Take It Make It Reminder - Your Fave Technique

Have you been leafing through your back copies of Craft Stamper looking for your favourite technique of the year so far?  I chose a different favourite technique to last week's - who says we can't have more than one favourite? ;)

I've been dying to try my hand at painting a terracotta flower pot after seeing Anneke De Clerck's beautiful pot in the June issue.  Anneke was recycling, but I have to confess to cheating and buying new terracotta pots because (a) I didn't have any, (b) I wanted matching saucers and (c) they are for presents, so I wanted brand-new.

I painted a layer of gesso then mixed some blue, green and antique white acrylic paints for the main area and the saucer, then a bluer mix for the top rim.  I stamped the images with Archival black (rim images are a freebie, main flower image is Charming by Penny Black) then painted them with acrylic paints.

What will you choose as your favourite technique?  Play along and you could win these fabulous stamps from Sarah Hurley, have your project published in Craft Stamper (so hold on to it just in case!) and be a guest designer for a future challenge.

Pop over to the Craft Stamper blog to see what the rest of the design team have created to inspire you!

Vellum Butterfly

Today I've been playing with vellum.  It popped up at Paper Artsy with this gorgeous card by Keren,

Keren's card for Paper Artsy

and also the Runway Inspired Challenge inspiration lends itself to vellum:

I used Polyfilla (spackle) and a Tim Holtz stencil to create the base and left it to dry.  Then I stamped the images in Versamark and heat-embossed them in white, then coloured the reverse of the vellum with markers and cut them out.  Then I went to the hairdressers.  When I came back the butterfly had curled up on itself like those free gifts you used to get in comics where you laid a thin plastic cut-out image on your hand and the heat from your hand made it curl up.  Remember them?  Oh, yes you do.  So some extra-strong double-sided sticky was required to pin the butterfly down on the card.

I added some Brushed Pewter Distress Paint on the Polyfilla to reflect the silver on her shoes, sponged the edges of the card with Antique Linen, and partially stamped the numbers (Tim Holtz) and stain (STAMPlorations) in Versafine Smoky Grey and added a few grey credit card makes.  Added a few self-adhesive pearls and a part-sentiment (Hero Arts).

The challenge at CAS on Sunday is Butterfly,

and the challenge at Mixed Media Monthly is Stencils and Paste.

New Home

I've been wanting to make a card for the latest Fusion challenge since I saw their lovely photo inspiration:

I wasn't aiming to follow the sketch, but once I'd stamped my houses and sloshed some Distress Ink watercolour on them, I thought it would look rather nice in the sketch format.

Seeing as I've watercoloured, I'm also entering AAA Cards Challenge - watercolour techniques:

The challenge at City Crafter is Home Is Where the Heart Is

City Crafter #223 - Home Is Where The Heart Is

And I'm also entering Simon Says Work It Wednesday - Blue.

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I'm doing a spotlight feature on iron-off embossing at STAMPlorations today - here's a sneak peek:

STAMPlorations Sketch #17

It's time for a new sketch at STAMPlorations.  I've taken a few liberties this time by moving the elements around but you can still see the sketch.

I bought this embossing folder last week and had taken a positive print from it.  While I was waiting for inspiration deciding what to make for my DT project, the print was staring up at me and I thought it would be a great idea to frame the bird.  So that's what I did.

I don't have any frame dies so I used an acrylic block to draw the frames roughly in pencil, then went over them with a pen.  I deliberately haven't kept the lines straight and true, because I knew I wouldn't be able to!!  I stamped the sentiment from Sentiment Builders: Celebrate on spare card and tore two edges and placed it further down the card.

Our guest designer is Kim M from Art Keeps Me Sane.  Pop over to the STAMPlorations blog to see the cards from Kim and the rest of the DT, and join in.  Don't forget, by entering all three challenges this month you could be in with a chance of an extra prize.

I'm entering my card into AAA Cards Challenge - Watercolour Techniques

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, Anything Goes

and Simon Says Work It Wednesday, Blue

Anniversary Tag

Tags are definitely trending at the moment!  CAS(E) This Sketch and Tag You're It have joined forces for a combined challenge (love it when that happens!), and tags are also the theme at Mixed Media Mojo.

 

I stamped the image of the couple on white card and coloured it with markers, then masked it while I stencilled the background with Distress Inks.  I die-cut two folk hearts and covered them in glossy accents, then added a Dymo sentiment and a tie made from paper raffia and baker's twine.

Mixed Media Card Challenge #2

Well, it seems you love making mixed media cards as much as we do!!  We had a huge number of entries for our first challenge, and they were so fabulous that it was really difficult choosing the winner and highlights.  And many of you embraced the idea that mixed media can still be quite CAS.  So to keep you encouraged, I'm giving you another CAS shot of inspiration.

This month's challenge is Summer, with an optional element of burlap.  I stamped the petals and centre from a flower builder set onto a sheet of Distress Ink-stained card and cut them out.  I added white highlight to the flower centre with a white pen, and cut a narrow strip of black card for the stem.  The loopy design at the bottom is from a stencil, drawn with black pen, and the border is black Gelato.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

To assemble the card, I ran my ATG down the left of the card and stuck on some burlap ribbon at a twisty angle, then stuck on the flower with foam dots, and caught the bottom of the stem with a little glue.

So check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the DT here and play along.  And if you need a reminder of what constitutes a mixed media card, check here.

I'm entering mine into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Take It Make It Challenge - Your Favourite Technique Of The Year So Far

Time for a new challenge at Craft Stamper Take It, Make It.  This month we're asking you to look back at your copies of Craft Stamper magazine from 2014 and choose a favourite technique.  You'll need to mention which technique from which issue in your post.

For me, any technique involving Tim Holtz Distress products is a favourite technique, and I went for Distress Paint marbling, showcased by Liesbeth Fiddler on pages 10-13 of the March edition.  Basically, you splodge your paints onto a craft sheet, taking care not to mix the colours, then spritz the colours and place your card onto the sheet to pick up the colour.  You can usually get a couple of of prints off by spritzing after the first run.

This is the second run, the first one showed more pink but I liked how this one looked like dense foliage.  I stamped some leaf images in the foreground and added my Distress Ink watercoloured bird (another favourite technique).

I stamped the sentiment onto the card and also onto spare white card, cut out some of the words, drew a border round them with a fine pen and stuck them over the original words for a bit of texture.  You can also play about with the alignment of the words this way.

Join in for a chance to win a prize, get your entry published in the magazine, and be a future guest designer!

Click on over to see what the rest of the Design Team chose as their favourite technique, and be inspired!