52CC - week 22, shades of green

This is a first - the prompt for week 22 went live today and I have completed both cards!  The theme is 'Shades of green', I knew straightaway that I wanted to use distress inks, haven't done that for a while.

The birthday card features another new stamp from the Glitter Pot spree as described a couple of posts ago..... I put it back on the shelf initially, but it took so long to put all the other stuff through the till, that I had time to change my mind and go back for it!  It's from Memory Box and gives a lovely detailed impression.  I embossed it in white and then smooshed distress ink in three shades of green over the embossing.  This is a resist technique, so a quick go over with a baby wipe brought the white back into view.  Then I matted the image onto a dark green cardstock, made an interrupted frame for the sentiment and added a little cluster of pearls at two corners.

The Christmas card has a snowflake border (Waltzing Mouse) on the same principle.  I used a mixture of the three greens to stamp the sentiment (Stampin' Up), but struggled with the white space..... it's not something I am good at, I always want to fill it!  Then I remembered seeing a technique whilst surfing .... I don't know where I saw it, sorry, if I find it again I will add the credit.  It involves using a scoreboard to score lines, very simple, but the two lines along the top of this card, plus one at each side of the border are very effective, I really like them.

Very pleased with these two, will definitely revisit the scoring idea and I must use distress inks more often, I had forgotten how nice they look :-)

52CC - week 21, vertical strip sketch prompt

 

I am now up to date with the 52 cards challenge, apart from today's prompt, that is!  Week 21 is a sketch prompt, featuring a side vertical strip.



I didn't follow the suggestion of using patterned paper as the main panel - although I may revisit that idea later - because I knew immediately which tall and narrow Christmas stamp I wanted to use, this old Creative Expressions lamp post which I bought from the bargain bin at Ally Pally, many years ago :-)   A hunt through my other, older wood-mounted stamps turned up this topiary tree - the copyright date on it is 1999, six years after I started stamping!

 
Both cards are as you can see, basically the same.  I think the technical term is a 'shortfall' card? - but do correct me if I'm wrong!  I stamped a vertical sentiment stamp down the right hand inside edge of the card blank, then cut off a strip from the front so that the sentiment is visible.  Then I used a lace edge punch (Martha Stewart) along the front side edge.  I stamped and embossed the two images in gold, coloured them, then die-cut them out (Nestie deckle edge rectangle).  The edges of the lace border and the die-cuts were inked in gold.  Then the images were mounted on 1mm foam tape to the card.

They proved extraordinarily difficult to photograph whilst stood upright, so in the end I resorted to laying them flat, holding them shut with Blu-Tak and taking the picture before they could spring open again!

52CC - week 20, show and tell

The 52CC prompt for week 20 is 'Show and Tell' - use a new purchase!

There is a very sad tale attached to these cards, though it does have an ultimately happy ending ...... I was embossing the flower stamp when my trusty heat gun stopped working.  It's been a faithful friend from when I first started stamping 21 years ago, so I have been wondering when it would finally go to Stamping Heaven.  DH checked the fuse and pronounced the patient dead.  Now, since I had been in mid-emboss ..... I had to get another gun in a hurry!  The Glitter Pot is one of the closest places I could go, so I checked their website and they had a two speed heat gun, in stock and on sale!  A quick phone call to ask them to put it to one side for me and off I went.
Ahem.  Going all that way and not looking around would have been silly .... wouldn't it?  A fair few items fell into the basket and by the time I left, that heat gun had cost me £90 !!!!!  I got back home and the partially embossed image was completed without a hitch, somewhat to my surprise as I had thought it would dry up whilst I was gone for three hours.....

So, back to the cards!  The birthday card is a tri-fold lined card blank, with a panel cut off and trimmed to fit the front with a gold mat.  I used the Woodware south-west corner punch for a tiny bit of detail.  The flower stamp is from Penny Black and is the required new purchase for the prompt, coloured with Kuretake pens, fussy cut and edged with gold ink.  The sentiment is from Hobby Art.

The Christmas card features one of my new Glitter Pot purchases!  The Memory Box landscape die, it's a favourite with the 52 card girlies and I have been thinking about buying it for some time..... it was obviously Fate that the GP had it in stock and who am I to argue with Fate?  LOL.  The snowflake paper is an old one from Craft Creations and the sentiment banner was bought at Ally Pally, years ago.  I added some ribbons and pearls at the base.  The frame is a silver peel-off line and I have no idea why it has appeared to be partially red in the photo ... the light must have caught it strangely :-)

Beat the Christmas Rush - April

Yes, I am really late for April BtCR, the new challenge opens tomorrow! 

There are only two cards this month.... I stamped four images, then had the brilliant idea of using two of them decoupaged on top of the other two.   This was not one of my better ideas ..... very fiddly to cut out, and I'm not sure that it looks better than the original one layer image!

The stamp is an old Graphicus one, I have had it for years and always regretted not getting the Christmas Rose in the same series before they ceased trading.  However I have discovered that the people behind Graphicus, who now run  Chocolate Baroque, still have these images in their range :-)  So I have ordered the Christmas Rose and the Hydrangea, they also have Mistletoe, Poinsettia, Daffodil and Rose - a search for 'script' will find them.
I stamped and embossed the image in gold before colouring, and finished off the card with some ribbon.

52CC - week 17, pocket card

A sketch prompt for week 17, to make a card with a pocket on the front.  I found this one really difficult and in the end was inspired by Trish's card with a doily in the pocket, here - thank you Trish!

I only did a birthday card, will have to re-visit the idea for a Christmas card at some future point :-)  The papers are from a magazine freebie paper pad, all fairies, flowers and butterflies, so not to my taste at all but perfect for cards :-)  The pocket back and the doily were attached to the card, then I made the pocket front, stamped the sentiment and die-cut the tag, then assembled them all before sticking the front to the back.  I die-cut the butterfly flourish (Joanna Sheen), punched and die-cut leaves (Martha Stewart and Memory Box), then snipped a couple of pearl swirls apart.  The tag is some more of the background paper, matted onto two cardstocks and over-stamped with that iconic quote :-)  Having assembled everything, I realised that the bottom scored edge of the pocket, was looking a bit ragged where I had scored a bit .... er .... over enthusiastically, so I stuck a pearl trim along the edge.  Incidentally, it was the first time I have used the Cosmic Shimmer glue for anything and I was very impressed :-)
The photo makes the pocket look a bit wonky, but in real life it is straight, I swear!

52CC - week 19

Nat dipped into the prompt jar for week 19 and this is what she came out with: navy, vellum and stitching.  I didn't manage to use all three, but hey the prompt is just a starting point.... isn't it?? LOL.

The Christmas card has a landscape image, which I had previously stamped (not sure of brand) and then had put in the 'come-in-useful-one-day' drawer.  I coloured it with Kuretake pens and matted it onto some background paper on a navy card blank.  The sentiment is die-cut .... Britannia dies, I think.  Then I added some pearls.  I wasn't sure about colouring this image and will probably do it slightly differently next time, but it's not too bad :-)

The get well card is also on a navy blank and has faux stitching!  The flower stamp is from Hero Arts, coloured with Kuretakes again, the sentiment is from Stampin' Up.  I have to confess, one of the flowers is there to cover a stray splodge of ink and the other two are there to balance the first one!!

52CC - week 18

A photo prompt for week 18 over at Kool Kitty Musings.  I chose to use the colours to make these two cards.

I made two everyday cards rather than a Christmas one.  My card box has mostly birthday cards in it, so I thought I should have some different cards in stock as well :-)  I stamped and embossed the flower (Hero Arts) and sentiments (Stampin' Up), then coloured the flower with Kuretake alcohol pens.  I cut a mat from the background paper, making it long enough to be able to punch a border at the base (Martha Stewart), then I tied a ribbon around the mat and assembled everything onto a deckle edge card blank.
A word on the Kuretake pens .....they are the first pens I have ever got on with, I have tried Promarkers and Flexmarkers, but never really did well with them.  Now I am building up a my collection of the Kuretakes, a few every month - it does work out to be quite expensive as I buy a replacement brush tip for each pen as well, to go in the broad tip end, but I do like them!  I get mine from Cult Pens, who have a wonderful selection of any pen you could ever need!!

Sharp Dressed Man

DH took this photo of DS1 in work clothes - seems strange to see him in a tie :-)

The papers are all from stash, I have no idea what they are - the diamond pattern may be Basic Grey!  I matted the background paper onto a cream/yellowy cardstock to give a thin border, then matted again with purple cardstock.  The panels are done with a MS punch around the page set.  I coloured the doily with a pen and put a tiny punched doily (Cherry Lynn) in the centre with some gears (also CL).  Then I cut some banner strips and made an embellishment cluster at the top, with some more gears.  The title is done with Thickers.

First completed layout for months!

Scrapbooking has taken a bit of a back seat for me over the last few months, partly because I have got back into card making, but also due to a severe mojo deficiency!  I have done some scrapping - but most of my pages aren't complete, usually I start them at a crop and leave the title and journaling for 'later' ...... of course later never comes :-)  This was really brought home to me when I uploaded two finished pages to my computer and saw that the last uploaded layout was in October 2013!!

This page is based on a memory of a sketch - I had forgotten to pack it for the crop, so had to improvise!

The background paper is from Hot Off the Press, as is the black lace patterned strip.  The doily is die-cut from DCWV Old World.  I used a script stamp and various splotchy stamps in different colours.  The tabbed mats are made using the We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board.  When everything was assembled, I tucked some ribbon behind the photo and added the die-cut title. 

I am rather pleased with this, though looking at the photo now I am thinking I should have put the date on  the light brown tab .... will have to add that in 'later' :-)

NESY - Steampunk Lady decorated box

UFO's, WIP's and NESY's ....... Unfinished Object, Work in Progress, Not Even Started Yet .... we all have them, don't we?  I am trying to reduce the pile! 

This one is definitely a NESY.  I have had this box for three or four years and bought the Graphic 45 sheet of paper two or three years ago, specifically to use this image on the box.  I even put the blank box on a shelf so that it was in plain sight and therefore would motivate me to do it!  It's been there about a year ..... or so ......

The box after priming

Painted gold as a base colour for the crackle glaze

Crackle glaze applied, left to dry, over-painted with cream

I missed photographing a couple of steps LOL, but here is the box with Venetian paper adhered to it and a gold line on its base.  Also the lid with the image, mosaic tiles around the edge and metal corners which have been alcohol inked to colour them.

A close up of the finished box

I am so pleased this is now finally finished - after three years or so of procrastination, it took a week overall, one step every evening after work and then the final bits this weekend.  I have put it back on the shelf and am waiting to see when DH notices that it is done ........ :-)