CB Weekly Challenge

This week's challenge on the Craft Barn blog is retiform, something I know as the grid technique which involves a lot of stamping and masking. I have had some fun and made a page in my journal. I had made the union flag background a long time ago (I think I was planning on an Olympics page at the time) but not progressed any further with the page. It had involved a lot of masking and (I think) barn door and faded jeans DIs. I decided to do a London inspired page using Crafty Individuals British bulldog as the focal image. All the other stamps are by Artemio except for Big Ben which is by Scottish Borders.
I am also entering this as my second entry into the Crafty Individuals March Challenge.

CB Weekly Challenge Take 2

 

This is my second entry into the Craft Barn weekly challenge . While I had my Brushos out I started to make another background but managed to use too much paint and too much water. The colours started to look muddy so I grabbed another piece of card and spread it over the top. The top card picked up bits of colour so I continued to smoosh blank sections of card onto the original piece until I was happy with the coverage on the second card (am I making sense?). I liked the new background and wanted to make a very quick card with it so I used an old favourite Katzelkraft stamp with black Versafine ink. I highlighted some of the stamped areas with a white pen and mounted it onto a pale blue card blank. 

Crafty Individuals Challenge - Animal World

This month's theme on the Crafty Individuals' blog challenge is Animal World. I could have entered all the bunny items I have made this past month but I decided to make something else. This Crafty Individuals stamp is one I bought at the end of last year but I haven't had a chance to use it until now.
I stamped it in archival sepia and then coloured it in with coloursoft pencils. I applied glossy accents to the catkins (are they catkins?) and mounted one of the ducks on foam pads for dimension.

 A stencil and spiced marmalade DI was used for the background of the card blank. I took a strip of spare card and smeared yellow, blue and green paint across it with my finger. This was secured with some tiny brads.

I am also entering this into Darnell's NBUS (never before used schtuff) challenge.

CB Weekly Challenge

I haven't had a chance to enter many of the Craft Barn weekly challenges so I wanted to make an effort to submit an entry this week as the theme was Brusho backgrounds. I love Brushos  - they make fabulous backgrounds quickly and easily and you never really know what will happen with them so there is absolutely no skill involved! I used rose red, emerald and terracotta Brushos sprinkled onto a piece of card stock and spritzed with water. I used a tissue to pick up some excess water and dabbed this tissue onto a piece of scrap card. When the original piece was dry I applied white pigment ink through a stencil and randomly stamped a water droplet stamp. I stuck a diecut flower onto the scrap card and matted it onto black and pink card. I made a small bow with some waste Brusho'd paper to finish the card.

KTZ Blog Challenge - March

The theme for this month's challenge on the Katzelkraft blog is 'Surprise Me!' not the most straightforward of themes to interpret. Many grey cells were used in trying to figure out what to do with the stamps I have until finally I had an 'Aha!' moment. All the stamps are by Katzelkraft.

I applied gesso to a mint tin and then brushed Impress spring green over it. The flourish border (KTZ 94) was stamped with archival sepia onto tissue paper and applied with PVA all the way around the tin. So where's the surprise?

Inside is a little springtime scene with alcohol inked and embossed metal tape as a base. The bird (KTZ 41.03) was stamped in butterscotch ink. I made the nest by stamping an old KTZ leaf sprig stamp repeatedly on some paper and then cutting very thin strips with my rotary cutter which tend to twist. These were stuck on with glossy accents and the bird was placed with a small coil of scrap card behind to give some added dimension. The 'trees' in the lid are KTZ 132 and the butterfly is KTZ 53.02.
Hopefully that's enough of a surprise.

Calendar Challenge - March

This month's calendar challenge on the Craft Barn blog is yellow and rabbits. The only rabbit stamp I have is my well-used Alice Palace crowned bunnies stamp by Crafty Individuals. I stamped them on some patterned paper and gave them orange glittered crowns (for a change). The background was made by smooshing yellow 'neon' paint from Lidl with my finger and while wet dabbing some scrunched up paper over it. When dry, I dug out my ancient Fiskars brayer and a floral roller. That's about it really.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - March

This month's theme for UK Stampers ATC swap is 'dancing in the moonlight'. I started by sticking small strips of a book page onto card. I added Tim Holtz's scratches stamp and covered everything with a thin layer of gesso. When dry I used shaded lilac DI all over, some KTZ dots and some circular marks with a plastic bottle cap. The final layer was pewter Ferro paste through a Memory Box stencil. The moon is a punched circle and the dancing shape was cut from a Dina Wakley stencil. The paints I used were from a set of 5 I bought in Lidl a few weeks ago. They were called Neon Paints and I bought them hoping they would have sponge dabber tops but unfortunately they were flip tops with a hole. Also the colours are more pearlescent than neon but I quite like them. The silhouettes were overstamped with a Paper Artsy text stamp.

UK Stampers Postcard Swap - March

It's been rather quiet on the blog recently because I've been busy with other stuff that has kept me away from my desk. This month's postcard swap on UK Stampers has the theme of Time. The finished card is not at all what I had in mind when I started but it just evolved. I began by embossing the large KTZ stamp horloge in white and added the smaller pocket watch stamp in some blank spaces. I then covered the postcard with peacock feathers, picked raspberry, squeezed lemonade and ripe persimmon DIs. I stamped the trailing flowers from another KTZ set in Stazon olive green and coloured the buds with a pink Sharpie. I used the edge of another trailing flower from the same set to stamp a few flowers along the bottom and added some punched tulips. The main image is of course crowned bunnies by Crafty Individuals (this time with pink glittered crowns). I used a template and white pen to make some crosses along the sides and added a title.