Tim Holtz's 12 Days Tags

Just to let you know that lovely Tim Holtz is once again doing his 12 Tags of Christmas this year and it's worth joining in as he will be having a daily prize draw for those who leave comments on his posts.

Have a look here to see what it's all about.
You may also not know that poor Tim is in a bit of a state at the moment having had a very nasty experience last week when someone broke into the boot of his car whilst he was at a restaurant and stole his computer etc and some of his artwork. He's understandably very upset by this but has still agreed to do his 12 Tags. He's also having a special contest for those who work along with him to make their own version of the tags. Can't wait!!!

Beauty

This tag is for this week's challenge at Just Us Girls which is a colour theme of Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue and Really Rust

I had a slight struggle with the colours on this one and hope they came out as they should.

I cut a tag from white card in my current favourite arch shape and then painted it with acrylic paints. I stamped a large background design on the top and embossed it with clear. I then stamped a row of borders from Technique Tuesday Bijou Borders set in Pearlescent Rust and embossed them with clear powder. The image is from Dezinaworld and was mounted on pumpkin orange card. To finish, I glued a brass stamping at the top, added paper flowers (the centre one was painted with Orange Peel H20 paint) and stamped text from B Line Designs in the rust ink.

Lady in Lavender

This week's challenge over at the Play Date Cafe is a soft colour combination chosen by new DT member Jules whose lovely blog A Vintage Chic  is well worth a look for the gorgeous vintage projects and lots of mouth watering recipes.

My card is quite a simple one as I didn't want to swamp the beautiful image with too much detail.

Ingredients Used:
The stamp is a lovely rose I've had for ages (source unknown)
Palette ink in Lavender Sachet
VersaColor ink in Sky Blue and Lilac
Vintage Image from Art Freebies
Lilac Mulberry Paper
White Japanese Lace Paper
Stitched Ribbon
Silver Ribbon Buckle from Making Memories
The simple background paper is made by stamping the rose all over a square of soft blue card with the Lavender ink and then sponging on a little lilac ink in the rose centres.
I inked the edges of the printed out image and then assembled the layers as shown on a white textured square card.

Old Fashioned Girl

This is my entry for Challenge 18 over at Incy Wincy Designs with a theme of purple.

The purple corrugated panel on this has gone a bit darker than the actual thing but I couldn't fix it without altering the rest of the card too much. The actual shade is a deep violet.
Ingredients Used:
Crafty Individuals CI-189 and CI-237
VersaFine Imperial Purple Ink
VersaColor Heliotrope, Violet and Topaz Inks
Palette Lavender Sachet Ink
Purple Acrylic Paint
Coloured Pencils (I used Prismacolor)
Corrugated Card
White Parchment Card by Southfield Stationers
Paper Flowers, Button and Butterfly Sticker
The background for this is really easy and was made by stamped the background design on a square of the parchment card, then inking it with the Heliotrope and a touch of Topaz. The edges were inked with the Violet.
The image was stamped in the Imperial Purple ink and coloured with the pencils. I then inked the main areas and the edges with the VersaColor inks to draw the colours together and soften the effect.
I inked the edges and part of the large paper flower with Heliotrope and Violet.

Enchanted Dreams

One card for three challenges. The first being this week's Paper Play with the theme of "Read All About It" where you need to use book text, a script stamp or newspaper text. The second is Polkadoodles challenge for this week which is a sketch plus the colour brown. Finally, the card is also being entered in the Flutter By Wednesday's challenge on Danni's Dreams  the theme being to use a butterfly, fairy or angel. As my little girl has wings I feel she fits in nicely with this one.

Ingredients Used:
Crafty Individuals CI-258
Distress Inks in Tattered Rose and Vintage Photo
VersaFine Ink in Toffee
VersaColor Ink in Old Rose and Umber
White Parchment Card from Southfield Stationers
Vintage Image from Carol Anne's Boutique
Lace, ribbon etc.
Gold German Scrap Border from Paper Artsy
A really easy card to do, the background for this is a square of parchment card inked with Tattered Rose Distress ink and then swiped several times with the Vintage Photo which was smudged before it dried. The text stamp was then stamped all over in the Toffee ink.
The image was inked in the top corners after printing with the Old Rose ink and put on a mat of dusky pink card, first stamped on the left side with a border stamp.
What looks like buttons on the card are actually card and were made from a vintage button set still on the backing silver card which I found in a flea market yesterday for a bargain price of £1. I scanned them and printed them out then cut out those I needed, inked the edges with Umber ink and rounded them from the back with a ball tool.
The flowers were inked on the edges with Old Rose and layered with a pearl brad.
Do have a look at Carol Anne's Boutique as she has some beautiful images on there along with some very inspirational posts.

Oh Christmas Tree

As I'm a bit behind with my Christmas cards as usual, I decided to have a go at making a Masterboard which has been featured in Craft Stamper and is also the theme of Saturday Spotlight this week. As my finished item has the colours red, gold and green, it also fits in with this week's challenge at Tuesday Taggers . Finally, it also fits in with the Sunday Stampers challenge run by Hels Sheridan-to have a look at her fab work click here . The theme this week is Christmas Trees.
OK-here's my Masterboard first

This is just a bit of it as I used a piece of watercolour paper measuring 16 x 12 inches.
I painted it with red and yellow watercolours and then sprayed it with Glimmer Mists in Wine & Roses, Olive Vine and Emperor Gold. I stamped Hobby Art's Christmas Sentiments GR1052G all over in Brilliance Pearlescent Poppy ink. I just love this stamp as it's so useful for background papers as well as cutting up for greetings.
Here's a card I made with just a small piece of it:

I embossed part of a red square card with the Cuttlebug Holly Spray folder and stuck a piece of the decorated paper on the left side.
I stamped Hobby Art's gorgeous new Swirl Tree SC2009E in VersaFine Spanish Moss ink and embossed it with Crystal transparent powder. I then cut it out and rubbed the back with an embossing ball tool to make it curve out. I embossed a manila tag with part of the Cuttlebug Lace Tree folder and stuck the tree on. I gold embossed the edges.  I finished off the tag with a paper flower and some red and green pearl cotton wound round the bottom. A really easy card to make once you've made your backing paper.

Glimmer Mist and Ink Spray Mixed Bag

As we have a really nasty day weatherwise down here in the South, I've decided to stay in the warm and do some crafting. There are quite a few cards here which I've made from my sample pieces from a class I taught here in my house on Monday. The shop where I used to teach has sadly had to stop doing classes and reduce it's craft stock to just card due to the recession. As I love teaching, I'm carrying on based mostly at home.
The class we did was based on using various spray inks-Glimmer Mists, Cosmic Shimmer Mists and other spray inks from Sticky Fingers, Crafty Notions and Adirondack.

I have used watercolour paper for the majority of the papers as I really love the textured effect that it gives to the finished paper.

Ingredients Used Here: Cosmic Shimmer Sprays in Golden Mint and Antique Copper. VersaFine Inks in Olympia Green, Vintage Sepia, Toffee, Crimson Red and Imperial Purple. VersaColor Inks in Umber,Bisque and Boysenberry. Coloured Pencils.

Stamps by Hobby Art: Open Tree SC1951G and Robbie XM1560MD 

Ingredients Used Here: Sticky Fingers Sprays in Aqua and Delphinium. Glimmer Mist in Lavender Fields. Glimmer Screen Set-Flights of Fancy. Ribbon. Kaleidacolor Ink in Blue Breeze. Hobby Art Stamp-Christmas Sentiments GR1052G

Ingredients Used Here: Glimmer Mist in Emperor Gold. Cosmic Shimmer Spray in Golden Mint. VersaFine Inks in Vitage Sepia, Toffee and Spanish Moss. VersaColor Inks in Umber, Topaz and Split Pea. Crafty Individuals CI-224. Scrappy Cat Clear Stamp Set Flower Shadow SCR1026. PaperMania Stamp Duo Set Silent Night PMA9079102. Coloured Pencils. Manila Tag. Ric Rac Braid. Flowers and Ornamental Brad (Making Memories).

Ingredients Used Here: Sticky Fingers Spray Inks in Aqua and Delphinium. Glimmer Screen Set Winter Crystals. Cuttlebug Snowflake Embossing Folder. VersaColor Inks in Seafoam, Celadon and Turquoise. Crystal Transparent Embossing Powder.

Ingredients Used Here: Sticky Fingers Spray Ink in Olive and Walnut. Crafty Notions Spray Ink in Cherrylicious. VersaFine Ink in Crimson Red. VersaColor Ink in Umber and Topaz. Glimmer Screen Blossoms. Hero Arts Stamp Old French Writing H2365. Image available here by clicking on Free Vintage Image Downloads on the side labels. Sticky ribbon.

Ingredients Used Here: Pale Blue Card rather than watercolour paper. Glimmer Mists in Lavender Fields and Twilight. VersaFine Ink in Smokey Gray and Onyx Black. VersaColor Ink in Violet. Denami Snowflake Stamp. Elusive Images Gibson Lady E0443. Crafty Individuals CI-138. Artemio Clear Stamp Set 10001002.  Glimmer Screen Winter Crystals. Halographic Glitter. Silver Embossing Powder.

Ingredients Used Here: Glimmer Mists in Wine & Roses and Olive Vine. VersaColor Ink in Peony. Distress Ink in Peeled Paint. VersaFine Ink in Olympia Green. Hobby Art Lady Of Fashion Stamp GL1906E.  Cuttlebug Embossing Folder from Ornamental Iron Combo Set. Glimmer Screen Blossoms. Clear Embossing Powder. Gold Textured Card.

Paris Dreams

This booklet is for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge which has a colour theme of pale blue/green, cream, tan and brown.

My booklet is a little zigzag style piece of artwork with featured tags on a Parisien theme.

 

Ingredients Used:
Stamps:
Hero Arts Old French Writing H2365
Crafty Individuals CI-173
Large Background-source unknown
Collage Images-Dezinaworld French Set
VersaFine Inks-Vintage Sepia, Toffee
VersaColor Inks-Seafoam, Topaz, Paprika, Umber
Prima Flowers
Brads and Sticky Ribbon
Brass Stampings-Empire Beads
Basic Grey Motifica Stucco Pattern 12x12
The booklet was made by folding the paper in half and sticking it together. It was then scored to form a 3 panel booklet.
Manila tags were inked and stamped and then the collage images adhered. Embellishments were added.
The booklet was decorated with some more of the French set ephemera before adding the tags.

Angel Wishes

A first for me as I've managed to make a card that fits 4 different challenges. The first is the sketch for Just Us Girls Challenge 6 which I've used as the layout for the card. The second is the latest Sophisticat Challenge, the theme of which is Wings and the third is Papertake Weekly with the theme of something digital and sparkle. The fourth comes courtesy of the lovely Avril Ann whom I know via Sophisticat who kindly told me about Tuesday Taggers, a challenge blog where she's also on the DT and the theme is no patterned papers. This is right up my street as you know I almost always make my own being a bit of a DIY fanatic-after all it's so much more fun!!!

Ingredients Used:
Hero Arts Real Pine stamp H2887
Dezinaworld Digital Collage Image: Angels
Green and White Parchment card-Southfield Stationers
Versacolor Inks: Evergreen, Green Tea
Distress Ink: Peeled Paint
Embossing Powder: Tarnished Gold, Crystal
Prima Paper Flowers
Jewels and Gold Braid
The main background paper is stamped in Green Tea and sponged with Peeled Paint on white parchment card. The rectangular bar is stamped and embossed with the gold then sponged with Green Tea. The circle is green parchment card stamped with the same pine in Evergreen and embossed with Crystal powder for sparkle.
The card was assembled to the sketch with the cut out angel and jewels added to the flower centres. A greeting finished it off.

Fly Me To The Moon

The challenge for the next few weeks over at Ready Steady Stamp is to make a Christmas banner which will make a lovely decoration to be treasured for years to come.
The Challenge 9 ingredients to use are:
Stars
Your Colours
Glitter or Gems
Heat Embossing
Stamped and Cut Out Image
The colours I have chosen for my banners are Aqua, Purple, Olive and Gold as I wanted something a little different from traditional red and green. Also, the baubles for my tree are shades of aqua, green and purple so the banner will go well with those.

The scanner turned the colours a bit washed out so the true effect is much richer.
Ingredients Used:
Crafty Individuals CI-071
Flourish from Crafty Secrets clear set Cherubs SM02
Border from Impression Obsession clear set Ornate Borders WP130
Acrylic paints: Olive, Aqua, Purple, Lilac, Metallic Plum
VersaColor inks: Violet, Boysenberry, Lilac, Heliotrope, Turquoise, Celadon
Palette Noir ink
Brilliance Pearlescent Olive ink
Embossing Powder: Clear and Tarnished Gold (Ranger)
Gold Krylon Pen
Stickles Crystal Glitter Glue
Folk Star Punches (Woodware)
Aqua Glitter Card
Prismacolor Pencils
The main background was made by inking the triangle with the lighter shades of VersaColor inks then dry brushing the acrylic paints over the top. The Flourish design was stamped all over in the Brilliance Pearlescent Olive ink. The edges were inked with the Boysenberry ink then the gold leafing pen run around them.
The star was made using a pattern enlarged from the punched star. I inked it with shades of purple and stamped the flourish in the olive ink. I sprinkled on clear powder while the ink was still wet and embossed it. I ran the leafing pen round the edge.
The border was stamped and embossed with the Tarnished Gold, then inked with aqua and lilac. I cut it out with deckle scissors.
The image was coloured with Prismacolor pencils and cut out. I painted the moon with the glitter glue. I assembled it all, adding inked computer generated text and punched glitter card stars.

Mellow Fruitfulness

This is the card I've made with the gorgeous vintage seed packet image provided by the lovely Jeanette for the challenge on Soartful at the moment. It's a very simple design using a photo I took of some of the gorgeous pumpkins that come in my veggie box at this time of year. I never realised until I had the box just how many varieties of certain veg there are, not just pumpkins. At the moment we get a really interesting green cauliflower called Romanescu that looks like a cross between a cauli and broccoli. If you're interested do go and have a look at the website of Riverford Farms and you're in for a real treat.
Here's the card:

Hope

This is my entry for the latest challenge at the Play Date Cafe the theme being red and black. My card has a very graphic style inspired by the photo with the chosen colours and I decided that as it is the time of year when we remember all those brave soldiers' sacrifices for us, the theme will be the hope that they have given us for the future.

Ingredients Used:
Stamps:
Innovative Stamp Creations Friendship Plate
Papermania Build A Poppy Clear Set
Crafty Individuals CI-258
Impression Obsession Word Frames WP118
Red, black and white card
Palette inks: Noir and L'Amour Red
This deceptively simple to make card just involves layering stamped papers and building up the 3D poppy from the set.

Light A Candle

I'm finding these challenges a really great way to get some of my special Christmas cards done as I haven't actually got that far with mine yet. Too much blogging I think!
This card is for the Sophisticat challenge with the theme of ribbon and buttons and was chosen by Cheryl. A great theme too.
As the card has lots of bling in the way of glitter, jewels and sparkle,  I'm also entering it in the Allsorts challenge as the theme this week is bling.

There's quite a lot of bling on this which you can't see that well in the photo so it might look better if you click on the pic to enlarge it.
Ingredients Used:
 Penny Black Candle
 Snowflakes by Art Impressions and Denami
 Embossing powder: Silver and Jewelled Gold
 Embossing ink
 Lavender Sachet Palette ink
 VersaColor ink: Lilac, Orchid
 Glitter glue, jewels, paper flowers and leaves
 Velvet ribbon, flower shaped button
The background paper here was made by sponging the lilac inks on card and then stamping on snowflakes with the Palette ink. Further snowflakes were stamped on with embossing ink and embossed with silver powder. The whole panel was covered with embossing ink and embossed with the translucent jewelled gold.  Gives lots of bling!
The candle was stamped and embossed then coloured with watercolour pencils. Glitter accents were added.

3 French Hens-12 Days of Christmas

It's time for day 3 of the 12 Days of Christmas challenge over at UK Stampers and here's my take on this one.

Ingredients Used:

Stamps:

 Paper Artsy MN39

 Fleur de Lys and Bonjour from an All Night Media set 91416

Illustration of hen

Distress Inks: Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Broken China

VersaFine Crimson Red

The background card was inked all over with the Scattered Straw ink and then other colours to produce a reddish panel on one side and a blue one on the other. The Paper Artsy text was stamped in Crimson Red on the right and the fleur de lys in the same colour on the left. Bonjour was stamped repeatedly in Broken China on the left.

The hens were inked and then rounded out on the reverse with an embossing ball tool. A stamped number and computer generated text was added and the edges were inked.

Vintage Beauty

This is a much more arty card that I've made using my stamps and a couple more from Hobby Art that go perfectly with the doodle stamps. It's in warm Autumn shades as it's really chilly down in the South today and I wanted some cheery colours.

Ingredients Used:
All stamps are by Hobby Art:
 Oodles of Doodles Set 1
 Diamond Background DC1921D
 Script GR1907G
Distress inks: Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo
VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink
Parchment Card by Southfield Stationers
Image-Collage Ladies by Dezinaworld
The main background paper is inked in Distress inks and stamped with the Diamond background in orange and brown.
The 2 decorative strips were inked in similar colours, one stamped with the Script in Vintage Photo and the other with the Diamond background and the small doodle flower in orange and brown.
The flowers were stamped in Vintage Sepia and coloured with darker shades of pink, red and orange. They were cut out and embossed on the reverse to give a 3D effect.
The collage image was cut out and inked around the edges.
All pieces of background were inked around the edges before fixing on the card and the remaining accents were added with foam tape.

Cards by Christine Shelly

Here are some gorgeous cards made by my friend Christine using my new Oodles of Doodles stamps. I just had to show them to you as she doesn't have a blog herself and her style is so different to mine.
She's done some really clever thinking with the boxed leaf style stamp from Set 2 as well-just take a look at her "shake a tail feather card" which is just fabulous.

Snow Bears

This card is for 2 challenges. The first being Creative Craft Challenges number 2 challenge with a theme of Christmas Fun. The second is Papertake Weekly which is a sketch challenge this week.
Here's the card

Ingredients Used:

All stamps are by Hobby Art:

 Weeeeh! LT1562MD

 Pine Forest LT1574DD

 Snowflake XM1815D

 Christmas Sentiments GR1052G

Backing papers-snowflakes stamped and embossed in silver on light blue card and Christmas Sentiments stamped in Kaleidacolor Flannel rainbow dye ink on pale green card.

The Pine Forest and the sledging bears were stamped in black and coloured with watercolour pencils.

The sledge is mounted with foam tape on a white Cuttlebug snowflake embossed panel which was layered on red card and silver stardust card.

The greeting is part of the Sentiments stamp on white card.

2 Turtle Doves

This is my second page for UK Stampers 12 Days of Christmas Challenge and I've used some new stamps that arrived yesterday from Crafty Individuals who used a courier service because of the current postal strike. Really fantastic service as they arrived in 3 days so thanks so much to Malcolm for that.

The 4x4 square of card was inked with various shades of Adirondack inks and then I stamped CI-237 on the right hand side with VersaFine Crimson Red ink and part of CI-258 in the remaining spaces with VersaFine Toffee ink.  I then added a little more of the Adirondack inks to make each stamped panel contrast.
I stamped the bird and branch images from CI-248 on cream card with VersaFine Imperial Purple ink and coloured them first with a mix of Adirondack and Distress inks and then added detail with pencil crayons.  I cut them out and inked around the edges with VersaColor Boysenberry ink as this gives a shadow effect and really makes the images stand out.
I stuck them on with foam tape and finished with a number and computer generated text which were both inked.