It's all about the texture!

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Texture".  There are so many ways to introduce texture into your projects, so why not join in with the challenge, there's a great prize!

I introduced texture onto my shadow frame by using a stars embossing folder in my cuttlebug.  I rubbed an aged mahogany distress ink pad over the card to highlight the stars after embossing and filled in the recessed areas with a white pen.

The balloon was stamped onto acetate and then coloured on the reverse side with distress markers.  I used a moist wipe to remove some of the colour to give it a more shaded look.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week, just make something for the challenge and you could the winner! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

It's a Guy Thing!

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "One for the Guys", so why not get creative and give this week's challenge a try?

I decided to make a journal cover using Ten Seconds Studio copper-effect metal.  I ran it through the Cuttlebug with the clockworks embossing folder and fixed it to some chipboard.  I then rubbed it with blending solution on an alcohol ink tool to remove the copper glaze from the raised parts, which revealed the silver beneath.  I rubbed on some black paint and then buffed it away in some areas and finally distressed it with a sanding block.

The text plate was created with layered strips of card which were then covered in copper metal and treated the same as the main cover.  Finally I stamped the text, cut it out and fixed it in place.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week, just make something for the challenge and you could the winner! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Idea-ology, Svenska Stylee!

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Idea-ology Bonanza".  Embellishments aren't usually a major part of my style, but I'm a big fan of the idea-ology line so was keen to see what I could do with this theme!  I decided to paint the ornate plates white, which (if I have my style references right) gave them an antique Swedish feel.  I embossed the panels to give them the feel of wallpaper, hoping to make the plates seem a little like mirrors.  I'll let you judge how successful I was, but that's what I was going for :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

It's male Jim, but not as we know it!

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Men Only".  I racked my brain on this one, and got to thinking about classic male portraits through history.  I finally settled on Micheangelo's undiscovered masterpiece "Jonah Lisa" as my inspiration, and here is my version of it :)

Though it looks flat in this photo, the frame is actually wood and is about 3/4 of an inch deep.  I covered it in copper metal which I had embossed with the Cuttlebug Clockworks folder.  "Jonah" is a Tim Holtz stamp coloured with Promarkers and the bowler had and moustache were hand-drawn by yours truly, then cut out and fixed in place.  Quite the jaunty fellow, dontcha think?  lol

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

I've got the blues!

But not in a sad way :)

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "some embossing".  As I've done quite a bit of heat embossing lately, I thought I'd use embossing folders for this one!

I'm going to make a set of these colour-themed boxes to store my Promarkers.  Obviously, this is the one I've made for the blue ones!  I also thought that as the pens would be brightly coloured I wanted to make the holder fairly monochromatic, to balance things out.

The main panels were embossed then spritzed with Denim colorwash spray and Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls spray, before the raised parts were highlighted with a black versafine ink pad.  It was edged with tissue tape and monochrome images from the Artistic Outpost Generation Redux plate were added.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

The Red Shoes

Not only the title of this card, but also a great classic British movie and a fantastic album by the amazing Kate Bush! :) In both of those cases, the red shoes are ballet shoes of course, not a battered pair of Converse sneakers! I doubt that they make ballet shoes to fit my canoe-sized feet and I wear Converse Chuck Taylors ALL THE TIME, so it was always obvious which way I was gonna go with this :)

All of the stamps are from Tim Holtz@Stampers Anonymous (except for the sneakers, which is my favourite stamp and seems not to be available any longer If it was I'd buy a second so I always had a spare, lol).

There's nothing specially out of the ordinary technique-wise here, apart from the red background which was acrylic paint applied with a moist wipe, and the orange which was 2 squirts of sunset orange in a full mini-mister of water to give a softer (and more economical) spray of colour.

I'm really enjoying card-making at the moment, expect more soon! :)

It's rude to point!

A few weeks ago, while on an outing to York for the day, I bought a box of 5"x5" square cards and envelopes and have been itching to have a go at one ever since! I also got a few of Tim Holtz's new stamp sets a day or two ago, and this card includes some of the images from the "Steampunk" set. The house was inspired by some I saw on the Paperbag Studios blog (though I think theirs may be stamps and mine was hand drawn).

During the Tim Holtz class I took a couple of weeks ago, he gave us a dictionary page to use as we wished. I didn't use mine on the configurations box project, so made use of it on this card. I stuck it to white card and cut out a square for the main panel, a smaller one for the house and a triangle for the roof.

I distressed the main panel with Walnut Stain DI around the edges and stamped some splatters from the "Bitty Grunge" stamp set in Brushed Corduroy DI. I blended Rusty Hinge DI on the roof and Fired Brick on the house. Using a black pen and a white pen I drew freehand lines around the roof, window and house and then used a red and an orange promarker to make the edges a little more punchy.

The doors were white card, embossed with large dots in the cuttlebug then sprayed with Red Pepper Color Wash spray. I cut a "T" with scissors in the panel then folded the doors back, drawing panels on them with a white pen. I then used PVA glue to fix the doors to the house. The Steampunk man was stamped in Walnut Stain DI and cut out then glued in the doorway.

The hands were stamped and coloured with promarkers then cut out. I placed a strip of tissue tape down the right side of the main panel and then the house, roof and hands were fixed to the background and edged with grey promarker. Finally I cut a mat from some patterned cardstock and coloured the edge using the same brown promarker as I had used on the sleeves, to tie the whole thing together, colourwise. I glued mat to card and main panel to mat and Bob's yer uncle! :) I had a lot of fun making this, I think I need to go out and find an old dictionary somewhere so I can do more! :)

I've entered this in this week's Theme Thursday challenge, which is "hats".

ArtsyCrafts Workshops, Part 1

As some of may know (because you saw me there - or heard me, I seem to be recognised by my voice a lot!) I went on the ArtsyCrafts Workshop last week. This was a 2.5 hours class with the awesome Lin and Leandra and a 4 hour class with Tim Holtz himself!

Needless to say, a wonderful time was had by one and all - many, many thanks to all involved for their tireless hard work and preparation for this great event! I'll show the Tim Holtz project in part 2 (I've got a few finishing touches to add to it), but shown above is the project we made in the class with Lin and Leandra. Great fun to make and I got to use some cool new products - PaperArtsy's new range of chalk acrylic paint, metallic "goop" and metal card among them. They even gave me a "boy" alternate to use instead of the dangling pearl embellishment it featured (nice, but not really my "thing" lol)! I have to say, I think it's one of the nicest things I've ever made in a class!

Embossed Emotion!

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge blog this week is "Embossing". This card could easily have qualified for last week's "Love" theme, but as it includes so much Cuttlebug embossing, it fits just as well here!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)