A Gin Card

I can't be the only person to have noticed how gin seems to be very much the 'in' drink of the moment. At Ally Pally in April I saw a Crafter's Companion stamp set called 'Chocolate, Coffee, Gin' which looked perfect for the gin-lovers I know. The set comprises of various words (6 in total) that can be added to the main text. On the same stand was a Crafter's Companion Gemini stamp and die set called 'Cocktail Hour' which I thought would fit perfectly with the text stamp. The Gemini dies are outline dies that come in 2 parts - either half can be used or the two can be used together to cut out the whole shape. Here I've used the right hand half to cut out half the stamped shape. I coloured the stamped image with pencils and solvent and gave the 'gin and tonic' some added sparkle with Wink of Stella. 

Monthly Challenge - June

This month's word is W for Wings. I bought a set of layering dies at Alexander Palace in April. They can be used independently but are designed to be cut and used on top of each other. I cut the first layer with purple card and the second (top) layer with lilac card. These were both mounted onto white card to give the above effect. The size of each die is quite small so it had to be cut twice to achieve the 10x14cm size I needed. It was very fiddly but in all fairness my cutting plates are very old and marked and I think new plates would have given better results. The main image is an old Crafty Individuals stamp and the slight golden sheen you can see on the wings is actually silver foil. The flowers were made by punching out circles, cutting out a rough spiral and rolling it. I added pearls in the centres and punched some leaves in a contrasting green. The text is by Paper Artsy. To finish I added some tiny pearls to the background.

Monthly Challenge - May

This month's letter is:

                Q for Quotation                     

and the (optional) colour is Quartz Grey

 

 

I had originally planned to use another quote but it didn't work out. Having had a significant birthday last month I decided to use this unattributed quote which I used at my birthday dinner.

I made a background with Distress Inks and Oxides and stencils. The diecut is TH's Old Jalopy cut in black with silver trim. The windows were looking a little bare so I diecut them again and stamped a series of formidable looking ladies from an old stamp called 'The Girls' by River City Rubber Works. The quotation was computer generated.

I'm not entirely happy with this but there's a lot going on in my life at the moment and I hope I have more time to spend on next month's challenge.

Monthly Challenge - April

The first letter in the Monthly Challenge is E and the word is:

ENCHANTED

                        Possible colours options are Emerald, Eggplant and Ecru.

 



We are making postcard-sized pieces of art which can be landscape or portrait. There are various reasons I chose this size - it can be stored in a regular photograph album if wished or bound into a book or held together with a book ring or even put onto a standard sized card blank.

For my enchanted forest postcard I started with a background that I had made with a small gelli plate. I wasn't entirely happy with it so I added some extra colour by pouncing on some Distress Oxides with a mini blending tool. To give a starry effect I splattered some white acrylic paint and added a few punched stars. I stamped, coloured with alcohol markers and cut out the mushrooms and added some white enamel accents for the spots. The fairy is an Intricut die and I gave her silver wings and a silver star on her wand. The leafy frame is an XCut die which I coloured with emerald ink and edged with black. I punched some tiny butterflies from some scraps of Brusho painted paper and the birds were from a Joy Crafts die. The sentiment is from a Cuttlebug die and I have added a little sparkle to the mushrooms with a Wink of Stella pen.

A New Challenge and a Blog Post At Last!

After many months I have finally managed to summon up the motivation to write a blogpost. A lot has been happening and after packing away my craft stuff for the decorators and then unpacking it all into newish homes I lost my mojo. Most of the previous sites I used to visit for challenges and swaps have disappeared for one reason or another and I realised that I had a vast amount of stuff that I no longer used. I decided to try and use up some of the coloured card blanks, aperture cards etc etc that I no longer required and make up some cards for a local charity. I have used up some stuff (well I've made a small dent) and am happy that a good cause will benefit from it.
I was chatting with friends on a craft forum and a few of us mentioned a lack of motivation. With this in mind I decided to start a new challenge. Each month I pick a word and have to make a postcard sized (10x15cm) piece of art on that theme. I'm hoping to cover every letter of the alphabet in time and if possible to use a colour beginning with that letter as well. Let's see how it goes!
 

Rebel Stampers ATC Swap - June Theme 2

For my final ATC this month on the theme of numbers I went for 2. I used an old favourite Katzelkraft stamp, maskedit off and added the background with blended Dis and a circle stamp. I added a few flowers with a small peg stamp with Glossy Accent centres and coloured the flowers held by the lady with a marker pen and Wink of Stella. The text was stamped with a rotary stamp .

Rebel Stampers ATC Swap - June Theme

The theme this month for the ATC Swap is to use a number. I decided to go big and went for hundreds and thousands. I had scribbled with some leftover ink from a previous project and decided to use this as my background. The cupcake is from an old Banana Frog stamp set. I added the sprinkles in various colours and also dotted some Glossy Accents over. The text was made with a rotary stamp which lets you build the words you want rather like the old library date stamps.