Tuesday 31 March 2009

A Hirsute Gentleman


He is for the challenge at Think Monday Think ATC.

Backing paper by K & Co, stamps by PaperArtsy using Versafine 'Vintage Sepia', image from collagevisions and pocket watch button from my stash.


Monday 30 March 2009

The King is in his Castle


For the challenge at Dans ma maison il y a ...

As the challenge was to put a little king in the house I thought that the house had to be a castle. Just a bit of messing around with PSP and some fancy ribbon and embellishments from my stash and a little flag on a cocktail stick makes the castle for my little king complete.


Sunday 29 March 2009

Two quick cards




These were made in a bit of a hurry for two nieces (sisters) whose birthdays are next Friday and Sunday. I thought I had ages to make them and the family then decided to have a birthday tea this afternoon so I had to get a move on! Now it's been decided that the celebration will be next Saturday but the cards are made anyway and here they are.

The black glossy one was made with fancy card from a kit by Kanban bought from QVC last week and the teal and white one was paper from a set by SEI bought at the same time from the same place.

For the black one which is for the 15 year old I added a topper also by Kanban and some toning organza ribbon from my stash; and for the other one, who will be 19, I cut down the poppy paper to show the card itself and embellished it with lots of little blue pearls. I hope they'll like them - it'll probably help that I'm putting money inside them!!!


Arch of Friendship


Here is my arch for my friend Cynthia's challenge as Guest Designer at Gothic Arches.(Click on the photo for a better view - it's not as dark as that in real life)

The challenge( in her words) was " ‘Inspired by the Rainbow’ Take only two colours from the rainbow (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet), two rubber stamps and a Word of Inspiration’ and create something wonderful in your arch."

I took as my two colours Violet and Indigo. The base card is violet distressed slightly with Distress Ink 'weathered wood' and the stamps used were from a collage set by Butterfly Kisses stamped using Versafine 'Majestic Blue'.

I tinted the rose with a Copic marker and used a Spica pen to put a little glitter on the butterfly wings. The arch was finished off with two torn pieces of iridescent violet vellum and several violet gems. 



Thursday 26 March 2009

Tidy Tortoise takes to the Air


This is for Rainbow Lady's Challenge this week.

I used Joanna Sheen's Messy Rabbit CDs for this one mounting the topper on toning pink card, decoupaging the tortoise and adding two balloon gems and some rainbow ribbon for decoration. The image on the base card is also from the CDs.


Wednesday 25 March 2009

Little flowers


These inchies are for the challenge at Small World of Inchies.

The little flower squares are part of a large stamp by Magenta which actually consists of 16 of these tiny images.

Stamped with Versafine 'Onyx Black' on mountboard, coloured with Copics and then clear embossed they look like tiny ceramic tiles although the photo doesn't really show this clearly.


Doll's House


This is my offering for the challenge at Dans ma maison il y a .

I googled paper doll images for this Victorian Lady (at least I think she's a lady; but appearing in public in her underwear might say otherwise!)

Stamps by Tim Holtz, Clarity, and unknown. Inks used Versafine 'Vintage Sepia',Archival Ink 'Cobalt' and Brilliance 'Aurora'. 


Monday 23 March 2009

Script Butterfly


I've made this little card for the Pink Elephant Challenge #7.

The base is an A6 black card.

I ran some red card through my cuttlebug using the 'Floral Fantasy' embossing folder and highlighted the embossing with Brilliance 'Galaxy Gold'.

The butterfly, from a set by Elusive Images 'Butterfly Daisy Collage' was stamped in Versafine 'Onyx Black' on white card layered on to gold card with a border of black paper cut with a Martha Stewart punch.

The final touch was three black gems from my stash.


Little Gems


These are my entry for the challenge at InchybyInch which was set by my friend Frankie and is to triple emboss your inchies.

This is only the second time I've tried triple embossing and it really isn't difficult - my biggest problem was finding suitable stamps for such a small area! If you've never tried triple embossing before Frankie has done a tutorial on her blog here to tell you how.

I used mountboard squares which I cut out myself using a pair of sturdy scissors. The mountboard was maroon on one side and white on the other and numbers 1, 2, and 6, were done using the white side and 3, 4, and 5, using the maroon side. I used clear embossing powder on all of them with the addition of various coloured and metallic powders for the final layer except for  my  'A' which was done solely with clear EP and gold ink on the stamp. I must admit I neglected to ink up the stamps for the other inchies but I don't think the effect is too bad.


Sunday 22 March 2009

Bird House


For the challenge at Awfully Big Art Adventure.

This is tiny - 1.5" x 3" - not the right size for a moo or a skinny but that's just how it turned out. The little house is from a stamp set 'Mini Frames' by Invoke cut out and raised from the background with silicone glue and the little bird is from my stash; I've had him for ages waiting for an opportunity to display his bright colours and this seemed ideal.

The background is just me messing around with some inks and making a rather feeble attempt at drawing a tree because where else would a bird house be but in a tree?


Diamond Butterfly


I made this for the challenge at Sunday Stampers.

The stamp is by Elusive Images from their Butterfly Daisy Collage set. I used Versafine 'Majestic Blue' and did a little subtle colouring with Copics. I finished off with a diamond centre for each daisy and a little glitter pen on the butterfly's wings. The torn edges were distressed with the same Versafine ink on a piece of Cut-N-Dry foam.

I shall use it as a card topper at some stage in the future I'm sure.


A Birthday Wish


This card is for Rainbow Lady's Challenge for something for a birthday and as it is a niece's birthday in a week I decided to kill two birds with one stone; it is also a rather late entry for the Pink Elephant Challenge!

I started with a base card in pale pink and then a mat of K & Co paper; another use of one of my Sugar Nellie stamps; this time stamped in Stazon 'Stone Gray' and water-coloured. I accentuated the letters W I S H with glitter pen; 'Happy Birthday' was also stamped with Stazon and was fixed to a piece of pale pink ribbon with two pale blue brads and I added a flower and button from my stash.


Rabbits!


This is my entry for the challenge at Gothic Arches this week which is 'Vernal Equinox'.

The Vernal (or Spring) Equinox is the time of year when day and night are of equal length and rabbits are one of the symbols of spring and Easter so I thought I'd have a go at doing a little art work of my own to represent the equality of day & night.

I'm afraid my rabbits look rather like something out of a horror movie 'The revenge of the Vampire Bunnies' maybe?

I coloured my drawing with watercolours and metallic pens and added sun and moon charms from my stash to finish it off.


Friday 20 March 2009

WISH


A simple little ATC for two challenges; the final one at Arty Girlz (such a shame!) and the other at Theme Thursday.

I used one of my new Sugar Nellie stamps for this - I'd seen them used on many other bloggers artwork and just had to get some for myself - stamped in Versafine 'Vintage Sepia' on an orange ATC blank and coloured with Atyou Spica pens which add a gorgeous sparkle to the image. I didn't think it needed any more so I left it at that.


Wednesday 18 March 2009

Spring is here!


Well it is on these inchies anyway! Made for two challenges - those at Small World of Inchies and Twinchies and at Inchy by Inch.

Six tiny (1" x 1") squares of yellow card stamped with flourishes in two different green inks (make unknown) and some adhesive letters from my stash to spell out 'SPRING'


Sunday 15 March 2009

Mother and Child


The challenge at Gothic Arches this week is 'Mother & Child' and this is my interpretation.

The image comes from Joanna Sheen's 'Heavenly Cards' CD and the backing paper from www.scrapbookscrapbook.com . I used a gold calligraphy pen to edge the arch and the embellishments are all from my stash.


A for Art


This is for Rainbow Lady's challenge this week and I used the second set of collage stamps by Butterfly Kisses for it. It also fits the challenge at Cupcake Craft.

I used Versafine 'Vintage Sepia'for the stamping, Dark Blue Sakura gel pen to accentuate the 'A' and a Copic Ciao marker to tint the butterfly and the flourish and to colour the torn edges. I ran a copper calligraphy pen round the edges of the dark blue card and added a skeleton leaf from my stash to represent the 'Nature' part of the sentiment.


Saturday 14 March 2009

Nautical Knot


The challenge over at Charisma Cardz is 'Something for the Guys' and this is what I came up with.

The stamps used are from one of the many things I bought yesterday at the show at the NEC - this is a set of CLEAR-2-Collage stamps from Butterfly Kisses; I bought 4 different sets so you'll be seeing them all soon! I used Versafine 'Majestic Blue' both for the stamping and for the distressing and made an attempt at replicating the knot for the embellishment.


Thursday 12 March 2009

I am Woman


This ATC is for the challenge at My Time To Craft which is 'Woman'

I used a stamp by Grunge Gallery Art Stamps from Once Upon a Stamp with Brilliance 'Peacock' ink. This is the first time I've used one of these multi-colour ink pads and I've no idea whether I used it correctly! The edges were distressed with Distress Ink 'Shabby Shutters'.

I finished it off with a button and some thread from my stash.


Wednesday 11 March 2009

Simply Green


This is for the challenges at Crazy Amigo - use as little as possible to create a beautiful card and Wednesday Stamper where the challenge was 'Green'

Well, I used a pale green DL card, a stamp by Stampendous 'Agapanthus cluster',a sentiment and 2 dragonflies from a Penny Black set 'Salutations' and 2 inks Versafine 'Olympia Green'and VersaMagic 'Hint of Pesto' for this card. And that's it!


Easter Duck


This time I have made a real card albeit tiny ( approximately 3" x 4") for the challenge at ABC .. E is for Easter.

I got the duck in a stamped image swap and thought he was ideal for this challenge.

He was coloured in with Copic Ciao markers and layered onto yellow card with the addition of some ribbon and a flower and brad from my stash. A tiny card maybe for a tiny person?


Tuesday 10 March 2009

Beauty


Another piece of digital work for the challenges at Sunday Postcard Art.and Mixed Media Monday

This was created with My Craft Studio and PSP.

I've discovered that one of the delights of digital art is that it doesn't matter how untidy my craft table is there's always room to work on the computer!!


Don't be blue


This was created for 2 challenges, at Arty Girlz 'Smile' and Created Byhand   'Blue & Green Combo'.

The image of the two children is from  Collagevisions and the 4" x 4" was done entirely in PSP.

Monday 9 March 2009

Bella Donna


This is for the challenge at Dans ma maison, il y a...

It's not really a house, it's a Venetian Palazzo but I thought it was right for my 'Bella Donna'.

She was a freebie image and the house was a scan from a book which I turned sepia in PSP.

Some flourish stamps ,make unknown, a key from Magenta and an alphabet by Studio g for 'bella donna' using Distress Ink 'tea dye' and Versafine 'Vintage Sepia' decorate the house.


Sunday 8 March 2009

There's a Fairy at the Bottom of my Arch!


Or is there?

This is for the challenge at Gothic Arches which is to make a fantasy Arch.

The base is the back of a pre-printed card I got in a kit ages ago, images are from Lisa's Altered Art, letters cut with my new Quickutz 'Squeeze', flourishes (make unknown) and tiny key (Magenta) were stamped with Encore Ultimate Metallic 'Silver' which was also used to distress the edges. A few dabs of Stickles and a little star charm on a chain are the final touches.