Simon Says Stamp Challenge - I ought to use this more often

My craft room is full of wonderful things I am yet to use.. Time is my enemy here, but this Challenge by Simon Says Stamp gave me the perfect opportunity. I tend to use dark colours, but for this card I used lots of pink, red, orange & yellow. I also used my Tim Holtz tissue paper. that is always thought of but not used nearly often enough. I also coloured my Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste with Fired Brick Distress Ink and used the Zenspirations Mini Live Love Laugh Stencil by Crafters Workshop,
Firstly I ran my white cardstock & a sizzix embossing folder through my Big Shot Machine, then painted it with Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade & fired Brick Distress Paints,  I then adhered the tissue paper with Claudine Hellmuths Studio multi medium - Matte  in patches around the card base. I used the Numbered Stencil by Tim Holtz with White Gesso then partially coloured it with various Gelatos which I outlined with a Derwent Charcoal pencil. I used Black acrylic paint to stencil the flower, then used my embossing paste/distress ink mix for the words and the butterfly.
I stamped the flower heads using the My Favorite Things - Pretty Poppies Stamp set painted with Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade Distress Paints. and stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment from the same stamp set. I randomly stamped the honeycomb image from the Tim Holtz Mixed Media stamp set.
I rolled the top corner and tore down one edge of the cardstock I inked around the card stock with Fired Brick & Black Soot Distress Inks. I then used another sadly neglected item, my Paper Stash.
I tore a strip of paper from  Kaisercraft's Lulu & Roy 6X6 pad, then mounted it onto a craft card.

Take on the World

Back to what I love doing. No structure no theme, just playing. Eventually something just appears then you just keep adding.
I started using  a technique fro CC1Compendium of Curiosity Vol 1 Scribble Stain Distress, page 34, which didn't turn out exactly as I wanted. but good enough to use as a background for my tag I stamped various Tim Holtz stamps using Wendy Vecchi Archival inks , Versafine Sepia ink & Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink pads I stamped various images from Different Tim Holtz stamps.
Because it started to take on a Journey theme, I went with it. I layered the tag onto Ranger/Tim Holtz Ideaology Kraft resist cardstock which I coloured using Distress Stain.
I finished off with Word Vellum quotes, Brads, Fragments and Word Charms. I ended up with a card that could be used for someone travelling, or someone who is starting a new phase of their life, or even a Birthday card for someone who is celebrating a milestone Birthday.

 

hope you like it? please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

A Fishermans Card

My Partners eldest son is a keen fisherman, so for his birthday I made a card to suit his passion.

For the background I used The "Wrinkle-Free Distress" technique Tim Holtz taught in his Creative Chemistry 101 online class I used different blues and a green and of course a brown for the edges. I stamped the card with various old, old stamps which I found in my stamp collection both from Australian companies that are no longer in business. But fish stamps and shell stamps can be found easily on the web or eBay. I found a small piece of burlap which I frayed. I die cut a gate using the Memory Box Wrought Iron Gate  , and leaf stem using Tim Holtz Spring Greenery Decorative Strip Die .

After the background was dry, I found some small circle stamps which can be found on many different stamp sets, mine were from a Scrappy Cat mini stamp set called "Everyday Assortment". I randomly stamped the circles to simulate bubbles. I found a rub-on set from Royal & Langnickel Brush Mfg called " Fishing Collage". and used a fish and a hook. I stamped the large fish onto a piece of scrap cardstock, cut it out, coloured it with a Blue Distress Marker and mounted it onto the background with foam dots.

I Layerd the Gate, Burlap piece, a piece of green string bag (used for Oranges), the leaf stem and the shell stamp together on the right hand side. I used  Tim Holtz Distress Markers to colour the shells with Ranger Glossy Accents over the top. I used the  Zig - Wink of Stella glitter brush tip marker on the large fish to make it stand out.

I had a wonderful time finding things I have had for ages in my craft room, including a dimensional sticker set from K&Company called "Fishing Journal Tags"  I used the Kaisercraft Mini Alpha Stickers to write "Fishing you a Wonderful Birthday"

I mounted the whole thing onto some paper edged with brown Distress ink, then attached it to a 5 1/2 X 4 1/4 card base. I thought I would go for a printed card base, so used a 12 X 12 DCWV stack called "Collage Musings" It is a fabulous stack, but I am not sure if it is still available?
Here are another couple of pictures in close up, and thanks for taking a look at my blog.

 

 

Christmas 2013

I can't believe Christmas is over and done with! it is January 20 2014 and we have just finished the most horrendous week of 40 degrees Celsius plus. I don't have air conditioning so I became a big blimp on the couch under the ceiling fan. My 82 year old mum was with me on and off from November, and over Christmas. She only went home to Queensland last Wednesday. I haven't blogged since last August!!!!!! my how time flies. I have had computer troubles and in my family everyone has Birthdays from August right through to November. Of course I left my Christmas card making until the last minute again. Up until all hours of the night trying to finish the 50 odd cards I had to make. Horror of all horrors, I didn't make it and had to buy a pack of cards to send to people 4 days before Christmas. anyway I saw a technique on the Sizzix blog by Anna Karin  called Gessso Dry Embossing. You can also see her tutorial on Layersofink.blogspot.com. It was a fun technique, and if your gesso and emboss them all together it is quite quick when you have a few cards to make.
Anyway here are a few of my Christmas Cards.

These two have Action Wobblers to make Santa and Rudolf move.

Most of the cards use Tim Holtz distress Products , Tim Holtz/Sizzix Bigz Dies and Decorative Strip Dies

Well better late than never. I hope you all have a wonderful 2014.