Winter in Paris

  Hi everyone!

I am here today with the latest challenge from Fashionable Stamping Challenges. 

and the subject this month is

...Winter in Paris 

As we are getting closer to Christmas I decided to give this card a festive twist...

To make sure that I kept the focus on Paris I, of course, used that most iconic image - the Eiffel tower....

To make the card I covered the craft mat with Black Soot DI and Iced Spruce and Picket Fence DP. I then spritzed with water and swirled the card through they inky paint pool and dried the card.

I then used a Flonzcraft Christmas script stamp on the background using Pumice Stone DI

I stamped the 'Christmas Cheer' message and the picture of the Eiffel tower in Jet Black archival ink and cut and matted these images with leftover painted card. I then did a quick spritz with Decoart Media white shimmer mister

I then got together a selection of die cut holly leaves and branches. I painted the holly leaves with Decoart Media Avrylic paint in Phthalo Green-Yellow then covered them with Liquid Glass to give a shine. 

I covered the branches with Walnut Stain and Gathered Twigs DI. I dabbed them with glue and covered them with Rock Candy Distress Glitter

An ivory rose was brushed with glue and sprinkled with Rock Candy Distress Glitter

I added some crystal and pearl beads and also some ivory lace

Enter this challenge and you could be the winner of $20 to spend at Flonzcraft Stamps!
And of course you could be picked as one of our Catwalk Spotlights!
 

  Remember we are a stamping challenge so please feature a stamped focal image on your creation.  

Hope to see you there!
 

Happy Crafting!

Laura xxx

Changing Seasons

 Hi everyone! 

I am here today with a challenge from Fashionable Stamping Challenges

This month we want you to make something about the -

Changing Seasons

I decided to feature all four of the seasons - choosing an image that represents each and adding some words about them.

 I couldn't decide on colours...when I tried to make a card that featured all seasonal colours I found that the colour was too distracting...so I decided to opt out of 'colour' and do a sepia card..

All of the seasons were made the same way...I chose a 'seasonal stamp and stamped it with Potting Soil Archival ink...........

  
........Then I dabbed the card with Vintage Photo DI before edging it with Walnut Stain DI. I chose a script or music stamp for each and used Vintage Photo DI to stamp on the card......

 ......I then spritzed some water into my hand and flicked it over the pictures for the wrinkle free distress look........

 .........I then spritzed the cards with Decoart Shimmer mister in white......

 ...I then mixed some Walnut stain DI with water and flicked it over the images. I chose Chit Chat stickers and applied them to the pictures

 Hope you like my 'Changing Seasons' card!

Enter this challenge and you could be the winner of $20 to spend at Flonzcraft Stamps!
And of course you could be picked as one of our Catwalk Spotlights!
 

  Remember we are a stamping challenge so please feature a stamped focal image on your creation. 

Hope to see you there!

Happy Crafting!

Laura xxx

Think and Wonder

Hi everyone!

     Stamps are like buses - You wait ages for one and then two come along at once! ;o)

This is my second Artistic Outpost stamp creation. I bought two stamp sets with a voucher given to me by my sister-in-law Alison (butterfly) I chose 'Bluebird' and Think and Wonder' as my introduction to Artistic Outpost stamps - I LOVE them!!!!

   I am still a bit in a Sepia mood at the moment so I decided to try and go a bit brighter for this tag and try going out of my comfort zone. So I used my Dylusion ink sprays. I really like these, but the bright colours tend to make me reluctant to use them. I really should use them more!

     First I stamped the image of the young boy from the 'Think and Wonder' stamp set and stamped it with Potting Soil Archival ink.

    I chose my favourite stencil - the harlequin stencil and dabbed embossing ink through it. Clear embossing powder was then added and melted - giving a very effective resist for the inks.

     I didn't have a plan for the inks - just spray and hope! So I used Pure Sunshine, Calypso Teal and Melted Chocolate. After spraying I dabbed quickly with tissue to mop up the excess ink.

I used Cosmic Shimmer spray in Patina to add some glimmer.

   In some areas of the tag I used the text stamp from the 'Bluebird' set in Gathered Twigs DI

The words along the bottom of the tag were stamped in Potting Soil Archival ink and sprayed with Pure Sunshine and Calypso Teal Dylusion sprays. It was edged with Walnut Stain DI

    I stamped the boy stamp again on another piece of card and cut out the boy. I dabbed the edge of this with Walnut Stain DI and then after adding tiny pieces of balsa wood behind the figure, I glued it to the tag just over the original image.

A rusty heart finished off the tag

     Hope you like it Thanks so much for being here.....

I would like to enter this in the following challenge -

Artistic Outpost - Anything Goes
Simon says - Anything Goes
 

Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas - Week Eight

     It is Week Eight at Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas. When I am done I am going to miss making these! I have had so much fun!

      I was a bit stuck with this tag...I really loved it - but I did find myself myself facing some hesitation...I only had one stamp of Father Christmas and I really hadn't wanted to repeat any images - but lets face facts...I don't own a huge amount of Christmas stamps, so I am always going to be a bit limited with my choice....

       When I saw the Faded Jeans DI being used I was again a bit hesitant....It is probably my least favourite and least used colour....(I have a board that I velcro the foam ink pads to...the plain white pad with a smudge of blue ink stuck on the 'Faded Jeans' square spoke volumes about how little I use this colour - especially when compared to all the other ink saturated, worn out blending foam pads used for the other colours!!!!)

      And I didn't have any snowflake die cuts....Oh bother!!!!

     When I began to make the tags I had decided that I would follow closely to Linda's originals - I wanted to make my own versions, but know that they are recognisable as being inspired by Linda's tags. So that meant that I was going to use that Faded Jeans ink...and Father Christmas was going to appear again! ;o)


        ......As it turns out I am so glad that Linda used Faded Jeans DI...I LOVE that colour now!!! I always avoided it before thinking it was too dark and not 'my kind of blue' - How wrong I was....and how glad I was that I decided to leave my comfort zone!

     I must say I love the technique she used...Faded Jeans DI over a tag and then embossed with clear embossing powder and then covered with Picket Fence DP....I was so sure I was doing it wrong but suddenly after wiping the DP away I saw this gorgeous effect...after the biscotti pearls were added it gleamed! - Gorgeous! I will be doing that technique again! It is very hard to capture the prettiness of this effect on camera though - You still have the slightly raised embossed effect, but it is smoother and less obvious - it seems to have blended into the background slightly.....I'll stop waffling now!....

I used a Tim Holtz script stamp that I hadn't used for ages. It is smaller and more delicate than my favourite one and I felt a delicate script was needed here - using Potting Soil Archival ink.

    The Father Christmas stamp was done in Coffee archival - I did try Potting Soil - which is the ink I always use now - but for this tag the effect was too dark and I wanted something more delicate. And I did try other images - believe me!!! I tried everything.....but nope - Linda got it right and Father Christmas it had to be - anything else just didn't work and looked boring and out of place.....I figured just go with it! I got the Fired Brick DI out and coloured in the image, adding Peeled Paint DI for the holly. I might not have wanted to repeat any image, but the vintage effect this gives is just gorgeous!

      I added some Rock Candy Distress stickles glue to the image to give a very subtle frosty effect....it slightly smudged the Peeled Paint DS but I think that it adds to the vintage look!


       I used a die cut frame, painted in Nougat Fresco paint and then covered in crackle glaze. When dry I rubbed a bit of Chocolate Pudding Fresco paint into the cracks and wiped with a baby wipe.

          Some Nougat painted brads were used to secure the frame to the tag.

    All of my Christmas stamps were too small to add to the frame so I used a digi image that I printed up ages ago and coloured it with some Faded Jeans DI

    Now to solve the problem of lack of snowflakes...Linda decided to ban herself from using the poinsettia die, but I decided to go for flowers! I had several in kraft card so I painted them in Nougat Fresco paint and then covered them with Glossy Accents glue and sprinkled them with Rock Candy distress glitter - this glitter has become one of my crafting essentials!

 I used a pale white button for the center of each flower - specially chosen for its delicate mother-of-pearl sheen. I tied an ivory hemp string bow in each and stuck them to the center of each flower....So I might not have snowflakes, but I managed a snowflake shaped flower instead.

  I didn't have a metal bell but as a substitute for that I added vintage looking gold effect holly
 leaves.

A white organza ribbon bow finished off the tag.........and there is my eighth Frilly and Funkie Christmas tag!

Why not come along and share in the fun of this challenge too?...all you have to do is make something inspired by each of the 12 tags and you could be in with a chance to win $50 to spend at the Funkie Junkie Boutique

                       
                Thanks so much for being here - Hope to see you all again soon!

                       

I would like to enter this in the following challenge -

Funkie Junkie - 12 tags of Christmas

 

House of Cards

Hi everyone! Today over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges the challenge is -

'Make a Card'

....I used to make a lot of cards years ago, but since discovering inks, stains, diecuts, sprays and all the rest I haven't ventured into any card making. Suddenly making a card seemed really difficult! Of course this was silly, making a card should be as simple as making tag, but my brain just seemed to falter at the word 'Card'.

   I eventually found some inspiration while staring at the walls in my art cupboard.....

     A few months ago I had had a playtime - not making anything particular, just messing around. I grabbed a kraft tag and without really thinking what it could become, I dry brushed some sky blue Fresco paint over it. I liked the effect because it is hard to see if it was brown paint brushed over blue or vice versa....I then stamped my favourite wishes stamp in Black Archival ink over it...drew some faux stitching around the edge and blended some Black Soot DI around the edge of the tag to add a shabby look...

    And there my inspiration ended...I tried to make a tag for it to go on but that failed, and so I hung it up on the wall - I liked it too much to throw it away, but at that point I couldn't go any further with it....
    So I was sitting there struggling with the card...and I glanced at this tag. Perhaps it should be the basis for the card? I cut it down to a rectangle, got an ivory card blank and placed it on top...well, it obviously needs something else!

    I rummaged through my stack of embossed card and found a lovely flower patterned one. I got some Frayed Burlap DI and covered it, then spritzed with Biscotti Ranger pearl mist to give it a lovely pearly sheen.

    I found a delicate flower diecut and dabbed some embossing ink over it and sprinkled with Pale Blue Frantage powder. The previous time I had used Frantage I had barely applied any, this time I covered it. I LOVE the effect it gives! So now I had gorgeous enamelled effect flowers. I couldn't resist adding some more Frantage to the top and bottom of the quote too in a gorgeous tarnished silver colour...

   I cut the strip of flowers into sections so that I could curve it around the words.

Then I added a strip of coffee coloured crochet lace and a selection of gorgeous buttons. The card was finished with dabbing around the ivory card with Walnut Stain DI.

         
                              And there is my card....the first one I have made for years!

    So why not come over to Fashionable Stamping Challenges and make a card yourself? You could be the winner of $20 to spend at Flonzcraft Stamps! And of course you could be picked at one of our Catwalk Spotlights!

          Thanks so much for being here to see my latest creation - Hope to see you back again soon!