Vintage Elusions challenge Fantasy/Anything Goes

Hi Folks, it's time for another challenge over on the Vintage Elusions Challenge Blog and the theme this week is Fantasy/ Anything Goes. I have been working with a great image from a company called Gingerloft Designs. I decided to go for a one layer card, with postage very much in mind, it costs so much these days, doesn't it? However, I could easily enhance my design, with addition of some extra leaves and flowers if I was going to hand deliver the card.

I started by printing the image onto card, and then stamping some stars onto the white space using Matte Medium. I allowed this to dry, before I used various colours of Distress Ink over the top. The Matte Medium acts as a resist, and causes the stars to show as white against the background. I used a small star cluster fom Lavinia stamps to stamp randomly inbetween the larger stars. The large word stamp is also from Lavinia stamps. I have then simply coloured the image with pencils.

I like the fact that I could use this card for Christmas if I wanted to, or for a general Birthday card, it will be a useful addition to my storecupboard card collection.

 

Tami is offering 3 Digis of the Winner's choice

 

Heather is offering 3 digis of the Winner's choice

There are some great prizes up for grabs this week from our sponsors on the challenge blog, so why don't you hop over and take a look? See what my team mates have been up to as well, and try and make something for the challenge. It can be a card, an altered item, a tag, whatever you like.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

It just goes to show....

Hi folks, I've got a couple of samples to show you using the new Gothic Fragments stamp set recently released by Chocolate Baroque This is a great set of stamps with fragments of church windows, spires, and elements of stonework taken from Gothic buildings. They are so versatile, and can be used for lots of occasions.

When I received the stamps, I could see the potential for Halloween, Weddings, and Christmas straight away. Yesterday, one of my Designs was posted on the Design Team Blog which is based on a Christmas theme. I have a couple more samples to show you today.

The first one is perfect for Halloween, as I have created a stormy night scene around a couple of the spire top stamps.  I stamped one of them, then masked it before stamping the other one twice. I created a deliberately troubled sky, by not blending my ink colours as smoothly as I would do normally, then coloured the spires in with pencils. I added a little owl to one of the spires, and the word 'Spooky' taken from one of the new Halloween clear stamp sets. Some cobwebs in the bottom corners add to the creepy effect. The building that I have created reminds me a little bit of Notre Dame, and I have given the central spire a touch of a verdigris feel for contrast.

My second card has a completely different finish. I wanted to make a Wedding card, with a clean and simple feel, so I used some cream pearlescent card as a base, stamping a large flourish with white embossing powder. I made a chiffon flower, which I like to add to special occasion cards, and stamped some leaves onto vellum. These came from the Sunny Sunflower stamp set. I stamped the long window onto a piece of watercolour paper, and then coloured it with Distress Markers and a water brush.

So it just goes to show, how versatile a set of stamps can be!

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Vintage Elusions- Ephemera/Anything Goes

Hi Folks, it seems an age since I last posted on my poor neglected blog, but a lot has happened since my last post. As usual, I have been dotting about all over the place, visiting various family members and I even managed to fit a couple of Craft Shows in as well! This weekend, I went to the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show at Kettering, organised by Creative Expressions. It's a brand new show, a sister to the one that they run at Ally Pally every year. It was a great show, in a roomy venue, that is really easy to get to. It's a doddle for me from where I live, making a change from the longer journeys that I normally undertake to reach the quality shows. There were some great exhibitors there, as you would expect, and I also met up with two of my special craft buddies, which was another bonus. The third one was unfortunately out of the country, so she couldn't be with us sadly, but she is taking a very well-earned break.

Another development lately, which some of you already know about, is that we have taken on two seven week old kittens. Their Mum died when they were two days old, and they have been hand-reared. They are absolutely gorgeous, but they are keeping me on my toes! We have called them Poppy and Cody:

They are so sweet, but very different in character. Poppy, the little black cat, is the mischievous one; she is into everything, the first to play with a new toy, or to investigate something. Cody, who is slightly larger, is a bit more timid, and watches her first, to suss things out, then he will give something a try.

Their Mum was a British Blue, grey with blue eyes, I am hoping that they will both keep their blue eyes, but we will see. My older cat is not so keen on them at the moment, but we are taking the integration slowly, and giving her lots of fuss.

Anyway, onto today's project! I have made a card using two images, a treasure map from Delicious Doodles, that I have printed in sepia onto a piece of prepared watercolour paper. My printer takes 300 gsm thickness card without jamming, which I really like. I had already coloured the paper with Distress Inks, and dried it before printing the map. I then cut the image out, and stuck it onto a piece of brown card. My second image is from Sassy Studio, of Captain Jack Sparrow, which I have printed out and coloured with Polychromos, adding lots of Dark Sepia to everything, to make him look particularly shabby and a bit grungy. He always looks like he could do with a good bath in the films! I have then added a playing card with the letter 'J', and a dagger charm in one corner, then a few coins in the opposite corner.

Please pop along to the Vintage Elusions Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the team have made. There are some great prizes up for grabs again this week:

Sassy is offering the winner four digis of their choice

Susan is offering the winner four digis of their choice

Teri is offering the winner four digis of their choice

The theme this week is Ephemera/ Anything Goes. You can make a card, tag, altered item, whatever you like. If you are unsure as to what Ephemera means, then think of it as something that you would not normally collect, save, cherish or keep. For example, ticket stubs, game pieces, playing cards, dominoes, office objects, old maps, postcards, packaging, wire, feathers, leaves, etc.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Vintage Elusions challenge-Wings

Hi Folks, well I'm back from my travels again very temporarily, and I'd just like to show you what I made for the challenge this week over on the Vintage Elusions Challenge Blog The theme this week is 'Wings/Anything Goes, so if you don't fancy making anything with a wings related theme, you can make whatever you like! You can make a card, tag, altered item, a mixed media project, whatever you like to make, can be entered into the challenge. Please pop along to the blog to see what my Design Team mates have made this week to inspire you. My own project is a little late going on to the blog, as I have only just arrived back home, and I couldn't upload it to the blog, but it's going on there shortly.

I have made a card this week, using an image from Delicious Doodles. It is a floral frame, which I have coloured with Polychromos pencils. I have used some fabulous backing papers from Prima, which I have layered after distressing the edges and colouring them with Tea Dye Distress Ink. I have also stamped a lovely Hummingbird image from Designs by Ryn, also coloured with Polychromos. The sentiment is one from Stamp Camp, which I bought on my recent visit to Happy Stampers.

I simply used a piece of the left over backing paper to stamp the sentiment. It's a lovely pale green with script stamped randomly all over. The main backing paper is taken from the new 'Firefly' collection. Those papers are gorgeous, and I can see myself using every single one of them.

As usual there are some great prizes on offer on the challenge blog:

Teri is offering the Winner 4 digi images of their choice

Susan is offering the Winner 5 Digi images of their choice

Keilly is offering a £10 voucher to spend in the shop

Thanks for stopping by, xx