LIM 212 - Wings

This week's challenge on the Less Is More blog is wings. I've been wanting to try out this pair of corner stamps from the same Katzelkraft set as the birds I used last week. There is a beautiful stylised bird in each corner flourish. I added a Memory Box die cut for the word 'happy' and stamped the 'birthday' text. The ink used was Impress peony purple. The panel was raised on foam pads and mounted onto a white card blank.
Thank you to everyone for your congratulations on my recent LIM win.

LIM 211 - Love

The theme for this week's one layer challenge on the Less Is More blog is Love. I had almost completed this card when I read that I had won a birthday prize for my previous entry which you can see here . The sponsor of the prize is WOW Embossing powders!
Anyway back to this card. I did not want a pink card so I went with this pair of Katzelkraft love birds (well I think they're love birds although they look like they've had a bit of a tiff at present). I used the waste from a previous die cut as a stencil to sponge a circle with broken china DI. Now I know that the circle doesn't look like broken china but I used a piece of cut & dry foam that had been used for some darker inks and the waste stencil I used had brusho on it so my ink sort of mutated into a mixture of all of these. I highlighted some areas of the birds with a water pen that had the remnants of another project on (I know I'm sounding very slovenly but I like these little surprises my desk provides). The sentiment is an ancient one from a mixed UM sheet. So that's it. I will try and visit as many of you as I can to check out your one layer entries.

CB Weekly Challenge - Shoes

This week's challenge on the Craft Barn blog is to make something with shoes on it. I was just about to make a card for my nephew with these shoe cut-outs. I salvaged these and a few other pairs of men's shoes from some wrapping paper on a present my son was given. A stamped sentiment was all that was needed.

Poppy Planting Album

I've been meaning to make an mini album of pics from my day at the Tower of London planting poppies in the moat last October. I finally got around to starting it and by coincidence the Craft Barn Challenge for this week was to make a mini album.
It's a simple album consisting of  the covers and 5 pages  bound with my Bind-it-All. I'm hoping to follow one of the numerous knitting patterns and add a knitted poppy to the front. I've had this paper for ages (a Colorbok collection) and it seemed appropriate. I will try and add more pics later but I'm going out and trying to catch the deadline for entries.

 

I used my Clearly Besotted poppy stamps, a poppy head stencil and an Indigo Blu poppy stamp.

 

 

 

Less Is More

I haven't taken part in the Less Is More challenge for some time - through lack of time rather than unwillingness to take part. This week is their 4th birthday so I decided I needed to put some time aside to make a CAS card. I reached for Clearly Besotted's brushed poppies set and stamped it in Brilliance orchid and starlite black. The sentiment is from the same set. Although the set makes a 2-step flower I decided to stick with one layer.

KTZ Blog Challenge - February

On the Katzelkraft blog this month the challenge is to use your favourite technique and your favourite Katzelkraft stamp  - a tough choice! One of my favourite techniques at the moment is to use Brushos to make a background so I started with rose red, lime green and yellow ochre and spritzed the card with water. I die cut a circle from this, added the chicken wire stamp (KTZ 96) and stamped the birds  (KTZ 41.03) in archival sepia onto the circle and onto some scrap card. I coloured the scrap card birds with coloursoft pencils and cut them out. They were mounted onto the circle and the circle was mounted onto a Marianne scalloped circle die.
Another favourite technique is using stencils so I randomly added some shabby shutters and festive berries DI through some stencils onto a cream card blank. I then stamped some small dots (KTZ 130) in Impress lemon yellow and the text from KTZ 123 (which has to be my favourite and most used KTZ stamp) in Brilliance starlite black. I brushed shabby shutters around the edges and lightly over the entire card. The central image was stuck on and I added a Marianne die cut leaf painted lime green with Brusho.

UK Stampers Postcard Swap - Feb

An oriental postcard from me for this month's UK Stampers swap the theme of which is 'Weather'. I have had Non Sequitur's Kimonos & Cranes set for a long time and decided to give this stamp an inking. Things don't always go to plan - I had intended to heat emboss the image but I forgot. Then while painting the image with Twinkling H2Os I realised that I had put the wrong lid on my Poppy Red pot so I ended up with a Hot Cinnamon umbrella instead. I stamped the image first, painted it and then masked it to do the background.
For the background I randomly brushed Impress lemon yellow over the card and then added a fuschia stencil in Brillianve Victorian violet and a Chinese calligraphy stamp in Brilliance starlite black. I grounded the main image and added another stencil in peeled paint DI for the path. I added the raindrops from the same set and a carved chop that I bought many years ago in China. The inscription reads 'smile in the face of adversity and be happy' (or so I was told).

Calendar Challenge - February

This month's calendar challenge on the Craft Barn blog has to use the colour red and have hearts on it, so far so predictable. I wasn't in the mood for a traditional Valentine's Day page so I had a play with a new Katzelkraft stamp set with the beguiling title of zigouigouis. I have coveted this stamp since I first saw it and as Katzelkraft were having a sale I decided to succumb to temptation.
Whilst playing around with the curly tentacle shape I thought I could make a heart shape by reversing it so I used a mirror image stamp (basically just a flat sheet of rubber). I used some of the other stamps in the set, cut them out and added them to the page. I was going for a very graphic, bold effect so kept the background plain. I used a heart corner punch on the calendar and added a few gems.
I finally managed to finish binding my book of last year's challenge entries. You can see it here.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - February

The theme for this month's ATC swap on UK Stampers is 'Bicycle Race'. I only have 1 bicycle stamp in my collection (although I have got my eye on a new Crafty Individuals stamp). I made my backgrounds with Brusho spritzed with gold shimmer spray. I stamped the bicycle twice on each ATC and added the 2 text stamps which came from the same set as the bicycle. I filled in some blank spaces with a dotty stencil and added a punched arrow painted with Brusho.

Quotes & Lyrics - The Book

I finally managed to make some covers and bind all 25 pages of my Quotes & Lyrics Challenge from last year. Most of the papers used are from DCWV Serenity Stack. The fonts are Sizzix's Blocktalk and Cuttlebug's Hippie Chick. The flourish is a TH die.
Inside is an index page with all the words I used:

Here's a view of the inside back cover:

On the back of each page I have written the 2 words we had to choose from, the date I created my page and the authors/lyricists.
Here's my completed book:

I really enjoyed this challenge and will flip through the book from time to time.