Christmas Kickstart Challenge - Guest Elf

 

 

Woohoo!  I'm thrilled to be guest elf for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme is Peace on Earth. I've used my set, Layered Poinsettia to make this card:

The background is a mop-up panel of Distress Inks, then I've just stamped the images with Versafine Onyx Black - easy peasy!

I'm offering a Layered Poinsettia set to one randomly chosen winner who has commented on the Christmas Kickstart blog and my blog.

Click on over to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge, and play along with us!

Guest Designer at Inkspirational

Hellooo!  I'm thrilled to be guesting for Inkspirational for this great challenge - Oldie But Goodie.  The idea is to use a stamp from when you first started crafting.  I'm not sure that I could lay my hands on my very first stamp purchases, but this butterfly by DeNami dates back to my very early stamping days, and I still love it.

Back in the day, I would gold-emboss the image onto vellum.  Nowadays I hardly ever heat emboss, and hardly ever use vellum.  I'm much happier sloshing and splattering, as you can see ;)  I've brought it up to date with washi tape, a bit of stitching and some grunge stamps.

Time to dig out your oldest stamps and give them some love, and join me in playing along at Inkspirational, where you'll find some fabulous inspiration from the design team.

Twelve Tags of Christmas With Loll and Friends - Guest Designer Day 2

I'm thrilled to be a guest designer again this year for Loll's annual Twelve Tags of Christmas.  The last two events were chock-full of beautiful mixed media tags, and I'm sure this year will be just as inspiring.

I went for non-traditional colours for the background.  I sponged Shabby Shutters, Pickled Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade over my tag, then added clear stencil paste through a Tim Holtz stencil.  Once that was dry, I sponged more inks over to darken the background and highlight the stencilling, then flicked water over the tag.

I stamped the large reindeer from The Bee's Knees Christmas Reindeer, watercoloured it with Distress Inks and die-cut it using the coordinating Christmas Reindeer Dies.  The snow hill was cut using the CUTplorations Stitched Snow Hills die, and the tree is Oregon Fir by The Frantic Stamper, which I covered with Eiskristall glass glitter.  The final touch was some gold fibres and a pink grosgrain bow.

Be sure to visit Loll's blog every day during the event for some fabulous inspiration from Loll and other guest designers.

Thanks so much for asking me back, Loll, I'm honoured!

Back Again at A Sprinkle Of Imagination

I'm back over at A Sprinkle of Imagination today for my second guest design spot. I've used the Don't Forget To Fly stamp set by Finnabair. I wanted to stamp a front and back of this image on cotton canvas, with the possibility of stitching them together and making an art doll.

I started by inking the stamp with Versafine Onyx Black except for the sentiment across the middle because I wanted one of the other sentiments, then stamped it onto the canvas piece, then I stamped the sentiment in the gap.  For the back view, I re-inked the stamp, this time leaving out the face as well as the sentiment, and stamped that onto the other canvas.  I stamped one of the text circles for the back of the head, and one of the other sentiments across the middle.

I added some colour with Distress Inks and a paintbrush, and decided it would now be a pincushion or just a hanging 'thing', so off I trotted to the local craft store for some wadding, and stitched the two pieces together, using a length of giant ricrac for the loop, then I frayed the edges.   Here's the back view of the finished article:

Thanks for having me, ASOI!

Guest Designer at A Sprinkle Of Imagination

I'm honoured to be guest designing at A Sprinkle of Imagination today.  For my project, I started off with a couple of pieces of mixed media paper and Dylusions spray inks in Funky Fuchsia and Calypso Teal, spritzing heavily with water and sloshing it all around.

On one of the sheets I stamped the three images from Prima Stitch Stamp - Rectangles and cut them out, then on the largest image I stencilled Distress Inks through the Tim Holtz doily stencil, on the medium image I repeat-stamped the small butterfly image from Finnabair 'Don't Forget To Fly' set, then stamped the sentiment from that same set onto the smallest image.

On the other inked sheet I stamped the larger butterfly, cut it out and added black machine stitching down the centre of the body, leaving the ends trailing like antennae and legs.

Then I stamped the stitched rectangles onto my card base and aligned my coloured pieces, adhered them onto the card and added the stitched butterfly.

Here's a close up.  I added a bit of colour to the centres of the small butterflies and drew in the loose thread where the panels overlap.

Celebrating With Colour Me....!

I'm helping the team at Colour Me....! to celebrate their one year anniversary.  I was lucky enough to be a guest designer in June this year, and I'm delighted to have been asked back for this special event.

I've chosen the colours from Challenge #43.  The background panel was already made and lying in my stash, and it just so happened to have two of the colours, black and cantaloupe, so it just remained to make a dark cherry ice cream sundae!

The stamps are from the STAMPlorations Sugar Rush set.

Pop on over to the Colour Me....! blog to see the fabulous inspiration from the team and other guest designers, and join in the celebrations!

Tree of Hearts - Merry Christmas!

It's the Big Day - Merry Christmas to you!  I'm guest designer for the current challenge at TIME OUT, where the theme is Inspired By Words:

Christmas Is Love With All The Trimmings

Here's a little reminder card for you.  I brayered some pink acrylic paints onto white mixed media card, then stencilled some dots with translucent pink and white.  I added bottle ring marks using a bottle top and white acrylic paint.  The folk hearts are punched out from double-sided patterned paper.  I scribbled heart shapes with black pen and added highlights with white pen.  The tree base is made from strips of black card dotted with white pen, and the tree base is the only stamping on the card.  The black dots on the background were made with a zigzag craft scraper thingy, and I outlined some of the hearts with Caran d'Ache crayons.

Hope you can find the time to join in the challenge!

I'll be entering this into Simon Says Work It Wednesday - Love!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Guest Designer for Time Out

I'm thrilled to be guest designing for Time Out Challenges where this week's theme is Inspired By Words.  And the words to be inspired by are:

Christmas is Love With All The Trimmings

I've used a gorgeous Magenta stamp that I've had for years, and coloured the image with Distress Inks.  I sponged Old Paper through a doily stencil, then inked the burlap stencil with Tea Dye and used it as a stamp.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

Pop on over to the Time Out blog to see the fabulous inspiration from the design team, and join in - I'm sure you've got a Christmas card or two up your sleeve.

I'm entering my card into Simon Says Monday Challenge, Anything Goes.

The Twelve Projects of Christmas - A Sprinkle of Imagination

I am honoured to be one of the guest designers for The Twelve Projects of Christmas, hosted by A Sprinkle of Imagination.  There are some seriously gifted crafters in this line-up, so I'm thrilled to have been invited.

For my card, I stamped the image onto white card with Versafine Onyx Black, then squished some Distress Inks (Festive Berries, Barn Door) onto an acrylic block and used them as watercolours to slosh layers of colour over the dress and shoes.  I washed some of the colour onto another piece of card, then stencilled HO HO HO with Black Soot Distress Ink and cut the words into squares, and drew a border with white gel pen.

I added some white embossing powder to the dress hem and collar.  The background text is partially stamped in Versafine Smoky Grey and a text stamp.  Here's a close-up.

Dylusions Mini Couture Stamp Set
Tim Holtz Curiosities (background stamp)
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Schoolhouse
Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Festive Berries, Barn Door, Black Soot
Versafine Onyx Black, Smoky Grey
White embossing Powder
Sakura Gelly Roll white pen


If you leave a comment on all twelve of the guest designers' blog posts, you will be in with a chance of winning a fabulous goodie box.  What are you waiting for?

Winnie & Walter October Release Guest Star Day 4

Have you been enjoying Winnie & Walter's October Release so far?  I certainly have ;)  I've got some more Creative Screenings goodness for you today.

The background for this first card is from my Gelli Plate stash, made with lace and bubble wrap.  I stencilled some translucent lime acrylic paint through the flower and leaf stencils in Duo: The Big, The Bold and Extras, then dropped in the line detail flower and stencilled some translucent green.  See how you still get the original pattern showing through the translucent paint layers?  I sponged the centre with black acrylic paint.  I drew round the images with a black Gelato stick and smudged the colour in with my finger, and added some white dotted lines with a Uniball Signo white gel pen, and finished it off with a sentiment from Winter Woodland - not just for Christmas ;)

For this second card, I brayered a piece of white card with pink and blue acrylic paints then placed the love screening from The Big, The Bold and Happy Creative Screenings in the lower left and sponged over it with turquoise and lime translucent acrylics.  Then I stencilled the rose from Duo: The Big, The Bold and Extras with pink acrylic paint, dropped the line detail inlay in and added darker pink.  I drew the stalk and leaf with a green Gelato stick and smudged the colour in, glued on a torn strip of patterned tissue paper and added white highlighting with a Uniball Signo white gel pen.  I'd cut the panel to an angle, and was deciding how to mat it with black card, and ended up offsetting the black card - gives it a sort of optical illusion.

For my last card I've used 'congrats' from The Big, The Bold and You Creative Screenings.  I inked the back of the word with Distress Inks, spritzed and pressed it down onto the card, cleaning, re-inking, re-spritzing and re-pressing.  You do get some small splatters of ink when you're placing the screening down, but just go with it and chuck some more splatters on!

Pop on over to Winnie & Walter's blog for inspiration from Julie, Shay, The Talent and Guest Stars, and for the full release later on.

It's appropriate to end on a note of congratulations - huge congrats to Winnie & Walter for a fabulous release of stamps and creative screenings, and thank you so much for letting me play with them :))

Winnie & Walter October Release Guest Star Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of Winnie & Walter's October Release.  For my first card, I've gone all sparkly and made my own sparkle embossing paste by adding ultra fine glitter to clear embossing paste.  Using Scenery: Grand Diagonal Creative Screenings, I smeared the paste on to red card and let it dry for 24 hours.  (It doesn't necessarily take that long to dry, but we went out to the cinema and it was too late to play when I got back.)  On a piece of white card, I stamped the evergreen bough and pine cones using Distress Inks, then stamped Merry Christmas (from The Big, The Bold and Merry) in black and red, and embossed with sparkle embossing powder.

For this next card, I brayered a background of lime, turquoise and green acrylic paints, laid the 'peace' and 'joy' from The Big, The Bold and Merry Creative Screenings and brayered over them with cream paint, which leaves a ghosted image when the screenings are removed.  Then I stamped the sentiments from The Big, The Bold and Merry and the holly from Happy Christmas.  I drew some stars using Scenery: Big Bang Classic Star Creative Screenings with a Sakura Jelly Roll Stardust pen.

You see different things from different angles with this card:  from one angle the ghosted sentiment is clearer, from the other angle the stars are clearer.

I also made a couple of tags using Scenery: Flash Creative Screenings.  I applied Distress Inks to the stencil, spritzed heavily then pressed it down onto card and heat set the ink.  I cut the card into two tags, rounded the top corners, added some torn white card for snow and stamped with images and sentiments from Merry Christmas.

Pop on over to Winnie & Walter's blog for more from Julie, Shay, The Talent and Guest Stars and I'll see you for the grand finale tomorrow.

Winnie & Walter October Release Guest Star Day 2

Welcome back to Day 2 of Winnie & Walter's fabulous October Release.  My first card uses the Winter Woodland set and Scenery: Big Bang Circle Creative Screenings.  I inked up the large tree with Forest Moss, Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles and Crushed Olive, spritzed it heavily then stamped onto a card panel.  As it lifts, all the ink schlurps around the stamp and gives a wonderful mix of colours.  I tore some paper to use as a mask and sponged the sky/snow line, and stamped the top portion of the tree to make a smaller/distant tree.  The deer was stamped in Memento Espresso Truffle and fussy cut.  The sentiment was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.  To finish off, I added some snow using clear embossing paste and Scenery: Big Bang Circle Creative Screenings.  Before it dried I sprinkled some ultra fine glitter on the paste, then brushed the excess off once dry.

For my second card, I inked up Mini Scenery: Into The Woods with Chipped Sapphire and Iced Spruce, spritzed it heavily then stamped it onto a tent-fold card.  Once dry, I stamped the sentiment and deer from Winter Wonderland in Versafine Onyx Black.  At the top of the card I stencilled some stars with Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen using Scenery: Big Bang Sci-fi Star.

For this next card I used both sizes of "winter" from The Big, The Bold and Seasons Creative Screenings.  I just held mine down on the card while I sponged Tumbled Glass and Iced Spruce Distress Inks around one end, then held the other end down and repeated the process.  I flicked some water over, then stamped some snowflakes from Scenery: Big Bang Flurries with Memento Summer Sky.  Merry Christmas is from Winter Woodland, and the the text across the bottom is from a set you will see tomorrow (apart from "and all" which is from The Big, The Bold and You).

To finish off, here's a little tag made using Duo: Flash Creative Screenings and the sentiment from Winter Woodland.

Pop on over to Winnie & Walter's blog to see what Julie, Shay, the Talent and Guest Stars have created, and I hope to see you back here tomorrow for more Winnie & Walter goodness.

Winnie & Walter October Release Guest Star

I'm thrilled to be taking part in Winnie & Walter's October Release for the next four days.  Along with fabulous new stamps, Winnie & Walter have brought out a fabulous new product, Creative Screenings, and I get to play with them.  Yay!!

My first card uses Scenery: V for CheVron Creative Screenings, which coordinates with the Scenery: V for CheVron stamp set.

I sponged Tumbled Glass, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves and Chipped Sapphire through the various cheVrons, adding black fineliner to the larger cheVron pattern, then stamped the sentiment from The Big, The Bold and The Happy in Versafine Onyx Black.  Using black acrylic paint, I made some marks with a bottle top.  Oh, and I added some splatters (of course!).

This second card uses Scenery: Persuasion Script Creative Screenings, and Duo: The Big, The bold and Extras.  With Duo Creative Screenings you get the negative image, as in a stencil, and also a positive outline image which can sit inside the negative, which enables you to create dimension and layers.

On spare card I stencilled the rose then placed the positive outline image in the stencil and sponged darker colours to get depth, also adding some shading with coloured pencils. I masked the rose image then stencilled the leaves using both parts of the stencil, then fussy cut the whole thing.  The background panel was made using the Scenery: Persuasion Script Creative Screenings.  The sentiment is from The Big, The Bold and The Happy.

I also get to play with some of the new stamps too.

The fireplace is made using Scenery: Rectangled Creative Screenings and Distress Inks.  I cut out the centre section and on a separate piece of black card I stamped the sentiment from Eat Drink Gingerbread Man in Versamark and white-embossed it and added it behind the fireplace.  I stamped the gingerbread men on kraft card in Versamark and white-embossed them, fussy cut them, then joined them together with mini brads (I knew they'd come into their own again one day!).

Pop on over to Winnie & Walter's blog to see fabulous inspiration from Julie, Shay and The Talent and Guest Stars, and pop back tomorrow for more creative goodness.

Guest Designer - Uniko Studio Challenge #11

Hello, I'm thrilled to be guest designing for Uniko Studio for their Challenge #11, Birthday using this fabulous colour palette:

As part of my prize for winning Challenge #10, I chose the Paradise Hummingbird set.  I googled hummingbird images and was inspired by this painting, and how the splattered paint implied fast movement.  I can't resist a bit of splattering and sloshing outside the lines, so I set to with the Distress Inks (Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn) and a paintbrush.  I inked the flower stamps with Seedless Preserves, spritzed and stamped, then repeated with Dusty Concord to get the two-tone look on the flowers.  Oh, and I added some Wink of Stella to imply iridescence on the feathers and a tiny AB crystal for the eye.

So come and play - you could be a winner and get the opportunity to guest design too!

It's a busy blog day for me - Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge up next, followed by STAMPlorations monthly challenge.

Just Us Girls Guest Designer - Week 4

My final post as this month's Guest Designer for Just Us Girls :(  This week it's a photo inspiration:

The starting point for my card was the chevrons on the wall.  Followed by the flower.  I used Weathered Wood and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks on the chevron stencil à la Tim Holtz, then stamped the flower on some spare card and sloshed a bit of Tumbled Glass on, then fussy cut it.  I drew in a stem and stamped the HB2U either side of the stem then drew leaves around them.

I'm entering my card into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes, and Simon Says Work It Wednesday, where it's also Anything Goes.

Pop on over the Just Us Girls and join in the challenge (thank for having me, ladies!).

Stamps: Woodware Mini Flowers; STAMPlorations Vignette: Celebrate Artsy

Colour Me...! Guest Designer Week 4

It's my last week as guest designer with Colour Me...!  :(  Here are this week's colours:

I watercoloured some images from Neat & Tangled's Just For You set and stamped the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black, then added a few splatters (of course!).  I'm entering this into Little Tangles Watercolour,

and Less is More where the theme is also Watercolour.

Thanks so much for having me as Guest Designer at Colour Me...! girls, I've really enjoyed it :)