Katzelkraft sketch - Feb

I have a new scanning program and am trying to get to grips with the editing features on it so please bear with this awful pic until I can sort this out. I hand drew the heart shape and cut 3 out from some grey card that I had painted to use up some white paint and iridescent medium from this project. I then used Brilliance orchid and 3 different KTZ stamps to give different textured effects to the hearts. They were mounted onto foam pads and placed over some pink patterned paper and some blue card embossed with the swiss dots folder. The text stamp is by Elusive Images (I think).

UKS ATC Swap - Feb

For once I've managed to get ahead and have completed a set of ATCs for the February swap on UK Stampers. The theme is birds and I decided to use a Marianne bird and branch die as the main image. The bird was cut from kraft card and the branch part from a book page with some frayed burlap DI. The BG was made by brushing orchid and rusty rose Fresco Finish paint onto card. The Hampton Arts crackle stamp was added with victorian velvet DI and then I applied a thin layer of crackle accents all over. A Paper Artsy number stamp was randomly stamped with Stazon vibrant violet. After sticking on the bird and branch I stamped a PA text with Stazon jet black and added some gems.

LIM 104

I had some time to have a go at this week's Less Is More challenge which is a very simple sketch of a horizontal strip towards the bottom of a card. I thought of this Katzelkraft numbers border stamp which can go vertically or horizontally. As it's such a simple sketch I decided to use a Kaleidacolor ink pad (Spectrum) to add a bit of interest.. The text is computer generated (remember the Clarks shoe ad?) and I added a line top and bottom with a blue Sharpie (the light blue border around the card is just  to provide a backdrop).

Even more bits

I found this stamped image in my bit bag. I think it's by Crafty Individuals but it's not a stamp I own. Many, many years ago I attended a get-together with some virtual friends whom I got to know through a card-making forum. We met at a pub in Hertfordshire and each brought along some stamps, inks and card. We spent the afternoon chatting and stamping, goodness knows what other visitors to the pub thought but we all had a great time. I think this is one of the images I came home with. I dug out my chalks (remember those?) and coloured in the BG and the centres of the daisies. I found some matching Crafty Individuals paper from the Travels in Italy book and cut around those daisies so that I could insert the stamped piece into it. All the flower centres were given a blob of glossy accents and I coloured the stamped daisies with a white watercolour pencil. The base card is stamped with Impression Obsession's geologic stamp in Archival grape and I added a strip of Memory Box's loop border. Let's hope I'm still making an effort to use things from my bit bags in a few months time!

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - C

This week's letter is C and for me it could only be one thing (ok I did contemplate 'the big C' for a nanosecond but cancer was not something I wanted to portray). After last time's deep and thoughtful word I thought I'd go for something more lighthearted so I present ... Colourful Christmas! There is a lot of shine going on so it was hard to get a good shot of all the elements. I painted the pages with white acrylic paint mixed with iridescent medium. The BG was sprayed with Glimmer Mist through a stencil and then I flipped the wet stencil over onto the other page. The sequin waste is a Christine Adolph stamp with Impress emerald. The garland is a Sizzix die sponged with Adirondack meadow and coloured with a red Coloursoft pencil. Also in the BG are some splodges of Brilliance galaxy gold, some stencilled stars in pearlescent orange and a Katzelkraft splatter stamp with rocket red. The reindeer and the candles (another C word) are also by Katzelkraft. The 2 words 'peace' and 'joy' are embossed and cut out to add a bit of texture. I debated whether to add some ink to them for greater definition but I like them snow-white and they are clearer IRL. I wrote some Christmas-related words around the edges of the pages - writing in this book was the hardest thing of all for me but I'm glad I did it.
Thank you to everyone for your comments on my last entry. I do try and visit everyone who enters but if I haven't left a comment it's because for some reason I was unable to rather than that I couldn't be bothered. I look forward to seeing all your C words.

Tim Holtz Tag - January

I really enjoyed doing Tim's tags last year but I wasn't sure whether to take up this year's challenge or not. I don't have many of his stamps, embellishments or even the newer dies but then I decided to give it a go and adapt as much as I could to what I have.  So here is January's tag. I've used a Papermania chronology embossing folder with antique linen, brushed corduroy and broken china DIs. The advantage of this folder is that it is upside down so you don't have to cut the top to allow the bottom of the tag to be embossed as instructed by Tim. The text stamp by Katzelkraft is an extract of Martin Luther King's famous speech with the edges distressed. I cut some cogs from a Papermania chronology die and sponged copper, galaxy gold, platinum planet and lightning black Brilliance inks over. The film strip is by TH and the arrow is a punched shape. I coloured the silver organza ribbon with ginger Adirondack ink and stamped the month January from a Studio G stamp set. I'm not a big fan of steampunk but I do like this embossing folder and the dies are a good size to be used on other projects.

More from the Bit Bags

 

Another card made from scraps from the bit bags. The flourish diecut and the brad are the only new things. The stamped image is from Acey Deucey (I think).
Next is another Rekha card.

All these components are scraps. The card is embossed with a CB folder and highlighted with ink. The arch is a Katzelkraft stamp on acetate with the caught in crystal technique. The main image is by Postmodern Designs again.

Snow Much Fun

Well at least somebody is having fun in the snow!

The Bit Box

I should say bit bags .I've been having a bit of a tidy up (long overdue) and sorting through all the scraps and bits that I keep 'just in case'. I usually collect bits on my desk and when the bits pile up I put them into a plastic folder to use later but they never seem to see the light of day again. Today I sorted through all the folders and got rid of a lot of stuff that I know I'm never going to use (tiny scraps of card, negatives of punched shapes etc). I moved everything into 2 A3 sized zipped pouches, 1 for bits of card and 1 for stamped images, punched shapes and patterned paper. When I need to make a card I've resolved to try and find something in the bit bags that I can use. All the elements for this card except the candi dot and the small black flower centres were from the 2 bags even the card blank. The embossed image is by Post Modern Designs and the flowers were from an Elusive Images stamp set.

UKS Postcard Swap - January

The theme for the first postcard swap of the year over at UK Stampers is 'new beginnings'. It took a long time to think of something appropriate. Really for me this year is the same old, same old but I am looking forward rather than backward so I thought I would try and portray that. These Alice Palace bunnies looking skyward seemed appropriate. I used a base of kraft card and sprayed olive, raspberry and copper inks. The diamond border is a Penny Black stamp with Adirondack pigment ink in watermelon and I used a new ink blot stamp by Katzelkraft with the same ink. I edged the card with Adirondack meadow and added some white stamped flowers and dots.
Edited to add You will be relieved to know that I have now taken my Alice Palace stamps off my desk so you should see some other stamps being used for a change!

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - V

To start off the new year there is a new challenge on the Craft Barn blog. Every 2 weeks there will be a letter of the alphabet chosen by Isabelle that we have to incorporate into an art journal type project -  I've decided to use a dictionary. I am already stamping in a dictionary having been inspired by Stamping Matilda's blog but this new challenge is more of an art journal rather than just images so I picked up another dictionary from a charity shop.
The first letter is 'V'. I pondered on various 'v' words I could use - valentine, Victorian, vintage but decided to go for veil so that I could use this gorgeous stamp that I don't use enough. I bought it in a grab bag on ebay and have no idea who makes it. I covered the pages with white acrylic paint applied with an old credit card, masking the definition of veil and let it dry. Then I used a technique I saw on a video made by Brett Weldele following a link on Tim Holtz's blog. He spritzed some ink directly onto the page and then dipped a stamp into the pool of ink and stamped it around that area. I used a Hero Arts grid stamp with a maple spray. I then stamped the main image with Versafine onyx black. I used crushed olive and peeled paint DI around the edges and stamped a raindrop stamp (drip drops by All Night Media) with Impress cerulean blue. The quote is by an ancient Sufi poet called Jalal ad-Din Rumi printed in Algerian font.

UKS ATC Swap Jan 2013 - keys

It's been ages since I took part in a swap on UK Stampers so now that all my Christmas challenges have finished I thought I would get back into the ATC swap run by Vonny. This month's theme is keys.
The first and third ATC BGs were done in a similar way with dusty concord and bundled sage DIs on a craft sheet (on the 3rd I first stamped and clear embossed a Katzelkraft cog first). I stamped the Katzelkraft ledger in victorian velvet DI and a Crafty Individuals corner on the first. The embellishments were some that I've had for a long time. I sponged Impress peony purple over one setand Brilliance ivy over the other. The text is from a Crafty Secrets set. The second ATC was sprayed with glimmer mist through some templates and peony purple was sponged through some sequin waste. The Katzelkraft ledger stamp was stamped with Brilliance platinum planet and I stamped the keys and words from the Crafty Secrets set.

LIM 101

It's been several weeks since I took part in the Less Is More Challenge so I thought I would start the new year off right and give it a go this week. Sorry if you've already seen this stamp but it was crying out to be used for the challenge which is black and white with a splash of colour. For those that don't know this is one of  Crafty Individual's new Alice Palace stamps.

2012 Calendar Folder

As my new January calendar went up on the wall by my desk today and the old calendar came down, I decided to make a quick folder to store my 2012 pages. This is the front cover. I used a beautiful Katzelkraft ledger stamp and some patterned papers from the My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus set. The 'hinge' is cut with the TH ornamental die and I've also used some Studio G stamps. Inks used were Archival sepia and broken china DI. The spotted band is held in place with velcro.