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! :)

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".

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! :)

Recycled Tria Box

A friend who's been buying Letraset Tria markers recently gave me 2 of the boxes they come in (actually she was going to discard them, so I saved them from a landfill future!). I figured that by removing the base I'd be able to make 2 desktop tool caddys (perfect for larger items like cropodile, texture hammer, rulers etc) plus 1 gift box. Here is the first tool caddy, the gift box will follow tomorrow (if I get it finished!)

The 4 sides are shown above (they are all perfectly rectangular - they look a little wonky because of my amateurish camera work, lol)

Starting at the top left -
Copper top embossed using Ten Seconds Studio border mould. Silver metal embossed in the Cuttlebug. White acrylic paint applied over whole box then partially buffed when dry. Molten UTEE poured over copper crown motif on non-stick craft sheet, then stamped with cookie cutter while still hot. Copper tile embossed with TSS mould then aged with glimmer mists and UTEE element fixed to centre.

The other 3 tiles were embossed using TSS moulds and tarnished with glimmer mists.

10 Seconds and counting...

I've had some tools and sheets of metal from Ten Seconds Studio for quite some time, and today I finally got around to having a go with them - well, with the metal at least!

I picked up some cheap frames from Ikea and used cuttlebug embossing folders to apply texture to the silver and copper coloured metal. Finally I painted the whole frame with white acrylic paint and then buffed it with some kitchen paper when dry to reveal the silver and copper on the raised areas.

The frame looked a bit bare with nothing in it, so I rooted around in my box of cast-off project pieces and cut this piece from a stamped and painted Christmas thing I abandoned a year or two ago. I thought the colours were perfect for the frame - I hope you agree! :)