GUEST DESIGNER - MIXED MEDIA CHALLENGE

I am delighted to be a Guest Designer over at Mixed Media Lovers Challenge blog.  Anything Goes for this challenge as long as it is Mixed Media.  This is fast becoming one of my favourite ways to craft and I'm having great fun with all the various techniques and products.

I decided to make a little accordion fold book which is only 2.5" x 4".  The actual pages of art are 2.5" x 1".

I used Two Tim Holtz Distress Oxide colours for my background - Fossilized Amber and Peacock Feathers.  I  smooshed them on to my Tim Holtz glass mat - added water and just added the papers.  These papers are not watercolour paper as they would have made the book a bit too thick so I have just used ordinary white cardstock.  Once I got the background colours the way I liked them I used Tracy Evans stamps from Worded Petals stamp set for the images.

I added white Texture Paste from Daler Rowney to added interest, some pieces of ribbon, buttons and washi tape.  The pages were then layered on white card and added to the accordion cardstock.  I added an extra page to the inside of the book.

The outer cover of the book was simply made with some thicker cardstock inked with the same colours  and an extra panel added to the front.  I added some holes to the spine and threaded through some SU ribbon.

I have made quite a few of these little books now and they have been very popular on my Etsy site.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - layer it up

Simon Says Stamp - Monday - Texture

Inspiration Station - Flowers 

Make My Monday Spring

BUTTERFLIES

As the weather is getting warmer here in the UK we are seeing more and more bees and butterflies.  A welcome sight.  We are doing no-mow May in our garden and in fact are going to be doing no-mow for ever for a large part of our new garden here in Wales - developing a wild area full of wild flowers for the bees and the butterflies.  Already after only a few weeks there are lots of wild flowers showing themselves and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes up next.

My card today uses a stencil from Visible Image - ~I used some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks in Peacock Feathers, Fossilized Amber and a touch of Chipped Sapphire to create the butterfly.  The added butterflies were from an Aall & Create stamp set #47 which were inked in Versafine Clair Tulip Red and covered with a touch of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen.  The words are from the same stamp set inked in Versafine Clair Warm Breeze.  I doodled around the edge with a fine pen.  This is my first attempt at doodling on the edges of cards - I may give it another go as I quite liked the effect.

I'm adding this into the following challenges

Try It On Tuesday - Butterflies 

Butterfly Spot Challenge - Butterfly plus two colours 

Global Design - Beautiful Bugs

Creative Crafters - AG 

International Art & Soul - 3 of anything - 3 butterflies 

Hand Stamped Sentiments #SC389

Here's our new sketch challenge for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  

I started off my card with a background coloured in Tim Holtz Distress Inks adding water to get a mottled effect.  I then embossed it with a Stampin Up embossing folder Painted Texture.  The panel on the front was cut out with a stitched framelit - the flower is from Tracy Evans stamp set Worded Petals.  There is some washi tape under the flower to ground it and a touch of ribbon.  The sentiment is also from Tracy Evans.  I added some sequins to finish it off.

Stamping Sensations - Guest Designer

I'm delighted to be a Guest Designer over at Stamping Sensations this week.  Their theme is anything stamped with the theme of floral or fauna.

I chose to use the lovely stamp set from Colorado Craft Company with those gorgeous olives. These are fast becoming some of my favourite stamps.  I love the way the olives hang from those leaves and how colouring them can make them look realistic.

I made a background with my gel press and some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks.  I then added some stamped images from Tracy Evans stamp set Friendship Florals and an old text stamp I have had for years.  I even found a little ladybird stamp in my stash.

The olives were stamped and some were fussy cut and layered. I used Tri-Blend from Spectrum Noir to colour in the olives.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Make My Monday - Spring 

Allsorts - Favourite stamps/dies 

Cardzforgalz - Food and Drink

Hand Stamped Sentiments #IC338

Here's our mood board challenge for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I decided to use a lovely old Stampin Up set called Postage Due with the lovely vintage image of the bike on the front.  

I started off by stamping some flower stamps on the outside of the card using two SU colour marker pens in Close to Cocoa and Cameo Coral direct to the stamp and then stamping to get the double colour.   I added parts of the main image stamp to the background just lightly stamping it in Tim Holtz Pear Pizazz.  I stamped and cut out the main image and roughed up the edges and inked it.  I added an SU doily behind and some lace ribbon at the bottom.

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #CC387

These are our colours to challenge you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  As usual if you don't have the exact SU colours you can use what ever you have which are similar.  

A rare thing for me but I actually had all these colours.  I started off by masking my watercolour card stock to give me the panel in the middle.  I used a watercolour wash mix of all three colours to give the background.  The stamp I have used is from a stamp set by Tracy Evans called Worded Petals #567.  I love this set and the addition of the words.  I coloured mine in with the same colours keeping them darker for the flower petals. The sentiments is stamped in Coastal Cabana and is from an old set from my stash.  I added some coloured sequins to finish off the card.

On my Facebook group the Joy of Sets we have a Birthday RAK group where we send birthday cards to ladies in our group all over the world.  This one, especially as it's quite a flat card, will be wending its way to Australia for a member's birthday. 

Masculine Card - Gone Fishing

I bought this stamp set from Woodware Collections as both my daughter and my husband fly fish and I thought it might come in handy for cards for them.  I've been inspired to use it here for The Male Room challenge which also asked for dry embossing. 

I have a great stencil from Tim Holtz which to me looks a little like fishing lines so I've used it here in the background.  I inked over it with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Salty Ocean and then spritzed it with water to add some water marks.

I used VersaFine Clair in k in Warm Breeze to stamp out part of the stamp and cut it with a stitched die cut.  I cut out the little fish and added it to some fine netting.  A simple sentiment finished off the card.

I'm adding this into:

The Male Room - Dry Embossing 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Birthday 

FabnFunky - Masculine 

Cardz4Guys - add texture 

Allsorts - Masculine

Fruit Salad card

I'm calling this my Fruit Salad card because of the colours I ended up using - not my usual palette that's for sure.  Fruit Salad were little hard chewy sweets of my childhood that looked orange and yellow.

I used a few of Tracy Evan's stamp sets for this card - starting with the leaf background from Worded Petals stamp using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Fossilised Amber.  I originally stamped and cut out and pasted the flower from Friendship Florals in the same ink but it looked too pale and as it was stuck to my piece of lace I couldn't easily get it off. So I restamped it in Fired Brick and coloured it in with the Fossilised Amber and fussy cut it again, not my strong point, and stuck it over the original!

I added some background stamps from the stem of the flower of Worded Petals, some butterflies from Flutter and some washi tape.  I added some Spectrum Noir sparkle pen in orange as splatters and added a touch of shading with the Stabillo All pencil.

I'm adding this into the following 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Spring 

Inkspirational - flower photo 

Make the Card Challenge 52 - Shades of yellow 

Try it on Tuesday - Spring 

Colourful Options - Yellow 

Cute Little Stamp

I recently bought this cute little stamp and matching die from Colorado Craft Company called Mini Watering Can.  This is its first inking!

I was inspired by the sketch challenge over at Sunday Stamps for my card.

I started off by using my gel press and some Old Paper Distress Oxide Ink mixed with Spiced Marmalade and a stencil to make the background.  I used just the Old Paper Distress Oxide and the same stencil for the little circle.  I added some washi tape from my stash to the background and a text stamp.  The cat was coloured with Tim Holtz distress Inks and a touch of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. I added a touch of thread behind the circle for added texture.

I'm adding this into the following:

Sunday Stamps - Sketch SS280

Through the craft room door - AG 

Tuesday Taggers - spring colours 

SUYP - AG Cat

ATC

I have recently joined in with an ATC swap on Facebook using Visible Image stamps.  The theme was Living Things. 

I used a background that I had in my stash which I'd made using a gel press.  I used two Visible Image stamp sets for the ATC.  The first one was the Totally Toadstools one.  I stamped the main toadstool and fussy cut it out.  It was coloured in with Spectrum Tri Blends and I added some Texture Paste to the white dots to add... texture lol!  The smaller toadstools were coloured in white with a Posca white pen.

The trees, owl and the sentiments were from another Visible Image set called Into the Woods.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - ATC's 

Creative Fingers - AG 

Mod Squad - not a card 

Creative Mixed Media 

Mixed Media Lovers - AG 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS SC386

Here's our sketch for you this week from Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I turned mine onto its side elevation to give me more room for the larger circle I wanted to use.  I've just got the new stamp set from Tracy Evans called Friendship Florals with lots of lovely large image stamps and great words too.  I love her stamps which allow me to make these collage style stamps - I love the collage look on stamps or art journals and these stamps make it so easy.

Here I've used the sunflower stamp and added it to a stitched circle frame.  It has been coloured in with Derwent Metallic Watersoluble pencils which gives it quite a vibrant look, sadly missing in the photo.

The smaller circles are some more of the stamps from the set and the sentiment is from two of the word stamps.  I coloured all the circles with a light coating of Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass and used the same ink for the background and went over it with a stencil using Distress Ink in Faded Jeans.  

I added a touch of Tracey Evans Birdsong Washi Tape to the top and bottom of the card. I edged the circles with a Stabilo all pencil in black to add a touch of shading.  There is also some Spectrum Noir sparkle on parts of the card.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

International Art & Soul - Circles 

Sir Stampalot - I love.....

We love 2 create - mixed media AG 

We love stamping - stamp of the moment 

Flowers and Circles

I've recently purchased one of Tracy Evan's new stamp sets called Friendship Flowers which has lots of gorgeous collage type stamps on it.

This card started out using a gel press background I had made and found in my stash.  The colours are not colours I normally use so I pushed myself to actually use this background.  It was made with Arteza Inks and a stencil from my stash.

I stamped and fussy cut out one of the flowers from the set and coloured it in with Distress Inks.  I added it to a stitched circle die cut which I stamped with a text stamp.  I added a cut circle die cut behind and added the flower.  I added some old ribbon with lovely little circles on them out of my stash.

I added some of Tracy Evan's washi tape and fussy cut out a blackbird from her Nesting Bird stamp set.  I added a little circle element at the top of the card in a purple colour to co-ordinate with the colours in the card.  I added one of the words from the stamp set.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

International Art and Soul - Include a circle 

Make My Monday - Use a Stencil 

Tuesday Taggers - Flowers 

Hand Stamped Sentiments #IC385

It's my choice of mood board for this week's challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I hope you find something on there that inspires you.

I started off with some Tim Holtz watercolour card and I masked off the edges.  I used two Distress Oxide inks for my background - Salty Ocean and Fossilised Amber.  I added lots of water to the cardstock before adding the inks and letting them mix together.  

I then used a circle stencil and stenciled some of the Salty Ocean on top.  I used Tracy Evan's stamp sets Nesting Bird and Foliage for my images.  The nest was embossed with black embossing powder.  The eggs were embossed with Tim Holtz Speckled Egg powder.  I added some twine behind the cut out bird.

I'm adding this into the following:

Stamping Sensations - moodboard inspiration 

We love2create - AG 

Pink Gem Challenge - AG 

Allsorts Challenge - In the Garden

We love Stamping - Spring 

Spring is in the air

My card today is inspired by Tracy Evans who has a challenge running on her FB group for circles.  I also wanted to add a card for Ukraine and used their colours.

My  card uses Tim Holtz Distress Oxides in Salty Ocean and Fossilised Amber  with a watercolour background with the Flutter stamp white embossed on top.  I then added part of the Bird Song stamp set and the words Fly Free which I thought were apt for Ukraine at the moment. 

I'm adding these into the following challenges

The Paper Players - Spring mood board 

Mod Squad - Ukraine 

Addicted to stamps 

Mixed Media Lovers 

Everybody Art - Beginning with B for Birds 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #384

These colours were my choice for our challenge this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I thought they were perfect for spring and I'm ever hopeful here in Wales for some sunshine and spring to show itself.  Saying that we've had a lovely weekend and although a bit chilly the sun was definitely shining.

For my card I used one of my favourite SU sets Dandelion Wishes.  I stamped them flowers randomly on to some white cardstock.  I then used a blender brush  ( I use make-up brushes which are a lot cheaper and just as good) to add the Mind Macaron and So Saffron to some of the flowers.  I used Fresh Fresia for the wording and used an old SU punch to stamp it out.  I added a butterfly in the same colours and some So Saffron twine.  A very simple but effective card.

A 4x4 card

This is a new size card for me - a 4 x 4 as asked for by Retro Rubber in their challenge this week. It is a tic tac toe and I chose the vertical line of 4 x 4, embossing and twine.

I started out by using Distress Inks to create my inky background.  I added a very old stamp by Cherry Pie Art Stamps in Black Versafine and then used an old SU embossing folder Painted Texture to emboss it all.  The stamp must be at least 15 years old!  I added extra stamping around the edges, added some twine and some pearls and layered it onto coloured cardstock.

I'm adding this into the following challenge:

Love to Craft Challenge AG 

Pastels - what a challenge!

Well this was a real challenge for me - over at As You See It challenge they had a mood board as below and you had to use all of the items. It was only as I sat down to join in I realise how much I don't use pastels! 

I grabbed an old SU Set Choose Happiness which I don't think I've ever used much.  I've been going through all my old sets and sorting them in to keep or let go.  I'm now looking at these sets with a different eye - and if I can use them on my art journals or mixed media then they stay.  This was one of the stay ones - anything with birds on has to stay too lol!

And so my challenge began to find some pastel inks.  I stamped the main images in Versafine Clair Nocturne ink which is my favourite black ink.  I then used some Distress Inks and a water brush for my flowers - Victorian Velvet and Milled Lavender.  The leaves were stamped in Versafine Clair Shady Lane and coloured in with Distress Ink Twisted Citron.

I then used my favourite SU embossing folder Painted Texture to emboss the stamped image.  i went over it in parts with some SU Soft Pastels.  I found them in a drawer and haven't used them in a while.  I cut out some butterflies with an SU butterfly punch in the same colours and added some pearls.

The ribbon is old SU Powder Pink shimmer and I added the bird in Archival Distress Picked Raspberry which had been stamped off to make it paler.  The sentiment comes from another old SU set that's a keeper Feather Together.

I didn't have any pastel cardstock to layer it onto but did find this very pale patterned cardstock someone had gifted me which fit perfectly.