Shades of not grey!

Hello all!
Just popping in with a card for the challenge over at Stampotique which is 'anything goes' for this month.  I'm also tying it in with the ombre challenge at Craft Stamper - one of favourite magazines back in the UK.  I get them delivered to my mum's house so when I go over to visit, I have a whole stash of them to look at!
      Anyway, I used Fleur Belle by Janet Klein, coloured with Copics and fussy cut by hand and placed her on a gelato ombre effect background.  I used a glossy cardstock and added thick stripes of colour from the gelatos, blending with water and my fingers, adding some stamped and embossed details after it had dried.

     A nice Spring like card in the midst of winter in New Jersey........

    I would also like to put this in to the challenges at The Artistic Stamper , Copic Marker Europe and Addicted to Stamps. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Snow much to do!

Hello all!
In spite of having a list as long as your arm of things to do, I decided to take some creative time and make another page in my stamp journal.  It was pointed out to me that it wasn't really an art journal as I was using stamps in it all the time so I'm renaming it a stamp journal - even though there isn't actually any journalling either............maybe I should just forget about labelling it at all!

    Enough already - on to the good stuff!  More splattering of paint was the order of the day for the background - I used acrylic paints and gelatos and then added a thin coat of Mod Podge to seal it. The Stampotique snowman was stamped onto tissue paper, coloured with Copics, fussy cut and then Mod Podged to the page.  I added to the background by glitter embossing some stamped numbers, a few snowflakes and used some Cameo Silhouette negative cuts as stencils for the star shapes, finishing off with a stamped word "SNOW".  I do like the transparency the tissue paper adds to the page - it's almost like adding a rub on transfer.

       Playing along with the challenges at - Stampotique , The Artistic Stamper , Craft Stamper , Stamping Sensations .

Thanks for stopping by!

So dreamy..........

Hello all!
just popping in with another page from my mini art journal and tying it in with the current challenge at Stampotique which is to use a splat of paint.  I couldn't resist this one as it's one of my favourite methods of creating a background in this little art book of mine.  For this page I splattered and smooshed acrylic paints around, adding some faint text from a rubber stamp and printing the word "dream" with paint and foam letters.  The image is 'Jasmine' by Jo Capper-Sandon, which I stamped and coloured with Copics and then fussy cut and stuck her to the page - I then added a few painted blades of grass and a couple of Cameo cut and painted flowers.  She looks totally wrapped up in her own thoughts, whatever they may be......

I do enjoy playing in this art journal as it really doesn't matter what I do - no rules!!  I would also like to enter this in the challenges at Through the Craftroom Door , Simon Says Monday challenge 4 Crafty Chicks , Craft Stamper and Delightful Challenges.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look :)

Not at all wishy-washi !!

Hello all!
           I hope your week is off to a good start and the last day of September brings some sunshine your way!  I'm starting the crafting week off with another page in my little art journal - designed to fit in with the latest challenge over at Stampotique .   The theme is to use washi tape and as I'm a big fan of the stuff, I had to join in with this one but I wanted to do something different to how I usually use it.
                      Using a Janet Klein Stampotique stamp, I stamped her onto some cardstock and then covered her with strips of different washi tapes.  Because the tapes are opaque, you can still see the stamp lines showing so it was fairly easy to fussy cut her afterwards.  I then placed her on a background of blended Distress Inks and acrylic paint, adding some stamped flowers and sentiments, gel pen dots and of course, more washi tape!

             I would also like to enter this into the challenges at Simon Says Stamp Monday , 613 Avenue Creat , Amusing Challenges and Scribble & Scrap.

Thanks so much for stopping by :)

Art journal your inspiration back home!

Hello all!
    I've probably mentioned this before but whenever I feel that I have absolutely no creativity in me at all, I now reach for my little art journal and just sit and play!  There's no pressure to get it all perfect and no rules to follow - just paint, draw, stamp, ink, emboss or do them all together.  I find this really helps me stop stressing over any DT deadlines and I really enjoy playing with the messy stuff too!

                      I havn't been playing in some of my favourite challenges lately due to other non card projects - I'm a bit of a 'Craft Tramp' and will flit from one craft to another, leaving things unfinished when something else catches my eye.  However, I wanted to join in with the latest challenge over at the Stampotique Designers blog which is 'Tags' so I made a tag shape from watercolour paper and began to play.  I'm completely useless at listing the products used but they included Dylusions ink sprays, Faber Castell big brush artist pens, acrylic paints, rub-ons, dictionary paper, punched paper flowers and stars and of course, a Stampotique stamp - this one is called 'Fleur Belle' by Janet Klein.

Entering this into the challenges at Stampotique , Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge , The Crafters Cafe . Crafty Calendar and Creative Inspirations Paints.

Thanks for popping in today!

Believe in Spring.

Hello all!
     after yet more snowfall here and with more winter showers forecast tomorrow it really does seem as is Spring will never get here!  I thought a Spring-like card might help so decided to play with one of the new Octopode woodland creatures.  I spritzed an old dictionary page with water and Dylusions Inks and then stamped some flowers over that with Stazon ink.  I had coloured the digi and some Octopode flowers with Copics and fussy cut them, placing them on a freebie background paper from a Stampington magazine (my indulgence treat!)  A computer printed sentiment was coloured over with a Pitt Big Brush pen to finish it off.

         I would like to enter this into the challenges at Stampotique , Simon Says Stamp and Show, Tuesday Alchemy , Everybody Art Challenge and Simon Says Stamp.

Thanks for popping in to take a look - hope you're having better Spring weather where you are :)

Dream a little dream of me.

Hello all!

Back with another song related blog post title so apologies if you've now got the song in your head!   The version I know is by The Mamas and Papas - I do enjoy a bit of 60's music every now and then :)

                        Anyway I wanted to do a card for the current Stampotique challenge which is to use text as I love anything to do with text and typography!  I had an idea brewing for what I wanted to do and this was one of those great times when the idea actually translated itself onto the card and looked just as I had  pictured it - I love it when a plan comes together.

                                  I stamped the Jasmin image (by Jo Capper Sandon at Stampotique) onto a page of dictionary text and added a touch of colour with some pencils.  I love this stamp but don't use it as much as I should - need to change that!  I used Adobe PSE to print the background words so that they were off the edge of the cardstock and splattered on some yellow ink.  I then attached the torn edged stamped image with my current fave crafting accessory - washi tape!

                               You're going to be seeing a lot of this style in the coming weeks as I absolutely love it!! 

I tend to become a bit obsessed if I like something and I'll do it over and over until the next thing comes along that I 'absolutely love'.

                       I would also like to enter this into the following challenges - Simon Says Stamp and Show ,  Challenges 4 everybody, , Lady Annes Sentimental Friday , Creative Creations , Cute card Thursday and 613 Avenue Create .

Thanks so much for popping in :)

White out!

Hello all!
An appropriate title for many of us at this time of year - luckily we didn't get hit too badly with snow from Nemo in my part of the Garden State!  Anyway there's a new challenge over at Stampotique (SDC87) and it's 'Winter Whites' which ties up nicely with the 'White on White' challenge at Simon Says Stamp so I'll be entering my card into both of those.
       I decided to use some white heat embossing and a rubber stamp image and then I saw some vellum paper that was just laying around, collecting dust and decided to try using it.  I must say, I love the result and ended up heat embossing a ton of other stamp images as well - I did get a bit carried away!  For this card I used a Janet Klein stamp, Tim Holtz Distress Embossing powder and Stampendous embossing powder.  I cut a pennant shape from white card and ran that through a dotty embossing folder, added a simple sentiment using my Cameo and topped it off with some white ribbon and a couple of stick-on pearls.

                            You'll have to take my word for it that it does look brighter IRL but after playing with Adobe PSE for ages, I just couldn't get it any better without losing the image completely.  I do know it's more of a chicken than a duck but just allow me some artistic license please?

            I may have to try this with other embossing powder colours and maybe some colouring..........

   As well as the two challenges previously mentioned, I would also like to enter this into the following - 

That Craft Place , Tuesday Alchemy , Artistic Inspirations and Forever Friends .

        Thanks so much for popping by to take a look :)

Glitter bomb!

Hello all!
Back with my second post for the day and this one's for the current challenge over at TOFF - (The Octopode Factory Friday challenge) which is all about Glitter.
                 Now I don't use a lot of glitter in my crafting as it has a tendency to end up everywhere but where I want it to but I decided to fling caution to the winds and just glitter bomb the life out of this!  I coloured the Tinkerbell digi with my Copics and then glittered her hair - I simply painted on a thin layer of glue and dumped a truckload of glitter on!  When the glue had dried, I drew over the defining lines with my Faber Castell Pitt big brush marker - those things are amazing!  They'll draw over glitter, paint, gesso, ink and you can stamp with them too - no. I'm not being paid by Faber Castell to say this but if they ever want to send something my way, I'm right here.........
     The background also has some glitter added in various glue stamped shapes but you can't see it that well in the photos.  The brick wall was done with a Tim Holtz embossing folder and some Distress Ink swiping! The text page was attacked with Distress Stain  - 'bundled sage', the superstar sentiment is a dollar stamp from Michaels and the other sentiment was printed, cut and inked for definition.  I do so enjoy using The Octopode Factory images as they give you so much scope for whimsical, funny art - just doing it because you enjoy it :)

She's a Tinkerbell with attitude or artitude - whatever takes your fancy!

I would like to enter this into the challenges at - 

Stampotique (sdc 85)

Flutterby Wednesdays

Inkspirational challenges 

Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for popping in - have a fab Friday and a wonderful weekend!

                    I'm going to be MIA for about a week but will endeavour to catch up with commenting on your blogs as soon as possible :)

You are my sunshine.....

Hello all!
Friday has rolled around once more which means it's a new challenge over at The Outlawz for the Copics/Promarkers group and this week, we are getting inspired by School colours.  This can be a past or present school or College or even one your children go to - lots of scope there for some great colour combinations!  You'll find some fantastic creations from the DT over at The Outlawz so please head on over and check them out.

         My school colours were royal blue and navy blue with gold accents for badges and emblems  - I used artistic licence and added the green gingham background for a contrast!  The image is a rubber stamp from Stampotique Originals and the yellow frame was cut using  - no prizes for guessing - my Cameo!

 

Isn't she such a daft but very cute bird?

 

I would like to enter this into the following challenges -

http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.com/

http://freshbreweddesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

http://inkyimpressionschallenges.blogspot.com/

 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll find the time to join in over at The Outlawz :)

Playing out of my comfort zone!

Hello all!

As the post title states, today I'm way out of my comfort zone with a one layer card involving masking and inking  - doesn't sound that intimidating but it certainly wasn't without the fear factor for me!
                              The challenge over at Stampotique designers challenge blogspot is to do a one layer card and I chose to use one of my Stampotique rubber stamps for this (although not a requirement for the challenge) - I used Chilly  by Jo Capper-Sandon and stamped him twice so I could use one for the mask.  With that in place, I also covered the top and bottom of the card with card masks, leaving just a small strip showing which I sprayed with Dylusions inks.  I removed the masks and coloured Chilly with my Copics and then inked through a Dylusions stencil to get the 'snowflakes' - I also inked through the word snow, cut with my Cameo, using black and silver inks to get the effect shown below -

 

    I know it may sound as if I was making a lot of fuss about nothing but I don't really feel comfortable when there isn't a lot of room for error - you can't cover up any mistakes with another layer on this!  That said, I was pretty happy with the end result - one or two little things are niggling me but I'm certainly not to going to highlight them!!!

 

 



I would also like to put this in for the challenges at http://challengeupyourlife.blogspot.com/ (christmas in summer)
http://craftyannschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ (christmas in august)
http://stampedblessings.com/ (anything goes no digi)


Thanks for stopping by again and a warm welcome to my new followers :)

Life's a witch......

Hello all!
Just a quick posting as we're heading out to our town's summer car show this afternoon - it's lovely and sunny and best of all, not too humid.  We might even take a stroll around the river walk as well - too nice to be inside today :)

     My card is done using the sketch from http://stampotiquedesignerschallenge.blogspot.com/  and I have used a Stampotique rubber stamp as well - the challenge has just changed it's rules and you don't have to use a Stampotique image any more but I like to use mine when I can.  I added a little paper-pieced hat that I made using one of my own digis (available from next Friday, details soon), as I wanted to make her into a witch - I thought she had the perfect legs to be a witch.....

The sentiment was computer generated after it just popped into my head - yep, probably should have stayed there but there you go!  I have been hoarding loads of paint chip samples for ages so I decided it was time to start using them and I also raided my scrap box for the dp too.

    That means the card will fit in with the challenge at http://www.hidinginmycraftroom.com/ which is to use scraps!  I would also like to enter it into the challenges at http://onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.com/ and http://nomatterwhichchallenges.blogspot.com/ which are both 'Anything Goes' and the distressed challenge at http://dillybeanschallenge.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for popping in :)



For the birds........

Hello all - I'm back with a double whammy today after a pretty productive crafting weekend!  I got to play with my Dylusions ink sprays and I love them!!!  The colours are so vibrant and I do love to get messy every now and then :)
   
   Both the cards on this posting have a background created by using the Dylusions sprays of London Blue and Vibrant Turquoise together and misting with water - it's that simple!  There are so many great tutorials out there in blogland so I suggest spending some time happily surfing the web if you've got these sprays and want to know what to do with them.

          The first card was done primarily for the Stampotique challenge which is birds and buttons, plus it means I've done another Xmas card (yay! - slowly getting there!)

Do you see what I mean about the gorgeous colour??????  Before I sprayed the cardstock, I had clear embossed some tree branches (a Hampton Art stamp) and then I stamped some again with black Stazon and then embossed some more with some Distress powder in frayed burlap.  The little robin redbreast is a Jo Capper-Sandon Stampotique stamp that I coloured with Copics and adhered to the card along with the many red button-berries.

I would love to have this as a mini christmas canvas on my wall (hmmmmm...)  Anyway, I would also like to enter this into the following challenges - http://daisydoodlescreativechallenges.blogspot.com/ - outdoors  http://lollipopcrafts.blogspot.com/  and http://lexiscreations.blogspot.com/- christmas in July.

    The next card was done using the sketch for this week's Retro sketch challenge and for this one I used a piece of cardstock with which I had 'mopped' up the excess spray from the first card - didn't want to waste any of that lovely colour!

                   I also used the Dylusions stamp set from Dyan Reaveley - 'How does your garden grow'.  I thought it would be a good idea to get some fun, sketchy stamps to play around with the inks as well.  This was such a fun card to do because as you can see from the photo, I didn't stay within the lines!!!  I know some of you may be extremely uncomfortable with that but do you know what??  Nothing happened!!  The Copic police didn't come and confiscate my markers and the sun stayed on shining:)  I can certainly recommend it - it's about as wild and reckless as I get with my crafting but it's still fun to do!!

I would like to enter this card for the following -

http://critterchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://theribbonreelchallenge.blogspot.com/ - button it

http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/ - what do you say?

     Wow, long post.......thanks if you stuck in to the bitter end but thanks anyway for popping by :)



Bright and breezy!

Hello all :)  Hope everyone Stateside had a great Memorial Day - it was pretty hot here in NJ but I'm not complaining! 
Just popping in with a card that I made earlier when I was having fun with Distress Stains and bleach.  The current challenge at Stampotique is to think BRIGHT so I decided to make my own background by splashing some Distress Stains onto some watercolour paper.  I then flicked some bleach over this and also stamped with bleach using a freebie stamp I picked up from CraftStamper magazine (a UK publication) -  I applied the bleach to the stamp using a paintbrush.  The stamped image is Shopping Shoes by Janet Klein and I coloured it with Copics before fussy cutting it and pasting it on to the backing paper - the sentiment is computer generated.

I would also like to enter this into the following challenges -

http://artwithnoboundaries.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://craftybootschallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/ - humour

Thanks for popping in :)



Delight in the little things.

Good morning/afternoon/evening - that should cover it :)
Today I'm back  with a posting for a card that started off as an ATC which isn't something I do a great deal of but I wanted to enter the challenge over at Stampotique  - create an ATC. Anyway I figured if looked good enough then I could use it on a card as well and luckily for me, it all worked out!

      I used a Stampotique stamp called 'Starbird with chick' available here .  It's one from the fabulous Jo Capper-Sandon and I will admit that I've been stalking her blog for some time now - I just love her style and she is so very good at CAS and using a variety of techniques that create amazing backgrounds (you really need to take a look!).  Anyway, I swiped an ink pad over the card base which is something I've seen Jo do a number of times (love it!) and then printed a line of text repeating the word 'sing' to put over this.  The ATC background was made by smooshing some cardstock over some leftover distress inks I had been using for another card - I just spritzed some water and pressed the cardstock down.  I then stamped some dots, the sentiment and the bird and tore off a small scrap of musical paper to ground the image.  I then added a touch of brown to the bird with a regular pencil (I don't have any fancy ones - yet!!).

That seems to be a very detailed description for a fairly CAS card! 

I would also like to enter the card into the following -
http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/ - favourite word (sing!)
http://cropstop.blogspot.com/2012/04/challenge-69-to-birds.html - to the birds
http://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://www.lisasomerville.com/ - create your own background

Thanks for sticking with me on this fairly lengthy (for me) posting :)

Spring greens!

Well, Spring has definitely sprung now April is here - that's the first quarter of the year flown by!  It doesn't feel that spring-like today (a very grey and dreary day) but my card should brighten things up a touch.  This is done using one of my few Stampotique rubber stamps - I do a lot of digital stamping but still have time for the "other ones" :)  The challenge at Stampotique is to use spring colours and I hope I've achieved that here.

The large flower was cut with my Silhouette and I curled the edges of the petal up to give a bit more interest.  Had to add a bit of dictionary paper in the background (I love text!) - I recently bought an old Websters dictionary on one of our junking trips so I now have a huge stash of pages to use :)

I would also like to enter this into the following challenges -

http://www.comeandgetitchallenges.blogspot.com/ - Spring

http://thatcraftplaceblog.blogspot.com/ - It's all about Spring

http://scrapbitzcopics.ning.com/group/cmccopicchallengegroup - Spring Pretties

Thanks for stopping by - hope you're getting some Spring sunshine where you are !

Purple & pink dreams

 Hey, it's the middle of the week already and the temperature is on the rise here in the Garden State :)  I'm so looking forward to Spring - I'm not a winter person and even though its been incredibly mild this winter, I can't wait for the warm and sunny days to come!
My card today is more detailed than it looks - I stamped the image Jasmin onto cardstock and acetate.  I scribbled over the cardstock image with pink and purple copics and dripped some copics blender onto it to give the effect shown and then cut out the image.  I placed the stamped acetate layer over the cardstock and attached it with the 2 flower brads at the top - I think it gives the card the look of one of those cartoon cels but it is very difficult to show in a photo.  Anyway this was done for the Stampotique challenge which is to use purple and pink with black -

I would also like to enter it for the following -

http://ladybugscraftsinkchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - pink & girly

http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://ssdschallenge.blogspot.com/ - use your stash (I've had the acetate for ages!!)

Thanks for stopping by :)