Wednesday 28 August 2013

Whotcha Doin?

Well, the time has come for me to share my fourth and final Guest Designer project for Stampotique which is posted today at the Stampotique Designer's Blog. I've absolutely loved creating my four projects, having lots of inky, messy fun with lots of bright colours and, of course, the fabulously quirky Stampotique stamps. I'd like to thank Kim and the team at Stampotique for generously inviting me to join them as a Guest Designer.
 
The theme for this week's project is "3 Circles" and this immediately put me in mind of the fab 3 In A Round (6018) stamp, which is one of my favourites.
 
 
I had the idea of cutting out the centre of the image to form an aperture and then stamping the image again behind the aperture. I used a tentfold DL card and cut a panel of white cardstock to fit the front of the card and used Tim Holtz's Wrinkle-Free Distress Technique to colour the card, using Tumbled Glass, Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade Inks. I added some detail by sponging Distress Ink through a stencil and stamping some bits of random text and I then stamped the 3 In A Round image three times onto the inked panel.
 

I cut out the centres of the stamped images and then stamped the full image onto the card front behind the third aperture and stamped just sections of the centre image behind the other two apertures, so it looks like the figures are peeping around the edges before popping up in the final aperture. My Stampin' Up! Stamp-a-ma-jig was invaluable in getting the stamps on the card to line up with the stamps on the inked panel.
 
 
I attached the inked panel onto the card using foam tape and added my sentiment, stamped onto plain white card and cut out - the Wotcha Doin (8970) stamp was just the perfect sentiment for these curious little guys peering out at the world. :) 
 
 
I hope you've enjoyed seeing my Guest Designer projects as much as I've enjoyed creating them.

  

Tuesday 27 August 2013

Sweet Pea Stamps Featured Artist Week

This week at Sweet Pea Stamps the Design Team are all featuring the artwork of Norma J Burnell in our creations. I chose to use one of her newly-released stamps for my creation - this stamp is called Rayne:
 
 
I love the underwater theme of this image and I wanted to colour the skin in cool tones to really convey the idea of her being underwater... so I coloured the image with my Promarkers, using pale blue tones to colour just the shaded areas of skin. I used Prismacolor pencils for a softer effect when colouring the background.
 
 
I teamed the image with some gorgeous sea-themed paper in toning colours and added lots of detail with scraps of cheesecloth and pretty flowers...
 
 
...and a little charm and a swirl or two of bling. :)
 
 
This, and Norma's other fabulous stamps, are available in red rubber format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store and during this Featured Artist Week they are all on special offer at 15% off.

Sunday 25 August 2013

X Marks the Spot

Time for a new challenge at One Stitch at a Time and the theme this week is Anything Goes - With a Twist. There are no rules as to what you can make... but the twist is that you need to use a Stitchy Bear product in your make.
 
I used a great Pirate Girl stamp by Ike's Art and decided to make a pirate-themed ATC:
 
 
I printed out the digi stamp and coloured her with my Promarkers before cutting her out. Isn't she great? :)
 
I cut an ATC from kraft card and stamped over it with a detailed map stamp using brown ink. I then swiped ink around the edges of the card and heat embossed it with copper embossing powder.
 
 
To finish off I doodled an "X marks the spot" on my map background to show the location of the buried treasure... ;).... and attached my pirate girl.


Hope the challenge inspires you to create something and have a go! :)

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes
Catered Crop - Map It
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Hobbycutz - Create Your Own Background
Colour Me Creative Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge - Time To Go
Papercrafting Journey - Anything Goes
Sassy Studio Designs - Artist Trading Cards

Saturday 24 August 2013

New Sweet Pea Artist - Regan Kubecek

Have you seen the new stamps from Regan Kubecek, the newest name to join Sweet Pea Stamps' gallery of amazingly talented artists? I love her sweet, whimsical artwork and I couldn't wait to get creating with these adorable images. I chose to work first with Regan's The Fairy and Her Dragon:
 
 
I used the digi stamp version and coloured it with Promarkers and Distress Inks:
 
 
I kept my card fairly simple as I just love how this sweet and quirky image looks when coloured in and didn't want to overpower it with an overly fussy card. I used dotted paper and embossed a panel of white card to layer behind the image:
 
 
I added ribbon and some pearls and attached the image using foam tape for a touch of dimension. To finish I punched some butterflies from plain white card and added Glossy Accents to the hearts on the image:
 
 
Regan's gorgeous range of stamps are available now from the Sweet Pea Stamps store, in both digi and red rubber format.

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Serendipity

My third project as Guest Designer for Stampotique is up at the Stampotique Designer's Blog today and the theme couldn't have been more appropriate. It's "Wedding" and it just so happens to be my wedding anniversary at the end of this month. :)
 
So my lovely hubby will be getting this card:
 
 
I used this great vintage image stamp called Hochzeit (German for wedding, dontcha know?) for my card:
 
 
I made a square card blank from grey cardstock and cut a smaller panel from white cardstock. I stamped the Hochzeit stamp in black Archival ink over one edge of the panel and stamped it again onto a post-it note and cut it out to mask off the image. I then spritzed the card with Dylusions spray inks and splattered watered-down black paint across it.
 
 
I doodled a border with a black fineliner pen and attached the panel to my card blank. I then stamped Hochzeit again onto white cardstock and cut it out, attaching it to the card with foam pads, off-setting it slightly from the image on the panel.
 
 
I finished things off with a layered die-cut sentiment cut from grey and white cardstock and some black gemstones.
 

WOYWW 220

Yikes. I had intended to get to bed by midnight tonight but it just hasn't happened. I am soooo busy lately and there are just not enough hours in the day!
 
We're sneaking off for a week's holiday to Scotland this weekend so I am trying (once again) to get ahead on my DT projects so I've had a bit of a production line going... last night I coloured in 9 (count em!) digi stamps and tonight I've made 4 of them into cards. :)
 
And this is the resulting chaos from my busy evening of crafting:
 
 
Of course, I didn't get to start crafting until gone 9pm because first of all I had to sit and watch the Great British Bake Off! It's back - hurrah! I admit to being hooked on it.. though it does make me a) want to go and bake and b) sad that I am nowhere near as good a baker as the guys on the show! :lol:
 
Anyhoo... busy day looming and I still need to finish up some stuff before heading to bed so I'll bid you goodnight and wish you all a happy WOYWW! :)

Sunday 18 August 2013

To Boldly Go...

...where.. okay, where quite a few people have gone before... but still an exciting time.. ;)
 
The new challenge at One Stitch at a Time is Back to School... quite an appropriate theme given that kids in the UK will be starting back at school in a couple of weeks (or have already gone back in parts of Scotland)... and amongst them will be my DD1 who starts full-time school for the first time! Scary, but exciting, times. :)
 
For my card, I used the Starship stamp and paper pack by Coosty Creations:
 
 
I must admit to being a wee bit of a trekkie (I even used to have a DS9 uniform top! :lol:) so I loved working with this collection. I decided to make an easel card, the better to showcase these awesome papers.
 
I coloured the starship image using my Promarkers and keeping the colour scheme pretty simple... after all, Star Trek starships are pretty much all white, aren't they? :)
 
 
I printed the papers and trimmed them to fit my easel card and printed a sentiment, cut it out and attached it with foam tape. I cut out the starship and attached it using foam pads for a touch of dimension.
 
You don't have to use a Stitchy Bear product to enter the challenge but we'd love it if you do - and doing so will put you in the draw to win our main prize. As ever, entries not using a Stitchy Bear product will have a chance to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.
 
I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
 

Friday 16 August 2013

Tear it to pieces...

Time for a new challenge at Sweet Pea Stampers and the theme is "tear it to pieces"... in other words, show some torn edges on your creation.
 
 
I used Joanne Schempp's Ice Ice Baby digi stamp and coloured her with my Promarkers in pale, wintery shades:
 
 
I added touches of glitter to the moon and stars with Stickles and also added a few tiny star-shaped crystal gems:
 
 
I used pretty papers in shades of pink and blue and tore and curled the edges. I added a pretty layered flower and a decorative pin...
 
 
...and some gemstones:
 
 
The challenge runs for 2 weeks and you don't need to use a Sweet Pea Stamps image to enter, though of course we'd love it if you do.
 
I'm entering this card into a couple of challenges:
 
 
 
 

A little bit dotty...

I've got a new project up at the Stampotique Designer's Blog this week and the theme this time is polka dots:

 
I decided to do an art journal page. I've had a painty background sitting in my moleskine journal ever since I did a class with Kate Crane oooooog ages ago now, and decided it was long since time I did something with it. :)
 
I started off by adding layers of paint and texture paste through a stencil for a polka-dotty pattern and then stamped some circles using black paint and various bottle tops. I added some Pan Pastels here and there in the stamped circles and over the texture paste. I then stamped around the edges with the Splatter Long (3014) stamp.

 
I stamped the Jeepers face onto scrap paper and drew on a body. I also stamped Bla Bla Bla (6001) across the body. I then coloured her in with Promarkers and cut her out to attach her to my page.

 
To finish I had wrote journaling and cut it into strips, edging them with black pen before affixing to the page.


I love the bright colours and business of this page... which ties in perfectly with my journaling... which is a pretty accurate description of my life right now! :lol:

Thursday 15 August 2013

An Apple A Day

It's Variations Week again at Sweet Pea Stamps, where the Design Team all work with the same image.
 
This month we've been creating with this adorable Apple A Day stamp by Karen Middleton:
 
 
I loved the cute rather vintage style of this image and I decided to try colouring it in sepia tones, with red apples as little touches of colour:
 
 
 
I also added some Glossy Accents to the apples and edged the image with Antique Gold Frantage embossing powder. 
 
I used some pretty paper that I got recently and added layered lace and pretty blossoms.
 
 
You can buy this adorable image in red rubber or digi format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store. Check out the Sweet Pea Stamps blog for the rest of this week to see the rest of the Design Team's creations using this stamp.
 

Wednesday 14 August 2013

WOYWW 219

Am returned from the wilds of North Wales and once again able to share photos of my craft desk. :)


It's still in a state of chaos - though slightly less so than last week and I had to push back the mess to clear enough space to make a card in. :D
 
I am plagued by technology troubles this week. The AC adaptor on my laptop appears to be on its last legs... I have to jiggle the connector around to get it to start charging and then hold it in place while it charges. Which is not ideal! And Samsung want the princely sum of £56 for a new one! £56!!! :/
 
On top of that, when I came to take my WOYWW photo I discovered that I have left the data card for my camera in my mum's netbook... in North Wales! Argh!! Luckily I managed to "borrow" the data card from hubby's camera.
 
Hey ho, what fun!
 
Anyhoo, off to bed for me - it's late and I've a busy day tomorrow of belly dancing class (with a crèche for the kids - awesome!) and then a playdate with friends at a local petting farm.
 
Happy WOYWW everyone! :)
 

Sunday 11 August 2013

Use a Digi

Time for a new challenge at One Stitch at a Time and this week it's Use a Digi. That could mean a digi stamp, digi papers, a computer-generated sentiment... anything you like, as long as there's some digital element on your creation. :)
 
For my card I've used Barbara Jensen's Arteest digi stamp:
 
 
I went with the whole arty/painty theme and used one of my Gelli Plate prints for the background, matting it onto black card:
 
 
I coloured the image with my Promarkers, using warm oranges and reds to tone with the painty background, and cut her out, layering her on foam pads over layered die-cut shapes:
 
 
I stamped the sentiment (a very appropriate one, I felt :D) with a Tim Holtz stamp and heat embossed it with black embossing powder, and added chiffon ribbon and some layered flowers:
 
 
To finish, I added some teeny black gems on opposing corners:
 
 
The challenge runs for a week and you don't have to use a Stitchy Bear product to enter - those please do remember that you are limited to THREE entries, if not using Stitchy Bear products. You can have unlimited entries using Stitchy Bear products and will also be in with a chance of winning our main prize. Entries without a Stitchy Bear product will be entered into the draw to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.
 
I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
 
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