Happy World Cardmaking Day!

Hello!  Happy World Cardmaking Day!  The "holiday" may be a bit contrived, but I fully support any and every excuse to spend some time stamping. In honour of this very special day, I wanted to use my new stamp set that I won from Darkroom Door. It's their 100th stamp set and with all sorts of stamping-related messages and images.  It's wonderful!

I use sponging and masking, inspired by a card by various ones I've seen on-line by stampers like these ones by Godelieve Tijskens and Heather Telford.

For this card, I masked off a rectangle using sticky notes and sponged in some distress ink (from left to right: Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Spiced Marmalade, Seedless Preserves).  Next I stamped on this botanical silhouette (Darkroom Door) using Memories Soft Gold.  I re-stamped it after removing the mask using black archival ink (Ranger), masking off some of the stems.  Then I added the sentiment (Darkroom Door), matted it on black and mounted it on my card.

Hope you get some stamping time today!

It's also Thanksgiving Weekend here in Canada, so I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving too!

Darkroom Door ATC Swap July 2012

Thanks to all the ladies who came out to my class yesterday!  I had a great time and it was fun to see all the beautiful cards people made.  Last night I had a bit of stamping time after the kids were in bed and I made some ATCs for the July swap at Darkroom Door in Australia.  I always enjoy those swaps when I get a chance to participate and it's fun to get ATCs back from all over the world.

The cupcake ATC is the one I made to swap and I made nine other ones similar to that one using the Sweet Treats filmstrips and companion wordstrips.  The theme for the swap is "For the Ladies", and all the ladies I know have a sweet tooth, so that's how I'm interpreting this theme, complemented by a very feminine colour scheme.  I started with some manila tags trimmed down for ATC size, then covered them with Spun Sugar Distress Stains.  Next, I sponged on some Salty Ocean and Dusty Concord Distress Ink, and stamped on some words in Dried Marigold Distress Ink.  I felt the backgrounds were still a little bare under the other elements, so I sponged on some Soft Lilac shadow ink through a Crafter's Workshop swirly template.  The trimmed down photo strips are distressed lightly around the edges and the word strips are tinted with Dusty Concord ink.  A little tab of ribbon (stitched grosgrain in Groovy Guava) and a black mat completed these.  For the black base I used Heather's new matte black, which is absolutely gorgeous.  International swap participants can choose to send two extra ATCs in exchange for return postage.  I made two extras using some scrap paper I had on hand from blotting up excess Dylusions spray from another project.  The tulip and bird are embossed in black.  The tulip is coloured with Copics and the bird is bleached out.  I added a bit of ground with a gray Copic marker for the bird and clipped out the words, ransom note style and inked the edges.  (Why can't I have such obsessive attention to detail in other areas of my life?  Like balancing the cheque book or making grocery lists?)  For the tulip ATC, I added a flourish stamped in white paint (hard to see - Sauron the Scanner is being uncooperative today) and a doodled border.  Now to get these in the mail and hope they get there in time!

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Another Birthday Card

Hello!  Here's a super-quick card I made for my nephew's birthday.  I used a Darkroom Door robot photo strip that I had on hand and paired it with a Darkroom Door word strip.  The background is a seafoam glimmer paper, run through a Tim Holtz cogged wheel embossing folder.  I coloured in some of the depressions with an avocado marker to give it a bit of interest, and added some black liquid accents (Ranger) here and there for a finishing touch.  The card base is Dusty Durango (SU).  Speaking of SU, have they retired Bordering Blue?  I couldn't find it on their website.  I use this colour all the time, and frankly find it quite astonishing that they discontinued it without consulting me, their largest volume purchaser of that colour.  Now my remaining stock will have to go into perma-hoard status, never to be used again since it's the last I have (along with Purely Pomegranate and Soft Sky) until Future Karen no longer likes those colours and wishes she'd used them when she loved them.  Too bad Future Karen isn't here to give Present Karen a swat upside the head for that!  I'm sure if Future Karen were to come back in time to today, she would have better things to admonish me for, like spending more time stamping and less time doing laundry, etc. And bring me winning lottery numbers for next week and things like that.  I would put up a with a few swats in the head for that!

Thanks for stopping by!

Holy Holly Batman!

Hello!  Here's my card for the December challenge at Inkurable Stampers, theme of Holly.

Well, here's where my near fetish for holly stamps came into its own.  I used a Penny Black brush stroke holly stamp for the main image, a Stamping Bella holly stamp for the background, and on another version of this card I used the Heather's Stamping Haven solid and open holly stamps. 

I started off by using a layout and technique idea from my stamping friend Mary, but changed up the colour scheme a bit.  I coloured a panel of watercolour paper with Tombow markers in shades of light yellow, light blue, and many greens, just scribbling on randomly.  Then I spritzed generously with water and let it blend around by itself, getting a fair bit of green on my hands.  (It washes off eventually.  I don't want to say how long because it all depends on how much you wash your hands.  I guess if you are neither a compulsive hand-washer or a germophile, it will wash off in about a day, unless you are very neat and don't get any on your hands in the first place.  If you are that person, I would watch for other miracles too, like Virgin Marys in your watercolour puddles.)  Ok, let the watercolour panel dry, and help it along with a heat tool if you want, once it's stopped sopping and dripping.  I set it aside to drip onto my crafting rag, which helped contain the mess, and added a cheerful green to the rag.  Once it was dry, I stamped with the Stamping Bella solid holly in Evergreen Bough distress ink, and also some music (Cornish Heritage Farms) in the same green.  Then I ironed it to seal the deal and stamped the Penny Black brush stroke holly in black and embossed in black.  Next was the message (from the Darkroom Door Dear Santa collection), but I wished afterwards I'd embossed that too.   I accented it with my sparkle pen, but I still wish I'd embossed it - next time. The card base is a medium gray linen, stamped with the same Penny Black holly in Ice Jade chalk ink.  The front side of the card is cut short by about 1 1/4", and a gold edge strip applied.  On the inside of the card is a black linen strip, stamped with my current favourite stamp, a scripty background from Impression Obsession.  I am using that stamp on everything.  Everything.  It works everywhere!  It is the little black dress of stamps.  Not that I have ever had a little black dress, or needed one, but I use the term to indicate a wardrobe staple, that can be dressed up or down, go uptown, downtown, day to evening with the right accessories, etc.  Only the stamp version is much more gratifying and requires neither pantyhose or high heels.  Once everything was all put together, I put some Patina stickles on the holly leaves and some Xmas Red and Candy cane stickles on the berries.   Yay holly!  Yay stamps!  This will be a quick one to do a batch of, maybe later tonight. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Inkurable Stampers September Challenge

Hello! The September challenge at Inkurable Stampers is to use eyelets (link here). I had my new Twinkling H20s out, so I made another ATC, this time using a Hero Arts stamp embossed in gold. Once it was embossed, I painted it in shades of warm gold and brown with some magenta highlights (Golden Nugget, Desert Clay, Harvest Sol, Raspberry Wine). I matted it on some burgundy linen cardstock, and embossed the edges in gold. Then stamped "inspire" (Darkroom Door) on a torn strip of the same linen paper and attached it with eyelets. The finishing touch was to add some Gala Glitz (Art Institute) to the flower (little gold balls, and shards of gold glass). I really must get some gold Gala Glitz. I'm tired of winkling out the gold pieces out of my teal jar....

Thanks for stopping by!

Baby card

Hello! How are you? I'm feeling a bit frazzled, back at work after a week-and-a-bit's vacation. We went to Newfoundland to visit relatives. More on that below, if you are interested.

About the card - I am going to a baby shower and needed a card. I started with this lovely black and white photo from a Darkroom Door Montage sheet (Hello Baby collection) and clipped it out, and tinted the sweater with pink distress ink in a couple of shades. Mounted it on grey linen, then popped up off another layer of grey linen when it turned out to be too small for the final card. The next piece down is white, embossed in the Cuttlebug, and sponged with pumice stone. Next down is dark grey, then the same grey linen, stamped with a scroll (Stampers Anonymous) in Lake Mist. Then the card base is Pirouette Pink, stamped with Linen (Stampin' Up!) in Spun Sugar, which didn't show up very well, but I thought another stamp would be too busy. The "sweet baby girl" is from SU's Everyday Flexible Phrases and didn't turn out well when I stamped it down, so I did it ransom-note style on gray linen and dotted some liquid pearls around it. Then everything was going on down in that corner and the light grey on the other side couldn't hold it, so more liquid pearls went up on the top corner. I also discovered I need pewter liquid pearls (is there such a thing?) and I don't have light pink either. How did that happen? Must remedy that. Had the perfect shade of embroidery floss and spent a happy half hour reviewing all my buttons to find the almost-perfect one. Ideally it should have been a four-holer to match the picture, but it's a two-holer, which is easier for tying bows anyway. I'm quite happy with this - pink and pretty but not too precious. Hope she likes it!

Re Newfoundland: Had a great time - saw whales, lots of scenic vistas, even splashed in the North Atlantic. The girls were the only ones brave enough to get completely wet, and they had to be hauled out of the waves when the bystanders got too cold to watch anymore.... We were at a wonderful sandy beach (rare, most beaches are rocky) and the waves were wonderful. Came home with some bakeapple jam and more bakeapples besides. The bakeapples were ripe so hubby and his folks spent three evenings on the mash picking them. I declined, as there were already more than enough opportunities to tramp around in the bog. I think those are delights best appreciated by someone who grew up doing it. CFAs (come from away) just can't quite savour the fly bites and wet feet properly. I am, however, quite happy to savour the bakeapple jam! Bakeapples are a berry that grows on the bog or mash as it's locally known, and you might know them as cloudberries. They are orange when ripe, and can be red and yellow. They smell heavenly and make delicious jam. I also came home with my husband's old Olivetti typewriter. There was a bit of grumbling about packing it (weighs close to 50 lb), but hubby came through for me. Now it's right in the thick of things, back to work, girls in daycamp, soccer, swimming, haircuts, meetings, all the normal stuff. Hard to imagine it was only a few days ago I was ankle deep in a cliff-top peat bog, I mean gazing out over the bay with the wind in my hair. Yes, you read that right, I did organize a family hike on the Cape English trail, which goes up over the clifftops at Cape English. The "path" doesn't go right to the edge of the cliff, but there are enough alarming views to cure me of any desire to go anywhere near a cliff any time soon. It was all perfectly safe and we were at least 100 feet away from the edge and the brink of certain death. And hubby assured me that he never heard of anyone vanishing in a sinkhole in a peat bog either. Well, that's enough rambling about our holiday - it was great, I highly recommend Newfoundland as a vacation destination, and ideally you should stay with someone who is a fantastic cook! Apropos of nothing, I would recommend flying Porter - liked everything about it and it was really fast. Our car rental was a Ford Fusion, and since I have been watching so much Top Gear, I now feel qualified to do an automobile review. Like all Fords, this one is built for a race of giants, and they try take your mind off the disappointing performance with lots of rumble and roar and a 3d-effect dashboard. The one good thing about it was the trunk, which was big enough to hold our Prius and a team of sled dogs. The girls didn't like it since, not belonging to a race of giants, they couldn't see out the back windows. Still, it got us around, which was the point in the end.

Must dash - rambled enough! If you made it this far, well done! You can add another 600 miles to your frequent blogger account.

Floral Wedding Card - YES!

Blogger's out of its bad mood and let me upload the card today. Thanks for the tips. I don't know what was wrong, maybe just general flakiness. I would click on "Browse" to access the file directory and it would just blink at me, with a dull-witted, vacant look. Now it's working again, see Exhibit A (at left).

A colleague at work asked for a wedding card, in the couple's wedding colours (baby blue and purple). I mulled it over, custom cards are always a little anxiety-inducing as they need to be "just right", without any definition as to what "just right" actually is. I started with some white linen paper and stamped various botanical silhouettes on it (Darkroom Door, Cornish Heritage Farms) in shades of blue (Palette) and purple (Nick Bantock, Damson Plum). I tried all sorts of ghastly things, embossing, paint, this and that. Eventually decided that less is more (yes, you heard me say that) and went with plain ink. I did trace over the word (Stampin' Up) with glitter pen and dot the purple flowers with stardust stickles. I matted it on some purple metallic cardstock, and then that went on a light blue card base. I remembered to add some ribbon before it was stuck down. I was hoping to use my prestamped blue card base that's in my scrapbox, but it really didn't work on this one. The stamping on the card base took away from the clean lines I felt. I did a matching inside and envelope and called 'er done!

NSR: Thank you for the well wishes about the birthday party. It went really well and the kiddies had a great time. We played games and sang songs and generally had a good old-fashioned birthday party. I'll see if there are any good pictures on the camera and try to post them.

Challenge Tag

Hello! Wow - two posts in one day. It's been a good day for stamping, other than refereeing two girls who are somewhat overwrought with an excess of excitement and sugar.

The current challenge at Stampotique is to use newsprint/old books on the project. It's an any-stamp-goes challenge, so I went with this nice quote from a Darkroom Door floral set. I had the tag on hand, used to mop up extra ink off the craft sheet from another project. I can't say what the colours are, probably denim and eggplant color wash spray, with some Memories silver in there too. Just guessing though! I stamped the twiggy branch (Sunshine Designs) using chipped sapphire and broken china, then the sentiment embossed in metallic purple. I did a bit of a frame in black pen, and brought in the old paper by die cutting some butterflies with a page from an old book of French poetry. Which I then coloured with Tombows and covered in stickles. But the old book paper is there, I promise. You can kind of make out the print on the two larger butterflies. I decided it was too hard to see the embossing, so I took a waterbrush filled with bleach and went over the words to highlight them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Scrap Sunday 11

I noticed on the Darkroom Door blog that they had a challenge on their Flickr group was getting close to 1000 entries. I uploaded this one and depending on how I access it (through my Flickr login or via the Darkroom Door link), I'm either the 1039th post or the 983rd. Either way, it was fun to pull together a quick card with some of my new Darkroom Door stamps that arrived recently in a grab-box of wonderful goodies. I also used a scrap of blue paper I'd made at Christmas time (I think this was one of the sprayed jobbies with Adirondack colour wash spray and Memories silver mist). I started by stamping the text with chipped sapphire distress ink, and then adding the floral silhouette in white pigment ink, embossing it with a mixture of white embossing powder and warm highlights glitter ritz. Then I felt it needed something else, so I stamped the scroll down the side in black India ink. The clipped words are also from my grab box, from the baby word strip. I mounted it on a navy card base and the final card is 3x6". Thin and flat for mailing, though I may break down and add a button. I'll see. I kind of like it flat and I think non-stampers don't really understand why a button would be on a card. (I even know some stampers who feel that way, though I won't mention names in case they're mobbed by an angry bunch of paper-piercer wielding, button hurling embellishers.)

I'm having a lovely Sunday afternoon of stamping. (Hubby's out, kiddies are at their cousins', house to myself - bliss!) It's cold and windy outside, so I am tucked away in my stamp room, having a lovely colourful time. I've been doing chalk ink and resist for a class project, then took a break to do this one. Now I'm heading back to work up a "masculine" card for the class. I thought I would do his/hers monograms for birthdays or other occasions. My other line of class samples was only filling up my recycle bin and undermining my confidence. But I'm back in my element now, with my Colorbox stylus and chalk inks, iron at the ready and white paper waiting to be altered. Definitely my just reward for being up 'n at 'em bright and early this morning with a really big Sunday school lesson to teach (Palm Sunday).

Hope you're getting some stamping in this weekend too. Thanks for stopping by!

PS All stamps are by Darkroom Door.

Inkurable Stampers - Bookmark Challenge

Here's my bookmark for the current Inkurable Stampers challenge. Well, current for the next 11 hours. Nothing like under the wire, and this challenge ran a bit long too. I thought it would be easy to whip off a bookmark. Not so much! This one was whipped off, and it shows. Still, it was fun to get all inky, and if I didn't have to sleep for most of the next 11 hours, I would probably do another one.

This one features Darkroom Door stamps (words and botanical silhouettes) and a Stampers Anonymous flourish in gold. All ink is Distress ink and the ribbon is hand-dyed (not by me) silk ribbon.

My box of goodies from Darkroom Door was amazing: a TON of new stamps and only two duplicates, film strips, paper, kits, word strips, photo chips, a punched red circle (!), and a sheet of cling mount so I could get some stamps mounted already. So many goodies, and two new sets (since I was already paying for shipping, it seemed smart). Rubbery goodness all round.

Farewell Card II

I made this card for someone at work who is leaving for Paris very soon, so I chose a French theme. The Eiffel Tower is a Stampin' Up stamp, as are the filigree puffballs and floral sprigs (blue). The sentiment is by Darkroom Door, and was really my only stamp that had a suitable message that fit that spot. There are some background stamps by Stampin' Up and Stampers Anonymous (Tim Holtz). This is my go-to technique for a fancy card - lots of chalk ink brayering, lots of stamping over top, embossing, hits of black, a coordinated tag. This is a heavy card, and large, and I made it with an insert so that lots of people could sign it. I went with blues and golds, which seems like a very French colour palette, and the ruffled ribbon, gold cord, and swallow brad add some texture and interest. I like to frame things with some lines drawn with the bullet tip of a marker and a ruler. I tend to do a few lines, with ruler at different angles, which makes a nice border without having to be precise. Since it's the last step, any imprecision would show and ruin the whole thing, so I go for the feel of straight lines, but ones that are actually crooked. How fiendishly clever! Another tip is to use Heather's 130lb cardstock. It really accepts the chalk ink beautifully and withstands all manner of embossing and ironing and stamping without any ill effects such as warping etc. I love that stuff, especially for projects like this. You can see that I stamped the flourish in gold ink, which adds a very nice rich effect.

Thanks for stopping by!

This card was so quick and easy! I feel like I must have seen this design somewhere else, but I can't remember at all where. If it's yours, please let me know. I stamped the image from Darkroom Door (Prague, Vol 2) in Versafine onyx black on super smooth white. Then I sponged on some distress inks in soft shades of pink and blue and purple. Mounted it on black, then plum, which was stamped with some words from that same set. The street lantern is also from that set, and is stamped in Dusty Concord and trimmed closely and popped up on dimensional tape. The sentiment is a white rub-on. Easy peasy! I think I'll make a few of these in different colour combinations. That would be fun!

NSR: We were watching a movie for Family Fun Night and I brought down a bit of candy for the girls that had been kicking around the cupboard for too long. DD2 (age 4) spied it and said "That's the candy from the pinchilada from Vacation Bible School!" I guess they must have had a pinata at VBS, but I really liked the mental image that "pinchilada" conjured up.

We're hoping to get out to the Carp Fair this weekend. I always enjoy seeing the animals and produce displays and the quilts etc.

Trying something a little different

I've been a big fan of Godelieve Tijskens for a long time and really enjoy her blog, Stamping Mathilda. I wouldn't presume to stamp like her, but I would say this card is definitely inspired by her style. I don't think I'm there - what I like about hers is the open space and interesting colours. I think I've over worked this one. Still, I like the overall effect and it will be going in The Stash.

The sentiment is from Quietfire Designs, and I really love their calligraphy stamps. And it's a Canadian company! The flower is Darkroom Door. The dots are sequin waste - fun! The card base is River Rock, run through a Tim Holtz woodgrain folder and inked up with some frayed burlap and crushed olive. The focal panel is from a sheet of watercolour that I blobbed and spattered and swirled with Ecoline one rainy afternoon. I cut it to ATC size, stamped it with the flower in Aged Mahogany and Crushed Olive and then embossed the sentiment. Some nice gingham ribbon and a button, and I'm done! I have more of that Ecoline paper so I might have another go at something like this. I got the Ecoline from Quietfire Designs for my birthday last year, and sneaked in a few more colours this year. It's fun stuff and I have a great time playing "artist" and flinging paint around in my furnace room.

Thanks for stopping by!

Old Truck Photo Stamp

Hello! I was very fortunate to win this stamp from the Darkroom Door blog. Thank you so much Rachel! Here is the thank you card I am sending her. In real life it's a bit brighter, but not too far off. I think I over-tinkered the brightness of the other one a bit.

Anyway, I just love this stamp. I find it very evocative of the trucks you see here, parked in grassy corners of farms, or out in fields. Our trucks have the steering wheel on the other side, but that's what makes this a bit special - I know it's all the way from Australia. (Did you hear me shriek a bit at the end there? I tried to hide it and sound all mature, but it still got somewhat squeaky near the end.)

I used more or less the same technique on both cards, thinking I would make one for the bazaar stash while I was at it. I started by sponging various colours of Distress Ink on some Very Vanilla paper, roughly in the area of the image. I used mostly Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Bundled Sage, Crushed Olive, Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans. I added other colours as needed for depth/brightness, but you get the idea. Once I had it all good'n sponged, I stamped the image on using Ranger Archival ink in black.

For the layouts, I mounted my stamped image on black paper and struggled mightily with the layouts. I sometimes find it hard to match paper to Distress Inks, especially when I've achieved a nice glow. Paper either clashes or washes out the glow. Any suggestions? The card I'm sending has a bit of a blocky background, with a rust panel stamped in houndstooth (Cornish Heritage Farms scrapblock), a curry strip, and then a Darkroom Door word stamp (happy days) on the gray side (card is Basic Gray, SU). I made a curry tsumugi "thank you" using SU stamp and punch, sponged a bit with wild honey ink and Artprint Brown (Memories). All the pieces were edged in Artprint Brown. I didn't want any bulky embellishments for it's trip around the world, so I just added some photo corners. Black would have been nicer but I just have gold.

For the other layout, I used a strip of curry tsumugi and a narrower strip of old olive. I edged the main image panel in gold leaf pen so it would show up against the black card base.

Nice to finally play with this stamp! I've had it since I got back from holidays but needed some EZ Mount to put it on.

NSR: Have finally acted on my friend's recommendation to watch Modern Family. It is really, really funny. It stars the Bundy man from Married with Children (I won't guess the name because I always mix it up with the bad Bundy man) only he's funny in this one. He has a steamy Columbian wife and her son Manny, and two grown up kids of his own with their families. It's clever, crisp and makes me laugh every time.

On the book front, I just finished reading Little Bee. The jacket says it won't say what it's about, you have to read it, and implored the reader not to tell either. I was powerless to resist this ploy. I won't tell you what it's about, but would suggest that you look up the awards it won, in case they are for a category of fiction you are not expecting. I was expecting a category of summer holiday fiction, but this was more capital L literature, which I suppose is good for me now and then. I should read more than 1-para card descriptions in Stampers' Sampler..... So if you are game to read a book you know nothing about, I would recommend this one. If you want to know what it's going to be about, don't read this one. I'm not going to be the one to give it away. Actually I probably will give away this book, but not as in give away the story. Just the book. You know what I mean. And while I'm at it, can I make a confession? I didn't really like the Twilight books. I fear this might make me a bit of a freak. I tried watching the movie, thinking the thin plot might be better suited to Hollywood, but I didn't like that either. Give me Breakfast Club any day for movies about teen angst.

I'm going to sign off now, my man Vinney White's on the radio now with Studio 93 and he said he'd be playing Fine Young Cannibals. Can't miss that!

Lucky day and Gothic Arch #8 Children

Well, wasn't yesterday that my lucky day! I posted a comment on some wonderful card samples featuring the Old Truck stamp by Darkroom Door and my comment was picked to win the stamp! I will now stake out the mailslot to wait for a lovely little Australian envelope.... I will be sure to post some projects with it as soon as I can.

Speaking of projects, Heather has her annual fundraising/anniversary activities raising funds for Victims of Violence. I will be teaching one of the make-and-takes on Tuesday, Aug 17 in the morning. We'll be doing emboss-resist. Classic technique that's guaranteed to wow every time.

Speaking of Heather's support for the Victims of Violence "It shouldn't hurt to be a child" campaign, this Gothic Arch features her stamp, where all proceeds go towards the campaign. I love that image, so evocative of the toddler years.

I did this arch for the Inkurable Stampers Gothic Arch challenge #8, theme "Children".

First I stamped the toddler (Heather's Stamping Haven) and masked it off. I added some sponged clouds with my homemade cloud mask, and then added the teddybear and wagon (Stampin' Up) and the tree and tire swing (SU). I coloured them with Bruynzeel pencil crayons, sponging some white chalk ink on the bear and wagon because I wanted them to look more ephemeral as if they were in the child's imagination. I wanted the whole background to be "in the child's mind", hence the frame of leaves (SU) and the cloud background. (I made the mistake of asking DH if he could detect this nuance unaided. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that he couldn't, and just be grateful that he's the type to have compasses lying around to be used for drawing arches....) I added distress stickles in Rock Candy and Peeled Paint to the background too, so there is the shimmery but not glittery effect as well. I tried to capture this effect in the close up. The word stamp is by A Muse, and it's all one stamp. I like how this came out - and it only took me three tries!

Lavender and Lime Challenge

Inkurable Stampers has a monthly challenge, so I thought I would give it a whirl. The July challenge is to make a stamped project in lavender and lime, or any shades of green and purple. Here's my take on that lovely colour combination.

I used a focal image from the Art de Fleur set (Darkroom Door), stamped in Dusty Concord. I coloured it lightly with lime and olive pencil crayons then went over it with a stipple brush and Citrus and Crushed Olive ink (both Ranger). I lightly sponged some Milled Lavender (Ranger) over the flower too. The edges got a scuffing, then I mounted it on a purple mat, which had been stamped with a damask-type image (Tim Holtz, Stampers Anonymous), using Dusty Concord. I used that same image to stamp down the fold, using the second-generation inking. I wrapped some crochet cotton a few times around the panel, adding a lime button (BasicGrey). Some Milled Lavender Distress Stickles on the flower finished off the focal panel.

The card base is a lovely soft lime tsumugi paper, which I got at my LSS. (Any tsumugi fans in the area might want to head over to HSH - she has a new supply of tsumugi, and some new colours too.)

I thought this card might be nice with a decorative edge, so I used my Tim Holtz edge die to cut the opening, and put a light purple strip on the inside edge to show. I stamped it too, with another stamp from the Art de Fleur set, that says "embrace life". I stamped it repeatedly with Milled Lavender and then sponged the edges.

This card is 4.25x4.25, a "scrapling" from another card. It's fun to change the size of the card now and then. I find it hard to get away from my standard layout and I find that changing the shape of the card helps me do that.

Thanks for stopping by! If you want to make something Lavender and Lime, there are a few more days to enter the monthly challenge at Inkurable Stampers!

Gothic Arch #12 Fabric

Hello! Well, DH has done a herculean job of getting the computer functioning with everything I need (photo editing software and blog capabilities, and email). Other things are even working too, like word processing and spreadsheets. It's always a lot of work getting a home computer all loaded up with things. Anyway, it seems to be ok now and I am ready to post.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of the blog Stamping Mathilda, and it was there that I learned of the Gothic Arch challenge on Inkurable Stampers. I thought I'd start at the current challenge (#12, Fabric).

Sidebar on drawing a Gothic Arch:

Before I got started, though, I needed to draw an arch. I googled "How to draw a Gothic arch" and got quite a few hits. The first one was more for artists who actually want to draw these things and was three pages of art terms and math. Moving on.... The next one was "Mathematics and mysticism", which was quite intriguing. Turned out to be a lot of math, not too much mysticism and a basic explanation of how to draw these things on large blocks of stone using a pencil and a piece of string. Undeterred, I read on, to discover that I could draw a circle, with a square inside, and draw evermore complex geometric shapes with tremendous precision and eventually wind up with a Gothic arch. However, since I am not a medieval mason building a stone monolith that really shouldn't collapse due to slipshod arches, precision isn't quite that important to me. It turns out that if you draw two intersecting circles of equal radius, the intersection will give you a Gothic arch (fig. 3 in link above). So that is what I did. (And once again I am grateful to DH for being an engineer and having kept his super duper Staedtler [sp?] compass from drafting class). If you don't have a compass, you can rig one up with string and two pencils. I had also thought that tracing a Nestability circle would work, but I didn't need to do that. I made an arch from scrap cardstock that is my template for all of them.

Back to Stamping!

The challenge was to incorporate fabric into the arch, so I stamped my image (Sunshine Designs, The Stamp Barn) onto some aida cloth that I pinked with shears. I coloured the flowers with Tombows, reinforcing the line with my microliner. I embellished it with embroidery (stems) and beads. I didn't have yellow beads, so I used clear and coloured them with a yellow Copic marker.

The background is Almost Amethyst (SU), stamped with a wonderful vintage image of a marriage certificate (Heather's Stamping Haven, and this stamp is actually Heather's own grandmother's marriage certificate! neat!!!). I also added some larger words about cherishing, etc. that are from a Darkroom Door set.

The navy panel is navy metallic paper, run through the Victorian Cuttlebug folder and rubbed with black paint (Adirondack) and then rubbed off so the shine only shows on the raised portion. I rummaged through all my buttons to find this perfect one that says "Paris" on it and tied a crochet cotton bow throw it.

Here is a close up of the button

bit. I normally don't go in for these arbitrary closeups of things, but I am really in love with that button, so if you have made it this far through the blog, I will reward [?] you with a close up of it. Also you can see the stickles and the stamps on the embroidery a bit better too. The photo isn't great, or at least my photo editing skills are not great. I have this superfabulouswonderific software that is 1000x smarter than me and I have no idea how to use any of it. Everything is in technical terms that mean nothing to me and every step is broken down into tiny, tiny steps involving thousands of clicks so that you can customize your every quasar. All this to say is that I ain't bright 'nuff to figger the durn thing out.

Thanks for stopping by! I have several more arches :-)

Check out the challenge, and maybe try it out yourself! Warning: you will get hooked :-)