Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - J

Sometimes it takes ages to decide what to do for the chosen letter of the week on the Craft Barn Challenge and sometimes, like today, inspiration strikes immediately. My chosen word is jigsaw as in puzzle but my jigsaw is of a jam jar with jellybeans (can you tell I had fun with this one?). The jigsaw is a Sizzix die I picked up a couple of years ago in The States. The jam jar stamp is a charity shop find by Rubber Stampede stamped with  Memento London fog. I cut some spare rubber into a bean shape and used Stazon blazing red for the jellybeans. The different shades are 2nd & 3rd generation stamping (I saw a Hero Arts video a while ago that did something similar). I brushed the page edges with picked raspberry DI and used some computer generated text.

LIM 139 - Sketch

It's been a long time since I took part in the Less Is More Challenge. This week's challenge was a very simple sketch which I thought would help me kickstart my mojo. The circle reminded me that I have a circular Hero Arts stamp called flower wood background which I could use. I made a background by rolling a brayer with wild honey, ripe persimmon and picked raspberry DI over some white card. I stamped the image with sepia archival ink, used a Sizzix die to cut out the circle and outlined the flowers and stems with a white pen. The text is from a See-D's set.

A Quick Card

I needed a quick card and decided to use this embossing folder that I bought earlier this month. I added some gems, a peel-off sentiment and embossed the ribbon again with red card. Job done!

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - G

This fortnight's letter on the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge is G. I did contemplate doing Geisha but as I'd already done 2 oriental themed letters (H for Haiku and K for Kimono) I decided against it. I got this giraffe stamp in a grab bag a while back and it seemed like a good opportunity to use it. Unfortunately due to the size of the stamp and the position of the definition I had to photocopy the definition and add it later - up till now I've always managed to work around the definition. I covered the pages with white acrylic and brushed on ripe persimmon, spiced marmalade, worn lipstick, frayed burlap and pumice stone DIs. The giraffe was stamped and coloured with coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. I cut one of the larger trees away from the stamp and used it along the bottom edge along with a Darkroom Door flower stamp which looks like a tall tree (sort of). I cut a letter from my Hippie Chick alpha and added the definition. Not many letters to go now and I'm very pleased to have managed to keep up - I won't know what to do with myself next year!

UK Stampers ATC Swap - September

I'm finding it quite hard to get back into the swing of things crafting-wise after the holidays but I wanted to start participating in swaps again. This month's theme of houses set by Vonny on UK Stampers was not a taxing one but it took me ages to get these done.
I covered the ATC blanks with book pages and used a brick stencil with squeezed lemonade DI as a BG and brushed the edges with frayed burlap. I used a Tattered Angels stencil and some glimmer mist and some gold Ferro paste through a flower stencil. The houses and trees are from Crafty Individuals stamped with archival sepia onto scraps of patterned paper.

UKS Postcard Swap - September

I haven't taken part in the UK Stampers postcard swap for a couple of months due to holidays so I was determined to take part this month. I find open themes very difficult especially after having a few months off so this is quite a basic card. I decided to go with this Mucha image after having seen some of his work in Prague this summer. I bought a small diary a few years ago (2010) which has some beautiful Mucha images and decided to take this image which is part of the Monte Carlo -  Monaco poster - I just love the expression on her face. I stamped a butterfly BG stamp with Memento London fog onto white card, randomly stuck on some punched flowers and covered the card with some pink tissue paper (courtesy of Monsoon). After sticking on the image I edged the card with decorative tape. The text was cut with TH's vintage market from card covered with washi tape (found in a shop in the same alley as our hotel in Vienna).

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Z and Catch-up - D

 

Catching up with the letter D which I missed a few weeks ago. DH & I have been going to dance classes for a few years now and we both enjoy it tremendously. It's a great way to keep fit and it's fun to do. The dancers are a Papermania stamp coloured with coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. The quote is from Non Sequitur's Paris in the Spring set. No dance floor is complete without a glitter ball which I cut from holographic paper. I used Archival cobalt and Impress lemon yellow for the BG.

This fortnight's letter for the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge is Z. I have a zebra stamp and I'm not afraid to use it!!!! So we have zillions of zebras (well a few) on a zingy/zesty background (orange, lime & lemon). I stamped and masked the zebra on Paper Artsy Crackly paper, roughly cut them out and coloured the backs with a white oil pastel crayon (I didn't want the BG colours to show through). The definition is highlighted with zeros and the quote is from a Dr Seuss book called ' On Beyond Zebra'. Now that I've caught up I'm hoping to visit you all and see what you've been doing.