Monthly Challenge - April

 This month's theme for the tag challenge is Rain. I have used an old Non Sequitur stamp from an Oriental set. I stamped and embossed the image and then coloured it in with alcohol markers. Because the markers bleed through to the reverse I decided to cutout the image. The tag background was made by spritzing water on some broken china DO and smooshing the tag through it. I then used a small raindrops stamp from the same Non Sequitur set all over the background. I die cut the clouds and a bit of ground for the image. I thought about adding some text but decided to leave it plain.

Monthly Challenge - February

 

Playing catch-up (again) and I've managed to complete February's tag. The theme was Dreams/Dreaming and I had problems coming up with an idea until I heard a reference to Martin Luther King on TV and it all fell into place.

The text is a stamp by Katzelkraft of the famous 'I have a dream' speech. First I stamped the lady (an old stamp by Non Sequitur) on the tag with Versafine onyx black and coloured her in with Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor and a metallic gold pen for her earring. I covered her with a mask and then stamped the text. Keeping the mask on I tore a strip of paper on both sides to make a mask for the text and used wild honey DI over the remaining spaces on the tag.

Pulling the masks off revealed the tag but the space above the ladies head looked rather empty. I debated using a stencil over the background but then decided that some die cut flying birds would look better so I coloured a scrap of card with broken china DO and used a Sizzix die. 

Monthly Tag Challenge - March

 I have not managed to take part in the challenge for a couple of months but I hope I will catch up when inspiration strikes.` This month's theme of silhouettes was a much easier one.

This is part of a die cut sent to me by a friend in Australia. It's made by a company called Paper Rose and is just perfect for men's cards. The die is actually 2 men sitting on a fence but only 1 would fit so I have kept the other part for another project.

I used squeezed lemonade, ripe persimmon, picked raspberry, shaded lilac and dusty concord DIs with brushes for a blended background and added the die cut. The birds are by Crafty Individuals and the text was computer generated.

Another Leaving Card

 Yet another card for someone who's leaving to start a business. I'm not sure what the business is so it's a general Good Luck card.

I made a background with alcohol inks - stream, sailboat blue, watermelon, silver and shell pink and used it to cut the base for the Sizzix TH butterflies and a rectangular frame. I die cut the detail on the butterflies in black card and stuck the 2 parts together along the bodies so that the detailed wings were raised. The text is a Sizzix die.

Dogs Rule!

This card is for a colleague who is leaving to start her own Dog Walking/Day Care business which has always been a dream of hers. I thought this Crafty Individuals stamp fitted the bill..

I stamped the image with Versafine onyx black and then masked the dogs in order to use a stencil for the background. The stencil is by Memory Box and I used crackling campfire, twisted citron and fossilized amber DOs.

The text is a Sizzix strip die called Hunky Dory. I coloured the collars and ID tags and used clear Nuvo drops on the eyes and the ID tags.

Rotation Stamp 2

 Another Rotation Stamp set called Meadow Wreath but I took the design up a notch. I used aquamarine, terracotta, cranberry and carnation red Archival inks. I rounded the corners to get rid of an ink smudge and stamped the sentiment that comes with the set in the centre. The wreath was mounted onto a square aquamarine card blank and I die cut the sentiment out with a circle die. Next I used a smaller circle die to cut the sentiment down again and added 5 extra circles behind it for dimension.. I glued this to the inside of the card so that it could be viewed from the front.

Rotation Stamp

 I decided to have a play with my Crafters Companion Rotation Stamps. This one is called Butterfly Roses. I used some archival inks in aquamarine, eggplant, magenta and meadow. The sentiment is from another rotation set - Meadow Wreath. It was mounted onto a dark blue square card blank.

Travel Birthday

 A card for a travel-loving friend. All the components came from a 12x12 paper pad I bought last year from The Works called 'Let the Adventure Begin'.

Quick Birthday Card

 I needed a quick birthday card and grabbed a die and some scraps of patterned paper that were lying on my desk. I die cut the sentiment from the same card as the base and also some blue patterned paper. I offset them slightly to give a shadow effect and used the same blue paper to punch out some starburst patterns for the background.

Starry Birthday

As simple as this card looks it was quite fiddly to put together. The stars and the sentiment are all Sizzix dies but the star die is an inlay die that cuts into the card so the front is just a set of star-shaped holes and the blue stars are on the inside. I die cut the stars on the front of the card base and then did the same with some blue card making sure to keep all the tiny 'waste'. Then I stuck each blue star onto the inside through the relevant holes on the front. I'm not sure I would attempt that again! I've seen Jennifer McGuire do the same thing easily with some stuff called Press n' Seal but I didn't have any.
 

Monthly Tag Challenge - November

 The theme for November was 'Butterflies'.

I used spun sugar and tumbled glass DIs for the background and added some stamped butterflies from a Darkroom Door stamp set. The die cut butterflies are an edging die by Joy Crafts. A coordinating strip of washi tape down the side concealed the bridging strip on the die cut. The text is from the same Darkroom Door stamp set, stamped on a separate piece of card and cut to fit the tag. I added some tiny butterfly eyelets that I've had for years.

Monthly Tag Challenge - October

 

 I thought I would start off the year by completing the tags I missed in the Monthly Tag Challenge.

October's theme was 'Childhood'.

I have been an admirer of Vicki Papaioannou's channel on You Tube and in particular her mini art journal series. This tag is in the style of Vicki's art journal with whatever bits I could find in my collection.

The background paper is from a Crafty Individuals paper pad and in true Vicki fashion I added some randomly stamped text. The flowers are from a book of die cut tags I bought some time ago at The Works and the focal image is from another Crafty Individuals pad. I slipped a few of the flowers under the image and added the text from a Papermania stamp set. The final touch was to splatter the tag with white acrylic paint.