Stampunkery

Morning Peeps, today I am posting again over at the Chocolate Baroque blog sharing a few more of my makes from the recent Steampunk Hochanda shows. I won't go into all the detail here as I have explained all on the CB blog should you want to check out what I used. Lots of snippets of card in the one above so off to the Snippets Playground, hopefully Parsnip is getting into seasonal mode and has some mulled wine on the go.

As I intimated when I did my last Steampunk post, it's a theme I had never ventured into previously, beetles and clocks with wings and hats just doesn't gel with me and I approached this show with trepidation. But I have to confess that I did enjoy the inky grungy side of it and after all, the challenge is about doing something new and stepping outside your comfort zone.

As always my thanks for your visit today.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday and time for our new challenge at Allsorts which this week has been chosen by Ellie who would like our artwork to be inspired by 'A Christmas Carol or Song'. Our sponsor is Tattered Lace.

The stable and three Kings stamps from Stamp Addicts offer several options for a Christmas Carol, but I decided on Oh Little Town of Bethlehem because I was lucky enough to visit there a few years ago. I stamped the focal images with verafine black, then added the background using Pan Pastles, then the rays coming down over the stable. The star is a Chocolate Baroque stamp and my faviourite Christmas sentiment from Penny Black. I would also like to enter this into the current Rudolph Day's challenge over at Mo's blog.

And a second one, a recent Stamp Addcits sample for Hochanda using their village scene and Santa stamps, all stamped into a bauble shaped aperture which i first coloured with Pan Pastels.

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see what my teamies have come up with to inspire you.

Moonlight dance

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday so that means it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Kath would like us to see 'Glitter' on our work and to tie in  with that we have a bundle of all things glittery from our sponsor Baker Ross.

Glitter and Fairies always go together in my mind so it was an easy choice what I was going to to do. I started with a mask for the moon and Pan Pastels to create the background with the idea of the Fairies dancing alongside water. After stamping the Lavinia Fairies focally on the waters edge I added a tree, some Water Lilies, Rushes and trailing flowers across the top and finally glitter to the Fairies wings and the flowers. That's about it, a fairly simple and quick to make card..............I know what some of you will say, but honestly with a few inks or Pan Pastels and silhouette stamps it couldn't be simpler.

It's also halfway time over at Penny Black and More so I have my share following our Flower Power theme. Two card, well it's flowers isn't it !

The one above uses the beautiful Penny Black 40-449 Light Touch, inked direct to stamp with Distress Markers and spritzed with water before stamping, then the same colour DI's made into a watery mix and flicked onto the card with a paintbrush. And some ribbon to finish.

The lovely Sunflower wreath is Penny Black 40-467 Flowers All Around which I stamped twice so I could colour with pencils, then cut out to decoupage the focal flowers, added a bow and some gems.

As always my teamies have lots of inspiration to share so do pop over to the challenge blogs to check out all their creations.

Allsorts Colours of Autumn Chocolate Baroque style

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday so that means it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Tracy would like to see some lovely 'Colours of Autumn', one that's right up my street. Our sponsor is Tattered Lace.

Today I am off to Crafting Live at Peterborough, so nice to have a craft show not too far away, not a lot that I really need although I am hoping to get some Card-io stamps and also catch up with a couple of blogland Peeps as well as some of the TL girls.

My starting point was an Oxide ink background then stamping Chocolate Baroque Chequered Flowers and heat embossing with detail copper powder. I tool two words from a CB stencil, inked through with versamark and heat embossed with the same powder. Again the same with the CB leaves around the edge and finally I added a little colour to the flowers using the same inks as the background, but the regular DI's rather than the Oxides as they tend to give a more chalky finish.

It's also my turn to post over at the Chocolate Baroque DT blog today so I have lifted the post to share here as well.

Now I will be the first to admit that I really struggled the whole Steampunk theme, it's not something I have ever tackled before, but of course that's the challenge to extend ourselves outside our comfort zone.

For the card at the top I create a background with Oxide Inks Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers, a stencil and regular DI's. Using black Archival ink I stamped the large flying machine from Steampunkery, two small hot air balloons from the same set set and verse from Steampunk Travel and the same DI's to add some colour to the balloons plus a few scattered sequins.

For this one I used an embossing folder and gilding waxes to create the background, then stamped a sentiment from the new Punky Expressions set on a strip of DP, stamped the Penny Farthing from Steampunkery using Versamark and detail copper embossing powder, cut out and placed on the sentiment strip along with some raffia.

Another Oxide ink background overstamped with one of the images from Key to my Dreams, I used second and third generation stamping using DI's to create a subtle effect. Next I stamped three keys from the same stamp set with versamark and detail copper embossing powder, cut them all out and fixed with a chain embellishment I found in my stash to the small winged clock in the Steampunkery set. The sentiment is also from Key to my Dreams.

My final share uses stamps from Steampunk Travel, Steampunk Travel and Punky Words, all stamped with Versafine Blue onto squares of cardstock shaded with DI's and matted onto coordinating cardstock. This style is a great way to use up snippets of card so always worth keeping those offcuts.

Hope you all have a good day and my thanks for popping in today.

Flower Power

It's time for our challenges at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes are 'One Layer Christmas Cards' and 'Flower Power'. As always there are wonderful prizes to be won at both. 

Above is my Penny Black share, I used the same design as a card I made back in the Summer which I quite liked so thought I would repeat but this time using Penny Black Red Blush.............I know, the Roses are pink but guess that's just astistic licence !

I stamped the flowers onto a piece of Fabriano using versamark and heat embossed with detail white powder, having first given the piece a wash of watered down DI's. Next I coloured in with Spectrum pencils and added some stenciling. Using TL pin dot square dies.........I used every other one in the size graduations and cut the piece into three and then stamped the sentiment which is of course also PB. Finally I layering each piece up with foam pads and fixed onto a square of back and then the base card.

This one is my Stamping Sensations piece but again uses Penny Black stamps, the main one was one of the new Christmas releases called Dressed in Snow and Santa comes from another set called Santa's Visit. I am going to have more of a play with this one as I am sure it can be used for other seasons as well. I used Distress Markers to ink the stamps and Pan Pastels to create the sky. The sentiment is also PB and quite an old wood mounted one.

As usual we have some wonderful prizes on offer so every reason to pop over to the challenge blogs and join in the fun this month.

A dream is a wish your heart makes

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday so that means it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Wendy would like us to use 'Blue and Brown' on our creations. Our sponsor is DigiStamp Boutique.

My thanks for all you warm wishes over the last week, I am feeling much better than I did and had a very positive meeting with my new consultant. I do need surgery on the mal formed kidney but she does not believe it is quite as acute as the previous guy said and is hopeful the procedure need not be as invasive as he suggested. I am so pleased I stuck my neck out for the second opinion and didn't agree to the immediate surgery he wanted to do so currently waiting for the date to come through.

It's a colour palette I really love working with so two cards from me. The one at the top uses one of the images from.....there are four in the set.......Sketchy Flowers from this weeks sponsor Digistamp Boutique. I printed onto some brown DP using the image twice and re-sizing one slightly smaller, then stamped in-between (little sister of Stampendous Agapanthus Cluster P107) and added colour with sparkle pens. The sentiment is Penny Black stamped in versafine blue. Some stenciling in the background, ribbon and pearls to finish.

The current Butterfly Challenge is quite a taxing theme of something to represent the Zodiac and/or the colour Buttermilk along with the inclusion of a Butterfly. But not being one to be thwarted I've had my thinking cap on and came up with this, the lady represents Virgo, some buttermilk'ish colours and of course a Butterfly in her hair.

The background is Distress Oxides, then after stamping with versafine black I bleached out some of the background and used pencils to add new colour to the image which is the lovely Summer Fayre from Chocolate Baroque.

This one was a sample for a TL Create and Craft TV show a while back, a background created with distress inks and some honeycomb stenciling, a TL sentiment onto an oval die and the bottom border another die, coloured with same inks and the edges embossed with detail copper embossing powder. Finally a rather indulgent OTT spray of flowers. It was actually quite a quick make as unusually for me there is no stamping.

I do hope you will join in the fun this week and also pop over to the awesome inspiration from my teamies.