Six of Seven

Almost there with this challenge ....

.... hold tight, and pretend it's a plan

I took a piece of patterned paper for the background, stamped the girl onto it,

then stamped twice again on two more patterned pieces of paper and once onto white card.

I fussy cut around the whole image on the white card, 

adding colour to her skin, hair and stockings.

More fussy cutting around her dress and the umbrella, 

then glued in place over the original.

The words are from Mr Holtz.

Black card gives this lots of contrast before adhering to folded white card.

Stamps

Katzelkraft - Solo

Words

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Small Talk 

Paper

Cocoa Vanilla Studio - Happiness

I'll be back tomorrow with the last card for this challenge.

Happy Crafting!

  

ConGRADulations!

CONGRADULATIONS!

YOU DID IT!!!

 

There was a bit of a proud parents moment happening this week

when our #3 son graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Of course, a card was in order

and having browsed an online craft website (shhhhhh .... we won't tell anyone)

I came across this graduate who I thought rather fitted the bill.

 Whilst going through my papers looking for a suitable background

I came across this paper, which is the 'other' side of a pretty floral pattern.

I cut it to size, then stamped the graduate on one side, then again on white card.

 Using Archival 'watering can' ink, I stamped the books on the background, 

overlapping the boy just a little bit.  I then stamped them again on scrap paper,

cut around around them and using this as a mask, 

stamped the 'curiosity' quote, also in 'watering can' ink.

 Using Mr Google, I found what colour robes #3 son would be wearing

and coloured the graduate accordingly, including a white stripe on the collar of the robe.

He was fussy cut and glued directly over the background image.

The sentiment was stamped to complete the card front.

A black border and a yellow card finished it off perfectly.

STAMPS

Stamping Bella - Oddball Boy Graduate

Tim Holtz - Warehouse District; Schoolhouse

I love it when a card comes together without too much fuss and effort

- I wish they would all do that!

  To top it off, my son thought the card was pretty spot on

[apart from the skull on the mortar board - his didn't have one] !!!

HAPPY CRAFTING!

   

Trio of Halloween

Halloween Trio of Tags

was the theme of a swap in which I participated recently.

I decided to have a play with "Monster Mash" from Dylusions for the main, er ... aliens, 

along with a few other stamps and stencils.

I started with the backgrounds, each one using 'wilted violet' Distress Oxide with another colour added and then spritzed with water and let it run.  

Stencils were used to create the backgrounds on each one. 

The glass jar was stamped onto acetate with StazOn ink, and again on a piece of scrapbook paper for a wood grain look.  Both were fussy cut and carefully glued together where the jar sits on the base.  The captured bats were also stamped onto acetate, then coloured on the reverse with Gelly Glaze pens.  The areas of colour on the jar are also Gelly Glaze pens.   Pieces of torn washi tape were added before assembling the jar.  The sentiment was then added.

I love this character; he really looks like he belongs in a lab somewhere!

I watercoloured him with Distress Inks, adding a touch of Gelly Glaze pens to the buttons, striped leggins and his boots.  His face and hands were coloured with Prismacolor pencils.

On the final tag, I chose this weird little alien who can't believe what he's seeing in the sky!

He is coloured with Prismacolor pencils with highlights of Gelly Glaze on his spots, tongue and eyeballs.

Each tag has a dragonfly, also coloured with Gelly Glaze pens on acetate.

The tags were edged with 'pumice stone' Distress Ink.

Each ribbon was hand coloured to co-ordinate with the tag.

They were fun to put together; hope you like them.

Stamps

Dylusions - Monster Mash

Art Impressions - Air Hag Set

Stampotique - 3 Greetings

Tim Holtz - Simple Sayings

Stencils

Tim Holtz - Mini Set #17; ShatterTHS014

Unknown (words)

HAPPY CRAFTING!

  

I love you

When it comes to new stamps, I should but can't resist.

This was definitely the case recently and as I still had some background card sitting on my desk from when I was playing the the Distress Oxides - well! - Say no more!

This girl reminds me of a cartoon character

(please don't ask me which one though)

and I just love how carefree and whimsy she looks

dancing across the card.

I coloured her with my favourite Prismacolor pencils and fussy cut her.

Using 'jet black' Archival Ink I stamped a border across the bottom

and added a sentiment.

A simple black mat and white card and it's finished!

Stamps

Studio Magda Polakow - #2

49 and Market - Gabi's Line Stitch Stamp Set

Tim Holtz - Simple Sayings CMS155

Challenges

 http://craftstamper.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/take-it-make-it-challenge-january.html
 http://snarkystampers.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/soss-101-t-is-for-technique.html

 

I have this card sitting on a little easel on my desk as I just love it!

Happy Crafting!

  

Can you guess my favourite?

I've been on a bit of a roll the last couple of days, 

so glad that Mr Mojo returned to give me a helping hand!

As tomorrow is December, that can only mean one thing .....

Christmas Cards

I started off with some freebie stamps that were attached to magazines recently.

[Papercraft Essentials - Issue 151]

I realise she is a little too well rugged up for an Australian Christmas,

however, she is rather sweet.

[Papercraft Essentials - Issue 150]

Next we have some of Santa's little helper gnomes,

I wonder what is in the box?

[Papercraft Essentials - Issue 150] 

Another variation of Santa's helper gnomes.

[Stampendous - Holiday Expressions SSC1231]

[Stampotique - Wookie]

[Stamper's Anonymous - Crazy Things]

As Wookie didn't have his own Santa hat, he borrowed one from Mr Holtz!

I've been making six of each design as I would get bored very easily if I only had one design!

Which one do you prefer?

I'm biased .....  can you guess my favourite?

Happy Crafting!

 

You're friggin' special

"I don't care if you lick windows, take the special bus, or ......"

have I ever mentioned how much I love Stampotique stamps?

 If you read yesterday's blog post, you will have noticed that

the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge theme is

"P" is for Pink Halloween

 and one of the swaps I'm doing this month is a halloween tag.

Ahh .... a perfect match!

 

This tag is a little wider than usual but I'm really pleased with how it all went together.

First I stamped the quote in the bottom corner of a piece of ivory card, 

and then stamped "Relaxin' " next to it.  

There was just enough room to add "happy halloween" down the side.

With 'worn lipstick' Distress Oxide ink on my craft mat, I spritzed the ink with water and swiped the tag through it.  I let it dribble a bit and then mopped the excess with a tissue. 

Next I added 'fired brick' Distress Ink through a spider web stencil, then spritzed it with water letting it dribble and dry naturally.

I coloured "Relaxin' " with watered down Distress Inks.  With the excess inks, I smooshed a ribbon through the colours to co-ordinate with the tag.  To finish, I added a black mat and tied the ribbon in place.

Stamps

Stampotique - "Relaxin' "; "Quote #1"

Tim Holtz - "Simple Sayings"

Challenge

Stampotique Designers Challenge - Anything but a card

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - "P" is for Pink Halloween

My apologies for the bold italics, but either blogger or my computer are playing silly buggers.  

Oh well ...... such is life!

Happy Crafting!

   

 

Pink, Purple and Dogs

I was recently asked by one of my friends

if I could make an 18th card.

The criteria for the card was "likes pink, purple and dogs"

so with that in mind, this is what I finished with:

The idea started by seeing some 'number' cards on FB and evolved from there.

I rummaged around in a box I rarely open and found a packet of chipboard numbers and luckily for me, there was a '1' and an '8' - phew! 

I gessoed the numbers so I would have a lovely white base,

then painted them with a couple of coats of 'Ginger Flower' Silk Acrylic glaze. 

Once that was dry, I added Glossy Accents and while that was wet,

randomly dropped little coloured beads over the top. 
(they look a bit like hundreds & thousands - LOL!)

 

I stamped, coloured and fussy cut some dogs, 

arranging them in various ways until I was happy with the layout.

A zig-zag border was added, then everything was adhered in place.

A matching glimmer card was added before sticking to the white card base.

Stamps

Stampers Anonymous - Mini Cats & Dogs  

49 and Market -Gabi's Line Stitch Stamp Set

I hope the birthday girl had a very enjoyable day celebrating

with her family and friends!

Happy Crafting!

    

Green with Envy

Do you ever have days where your head is empty, totally devoid of any creative juices?

Yesterday was one of those days ..... actually, so was the day before.

Today was different - just as well, otherwise I'd be getting withdrawal symptoms!

The challenge this week at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is

so I got to thinking about what stamps I could use that would work with this theme.

Ta Da!!!

I'm rather chuffed with how this turned out!

Someone is feeling very green with envy when the other kitty has a FULL bottle of milk and all he has are leftover fish bones!

Keep your paws off my milk!

Challenge
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - G is for green with envy
Craft Stamper - Take it Make it 'anything goes'

Stamps
Stampers Anonymous - Crazy Cats
Lawn Fawn - Jessie's ABCs

All images are coloured with Prismacolor pencils.

Happy Crafting!

Birthday Weekend

It's that time again ...... what's that you say?

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

Yes, today is #2 son's birthday, so out came some stamps I rather like,

but haven't used very much.

This muddled up zebra seems a little annoyed,

perhaps he was hoping his birthday would just float away like the balloons!

 Ha, ha ..... no chance!

  

I started with a shimmer black blank card 

(try saying that after a few drinks .... hic!)

 found a nice background paper from a dollar store and cut it down to fit.

I stamped the zebra and the balloons on white cardstock and fussy cut them.

Once I knew where he was going to sit, I stuck a piece of washi tape in place

and stamped the sentiment. 

I coloured the balloons and zebra with Prismacolor pencils.

One balloon was glued directly onto the background, 

the second balloon and zebra were popped onto dimensionals.

The balloon strings were drawn by hand.

Stamps

Katzelkraft - KTZ168

Visible Image - Just be Happy
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz - Crazy Things

Challenges
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - O is for Outrageous! 

After a yummy lunch out with the family, we returned home to open presents 

(and, of course, the card) 

followed by the 'kids' happily playing video games!

I'll be back again tomorrow for the second of the weekend birthdays!

Happy Crafting!

 

   

Never apologise

Cat mantra - Never apologise for who you are.

Another quick little ATC today using Tim Holtz' "Mini cats & dogs".

I've coloured the kitty with watercolour pencils, with a wash of purple to ground him. The border is hand-drawn with a Distress Marker.

Challenge

Show us your Pussies - #9 Anything Goes

Stamps

Tim Holtz - Mini Cats & Dogs CMS272

Stampendous - Life Words SSC1213

Happy Crafting!

'H' is for Hound

I went shopping this week and came home with a couple of new stamp sets

including some cute little dogs (or perhaps they should be 'hounds').

These work perfectly with the theme at 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

which is 'H' is for Hounds

I love making ATCs and this little hound was made to measure when it comes to something small.

He was stamped with 'jet black' Archival Ink and coloured with watercolour pencils.  A wash of grey gives him some grounding.

I had to smile when I read the quote as it looks quite snarky [hehehe!] !!!

Challenges

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - #66 'H' is for Hound

ATC Around the World - #20 Anything Goes

Stamps

Tim Holtz - "Mini Cats & Dogs" CMS272

Stampendous - "Life Words" SSC1213

Happy Crafting!

Florrie's Party

The new theme at Stampotique this week is

PARTY

so Florrie has put on her best dress to join in the fun.

Florrie is the latest addition to my Stampotique family, so perhaps the party is in her honour?

I started by finger painting a piece of white cardstock with some yellow yummy-ness in the form of Art Alchemy acrylic paint in 'pure sunshine'.  This is a metallic paint I bought recently just to try out and now I'm wishing I'd bought more than 1 little pot.  It is so vibrant and the thin layer I painted dried almost straight away.  I then went back and added a little more to create a bit more texture.

I then added little touches of Silk in 'pretty peridot' and 'bolivian blue' around the edges, again finger painting.

It's very hard to get a photo of the metallic finish,
especially as this morning is a bit gloomy.

[Where is the sun that was out earlier this morning?   ..... And where did those grey clouds come from?]

Anyhow, back to Florrie ...... I started by colouring her with Prismacolor pencils, but when I got to her dress, I decided to stamp another image onto patterned paper and so she has a pretty spotty dress.  I then fussy cut Flossie being extra careful with her thin little legs.

Her party hat was coloured with a red gel pen and the balloons were painted with the same Silks mentioned above.

Flossie was given a piece of washi tape to stand on.  All images were popped up on dimensionals.

Stamps

Stampotique - Flossie Doodle Dolly

Stampers Anonymous [Tim Holtz] - Crazy Things

Challenges

Stampotique Designers Challenge - #252 Party

Craft Stamper - July : Anything Goes

Happy Crafting!

Imagine

I decided to play along with some monthly challenges, so last week I got to work in my art journal, getting inky and messy along the way.

There were a few stages to these pages, so stay with me and I'll attempt to do quick step by step photos to show how I got to the finished pages.

Months ago I tried blopping a tea bag onto my pages and once they had finally dried out (note to self, squeeze out the tea bags a bit more) I was left with random beige areas.  So last week I opened my journal to these pages and started adding colour, firstly with turquoise paint through a mini bricks stencil and a feather stencil.

Once that had dried, I applied Distress Crackle Paint [clear rock candy] and waited for it to crackle. I then wiped Silks [emperor's gold and pretty peridot] over the crackles for added effect.

With another stencil, I added random flowers using Viva Modellier Creme [mother of pearl].

Finally I added random butterflies and circles using Viva Facetten-Lack - Croco Crackling Colour [metallic silber] and with bubble wrap added some more background.

A few bits of washi tape were added under the angel and bird, both of which were coloured using Gelly Roll pens, so they were grounded.  They were then fussy cut and popped onto dimensionals.

  

The chipboard letters were coated in Viva Ferro [graphite] and once dried, a light touch of Silks [bolivian blue] was used to highlight them.

Stamps

Carabelle Studio - Woman & Bird

Carabell Studio - An Angel to Love

Tim Holtz - Simple Sayings

Challenges

Craft Stamper - Let's Get Inky

Creative Carte Blanche - Winged Things

Country View Challenges - Crackle

More Than Words - Imagine and Get Messy

Happy Crafting!

hello friend

The theme at "Simply Less is More" this week is

'White Space but NOT White'

so after one false start, this card should fit in perfectly.

This was a quick and easy design using a square purple card base.  The stamp was inked up using Versa Mark with white embossing powder.  A simple sentiment finishes off a simple but pretty card.

Stamps

Carabelle Studios - 'Zinouk du jardin'

Tim Holtz - 'Simple Sayings'

Challenge

Simply Less is More - #270 "White Space but NOT White"

Happy Crafting!

Enjoy today

This week's challenge at 

Simply Less is More is 'One Layer Sentiment'

Hmmm ...... what to use?  Looking at the stamps sitting on my bookcase, this one jumped out at me and I could easily visualize the other stamps that would work together nicely.

What do you think?

Take a plain piece of A5 cardstock, fold in half and stamp sentiment in the centre.

Stamp mortar board and rolled certificate in diagonal corners, add a touch of colour and there you have it - a simple one layer card.

I felt it needed a little something extra, so carefully scored a border around the edges.

All finished and took around 15 minutes to complete.

Although this week's challenge at Stampotique has changed today, this card will still fit in with the 'Time Challenge < 30 minutes' from earlier this month.

Stamps:

Stampotique - 'Enjoy Today'

Tim Holtz - 'Crazy Things'

Challenges:

Simply Less is More - #267 'One Layer Sentiment'

Stampotique Designers Challenge - #234 'Time Challenge < 30 minutes'

Happy Crafting!

Top of the Morning

"GREEN & GOLD"

is this week's challenge at Wicked Wednesday,

so with this in mind and not having any leprechauns or shamrocks, 

"Key Keeper" monster stepped in to help me out.

The background is a leftover piece of patterned paper, (which is actually more yellow in real life than the photo) cut to an ATC.  "Key Keeper" was stamped onto white card, coloured with green and yellow prismacolor pencils and fussy cut.  His top hat is a darker green with the band coloured with a gold gel pen.  The quote letters are from Kaisercraft.  A little piece of washi tape in a similar colour to his hat finish off this ATC.

Stamps:

"Key Keeper" - Stampotique

hat - Tim Holtz "Crazy Things"

Challenge:

Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge - #200 "Green & Gold"

Happy Crafting!

Make a Wish

One of my friends asked me if I would make a 1st birthday card for this coming weekend.  As I don't have very many children's stamps any longer, I decided on a little bird instead.

I stamped this sweet little bird directly onto white cardstock, and watercoloured her with 'victorian velvet', 'peeled paint' and 'squeezed lemonade' Distress Inks, using an acrylic block as my palette.

I then stamped a party hat and gift, colouring them both with Inktense pencils.   I added glittery wash tape (torn longways down the middle) across the bottom on the card to ground the bird and gift.  The party hat and gift were then fussy cut and glued into place.  The sentiment was stamped with 'twisted citron' Distress Ink.

Stamps used:

bird - Katzelkraft

party hat & gift - Tim Holtz 'crazy things'

sentiment - Tim Holtz 'simple sayings'

Happy Crafting!

Make a Wish

After my first attempt at a shabby chic card, I kept looking at what didn't quite work, (I decided the card base should have been smaller) and tried again.

This time, "Gooseneck" decided to take centre stage.

What do you think?

The background text is torn from a book, and for those that know me, you will be interested to hear that I didn't read the page first before tearing it out!) The other two pieces of torn paper are both from a packet of handmade papers I was given a couple of years ago.

I couldn't work out if shabby chic and vintage were different or crossed over somehow, but whatever the answer, I'm happy with the finished card.

Stamps used:

"Gooseneck" - Stampotique

Words - Tim Holtz 'Simple Sayings'

I think I'm starting to get the hang of the shabby chic style.

(In my previous post, I made a shabby chic ATC from a bag of leftovers)

Happy Crafting!

Coffee with the Girls

I was having COFFEE WITH THE GIRLS last night, 

and as one of them celebrated her birthday last week, I thought I would make her a Shabby Chic card.

As this is the first time I've made a Shabby Chic card, I wasn't feeling too confident, however, having recently received a Shabby Chic ATC from a swap, I took cues from this for my card.

I started by choosing my stamp, and "Dwindled" was happy to oblige.  She was stamped on white card, coloured with Prismacolor pencils and fussy cut.

I then chose a piece of handmade paper (which had actually been given to me by my friend whose birthday it was) which was torn to the right size.  I then found a piece of book paper which was also torn to the required size.  I inked around both these papers with a combination of  'antique linen' and 'tea dye' Distress Inks.  I small piece of muslin was lightly inked using the same colours.

After adding some faux stitching around both pieces, all the pieces were ready for placement.  A teeny piece of folded seam binding ribbon was tucked under the top layer, along with a little metal leaf.   A few ink spots were stamped onto the handmade paper before "Dwindled" was stamped again for the fine detail, and a piece of washi tape added.  The fussy cut coloured "Dwindled" was glued over this image and to finish off, the (sticker) words were added.

A simple sentiment was stamped in 'faded jeans' Distress Ink, and the edges torn and inked to co-ordinate with the front of the card.

"Dwindled" - Stampotique

"happy birthday" - Tim Holtz 'Simple Sayings'

"make a wish"  - Tim Holtz 'Simple Sayings'

This card fits perfectly (well, I think so, anyway) with this week's challenge at:
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - "M is for Mixed Media"
Craft Stamper - "Take a Technique - Text Me!"

I was really pleased with how my first Shabby Chic attempt turned out.

What do you think?

Happy Crafting!