Witches are not just for Halloween . . .

When I first saw Nimue (this gorgeous image designed by Ei and available from Stitchy Bear) I thought she would make a great birthday card as well as a halloween card, especially as I know quite a few girls I could label as witches, lol.

I coloured her with Distress Inks and decided to give her a warm background as I didn't want her to get cold so I made it by running a wet brush over the card (avoiding Nimue) and then adding colour (Barn Door, Mustard Seed and Wild Honey). Then before it dried I dabbed it with a piece of kitchen roll. The DP is from Pocketful of Posies by DCWV and the sentiment is Penny Black. I then added some shiny green card, ribbon, lots of flowers (Hero Arts Art Flowers) and a little bit of bling (lol) with my Imaginesce i-rock tool.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Wild Orchid - Ribbons and Bows
Fussy and Fancy - Sketch

Crazy 4 Challenges - Bling
The Creative Cottage - Bling it on

Definitly a Treat!!!

I was lucky enough to get the new image designed by my friend Ei for Halloween and what a great image it is. She is called Nimue and I thought she looked a bit naked to me but Ei tells me she is skyclad, lol. You can get the image from Stitchy Bear. I really like her because she isn't the usual witch, this one is daring and modern.

I coloured her with Distress Inks then coloured the background of her moon with a Sakura Stardust pen and then spread it around with a damp paintbrush. The fab background papers were downloaded from wenchdesigns.blogspot and when you see her header you will see how appropriate my choice was (tee hee!). The flowers are from my fav place, Wild Orchid although you may not find the purple ones there cos they were white but I sprayed them with Purple Violet Glimmer Mist. The yummy treat is a large bar of Galaxy Cookie Crumble and I'm doubting it will last till Halloween!!!!!

I am entering these in the following challeges:

Stamps R Us - Halloween

One Stitch At A Time - Anything Goes

Incy Wincy Designs - I wonder what it could be?
Creative Card Crew - Bloomin' marvellous

Anything Goes - Going round in circles

Penny's Paper-Crafty - Circles

Trick or Treat

I bought this stamp (Ching-chou kuik's Mad Tea Party) from Sweet Pea ages ago and decided it was just what I needed to make a Halloween card (yes I know that's a rabbit - but she IS a witch!). I coloured the image with my usual favourite medium (Distress Inks) then matted and layered it onto black then silver card. The bg papers are from a set by American Traditional Designs (Brights Bundle) and I hand-wrote the sentiments (because I couldn't work out how to print them in white with my computer, Oh I must take a course, lol). The ric-rac is from my stash and I added lots of bling with my new i-rock gem setter. I made the bow myself from some tiny ribbon, the flowers are from my stash and the cute little scary cat is from a bag of mixed charms I bought recently (and seem to be getting through rather quickly, lol).
I am entering this in the following challenges:

Pear Tree Designs - Sketch and Gems

Stamps R Us - Halloween

Polka Doodles - Easel Card

Tinchy Inchie Hanging

There is an Inchie challenge over at Gingersnap Creations and I thought I'd like to have a go. I haven't made inchies for ages (despite buying a 1" punch especially for the purpose!). I decided to make mine into a reversible hanging. I made some bg card using a favourite colour combination of Brilliance Pearlescent Lime and Pearlescent Lavender ink then for one side stamped out bird images from Clear Art Stamps Bird Notes and childrens faces from Paper Artsy Stagelights 4 (Urban Shots) for the other side. I then mounted my inchies on slightly larger squares of mauve card and hung them with little jump rings from a tiny coat hanger (I must have bought these years ago and only ever used one!!!). Then I decided to make a bead fringe for the bottom to finish it off.

Chunky Alphabet Swap - F

I made most of this page when I was on a playdate with Lucy and Alison. Alison showed me how to do the 'swoosh' with a Kaleidacolor Ink pad. I used Cappuccino Delight and swooshed it along the edge of my craft mat then sprayed water and pressed my card into it. I then borrowed Lucy's Crafty Individual Stamps and stamped the Friends script (CS-052) onto the bg, cut it to size and matted and layered on white then brown card. Then I stamped the little girls (CI-277) onto a lighter part of the inked card, cut them out and mounted them onto white card to make them stand out and added it to my page with foam dots. When I got home I made the friendship bracelet with embroidery thread, weaving the little 'Made with Love' heart into it. Lastly I stamped the letter F on the top corner with a stamp from a See D set.

Chunky Alphabet Swap - E

Oh I had fun with this one. E is for Eyes but there may also be an elephant, embossing (wet and dry) and maybe a bit of emerald! My bg is a piece of card painted with Starburst Stains Cathedral Pines Green and Kiwi Glimmer Mist then ran through the Cuttlebug using the Perfect Paisley folder. The image is from the Paper Artsy Asian Plate 2 coloured with Starburst Stains (Cathedral Pines Green, Sea Mint Green and Winter Jasmine) and Whispers Pens. I then added some Verdigris Embossing Powder round the edge of the image. The letter E is cut out using a Cuttlekids alphabet (Fairy), the charm came today in a mixed lot tied with a little bit of green cord and then some emerald green bling added for good luck.

Chunky Alphabet Swap - D

I decided to have Dream for my D page and used my Ching-chou kuik's Cheshire Cat stamp from Sweet Pea - well Alice in Wonderland was supposed to be a dream. I coloured the image with Distress Inks (love them!) and added a bit of Sakura Stardust to her hair. I cut a frame for the image with good old nestabilities and mounted it onto blue card that has the Disney Rabbit printed on it. It took me ages to get that Rabbit sitting in different directions and involved Photoshop AND cutting and pasting into a Word document - there must be an easier way, LOL. I threaded the little letter beads onto wire and twirled the ends and then added a cute little teapot that came in a mix of charms I just had delivered today.

Take a trip around the world . . .

As it's coming up to World Cardmaking Day over at Crafty Cardmakers this week the challenge is Around the World. The winner of this challenge will win a £10 voucher from The Stamp Man. The DT have come up with some great cards and this is mine.

I decided to visit Italy with my card, Venice to be precise (I've been twice, lol). I stamped the image from Darkroom Door and coloured it with my Derwent Inktense pencils. I then blended the colours with a damp paintbrush. I backed the image with some black card to make it stand out. I used a black square blank and added some paper from Crafty Individuals Travels in Italy pad, then mounted my image on top. The swirls were cut with my Cuttlebug using a Sizzix Decorative Flourish die and finally added some crystals for a bit of bling. If have to be honest - Venice isn't really this colour. It's more terracota and beige, lol

I am entering this in the following challenges@

C.R.A.F.T. - Colouring pencils only

The Artistic Stamper - Sing a Rainbow

Playing with Brillance Re-inkers

When I was at the Craft Barn on Sunday watching the wonderful Beatrice Neumeister she showed us how to use Brilliance Re-Inkers not just to make backgrounds but also to first use the ink to stamp with, and of course, I had to have a go! First I squirted Sunflower Yellow, Sky Blue and Pearlescent Rust onto glossy card and lightly brayered the inks. Then I used this to ink up my stamp (the mask and word from Oxford Impressions Venezia Plate) and stamped it on black card. I then brayered again until the card was covered with the ink. (I did stamp lots of other images with mixed results because I had far too much ink on my card and it made the images 'sloshy'). The colours of the ink mixed to make this bronzy colour. It took ages to dry with a heat gun, probably because of the amount of ink I had used, and then ran the card through the Cuttlebug using the Ornamental Iron folder. I think when I try this again I won't use quite so much ink on the glossy card and also not brayer it as much so that I can make out the individual colours. I also discovered it works much better with stamp that is not so detailed.

Happy Anniversary

It's my son and his gorgeous wife's first anniversary this month and I wanted to make them a special card. It took me ages to decide what to do - I know it's Paper for a 1st anniversary but I couldn't decide what to do with it, lol. I had a lovely picture of them walking away from me, arm in arm, and decided to have a play with it in Photoshop. I should mention here that I'm useless with Photoshop. First I took the colour our (easy peasy), then I tried to adjust the background to make the figures stand out. I tried using the eraser tool, the paint tool, the blur tool . . . but they didn't work. I've no idea what I did wrong (no idea what I was doing really!!!) so I then adjusted the contrast and then hit a button that said 'graphic pencil' and VOILA! The sentiment was printed out on my computer and the background (is it background as it's on the top???) was a plain piece of white card run through the Cuttlebug with the D'vine Swirls folder. Bit of bling to finish it off.

Icy blue

This is my second 5x5 page for my friend's Deco. I had made some backgrounds using Starburst Stains and Cling Film and decided to use this one. I used Azure Sea Aster and then added some Tattered Rose Glimmer Mist before covering it with the Cling Film. The image is a Sweet Pea Stamp by Ching-chou Kuik called Dark Royalty and I've coloured her with a selection of Distress Inks and H2Os plus a little Sakura Stardust pen. The flower and lace were from my stash, I made the jewelled pins myself and the pearls are from Debbi Moore.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Magical Mondays - Lace

Sweet Pea Stampers - Sketch

Wild Orchid - Pearls and Pins
Creative Inspirations - Lace and Sparkle
Craft Your Days Away - Girly 'n' Glitter

Thank you Beatrice Neumeister

On Sunday I went with friends (Lucy and Pauline, and met Alison there) to the Craft Barn Extravaganza in Surrey. There were loads of free demonstrations to watch and one of the ones I really enjoyed (among many) was the Katzelkraft demo by Beatrice Neumeister. She had some fabulous cards on display and showed us how to make some great backgrounds.
I decided to have a go at the Distress Ink background today. First I swiped Dried Marigold and Wild Honey on my craft sheet and then spritzed with water. I dipped a piece of glossy card into the ink and then dried it with a heatgun. Then I dipped again, and dried again. After wiping the craft sheet I swiped Worn Lipstick and spritzed with water and dipped the card again and dried off with the heatgun one last time. The result was beautiful. I used it for my bg for a 5x5 Deco page for a friend.

I stamped the winged girl image from the Paper Artsy Wings Plate 3 onto cream card with Saddle Brown StazOn and then stamped just the wings onto acetate. I cut the girl out and added the acetate wings. I then mounted this onto a piece of my newly made Distress Ink background. This was mounted onto a piece of cream card that I edged one side with my Martha Stewart Scallop Dot Punch. I stamped the tiny butterfly from Clear Choice 20 Best Friends stamps (how often do I use this set!!!) in Saddle Brown onto a strip of my bg card and stuck it to one side of my brown 5x5 page then added my Winged Lady over the top. Finally I added some Metallic Pearls with my brand new i-rock tool.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Allsorts - Autumn colours

Gingersnap - GC70 Punches

Speedy the Cat's Challenge at Mark's Finest Papers - Fall colours

CAS with Alcohol Inks

This week it's the Spotlight over at Crafty Cardmakers and the challenge is to use Alcohol Inks. Now I love these cos they are usually messy but this week I decided to play along with last week's theme of Clean and Simple as at the moment I'm really into this (don't worry - it won't last, lol). I stamped the sentiment (from Hero Arts Anytime Messages) directly onto a white card blank and added a bit of ribbon between the lines. Then I coloured glossy card with Shell Pink and Red Pepper Alcohol inks using the blender tool, stamped the butterfly(Clear Choice 20 Best Friends stamps) in Black Onyx Versafine and clear embossed it. I cut out the butterfly and popped it on to the top with foam pads. There you go, clean AND simples. Go check out the other DT cards and see just what you can do with these lovely inks.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Flutter By Wednesday's - use pink

Play Date Cafe - Black and white and pink or copper or gold

CAS

Over at Crafty Cardmakers this week the challenge is to create a CAS card - for those of you who don't know CAS stands for Clean And Simple - simples, lol. Although I'm not making a DT card for this week's challenge I decided to use this theme for a card cos I think it's a brilliant idea. I used a sentiment stamp from Paper Makeup Stamps and put it in the top third of my card (cream card) and then a Paper Mania Medallion stamp (PM 1022) in the bottom third. They are both stamped in ColorBox Chalk Cats Eye Dark Peony. This was then mounted onto purple, then mustard card and then all mounted onto a cream A5 card. I added a cream flower and purple flower brad to the centre of the flower and voila - simples (as they say).

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Pocket full of Posies - Floral Fantasy

Lexi's Creations - Flower Power

Play Date Cafe - colour challenge

Tilda in Grey

Today I decided to have a play around with shades of grey. I used Tilda in Love Jumper and coloured her with Distress Inks (Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar for her face, then Black Soot for everything else) and a touch of Sakura Stardust on her wings. I also followed the sketch from Flutterby Wednesday's Birthday Blowout challenge. The DPs are from Paper Mania Inspirations (Black and White) mounted onto black card, and the base card is made from a piece of Grey glossy card.The sentiment is from Hero Arts Special Messages, stamped in Versafine and embossed with Stamp n Stuff Detail Black EP onto a circle of grey glossy card and a bit of bling from Hobbycraft added to the centre. The ribbon is from Dovecraft and the flower are from Wild Orchid - they were white but I sprayed them with Silver Sugar Glimmer Mist.

I am entering this into the following challenges

Flutterby Wednesdays - Birthday Blowout
A Pocket Full of Posies - Winged Things (plus flowers)
Magical Monday - Flowers (plus fairy)