Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 91 - Pick three different techniques

This weeks challenge at Crafty Cardmakers is hosted by Sharon, who has chosen the theme 'Pick Three Different Techniques' 

Sharon has  taken inspiration from her youngest daughter's recent 3rd birthday and therefore would like to see 3 different techniques on the card or project. She has asked us to take our pick of 3 from the following list and be sure to state which 3 we've used:

• Embossing (wet or dry)
• Distressing
• Masking
• Making your own flowers
• Paper piecing/patchwork
• Shrink plastic 

 The three techniques I chose to use was

• dry embossing
• distressing
• shrink plastic

The base card was a plain piece of white A4 card, cut down to 6" wide to make a square card.

I began by stamping some lavender onto a plain piece of white card (stamp from the Crafters Companion Floral Fancies stamp set) using distress ink pens.  I coloured the flower heads in using a gellyroll purple pen, and then went over them with some stickles glue.

Using the purple distress ink pen, I did some faux stitching around the edge of the stamped image card.  Using my trusty splodgeaway mat, the same distress ink pens and an ink duster, I distressed the edge of the card - purple at the top, green at the bottom.

Lastly, I stamped the sentiment into the gap in the middle using the purple distress ink pen.

I used some pink coredinations card for my base layer and embossed it in the Floral Frenzy embossability folder from Crafters Companion.  I then sanded it back using a sanding block.  I then stuck this onto the base card.

I mounted the stamped image onto some dark purple coredinations card, and using the offcuts I made a card ribbon.  Using a white gel pen I added the faux stitching to this too.  Because it was going to be under the stamped image, I only put the card ribbon on the outer edges of the card.  I put the stamped topper onto the base layer using sticky pads, with a dollop of pinflair glue gel in the middle (Belt and Braces approach!).

Lastly, I made my small embellishment.  I stamped the lavender three times onto shrink plastic, and coloured it with gelly roll pens.  I cut round the image and heated it up using a low force heat gun (the one like a hairdyer - the other style is too fierce).

I cut a circle from some scrap card using a hole punch, and then stuck the three shrink plastic sprigs onto it using a hotglue gun.  I also used the glue gun to attach my triple bow (made from narrow pink chiffon ribbon).

Finally, I attached the embellishment to the card in the bottom left hand corner.

I wasn't happy with my last card - the colouring just didn't work - but I really like this one!

The design of the card was inspired by a demonstration of crafters companion products by Nandia at In2Crafting, at Wickford.

• PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE RULES BEFORE ADDING YOUR CREATION AND CHECK IT MEETS THE CRITERIA AS LAID OUT ABOVE - ANY ENTRY NOT COMPLYING WILL UNFORTUNATELY BE REMOVED 
  
  We are sponsored by
  
   MILK COFFEE DIGITAL STAMPS 
  
  
  
  WITH A PRIZE OF 5 DIGIS FROM THEIR STORE
  

Milk Coffee Stamps is a digital image shop specialising in cute and girly images. We provide high quality digital images with high resolution so you could resize at a big enough size for your project. We have many different image styles; sophisticated lady, cute girl, whimsical image, cute stuff, fairytale creature, and many other varied themes so they can fit many different crafting styles.

And also by

SIR STAMPALOT

Sir Stampalot is a retail shop and online website that specialises in stamps, die cutting and paper-crafting goodies.  We try to offer exceptional delivery times on your orders as well as keeping our stock fresh, new and exciting!  Our dedicated team of card makers means we have a wonderful, inspirational online card gallery with many more cards still to upload!  Sir Stampalot ships internationally as well as domestic so why not check us out if you haven’t already – www.sirstampalot.co.uk.
 Happy Crafting!

with this fabulous prize:-

One Kit containing 5 small pots of the new Fran-tage Mica Fragments from Stampendous
Colours include: 

• Pearlized
• Guilded
• Bronze
• Tarnished
• Tea Stained

Each pot contains 7.5grams

YUMMY!!

Crafty Cardmakers challenge 90 - APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS.

Welcome to our latest challenge at Crafty Cardmakers, hosted by Tracey, who has chosen the theme 'April Showers bring May Flowers'  For this challenge, she would like to see cards that include an image of something rain related and are embellished with at least 2 flowers. 

For my card, I chose to use a plain white base card, cut to be 6" x 6" square.  For my main image, I chose a stamp from the SWALK range, which I coloured with promarkers.  I stamped it onto some plain white card that I had put through my calibur, using a 6 x 6 embossing folder from crafters companion (Regal corner).  I distressed the edges of the card using tattered rose distress inks.  The background layer was also white card - but I coloured the edges with a promarker, and also the ribbon to match the colour scheme I'd used.  The flowers came from my stash, and are Prima.  The final touches were the stick on pearl gems and small pearl bow.  

To be honest, I wasn't happy with my colouring.  It's not bad, but I have done it better.  For some reason it wasn't clicking for me, and I couldn't get past the block.  But you have days like that when crafting - some days it goes really well and other days.... not so much.

Oh well, better luck next time I do this one!

We are sponsored by 

DI'S DIGI DOWNLOADS
 with a

$10 GIFT VOUCHER

I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part time but my love was always drawing. I started cardmaking about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a cardmaking kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with likeminded people.
I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself.
This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and its just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art. 
Long may it continue! 

and

THE STAMPMAN

 We are kindly sponsored for this challenge by The Stampman (and Lady of course!) who are ofering the winner a £10 voucher for their store, you can spend this online, in the shop or if you're lucky enough to see them at a show!  They have a ton of items in store, enough to tickle any crafty taste bud.

New baby girl box card

 One of my friends recently had her second baby, and as she had a little boy last time was delighted that this one was a girl.

I made her a box card - this is a very versatile card, and I have previously used it for other things, like tealights.  This time though, my box contained a tiny pair of newborn socks!  I used a nestie to cut out the circle in the box and backed it with acetate.

I used a textured card for the base, and embellished it with backing paper from my Hollybush Hill Joanna Sheen cd  and some pink pearlescent card (12 x12 cardstock from Create and Craft).  The image for the tag came from the same cd.

On the front of the card I used various nestie dies to cut out the shapes and mat and layered with the pink and base card.  The small pink flower came from my stash, and the lace that is going up the base of the spine is a paper lace on a roll.

I used white ribbon to tie the front and back together - this was applied underneath the backing paper so it didn't show.

Finally, the box card has to go in a box!  I made mine using a plain white card, but used the last of my pink pearlescent for a mat on the top.  I ran it through my bug in an embossing folder to give it some texture and finished with a small diecut image.  The final touch was the small diamante flower from my stash.

Crafty Cardmakers challenge 89 - Tag/Card with matching gift wrap, bag or box.

This week, the challenge at Crafty Cardmakers is hosted by Carole who has chosen the theme 'Tag/Card with matching Gift Wrap, Bag or Box'

 Carole would like to see a card or a tag with a complimentary matching gift wrap, bag or box. Any style just as long as it matches! 

Please ensure your project has the two matching features to qualify for a winner or Top 5 slot. 

A friend is getting married this week - so I thought this was a good opportunity to use the cute couple digi image from The Paper Shelter that I had in my collection.

The bag was made using a mycraft studio template, and I brought the digi image into the programme multiple times on top of the background. 

I used the same background paper for both the card and the tag, but for the card ran it through my calibur (mainly so I could try out the new A4 embossing folder - Interlocking circles - I bought at Ally Pally this week!)  All I have to do now is learn which side to have facing up, because my backing paper ended up debossed, not embossed, but I liked it like that too...

The tag base was made of gold card, and I mounted the image that I coloured with coloured pencils (cut out) using foam pads to give it emphasis.  I edged the tag with flexible peel off, and punching a hold through the top, attached it to the bag with white ribbon.

The base card was crafters companion pearl card, cut to 6" square size.  Onto this I mounted some of the green backing paper (after distressing the edges with lettuce adirondack ink pad.  I put flexible peeloff across the top and bottom of the backing paper, and a gold heart border peel off down the sides.

I coloured in the image again, using the same colours, but this time left the image on the card I printed it onto.  I gave the wedding dress some shimmer using some pearl lustre powder. I used this to mat behind a spellbinders die - A2 Fancy ribbon threader - and threaded some white ribbon through the slots, which was then topped with a small bow.   I stuck this topper onto the right hand side of the card, leaving some space on the left hand side for a peel off "love" balloon.

Finally, I cut out a spellbinders D'lite flourish and stuck it onto the bottom left hand side of the card, adding some stick on pearls (bought on a sheet at a very reasonable rate from Crafty Devils) for emphasis, and finishing with some paper flowers from my stash.

Finally, I used some peel off words in the bottom right hand corner.

This time we are sponsored by

THE PAPER SHELTER 

with a $20 gift certificate for their fabulous store

 If you are looking for fun, cute and lovely digi stamps for your paper-crafting or web design projects, The Paper Shelter is your one-stop boutique! This growing catalog of high-quality digi stamps with many different kind of options offers a multitude of themes such as everyday items, holidays, special occasions, children, adorable characters and creatures. Stamps are available in standard black and white line art, as well as in pre-colored format. Images are wonderful for coloring and make perfect additions to greeting cards and scrapbook albums. In "The Paper Shelter" you'll also find great other resources for all crafts (or digital) projects, like Paper Packs, Printables, Accessory sheet, etc. 

and 
WOODWARE CRAFT COLLECTION

 with this fabulous prize:-

 

Woodware are a Yorkshire based family owned business, as well as distributing Dreamweaver Stencils and Stampendous Stamps we have a wonderful range of stamps designed for us by Francoise Read and Jane Gill. We also scour the world for new and innovative products for the crafty card maker, and have a great range of punches and tools of the trade, to find stockists in your area or to see the range visit the website www.woodware.co.uk.

Our design team are playing along with the challenge so check out our blog, which is there for inspiration at www.woodware.co.uk/blog.

Our prize is £12.00 to spend at your favourite Woodware Stockist, either in store or on line. 
Happy Crafting! 

Crafty Cardmaker Challenge 88 - Humour

 Welcome to our latest challenge at Crafty Cardmakers, hosted by Suze, who has chosen the theme of Humour. 

It's April Fool's Day, a day for fun and trickery! Suze would therefore like to see some humour in your project. Perhaps a funny image or sentiment, or you might just want to add some googly eyes. Remember, laughter is the best medicine - so have fun! 

I was recently asked to make a funny card for a man who was hitting the big 50.... he is a Yorkshire lad, so it occurred to me that a nice pint of yorkshire bitter was obviously on tap in this bar scene from the La Pashe CD rom.

I used an A5 card base for this one  and because it was a flippin' men image, had to work out how to showcase the "back" side.

In the end I stuck the man seated on the barrel onto the front flap of a card, and then carefully cut him out so he was attached by a thin strip.  Then I stuck the reverse image onto the back.  This meant that my card now had a very strange front - so I mounted the whole thing onto another A5 card blank, meaning my man on a barrel was a flap!

To embellish my card I used some silver peel off around the image to highlight it, and some silver photo corner peel offs for the corners.  The verse at the bottom came with the image on a sheet.

We are sponsored by 
DI'S DIGI DOWNLOADS
 with a

$10 GIFT VOUCHER 

I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part time but my love was always drawing. I started cardmaking about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a cardmaking kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with likeminded people.
I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself.
This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and its just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art. 

Long may it continue! 

and 

HOBBY ART

with this fabulous prize:-

As a family business we're a friendly, helpful, bunch at Hobby Art.  All our stamps are designed by us and manufactured in Britain.
Look at the gallery on my blog - jennymayes.com - for lots of card ideas using the Hobby Art range.
We're pleased to sponsor the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge and look forward to seeing the entries.   
Good luck everyone.  Jenny and all. X

Trying out pencils...

Since my mum died last year I have been finding other things to do at the weekend, which is when we used to do things together.  And one of those things has been taking some craft classes at my favourite craft shop - In2Crafting at Wickford.

What is really interesting from doing classes like this is getting a whole new take on a technique, or something we all take for granted - like coloured pencils.

I have lots of coloured pencils and for many years they have sat in their tins on my shelf unloved and untouched.  Then, I tried a colouring workshop with Alexandra Kamann, and discovered to my amazement that with a blending solution, you could get a much better effect - almost up there with promarkers...  So I bought myself some some paper stumps and blending solution  (from an excellent supplier - J & T Blackman Ltd) that has a nice citrus smell about it and was really reasonably priced, and set to having a go with my pencils.

It is my friend J's birthday next week - she loves pinks, purples and bling so I thought this Kanban stamp was just the thing if I coloured it in right.

I used bog standard water colour pencils for the hat and the dress, and Derwent Academy watercolour skin tones for her body.  I was quite pleasantly surprised by how well this turned out for a first attempt.  There are some bits that I was not as pleased with as others, but on the whole, I was pleased with the outcome.

I used a 5" x 7" plain white base card, and layered onto that some C&C linen textured card in a pale mauve.  I cut the image out using a nestie, but unfortunately, I needed the largest one to fit her in it.  So I created a base layer in dark purple, and just cut reasonably equidistant to form a stretched octagon shape.

It all still looked a bit bland, though, so I used my quickie glue pen to add some dots of glue on the feathery bits of the dress and added some glamour dust to make it sparkle.  I used some ab gems on the purple backing card, and also on the ribbon around her neck.  Also around the dark purple layer, I added some faux stitching by using some tim holtz distress ink pen (picket fence) topped with some clear stardust gelly roll pen.  I added some silver corner peel offs from my stash to the pale mauve panel just to finish it off.

Last touch was the sentiment - using the same pale mauve card I cut out the small shape in my nestie, and used a memory box tag for the centre.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 87 - Friendship

Welcome to our latest challenge, hosted by Yvonne who has chosen the theme 'Friendship'

Yvonne would like to see the word 'Friend' or 'Friendship' included somewhere on your card/poject.

Please ensure your card has one of the two words stated above to qualify for a winner or Top 5 slot. 

PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE RULES BEFORE ADDING YOUR CREATION AND CHECK IT MEETS THE CRITERIA AS LAID OUT ABOVE - ANY ENTRY NOT COMPLYING WILL UNFORTUNATELY BE REMOVED 

For this card, I used a shaped card base that came in a kit I once bought.  Onto the base card I stamped the two swirls (which came, I believe from a personal impressions set).  I coloured the leaves with promarkers and used some very small gems to highlight them.  

I stamped the sentiment (which came from a SWALK stamp set) onto the opposite corners.  The image (Hobbyart?) was stamped onto plain white card, and after being coloured with promarkers, was cut out with a standard oval nestie.  The bottom layer was cut from the next size up nestie, but a scalloped oval, and was then coloured around the edge with one of the promarkers used to colour the mushroom.  Finally, some ribbon was tied at the side with a simple knot.

We are sponsored by 

SATURATED CANARY

with

2 of their gorgeous digis

Hello!  My name is Krista Smith.  I draw characters and do a lot of crafting:).  I gather a lot of inspiration from my two kiddos...they are sweet and goofy.  I love to see how other people color my images...It is always exciting to watch the colors bring them to life!  You can check out my artwork and family tidbits on my blog,Saturated Canary.  
Thanks for having me this challenge! Good luck everyone! 

and
SIR STAMPALOT
 with this fabulous prize:-

Sir Stampalot is a retail shop and online website that specialises in stamps, die cutting and paper-crafting goodies.  We try to offer exceptional delivery times on your orders as well as keeping our stock fresh, new and exciting!  Our dedicated team of card makers means we have a wonderful, inspirational online card gallery with many more cards still to upload!  Sir Stampalot ships internationally as well as domestic so why not check us out if you haven’t already – www.sirstampalot.co.uk. 

Happy Crafting!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 86 - Masculine Birthday

Welcome to our latest challenge at Crafty Cardmakers, hosted by Rebecca, who has chosen the theme 'Masculine Birthday' 
Rebecca would like to see a masculine birthday card that includes some technologyor a gadget. The technology or gadget could be a computer, games console, rocket or car for example.

Please ensure that you do add the technology or gadget aspect to qualify for a Winner or Top 5 slot.

PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE RULES BEFORE ADDING YOUR CREATION AND CHECK IT MEETS THE CRITERIA AS LAID OUT ABOVE - ANY ENTRY NOT COMPLYING WILL UNFORTUNATELY BE REMOVED

My new years resolution this year was to actually use some of the crafty goodies I have bought rather than just stroke them and store them.!  So, for my card, I once again delved into my box of stash.

This time, I used elements of card and toppers from either Kanban or Hunkydory (sorry - removed the packaging so I am not sure which!) and simply layered them up onto a base card cut to 6" x 5.5" from an A4 piece of plain card.

I am taking the bike and the helmet to be the "technology/gadget" element of the challenge.

We are sponsored by 
DI'S DIGI DOWNLOADS
with a $10 GIFT VOUCHER

 
I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part time but my love was always drawing. I started cardmaking about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a cardmaking kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with likeminded people.
I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself.
This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and its just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art. Long may it continue! 

and
THE STAMPMAN 

 We are kindly sponsored for this challenge by The Stampman (and Lady of course!) who are ofering the winner a £10 voucher for their store, you can spend this online, in the shop or if you're lucky enough to see them at a show!  They have a ton of items in store, enough to tickle any crafty taste bud.

Crafty Cardmaker challenge 85 - Blooming Images

Welcome to our latest challenge at crafty cardmakers, hosted by Marie (MI), who has chosen the theme 'Blooming Images'.

Marie said 'I do love my flowers and this time I would like flower images to be the main focus of the card. No people, no landscapes. Just flower images. A single rose, a poinsettia, a daisy... you get it. Can be flowers in a vase or just the flowers. Of course you can still decorate with flowers, butterflies or what you feel like, but the image is a flower of some kind, NOT a tree and NOT a person holding a flower' 

Please ensure your card has only a flower/flowers as the main focus in order to qualify for the winner or Top 5 slot. 

Sometimes you have to make a card quickly and don't have time to colour your topper - on these occasions it is very useful to have craft cds to fall back on.  This week I needed a sympathy card quickly, and this complete image from the Joanna Sheen Floral Fantasy CD was just the thing I needed.  My card has a centura pearl base, size A6, and the image was simply layered onto some textured black paper and then again onto some more centura pearl card to make sure the topper had sufficent thickness.  The only additional touches needed was some white ribbon, with a simple knot, a single strip of black paper to balance the bottom of the card and 6 small AB gems.

This time we are sponsored by

CRAFTS AND ME

with the choice of 3 digital stamps from their extensive range
 

 

and we also have on offer this fabulous die set, which has been very generously provided by a mystery donor! 

 Use these 26 clip and phrase dies to create tags & cards, party & wedding details, scrapbook pages, school projects, journals, home decor and more!

Challenge 84 - Vintage Love

This week our latest challenge at Crafty Cardmakers, hosted by Kylie, has the theme of 'Vintage Love'.

As Valentine's Day is fast approaching Kylie would like to see your creations incorporating a Vintage Love theme. 

 Your project MUST be VINTAGE and SHOW at least one object that portrays love. Perhaps a picnic basket, gold locket, love letter, hearts etc etc. 

Please ensure your project meets the challenge theme and has the required element mentioned above in order to qualify for a winner or Top 5 slot. 

PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE RULES BEFORE ADDING YOUR CREATION AND CHECK IT MEETS THE CRITERIA AS LAID OUT ABOVE - ANY ENTRY NOT COMPLYING WILL UNFORTUNATELY BE REMOVED

For my card this time, I decided to use up some of my stash.  You know the sort of thing - the L shaped piece of 12" x 12" paper, the length of ribbon, that die cut image from a kit where you have used the other bits, the square of red felt paper...

The background papers for my card were slightly too big for my normal preferred base card size - so I had to make up my own 7" x 7" card.  I used the burgundy coloured paper as my first layer, and edged it with a straight line peel off.  The next layer was a background from a mycraft studio cd (filligree?) and I had printed it out and never used it.  But the colours matched, so I just wrapped some plain white ribbon that I had coloured with the burgundy promarker around one side, then layered it onto the first base.I edged this background with the bobbly line peel off, and finished it off with 4 corners.

The next step was to apply the bow and to attach this, I used my hot glue gun.  I have only just rediscovered this and it is SO USEFUL when you are attaching embellishments, because once it cools down?  It's set.  Over the middle of the bow I attached my Love Sentiment (one of the criteria of the challenge), again with the hot glue.  Love it!!

Finally, I used some scrap red felt paper and cut out the fancy shape (Spellbinder Parisian Motif) and stuck the die cut topper from my stash on top of it.  As the glue gun was still hot, it would have been wrong to ignore it, so it was used instead of my usual foam pad or pinflair to attach this last element to the card.

Other symbols of Love used on the card were Roses, and of course, the Kiss in the image.

We are sponsored by 
DI'S DIGI DOWNLOADS
with a $10 GIFT VOUCHER

I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part time but my love was always drawing. I started cardmaking about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a cardmaking kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with like minded people. I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself. This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and its just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art. Long may it continue!

and also by

HOBBY ART

with these two gorgeous stamps:-

 As a family business we're a friendly, helpful, bunch at Hobby Art.  All our stamps are designed by us and manufactured in Britain. Look at the gallery on my blog - jennymayes.com - for lots of card ideas using the Hobby Art range.  We're pleased to sponsor the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge and look forward to seeing the entries. 
Good luck everyone.  Jenny and all. X