Going In Circles

Hello folks.  We have another challenge at One Stitch At A Time so how about popping over to see all the fabulous creations by the design team.  The prize this month is an awesome digi pack containing several images and a paper pack too - how cool is that.

Challenge #238

Theme 'Anything Goes with FLOWERS' 

I love a flower challenge, there really is something so special about flowers, the wonders of nature all wrapped up in one beautiful object, the colours, the smells, the delicacy - oh the images in my head of flowers :) :) :).  For this challenge I worked with the Going in Circles paper pack  by Panda Bear Designs and decided to make a pillow box using one of the papers to cover the box and another of the papers from the pack to make several of the embellishments.

The box was cut on my die cutter and I used the Joanna Sheen - Large Lattice Fan die which I cut 5 times and attached standing up so the box would have a fair bit of height.   Liquid Pearls and Pink Stickles were used on the top three rows and then I added a Spellbinder Les Papillions butterfly cut from the same paper as the fan.

A fine clear and silver lace was wrapped around the box and then Washi Tape and a thin pink ribbon to finish off. For the bouquet I gave making my own flowers a try again, I really struggle with these, especially roses so am really pleased with the way they turned out this time.  The were made with the Spellbinders Bitty Blossom die and the leaves were cut using Spellbinders Foliage.  Some cream lace under the flowers along with a pink tassel were added and to finish off a small pink bow and angel metal charm.  The final bit was a few blasts with Crafters Companion Silver Varnish and there we go, all done.

 And there we go, the finished box :)

Ingredients:-

• Image - Going in Circles paper pack  by Panda Bear Designs
• Dies -  Joanna Sheen - Large Lattice Fan, Spellbinder Les Papillions butterfly, Spellbinders Bitty Blossom die and the leaves were cut using Spellbinders Foliage
• From my Stash - tassel, charm, silver varnish spray, lace, ribbon, washi tape, pearl strands, chalk to colour the flowers, Stickles and Liquid Pearls

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

• A Gem of a Challenge 2W (W2)flowers 
• Allsorts W,3E  vintage 
• Di's Digis Designs 3E,2W,SIO(W2) two or more designer papers (BOX COVERED IN ONE AND THE OTHER USED FOR THE FAN SHAPE)
• Hiding in my Craft Room W,1E Freestyle 
• Artbymiran Challenge - 2W , SIO, 3E, no digital projects - No.33 - (W1 of 2) - Anything Goes
• Brown Sugar – W, E2 - No. 148 - Ribbon & Flowers
• Simply Papercraft - 2W, E3 - No. 5 (W2 of 2) - Anything Goes
• Wags 'n Whiskers - 2W, 2E, SIO - No. 155 - (W1 of 2) -  Seeing Spots
• In the Pink - 2W, 3E, lots of pink –  (W1 of 2) Things With Wings (in pink of course)
• Moving along with the Times - W, E3 Texture
• Sassy Studio Designs - W, SIO: #283 Bag It Or Box It (make, create or decorate a bag or box)
• Crafty Creations - 2W - #290 All Creatures Great and Small  (Week 1 of 2)
• Inky Impressions - 2W, SIO - #211 Ribbon or Lace
• Through The Craft Room Door W, 2E - Always Anything Goes
• Tuesday Throwdown W- #246 Anything Goes
• Robyn`s Fetish - W - #266 Make your own flowers
• That Craft Place - 2W, 1E - Shabby Chic (W2 of 2)
• The Corrosive Challenges - 2W, 3E - #225 Anything Goes (W2 of  2)

Thanks for looking and hope you have a happy crafting day:)

Buddies

This card really is all about the image :) :) which I coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos

The card front was just some very simple layering, the red layer was embossed with an Embossilicous folder and I added a sentiment which I computer generated along with the the title. The only dies used on the front was for the sentiment - Spellbinders - Lables 22 and one of the wheels from Xcut-Chronology-Cogs.  For the inside of the card I used Spellbinders-Grand-Nestabilities-Labels 1.  The background of the image was coloured with chalks, I was trying to get a bit of a distressed look going on :) :) :)

Ingredients:-

• Image - Buddies by Lynne Stansbery
• Colouring Medium - Faber Castell Polychromos 
• Dies - Spellbinders - Lables 22, one of the wheels from Xcut-Chronology-Cogs and Spellbinders-Grand-Nestabilities-Labels 1

I am entering into the following challenges:-

• Sweet Stampin W, 2E,father's day or special man 
• Sister Act Card Challenge - W, Cards - No. 108  - Always Anything Goes (Cards only)
• Stempelsonnen Challenge - 2W, 3E, stamp as main focus - No.142 - (W1 of 2) - Anything Goes
• Chalk N Stock - M, 2E, F, must use chalk-  Always Anything Goes With Chalk
• Crafter's Cafe - W,F, 3E - #118 One For The Boys
• Creative Moments - 2W, 3E - #69 Anything Goes/Inside Out (Week 1of 2)
• DoubleClick Skittles - 2W, E1, F -  #23 Father's Day or Man Project (Week 1 of 2)
• Mod Squad Challenge - W, F - Masculine
• Doodle Pantry  M,First Tuesday,1E,SIO - must use digital image -  Anything Digital Goes
• Going Grey With Scrap-Creations 2W, 2E - Celebrations  (Week 1) 
• Tuesday Throwdown W- #246 Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you have a happy crafting time ahead of you :) xx

Art Nouveau Two

Sweet Pea Stamps

Today is my day to showcase and image from Sweet Pea Stamps and I have chosen to work with the beautiful image Art Nouveau Two  by Karen Middleton which is available from the Sweet Pea Store in both rubber and digi.

This week is Artist week and the whole DT will be creating with the wonderful images by Karen Middleton - a exceptional artist who has images to suit every taste, from the cute we animals to the stunning figure drawings.

I think this is the only time I have bought a die to use with a specific image and would you believe it has taken me almost a year to get round to using it hahahahaha - life does have a funny way of getting to busy at times :)

I started by colouring the image with Faber Castell Polychromos colour pencils and a silver pen.

 Next I cut my lovely Sizzix - 657556 die using silver card.  This was mounted on black card and I filled in the spaces with Glossy Accents hopefully to give a glass effect when dry.

 For the spray on the right hand side I made some gem stems using red beads, black pearls and silver beads.

 The bead stems were grouped with silver lilies, red and black feathers and the fabulous metal heart, so perfect for this card theme I think.

 I covered the inside of the card with red card which I embossed then cut the die again in silver and mounted it on black.  The die was cut again using white card so I could include a white writing area.

 The main card was embossed with the same Embossilicous folder I used for the inside and on the right hand side I added a broad velvet die cut lace I have (the image has been over exposed here so you can see it).  On the actual card this velvet lace is more for a tactile theme than to be visible, sort of like an extra surprise :) :) :)

The die mount was turned 180 degrees from that of the inside die just to give a bit of difference.  And there we have it, all done.

Ingredients:-

• Image - Art Nouveau Two  by Karen Middleton 
• Colouring Medium - Faber Castell Polychromos colour pencils
• Dies - Sizzix - 657556
• From my Stash - Feathers, black pearls, beads, flowers, silver and gold pen, velvet lace trim and metal heart

I am entering into the following challenges:-

• A Gem of a Challenge 2W (W1)flowers 
• Open-Minded Challenges 2W,3E (W1)  inspired by a song (LADY IN RED)
• Alphabet Challenge - 2W, 1E, JFF - (W2 of 2) - G for Glitz & Glamour
• Artbymiran Challenge - 2W , SIO, 3E, no digital projects - No.32 - (W2 of 2) - Anything Goes
• Graph'It Colour Challenge - W (any medium)- No.21 - Pearls & Bling or Cream & White
• Sister Act Card Challenge - W, Cards - No. 107  - Always Anything Goes (Cards only)
• As You Like it Challenge - 2W, E3- (W1 of 2) Favourite Period (& Why) (ART DECO - we don't see much of it around in the card world but I love the elegance of the figures and simple, clean lines of patterns/shapes)
• Red Rubber Inspirationals - W, E3, must have stamping: #221 Shape Up- see blog (HEXAGON for image)
• Little Red Wagon - W - #290 To Dir For
• Addicted to Stamps and More - W - C10 - #145 Photo Inspiration (the colours and geometric shapes formed by the sofas)

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you have a happy crafting time ahead of you :) xx

Pocket Watch

Time for another challenge over at

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 38
Historic

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, if you use an IKEsART image you will be entered twice into the draw.  Why not pop on over to the store too :), Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

I fancy doing something a bit different using the Pocket Watch image.  I had planned on a totally different image for this challenge but my creativity was stumped with it hahahaha and Pocket Watch just jumped out and said 'Use Me'.

Recently I have been playing around with mixed media which is so much fun and I wanted to go one step further and try embossing metal sheet (my stash has a roll of a soft copper sheet which I thought would be so much fun to try the embossing with it).

Firstly I printed the image in reverse to used as my tracing template then set to work with my embossing tool.

 Not bad but not what I wanted.  I had left the chain off on purpose as that was a bit hard to do and also ended up with a couple of holes in the copper sheet grrrrrr

 A quick chat with our lovely Ike to ask permission to change the image into a line drawing and try the embossing on my Black Cat.  What a star Ike is in saying yes as this really is out of bounds regarding TOU - thank you hunny for letting me do this :).  Here you can see my Black Cat doing the embossing for me :) :) :) Not done this before so really pleased :)

 The finished embossing complete with chain - this is in reverse as it is de-bossing at this stage, when I turn it over I will have the embossed image correctly showing.

 I cut a mount for my card and attached the whole copper sheet to it - not worth trying to cut the image out as I learnt from my hand done one that it does not work well. This seemed the most sensible way around the problem.

 Next I die cut lots of cog and some clock hands, two of each of these will be stuck together to make them much thicker.

 Onto my tag which I embossed on the Black Cat again and cut with a X-Cut die.  A card cut was also made and I will attache the two together for added strength.

Time to lay all the components onto the card to see how they will look.  For the text I used mini pasta alphabet shapes :)

 Some gause and silver chain were also added and then I painted over the top with white acrylic paint.

 Air-brushing time, a base coat of Vanilla

Then several other shades of the brown family were added.

I highlighted the text with a Walnut Promarker

 A couple of copper brads were used on the tag and the was then attached to the card with foam tape.

 I distressed some of the areas of the background trying to get a really aged look and finished off with some copper bronzing powder.  All done and having had so much fun I needed a cup of tea to celebrate :)

Ingredients:-

• Image - Pocket Watch by IKEsART
• Colouring Medium - Promarkers
• Dies - X-Cut Lables, other dies by me
• From my stash - copper sheet, brads, netting, chain, acrylic paint and copper bronzing powder

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

• Crafting from the Heart - W, E3 - Always Anything Goes
• Craft Your Passion - W, E3 - Always Anything Goes
• Lacy Sunshine - 2W, 3E, SIO, digi available -  #58 Monochrome (W2 of 2)
• Pile It On - W #69 Not Cute
• We Love 2 Create  - 2W, E1, SIO - #10 - Anything Creative / Mixed Media Goes (W2 of 2)
• Artbymiran Challenge - 2W , SIO, 3E, no digital projects - No.32 - (W1 of 2) - Anything Goes
• Graph'It Colour Challenge - W (any medium)- No.20 - Anything Square
• Left of Center Creative Challenges - W - No.78 - Distress It
• That's Crafty! Challenge Blog - 2W, E3, Must be a UK resident - (W2 of 2) Steampunk Surprise
• The Stamping Boutique - 2W, (2nd & 4th Friday) SIO - No.58 -  (W2 of 2) - Die Cut or Punch
• Wags 'n Whiskers - 2W, 2E, SIO - No. 154 - (W1 of 2) -  Lots of Layers
• C.R.A.F.T. - W, 5E -#311 Birthday + Blog Hop
• DoubleClick Skittles - 2W, E1, F -  #22 Happy Birthday (Week 1 of 2)

Aphrodites

Today is my day to showcase and image from Sweet Pea Stamps and I have chosen to work with the beautiful image Aphrodites by Gabriella Szabo which is available from the Sweet Pea Store in both rubber and digi.

This week I have decided on another candle, this image just shouted at me that it was the right proportions :)

To begin created the background and then placed the image without the white background.  This was then printed on tissue paper and coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils.

 Once coloured I then mixed some Pearl Ex powders with very watery PVA glue and painted this on the wings and the light spots.  I had a wee bit left over so also added some to the petals on the roses.  If you would like to see how I decorate my candles I have a tutorial - click here to view.

Here you can see the two side views of the candles.

 Front view of candle

Ingredients:-

• Image - Aphrodites by Gabriella Szabo
• Colouring Medium - Faber Castell Polychromos pencils
• From my Stash - Candle varnish, Pearl Ex, gold wax strip, tissue paper

I am entering into the following challenges:-

• Dragonfly Dreams - M –  May -  How Does Your Garden Grow
• Great Impressions - M, 3E, SIO - May - Celebrate Spring
• Opus Gluei - JFF, 2W - #209 Garden Inspiration (W1 of 2)
• Allsorts W,3E  no squares allowed 
• Crafty Calendar M,1E  May - Things with wings 
• Craft for the Craic - M, 5E (First Friday of the month) - May - Wings
• Creative Corner - W, 3E  - Spring Is In The Air
• Digitally Sweet - M, Digital images/projects - (Does not have to be 100% digital.) - No. 134 - May - April Showers Bring May Flowers
• Fussy and Fancy - 2W - No.138 - (W1 of 2) - Lavender & Yellow - see image*
• Crafting with an Attitude - M, 1st Thurs, E3 - Anything Goes/Spring Fever
• Crafter's Cafe - W,F, 3E - #116 Feminine
• Crafting By Designs - W,F, 3E - Flowers 
• Crafty Gals Corner -  W, E2 - #19 May Flowers
• House That Stamps Built - W, SIO, 4 challenges at the same time starting each Wednesday weeks  - Anything But A Card
• Deep Ocean Challenge 2W - #103 - Flowers - (Week 2)
• Digi Choosday Challenge -W,E2, - #19 - Flower Power
• Doodle Pantry  M,First Tuesday,1E,SIO - must use digital image -  Anything Digital Goes
• Going Grey With Scrap-Creations 2W, 2E - Anything Goes  (Week 1) 
• All Crafts Challenge - 2M, 1st Monday of the month every other month, NO CARDS - (Apr/May) Anything But a Card
• Crafting from the Heart - W, E3 - Always Anything Goes
• Craft Your Passion - W, E3 - Always Anything Goes
• Dream Valley Challenges 2W, 3E - (Week 2) Things with Wings
• Not Just Cards - 2W - (Week 2) Always Anything Goes
• Whoopsi Daisy - M, SIO - (May) Things with Wings

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you have a happy crafting time ahead of you :) xx

Sweet Pea Stamps

Thank you Teacher

Hello folks.  We have another challenge at One Stitch At A Time so how about popping over to see all the fabulous creations by the design team.  The prize this month is an awesome digi pack containing several images and a paper pack too - how cool is that.

Challenge #237

Theme 'Anything Goes with Appreciation' 

This week our theme is Appreciation and that can be appreciation to anyone or group of people you feel have done a kindeness, provide a wonderful service etc.  I used to be a teacher and while looking through Ken Benners images who is the artist I am using an image from this week I found a heart teacher which would work great for what I had in mind :)

To begin with I designed and die cut the accessories to attach to my card.

 I then made a tent fold card and trimmed the sides so they were slightly angled.  The bottom of the card had a section removed so the end result would look like an old easel.

 Next I covered the front of the card with brown paper and then added a black section at the top - my old fashioned black board is complete.

 The die cut sections were coloured with Promarkers.

 The image was coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos.  I then fussy cut the image removing the arms, legs and easel legs as they were just thin black lines.  I then drew these in with a black metallic pen on the card by first using my embossing tool to mark their location and shape.  With the body, blackboard, hands and feet cut out I then attached them with foam tape for added dimension.  My die cut teacher accessories were then attached to the card.

Ingredients:-

• Image - Cartoon Heart Wearing A Mortar Borad and Pointing To a Sign  by Ken Benner 
• Colouring medium - Faber Castell Polychromos and Promarkers
• Dies - designed by me
• From my Stash - black and brown scrap paper

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

• Allsorts W,3E  no squares allowed 
• My Sheri Crafts 2W (W) graduation or school related
• Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - 2W, 3E -  No. 91 - (W1 of 2) - MUST say Thank You
• The Stamping Boutique - 2W, (2nd & 4th Friday) SIO - No.58 -  (W2 of 2) - Die Cut or Punch
• DL.ART Thankful Thursday Challenge - 2W (2nd and 4th Thursday of the month  3E –  (W1 of 2)  #156 Graduation/Thank You
• 613 Avenue Create - W - #124 Anything Goes with option of Teacher/Educator creation
• Scribble and Scrap - 2W, SIO, E3, C15, F -  #44 Always:  Anything Goes  (W2 of 2)

Thanks for looking and hope you have a happy crafting day:)

Precious Moments

Sweet Pea Stamps

Today is my day to showcase and image from Sweet Pea Stamps and I have chosen to work with the beautiful image Precious Moments  by Charity Dauenhauer which is available from the Sweet Pea Store in digi format.

I have had this image for a while and totally forgot about it - wonder how many of us do that :) :) Anyway, I spent a weekend colouring up several images for upcoming creations and this one one of them, isn't it just so precious.  The image was coloured with Promarkers and the sun/moon was edged with a silver pen which I smudged around to try and create some flare.

 I came totally unstuck with the background, just did not know which way to go.  In the end the chalks won and I used several shades of blues.  For the final layer I put an embossing folder underneath and pressing quite hard with the dark blue chalk, rubbed over to pick up the texture. Chuffed with this, it worked a treat.

Great, the background sorted now onto the card.  Oh dear - dead brain.  I knew what I did not want to do but seemed to have no idea what I did want to do.  Several cups of coffee later I came up with a plan. This card has certainly not been an easy one by a long shot :)
I ended up going for a twisted easel card with a very lacy look just using dies. I just adore the Tattered Lace die I got on a magazine a year or so ago and for this creation I cut it three times.  Two of the cuts were left whole and the third I cut into a couple of sections and attached them to the whole die on the front.  The image was cut with a Spellbinder Oval and mounted on the Tattered Lace Antique Oval die.  To finish off the die cutting I then added a tiny butterfly to link in with the image using Cherry Lyn Designs Mimi Butterflies and used mauve card for the underside of the wings.  The sentiment was a simple silver congratulations which I had to cut down to Congrats to fit into the area created by the inner cut of the Tattered Lace Antique Oval die which is a buckle to which I threaded wide organza ribbon through.  Finishing off I added a large white double organza bow with a safety pin charm and a blue button and then a spray of pearls.

 On the inside of the card I used some blue patterned vellum and then added the third of the Tattered Lace rose cuts I made.  Some pretty ribbon with baby items was attached on the lower edge and a writing area using Sizzix - 657938 which I mounted with foam tape.  There we are all done :) :) :) 

Ingredients:-

• Image - Precious Moments  by Charity Dauenhauer 
• Colouring Medium - Promarkers
• Dies - Tattered Lace die I got on a magazine a year or so ago, Spellbinder Oval, Tattered Lace Antique Oval die, Cherry Lyn Designs Mimi Butterflies and Sizzix - 657938
• Embossing Folder - Tatter Lace butterflies
• From my Stash - ribbon, chalk, vellum, charm, pearls

I am entering into the following challenges:-

• Come and Get It - W, Unlimited - Got Flowers?
• Fairytale Stampers - 3W, E1, must use stamp / digi stamp -  #55 Bingo* (W2 of 3) (FLOWERS, BUTTON, TEXT)
• Robyn`s Fetish - W - #263 Lots of Layers
• Scrappy Hands - M – #37 Blue & White
• The Ribbon Girls - W, must use ribbon – Anything Goes with an Image
• A Gem of a Challenge 2W (W1) more than one fold 
• Allsorts W,3E   diecuts - more than two 
• Brown Sugar – W, E2 - No. 145 - Layers
• Craft for the Craic - M, 5E (First Friday of the month) - May - Wings
• The Stamping Boutique - 2W, (2nd & 4th Friday) SIO - No.58 -  (W1 of 2) - Die Cut or Punch
• Art Impressions Stamps Challenge - 2W 2E, SIO (tab at top of page)(W1 of 2)  #159 Lovely Ladies
• Crafty Ribbons - 2W, Include Ribbon (W2 of 2)  #118- Anything Goes With Ribbon
• Whimsy Inspiration -Monthly 3rd Wed posting, 3E, SIO  - #82 Color an Image
• Deep Ocean Challenge 2W - #103 - Flowers - (Week 1)
• Digi Choosday Challenge -W,E2, - #18 - Anything Goes
• Loves Rubber Stamps W - #150  -  Anything Goes
• Through The Craft Room Door W, 2E - Always Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you have a happy crafting time ahead of you :) xx