Quotes & Lyrics - Grace

For the 17th challenge in the Craft Barn's Quotes & Lyrics competition the words to choose between are 'Grace' & 'Peaceful'. As my choice last time was a quote I wanted to do a lyric this time however I had a tough time finding a lyric I could work with. I felt that grace and style ought to go together and a quick search unearthed this old Tom Jones song ( I later remembered that 'Vogue' by Madonna also had grace and style in it). Here's the first verse:

Well she's all you'd ever want,
She's the kind they'd like to flaunt and take to dinner.
Well she always knows her place.
She's got style, she's got grace, She's a winner.

 Now I'm not sure that I would want to be 'flaunted' or referred to as 'the little lady' even by the legend Mr Jones so I decided to cherry pick the bits of the song that worked for me.
I recently bought some new stencils and this Dina Wakley silhouette which comes with the negative and positive fitted nicely. The background is a wash of Fresco orchid (a discontinued colour) and white acrylic. I used a diamond stencil and edged the page with Brilliance Victorian violet. The numbers are by Paper Artsy stamped with a Kaleidacolor ink pad. There are also some random white dots which I highlighted with a pink Uni Posca pen and 'chic' stamped with Brilliance platinum planet.
Although I had pencilled around the silhouette, I felt it lacked something so I cut another image, gave it a shaded effect with wild honey, spiced marmalade and barn door DIs and ran it through an embossing folder for extra texture. The arrow was shaded in the same way - I have a stencil of the awesome arrow but unfortunately it was pointing the wrong way so I made my own. The main title was cut with Sizzix petite petals and I die cut some flower shapes for my lyrics. The butterflies were punched from paint chips (more on that in a later post). Unfortunately with all the paint etc the page has curled up so I have scanned it for now but this has flattened the butterflies which are quite dimensional IRL. Here's a close-up of one of the butterflies:

Sometimes...

you've just got to do it - make a card that isn't really 'you' that is. This card is mainly embossing folders and die cuts and I think the recipients will like it. I've kept the colours simple because there is quite a lot of texture.

Quotes & Lyrics - Family

This fortnight's word choices for the Craft Barn's Quotes & Lyrics Challenge are 'Family' and 'Thing'. I try to use any relevant quotation stamps I have so decided to choose 'Family'. The stamp is one I had made a few years ago and reads:

'Like the branches of a tree

a family grows in different directions

but its roots remain as one'

 

I recently bought an X Cut Build A Scene Woodland die and decided to use it. The dies cut a portrait orientated image so I had to manipulate it to fit my landscape format. My background was built up by brayering mowed lawn, evergreen bough and peeled paint DIs onto my page. I embossed a leafy tree folder and highlighted the raised edges with gold. I cut a TH stylised label in half, brayered the same DIs and stamped the quote with the help of a stamp positioner. The text was fastened with a stapler.
Edited to add: A Q&L Challenge winner!

UK Stampers ATC Swap - August

I am struggling to keep up with swaps and challenges at the moment but I missed last month's ATC swap and was determined to take part this month. The theme is 'trains, boats and planes'. I stamped Hero Arts aged background block with tumbled glass DI and added the Clarity main image with Versafine ink and a marker pen. The travel label is a Tim Holtz stamp. I stamped the whole ATC with a water drops stamp and highlighted the drops with a white pen. The lettering is done with a stencil and I added some punched silver photo corners which I embossed with a roller for a little texture. I punched some tiny hearts and covered them with Wink of Stella.

LIM 184

This week's challenge on the Less Is More blog is a one layer card with foliage. I used a set of 3 square fern stamps by Crafty Individuals and a small star by Banana Frog. I added a few splatters with an interdental toothbrush - I find it gives smaller splatters and is easier to control. I couldn't find a sentiment that worked with this so I've left it blank for now.

Katzelkraft Challenge / UK Stampers Postcard Swap - August

I missed last month's Katzelkraft Monthly Challenge because I ran out of time so I was determined to get in early this month. The theme is 'Embossing' and the details are here.
DH celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago and as a birthday treat I took him for a drive to the coast and a meal at a restaurant by the sea in Folkestone called Rocksalt. While sitting watching the seagulls flying past, I was reminded of this Katzelkraft stamp called mini Seagulls. I stamped it in Brilliance starlite black and clear embossed. The gulls were coloured with Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor and covered with clear Wink of Stella. I roughly coloured the background and added a swirly Katzelkraft stamp with tumbled glass DI to represent waves. I used a Cuttlebug border embossing folder along the top and outlined the stars for definition.
I have made this into a postcard for UK Stampers monthly swap as there is no theme this month.

Just Playing

I haven't had much of a chance to play without a purpose recently but the arrival of a new stamp from Penny Black (Noble) and a small window of opportunity occurred at the same time. All the cards were made with the same watercolour technique using Whispers pens. The card above was spritzed with a gold shimmer spray and dry watercolour paper.

On the above card I used wet watercolour paper and water.

This card is stamped on cardstock and I just 'huffed' on it before stamping.
I used Paula Pascual sentiment stamps on all 3.

LIM 183

This week there is a colour challenge on the Less Is More blog. I've used all 6 colours (see below) with an old Hero Arts stamp and a scallop punch.

August