Craft Barn Blog Candy!!!

To celebrate having over 1100 blog followers the Craft Barn has a fantastic selection of blog candy up for grabs. Pop over to the blog and follow the instructions to take part in the draw. Closing date is 9th September.

Tim Holtz Tag - August

I've spent most of this month thinking about how to create Tim Holtz's August tag. This is what I came up with. The embossed BG is a Cuttlebug textile texture folder. I highlighted the embossing with broken china DI, used the On The Edge plaque die and brushed corduroy DI on the distressed edges. The silhouette is an image I found online and the frame is a Marianne die which I heat embossed with clear powder. The branch (cardstock) and flowers (grunge paper) are Memory Box dies coloured with broken china, barn door and wild honey DI. The leaves are Marianne dies coloured with peeled paint & shabby shutters DI. I finished the tag off with some ribbon, lace and a few beads. The text is a stamp I had made a while back. I'm pleased with this tag. I like the look of the vintage silhouette in the embossed diecut frame and it was good to use the On The Edge die which I don't use enough. Only 5 more tags to go (January is still outstanding).

Craft Barn Colour Challenge

I haven't been able to take part in a Craft Barn Challenge for a while so I wanted to take part in this one. My original idea was to use Isabelle's technique of blowing ink through a straw to make splatters. I planned to make a few brightly coloured splatters that would look like chrysanthemums in a vase but sadly I couldn't get it to work. I used watermelon, butterscotch and bottle alcohol inks but it didn't look right so I went over it all with some blending solution and a felt pad. I used the BG I made on this card (if you look closely you can just about make out some of the streaks made by the straw). I cut a Nellie Snellen circle, a Joy Crafts tag and a small strip. The Katzelkraft Norris Fleurs stamp was inked with Memento London Fog and coloured in with Faber Castell watercolour pencils. I spritzed a homemade gold shimmer over the image (unfortunately it shows up as a dirty smudge in the picture above). The cream card blank was shaded with Adirondack dye inks in watermelon and butterscotch. A couple of small flower brads held the tag in place.

LIM 81 - Tearing

I've been away and missed several weeks of the Less Is More challenge so I couldn't let this week go by without making the time to enter. This week's technique is to use some tearing on the card. Now to me tearing goes with more of a shabby chic look rather than a CAS one so my challenge was to try and keep it clean & simple. I decided to make a torn flower - this involves roughly drawing a few circles of varying sizes and hand tearing around the outlines. Then you just stack them up. I used coredinations card stock and victorian velevet DI on the torn edges. I also embossed the circles with the Moroccan Screen embossing folder for a little more texture. The chevron die is by Dienamics.
I hope to visit my fellow LIMettes and see what other ripping ideas (oh sorry) you all have!
Edited to add I'm not entering this into the challenge but if any of you are thinking of Christmas cards the tree on the first tag here is a great way of using leftover bits of Christmas paper and mass-producing trees. The idea is not mine, I read it on Glenda Waterworth's blog a few years ago but it has been very useful. I remembered it because it uses torn strips of paper which you stick on a piece of card and then cut triangle shapes from. With careful measuring there is hardly any waste at all.

UKS ATC Swap August 2012

This month's theme on UK Stampers is 1,2,3. I made these a while back but forgot to blog about them. I used a book page which I splodged with Dusty Concord DI through a stencil and spritzed some inks over for the BG. I used my ancient deckle edged scissors (haven't used those for a while) to cut some ATCs. The butterfly is a Sizzix/Hero Arts stamp and die set and the flower die is of course by Memory Box. 3 gems finished off the ATC.

By the Sea Twinchies

I've had a long break from blogging and been away on my travels. I've also not done much crafting recently with so many exciting things happening in London recently.

This month's twinchie swap on UKS has a holiday theme to it. I made a BG with various blue DIs and some blue & green oil pastels. Having cut my twinchies I stamped a quote and a seagull from Crafty Individuals' seaside set. The silhouette stamp is by Clarity and I added a little fish brad to finish it off.