Katzelkraft sketch - Feb

I have a new scanning program and am trying to get to grips with the editing features on it so please bear with this awful pic until I can sort this out. I hand drew the heart shape and cut 3 out from some grey card that I had painted to use up some white paint and iridescent medium from this project. I then used Brilliance orchid and 3 different KTZ stamps to give different textured effects to the hearts. They were mounted onto foam pads and placed over some pink patterned paper and some blue card embossed with the swiss dots folder. The text stamp is by Elusive Images (I think).

UKS ATC Swap - Feb

For once I've managed to get ahead and have completed a set of ATCs for the February swap on UK Stampers. The theme is birds and I decided to use a Marianne bird and branch die as the main image. The bird was cut from kraft card and the branch part from a book page with some frayed burlap DI. The BG was made by brushing orchid and rusty rose Fresco Finish paint onto card. The Hampton Arts crackle stamp was added with victorian velvet DI and then I applied a thin layer of crackle accents all over. A Paper Artsy number stamp was randomly stamped with Stazon vibrant violet. After sticking on the bird and branch I stamped a PA text with Stazon jet black and added some gems.

LIM 104

I had some time to have a go at this week's Less Is More challenge which is a very simple sketch of a horizontal strip towards the bottom of a card. I thought of this Katzelkraft numbers border stamp which can go vertically or horizontally. As it's such a simple sketch I decided to use a Kaleidacolor ink pad (Spectrum) to add a bit of interest.. The text is computer generated (remember the Clarks shoe ad?) and I added a line top and bottom with a blue Sharpie (the light blue border around the card is just  to provide a backdrop).

Even more bits

I found this stamped image in my bit bag. I think it's by Crafty Individuals but it's not a stamp I own. Many, many years ago I attended a get-together with some virtual friends whom I got to know through a card-making forum. We met at a pub in Hertfordshire and each brought along some stamps, inks and card. We spent the afternoon chatting and stamping, goodness knows what other visitors to the pub thought but we all had a great time. I think this is one of the images I came home with. I dug out my chalks (remember those?) and coloured in the BG and the centres of the daisies. I found some matching Crafty Individuals paper from the Travels in Italy book and cut around those daisies so that I could insert the stamped piece into it. All the flower centres were given a blob of glossy accents and I coloured the stamped daisies with a white watercolour pencil. The base card is stamped with Impression Obsession's geologic stamp in Archival grape and I added a strip of Memory Box's loop border. Let's hope I'm still making an effort to use things from my bit bags in a few months time!

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - C

This week's letter is C and for me it could only be one thing (ok I did contemplate 'the big C' for a nanosecond but cancer was not something I wanted to portray). After last time's deep and thoughtful word I thought I'd go for something more lighthearted so I present ... Colourful Christmas! There is a lot of shine going on so it was hard to get a good shot of all the elements. I painted the pages with white acrylic paint mixed with iridescent medium. The BG was sprayed with Glimmer Mist through a stencil and then I flipped the wet stencil over onto the other page. The sequin waste is a Christine Adolph stamp with Impress emerald. The garland is a Sizzix die sponged with Adirondack meadow and coloured with a red Coloursoft pencil. Also in the BG are some splodges of Brilliance galaxy gold, some stencilled stars in pearlescent orange and a Katzelkraft splatter stamp with rocket red. The reindeer and the candles (another C word) are also by Katzelkraft. The 2 words 'peace' and 'joy' are embossed and cut out to add a bit of texture. I debated whether to add some ink to them for greater definition but I like them snow-white and they are clearer IRL. I wrote some Christmas-related words around the edges of the pages - writing in this book was the hardest thing of all for me but I'm glad I did it.
Thank you to everyone for your comments on my last entry. I do try and visit everyone who enters but if I haven't left a comment it's because for some reason I was unable to rather than that I couldn't be bothered. I look forward to seeing all your C words.

Tim Holtz Tag - January

I really enjoyed doing Tim's tags last year but I wasn't sure whether to take up this year's challenge or not. I don't have many of his stamps, embellishments or even the newer dies but then I decided to give it a go and adapt as much as I could to what I have.  So here is January's tag. I've used a Papermania chronology embossing folder with antique linen, brushed corduroy and broken china DIs. The advantage of this folder is that it is upside down so you don't have to cut the top to allow the bottom of the tag to be embossed as instructed by Tim. The text stamp by Katzelkraft is an extract of Martin Luther King's famous speech with the edges distressed. I cut some cogs from a Papermania chronology die and sponged copper, galaxy gold, platinum planet and lightning black Brilliance inks over. The film strip is by TH and the arrow is a punched shape. I coloured the silver organza ribbon with ginger Adirondack ink and stamped the month January from a Studio G stamp set. I'm not a big fan of steampunk but I do like this embossing folder and the dies are a good size to be used on other projects.

More from the Bit Bags

 

Another card made from scraps from the bit bags. The flourish diecut and the brad are the only new things. The stamped image is from Acey Deucey (I think).
Next is another Rekha card.

All these components are scraps. The card is embossed with a CB folder and highlighted with ink. The arch is a Katzelkraft stamp on acetate with the caught in crystal technique. The main image is by Postmodern Designs again.