Hi there!!!

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #58
Ecology/Environmental/Conservation

This fortnights challenge of Ecology/Environmental/Conservation has been chosen by DT sister Sall. 

I found this challenge pretty hard to get my head around until I googled simple meanings to the theme then it all fell into place.  I chose the word Ecology, the balance of living organisms and how they use each other to continue their survival.   Bees are such an important part of our lives, without the wonderful job they do in the pollination of flowers they also give us that fabulous food item, honey, which is so good for us, for our immune systems etc. a natural sweetener which is so much better for us than refined sugar plus a whole load of other uses.  Flower in return give us so much joy in our lives with their beautiful colours brightening our days.  Of course I have only chosen this theme at a pretty superficial level but it is one that is close to my heart.

I created the background for this card with Brusho pigment powders sprayed with with water in lovely summery colours.  I then stamped the hexagon honeycomb shapes in black ink.  Next I stamped my bee, masked him and then stamped my flowers.  Colouring was done with Promarkers and when all this was done I added my sentiment.  Next I die cut my coloured image and used Distress Oxides roughly around the edges.  Rummaging through one of my drawers I found some orange mesh with white embossed bit on it so cut this to place behind my image layer.  To finish off I added some bee buttons I had, to make them flat I cut of the looped back, worked a treat :)

Challenges entered:-

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Coffee With A Friend

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 120
Embossing

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

Oh what fun making this card and I loved the chance to use a digi Ike drew a while ago when I requested a coffee cup lol.  How cool is it to be able to use images from the past again and again.  For this embossing challenge I embossed my craft card base and then used Distress Oxides to enhance with colour the embossed bits.  The second bit of embossing was with the foiling where I used and embossing folder rather aptly with the birthday sentiment and turquoise heat active foil, love the way this turned out with just a bit of bling for the card.  The image was coloured with Promarkers, nice to have them out again, don't seem to have played with them much recently. I also used some stamps I have with a coffee theme and these were used for the coffee bean border and centre of the heart plus a sentiment for the coffee mug.  I finished off with 4 half pearls in a lovely chocolate brown colour.

Ingredients:-

• image - I LUV COFFEE Set Set of 4 + 6 FREE Papers by IKEsART
• colouring medium - Promarkers and Prismacolour
• other items - sentiment stamp

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

• Pile It On - M, 1st Sunday + bonus theme 3rd week, Use theme & at least one other challenge, Winners posted 2nd Sunday - (May) Beverage
• The Paper Players - W, C4 - #440 Friendship
• Creative Knockouts W,2E,C8 #296 Friendship
• DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge M 1st Thurs 3E #243 May - Coffee, Tea Or Chocolate
• Seize The Birthday 2W, 3E, C5  Birthday + Option Of: Texture (W2 of 2) 

Jacquard Birthday

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #57
Birthday

This fortnights challenge of Birthday has been chosen by DT sister CraftyGirl.  I had so much fun making this card and trying to get the hang of masking.  This awesome stamp was part of the Creative Stamper set with magazine #107.  The stamp so reminds me of all the needlework my Mum and Gran used to do often using images like this and a variety of stitches.

Once I had made my masks I then got t stamping then coloured the final design with Promarkers.  I was trying to get an antique theme going on (thinking again of my Mum and Gran's needlework lol) and think, looking at the end result I did capture what I was trying to do.  A small edging stamp was used to to complete the framing of the card and finally the Birthday sentiment also from the Creative Stampers magazine.  I then used the Tim Holtz distressing tool to roughen up the edges (my stamping is not very straight on the edges so this is a cool way to disguise this and make it look part of the end result).  The completed layer was then mounted on black card.  Leaving the card base white did not look right so I ended up getting some purple children's craft paper and scrunching it up into a small ball to create a really distressed look. Once flattened out I used this to cover my card.  Finally I added some flat back pearls to the flowers and a couple of die cut butterflies in black.

Challenges entered:-

• Pattie's Creations - M, 2E, SIO, include an image (MUST always use digital or stamped image) – APR - No. 157 - FLOWERS   Ends May 2nd  
• Aud Sentiments Challenge 2W,E5  Must include a sentiment #225 Happy Birthday Sentiment (W2 of 2) + A DT Call
• C.R.A.F.T. W,5E #511 Distress Yur Project
• Moving along with the Times 2W,3E #96 Floral (W1 of 2)
• Passion For Promarkers Challenge W - must use promarkers - #490 - Favorite Stamp or Digi - (This stamp is certainly going to be a favourite, it is versitile, suitable for so many styles and fun to colour added to this is the memories of my Mum and Gran each time I use it )

Easter Egg Baskets

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #56
Easter

This fortnights challenge of Easter is a nice easy one.  I don't give out Easter cards so for this challenge I used a super digital die cut from My Scrap Chick I purchased last year to make a small basket which I then filled with an assortment of mini eggs.  This was so much fun to make I then made a second on lol.

I love the way this die cut basket looks like a fence and in keeping with that I coloured my card a light brown colour once cut and then rubber stamped in black with a wood texture stamp.  I then made a couple of simple labels using stamps from an Easter set I bought ages ago, another of those sale items that seemed like a good idea and this is the first time it has been used in over 5 years.  The yellow layer behind the sentiment layer on the label is also stamped and then heat embossed.  To finish off I added a simple bow.

Challenges entered:-

• Angie's Digital Stamps - M, 1st Sunday, 3E, Winner and Top Picks - (April) Anything Goes with Option of Easter
• Sweet Stampin W, 2E, include stamping - Getting Ready For Easter / Spring
• Cut it Up - 2W, 1E, Must have Die Cuts - No. 171  - BUNNIES OR BASKETS  (W2 of 2)
• Aud Sentiments Challenge 2W,E5  Must include a sentiment #224 Easter/Spring Sentiment (W2 of 2)
• Crafting By Designs  W, F, 3E - Easter
• Scrap From Your Heart (M, P1, 5E, C10) #32 - Use Dies
• Sweet Stampers (M, P10, E3, use stamp or digi) #30 - Easter or Spring
• Tales From The Craft Room (M, P4, E1) #3 - Easter/Spring

Peony Corner

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 119
Die Cuts

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

I have had this jigsaw die for absolutely ages, think I picked it up in a sale knowing I had got a bargain then never used it.  How fabulous is it for this challenge :).  To make my card I embossed some design paper and used it to cover my card blank.  I then printed Ike's digital image, Peony Corner and coloured it with Promarkers.  Using the jigsaw die for the cutting of the image I then mounted alternate pieces using 3D tape. onto pink pearl paper.   Finally a small happy birthday die which my daughter gave me last Christmas, Oh and another die cut lacy square which I used under the image layer.  I have no idea what was going on when I photographed this card, so squint and I apologies for that, must have been a bad day lol.

Ingredients:-

• image - PEONY CORNER by IKEsART
• colouring medium - Promarkers and Prismacolour
• other items - sentiment stamp

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

CAS with Blue

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #55
CAS with Blue

This fortnights challenge of CAS with Blue has been chosen by Maggie.  Certainly had to get my thinking cap on for this one lol.  I ended up making two cards, the one below which I don't really like and another but it turned out less CAS and more arty so did not really fit the challenge theme so I have had to go with this one.  I did have a lot of fun making this with lots of stamping in one colour but it just feels so unfinished.  Never mind, a learning curve for me.

Challenges entered:-

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Pansy Power

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #54
Green and 2 Other Colours

This fortnights challenge of Green and 2 other colours has been chosen by Chriss.  I loved this challenge and it gave me the perfect push to try something new.  Sometime ago I won so Kitchen Ink layered stamps and have been itching to make something with them but keep putting the project off.  Oh the stamps from Kitchen Ink are just beautiful and if I only lived in the States I think I would be buying more.  The prize was a voucher so I bought the pansy stamp and then I added another stamp to my order too, checkout added the postage which made me gulp but I went ahead anyway knowing the stamps would be beautiful.  Oh boy, fast postage, and excellent service so no complaints but when the package arrived or should I say customs notification for payment on collection of the package I could have cried.  With the postage and customs tax the price of the stamps ended up being doubled.  Oh well, I love them and that is the main thing and I really can't fault Kitchen Ink Stamps, they are wonderful to deal with.  So here we are with my first proper attempt with the layered stamps, tons of masking and totally out of my comfort zone but so much fun in the end :)

Challenges entered:-

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