HOLLY & IVY CHALLENGE #186

Welcome back to another challenge here at The Holly & Ivy and as usual it's Anything Goes.

This card took a while for me for it to come together - I knew I wanted to use the robin from Indigoblu but I couldn't find something for him to sit on.  I finally found my old set of stamps from Tim Holtz called Winter Watercolor which had some gorgeous foliage and this card was born.

The background had previously been created on one of my gel press play times with Peacock Feathers making an appearance so I decided to use it for htis card.  I stamped a mixture of all the foliage from the Tim Holtz Set for the background.  The bird was stamped and cut out with a stitched die and then extra foliage added.  I added touches of red with a Prismacolour Pencil  and used these too to colour the bird.

I added some touches of white to the foliage and added extra musical background stamps.  A simple greeting from Tim Holtz for the sentiment and some doodling around the edges and a touch of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen finished off the card.  I love how it turned out in the end. 

I'm adding this into the following :

Simon Says Stamp Wed - Fur Feathers 

Colouring with Pencils 

Peace on Earth

Lets craft and create - AG 

Polkadoodle - AG 

Outlawz Festive Friday - Christmas 

Krafty Chicks - Christmas 

SIMON SAYS STAMP MONDAY CHALLENGE GUEST DESIGNER - BLOOMING BLOOMS - AURICULA

SIMON SAYS STAMP STORE 

I am delighted to be Guest Designer again for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and our challenge this week is Blooming Blooms.  I chose some of the new stamps by Tracy Evans Boutique Designs for my card.

The background was created first with the gel press and some distress paint by Tim Holtz.  I gently brayered Salvaged Patina and Peeled Paint over the gel press and you just never know what you'll get which is part of the fun.  I was happy with the background colours and added some extra detail with the Fronds Snippet Stencil by Tracy in Peeled Paint again. 

Once the background was completely dry I used one of Tracy's Stamps called Take Flight embossed in white to add some more interest to the background behind the flower.

The flower stamp is called Alpine Plant and I stamped this and fussy cut it to add some layers to the piece. It was coloured in with Tim Holtz Watercolour Pencils.

Behind the flower in its cute pot I added another stamp, a persicaria flower, by Tracy from the set Delight in Nature.  The sentiment which is from New Beginnings has been stamped on a piece of calico from my stash in Versafine Nocturne. 

Stamps used - Tracy Evans Boutique Designs Design in Nature TE13

                        Tracy Evans Boutique Designs New Beginnings TE004

                        Tracy Evans Boutique Designs Take Flight - TE009

                        Tracy Evans Boutique Designs Alpine Plant - TE 001

Stencil            Tracy Evans Boutique Designs Fronds Snippet Stencil SS5 

Paints -            Tim Holtz Distress Paint Salvaged Patina 

                        Tim Holtz Distress Paint Old Paper 

Inks -             Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray - Iced Spruce 

                       Versafine Clair Shady Lane

                       Versafine Clair Nocturne

                       Versamark Embossing Ink Pad

                       Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils my sets used are 1, 4 and 5 

Embossing 

Powder            Ranger Embossing Powder Cottontail

Tools                Gel Press 5 x 7 

                         Speedball Brayer - 4 inch 

Every week  Simon Says Stamp generously give away a $25 voucher to spend at  Simon Says Stamp Store!  One lucky participant chosen at random has the chance to win the voucher - You can join up to 5 times which gives you 5 chances to win.  You have until next Monday at 8 a.m. Ohio time 1 pm UK time, 2 pm CET time to join in.  Good Luck everyone

INSPIRATION STATION #71

It's time for another challenge for Inspiration Station this month featuring these cute bunnies and I look forward to seeing how they inspire your creativity this month. 

I used a couple of products from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs and some of Tracy's older stamps for my card.  I first stamped the gorgeous snowdrop in Versafine Verdant and Shady lane - adding both colours to the stamp to get a variation of colour.  The background stamping are also Tracy's stamps.  

I then used one of Tracy's new stencils the hare SS2 to create my hares using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink and Tim Holtz Crackle Paste.  I cut them out and added them to some burlap ribbon on the bottom.

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - STENCILS/DIE CUTS #475

Welcome back to another challenge for Addicted to stamps and More.  I've used one of the new stencils by Tracy Evans Boutique Designs for my card which is one of her bauble stencils.  You also get the cut outs with her stencils and this is what I've used here.  Taping it down with a little bit of tape to stop it moving while I created the background.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink in Bundled Sage.  

I then added an old stamp of Tracys to create the idea of the tree using Iced Spruce for the branches.  I stamped the robin stamp inside the bauble and added a lot of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to make it shine. A splatter of white Posca pen and some inking on the bird finished it off. 

THE MALE ROOM - #189 - MIXED MEDIA CHALLENGE

My favourite style of Mixed Media is our challenge for you this month at The Male Room.   I started my card with a variety of Tim Holtz Distress Oxides layered onto my card base. I added stamping and some stencilling with paste through a Tim Holtz stencil.

The old typewriter isn't a Tim Holtz one - it's one I found in my stash which I've had for years and it has the image of the typewriter, the little paper clip and the lettering I've used in the background.  I added a piece of paper to the typewriter which was stamped and embossed and stamped the word Hello on it.  Among my Ideaology pieces I found this old image of a typewriter and added it along with some old wording regarding letters.  I embossed the paper clip stamp and then cut it out and threaded the handmade sentiment through it. 

I'm also adding this into the following:

Little Red Wagon - make it masculine 

KRAFTY CHICKS GUEST DESIGNER - #694 CHRISTMAS

I'm on week two of my Guest Designer slot at Krafty Chicks challenge and we are up to Christmas.  My favourite time of the year for crafting.  I've gone with an idea by Tracy Evans for creating your own baubles for me card.  I've used a stamp set from Kaisercraft . I stamped the holly foliage in Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Salvaged Patina and added dots for the berries with a red Posca Pen.

I then cut a circle out of some scrap paper and used the same DO ink together with Dusty Concord for creating the baubles.  I added a touch more stamping to the top of the baubles.  The images within the baubles were stamped with silver embossing powder.  The little tops of the baubles are from Concord and 9th and I hand drew the thread.  The sentiment is from Concord and 9th and the music stamp is from Tim Holtz. 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS SC409

We have another sketch for you today at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I started my card by making a background with some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink and using a Tim Holtz stencil to go over it.    The little bird is from Aallandcreate stamps - I just love the way it is perched on the pot.  I coloured it in with Distress Oxide ink.  The strip below has been made with a Tim Holtz Emboss and Cut embosser.  Very clever as it cuts as it embosses.  I added a few Nuovo drops to add some interest and as this was for a friend's birthday I added the sentiment. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR - THE MALE ROOM CHALLENGE

Happy New Year Everyone - I hope 2023 is a good year for you all.

We are back with a new challenge for  January for The Male Room Challenge. 

I chose to use the lovely set Stargazers from Anita Jeram for my card.  I used Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Inks for my sky.  I stamped the image and masked it and used Bundled Sage Distress Oxide and Crushed Olive distress ink for the grass.  I left the little bunnies white.  I added extra details with some old grass stamps I have in my stash.   I used a star die to cut out the little stars and layered it on to some white glitter paper to have the stars shining through.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Paper Funday Challenge - AG optional - Starry Night 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

My favourite time of the year to craft is Christmas.  Every year I find new Christmas products that I just have to have and I love all things vintage and Tim Holtz at Christmas.

Here are a couple of projects I've recently made both very different styles.  The first is a Tag as I love making Tags too

I've used Tim Holtz products on this tag apart form the reindeer papers which were from my stash and the Believe die which is from Hot off the Press.

I'm adding this tag into the following challenges:

Christmas Card Throwdown - Santa and Friends 

Stamping Sensations - Christmas 

We love Stamping - Christmas 

Jingle Belles - Inspired by their banner 

Try it on Tuesday - Traditional Christmas 

My second card is a complete contrast to the tag above.  I've used the lovely Pinecone stamp set by Tracy Evans and made it into a watercolour card with very soft stamping.  All inks are Tim Holtz Distress Oxides.  I wanted it to have a very wintry feel and I really think it worked.  There is snow added with paint to the top of the branches and the pinecone and a smattering of Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen to make it shine.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Allsorts - Trees and Leaves

Less is More - Outside 

Inkspirational - the wintry feel of their image 

Krafty Chicks - CAS 

ABC Christmas - W for White snow 

The holly and Ivy - Christmas AG 

HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS - OCTOBER WATERCOLOUR CHALLENGE

Welcome back to another month's Watercolour Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  As usual our theme is Anything Goes as long as it's watercoloured.

I used some Tim Holtz Watercolour card stock for my card as I knew I wanted to add a lot of water to my background.  I smooshed the cardstock first with some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks and then used the brick stencil from Visible Image.

I stamped over this with Versafine Clair Ink in Nocturne using a Tracy Evans stamp and left the flower plain.  I added another of Tracy's stamps in the butterfly and fussy cut this out and coloured it in with the same colour Distress Oxides.  The sentiments are also from Tracy Evans. 

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

SSS - World Card Making Day 

SSS - Wednesday - AG 

Krafty Chicks - AG 

The Outlawz Challenge - inspired by the line - The month is Amber, Gold and Brown 

Sunday Stamps - Colour Challenge - brown, orange, black 

Dare 2B Artzy - Favourite Colours - these are my favourite colours as Autumn is my favourite season

Stamping Sensations - All Things Autumn 

We love 2 Create - AG Mixed Media 

The Paper Players - Changing Seasons 

Allsorts - Gardeners Delight - Butterflies are a delight and I would love to see hares in my garden!

Inkspirational - Stencils

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