Use Dies or Punches

  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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #123

Use Dies or Punches

Our challenge theme 'Use Dies or Punches' has been chosen by Maggie.

This challenge brought a smile to my face, I have been wondering what to do as most of my craft items are beyond my reach at the moment, I do have to rearrange my craft area to accommodate the laser items as well which at the moment have taken priority.  My Christmas dies etc. are tucked well away as not used during the year and I really could not face the moving around of everything to find them.  Then a brain wave - decorate a wee bag with a die cutting border I could reach easily and just perfect for the pressies inside which I need to take to the nurses who are my angels tomorrow for my final treatment day in 2021. I made them each a bauble to hang on their trees using my laser and resin infilling.  The one with the syringe on is a bit of a joke as I am needle phobic and these lovely angels take all the time needed and are so understanding even when I seem to have a Tourette's moment and cannot control what comes out my mouth when they don't get a vein first time :) 

Winter

 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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #122

Winter

This fortnights challenge 'Winter' has been chosen by Josephine.

 

A very simple card from me this fortnight created digitally using 2 different software programs - Illustrator and Photoshop.  The tree are given a 3d look by using the embossing feature in Photoshop.

Remembrance

 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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #121

Remembrance

This fortnights challenge ' Remembrance' has been chosen by Sall.

I designed and laser cut this poppy using 4mm Oak Veneer MDF - oh how I love it when a project comes together and everything fits lol.  I am writing this post while an extension to this project is underway, resin filling the poppy.  I am not a resin user by any means, just a bit of dabbling here and there and no great success alas.  It is why I have take a pic of the poppy cross for this challenge before attempting the resin filling.  No matter what happens I will share the result with you - going to take a couple of days to set then I will know if this has turned into a bin job or good enough to give as a gift to my army daughter :) :) 

Update - happy days, it worked better than I could have hoped with the resin filling. The poppy cross is now with my daughter and on her desk at work.  Super big smiles from me.

All Hallows Eve Tic Tac Toe

      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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #120

All Hallows Eve Tic Tac Toe

This fortnights challenge 'All Hallows Eve Tic Tac Toe' has been chosen by Sall.

I so struggle with Halloween, totally hate it so this creation was somewhat difficult.  I used digital elements to create the card and then wrote a spell poem - not really my forte but a bit of fun anyway.

I am entering this card in the following challenges :  

Use mostly Yellow & Orange

         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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #119

Use mostly Yellow & Orange

This fortnights challenge 'Use mostly Yellow & Orange' has been chosen by CG.

I just love this saying - it is awesome to be different and not follow the 'sheep' ROFL.  I created this card digitally, background like the one here are such fun to do - just blob on the colours and then play with some of the program settings to get different mixing results.  Next the birds and text were added, a very quick digital card to make but rather like how it has turned out :)   

Furry Friends

        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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #118

Furry Friends

This fortnights challenge 'Furry Friends' has been chosen by Debbie.

I created this wee plaque of one of our pussy cats from a photo I took of him.  Lots of image editing - background removal, playing with contrast etc. needed to prepare the image for laser burning but I am so pleased with how he turned out.  I really must get round to doing his sister Bree so I have the matching pair, just wish there were more hours in the day.

Fancy Fold Card

        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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #117

Fancy Fold Card

This fortnights challenge 'Fancy Fold Card' has been chosen by Christine.

Oh I do love these box cards :) :) This was a commission for a friend who's granddaughter was having her second birthday and a unicorn had to be included in the design.  It is not often I make a card that is all die cutting so this was a lovely change to the usual.   

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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #116

Birthday

This fortnights challenge 'Birthday' has been chosen by Chriss.

I used a lovely CCK rubber stamp image for this card which a friend gave me.  The base of the card was embossed with a snake-skin embossing folder.  Copics were used to colour the image which I then masked.  I added some silhouette stamping, masked the moon area and then used Distress Oxides for the card background and the embossed layer.

CAS

      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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #115

CAS

This fortnights challenge 'CAS' has been chosen by Maggie. Just a quick and simple card to share with you this week, a simple flower and a favourite saying :) Must admit though I never pick flowers from the garden, a habit developed over many years.  Hubby won't buy flowers as he says they belong in the ground and my Mum hated picking any of her roses she grew etc. as they lasted so much longer outside where she could enjoy their beauty instead of in a vase :) 

  

A Mode Of Transport

     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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #114

A Mode Of Transport

This fortnights challenge 'A Mode Of Transport' has been chosen by Hazel.

Just a simple digital card using an old map of England for the background and toned down with a light brown overlay.  The card backing layer has an embossed texture added for a bit of a texture feel.   The bike was a free .png download and just perfect for what I was looking for.  To finish off I created the banner layer for the text to be added and then placed my text on top.  Very simple but I rather like the outcome of this card and hope you do too :) :) 

Use Thread or Bead

     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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #113

Use Thread or Bead

This fortnights challenge 'Use Thread or Beads' has been chosen by Josephine.

I love this week box that I made on my laser and so proud of myself as it is totally my own design.  My maths is not the best so working out how to sort the placement of the holes for the side panels and size of panels so everything fitted perfectly was a real learning curve, that goodness for awesome software that helped big time lol.  The image which I etched on the lid of the box is by Aurora Wings.  Once the box was sanded, varnished and assembled I then added a some gold bead around the base which I threaded onto fishing line and then glued.

Red, White and 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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #112

Red, White and Blue

This fortnights challenge 'Red, White and Blue' has been chosen by Christine.

Another digital card created on Photoshop from me this fortnight.  I do love playing with digital creations, something I generally find very relaxing to do.  For this creation I created a white background and added a red overlay along with embossed textures.   The blue background was created with watercolour brushes and 70% opacity as I wanted this to be strong colours but show a bit of texture.  Finally a white dandelion and some white text with drop shadow added to make it pop a bit.

Holidays, here or abroad

    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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #111

Holidays, here or abroad

This fortnights challenge 'Holidays, here or abroad' has been chosen by Jennie.

For my card I used an image I coloured a long time ago by Elizabeth Bell, so perfect for this challenge.  The frame is digital, took a bit of manipulation to make it fit as it was a rectangle but I think I managed to hide where I made the split and rejoined it.  Holidays are a bit of a sad point this year but I am sure there will be chances to get down to the beach for a picnic if nothing else.  This frame is so perfect for the area where I live, all the items including the seals are pretty much on my doorstep in the North East of England.   

Pre-made Toppers

   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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #110

Pre-made Toppers (precolored images)

This fortnights challenge 'Pre-made Toppers (precolored images)' has been chosen by CG.

Just a very simple card from me this fortnight.  I have made a digital card again as I am struggling with hand colouring at the moment, between eyes that don't want to focus on fine detail and a craft room which is full of wood and my laser meaning I can't get to my card making items I am between the devil and the deep blue sea ROFL, just so thankful that I can continue to make cards digitally and have all the fun of creating without the stress of trying to get to my items etc.    

Graduation

  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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #109

Graduation

This fortnights challenge 'Graduation' has been chosen by Debbie.

I found this card pretty hard to make as I couldn't think who to give it to lol.  I guess I am old school as to me a graduate is one who graduates from university and leaving education to enter the world of work.  Both my daughters graduated last year, they decided to work after leaving school until they found their chosen careers and from there did their degrees in subjects to take them further in their chosen field.  My eldest daughter is doing here Post Grad at the moment and will complete that next year. So, back to my card, I decided on a generic card using the colours the main university in my area - Newcastle Upon Tyne and will be able to add a name if needed at a later date or leave it blank :) 

Your take on a Nursery Rhyme

  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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #108
Your take on a Nursery Rhyme

This fortnights challenge 'Your take on a Nursery Rhyme' has been chosen by Hazel.  I have had the images of the teapot and cup for absolutely ages which I won in a challenge but never really had the chance to use them.  The images are by EUREKA STAMPS and I combined the teapot simage with the teacup image and coloured them digitally.  The background was also made digitally using a watercolour brush, just love the effect, hope you do too.  As the theme of the challenge is Nursery Rhyme, this card was designed with the rhyme 'I'm a Little Teapot' in mind.  My brother (before I was even a twinkle in my parents eyes lol) used to apparently sing this rhyme and do all the actions to it. 

I am entering this card in the following challenges :  

A card or gift for a man

  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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #107
A card or gift for a man

This fortnights challenge 'A card or gift for a man' has been chosen by Jennie

I used a Dr. Digi image to make this card and coloured with Promarkers.  The card is for Barry who is the builder responsible for some major renovations to my Mum house which we are now turning into a holiday let.  Things started off really well but with Covid the final stages have been held up, hopefully it won't be long now till we can open the house up properly.  Just ordered a bunch of furniture which will be arriving next Sunday - so much flat pack to assemble ROFL.

Winged Creatures

 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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #106
Winged Creatures

This fortnights challenge 'Winged Creatures' has been chosen by Christine.

I just love how this chest turned out.  I found the pattern for the chest in a laser cutting site and the owl design as a free to use image.  With the tools I needed I then set to designing the box with the owls, name area and the trees behind the owls.  The design goes around the 4 sides of the box and was a devil to work out so the tree branches flowed properly.  Once designed, I etched and cut the design on my laser then wood stained the box leaving the owls and the band around the name take unstained - boy did that require a bit of a steady hand and lots of patience as the wood stain bleeds very easily through the wood grain.  After that it was onto further sanding, varnishing, sanding again, assembling and then a final coat of varnish.  This box was for my daughter Natasha for her 40th birthday, smiles all round as she just loved it :)

I am entering this box in the following challenges : 

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Shaped Card

 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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #105
Shaped Card

This fortnights challenge 'Shaped Card' has been chosen by CG.

Shaped cards are something is so rarely do mainly because of finding envelopes lol so this was a nice change to entertain me one afternoon.  I did have to hunt the Internet for ideas and when I saw this one I just loved the look of the card when opened up.  I used some gelli printed paper I made for the design paper and embossed matt gold paper to mount it on.  The card is made from navy cardstock.  The butterfly is a Spellbinder embossing die I have had for so many years and was just perfect for the design element for this card.  I stamped the sentiment with Memento Ink and then heat embossed as the gold paper I stamped on has a finish that stopped the ink from drying fully.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : 

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Bunny

 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 and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #104
Bunny

This fortnights challenge 'Bunny' has been chosen by CraftyGirl.  I needed a note card so thought I would colour this gorgeous rabbit which is a free colouring page digitally and now I am able to print this out and add to my card base to create a quick but pretty physical card when I need it.  Although I normally use Photoshop for digital work hubby just downloaded Procreate which this was created with.  Simple basic colouring, nothing challenging but just the project I needed for a quite day in my chair lol.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : 

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