Vintage Car

Hi Folks, I have a card today to show you based on a project made by Christine Dark in this month's Craft Stamper magazine. I loved her project as soon as I saw it, and wanted to have a go. I needed to make my FIL a card for his Birthday, so mine is on a masculine theme. However, I'm definitely going to make some more feminine versions as well.

I had an idea in mind, and set about assembling my die cuts, as per Christine's instructions:

It was then a matter of working through the various processes, adding the paint layers, and stamping to get the final look.

 The stamping isn't perfect, but then looking at the magazine pieces, it's not meant to be. It is very difficult on multi-layered items to manage perfection! It adds to the distressed, worn feel of the whole thing.

We are off to see my FIL later today, he doesn't really appreciate handmade cards, but I know that I've taken a lot of care over this one, so I guess that's what matters! Anyway, I hope you are having a great weekend, thanks for stopping by, xx

A bit of Distressing

Hi Folks, sorry it's been a while since my last post, life has been somewhat hectic here at Poppy Cottage. I'm actually on holiday in Italy as this post goes live, hopefully enjoying a little bit of late Summer sunshine. Some of the items that I have used on the following project are forgotten and neglected, so if you want to tag your Forgotten Friday projects to this post, please feel free to do so, and I'll pop along to your blogs to take a look, internet connection willing!

My project today is for the Vintage Elusions Challenge Blog and the theme is 'Distressing/Anything Goes'. I started with an image of young Harry Potter, so I decided to create a book card with a shabby distressed feel. The front of the card shows a woodland scene and Harry advancing towards his foe, wand at the ready. I have used a selection of Chocolate Baroque stamps which I have stamped onto a piece of Prima paper, and then edged with Distress Inks. I have used a paper distresser on the edges of my paper. At the bottom of the scene, I have used a piece of the iron gate Tim Holtz die cut from black card.

I have used another piece of the Prima paper for the inside cover, and used a selection of Tim Holtz stamps, adding a great sentiment. For the niche, I have added the iron gate around the edges, and added a piece of Prima paper to the insert. The blues are very apt for a boys card, but I do know a certain 22 year old Daughter who loves Harry Potter as well!

There is a great prize for the winner of this week's challenge, Sassy Studio Designs are offering 4 digis of the winners choice. So why don't you have a go at making something, and enter into the challenge? It can be anything, a card, box, tag, ATC, etc, as long as it falls inder the umbrella of Distressing or Anything Goes.

I'll be back from my holidays in a while, so take care and keep crafting. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Forgotten Friday 26- A bit of Tim Holtz

Hi Folks, it's Friday again, which means that it's time to rummage through your crafty stash and make something with your neglected items again.

This week, I've chosen to use some unused, surprisingly, Tim Holtz stamps for my project. I am very fond of bird stamps, and am starting to collect quite a few. I bought these ages ago, and just never got around to using them. I have some more that I haven't used either, so they may pop up in a week or two. I made a completely different background for this project last night, but wasn't happy with it. So, this morning, I made another one! I had painted my watercolour paper with various acylic paints, added some napkin paper flowers, stamped on various shapes with black and white dabbers, used sequin waste, etc, all very involved. I looked at it, and just didn't feel that I liked it, so it has been ditched for a simpler approach this morning.

I have embossed the flowers with white pearls embossing powder, and then used three different colour blues to spray my watercolour paper. I then used a bit of water to thin the colours a little bit. I have used Stazon to stamp the birds and the sentiment, and then edged the paper with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. I stamped the bird onto Kraft card, and coloured it with Weathered Wood and Chipped Sapphire DIs.

I like working with blues, the other colour scheme just wasn't in my comfort zone. Do you have a colour that puts you out of sorts?

Anyway, please join in this week if you have time, add a link in my comments, and I'll pop along and take a look. I have an entry from Shirley, which I'll upload a bit later, it's fabulous. Thanks for stopping by today, Judith xx

Stamping Contrasts

Hi folks, well it's not such a sunny Sunday here today, but it's a welcome change, as the garden really needs a bit of rain. Yesterday was very humid, but it's a bit more pleasant today.

I have two cards to show you today, both using Tim Holtz's 'Papillon' Stamp set, which I loved as soon as I saw it. I love butterflies anyway, but the background stamp is just fabulous. At my card class last week, I wanted to get the girls to use white embossing in their cards, so we based our cards on this technique. We chose three colours, and blended our backgrounds, after embossing the background stamp. We also coloured the butterflies with the same colours, and decoupaged the butterflies. We used some Kraft card, and chose a stamp from the set as our background stamp, this time using a Versafine ink in a matching colour, (I used Majestic Purple), and then I matted everything onto red Bazzil card.

I haven't added added a sentiment, as this card could then be used for any purpose, a great store cupboard card!

My second card has a lovely shabby, vintage feel, which is exactly what I wanted. I firstly created my background, using a Linda Brown technique  using Paper Artsy paint, which you apply to white card sparingly, and dry with your heat gun. I then used Antique Linen and Spun Sugar Distress Stains, and blended them with a baby wipe over the top. When these were dry, I stamped the big Papillon background stamp down my card, using archival ink.
I then embossed and refined my metal shapes in Pearl metal, and painted them using Vintage Lace Fresco Finish paint. I rubbed over a little bit of black paint dabber, and wiped off the excess to age them slightly. I cut the wings from sticky back canvas, coloured them with Antique Linen Distress Ink, and stamped a Crafty Individuals script stamp over the top. I coloured the Ideology ribbon and flower trims with Spun Sugar and Antique Linen Distress Stains, before spritzing them with water.
I then assembled my card, adding a computer generated sentiment, and a heart charm. I had seen this sentiment on another blogger's card ages ago, I've looked so that I could give credit to her, but can't find the link. So my apologies for that.

This card is going to a very special person, and I hope she has a lovely Birthday!
Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you have a lovely weekend, whatever you are doing, Judith xx

Forgotten Friday 10- Tim Holtz and grunge

Hi folks, well as this post appears, I will be almost landing in Malta! My OH and I are having a long weekend away, as he really needs a break before a very long busy season ahead.
This week I have been rummaging in my Tim Holtz Ideology box for things to put on a special Birthday card. I needed to make a card for my Daughter's Boyfriend, who is in his third year at University, doing a Graphics course. He always has his head over the laptop, or his phone, so I thought that this image from Mo Manning was very apt. I wanted to make his card very shabby and distressed, very like the cool shopping labels that he gets on his clothes, I pinched a couple from Megan's room recently, and I'd love to alter them in some way!

Aren't they fabulous? Anyway, I took inspiration from the colours, and looked through my scrapbook papers that I normally just can't bear to use, and found a great piece from Pink Paislee. I added some Brown card from my Linen Closet Stack by DCWV, and I was nearly there.
I printed off my image, and coloured it with Polychromos pencils, and then scuffed all of the card edges, adding Vintage Photo Distress Ink to highlight the distressing.

Don't forget to have a look through your own stash, play along, and make something with your neglected or forgotten craft goodies. When I'm back from my travels, if you leave a comment, I'll pop along to your blog to take a look at what you have made.
Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Bah Humbug- Christmas Trees

Well, it's my last week as a Guest Designer over on the Bah Humbug Blog. The time has absolutely flown by! As you read this, I will be in Malta with my Husband having a weekend break, so thoughts of Christmas probably couldn't be further from my mind!
My first card was made using a couple of Tim Holtz stamps, stamped onto cream card, coloured with Distress Inks. I embossed the piece stamped with the music stamp, using a Tim Holtz tree embossing folder, and picked out the embossing, using Pine Needles Distress Ink. I matted both pieces of card onto dark green card, and used a lovely backing paper from Papermania. I then made a handmade flower from brown parcel paper, using a Nestability die. I added a red button and some paper string. Some leaves cut from a Magnolia die finish the flower off.

My second card was made by stamping an Elusive Images tree onto acetate with white Stazon, and glittering the back. I stamped a sentiment onto watercolour paper, and mounted this onto a green mirri card. I used a lovely Christmas paper from Artylicious, and added some red brads to attach the acetate to my card.

The acetate was so shiny, it was difficult not to get a reflection of myself in the picture!

Don't forget to pop over to the Bah Humbug Blog to see what everyone else is getting up to, and thank you so much for stopping by for the last four weeks. I have really enjoyed my stint as Guest Designer. Judith xx

WOYWW 88

Hi folks, I didn't make it to What's on your workdesk Wednesday last week. The week just flew by, but I'm trying to be more organised this week. I cut my finger on a cat food tin this morning, so I'm typing this with one finger. I'm sorry if I don't comment on many of your Blogs this week, but it's really sore!
I went To the Stamperama Show at Stevenage on Sunday, so I've got lots of goodies sitting on my desk this week. There are lots of bird themed pieces, as I have a bit of a thing for birds at the moment. I went and watched Hels Sheridan demo with beeswax, and bought a couple of lovely silicone moulds and some beeswax too, so I'm itching to have a play with that as soon as I get a chance. I found some gorgeous keys and locks, and some fab little bird embellishments. Several stamp sets that I wanted to buy, and other bits and pieces that I've already put away. It was a good day, and I took some of the girls from my card class with me. They really enjoyed themselves, as some of them hadn't been before. It's only an hour's drive from where we live, so it makes it a good day out.

I hope that you are all having a good week, happy Wednesday, and thanks for popping by, Judith xx