UKS ATC Swap April 2012

I'm trying to get ahead while I have the time. Faces is the theme of the swap organised by Vonny on UK Stampers for April. As I've just done some face themed twinchies I tried to use different stamps but essentially the stamping and masking technique is the same. Oddly enough this is the first time I've ever done a set of ATCs which are identical but in different colourways. Not earth shattering I know but something new for me. I matched each colourway to a mood

• blue - sadness, DI tumbled glass, broken china, faded jeans and Adirondack eggplant.
• green - jealousy, DI bundled sage, crushed olive,  peeled paint and Adirondack meadow.
• red - anger, DI spiced marmalade, rusty hinge, barn door and Adirondack red pepper. 

The face is an old Rubbadubadoo image and the BG text is by Just for Fun - I'm making an effort to use old forgotten stamps. The main text is stamped with my alphabet wheel stamp - I'm into banners in a big way at the moment so all my little strips of text are being cut in a v-shape. I spritzed water on the completed ATCs so that the DIs would react to add a bit of interest and finished with some co-ordinating card candy.

LIM 60 - Take 3 Challenges

For this weeks LIM Challenge Chrissie & Mandi have asked us to combine 3 challenges from previous weeks. As a relatively new participant it was a good opportunity to try out some of the past challenges.
A busy week meant I didn't have too much time to spend on this. I used a strip of washi tape, a butterfly cut & emboss die and some star shaped gems. The text is part of a quote 'dance in the moonlight and reach for the stars'. The weeks I chose were:

Week 9 - a touch of red

Week 12 - off centre

Week 16 - butterflies

Week 43 - a bit of bling

Week 55 - diecuts & punches

Gothic Arches - Bedazzled

The current challenge over on the Gothic Arches blog is 'Bedazzled'. The BG is bundled sage DI through sequin waste, Brilliance orange sponged through a TH flourish negative and an Anita's starburst stamp. The image is from an old Erté diary embellished with a gold pen, silver glitter and black enamel accents. Some computer generated text and a beaded pin complete the arch. I bought some buttonhole pins in black and pearl from a florist wholesalers and I'm having fun adding beads and making my own decorative pins. It's a great way to use up the odd leftover bead that languishes at the bottom of the container.

LIM 59 - Masking

This is a quick entry for this week's Less Is More challenge the theme of which is masking. I decided to go monochrome for another card for a male. I stamped the 4 square stamp onto the card and onto a scrap piece of card. I cut out one of the squares on the scrap with a scalpel and used the rest as a mask to stamp the pocket watch stamp (Rubbadubadoo) in different positions. A text stamp completed the card. Hope you like it.

UKS Twinchie Swap - Faces

Stitcharama-girl is hosting a faces themed twinchie swap on UK Stampers. I am still on a mission to use up scraps and a search through one of my many bags of leftovers revealed three twinchie sized backgrounds. I think they had dusty concord, worn lipstick & scattered straw DI on them. I stamped various images, the first two are from grab bags and the last is from an Oxford Impressions sheet. All 3 were masked and I overstamped a background stamp. I stamped some text and added some dots with a Uni Posca pen.

LIM 58 - Script

This week's LIM challenge is to use some script on a one layer card in addition to any sentiment text. I love script as a background and use it often but it struck me that script didn't only have to mean roman script so I dug out my All Night Media chinese calligraphy stamp and stamped it in Memento london fog. I'm developing a real fondness for greys - my last 2 ink pad purchases have been london fog & Stazon stone grey. The bird is a Simple Expressions stamp and the text is by Stampsmith. I know Chrissie & Mandi are not keen on floating branches but the brush style of the image didn't seem to need grounding and didn't look right anywhere but in the middle of the page. Hope you like it and I hope to be able to see everyone else's creations this week.

UKS ATC Swap March 2012

This month's ATC swap on UK Stampers is organised by Vonny and the theme is 'freedom'. I thought of the suffragette movement and Emmeline Pankhurst and managed to find a suitable image online. I'm making an effort to revisit old techniques/fads so I decided to use a slide mount. I used a template to draw the slide mount, coloured it with broken china DI and ran it through a CB embossing folder. I ran a brayer with brushed corduroy over the embossing to highlight the raised edges and attached the image. For the BG I made a mask from TH's flourish die and used the die cut and the waste with the same DIs. I also used a PA text stamp in Stazon stone grey. I attached the text with some staples (another item I haven't used in a while).