Love-ly

When I was painting some chipboard hearts pink the other day, they left a fabulous grungy negative on the scrap paper.  So I painted some more on card panels so that I could use the negative image.  This is version two - version one is below, with the sentiment stamped in black.  As soon as Less Is More's new challenge came in, I knew I wanted to make a version with a grey sentiment, so here it is!

PINK AND GREY

I'm also entering this into JUGS where the word is Love:

So here's the original version.  

The paint is deeper on this one (I added white to the paint for the top card to soften it against the grey sentiment).  

Fancy trying out this technique?  Feel free to CASE this card and enter your version into the CASE playground at STAMPlorations.  And have a look at our new CASEplorations game while you're there.  You could CASE one of those cards (or indeed any card from the STAMPlorations Inspiration team) during February and be in with the chance of a prize.  If you use STAMPlorations stamps in your creation, you can enter it into the never-ending Anything Goes challenge for more chances to win.

Glass Bead Heart

I'm playing along at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge, where the theme is 'Think Pink'.

I painted a chipboard heart pink, then covered it in glass bead gel medium.  I used some patterned paper! (Hasn't really dented the stash, but every little helps, as Tesco keep telling us.)

I wanted the background to be quite faded, so I knocked the colour back with a layer of white acrylic paint, then added in some pink Pan Pastel down the right-hand side, and stencilled some hearts using the ARTplorations Hearts All Over stencil and Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.  Tied some tape around the heart and added a button (minus the shank) to the centre of the heart, and stamped the love lozenge in the bottom right corner.

Here's a close-up of the glass-bead heart.  The button has tiny bead-like dots on it too.

I'm also playing along at Fusion.  Look at all those lovely textured hearts!

And at Simon Says Monday Challenge, H is For...

Don't forget, the Mixed Media Card Challenge is all about Love with the optional twist of Buttons and it's open until 25 February

Take It, Make It - Technique Time

Did you enjoy last month's Craft Stamper Take It, Make It blog hop?  We enjoyed looking through all the beautiful entries, thank you so much for playing along!  And congratulations to all you lucky winners - enjoy playing with your goodies :)

Every alternate month will be Take a Technique, and this month's technique is stencilling.  We want you to take a stencil (or more than one) and use it in your creation.  Don't forget to include proper stamping in your project, then link it up to the challenge.

Our challenge is being sponsored by Paperbabe Stamps and the prize will be two stamp plates of the winner's choice.

I've used two ARTplorations stencils: the flower comes from Bold Florals and the leaf is from Leaf Prints, joined up with black Gelato and highlighted with white pen.  That gorgeous grungy sentiment is from Hashtag Authentic.

So, do you fancy playing along?  Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog for loads more fabulous inspiration, then join in the fun!

H is For ...

... Hundertwasser!  I've been finding inspiration in architecture, artists (some of whom are also architects), and art in general lately and for the next few Wednesdays I'm doing a little series over at STAMPlorations with the cards that I've made.  This is today's card:

Click on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see the full post with a step-by-step on how I made the card and which stamps I used.

I'm entering this into Simon Says Monday Challenge, H is for....

and Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, All Things Bright and Beautiful.  Well, it's certainly bright!

It's a Butterfly Day

I'm playing along with the Unity Be Inspired challenge today.  Look at these gorgeous colours:

I've coloured the image from It's All About Love with Distress Inks, and paired it with a sentiment from Happiness Is ...

I'm also entering this into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, Anything Goes.

The Mixed Media Card Challenge - Love and Buttons

I've got two posts going live at the same time today.  For my CASEplorations post, click here.

Hello and welcome to the February challenge at The Mixed Media Card Challenge.  This month the theme is Love - what else?  We've also got an optional element of buttons (stamped, die-cut, real, whatever).

I stamped the base card with words from one of the new STAMPlorations sets, Hashtag Authentic (I love this set!):

On a panel of watercolour card (I thought I'd picked up mixed media card, but the watercolour card worked equally well) I painted cream and eau-de-nile acrylic paint and translucent turquoise paint, dragged a bit of silver Distress Paint over it, inked up the net stamp (Stampendous) with black and smoky grey Versafine and stamped randomly over the panel, then stencilled some hearts with modelling paste using the ARTplorations Hearts All Over stencil.

I die-cut a stitched tag (Waltzingmouse) from kraft card and stamped it with the I heart you sign from Vignette: Eclectic Florals and used a scrap of thin ribbon to tie it round the panel and through a bone button from my stash.

Stick it all together, add a bit of washi tape and you're done.  So, what will you make?  Pop over to the Mixed Media Card Challenge blog for some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team, then join in.

CASEplorations!

I've got two posts going live at the same time today.  For my Mixed Media Card Challenge, click here.

We've got a new game for you over at STAMPlorations, called CASEplorations.  Every month Maria will choose a card for the STAMPlorations team to CASE.  It could be a big name in card blogging, or it could be you!  Today we're starting off with the one and only Julie Ebersole, who has kindly allowed us to CASE this card:

source:  Julie Ebersole

So how do you go about CASEing a card?  Start by analysing the components of the card that you're going to CASE: large focus image, contrasting black banner, cord, hand-drawn border, sequins, splatters - oh, yes, splatters:).

Focus on what you liked about the card, and what components you want to keep. Here's my decision process for this card:

Stick with cake or choose another image?  I already had this cake stamped on a piece of card in my stash so that was my starting point.

Splatter background?  Of course!! Again, I already had the splattered panel in my stash, so that was what guided me on the colouring of the cake.

Black banner with white stamping?  I didn't want my card to be too similar to Julie's, so I found a piece of black card to use as a base to ground the cake and stamped the sentiment and heat-embossed in white.

Border?  Yup, love me some hand-drawn borders.  I drew a squiggly border with a 0.05 fineliner then went over it, crossing the lines - it's a great way of hiding any serious bumps in your line-drawing!

Embellishments (cord and sequins)?  Because my cake image is fussier than Julie's, I decided not to add any embellishments.

Pop over to our first CASEplorations challenge and see how we've all interpreted and CASEd the same card.  You'll get loads of inspiration, and if you're not a CASEr I encourage you to try it.