APC Challenge - Week 24

Hmmm ...... Week 23?  Yes, it IS coming, just not on this post!

The prompt for Week 24 of the

Altered Playing Card Challenge

is Washi Tape

Add a variety of different but co-ordinated washi tapes to both playing cards.

Card #1

Stamp, emboss and colour an image.  Cut a circle and attach to washi tape as this will help the stamped image stand out.  I cut out the caterpillar (Stampotique) and popped him on dimensionals.  I added a word and all finished!

 Card #2

Die cut an image and using the surrounding area, stamp over the top.  I used a script stamp from Kaisercraft for this step.  Adhere it over the top of the card, allowing the washi tape to show through.  A word was added and again, all finished!

Both these cards were simple and very easy to put together.   

Looking through my mix of washi tapes, I realised that they really needed to be grouped by colour, so I now have three take-away containers, one with black/white tapes, another with blue/green/purple tonings and a third with the remaining mix of colours.  I also realised I have nothing in yellows, so when I'm visiting The Stitches & Craft Show next weekend, I'll see what can be done to remedy this situation!

I'll be back with Week 23 before you know it, so stay tuned!

Happy Crafting!

 

APC Challenge - Week 22

Week 22 of the Altered Playing Card Challenge 

was to use glue with a stencil.

After reading that the stencil needs to be cleaned immediately after using glue, I decided I would create my own patterns instead.

The glue was left to dry over a number of days and when I pulled them out from where I leave things that need to dry, much to my surprise the glue had (a) turned yellow and (b) was still sticky although set.  I had expected it to dry clear and non sticky.  Oh well, next step was to add paint.

For both cards, I squeezed just a spot of paint onto them and finger painted over the whole surface.  I then wiped a little paint off as they would have been too dark.  

(The blue card is actually purple, but the light hasn't been good the last few days as it is cloudy and overcast)

I discovered after the paint was added, that the stickyness of the glue was somewhat reduced.

 

 

These are the finished cards (this time using a flash). 

 

 

I'm really not sure which looks better - flash or no flash?

Anyhow, I outlined the glue with my paint pen, found my punch that makes a sort of filmstrip edge, stamped the "Octopet" (Stampotique) onto scrap white card and coloured it with Distress Markers. I then added a small piece of torn paper, popped the octopus onto dimensionals and added the word.  I decided the octopus was a bit flat, so added purple dots of Liquid Pearls and black dots of Liquid Pearls for eyes.

On this card I outlined the glue with a white paint pen, adding extra dots for a border.  I added a piece of fabric washi tape and as I didn't want it going over the dots, cut the end off and added it just above the first piece.  I lightly stamped a script stamp in 'watering can' Archival Ink across the background.  I stamped "Rabbit" (Stampotique) onto scrap designer paper, cut him out, popped him on dimensionals and added just a touch of colour to his ears, nose and bow-tie.

I'll be back again very soon as this is a catch-up week.  You'll be able to see Weeks 23 & 24 in the next couple of days and very soon this challenge will be finished.

 

Happy Crafting!

 

Beautiful Garden

When I was gazing around Jenni's craft room the other day, my eyes came to rest on the shelf where she keeps her JOFY stamps - have I mentioned I love JOFY stamps?  The images are so quirky and fun and I found myself wanting to use all of them - but of course, I didn't!

I started the tag off by blending blue, yellow and green Distress Inks together for the background, and gave them a quick water spritz to add some age spots.

I then stamped JOFY #11 & #14 for my flower garden, and coloured them using Distress Inks stamped onto an acrylic block with water added.

I stamped the dragon fly from a Prima set of stamps called "Butterfly Wings" that I picked up at a craft show last year.  There are different wings and bodies along with pen nibs and other bits & pieces in this set, but for this tag I chose the dragonfly.

After I coloured him, cut him out and popped him on dimensionals, I added a bit of sparkle with my Wink of Stella pen.  As the tag looked like it needed a little something extra, I added dashes around the border and finished with a snippet of seam binding ribbon tied with a piece of twine.

This tag doesn't fit in with any challenges that I'm aware of this week but that's ok as I simply enjoyed making it - it sort of reminds me of a summer's day, and we're certainly having lots of them at the moment!

 

Happy Crafting!

 

A bird does not sing

On Tuesday, my crafting friend Jenni, invited me to check out her craft room, 

and of course, have some 'play time' together.

Last week the Stampotique Designer's Challenge was

"Orange & Lemon - use Citrus colours"
 and this week's theme at the Tagalong Challenge is
"Warm Colours" 

Using Distress Inks, I started with 'squeezed lemon', adding 'spiced marmalade', some 'worn lipstick' and just a whisker of 'peeled paint', blending them altogether.

 I stamped the background hearts in 'spiced marmalade', stamping off once first.

On Jenni's shelf (next to where I was sitting) were her JOFY stamps, so using #12 I stamped some foliage, colouring it with Distress Ink.  

I really like these quirky stamps, hmmm ..... think I might have to review my wish list - which is always getting longer (sigh)!

I stamped 'Toucan & Budgie' from Stampotique, onto some ivory card, coloured them with watercolour pencils and fussy cut them.  They were mounted on the tag using my favourite dimensionals (SU).

The top of the tag looked a little bare, so Jenni to the rescue again, with a quote from Dina Wakely's 'Scribbly Birds', stamped in 'Watering Can' Archival Ink.

To finish I coloured a length of seam binding ribbon in co-ordinating colours and looped it through the top of the tag.

Of course, by the time I got around to photographing the tag, a new challenge had appeared on Stampotique Designers Challenge - oh well, at least this time I can still add it anyway!

Happy Crafting!

Carrot & Hamlet

...... continuing on from yesterday's post,

here are the two cards which chaperoned the 

Nursery Rhyme ATCs to far away lands.

I started by stamping, colouring and cutting out both "Carrot" and "Arch".

Using Distress Inks, I went with blue and green, blending the colours around the centre of the card. Next I spritzed water over the background leaving random blotches behind.  I then stamped "Arch" again directly onto the card and attached the cut and coloured Arch over the top.  I glued "Carrot" onto the background and added the loose bricks in front of his foot.  The card is edged with 'black soot' Distress Ink.

This card was made in exactly the same way but "Hamlet of Halloween" takes centre stage this time.

All images are from Stampotique and are coloured using watercolour pencils.

I enjoyed a lovely 'play date' with my friend Jenni today, so be sure to come back tomorrow to see what I got up to in her craft room!

 

Happy Crafting!

 

Incy Wincy Spider

Now that I know that both recipients have received their 

ATC Nursery Rhyme swaps,

here is how they came into being.....

This is the first of three that I made for this swap.  Initially I had the idea to use corregated card and bend it around to form a pipe (or water spout) but found it was going to be too difficult on an ATC.  Then I went in search of some paper that would be appropriate and found this Kaisercraft paper 

(one of the new collections, but I don't remember which one - oops)

which looks like corregated card.

I stamped "Water Droplets" from Designs by Ryn directly onto the paper with 'jet black' Archival Ink and then added the spider web from "Happy Hauntings" by Graphic 45 to the top corner.

I was thinking about how to attach "Mr Stripes" from Stampotique using thread, and then it came to me "why not make this a slider?" and as they say "the rest is history"!!!

I cut a slot down the centre of the paper, popped the spider onto a little piece of dimensional, and up & down the spout he goes (hehehe).  I then roughed up the edges of the paper before popping dimensionals between the front and back pieces.  

Each slider needed a little pull tag, which was cut with a circle punch twice to sandwich the end of the slidey bit.

I always like to send my ATC in a card, which also helps keep it flat as it journeys across the ocean to far distant lands.

If you come by tomorrow, I'll be back to show the cards that chaperoned the ATCs .....

Happy Crafting!

 

Bookworm

The theme at Wicked Wednesday this week is

"Bookworm or Things with Wings"

 

 

I started by covering the ATC with newsprint tissue paper which had first been scrunched up and opened out before being adhered with a glue stick.

 

I coloured it using a blend of Distress Inks with "tea dye" around the edges.

 

The caterpillar from Stampotique was stamped onto white cardstock, along with the wings 

(a freebie from Craft Stamper magazine a while back).

They are coloured by blending watercolour pencils together.

 

I used my new black Wink of Stella pen to add some sparkle to the black veins in the wings and also to the antennas (is that how you spell antennas?).

The books are cut from the front cover of a Graphic 45 christmas collection of papers, as I had already used the papers some time ago.

"Top Secret" is also from Stampotique.

I hope you like my little "Bookworm" - he was certainly fun to create ......

Happy Crafting!

 

Exhausted by Stupidity

I was playing with this weeks technique for the Altered Playing Card challenge and found it lots of fun, so I decided to create a couple of tags as well, while I had all the bits & pieces out.

"Think Pink" 

is the theme at this week's

Tagalong Challenge

and

"Painted Background"

is the theme at the Stampotique Challenge #180

I started with a blank size 8 manilla tag.  After using Tim Holtz' "splatters" stencil and some Impasto Medium, I then waited for it to dry before sponging Kaisercraft "hot pink" paint over the whole tag.  While it was still wet, I then used a baby wipe to wipe the paint off which revealed the stencilled areas.  Once that was dry, I then added just a smear of the same paint for a bit more contrast as well as dipping a lid in the paint to create circles.

I stamped "Gooseneck" from Stampotique onto ivory cardstock twice, cutting around the first image and just around her dress on the second image.  The bottom of her dress is popped onto dimensionals while the bodice is glued directly onto the first image. 

I gave her dress a little more sparkle with my new 'black' Wink of Stella pen and also outlined the words in the same way.

I added pink washi tape for Gooseneck to stand on, as well as another piece beneath the word 'exhausted'.  Gooseneck is popped onto dimensionals.  A piece of ribbon finishes off the tag.

I think this technique will be getting played with a lot more .......

Happy Crafting!

APC Challenge - Week 21

Altered Playing Card Challenge - Week 21

I really enjoyed playing along with the prompts this week.

Both cards started with Impasto Medium and stencils, then put aside to dry.  

The only difference my cards had to them at this point, was that I used cards I had coloured early in this challenge but hadn't used because they had remained tacky.   By following the prompts, all the tackiness is now covered with paint and is no long tacky!

So, now that that is all sorted, let's continue, shall we?

After I wiped the paint from the stencilling, I was left with a pale colour palette.  To brighten it up a tad, I dipped my finger into some darker paint and added the spots.   After it was dry I added the torn print (tissue paper), let it dry, then added a very quick & easy border.  My little girl was made using Dylusions 'bunting' stamps for her dress and hat, stamped onto scraps of coloured paper and cut out.  Her dress needed something extra, so I coloured the spots in white with my Posca Paint pen.  Her face is stamped using a Prima 'doll' stamp which has three faces - (nothing else, just the faces) and then punched with a circle punch, and just a touch of colour to her lips.  I added "dream" to finish off.

The second card is done the same way as the first, but this time some washi tape was attached to some scrap card to use as a background.  I don't have any black washi tape so went with a small red pattered one instead.  The face and hat on this girl are made the same way as the previous card, but this time her body is stamped using my Stampotique cube stamp onto spotty paper and cut out.  Her legs are from Stampotique "Hamlet of Halloween" and her arms from "Carrot".   I quickly sponged some black dots before adhering her to the washi tape background and cut around leaving a border.  The words are from Dylusions.

Hope you like my creations this week ......

Happy Crafting!

May & June

Hmmmm .......... what else have I been making lately?

Starting way back in July 2013, I came across the idea (thank you Kate Crane) of making a calendar each month in an art journal, and so my journey began.  I got as far as April 2014 and then stopped and really didn't pick up my art journal much after that either.  Last week, I thought I should look over what I had been doing and found this double page all ready to stamp the days of the week on, and as I had just bought a new Stampotique cube stamp with journalling squares, I was ready to stamp.  In just 15 minutes I had stamped the date, the squares and filled them in!   The background was done using Heidi Swap sprays and various stencils, so in real life it is quite shimmery.

Then I moved on to June 2014 .......

Using different green Dylusions sprays, I randomly spritzed and mopped and spritzed a bit more and mopped a bit more - I'm sure you get the idea of where I'm going with this!   To add some texture, I used Croco Crackling Colour 'Metallic Silber' by Viva through a stencil, putting it aside to dry and hopefully, crackle!   Once it was dry to the (gentle) touch, I then added the circles using a lid dipped into black gesso.  Just for fun (but unfortunately I don't think it shows in the photo) I also dipped another lid into Distress Crackle Paint 'rock candy' and left it to dry.   Next I stamped the date and different journalling squares (from the same Stampotique stamp) and filled in what happened on different days in June.

So, I have now finished a year's worth of calendar entries with journalling in the date squares, 

from July 2013 through to June 2014.  

I'm still wondering if I will continue for a bit longer or just leave it at 1 year???

Hmmmm ........... what to do, what to do???

Happy Crafting!