

Backgrounds (Playing with inks!)

There was some discussion on UK Stampers recently about Ranger's Nick Bantock dye inkpads. My local craft store seem to be phasing out their Distress Inks (Horrors!), but have brought in this range instead. According to Ranger's website, these inkpads are supposed to be in "dramatic" colours, everything else on the packaging indicates that they are similar in their formulation to the Distress Inks, including being embossable. I had asked if anyone had tried these, and as the answer was no, I thought, what the hey, and bought two!
I needed to make some backgrounds using the Distress Inks, and so I decided to also make some with the Nick Bantock inks, using the same techniques each time. For the Distress backgrounds, I used Tattered Rose, Weathered Wood, and Antique Linen, and for the Nick Bantock I used Prussian Blue and Chartreuse Green.
The first two backgrounds were made using the Ink/Water technique. I pressed the inkpads onto a plastic sheet, spritzed them with water, then pressed my cardstock onto the sheet, and moved it around a little. The second two backgrounds were made by applying the inks to the paper with pieces of sponge, I used make-up sponges. The third two were made by pressing a second piece of cardstock onto my plastic sheet. The last picture shows the effect of just stamping my image, and then stamping and spritzing with water.
I would definitely agree that these colours are "dramatic". As with the Distress Inks, the colour does not change when you apply water, it just spreads and travels really well. Even when the stamped image was spritzed in the last sample, you can see how much colour travelled into the water droplets.My fingers got really inky (not a problem!) and it took a liberal application of neat washing up liquid to get them clean!
I didn't try embossing these, but I could see these dye inks have a longer-than-usual drying time, so embossing wouldn't be a problem. In all, I am really pleased I bought these, as I wanted some stronger colours in dye inks, and will be going back to get some more colours. Now the only question is, do I get the Distress Ink in the Soot Black, or the Nick Bantock Ink in the Lamp Black?!
PS For those who are interested in techniques using inks, check out Isa's blog. She has an excellent section with tutorials on this subject, and if you check out the challenges section, each challenge discusses a different technique. It also has information about her book on this very subject!

Where's three of four?!

Honestly, I did send four cards! The one I haven't shown the photo of was one that I'd spent a lot of time on, it was masculine, but...I remembered that I had sent it's picture in for UK Stamper's newsletter artcall, which is still being put together, so I had better not show it now!
Last night's project was putting together some ATCs for the June UK Stamper's swap. The theme is 'Buttons and Bows' which sent me off on a tangent, as it reminded me of some song lyrics, which then reminded me about something else. I was fiddling around for ages last night, but I couldn't make them look 'right', but I got some inspiration this morning, as I was attempting to get more Oatibix into the baby than on him, and so I'm going to have a play with gesso. I'm also very inspired for Isa's weekly challenge, so tonight will be a bit of a creating frenzy! Sadly, the chef (otherwise known as my Husband)is away this week, so it'll be interesting to see what priority I give to dinner!

Isa's weekly challenge-'D'

I always thought that as a mother, I would be scrapping endless photos of my baby, charting every stage of his life. In reality, I'm way too busy doing to stop and scrap! That's why I thought a layout would be a good interpretation of the sketch which was part of Isa's challenge.
The first evening of work on this was just assembling the elements, and I did doubt that I could get the visual balance correct from using the sketch. I'm normally instinctive, and just move things about until it looks 'right'. But last night it all just came together so quickly, I had finished in an hour! I could have played a bit more with the typeface and journalling, but I was so pleased that I was moving forward so rapidly that I didn't want to stop and go back! I may try some more sketches, (it will get the backlog of baby photos under control!)
Isa's challenge was to use the letter D as the subject, use a butterfly on the piece, and use the sketch she provided. My subject is Daniel, my son, and the butterfly is in the lower right corner.
The background paper is Basic Grey 'Perhaps', chipboard letter is Making Memories, the second background paper is a photo printed onto transparency, and I used a butterfly stamp from Anna Griffin. The journalling and title paper was altered with Distress ink in Antique Linen, the butterfly was embossed in white on vellum. Thanks for another fun challenge, Isa!

Photos from Mottisfont

It was a fantastic day yesterday! The weather started off as grey and dull, But by the time we got to Mottisfont, it was bright sunshine all the way! Mottisfont Abbey is famous for its walled rose gardens, which in June are at their best. I visited two years ago and loved it, but this year even more flowers were in bloom. It was a real sensory experience, as the fragrance was as beautiful as the flowers themselves. I took a lot of photos, some with a view to making some background papers, and, with the excellent light we had, I had some nice results. I started a scrapbook page in the evening with a view to doing Isa's weekly challenge, which reminded me why I don't scrap as often as I used to! The time it takes to organise all of the different elements of photos, paper, embellishments and journalling means that I didn't even start on the stamping! Hopefully another evening will see it finished.
In the meantime, the new Wednesday stamper challenge is Polka dots, so I plan to ponder that and see what inspiration strikes!

A relaxing Saturday...

...or as close as you can get with a 6 month old baby! I have no photos to post today, as I am planning and pondering! Last night Isa posted this week's challenge, which was the letter 'D', plus the option of using a sketch for the layout, and a butterfly. I like to challenge myself by doing all of the options each week, but sketches terrify me! Isa has posted two beautiful examples of using this sketch, one a card and one a scrapbook layout, and I think, given the (to me) complexity of the sketch, I will do a layout. I have it all planned in my head, I just need to get the perfect photos to go with it! So today I will be chasing my husband and son around with the camera hoping that if I take enough piccies I will have the perfect two. Then I will just have to bite the bullet, and try to follow the sketch. Wish me luck!

Klimt inspired tags

Here is my entry for Isa's weekly challenge. I think you will recognise the background! I decided to kill 3 birds with one stone, so this also fulfills the 'Define your space' challenge on UK Stampers, and is the first step toward changing the artwork in my dining room (now also my crafting space) from an Italian Rennaissance theme to Gustav Klimt. It's really because of the baby, from an early age he has been obsessed with my prints of 'The Kiss' and 'Tree of Life', staring at them and smiling (I think it's because of the graphic swirls, not because he is cultured!). So we are now getting a huge copy of 'Tree of life' for the dining room, and I am going to make labels for all of my craft storage drawers.
First challenge. Isa set as this weeks challenge the letter 'C', with additional options of using only tags, and no brown ink. I was inspired by her example piece, of three tags, and wanted to make a piece where the layers are individually nice, but look best when hung together.
Second challenge. I think the title 'Define your space' says it all. It was the option of a label, a mini-book, or a name plate for our working space or equipment. I think this qualifies!
The bottom layer is gold card stamped with Stazon, with some areas emphasised with black pen. The next layer is the caught in crystal background, stamped with Brilliance ink in Mineral. The third layer has a piece of caught in crystal stamped with Stazon, and gold embossing, the fourth has some lettering printed from the computer, some stamped , and backed with gold Krylon pen, plus silver embossing and some gems. The last is as the 3rd, stamped around the top edge with Ranger perfect medium, and Perfect pearls from the Metalics set added. All except the bottom tag were made with transparency for the computer, and they were all edged with gold Krylon. Stamps are all Cherry Pie, apart from the PSX alphabet.
Sorry, long winded explanation, but there was a lot going on in this piece!

Challenges.

There is a lot going on in the crafting world, if you just go out and look for it. Daring card makers, Wednesday Stamper, Green Pepper Press, they inspire some amazing artwork, which then goes on to inspire those of us who just spectate each week rather than join in.
That's not to say I don't get involved in challenges, in fact quite the opposite! It can get quite frantic getting everything done in time for the deadlines. I have really started to experiment outside of my comfort zone, not always very successfully, but I always try!
These are the challenges/swaps I am currently doing:
-UK Stampers Black and White inchie swap
-UK Stampers "Velvet-ize" swap (a mini book inspired by Craft TV Weekly)
-UK Stampers Name Badge mini-album (also from Craft TV Weekly)
-UK Stampers "Define Your Space" tag/label challenge
-Isa's weekly challenge- this week is the letter C
There is also a very interesting looking ATC swap on UK Stampers, I just have to see how the time goes! There are also some great swaps on Talk Crafts forum, I am hoping to join in again once I've got my to-do list down to a managable level!

Isa's weekly challenge- 'B'

This is my entry for this week. The main image is by Paperartsy, with my favourite Aud Design swirls in the background, all stamped in Black Stazon. I used my distress inks as watercolours on the background, colours used are Weathered wood, Milled lavender, Dusty concord and Scattered straw. The alphabet is PSX. See Isa's blog for details.