Blue Geisha Twisted Pyramid Card

Good evening everyone, hope you're all managing to keep warm on what has been the coldest day so far and it's apparently going to get worse so the winter layers are definitely out.
Not only is this my post number 300 (!) but I also have some great news to share. I've been asked by Ignacio of Nicecrane Designs to join the Creative Team which I'm sooooo pleased and surprised by and I get to work with some gorgeous collage sheets, background papers and digital stamps - fabulous news or what!
Ignacio has kindly sent me one of his new creations to play with - a twisted pyramid design called Blue Geisha. I'm sure you know how much I like all things Japanese with a daughter who has just returned from a year spent in Japan.
Here's what I made:

The pyramid itself was a challenge as this is the first time I've ever made one of these but it's easy to get the hang of and made a beautiful scene in no time. I used foam pads on the first 2 layers of assembly only as I didn't want to lose all the delicate detail on the upper layers. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out too.
I left a white border round the base layer and put the finished panel on a mat of red, then blue paper. I set this on a larger mat of Japanese paper from my collection and layered up the background panels as you see. The larger blue mat was embossed with the Cuttlebug Floral Screen folder and the bottom edge trimmed with scallop scissors.
I finished off with some ribbon through a Japanese coin given to me by my daughter.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
2 Sketches 4 You - Laura's sketch
Alphabet Challenge - E for Embossing
Paper Cutz - Anything Goes
For Fun Challenges - Anything Goes

Song Bird Sing

Good afternoon all, hope you've had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend.
I have some artwork here to show you that was actually started over a week ago but a couple of silly accidents whilst I was making it (says she blaming tiredness after 2 VAT inspections in 8 days - eek!!!)  meant that it took a while to finish and ended up looking a bit different to my original plan - you know that saying about mice and men lol.
Any way here is the finished piece:

Apologies for the slightly blurry photo, it decided to go rather dark here at only 3pm!
I was very pleased with something I found to make the base for my little wall hanger having admired the gorgeous chipboard shapes of other crafters artwork. I was browsing in The Range and the blank board books by Papermania caught my eye. As they come in lots of shapes with several board pages and holes already punched they're ideal to make little wall hangings and also really good value as you get 6 pages for £2.99!
I painted mine with several coats of sage green acrylic paint and stamped on a flourish by Viva Decor in Palette Landscape ink. I then inked a separate piece of cream card with Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold and Rusty Hinge Distress inks and stamped the flourish in the same green ink. I then stamped on the text from the Artistic Outpost Serenity set in black ink.
Having finally got my hands on Sir Tim's fabulous bird cage die, I cut the set out from vintage music score and card and stuck the 2 together for strength. I inked the bird cage with Pine Needles Distress ink and then partially embossed with Antiquities Rust embossing powder for a tarnished look. I inked the bird with Fired Brick and Crushed Olive and the branch section with Vintage Photo.
I inked the edges of my chipboard panel in places and embossed with the Rust powder. I used some left over die cut flowers using the Alterations Tattered Florals die and did some inking and distressing with Black Soot and Jet Black StazOn. I fixed the flowers together with a metal flower from the Foliage idea-ology set.
To finish the piece, I added some stamped and inked maple leaves using Autumn shades of Distress inks and a Sissix die cut leaf sprig from my bits box which I inked with Crushed Olive and Rusty Hinge.
I'd like to enter my artwork into the following challenges:
Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers - Autumn
The Alphabet Challenge - B for Birds
Raise The Bar - Curves (my chipboard base shape)
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Something Shabby
My thanks go to June of Dezinaworld for pointing out my little hanger also fits this week's challenge Song, Dance and Music so I'm entering in that too.

Merry, Merry Christmas

A bit early I know but I had to call this post something! Another Christmas card to share with you that fits a few challenges which are listed underneath the card details.
Very hard to think of Christmas on such a gorgeous sunny day and I've been out this morning as I had to do a search for a posh frock to wear to a ball next month and finally managed to find one I liked that wasn't black (this makes me look like death warmed up if you know what I mean!!!).
I also have some good news to share as yesterday I found out that my bird cage card for the Play Date Cafe challenge 49 has gained a Cream In Our Coffee award which is a lovely surprise so thank you ladies.
So on to my card:

I've again used my cute Penny Black reindeer stamp (2803K Let's Play) and stamped them on ecru card with VersaFine Toffee ink. I cut the image out with a circle cutter and sponged Umber and Topaz VersaColor ink around the edges.
I added 2 circle mats of plaid paper from the Polka Doodles Sundae of Seasons CD and made a circle shaped easel card from red mottled card.
I then added a further piece of the blue plaid paper on the base and a Penny Black greeting (3885H so very merry). A red bow finished off the card.
I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Don't Be Square
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Shaped Card
Alphabet Challenge - X for Xmas

Serenity

Managed to sneak in another post here whilst in the middle of my samples for the gorgeous new Polka Doodles CD which is on Create and Craft on 20 September.
I already had the elements of this card but hadn't assembled it as I've been really busy. When I saw that it fitted 2 current challenges, I decided to finish it off.
The challenges are Pile It On which requires Layers on your creation. There are lots on mine from layered stamping on my background papers to layers of contrast matting.
The other challenge is the Alphabet Challenge and this week's theme is T for Trees. As I've used part of the gorgeous Serenity set by Artistic Outpost, I think this fits perfectly.

Apologies for the slightly wonky photo, I'm not drunk honest!
I made the main background paper using my Distress Ink Grunge Background technique (see side bar Tutorial list) with Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress inks. I stamped the flourishes from the Elusive Images Spring plate first in Crushed Olive, then in Pine Needles.
The border strip was made by stamping the flourish with the same 2 shades on cream card. This technique produces a good mix and match look which is really easy to do. I then inked a further strip of card along the edges with the Pine Needles ink and trimmed both long edges with a Martha Stewart punch.
I stamped the main image on cream card and added a little colour with Luminance pencils. I then cut it out and mounted on 2 contrasting shades of card.

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