Blended Batik Effect with Klimt

Hope you've all had a good weekend. I've had a very busy day baking as we had lots of family here for tea today before my 2 girls head off for uni so I'm very late with this entry for a couple of challenges. The first of these is Gingersnap Creations GC65 - Famous Painters or Paintings.  Mine was inspired by Gustav Klimt and in particular his Lady With Fan painting as I'm always drawn to the beautiful colours and patterns he uses in his work.
As I used Tim Holtz's Blended Batik technique from page 36 of his fabulous Compendium of Curiosities Book to make the background paper with just a slight twist of my own to make it Klimt style, I'm hoping it will qualify for Linda Ledbetter of Studio L3's Compendium of Curiosities Week 11 Challenge.

My little twist to Tim's technique was just to colour the stamped images by sponging and painting with various Distress ink colours before carrying out the final step. My base colours are Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed as I was trying to reproduce the glorios rich colour of Klimt's painting and I think Distress inks are ideal for this.
The lovely image I used is from Dezinaworld's Emerald Collage Sheet and the stamps are Elusive Images Curly Birds UA5SP0253 and Papermania Hampstead Sketch Flower PMA9072100. 

Polka Doodles Sketch and Colour Challenge

Morning folks on this wet and windy Friday. We had yet more rain in the night and it really is weather for ducks at the moment.
I'm here today with the next Polka Doodles challenge which has been set by head doodler Nikky and as she really loves a sketch, she's come up with this one:

She also wants us to use only 3 colours with the sketch and I chose red, green and gold so you can probably guess which type of card I made - yup! I decided to make another Christmas card to add to my collection as I'm quite determined not to wait until December this year.

I chose the background papers from the Jingle Jangle CD as I just love the jazzy text papers on there. I made a mat for my green harlequin panel from gold leather texture card and stuck this to a square card covered in the text paper.
I the cute Polka Doodles angel in stocking in black Memento ink and coloured her with Promarkers in my colours. I cut her out and added her to the green panel with foam tape. I added embellishments made from the smallest holly sprays from the Wreath section of the Paper Boutique 2 Creative Christmas CD with a greeting from the Xmas Doodles stamp set.

Don't forget that there are now only a few days left to the fabulous Letraset competition to win an entire set of Aquamarkers. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning this great set or a runner up prize is to show us your colouring skills using your favourite colouring medium - how easy is that! The competition runs until 31 August so don't delay if you still want to enter!

Little Bird

Here's my second post which I think fits 3 challenges with different requirements which I'll list when I've shown you my creation.

I've gone a bit blue and green today (my previous one had these too) and made the backround with my Distress Ink Grunge Technique ( see side bar) which I'm loving as it's such a quick and easy way to make your own background paper. I used Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint Distress inks with the Inkadinkado Garden Delight clear stamp set.
I stamped the sweet little bird image from the Papermania Henbury Lane Collection PMA92061205 Bluebird in VersaFine Majestic Blue ink and mounted the panel on contrasting card.
I made the flower by punching out to sections from metal foil with a Woodware embossing punch and inked it with Olive Green Stazon ink and Palette Landscape to give it a green tinge. I added a little black round the edges for definition. I then shaped the petals to give a 3D effect.
I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Blue and Green
Craft Your Passion - Make Your Own Flowers
The Shabby Tea Room - A Little Bit Of Metal

Blue Fairy

Morning everyone, this is my first of 2 posts today and it's my entry for June's Dezinaworld challenge with a theme this week of Fairies.
I decided to go for a fantasy style fairy and have used one of the lovely images from June's Blue Beauty Collage Sheet.

I just love this pretty lady and resized her slightly to fit my card. I made a background panel for her by stamping one of the roses from the Clearly Inspired Stencil Flowers clear stamp set with Whispers Mossy Stone dye ink and cutting out round the roses to create a shaped panel.
I made the background paper by stamping the large rose spray all over beige parchment card (Southfield Stationers) with Encore Metallic ink in blue and embossed with Blue Pearl powder. I then sponged on Bundled Sage and Crushed Olive Distress inks. I trimmed the edges with deckle scissors and stuck to a square card then added some French vintage bias binding which I found a while ago in a flea market.
I stuck the fairy panel on with foam tape and finished off with an epoxy sticker and some flowers with a sticker centre. 

3 Amigos

Hello everyone, finally managed to finish my entry for the current Ready, Steady, Stamp challenge where you have to pick at least 5 ingredients from the long list of DT member Nefertiti's gorgeous set of skinnys.
The ingredients I picked as as follows:

Skinnys 3 x 5 inches

Cats

Multi Colour

Hand Drawing

Gems

Here's what I made:

I made the backgrounds by brayering with Kaleidacolor inks in Blue Breeze, Desert Heat and Berry Blaze. I then doodled on each one with markers to make a background pattern. I then stamped over the top with Memento black ink and my favourite script stamp, Hero Arts Old French Writing H2365.

I stamped the cats, The Party Cats set by Lost Coast Designs, in black Memento ink and coloured them with Promarkers in various shades. I cut them out and added gems to the hats. I just adore these cats which are so whimsical and cute but a little bit naughty.

I added the cats to the skinnies with foam tape and added computer generated text to finish.

I'm thinking these will make great card toppers when I need a quick card with a bit of a difference.

Art and Nature

Hello everyone on this rather breezy Monday. We have quite strong winds here but at least it's not raining at the moment.
I'm finally starting to get back into challenges and have a card to show you that I've managed to fit into 3 different challenges.

The background paper is made using my Distress Ink Grunge Background Technique (link on side bar) with Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Dried Marigold, Worn Lipstick and Fired Brick Distress inks. The stamp set is my favourite Inkadinkado Garden Delight 97623.
The butterfly is also from the set and was stamped in Memento black ink (essential to avoid colour bleeding when working with alcohol based pens) and coloured with Promarkers. I then sponged on embossing ink and embossed with crystal powder for some glitz.
I finished off with a quote from the Butterfly Kisses stamp set Clear 2 Collage stamped in the Memento black and coloured with a Meadow Green Promarker. I added some pearls and gems from the Prima E range as the final touch.
I'm entering this into the following challenges:
Sir Stampalot August Challenge - Bring On The Bling (this is about as blingy as I get lol)
Alphabet Challenge Blog - Q For Quotes
Craft Your Days Away Challenges - With Wings

Roses

Hello everyone, hope you're having a good weekend despite the damp weather. It's very warm and humid down here on the South coast as well as wet which is playing havoc with getting my washing dry!
I have a card to show you that will be my mother in law's birthday card in a couple of weeks as she loves roses and when I saw this gorgeous vase of roses as part of Teri's Delicious Doodles Birthday giveaway, I knew it would be just perfect for her.

I printed out the beautiful sketch style digital image twice and coloured just the vase and leaves on one and the roses on the other using watercolour pencils. I cut the roses out and layered them on top of the vase for a 3D effect. I cut the vase out with an oval cutter and trimmed the edges with mini scallop scissors.
I made a background for the panel with strips of My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus papers and made a border to cover the joins with embossed daisies cut from the 2 spot design papers and an X Cut Botanical Embossing Punch.
I assembled the card as shown, adding some glitz to the edges of the leaves and petals with a pink and green American Crafts Ultimate Glitter Gel Pen. I added a greeting by Hobby Art (GR1105C With Love), some pearls and a butterfly cut from my bargain butterfly illustration book.

I'm entering my card in Teri's Challenge at Delicious Doodles and also the following:
Papercutz Challenge - Anything Goes
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - Flower Power
Craft Your Passion Challenges - Anything Goes

Polka Doodles Challenge - Vintage Style

Morning all, it's Friday again and I've just realised this is the first post since last week.  I think my mojo has gone for a holiday now as I've tried to do several things but haven't been happy enough with them.
This week's challenge over at Polka Doodles has been chosen by yours truly and looking at the theme, I'm sure you can guess why I picked it.  I wanted to show you all that you can do vintage style cards with the CDs and the stamps as I know there are loads of vintage fans out there.
Here's what I made:

I made my own backing paper for the card with the lovely floral flourish stamp from the Daisy Doodles stamp set.
For the pink paper, I stamped the flourish in Memento Sweet Plum and then sponged Distress inks in Scattered Straw, Wild Honey and Victorian Velvet over the top. I then stamped on a few more flourishes in Victorian Velvet.
I made the green paper in the same way using Scattered Straw, Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint Distress inks. I mounted this panel on a darker green mat made by sponging Peeled Paint ink just round the edges of the card and embossing with clear powder (Distress ink allows for this as it stays wet longer than conventional dye ink, part of the reason I love it so much as it blends so beautifully).
I made the flower by printing out some of the Housey, Housey text paper from the Back To Nature CD and then printing the digital Stacking Flowers and Rose Leaves stamps from the Love and Cherish CD on top. I then coloured the petals and leaves with Letraset Aquamarkers. I really love these as they have the most beautiful watercolour effect totally unlike conventional markers. I simply made streaks with 2 or 3 colours and blended them with a damp brush to give a lovely soft effect.
I then cut a circle with a Nestabilities Scalloped Circle die and coloured this with an Aquamarker and water brush. I embossed it with a Quickutz folder and then rubbed the side of the same Aquamarker round the edge for a distressed edge look.
I stuck the pink panel to a card blank and added the other elements as shown with a greeting from Back To Nature CD coloured with Aquamarkers and a domed sticker in the centre of the flower.
The Aquamarker challenge is running until 31 August so for a chance to win some of these unique markers, pop over to the Challenge Blog for details and another fab tutorial from Nikky plus details of her Create and Craft show on 22 August at 10am.

Finally, I'm entering my card in a couple of challenges:
Stampin' For The Weekend - Anything Goes
Stamp Something - Something Digi (my flowers and leaves)

Polka Doodles Challenge - Acetate or Vellum

Happy Friday everyone, it's Polka Doodles time again and this week's challenge is to use Acetate or Vellum on your creation. I was rather pleased to see this as I think it's something that doesn't get used nearly enough and really made the creative juices flow.
i chose to use vellum as I wanted a soft look for my card.

 I printed the pretty daisy paper from the Love and Cherish CD on to pale yellow vellum and cut out a square which I stuck to a cream square trimmed with deckle edged scissors. I put the tape just across the centre.
I stuck this panel to a peach card blank and then added a border of lemon card trimmed with a Martha Stewart punch on both edges and a central peach strip embossed with the Cuttlebug daisy folder.
I printed the beautiful lace butterfly from the All Around & Everywhere CD on to pale blue vellum and mint green card, cut these out and layered them together. I added peach pearls to the body.
As a finishing touch, I coloured one of the greeting panels from the Back To Nature CD with a lemon Promarker to match it to the card and put this on a mat of peach card trimmed with deckle scissors.

The Letraset Aquamarker competition is still ongoing so if you haven't yet had a look to see what's on offer, just pop over to the challenge blog for all the details. i also think there might be another fab tutorial from Nikky so it's definitely a must to take a look.

Holiday Photos From Slovenia

Hello everyone, got back from my hols yesterday after a 4am start so was really tired and overslept this morning.
I've got a few photos to share with you of the absolutely beautiful Slovenia which is a little fairytale like in parts. Apparently 70% of the country is covered in forest and I can believe that as when we took off yesterday all I could see through the plane window was miles of trees. We stayed at Lake Bled which is quite a small lake and it's possible to walk all the way round in about an hour (if you don't stop for coffee and cake that is - the Slovenian people love their cake!)
Here's a picture of our hotel which was right by the lake with a gorgeous view of the castle opposite.

The hotel isn't that large but it had enormous rooms used for the restaurant, lounge and so on and free tea, coffee and cakes were served in the afternoon. Lots of walking needed after this!

This is Castle Bled which we could see from our hotel room window. We did climb up there on a path that would cause British Health & Safety to throw a hissy fit!

The lake has an island with a church and we were told that traditionally, if a couple get married there, the groom has to carry the bride up all of those 99 steps! I think this is my best photo too as I really love the way the church is reflected in the water.

This is the waterfall above Lake Bohinj which is the larger of Slovenia's 2 lakes. It may not look very big but the water streamed down around 70 feet and we had to climb up 553 steps to reach it. This made the island steps seem like child's play!!!

We visited the capital Llubljana and this is one of the famous bridges across the river and is called the Carpenters Bridge. We had lunch at the cafe just seen on the right hand side.

This is my hubby Andrew in a slightly angled photo as I was trying to avoid the lady sitting on the table behind! As you can see the river is not a very attractive colour, it really was that shade of green - ugh!

I couldn't resist taking these photos in the flower market at Llubljana which had stalls full of the most beautiful brightly coloured flowers and the lady in the top photo had lots of lovely garlands and posies for sale.

These are pictures of the last place we visited, the Vintgar Gorge which was in a narrow valley behind a mountain near Lake Bled. We caught the bus up to the gorge, walked through along rock pathways and wooden walkways and the most stunning scenery and walked back. This was difficult although it was broken up as we reached a church at the top of the mountain and to our complete surprise found a Pizzeria next to it!!! You can probably guess that we made a pizza stop before the rest of the journey back which was downhill but still very difficult as it was hot.

I can thoroughly recommend Slovenia for a holiday as it wasn't really very touristy and the people are really friendly and helpful. The scenery is really beautiful and has to be seen to be appreciated as my photos don't really do it justice.

I'll be back tomorrow with the next Polka Doodles challenge and also had a piece of very good news today when I was catching up on my reading list and found that I won last week's Spot Prize Challenge on Dezinaworld and have a gorgeous new collage set to play with so many thanks go to June for this as it was such a lovely surprise to come home to. If you haven't had a go at June's new style challenge, do pop over and have a look - click on the link above or the one on my side bar.

Polka Doodles Sketch Challenge

Hello everyone, all being well this will have posted while I'm on my hols in Slovenia. As it's Friday, it's time for the next Polka Doodles challenge and this week there is a sketch to inspire you.

I decided to make a new home card and resized and printed out the cute house scene from the Housey Housey section of the Back to Nature CD on to watercolour paper. I then coloured it with my watercolour pencils.

I put this on a contrast mat of blue paper and then a larger mat of paper from the Not So Plain Plains section of the Not For Girls CD. I added faux stitching with a black fine liner to echo the sketch. I used background paper from the All Around and Everywhere CD and added flowers from the Sugar Birdies CD. 
As you can see, all the CDs mix and match beautifully giving you even more options for your projects.

Don't forget the big competition on the challenge blog and do have a go if you haven't already as all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one of the fab prizes is to show us your colouring skills. How easy is that! Why not pop over and have a look. There's also a new video tutorial which Nikky has done for you and I'm sure there are loads of good tips.

Vintage Travel Collage

Happy Monday everyone and I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I'm here today with my last post for a while as I'm off on my hols early Wednesday morning and won't be back until the end of next week.
This is the card I've made for the latest Ready Steady Stamp Challenge and I managed to use the following from the long list of ingredients:

Travel

Map

Patterned Paper

Cork

Film Strip

Brad

Glossy Accents

Distress

Round Punch to make Flowers

Ingredients Used:

Stamps : B Line Designs Paris PR217E and Eiffel Tall PR114D

              Hero Arts Old French Writing H2365

              Inkadinkado Vintage Car 91406-X

              Hampton Art Woman In Coat DF2296

              Art Attack Film Strip 

              All Night Media Clear Stamp Set International Intrigue 91416

Inks : Distress inks Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive, Vintage Photo

          Palette inks Raw Sienna, Noir Black

Promarkers for colouring

Glossy Accents on car body and wheels and woman's shoes and hat

Flower made from K&Co paper (circles punched, folded in to quarters, snipped towards centre and trimmed with deckle scissors. Scrunched then fixed together with a brad)

Cork letter P by Craftime

Acetate

Vintage Map from Art Freebies

Glossy card

Happily this card also fits this week's Lots To Do challenge - The Scenic Route so I'm entering it in that one too.