HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - #IC403

We have another lovely Inspiration Board from Hand Stamped Sentiments for you  this week.  I took my inspiration from the top right hand corner and the tree and the baubles.  I liked the fact that it seemed to be a little bit out of focus so I used that to make a soft watercolour effect on my card.

I used stamps from Tim Holtz old set CMS322 called Christmas Classic. As well as tthe lovely Santa image in this set which is the one I always seem to use it has some lovely foliage stamps which can sometimes get overlooked so I decided they needed a chance to shine.

I used Versafine Ink in Morning Mist which is a soft grey to stamp the images then used some Tim Holtz Distress Oxides to colour in the holly and the berries.  I used a very soft wash of Tim Holtz Evergreen Bough around all the stamping and part way down the card.  

The bauble stamp is an old one from Gina K Designs called Season of Joy which  just suited this perfectly. I stamped it in Tim Holtz Archival in Mermaid Lagoon.  The other sentiment is also Tim Holtz Tiny Text.  I covered the card with a few splatters of white gesso and added some sparkle from Spectrum Noir glitter pen - as it's Christmas lol! 

I'm adding this into the following challenges - 

The sisterhood of Crafters - Winter 

SimonSays Stamp Wednesday - AG 

four Seasons Challenge - Winter 

GDP#371 - Winter 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - cold

Merry Little Christmas - AG 

COLOR MY HEART COLOR DARE - #524

I'm taking a break from the Christmas projects at the moment with this one for Color Dare Challenge.  I've used the lovely stamp from Visible Image called Break Free.

The background was made with Tim Holtz Distress Ink, a Tim Holtz stencil and a script stamp I use for backgrounds.  I masked off the flower image before creating the background so that it wasn't showing behind the vase.  I added some glossy accents to the bits of the glass to make it shine.

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 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - #402

Our colour challenge for you this week from Hand Stamped Sentiments screams Christmas colours - I love them.  Cherry Cobbler is definitely one of my favourite reds for the season.

I started off by using the lovely tree stamp from Winter Woods stamping the tree three times.  I added some soft colouring to the bottom where the deer are standing.  The deer are from Tim Holtz dies as is the sentiment. I added some stamping to the deer for texture and interest and a few dots to the doe. I added some fine silver thread to the bottom of the card and the sentiment.  There is Wink of Stella pen over the trees to make them shine.  I layered the image onto Cherry Cobbler cardstock.

COLOR MY HEART COLOR DARE #522

Welcome back to another colour challenge at Color My Heart.  Yellow - what a funny colour - is it one you use very often?  I know I don't - not as the main colour so this challenge took me out of my comfort zone which is what challenges are all about.  I chose to pair my yellow with that dark blue Sapphire so it would show it off and not be too washed out.

I've gone back to some Tracy Evans stamps here for this make. I used a double length stamp for the left hand side Feathered Bloom No 79- with all those lovely feathers I had to add a bird to the card.  The right hand side I left blank just with the yellow and some splatters.  I separated the two sides by using some old Washi Tape in grey.

The clock and flowers are from a separate set (Wildflower no 565) and I cut them out and added them with dimensionals so the bird could sit behind.  The bird is from  Birdsong no 393.  I don't often do these Double Length cards and love how this turned out.  

SANTA BY NIGHT

That's it - I'm officialy in countdown to Christmas mode.  This is my favourite time of the year to craft and I love making Christmas cards and tags - I've yet to be brave enough to try some of the home decor the Tim Holtz girls make but maybe one day.

Until then I'll continue with the cards and here's one for the Christmas Card Throwdown who gave us this sketch to work with 

I used some scrap paper to blank off the section to represent the  panels and stamped a Tim Holtz sentiment and this lovely little Santa and sleigh by Sunny Studio.  I covered the rest of the card in Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide ink with a touc of Black Soot at the very top.  The colour is much richer in real life.  I then took a Tim Holtz stencil and Stampin Up Silver Embossing paste to stencil the lovely stars.

Allsorts Challenge - Sparkle and Shine

The Holly & Ivy - AG 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Christmas 

THE MALE ROOM CHALLENGE - NOVEMBER 2022 - POP UP ELEMENT

Welcome to another challenge at The Male Room - this month we want to see your pop up elements.  This is something I haven't done in a while and had a lot of fun with.  I decided to ink up one of Tim Holtz' birds as I haven't used them in a whilte.

I started off by making the background with my gel press and a stencil.  I used some acrylic inks in various shades of blue, green, yellow and purple. I layered it onto some SU green cardstock and cut out an oval shape in the middle with a stitched framelit.  I used the cut out cardstock as the base for the bird, adding a smaller shape to stamp the sentiment and add the bird.  The bird was coloured with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peacock Feathers and Scattered Straw.  I added some googly eyes just to give him more character.

I've shown the inside of the card to give you an idea of the mechanism to make the pop up.

ONCE UPON A TIME

Welcome back to another inspirational book cover for our challenge this month at Once Upon a Time.  This is another book that is new to me but isn't that cover just gorgeous.  I remembered somewhere in my stash I had a dream catcher stamp and I found it - made by Kaisercraft called Hide and Seek.

I took inspiratino from those lovely reds in the picture to create my background using a gel press and some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks in Candied Apple, Wild Honey and Spun Sugar.  I added a stamp by SU which is the sun cloudburst on the left hand side of the card using some white ink.

I used white embossing powder to stamp the dream catcher and coloured it with Uncharted Mariner Distress Oxide Ink.  The flowers and butterfly are from a Simon Says Stamp set called Thoughtful Flowers.  The sentiment is from the same Kaisercraft set.

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS

We are in Christmas mode, possibly, at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week with this fabulous sketch.  Of course you don't have to do Christmas but I'm all about the season at the moment.  It is my favourite time to craft.  Normally I would have Christmas music playing also but as hubby is now retired and at home all day I think he would go mad if he started hearing Christmas music in November!!

I've been playing with my gel press lately too and using some lovely acrylic paints I have from Myartscape.  I love their choice of colours.  I had these lovely reds which I wanted to use for the background. First I layered my background piece of card with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen then used a Tim Holtz Stencil to add the trees in Bundled Sage.  I added the strips of background paper.  

My Santa is from an old Tim Holtz set and he was coloured in with Tim Holtz Distress Ink and SU Stampin Blends in Light Gray for his beard.  The little stockings are a die I have in my stash so I added some Dazzling Diamonds to them for extra sparkle.  The Believe is a Hot of the Press die and I cut it out of white sparkly paper similar to the middle stocking.  

I added some new Tim Holtz Ideaology droplets to finish off the card.

I'm adding this into the following:

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas and for the H - Ho Ho Ho? lol

Send a smile4kids - Christmas for kids 

Creative Artiste - AG 

Krafty Chicks - Use a Stamp

Tic Tac Toe - Santa, Sparkle, Die Cut 

HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS - WATERCOLOURING - NOVEMBER 2022

Welcome back to another Watercolour Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  I've chosen some simple blues and yellows for my card today - a bit of a change from all the autumn colours I've been using lately and before I get on to my Christmas colours - eek sorry I said the word Christmas but we are now in November! 

I started off by doing a simple colour wash with a large paint brush and some Tim Holtz Distress Oxides in Fossilised Amber and Salty Ocean.  I love the way these two colours go together.  The beauty of the Distress Oxides too is that they keep their colour and don't merge to make green.  Always a help! I used a piece of scrap paper to blank off where I would put my sentiment and kept it simple with Birthday Wishes.  The stamps I have used here are by Tracy Evans - the flower is from Friendship Florals and the background stamps and the little hares are from Miniatures.  I just adore those hares!  

I used the same colours to colour the flowers and stamped them first and then re-stamped and cut them out and layered them to give more interest to the card.

COLOR MY HEART #520

Welcome back to another Color Dare challenge with our popular Tic Tac Toe colour chart.  I chosen to do the right hand vertical column of Scarlet, Pine, Toffee.  It must be my camera as the colours don't look this pale in real life. 

I started with 3d leaf embossing folder and then smooshed the toffee ink over it.  The image is from Stampin Up from an old set called Country Home which I loved for the milk churn and the jug in this set.  It comes with the two bunches of foliage and I added one to the churn and inked another one and cut it out for the bottom of the piece.  The churn was coloured in with SU Stampin Blends in Light Granite Grey - the perfect colour I thought for the milk churn. 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #IC400

Welcome back to another challenge here at Hand Stamped Sentiments and we are continuing the theme of Autumn/Fall and its gorgeous colours, textures and hopefully inspiration.  It really does seem to be such a great season for us crafters and it is my favourite time of year.

I started off my card by using some Tim Holtz Distress inks over a leaf stencil from my stash. I blended three colours of Fossilized Amber, Crackling Campfire and Aged Mahogany to get the colours I was happy with.  My tree is from a Visible Image stamp set called Tree of Life and I used the same inks for the leaves.

I cut out the Hello die sentiment three times and layered it - the Autumn is from Tracy Evans set Seasons and I used the word Oct (October) as a background stamp inked in Versafine Acorn ink.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments - Fall/Autumn plus Sentiment 

Tic Tac Toe - Die Cut - Layers, Autumn Colours

Creative Inspirations - Autumn

Cardz 4 Guyz - Autumn Colours

FREE

I'm playing along with the challenge at Inkspirational which this week is a key word Imagine.  Rummaging among my stamps I remembered I had this Visible Image set called Free Your Imagination which I haven't used in a while.  I love the book in it.  I had seen somewhere where someone had added words to the book pages so I grabbed an old book I use for mixed media and stamped the book on to it then cut out the pages and added them.

The background was one I had made in my stash from some ink blending a few days ago with some Tim Holtz inks.  I always keep whatever I make - you just never know when it will come in handy.  I added the feather and the ink to make it look as though the writing had come from the feather.

I think I got a bit carried away with the extra birds from another Visible Image set though.

I'm also adding this into the following

Daring Cardmakers - big on background 

The Sisterhood of Crafters - one for the boys 

Retro Rubber - these stamps are from a few years ago 

COLOR MY HEART #518

Welcome back to another colour challenge at Color Dare.  Such soft colours but I still thought of an autumn nature card.  I started off by using a tree stencil from my stash using a neutral colour of Antique Linen.  The toadstools are from Visible Image stamps called Totally Toadstools. The Nature sentiment is from Tracy Evans set and the remainder is from the Visible Image set.  I added a butterfly which I embossed with copper embossing powder and an embellishment from my stash. 

THE MALE ROOM CHALLENGE - CAS - #167

Welcome back to another challenge at The Male Room challenge.  I always find CAS cards very difficult as I’m definitely a collage type of crafter.  But this image from Visible Image is just perfect for creating a CAS card.  I kept it simple with the colours too - using one of their stencils and inking it in Tim Holtz Fossilized Amber and adding extra colour behind the car and on the head lights.  The sentiment is from the same set.

I'm adding this into the following:

Allsorts  - AG 

Just us Girls - CAS

Inkspirational - Use Stencil 

Seize the Birthday - CAS 

Krafty Chicks - use a stamp

Addicted to Stamps - Any Occasion

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #CC399

Welcome back to another colour challenge here at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  For my background I started with a leaf stencil from Visible Image and used Pumpkin Pie and a touch of Pool Party for the leaves.  I then used an SU embossing folder - one of my favourites - Painted Texture 3D. It gives the paper such a great texture.  I added some Starry Sky ink to the edges and also added some splatters with the same ink.  

The tag and leaves are from an old favourite SU Set called Faith In Nature.  I added the pear to the tag and coloured it in.  I smooshed some of the blue inks with water on some paper and then stamped the leaves and cut them out and added them behind the tag.  A touch of twine and some sequins from my stash completed the card.

I'm also adding this into the following challenges:

The Outlawz Challenge - Rhyme - colours 

Dare 2B Artzy - Favourite Colours - autumn colours are my favourite 

We Love Stamping - Autumn 

Lets Create - Autumn 

Addicted to CAS - Autumn - not sure if this is CAS enough though 

Alphabet Challenge - N is for Nature