The Alphabet Challenge: T is for Try Something New

Hi everyone.  Sorry, I'm late posting this.  Friday saw a new challenge at the Alphabet Challenge - T is for Try Something New.  I'm a bit of an experimenter, so there are not many things I haven't tried when it comes to papercrafting. 

I decided to try this alcohol ink technique which involves dripping the inks onto acetate.  I opted for some nice bright colours for maximum impact.

I  stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink and embossed it onto the acetate (make sure you are using laser copier safe acetate if you are dong this, or it will melt).  I inserted the acetate panel with the stamped and embossed sentiment into an aperture card and die cut a circle of the same size in black card and layered it on top.  I also added some card at the back with an aperture of the same size to make it neat.

Finally I layered some patterned paper behind the panel.  I have added pictures both with the patterned paper and without so you can see the impacet of the alcohol ink on a white background as well.  I hope you can join us this week at The Alphabet Challenge.

Sian. xxx

The Alphabet Challenge: Snow

Good morning.  It's my turn to pick the challenge this week at The Alphabet Challenge, and I've chosen the theme of snow.  Let's see your snowy creations.

I decided to use triple embossing for the centrepiece of my car, a technique I haven't used for a while.  I used a combination of Wow embossing powder and UTEE.  (My original plan was to use just the Wow embossing powder, but it soon became clear that I wasn't going to be able to stamp into it because of the high glitter content.  If you're not familiar with triple embossing, you layer up at at least 3 layers of embossing powder and then stamp into it.  It's a good idea to use pigment ink or Versamark  or something similar on your stamp so it doesn't stick.  I'm a big fan of Versamark for things like this, and you can also use it to make your embossing powder stick to the card.  (I used two layers of Wow embossing powder and 2 layers of UTEE).I stamped the snowflake stamp into the hot UTEE, left it to cool and then pulled the stamp off.  Once it was cool, I cracked it a bit because I wanted it to look like ice. 

I created the background and layers of my card using an embossing folder, and added some die cut snowflakes and gems to finish off.  My sentiment is embossed using the same Wow embossing powder that I used for the bottom two layers of my triple embossing.

I hope you can join in the fun this week at The Alphabet Challenge.

Sian.  xxx

The Alphabet Challenge: E is for Embossing Folders

Hello again.  It's time for a new challenge at the Alphabet Challenge.  This week we are up to the letter E, and E is for embossing folders.

As you can see, I've used two different embossing folders on my card.  I embossed some pink and white card then layered both pieces onto dome darker pink card.  I added some ribbon, some die cut flowers and some pearls, along with a printed sentiment.

I hope you can join us this week at the Alphabet Challenge.

Sian. xxx

Cardz 4 Guyz: Planes, Trains and/or Automobiles

Good morning!  It's time for Cards 4 Guyz' first challenge of the New Year.  This week's challenge is Planes, Trains and/or automobiles (you can choose).

For my card, I used a rubber stamp by Deep Red, which I coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  I layered my image onto pattered papers and an embossed panel made using a Tim Holtz 3D embossing folder, then added some metal cogs to finish it off.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian. xxx

Cardz 4 Galz: Sunny Summer Days

Good morning.  Today's challenge at Cardz 4 Galz is Sunny Summer Days.

I created my background with an embossing folder and blended Distress Inks.  The butterflies are stamped and die cut and the flowers are stamped.  I also stamped the Happy Birthday Sentiment at the bottom.  I added a bit of glitter to the butterflies and the centres of the flowers and added some flower stamens for the butterflies' antennae.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Galz.

Sian. xxx

Make My Monday: Embossing - Wet or Dry

Good morning.  It's time for another challenge at Make My Monday, and this week's theme is embossing.  You have a choice of either wet or dry embossing.

I've chosen dry embossing for my card.  I started off by creating embossed panels with white and lilac card using embossing folders, then layered them onto a slightly darker purple.  Then I added some coordinating ribbon.  (The ribbon looks a bit grey in the photo, but is much more purple in real life!)

I die cut and embossed some flowers and coloured with Promarkers in matching shades of purple/lilac.  I shaped them using an embossing tool and a foam mat, and finished them off with pearl centres.  Finally I added a printed sentiment.

I hope you can join us this week at Make My Monday.

Sian. xxx

Make My Monday: Happy Christmas

Good morning.  Well, that time is getting nearer, so this week's challenge at Make My Monday is Happy Christmas (or Happy Holidays for anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas). 

I made my card using a set of stamps by Woodware, which I stamped and coloured using Polychromos pencils.  I cut out the stamped images and mounted them onto patterned paper and red card, then created a debossed background using an embossing folder. 

I hope you can join us this week at Make My Monday.

Sian.  xx

Cardz 4 Galz: Cupcakes

Good morning!  It's time for a new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and today's challenge is Cupcakes.  I have a few cupcake related bits and pieces in my craft stash, but when I saw this brilliant Cake Monster digi stamp from Bloobel Stamps I knew I had to have him!  The challenge of course was to create something feminine using a monster image (this is Cardz 4 Galz after all), so I chose to use the girliest colours I could think of - pink and purple.

I coloured my image with Polychromos pencils , cut around him and mounted him on an embossed and die cut circle with a die cut frame.  I layered him onto patterned and embossed papers and purple card.  I embellished my card with paper straws and some paper flowers, and added a printed sentiment.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Galz.

Sian.

Cardz 4 Guyz: Reindeer

Good morning!  Today's challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is Reindeer. 

I made this card using a die cut scene and added a bit of Stickles glitter glue to make it look sparkly and snowy.  I matted my die cut onto blue pearlescent card and white card.  Then I layered it onto patterned paper and a snwoflake embossed trip.  I added some wooden snowflakes which I coloured with a white paint pen, and a die cut snowflake garland.

The effect is, I think, very wintry!

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian.  xx

Make My Monday: Snow Fun

Good morning.  Today it's my turn to choose the challenge at Make My Monday, and I have chosen the theme of Snow Fun. 

Some of you may recognise this image.  It's by Whimsy Stamps and is the image for Kit and Clowder's monthly pencils class for October.  After lurking in the Facebook group for a while I finally decided to have a go at one of the classes, and would very much recommend it to anyone.  I learnt so much just from one class, and I'm really pleased with how my colouring turned out.

I coloured my image with Polychromos pencils.  I wanted the image to be the main focus, so kept the rest of the card fairly simple, mounting the image onto white card which I embossed with snowflakes using an embossing folder, and just adding a sentiment and the die cut snowflake wreath.

I hope you can join in the fun this week at Make My Monday.

Sian.  xx

Moonflower Digistamps: Gina Christmas Elf

Good morning.  Today I am sharing a card I made using the beautiful Gina Christmas Elf by Moonflower Digistamps.  I hope you like her.

I coloured her with Polychromos pencils and layered her onto  embossed and die cut ovals, red card and patterned papers.  I raised her up on foam pads to make her stand out.

I wanted the image to be the main focus on this card, so just added the holly leaves at the corners. 

You can see some lovely work form the other Moonflower DT members on the Moonflower blog.

Sian

Cardz 4 Galz: Pretty in Pink

Good morning.  Today's challenge at Cardz 4 Galz is a very girly one:  pretty in pink.  Those of you who have known me for a while will know that I used to avoid pink like the plague, but lately I seem to be using it quite a lot in my cards.  Maybe I have a girly side after all!

Anyway, this is my DT card.  I decided to use some of my recent craft show acquisitions - these lovely flower stamps.  I coloured the back of some vellum pink usign Promarkers an then stamped the flowers onto the front using Versamark.  I then embossed the flowers using white embossing powder and cut them out.  I shaped them using an embossing tool.

I embossed the bottom layer of my card using an embossing folder, then added some layers of patterned paper and the sentiment, which is stamped and embossed using pink embossing powder.  .  I then stuck the flowers onto the card and added gems in their centres.

I hope you can join us for this week's Cardz 4 Galz challenge.

Sian. xx

Cardz 4 Guyz: Under Water

Good morning!  This is my DT card for this week's Cardz 4 Guyz.  The challenge this week is under water.  I  used some brilliant digi stamps by Vera Lane Studios for this one, and coloured them using watercolour pencils. 

the sea behind this fish and the happy birthday sentiment was created using alcohol inks on shiny card. 

The bubbly background was created by dry embossing using an embossing folder by Crafter's Companion, and I rubbed some different coloured Brilliance inks over it to give more of a watery effect.  As final touch I added some sparkly mesh and some shells which are from the same digi stamp set as the fish, and which I also coloured with watercolour pencils.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian.  xx

Cardz 4 Guyz: Love You!

Love is in the air once again today, this time at Cardz 4 Guyz where the theme is Love You!  I always find male Valentine's cards quite tricky because I don't want them to be too cute or soppy (most of the men I know wouldn't appreciate it!)  So I have tried to create a very masculine looking Valentine's card which nevertheless gets the message across.

I created this card using a variety of techniques (and no patterned paper - unusual for me!)  I started off using a Kraft card blank and created my bottom layer by applying Versamark ink through a stencil and then applying mica powders in various metallic shades.  Then I applied some more Versamark around the edges and embossed using Wow! embossing powders.

For the square in the middle I used a piece of black card which I dry embossed using an embossing folder and then wiped over a Versamark inkpad so that the ink was picked up by the raised areas.  Then I applied mica powers and embossed around the edges in the same way as the lower level . 

I die cut the heart and the squiggles using dies from the Entwined collection by Leonie Pujol and embossed them using different colours of Wow! embossing powder.  I wrapped some squiggles around the heart and stuck it into the middle of the card, then wrapped some of the squiggles around each other and attached them at the corners.  Finally I added the sentiment "I'm happiest when I'm with you" which is from a Tim Holtz Ideaology pad.

I look forward to seeing everyone's creations at this week's Cardz 4 Guyz challenge.

Sian.  xx

Cardz 4 Galz: Love is in the Air

Hello everyone.  With Valentine's Day coming up, love is in the air today at Cardz 4 Galz.  This is my DT card, which I created using die cutting and embossing.  I started by die cutting the hearts from red pearlescent paper, then embossed the outside frame of the big heart and the whole of the smaller hearts with Wow! Embossing Powders.  (I love them because they are much more interesting than ordinary embossing powders).

I created the white panel behind the hearts by dry embossing using an embossing folder and created some matting and layering using the embossed panel and some pink and red card.  I added a strip of patterned paper (layered onto red card) across the bottom.

Next I took my die cut hearts and stuck them onto the card, starting with the largest heart.  I reinserted the smaller hearts from the middle of the large heart without embossing them, to create some contrast, then layered the slightly smaller heart so it overlapped.  I stuck some smaller hearts at the corners.  I added the sentiment "I love us" which is from a Tim Holtz Ideology set, and which I think it perfect for a Valentine's card.  Finally I added a ribbon bow and some small pearls at the opposite corners to the hearts.

I hope that you are able to join us for this week's Cardz 4 Galz challenge.

Sian.  xx

Winter Ink

Two in one day today!  I hadn't got inky for a while, so decided to create a card using Distress Inks (and no patterned papers, which is unusual for me!)

I started with a dry embossed background, which I embossed using an embossing folder.  I inked the background using Distress Inks in shades of blue and grey.  For my other layers, the bottom panel was created by heat embossing with a clear, sparkly emossing powder then inking over the top for a resist effect, the strip across the middle was dry embossed, and the sentiment was inked in the same colours as the other layers.

For the main image, I firstly stamped a snowflake pattern in Versamark, inked over the top of it with Distress Inks and spritzed it with water.  I dried the water off using a heat gun.  This gave a subtle snowflake background as the ink stuck more on the Versamark so did not lighten as much with the water.  Sadly this does not show up well on the photo, but you may be able to see it if you double click to see the larger version. 

My next step was to stamp the main image.  This is a stamp by Crafty Individuals and I stamped it with black Memento ink.  I then added some more blue ink to the buildings to give more of a silhouette effect and added some highlighting on the side facing to moon with a white gel pen.  I wanted the moon to look white, so I took some of the ink off by wetting it and then dabbing with a tissue.  I added a bit of gllitter glue to the moon and the larger stars. 

As a final touch I added some glittered die cut snowflakes to my card.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

The Sisterhood of Crafters - up, up and away (anything that flies)
The Crafty Addicts - anything goes/winter blues
Simply Papercraft - anything goes
Crafting with Friends - anything goes
Creative Corner - anything goes

White and Bright

I have been making a lot of Christmas Cards lately so yesterday I felt like having a bit of a change.  Since it rained all day here and was dull and miserable, I decided to create something bright and cheerful. 

I created the background using an embossing folder and layered a die cut trellis over the top.  The trellis die is one of the new Intricut dies by Hobbycraft, and as you can see it cuts really fine.  I think I will have to get some more of these!

To create the panel, I stamped my image with Versamark and heat embossed the stamped image using white embossing powder.  (This is a stamp by Crafty Individuals).  Then I used Cosmo Cricket Swatch Sticks over the top so that the embossed image created a resist effect.  I layered the panel over a ribbon and added a large ribbon bow. 

I die cut the flowers and tinted them a bit using Polychromos Pencils which I blended using a Promarker blender pen, and added some stick on pearls to the centres.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Cats - Anything goes
Crafty Ribbons challenge - Flowers and pearls
Perfectly Created Chaos - Heat Embossing.