Calendar Gift

While I was off work I decided to make a couple of calendars as gifts as I have a few of those little calendar book thingys, here is my second ever calendar creation:

To create this calendar I used lightly ribbed card, distress stains (tumbled glass, faded jeans, pumice stone and mustard seed), white and red acrylic paint, sequin waste, black versa fine ink, Tim Holtz stamps, black card and ribbon and the little calendar tab.

I really enjoyed getting inky and messy while making this and have given it to my sister as a new year's gift as it matches her bedroom colours.

I would like to enter my calendar into the following challenges:

• Stampotique Designers Challenge - the challenge over at Stampotique is to create a journal cover/page, diary or calendar page (SDC81) all the details can be found HERE
• Simon Says Stamp & Show - it's an anything goes week over at this blog to ease us into 2013 - all the challenge details can be found HERE

Thanks for stopping by, Claire x

Art Journal Calendar

So I have been watching and looking for a long time at art journalling..........I wanted to try it but was always a bit reticent - I imagined that my pages would turn muddy and that I wouldn't know what on earth to put on the pages............but then I found Kate's blog about creating an art journal calendar that can be completed everyday.  Kate's amazing blog can be found HERE

So after a lot of debating I decided to buy a journal a just give it a try - here is my very, very first attempt:

I didn't want to go out and buy loads of new inks etc before giving it a try with what I already had in my stash so I used some shimmer ink sprays by Debbie Moore in pink, lilac, blue and midnight blue, then I added some distress stains through a stencil, I think I used Victorian Velvet and Tumbled Glass.  I dried these and added some ink splotches and flicked it with water and dried again.
I stamped 'January' down the right hand side using denim adirondak using Tim Holtz mini cirque alphabet set and then added the '2013' from a Papermania stamp set.  All the stamped images in the background are from a set by Indigoblu, the bare tree branch was stamped in juniper, the grasses in worn lipstick and the clouds stamped in picket fence.
I then inked up three different pieces of paper and punched out 31 squares and stuck them onto the background.  I used a black fine liner pen to scribble around each of the squares for definition, added the days of the week on the top row and numbered each square for the month.

So now all I need to do is remember to write in it everyday!!

So that is my first ever attempt at art journalling - I did very much enjoy it and am hoping to buy some of the dylusions inks pretty soon!!

I would like to enter my page into the following challenges:

Hels Sunday Stamper Challenge theme this week is 'writing' - all the details can be found HERE

Fashionable Stamping Challenge theme this time is 'Surprise Us - Anything Goes' - all the details for that challenge can be found HERE

Thanks for stopping by, Claire x

Less Is More - Week 99-100

Well it's the last Less Is More challenge of 2012 and it's recipe time!  The chosen recipe is drinks which is appropriate for this time of the year - all the details for the challenge can be found HERE.  Here is my entry:

The stamp is from Lucy Cromwell at Papermania, stamped in black versafine and coloured using distress markers, water and a paintbrush.  The sentiment is by Inkylicious and was also stamped in black versafine.  I rounded the corners and mounted onto pink card also with rounded corners before mounting onto a 6x6 scalloped card blank.  Just in case you can't see the 'drink' theme  - there is a teacup at the top of the cake stand so hopefully that will count!

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire x

Faux Tiles

The challenge over on Mynnette's Technique Tuesday blog this month is a faux tile technique - all the details for the challenge can be found over on her challenge blog here

Here is the card I created to join in the challenge:

I created my scene by brayering the background in worn lipstick distress ink and flicked some water on it.  I then used picket fence distress stain to stamp in some words randomly in different directions.  I used black versafine to stamp the hydrangeas and the sentiment and coloured these using my distress markers using milled lavender, worn lipstick, victorian velvet, tattered rose, peeled paint, forest moss and crushed olive.  All the stamps are from the same set by Inkylicious.

I then cut my scene into four pieces and arranged in onto black card and then matted on pink card before mounting on an 8 x 8 card blank.

I'm quite happy with the look of my card overall, the addition of the pink mount was an afterthought which I thought was needed to make the image really stand out against the black card.

Thanks for stopping by, Claire x

Less Is More Colour Challenge

It's time for another colour challenge over at the Less Is More blog.  This time it's a very festive Red and Green that's been chosen.  All the details for the challenge can be found HERE

 

I decided to keep the festive card making going whilst participating in the challenge and here is what I created:

I stamped the sentiment from Papermania in crushed olive distress ink then added the large and medium holly stamps by Clarity Stamps, also stamped with the crushed olive.

I then used my distress markers mixed with water to paint the holly leaves, I used peeled paint and crushed olive to paint with.

I added red stickles for the berries to give it a bit of Christmassy sparkle, used a gold pen to line the edges and then mounted it onto a kraft card blank.

 

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

 

Claire x

Wedding Card

Here is a card I've made for my cousin's wedding, he's getting married on New Year's Eve in Ireland.

 

I used the Juliet stamp by Indigo Blu to stamp around the edge of the card in Memento Rich Cocoa and Stormy Sky Distress Ink using just the ends of Juliet's hair.  I created the sentiment panel using the same inks and a stamp by Inkylicious.  I mounted everything up on blue card and added a brown organza ribbon as the finishing touch.

 

I would like to enter my card in the following challenge:

 

Emma's Crafty Challenge - the theme for challenge number 10 is 'Brown and Blue' so this card fits the theme perfectly.  The link for all the challenge details is HERE

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Claire x



Christmas Blues

Today I would like to share a Christmas card I made using some clarity stamps:

 

I used the two holly stamps from Clarity in two different sizes, I stamped them with Adirondak denim ink.  The sentiment is by papermania and is also stamped in the denim ink.  I coloured the holly leaves using my distress markers mixed with water on my craft mat and applied with a paint brush - I used tumbled glass, stormy sky and a little chipped sapphire.

I mounted the panel up onto silver shiny card (which the camera did have some issues with!) and then mounted onto a white DL card blank.

I used quickie glue on the holly berries and on some of the leaves and sprinkled with glamour dust.

I was having quite a few issues with taking these photos, they were all coming out blurry and the colours aren't showing up great, so if anyone has any good tips they would be very much appreciated!  I'm using a reasonably decent camera (12MP) and have tried different locations and standing my cards at differnt angles etc but the photos don't seem to come out true to life :-( 

 

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:

 

Pan Pastel UK - Challenge 46 is Frosty and Bright, all the details can be found on their blog HERE

 

CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge number 79 this time for a fortnight is winter blues, all the details can be found on their blog HERE

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

Claire x