June

Quotes & Lyrics - Music

Two very interesting words to choose from this fortnight for the Craft Barn's Quotes & Lyrics Challenge - music and passion. I was very tempted to do Abba's 'Thank You for the Music' but having done a classic song last time I thought I'd do a quote. These oft quoted words are the opening of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. I thought this might be a popular choice of quote but I didn't have the time to research anything else this week. The loved-up couple are a Katzelkraft stamp as is the curvy score. I used distress inks scattered straw, wild honey, broken china, crushed olive and peeled paint with die-cuts, stencils and punches.
Edited to add: In order to introduce their new website Katzelkraft have 30% off their rubber stamps and some fab Limited Edition stamps at only €15 for an A4 sheet.

LIM - 172

The flowers and sentiment are from 2 different Hero Arts sets stamped with Impress peony purple. I raised the stamped panel up on 3D foam pads and added some gems. I am entering this into the Less Is More challenge for this week, the theme of which is flowers.

Using Up Scraps

While sorting through some old stencils I came across some card block templates -  4 for A6 cards and 4 square. They are perfect for using up scraps - these came from Crate Paper's Pink Plum collection. I embossed some bits for a little texture and used the stencil alpha die for the numbers. The sentiment is from an ancient Rubbadubadoo magnetic set. I am determined to make use of all the old stamps that have been languishing in drawers, even if my style has changed over the years.

A Coloured Cardinal

Do you find colouring therapeutic? Sometimes I just like to sit and colour with no card or project in mind. I felt like that a few evenings ago and remembered I had an uninked stamp that I had bought in a sale a while ago that would be great for colouring in. I'm not an accomplished colourer who manages to do beautiful shading etc but I just enjoy the process of colouring in. The stamp is by Heartfelt Creations and is called Cardinal Posy Branch. I coloured it with Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor and cut it out. I'm not too sure about the bright red bird but I Googled the cardinal and tried to replicate the colours. I tried various coloured backgrounds but the black looked the most effective so I ran it through a lattice embossing folder for a little added texture. I'm leaving this without a sentiment for the moment but I shall probably place one on the right when required.

Just playing...

I decided to try and make my version of a background I had seen demonstrated on the Paper Artsy stand by (I think) a lady called Emma at Ally Pally a few weeks ago. I used some book pages, acrylic paint dabbers in lettuce, wild plum and eggplant and picket fence Distress Stain. Then some purple Ferro paste through a stencil and some black paint flicked over and with the edge of an old credit card. I added a few stamps and a bottle lid as a stamp. I cut the finished piece into 4 and used a quarter to make this card. I used some patterned paper from DCVW tie-dyed stack to mat the piece and also to make a matching envelope.
I'm pleased with the result but I think next time I need to use my fingers to blend the paint colours together more and perhaps to use a light layer of gesso over the paints. I still have 3 more pieces to play with...

Quotes & Lyrics - Fame

Number 9 for the Craft Barn's Quotes & Lyrics Challenge and the words chosen are unique and fame. There was no way I was going to complete a lyric challenge without a mention of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen and 'We are the Champions' seemed a good one to do. If by any chance you have been on another planet and haven't heard this song, here are Freddie (wearing slightly less than in the pic above) and the band singing it live. Although it is very much a stadium anthem I find the lyrics very poignant
The banners are cut from a Sizzix framelit die and the letters are from Tim Holtz's stencilled die. I wanted the background to be colourful to reflect his colourful life and I used various flower stamps that (sort of) look like fireworks as a celebration. That's it for another fortnight then. I will be checking out what you have created with interest.

UK Stampers Postcard Swap - May

This month's postcard swap on UK Stampers has to have some patterned paper on it. I'm not great at planning layouts in advance and this postcard was no different - it just sort of evolved as it went. I decided to use some torn scraps from K& Co's Brenda Walton small wonders girl pad (it's ancient). Once the strips were stuck to a piece of card I used Tim Holtz's courtyard frameworks die. It looks a bit dirty because I brushed shabby shutters DI over it. The base card was given a light brush with mustard seed DI and then I used TH's rays stencil with shabby shutters again. I brushed Victorian velvet DI through a flower stencil and outlined with a fine pigma micron pen. This left a gap in the middle of the postcard which needed some lettering so I used a Sizzlet die on a piece of white card with shabby shutters brushed on it and a piece of patterned paper. I highlighted the dots on the PP to echo the dots made by the stencil and then offset the 2 pieces of text to give a slight shadow effect which I highlighted with a black pen. At this point I realised that I had no stamping on the PC which is a must for a UK Stampers swap. I have a tiny Hero Arts stamp which says 'a sunny hello' so I masked off the 'hello' and added that. There was still a space at the bottom that didn't look right so after a quick look on my desk I found one of my favourite Crafty Individual Alice Palace bunnies which I has stamped and coloured for a project but then not used. He seemed to fit in the given space. I highlighted the courtyard die with a pen, edged the PC with Victorian velvet DI and decided to call it a day. Here's a better shot of the different PPs (the blue is just to provide a background for the scanner).

UK Stampers ATC Swap - May

This month's challenge for the UK Stampers ATC swap is to make a one layer ATC. I diecut the flower silhouette and used it as a mask.  I applied picked raspberry and ripe persimmon DIs with a piece of foam and then brayered over the bases with a mesh roller and raspberry ink. The background text is by Paper Artsy and the main word was a stamp from a grab bag. I stamped the Inkylicious grass stamp in Adirondack ginger. Some eyelets finished the ATCs.

Katzelkraft Challenge - May

The Katzelkraft DT have started a new monthly challenge the details (in English) of which can be found here. The hard decision for me was which one of my several Katzelkraft stamps to use. As I had used the world sights stamp recently I decided to use it again, but I also had to use my favourite background text stamp and a small flourish. Even the speckled ground below the sights is a Katzelkraft stamp! The main image background was made with mowed lawn, picked raspberry and ripe persimmon DIs. The other patterned papers are from DCWV's tie-dye stack. The base card is kraft. I am trying to make inroads into my brad and eyelet collection so you may see them cropping up on various cards.
If you have a Katzelkraft stamp (or two) why not enter the challenge as well? There's a €15 prize for the winner.

May