Eggplant, Pumpkin and Avocado

"Eggplant, Pumpkin and Avocado" is the theme over on the Gingersnap Creations blog this week. Right from the moment I read the theme for this challenge, I knew exactly what I was going to do - not the most complex of cards, certainly, but I knew that David would look striking in these 3 colours!

Colour was provided courtesy of Promarkers - I had ones called eggplant and pumpkin, but I couldn't for the life of me find an avocado one (which surprised me, as I have all of the colours so maybe I've misplaced one? I used moss instead, which, for all I know, might grow on avocado trees, so let's keep it as our secret!). The glow around the shadow of the head was achieved using the Promarker blender pen to lighten the eggplant background.

Pop over to the GC blog to see how the other DT members have interpreted the challenge - go on, you know you want to! :)

There's someone at the door!

Over on the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge blog today the new theme is "something spookay". I've been watching the dvd box set of "American Gothic" lately, so I was inspired by the phrase "there's something at the door" (those of you who are fans of the show will know what I'm talking about).

Using SCAL and my cricut I designed and cut a door panel with a keyhole in the centre of it and also cut out some of my bare tree design. Using a host of Tim Holtz products including stamps, distress ink pads and his sanding block, the spookiness was achieved. I finally finished it off with a blood drip cut on the cricut. I hope you like it :) As ever, click the pics to see a larger view!

Why not pop over to the challenge blog and see the amazing entries by the rest of the design team? Even better, join in the fun! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $25 gift voucher again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try?

Tishoo, tishoo, we all fall down!

Over on the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge blog today the new theme is "Anything But a Card". Since I still have more empty walls to fill here at home, I decided to make a shadow frame piece.

I covered the frame with tissue tape, the first time I've used it, and I must say I love it - so quick and easy to get a good result! This is a bit of a Tim Holtz extravaganza, as it includes several of his stamps, the Lost and Found pad, salvage stickers and a bit of idea-ology metal.

I hope you like it :) As ever, click the pics to see a larger view!

Why not pop over to the challenge blog and see the amazing entries by the rest of the design team? Even better, join in the fun! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $25 gift voucher again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try?

Metally Challenged!

Over on the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge blog today the new theme is "Metal". Since I submitted a 10 Seconds Studio metal piece for last weeks "Numbers" challenge, I thought I'd take a different tack with this one.

I stitched across the tag with copper wire (and it was REAL copper wire, not the silver stuff with brown dye on it!) and twisted some of it to make a heart embellishment with a key in the centre. Inevitably, other metal crept into frame too, including the two screw head brads (which I love, and though I have lots of them I'm already worrying about the day they're all gone, lol). The red heart was made with white paper clay which was then coloured.

This is also the first project I've photographed with my new camera and everything seems to be in focus - YAY! :)

I hope you like it :) As ever, click the pics to see a larger view!

Why not pop over to the challenge blog and see the amazing entries by the rest of the design team? Even better, join in the fun! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $25 gift voucher again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try?

The Acid Test

Well, in my last post I said that I was so disgusted with the quality of the photo that I was going to buy myself a camera rather than continue to use my 5MP camera phone. New camera duly arrived today and here's the result, even from taking a quick snap with it's auto settings it seems better to me. What do you think? The camera phone pic is on the left, the new camera pic is on the right. Click on the image to see a larger version, where the differences should be clearer! :)

The central image with the moustache is certainly more in focus. The lighting was different due to taking the pic at a different time of day so that makes it a little harder to compare as it's not really like for like. At the end of the day, I'm pleased with the camera and think that it's going to allow me to take much better photos of my work, and I guess that's all that matters! :)

How to Pass

"Gothic Elements" is the theme over on the Gingersnap Creations blog this week. Hopefully you can see that the gothic element I went with was a gothic arch!

The solid arches and the frame borders for them were cut on the Cricut using the SCAL program, as were all of the hats and the moustache. The stamped images were coloured using shades of warm grey Promarker. The frame borders were stamped in Barn Door distress ink using one of Tim Holtz's stamps, then coloured with a yellow promarker. A piece of graphic 45 paper for the background and some TH memo pins complete the project, which is housed in a shadow frame (from Tesco, sadly they no longer have them).

BTW, I am so disgusted with the quality of this photo that I've ordered a new camera! This is probably an instance of a bad workman blaming his tools, but time will tell! :)

Pop over to the GC blog to see how the other DT members have interpreted the challenge - go on, you know you want to! :)

Numbers Challenge

Over on the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge blog today the new theme is "Numbers". I've been a bit naughty and am showing a project using 10 Second Studios materials and tools. After all, 10 is a number, right? :)

Another recycled item, this time a gift box made from 2 bases from Tria pen boxes. I've been unable to make anything new this week, so regular readers of my blog may recall having seen this before. You can see what the bases look like below. I removed the inner lip from one of them, and it became the lid, fitting perfectly onto the other base!

Using a paper stump and rounded silicone tool, I taped the metal onto the plate and then rubbed it into the design. I combined brown and green acrylic paint and a lot of water to make my own distressing spray, which I poured into a mini-mister. After each spritz, the metal was dried with a heat tool, until I was happy with the result.

The tile on the top was made several months back, on a metal class at LB Crafts. The copper was embossed on a Ten Seconds Studio mould and distressed with a patina spray. A square of patterned paper was cut from a Crafty Individuals sheet and placed in a silver Ranger Memory Frame, which had been rubbed with copper wax.

That’s about it, I hope you like it! :o)

Why not head over to the SSS&S blog and check out how the other design team members have interpreted the challenge - their work is amazing! Even better, why not join in yourself? Simon Says Stamp have another great prize up for grabs again this week! :)

As ever, click on the image if you want to see a larger view :)