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Sunday, December 10, 2017

Make it Sparkle

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #23
MAKE IT SPARKLE

Oh wow, this was a push at the last minute.  I made my Christmas cake way back in July and since then it has had its weekly cap full of rum, better be a boosy cake.  This is only the second Christmas cake I have made in my life as normally our daughter keeps us some of hers but saying as we are now retired and living back in the UK and not in lovely warm Saudi any more I thought I should make the effort lol.  Yes, it is a traditional fruit cake and I can hardly wait for a piece.  The crackers were also made a few months ago and each one has a rubbish joke as a cracker is not right with anything else along with a small gift suitable for each recipient - the hubby has a lighter in his and my Mum's some Ferrero Roche chocolates.  Alas, my cracker is still empty but hubby assures me he has something to go in it hehehe.


Although I made the cake ages ago I had to leave the icing and decoration until yesterday.  It was out with the apricot jam and the home made marzipan then another first attempt at rolling the icing and draping it over the top as we see done so often on Cake Boss - that was so much easier than I anticipated.  I had planned to make the poinsettia out of thinly rolled icing and die cutting but that did not work well so the back up plan of making the poinsettia out silver paper to match the crackers had to do the trick.  For the leaves on the crackers I used lots of glitter but that would not work for the cake so for these leaves I mixed several pigments from my Brusho collection, luck was on my side and so close to the original glitter I was all smiles.  The Brusho pigments were mixed with extreme silver glue I have and then painted onto card.  Lovely and shiny and no plastic glitter on the cake - perfect.  I created the cake frill using a Crafters Companion edging die and finished it off with silver tape and turquoise ribbon to match the crackers too. The fan shapes on both the crackers and the cake were made from a trellis die and I added turquoise gems for a bit more bling. I am so glad this project turned out as planned as there really was no time if things went wrong and I have had the finished items in my mind and half made for so long.
A close up of one of the crackers, I did have 7 altogether but 2 have been sent to their recipients already.  Silver glitter paper was used around the centres of the crackers which was edged in turquoise ribbon.  More ribbon on the cracker edges and silver tape for balance and a bit more bling.  The poinsettia flowers were cut out of silver stiff paper and the leave white card then glued and dipped into turquoise glitter.  One trellis die cut was all that was needed here and as with the cake, finished off with turquoise gems.
Close up of the cake frill using a Crafters Companion edging die cut 5 times and joined together.  To finish off some more turquoise ribbon and silver tape to match the crackers.
For a bit more shine on the cake I used a silver shimmer cake spray, so hard to photograph but in real light you can see it twinkling.


And now I come to the last challenge of the year for International Art and Soul.  Our current challenge will run for one month (next challenge is on January 7th) so until then I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and send you peaceful blessings for 2018.

Challenges entered:-

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Christmas Candles




Challenge 103
Anything Goes With a Victorian Christmas

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

Ahhh, what a fab challenge to end the year, to be able to make a vintage looking card and incorporate one of my favourite textiles - lace :) :) :).  For this card I used some old digital music sheet paper and distressed the edges with Distress Inks. For the second layer I added a page curl and edge the layer with lace trim.  The sentiment was stamped on and the image which was coloured with Polychromes and then fussy was attached with foam tape for a bit of dimension.  To finish off a wee lace bow and a white rose which I coloured pink.


Ingredients:-
  • image - Christmas Candles by IKEsART
  • colouring medium - Digital paper
  • other items - gold peel off line stickers and a toothpick.
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Buttons and Bows

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #22
BUTTONS & BOWS



I so love this wee Connie Fong image, isn't she adorable and she lent herself so perfectly to this challenge of Buttons and Bows.  A straight forward card here is pale lilac and copper.  The background was embossed and pearls added to some of the flowers.  I hunted through all my die cuts to find a flower that would compliment the flowers on the dress but would also not be overly bulky for posting. The copper and mauve paper is from Craft Creations where I bought a bunch of offcuts several years ago and am still trying to use up hahaha. 

Challenges entered:-

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Tree box

Oh what fun :) I was asked recently by C.R.A.F.T. to be a guest designer for this challenge, thank you ladies, it has been great fun.  The challenge this time is #443 - Not a Card so if you have created something that is not a card then pop on over and join in.

The Cutting Cafe is the sponsor for this challenge and I had the privilege of being given one of her fab files to work with, a Christmas Tree box which has a sliding action at the back.


and this is the view from the back showing how you access those yummy tic tacs :)



The box was not the simplest to make and did take me a couple of goes but the end result is certainly worth it.  This wee box will be given to my grandson to keep him quiet after his Xmas dinner :)

Sponsor 1: The Cutting Cafe


The winner receives 3 sets of choice from the online shop at The Cutting Cafe.
Challenges entered:-




Tuesday, November 21, 2017

London cake box




Challenge 102
Anything Goes With an optional twist Cakes

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

Cakes, cakes, cakes - should one bake for this challenge or, should one buy a cake and decorate it, possibly, I don't know hahahaha.  I think I opted for the easy option here and decided to make a box of a slice of cake to go into, it saves cooking which I hate.  I had planned on one of those old 99p frozen cream sponge cakes but could not find one in good old Tesco so ended up with a lemon flan thing that looked edible.  Apart from it having sat in my fridge for a week as I seemed to have been caught up in family stuff and only had time now to take the photo so the pastry base is somewhat soggy the topping was quite nice, tasted like a good quality lemon curd, perfect for a late breakfast hahaha.



Anyway, I used the image London and coloured it digitally.  It is a great collage image of what London visitors like to see, have to admit I have not been back to London for 36 years and have no plans to return !!!! I hate the place, give me open space, countryside, wildlife (not the 2 legged homo-sapian sort) any day :) :) :).  Once the image was coloured I then used another piece of software to make it into a 'tile' and then using Photoshop created my tiled London paper.  Great fun and certainly kept me quietly occupied while in my relaxing chair watching TV one evening.

This is the image I used - London by IKEsART

And here is my made digital paper having coloured the image and created it into a tile.


The paper was printed and used to cover a die cut cake slice box I made.  A flag was made to add to the top of the box with a suitable sentiment which in this case is suitable for the challenge option them and not in the least suitable for the contents of the box. Oh well, I think this is the perfect time for the old saying - You can't have your cake and eat it Ike!!!!!!! hahahahaha

Ingredients:-
  • image - London by IKEsART
  • colouring medium - Digital paper
  • other items - Lemon tart!!!!, gold peel off line stickers and a toothpick.
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Sunday, November 12, 2017

The old oak tree

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #21
AUTUMN COLOURS


A simple but effective creation.  I was in the mood for stamping a silhouette image and have had this Sheena Douglas stamp for a while and not used it so today it saw the light of day.  I know I said simple but the trials and errors I had making the background ended up taking me a good 2 hours lol.  I first tried on some stamping card I got on my holidays down under several years ago (with being a useless stamper I hardly used this rather nice card so most of it has spent the last 7 years hiding away).  Anyway, one side of the card is shiny and the other matt and I had no idea which side to use.  Opting for the shiny side I set to work with distress inks and WOW what a result, mega interesting.  Then came the stamping and using a stamping tool to get everything position just right I moved on.  Grrrrrr, the shiny side of the paper kept sticking to my stamp and pulling it off the stamping too.  First attempt in the bin.  Then I tried again and I have no idea what I was playing at but that ended up in the bin too.  They do say 3rd time lucky and using my cheap white card I stopping trying to be so careful I succeeded.  So simple in reality and without the hiccups I would agree.  With such a beautiful tree and the vivid autumn colours I decided on the most minimum of embellishments, 3 black gems, just could not resist putting them on hahaha.  

Challenges entered:-

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Let It Snow




Challenge 101
Anything Goes With an optional twist Let It Snow

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)


In my happy place with this bag I created just in time to fill it with some special gifts for Christmas. Oh I love birds so much and often wish I could be like them, wings to fly and explore the world with no need for all the hassle at airports and no need to apply for visas to travel :) :) :) I have used this image several times, a real favourite of mine and I think he looks wonderful on the front of the bag.  I created the Let It Snow sentiment in Illustrator and then exported as an svg. to my die cutting program.  The background paper was also digitally designed with the image of the BlueTit super imposed and then coloured with Polychromos crayons.  I bought this very odd snow stuff for my Grandson last year so pinched that back, have to admit I was rather surprised to find when I opened the bag it was all clear plastic chopped up, yucky to work with but has the right effect. I finished of with a good old tartan bow to pick up the red of the berries and represent my Scottish roots (yep I am proud of them, I originate from the Highlands north of Inverness through my great grandfather's side. 


Ingredients:-
  • image - Bluetit Rowan by IKEsART
  • colouring medium - Polychromos pencils
  • other items - digital paper background, ribbon, plastic snow, Let It Snow die cut
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Christmas Owl

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #20
ADD A CHARM/TAG


My eldest daughter is in love with owls so what could be more perfect for her Christmas card than the Aurora Wings Christmas owl digi, isn't it adorable :)  The image was coloured with a base layer of Promarkers and then Polychromes pencils to add more depth and then mounted onto the background with foam tape.  The background was created with distress inks and then embossed with a Sheena Douglas embossing folder.  For the branch leaves I distress inked several shades of green on card and finally added Crafters Companion silver glitter spray.  The die for the leaves and pine cones was a freebie on a magazine.  Stickles were added to the tops of the pine cones and parts of the leaves to look like snow.  A simple silver bow with some silver beads along with a Christmas tree charm finished off this card.

Challenges entered:-

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Fasionista




Challenge 100
100th Challenge Celebration
Anything Goes

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

For this very special challenge, so hard to believe we are on our 100th Challenge, time just flies by these days - the first challenge went live on 11th of September 2013!!!  Ike has a wonderful pile of goodies to be won along with other gifts from friends and sponsors.  CONGRATULATIONS IKE, you are an amazing lady and it is a privilege to have been on you DT over the last couple of years :) :) :)

Ike's Candy Pile

And now for my DT Inspiration for this challenge :)

I pondered about this card and which route to take to celebrate the 100th - should it be a congrats card for Ike, and Ginny too who does so much behind the scenes with the DT, should it be a favourite image or what.  In the end I decided to use the freebie image from the first challenge that went live - FASHIONISTA'. The background graffiti paper was printed digitally after I had created the text which was white so I could colour it by hand later.  The image was printed, coloured with Polychromes and then fussy cut and attached to the background.  I coloured the text with a gold pencil and then added 3D dimensional on top to give it a nice touchy feely finish.  Finally I added three plastic dots.  A pretty simply card technically but fun to do :)  Just for fun here is the card I created for Ike's first challenge, a totally different look lol :- 


Ingredients:-
  • image - FASHIONISTA by IKEsART
  • colouring medium - Digital paper, Polychromos crayons, gold crayon
  • other items -gold peel off line stickers, plastic dots
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Birthday Scuba Diving

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #19
NOT SQUARE OR RECTANGLE


For many years my youngest daughter has been a rugby player amongst other sports but after many injuries she decided to stop playing, she now manages the team instead.  Giving up rugby she had to replace the many hours of training and playing with some new sports hobbies, one is downhill biking and the other is scuba diving.  I asked her the other day what sort of things she would like as themes for cards now she was growing up (she is 35 lol) and the answer was biking and scuba diving - I should have guessed but I so hoped she would say, lace, flowers, pearls etc. hahahaha.  My brain had a brain freeze with her choices and so I decided to start with a circular easel card and the theme scuba diving and let the card evolve as it went along as the more I planned it the more stuck I became.  Have to say, I am rather pleased with the outcome and I know she is going to love this one.  There is a little bit of sentimentality going on, the yellow shell bead is over 50 years old, it was from a shell bead set my Grandpa gave me when I was a wee girl, treasures so often found in old bead boxes :) :) :).  The bead at the end of the bead drop is a hand made one I brought back from Kenya where my daughter was born.

Challenges entered:-

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Leaves Abound




Challenge 99
Anything Goes With an optional twist Autumn

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)



Another challenge I was a bit stuck with as I never feel comfortable working with these colours, I am a blue and purple gal hahaha.  I know so many folks love Autumn but for me it means the onset of winter with super short days and long long nights, lots of rain and wind and altogether a totally rubbish time of year weather wise so it is something I certainly don't celebrate.  I do have a good friend who loves Autumn so this card is winding its way to the USA to adorn her mantlepiece :).  Ike very kindly drew me a bunch of leaves to work with which I used both to create the collage background paper and also printed tons of leaves in a reduced size and fussy cut them to make the pile of leave which have fallen off the tree.  The background paper was designed in Photoshop and printed out with no colour, I then used my Distress Oxides to add the colour.

Rather like the outcome and throughly enjoyed all the fussy cutting of the leaves, maybe I am an oddball but I do find fussy cutting rather relaxing, maybe it is because I can have a lethal weapon (my super sharp scissors) in my hand and can snip away at my non feeling paper to relieve the pent up annoyance with society hahahaha and at least this is a legal way to relieve my frustrations hehehehe.

Ingredients:-
  • image - Leaves by IKEsART
  • colouring medium - Distress Oxides and Promarkers
  • other items - Sheena Douglas 6dies
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Sunday, October 1, 2017

green rose

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #18
MONOCHROMATIC



Something a little different for a change.  So often when I do monochromatic I head for a beautiful digi to colour and indulge in hours of colouring with only a few shades of one colour, I find that totally therapeutic lol.  Don't ask why I deviated this time, I have no idea but here you go a card with just stamping and die cutting.  At least this one will fit in an envelope and travel through the post safely, that makes a change for me :)

Challenges entered:-


Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Jay is 8




Challenge 98
Anything Goes With an optional twist Food, Sci fi.

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)



My grandson is growing up fast and will be 8 on his next birthday.  He is football crazy so I asked Ike to draw me a football birthday cake for this challenge which I have coloured in his club football colours - fingers crossed he likes this rather grown up card :) :) :) and a huge thank you Ike for doing this for me :).

Ingredients:-
  • image - Football Cake
  • colouring medium - polychromos pencils
  • other items - sticky back felt, Crafters Companion hexagon die, birthday stamp and letters
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Cropped Pansy

With a wonderful couple of days at home and no major items that need dealing with I can indulge in craft room time with no guilt hahaha.

The current challenge over at Aurora Wings is 'Crop It', a fun and interesting challenge that makes you think a bit more than you would expect.  I started with a totally different idea and after 4 hours of colouring etc. I ruined the work when die cutting it grrrrrrr, only place for that was the bin and a good hour or two of sulking before I went back to try again with a different image, so unplanned other than the area of the image I wanted to use :) :)


This is the area of the image 'Pansy' showing the section I cropped to use.

The image was coloured with Polychromos and the background Pan Pastels.  A bit of clear embossing in the opposite corner to the coloured image added texture and an area of interest that did not distract from the image.  The sentiment is from Crafters Companion.

Challenges entered :-


Dufex and Angelina Fibre

Lost and found, yep I seem to have a lot of that going on at the moment.  For the past few years I have had two craft rooms (well 1 main one in Saudi and one with basic supplies here in the UK).  Now hubby has retired and we have returned to soggy England my two craft rooms are united and have become 1.  I am still finding things I bought ages ago and tucked away here in the UK ready for our return hahaha.

One of the items found was a box with Dufex decoupage sheets in so one of the sheets saw the light of day for this card.  The other item which was in Saudi with me for many years but not used as it was to precious, I had tucked it away and then forgot about it until I packed up my craft room lol was Hot Fix Angelina Fibre where you pulled the fibres into the shape you wanted and then ironed.  I decided to cover the whole card in 2 shades of Angelina Fibre, a dark blue and a copper.  They were so shiny in the packets but when I ironed them they seemed to take on a matt look.  Think this was my fault as I did not have any parchment paper to iron the strands between so used some other non-stick cooking stuff and I suspect it had a wax finish to it.  Oh well live and learn.  With the scraps of the fibre that were left over after trimming the card blank, instead of throwing away I added them as a backing layer behind the decoupaged image.  The Christmas Wishes sentiment is from Tim Holtz dies and this was cut 4 time with each layer mounted one of top of the other to make them really stand out and give an almost chipboard feel.

Challenges entered :-

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Belly Button

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #17
A SPECIAL DAY



A fun card from me this time using digi called BUGABOO - stella belly button.  My eldest daughter needed a birthday card from a friend and this friend had decided the other day to go out without a bra on!!!!!!!  A lot of giggles between my daughter and this friend and a comment about a belly button also came up.  How could I use any other image for her birthday card, this one was just so perfect hahahaha.

Challenges entered:-

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Bride Time




Challenge 97
Anything Goes With an optional twist White on White

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)


I just love this image and it is a wee while since I last used it, this challenge is the perfect chance to use it again.  The background was coloured with Distress Oxides and then I used a stencil and silver ink to add some more texture.  The image was coloured with Polychromos and then SN glitter clear pen on the scales to add the sheen.  To finish off I used some underwater themed stamps.

Ingredients:-
  • image - Bride set of 4 by IKEsART
  • colouring medium - Polychromos crayons
  • other items - stencil; silver, blue and green stamp pads; clear shells, coral, fish and sentiment
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Old Boot

I had to make a card quickly to give to a friends hubby.  This friend is an old school friend who I have know since I was nine and at boarding school she was my partner in crime. We lost contact when she left the school when se was 14 for about 30 years when I found her again on the Internet through a web site I set up to track former pupils of our school :) What a great day that was :)  Anyway it is her hubby's birthday next weekend and we are all going out together so I thought I had better make a card for him quickly.  Stu loves the out-doors and his walking along with that he also studies dragonflies and lectures on them in his spare time hence the addition of the dragonfly brad on the fence pole.  I won this fab 'Old Boot' image this week from Digi Stamps 4 Joy, thank you Margy and as I promised if I could I would enter into her monthly challenge so here we are.  The background uses and image from Just Inklined called Holy Ribbon Chapel and I coloured it with Pan Pastels - new to me as I have never used them to colour and image before.  This time I wanted a very soft background and am rather pleased with the outcome.  The 'Old Boot' image is from Digi Stamps 4 Joy, I superimposed one image behind a second copy before printing.  Once printed I coloured with Polychromes and then fussy cut.  I love the depth of colouring on the boots in comparison to the soft background. To finish off I mounted the finished images on black card then a gold green metallic paper.  A dragonfly, as mentioned earlier was added to one of the fence posts and Glossy Accents were placed in each corner to keep the peel off gold line stickers secure.



Challenge entered :_
  • Digi Stamps 4 Joy - Challenge #140 - Anything Goes + optional twist of "warm colours"
  • Craft for the Craic - M, 5E (First Friday of the month) - September - Autumnal Coloured Project
  • Just Add Ink – W, - No.375 - Just Add D - DRAGONFLY
  • Cardz 4 Guyz 2W, 3E - #177 - Something beginning with letter D (week 2) - DRAGONFLY



Sunday, September 3, 2017

Lace and Pearls

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #16 - LACE and/or PEARLS




Always a favourite challenge of mine as I love lace and pearls on cards, they always look so elegant.  I decided to move away from my normal choices of creams or blacks and this time use silver, pale pink with some black for the contrast.  The lace is very old, a gift from my mother's lace collection she used to keep for dressmaking so many memories for me as I used it :)  

Challenges entered:-

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Over the Hill

You know when you get one of those days when you need some 'me time' but don't know what to create.  Today was one of those days so I headed over to PaperPlayful to find a couple of challenges to enter and create a card around their themes.  Sounds simple but I still had to trash my first attempt, it just did not come together as I had hoped.  Deciding not to quit I started again and totally forgot one of the challenges had to have something with the letter 'D' - blow me my first attempt was using a drill the second card I forgot the D and did cars.  It was not till I was half way through it I realised grrrrrrr.  Thankfully after moaning to hubby he came up with disc brakes as they are on a car and drew me a nice wee picture of what they look like.  Now to make them, what would work?  - Button dies lol.  I don't have many male themed cards in my stash so this is a handy one to put away and I do rather like how it turned out.  After my crafting 'me time' I feel a lot better hahahaha.


The background was created with a vintage car stamp from Papermania which I have had for ages.  I stamped a couple of spare cars and fussy cut them to use for masking.  The sentiment stamp is from and the Birthday stamp a freebie from a magazine.  Spellbinder dies were used for the topper and white circles for the disc brakes, the button die is in a packet I have and have not written who the maker is sorry.  Black ribbon added a bit of texture to the card.

Challenges entered :-



Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Athena




Challenge 96
Anything Goes With an optional twist Mythology
{popular culture, folklore, and other non-scientific}

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)



A wonderful new image from IKEsArt, isn't she a beauty :) :) :) The image was coloured with Polychrome crayons.  For the background I masked the image and then used stamping ink to blend the green.  Next was to stencil some metallic green using a Sheena Douglas stencil.  I have the die that matches this stencil so the was cut next and covered with aged copper embossing powder.  To finish off some simple gold trim and a stamp which was free from a magazine.  Ooops nearly forgot the pearls lol.

Ingredients:-
  • image - Athena by IKEsART
  • colouring medium - Polychromos and stamping inks
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Funky die cutting

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #15 - Layer it UP



OOOO layering is such fun especially with all the fabulous dies and die cuts around these days.  For the die cut I used Card 3 from Monica's Creative Room.  Monica is one of the most talented and generous electronic die cut creators, her dies are intricate but stunning.  For this card I started with a silver blank, the next layer was the white die cut which is almost the same as the black layer you can see in the card.  Next I used some hand made paper I collected on my travels and cut the flower shape.  The next layer is the black layer and then I added a lacy doily cut, this was a disaster as the hand made paper was not dense enough to cut properly.  In the end, to solve the problem, I glued the hand made paper to some regular 75gms copy paper and let it dry.  Cutting worked perfectly after that.  I cut the small doily out of black card and to finish off lots of glass gems.  The tag layers are hand cut and the Happy Birthday die is from Desire.

Challenges entered:-

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Dreaming Mermaid




Challenge 95
Anything Goes with an optional TWIST .... The Abyss
{or in the ocean, under the sea}

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)


I just love this image and it is a wee while since I last used it, this challenge is the perfect chance to use it again.  The background was coloured with Distress Oxides and then I used a stencil and silver ink to add some more texture.  The image was coloured with Polychromos and then SN glitter clear pen on the scales to add the sheen.  To finish off I used some underwater themed stamps.

Ingredients:-
  • image - Mermaid 3 by IKEsART
  • colouring medium - Distress Oxides, SN markers and Glitter Pens and Polychromos crayons
  • other items - stencil; silver, blue and green stamp pads; clear shells, coral, fish and sentiment
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Snarky Dog

Well here I am again playing along with Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers :) :) :) :) This time with a 3d snarky dog. Now I really don't care what people think I am pretty sure no matter how nice we are really there comes a time when we get together with a friend and just can't help ourselves finding something bitch about.  With this in mind my card is for one of those friends who enjoys a bit of the you know what over a good cup of tea or something stronger.


The paper was designed digitally along with the sentiment then printed out.  The dog digi is by CraftyGirl, isn't she sweet - the dog that is mine  you CraftyGirl is a goodun too :).  I printed the dog 4 times so I could break the sections apart and create a 3D layered furry friend.

Challenges entered :-

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Reverse Resist Box

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #14 - Boxes and Bags



This wee box was made from a template I used from a 2 chocolate chocolate box I was given on the aeroplane recently :) :).  I used resist embossing to create the background along with water colour paints.  The stamp is a background stamp from Leonie Pujol The flower die is from a Sheena Douglass set and also coloured with water colour paints.  I did try several ways to finish off the box, with braid and a tassel, larger lace, green and gold braid but decided to go with a simple white lace with dangly bits hanging off it.

Challenges entered:-

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Fun at the Fair




Challenge 94
Anything Goes with an optional TWIST .... Embossing



Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)


Lots of embossing happening on this child's birthday card :) Using the image Merry-Go-Round I used Polychromos and SN markers to colour.  The floor of the merry-go-round was coloured with Polychromos and to get the texture I coloured over a sunburst embossing folder.  The cloud border, saddles and base were heat embossed.  Two embossing folders were used for the background and layer behind the text.

Ingredients:-
  • image - Merry-Go-Round by IKEsART
  • colouring medium - SN markers and Polychromos crayons
  • other items - Bridal embossing powder, embossing folders, birthday die and brads
I am entering this project into the following challenges:-
  • Pile It On - M, 1st Sunday + bonus theme 3rd week, Use theme & at least one other challenge, Winners posted 2nd Sunday - July - #132 Primary Colors (Use mostly Red, Yellow, and/or Blue)
  • DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge 2W, 3E #209 Happy Birthday (or a Thank You Card) (W1 of 2)