Messing about with the brayer

Monday morning already, where did the weekend go ?

Well, I guess I should admit to a fair bit of playing about with inks and the brayer. I have been promising myself an inky session for ages and as I went to Coleman's who I do the odd demo for on Saturday to get some new colours of Adirondack inks, it seemed only right I tried out a few of them. Don't know how many of you know about Coleman's warehouse at Rushden, but it's pretty awesome and you can while away hours there. Yesterday looks like a blue and yellow day although it was not planned that way, just how it turned out, so my next session will be a bit more colourful.

Most of the stamps are either Lavinia, Art Impression or Clarity, except the fairy which is a really old Rubber Stampede one. I so enjoy brayering and find it very rewarding and it's always a popular one when I demo. I did think about doing a tutorial, but then decided it might not be fair to bore peeps. So the above card is for:

Crafty Catz - A forgotten stamp

One Stitch at a Time - As you like it

Pear Tree Design - Mainly blue

The card above is using one of the new stamps Hero Arts K5503 Bird Collage, stamped simply with versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear. The October Afternoon DP is double sided and I stamped Hero CG222 Music Background on the lighter side to add interest. Edges have been nicely distressed as is the flower made from TH tattered floral die. This is for:

Paper Sundaes - Distressing

Alys Sundays - For the guys

Gingerloft - Things that fly

Stamping Sisters - Vintage

Daisies and Dragons

Crafting still seems on go slow, the ideas are there, they just seem to take forever getting all put together. It does not help that for three days I've been plane spotting........or rather keeping an eye on any changes to the flight situation where it seems the whole world has gone crazy.

Our eldest son and his wife are stranded in Thailand and been told the earliest they can be re-booked on to a flight is 1st May. We have tried every computation to try and get them home, but at the moment coming up against brick walls. They flew via Dubai with Emirates who are still flying into Malta so if they can get there, could get home via ferry and train. A tortuous journey but possible, but Emirates want a Kings ransom to change their original flight arrangements.

Back to crafting, two cards for two challenges. The first for this weeks Everybody Art Challenge who have a lovely sketch created by Jenny, the second for Tuesday Taggers who would like to see Dragons.

An easel card for the first challenge using Kaiser DP's. For the main image which is Penny Black 4042 Daisy Fields I created a background with Brilliance inks olive, gold and yellow, water and Glimmer Mist pearl. I then stamped over the piece with Magenta 3940M crackle background, then the main image using versafine sepia and detail clear embossing powder.

I stamped the flower heads a second time, coloured with Marvy pens, inked with versafine frost as this bleeds and softens the colours, then spritzed with the same GM, moulded whilst still wet and decoupaged. The sentiment is Penny Black 3940 Life. The border is punched with Martha Stewart eyelet lace, punched butterflies and some Magnolia gem leaves........I'm sure they have a proper name, but I threw the wrapping !

The second card which I confess I am non too keen on, is made with the only dragon stamp I possess and it probably not the sort of dragon St George would have associate with, but artistic licence and all that. I stamped all over the card itself with JudiKins 2201J using versamark and detail clear embossing powder, then inked all over with Tim Holtz rusty hinge, dusted with Perfect Pearls and moved the colours around with a baby wipe to create a more aged look.

I used the same TH distress ink to create a background for the main image, plus a smidgen of TH dusky concord, then embossed the edges with gold. I stamped the dragon image which is Rubber Stampede 3006F with versafine imperial purple and embossed with detail clear. The sentiment is Stamp Barn kanji cube and purple cord to finish.

Allsorts challenge 42

Our teamie Lisa has come up with a great colour combo for the theme at Allsorts this week - Black, Pink and White.

Before I go into what I did with my card I need to explain the strange shadows which are not defects on the card as it looks.......it was sun, yep we had two days of sun earlier this week with real shadows. Wow, it was wonderful.

The layout of my card is a style I often use, but I feel it lends itself well to this type of image which is one I really love from Rubber Stampede 3942 Woman in Repose. I stamped her very simple with versfaine black and added a touch of pink watercolour to remove the stark whiteness of her face. Down the side if the card I stamped Hero G3316 Harlequin and Hobby Art GR1341 Shakespeare Sonnet and round the edges with JudiKins 3347F Doodle with Hero shadow ink blossom.

The border is punched from Kaiser DP using Martha Stewart doily lace trim and the roses made from the same DP which is double sided. I added some tiny roses, punched leaves, ribbon and pearls to embellish.

Dragonsdream TIO

What a way to start Wednesday morning, sheer heaven in the theme at TIO this week - "Dragonflies and Butterflies" and an opportunity to try out some nice messy ink techniques as well.

I had a play round with inks starting by spritzing water onto the blank card, then lightly dabbing over chalk eyes and found by adding the water first I did not get the outline of the inkpad and it all bled together nicely. When it was dry I took a piece of meshy fabric, laid it over and dabbed more of the darker ink here and there which gave a honeycomb effect (it's not over obvious on this tag, but can be seen better on another one I did which I shall post above this one.

I stamped randomly with a tiny butterfly from Penny Black 30-034 and 3816E and Rubber Stampede 33538 and favourite Agapanthus Stampendous P107 ........ Oh I do love this stamp in case nobody realised. The large PB butterfly was stamped again onto vellum and embossed with aquamarine powder and just two lines of PB 2695J. The ink used is Brilliance lightening black which has a slight green tinge so less harsh than solid black.

Cupcake challenge 42

The sun is still shining and I'm told it's set to be the warmest day so far this year so hope everyone is enjoying it ....... such a shame we have this serious stuff called crafting to keep us inside. Mind you, for me that's just as well, much as I love the sun, yesterday was clearly an overload for me ........ I look like a panda and the red blotches all over would make anyone step back in fear of catching something they would prefer to avoid. I should learn ......... it happens every year, I guess I'm just one of those people who go red, peel and then the process starts all over again, even a fortnight in the Caribbean failed to have any impact on my colour so there's no hope of a tan.

Anyway, I've had enough of trying to set up this new laptop, cyber technology and me have a fragile relationship ........ either it works like I expect, after all they cost a fortune and that's the least you should expect, otherwise the machine must be flawed. In fairness most things are working OK, although not transferred my Cricut software yet, saving that one, but e.mails still a bit of an issue ........ again must be the machine, can't possibly be anything to do with the settings I've installed !!

On to serious stuff, this weeks Cupcake challenge which has been set by Evelina and has the beautiful theme of Fairies. I felt like monochrome this morning when I did this one ........ must be to avoid the red blotches. This stamp lends itself to monochrome so well, it's Rubber Stampede 3817F stamped onto acetate using Stayzon, glittered the moon with Art Institute dries clear glue and irridescent glitter on the reverse and mounted the piece onto a white and silver PD from my stash. Cut a scalloped mount on Cricut Storybook and run a piece of white card through the Cuttlebug using Swiss dots ........ now I know it's de-bossed, truth is it was a shiny piece which I thought would look good, but I did it back to front by mistake. Used some lovely spotty ribbon and inked and embossed some flowers with detail clear to give a shiny finish and added gems.

Everyday Art Challenges

The challenge from Everybody Art Challenges is "Friends and Family" and the DT have cope up with some really inspirational work which shows how diverse each person's interpretation of a theme can be.

I have used a beautiful image from Rubber Stampede 3942F. I was not sure if it would lend itself to UTEE treatment but decided to give it a go and am really pleased with the result. I used two coats of clear and a third of jade, orange and gold and stamped into it with stayzon black. I wanted to carry the gold without overshadowing the image so just used four corners cut from gold linen card using Cricut storybook. The corners look a bit baroque and the image art deco according to my daughter (a history teacher) !

Cupcake challenge 38

What a lovely theme this week for the Cupcake challenge set by "Claire, better known as CraftyC who would like to see Numbers on your card/project".

I have used a stamp which I really love and had for years, but not used that often, but as it's a bit arty to my mind and I need a '27' birthday card for an art student, thought this was ideal. It's from Rubber Stampede 3729H and has been stamped onto acetate with stayzon and laid over a GM'd background using lilac, gold and bubblegum. The card itself has been repeat stamped with another good old favourite Hero H2365 using versamark dazzle champagne and then chalked. I then stamped over the edges with Hero F5042 using brilliance crimson copper then heat embossed with detail clear.

The DP is Sandylion which I have also used to punch out butterflies which have then been diamond glazed and gems added plus ribbons to finish.

I'd be thrilled if you take a look at this post on my blog to see if you can help.