Ink it Up

Hello there,

It's Friday again already, so it's time for our next letter over at the Alphabet Challenge. Caz has chosen the theme for the letter 'I'

'INK IT UP'

So, here's what I made for my DT inspiration - I loved getting all inky with this one ...

I began with a piece of white cardstock and added some texture paste through my brick wall stencil. 

Once dry I used my ink dusters to apply Aged Mahogany and Tea Dye distress inks to cover the whole piece of card, leaving a lighter section in the middle.

Next I stamped the flowers at the bottom, together with the leaves in the top corner. I added a little colour to the flowers using a pink Promarker and then applied a few touches of glitter. 

The sentiment is from Inkylicious and is stamped using black archival ink.

I thought the two little dragonfly brads just finished the piece of nicely.

Hope you will come and join us with your own 'inky' creations - the challenge is open until 7th July.

Hugz, Jan xx

Steampunk Tag

Hi there crafty friends and followers,

I'm back today with news of our next challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week it's my turn to choose the theme. I decided on one of my favourites for male themed cards

'STEAMPUNK'

So, interpret as you wish - there are hundreds of possibilities for this one. Here's what I came up with for my DT inspiration ...

I decided on a tag, rather than a card - gives me a little more freedom. Believe it or not, this started out as a basic white tag! Then I gave it everything I had! 

First I inked the background using three different distress inks - Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold and Fired Brick. Then I added some Walnut Stain around the edges for definition - no project seems complete without some Walnut Stain!

Next I inked up part of one of my stencils with Versamark and positioned it over one side of the tag, before passing it through my Calibur. I added some copper embossing powder to highlight. Then I used my Clarity brick stencil and covered a portion of it with Walnut Stain ink, positioned it on the other side of the tag and passed that through the Calibur again (transferring the ink onto my tag). Finally I put the whole tag through an embossing folder and highlighted the results with a little blue gilding wax.

I stamped out several elements to use on the tag and coloured them with the same ink - those three fellows have been stuck to my noticeboard forever (can't even remember where they came from), but they seemed to fit today. A few stamped cogs, some black ink splats and some brass embellishments to finish off and voila!

I can't wait to see your Steampunk projects - I shall look forward to visiting your blogs this week.

Hugz, Jan xx

Colour Combo at MMM

Morning crafters,

Well, it had to happen - my two week Easter break is well and truly over and it's back to school for me today!

That also means it's time for our next challenge over at Make My Monday and this week Caz has chosen another of her colour combos and we would love to see your projects using BLUE and BROWN. I decided to get all inky for this one - here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

I made a set of three matching Artist Trading Cards - can't remember the last time I made any and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I started with three pieces of blank white card measuring 2.5" x 3.5" and treat them to a coating of 'Tumbled Glass' distress ink. Then I splattered them with a little water and blotted with some kitchen roll. Next I splodged some 'Walnut Stain' distress stain on my craft mat and moved it around until it beaded on the mat, then blotted the pieces of card to pick up some splodges of ink. I also added bits of text stamp using the same colour distress ink. I used a variety of images to stamp on the top of this with an archival black inkpad, then finished off with some doodling around the edges using a fine black micron pen and white highlighter.

I can't wait to see your projects using this week's theme and I shall look forward to visiting your blogs.

Hugz, Jan xx

One Layer

Happy Monday,

I hope everyone enjoyed the Easter weekend and copious amounts of chocolate!!

It's time for our next challenge over at the 'Make My Monday' challenge blog and this week we would love to see your projects using just 'One Layer'. No matting and layering, no adding embellishments - just simply one layer! Now that's not easy when you're talking to the gal who has to stick everything on her cards!! Lol. So, out came the inks and here's what I made ...

I must admit, I'm quite pleased with the finished result. I used a 6x6" card and masked off the area that I wanted to ink. I used a sponge to add TH distress ink in 'Tumbled Glass' and 'Broken China' to the space, then over stamped with one of my script stamps. I then used the feather stamp with 'Faded Jeans' distress ink, before stamping the sentiment in archival black ink. Simples!

I shall look forward to visiting your blogs to check out your 'One Layer' cards - so happy crafting!

Hugz, Jan xx

Clean and Simple

Good morning to all my crafty friends and followers,

If all has gone according to plan I should be back at school this morning, after a couple of sick days last week.

And what better way to celebrate Monday morning than with a new challenge over at the 'Make My Monday' challenge blog. This week we would love to see your 'Clean and Simple' projects using a monotone theme. Well, I was half way there - I love working in monotone, but clean and simple - now there's a challenge for someone who doesn't know when to stop with the embellishments!! Lol. Here's what I made ...

Well, there you go - see what you can do when you try! (It was hard though, I must admit I wanted to stick a few more embellishment on it!) All I used was my favourite distress ink - Victorian Velvet (yes, again I hear you say!), one of my favourite wording stamps, a piece of pink organza ribbon and a little metal heart embellishment. Definitely clean and simple!

I hope you can join us for the challenge and I shall look forward to checking out your projects during the week. Don't forget to pop over and take a peek at my talented teamies too.

Hugz, Jan xx

More Distressing

Hi there,

It's Friday again, which means it's time for another challenge over at Polkadoodles and this week we would love to see your 'Distressed' projects.  Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

I decided to make a tag this week and used a piece of left over kraft card for the base.  I chose a couple of papers from the 'Sugarplum Daisy CD' and tore the edges to fit the tag.  I added 'Walnut Stain' and 'Tumbled Glass' distress inks to the edges before stitching them onto the tag.  I then curled and ripped the edges a little more for a proper distressed look.  I added a gorgeous digi image from the fantastic new 'Time for Tea' collection, which is called 'Fall Love' and coloured with my Promarkers.  I typed out the saying on my pc, printed it, tore it into pieces and inked all the edges with distress ink, before sticking them in place.  A little piece of fencing (from the same CD), a piece of blue ribbon and a couple of blue candi finish off the design.  Hope you like it!

I shall look forward to checking out your 'Distressed' projects on the blog.

Hugz, Jan xx

It's all about the Texture

Hi there,

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend - we have had quite a bit of rain here.  I have been playing a continuous game of washing out/washing in all weekend! In between my crafting, of course! Lol.

I have gone all 'Steampunk' today making a special card for a design team call.  The theme is 'Texture' and I have tried to show this in several ways.  Here's what I made ...

The background paper is from the TH 'Lost and Found' paper stack and I distressed the edges with my scissors, before inking them with Walnut Stain distress ink.  I then inked through the clock mask and heat embossed some little cogs and gears down the right hand side with gold detail embossing powder.  I stamped some wings, gears and paint splodges onto the background paper and added some little torn pieces of text from an old book.

The main image is a Kanban stamp - partly coloured with Promarkers and the jacket is paper pieced. The image is backed with brown coredinations cardstock cut using a Spellbinders Labels Seventeen die.  It has been dry embossed with an embossing folder and then sanded back to show the core.

The 'Steampunk' lettering was mainly created on my pc, apart from the letter 'S' which was cut from a piece of card covered in metal tape, embossed and coloured with alcohol inks.  The flower was made in the same way.

Additional embellishments include a heart cut from corrugated card and inked with distress ink together with an additional brass-coloured wirework heart, a little brass clockface (which I added some chain to), some metal washers and a 'Dare to Create' sentiment.  I also treat some parts of the card to a sprinkling of gold Frantage embossing powder.

I think I managed to get some texture in there - hope I didn't overdo it! Lol.  I am off to submit it now and should find out at the beginning of September if I have been successful.  I hope so - wish me luck.

Hugz, Jan xx