Altenew's April Challenge

Morning all.

Hope you've had a good Easter so far, the weather has been great, even if we have to stay home to enjoy it. In fact the sun has been so hot here that I had to escape into the house to shelter from the strongest of the mid afternoon rays. 

I don't know about you but my craft mojo has been missing recently and I couldn't settle to anything but I made the effort to get messy after seeing the latest challenge over at Altenew.

I watched the video by Nicole on how the background for the inspiration was created and decided to have a go, mixing Copic refill inks on Yupo paper with isopropyl alcohol and adding some platinum fine EP whilst still damp. I loved the way the EP left a textured look, very reminiscent of the lava rocks in the photo.

So here is my take on this month's theme.

On top of my panel I used the largest poppy bloom from Poppy Garden and the smaller sprays from the set, coloured with Copic markers. I stamped and embossed with platinum EP some sprays of foliage from Wildflower Garden, fussy cutting all the elements before arranging them in the corner of the panel which I attached to an A6 note card. The sentiment Hello, free in a mag, was stamped and embossed with clear EP before being fussy cut and then added above my sentiment strip.

The photo of the stacked rocks put me in mind of some the OH took on the beach near Brid a good few years ago. He got very artsy with this example!

Mine was a bit more prosaic!

On another note, the swallows arrived in the farm yard last week, only 3 so far but they are certainly making their presence felt, chattering as they fly around. We have a pair of wagtails nesting in the planter by the patio doors and the birds are singing in the hedgerows, so nature is getting on with business as usual. We are so lucky to be able to wander our fields but if you aren't, please enjoy your gardens or window boxes and stay safe!

Joining in over at:-

    

                                                     AG

Fisherman's Wharf

Good morning all.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

With so much time on my hands these past few weeks and the mojo not particularly functioning, I had a tidy up of my stash and it reminded me of a couple of stamp sets that had sat there unloved for nearly a year.

One of them was perfect for the new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.

ON or BY THE SEA

Here is my card using the NEBUS stamp Fisherman's Wharf by Creative Endeavours.

I spotted the stand at last years Port Sunlight Happy Stampers fair. The samples were stunning, more like paintings than other stamps and I was immediately drawn to them. I could have blown the bank but instead I kept it to just three stamp sets!

This example is a really large scene one and I decided to take a leaf from the ideas at the show and kept the design very simple, allowing the stamp to shine.

First I took a square panel of watercolour paper and stamped the wharf with black ink and then quickly embossed with a semi dull clear EP. I then masked the edges with painter's tape and added the sky and exposed sand with washes of DI. To give a sense of depth, I added Tea Dye to the foreground and then washed in some Mustard Seed over the top.

For the sky I first added plain old water and then washes of Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch to the top. The clouds were lifted out with a piece of kitchen roll to soften the edges.

I left the busy row of houses and quayside plain as I quite liked the look. Once dry I removed the tape, added a black border and mounted it on pads over a large 8 x 8 white base card, that has been in my stash since I started card making over 10 years ago.
There is no sentiment as I didn't want to detract from the image but the inside could be stamped with one for all sorts of occasions, birthday to retirement. It would also looked good framed and mounted as a gift.

So what will you find in your stash to use for this theme, we'd love to see, so why not join us here.

Joining in over at:-

     


Something Old - the card base
Something New - the stamp
Something blue - the sky!

Don't let life ruffle your feathers

Good evening peeps.
Hope you are all well and keeping cheerful in these troubling times.
As a crafter, I tend to retreat to my room and immerse myself in making to take my mind off all the negative news.
I know it might be considered trivial compared with what is going on out there in the world at the mo, but it gets me through the day!
How about you? Why not escape to your craft room and join us for this month's challenge at HLS CAS. Here's my card.

Sorry about the photo but the sun was too bright and casting shadows in my usual spot!

This month our theme is -



I combined a coupe of challenges for my inspiration, AAA Cards and Time Out.
This is a quick one layer card made by stenciling and stamping.
I first stenciled a few feathers using a free stencil with Wilted Violet DI, then added some texture to the foreground feather by stamping the matching feather with Versamark and clear gloss EP.
The photo doesn't really show it but in reality there is quite a bit of texture there.
A simple sentiment from the set was added to complete.
So how will you interpret the challenge, there's more inspiration by the rest of the DT here.

Joining in over at:-

   

A new challenge at Cardz4Guyz

Are you in need of a little light relief in these dark and depressing days?

well over at Cardz4Guyz we have a brand new challenge to show you that making cards for the  men in your life isn't as difficult as you may have thought.

This time our theme is :-

USE A STENCIL

Here's my card for your inspiration.

I used a STAMPlorations stencil called Art Spatters, to create the background for my Copic coloured and fussy cut boots.

The boot is from Woodware's Rock Dude set and to make the pair I used the mirror stamp technique and some masking before colouring with Copic markers. After fussy cutting, I marked the placement of the boots with a few pencil marks before inking through the stencil with some Faded Jeans DI.

Carefully rubbing out the pencil marks, I added the sentiment strip and then popped up the boots up on pads.

For more masculine stencil inspiration, check out the rest of the DT here.

Joining in over at:-

    

Birthday                                   Male Birthday

Something for the youngsters

Birthday

Pure Florals Cosmos, Uniko BA Inspiration

It's time for some more inspiration over at Uniko. 

Today I'm popping by to share this card made for my BA inspiration spot.

I was inspired to make it after seeing the latest challenge at CAS Mix-Up.

Many years ago I tried painting in acrylics but didn't get on with them and the tubes lay abandoned in their box, unused and unloved. However, after deciding I would have a go, I ferreted them out from the back of the cupboard all ready to try and create a background as per the video. Sad to say that they had mostly dried out, only Crimson Alizerin one that was usable.

I did come across some DoCrafts acrylics I bought to paint an Advent calendar for my Grandson a few years ago but the colours were too dark, except for the white. Not willing to give up, I eventually came up with this card.

Having a limited palette made me think hard about how to get a colourful but cohesive background.

The blue is straight out of the bottle, the teal is a conifer green mixed with white and the lime is white added to Altenew's Bamboo ink!

The stripes were made by placing small dots of colour at the top of the panel, then dragging an old credit card down in a smooth motion. There must have been less of the lime paint to create the patchy effect but I didn't really mind, I think it adds to the arty effect.

When dry, the sentiment and flowers from Pure Florals Cosmos were stamped in black and heat embossed with clear EP. Love the fresh look of these colours.

A second card using these fab stamps can be found on the Uniko blog.

I'm joining in over at:-

Stamping, Acrylic background and heat embossing