A peek ..........

of what I'm doing tomorrow ....

I'm doing a Craft Fair for my charity NACC

my first!

I didn't get much notice. Luckily it's a fun day & not a dedicated Craft Fair so there will be lots of fun things going on bouncy castle/face painting/shoulder massage/live music/tombola/throw the wet sponge at the Consultant/cakes/nails etc as well as craft & vintage stalls including mine.

I'm hoping that the actual table is bigger than the chest in my hall that I used for a practice set out!

I'm not allowed to do cards as one of the committee does cards on a regular basis & is having a stall so I've had to be inventive!

Hope the selection goes down well

will let you know after the event

Things that move

This is my card for the LIM challenge this week.

Things that Move

This could be interpreted in a variety of ways...an actual moving component on your card, so a pop up, a shaker, a spinner, a charm, a tag... we could go on... 

On the other hand your card could have an image of something capable of movement, so the scope for that is almost infinitesimal!

I chose to make a waterfall card which is a moving component

 & put on it flowers (move in the wind), a butterfly, 

a cloud (moves across the sky) & a bird.

I finished with a swirl stamped straight onto the card, topped with a punched butterfly in the same 12x12 double sided paper I used for the waterfall.

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out :-)

LIM use Ink

Once more we are back to the second week of the month and so our challenge is for a 

ONE LAYER CARD

The special feature we would like to see this week is for you to 

USE INK
** This does include ink pads **

...hopefully in a way you haven't tried before.... or using a favourite technique.

I revisited a technique that I haven't used in forever after seeing the subject of the LIM challenge for this week.

I got out my brayer & a set of inks that I have hardly used & experimented with the different colourways & positioning on the page.

The inks are lovely & vibrant but unfortunately the camera hasn't picked it up very well.

For this card I placed the strip to the right & stamped using blue Stazon ink adding the sentiment straight onto the card as it's a one layer challenge.

I stamped the images slightly over the inked area for added contrast.

In this card the image is contained within the inked strip.

This reminds me of those 1970's posters :-)

and stamped the sentiment straight onto the card underneath the image.

a different colourway .....

again with the image stamped slightly over the edge.

The last placement was a rectangle in the middle of the card

and stamped the sentiment onto it

I used the same inks to colour the image of the castle using cotton buds as 'brushes' using in the main the same colours as the background.

Throughout I used post it notes to mask off the areas that I needed to protect from the ink.

I've had fun playing this week :-)

Christmas in Black & White +1

CHNC this week is to make a Xmas card using black, white & one other colour.

I chose red as my other colour.

I stamped this Penny Black image in black ink onto white card

& coloured the hats using a copic pen

these cute hedgehogs always make me smile! :-)

I  mounted the image onto the backing at a slight angle to give it a sense of movement.

I'd also like to enter this in Simon Says - Christmas in August 

and Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes

Flag inspiration

The Less is More challenge this week is ....

This week it's time for another colour challenge and for your delectation this week, we have decided to ask you make a card  using the 

COLOURS 

of 

YOUR NATION'S FLAG!

We should be able to see quite a variety of colours this week as we are fortunate enough to have crafters from all around the world sharing in our challenges. If you could describe the colours of your flag or include an image of it, that would be great.

This is my card based on the Union Jack

For the background I used a piece of red card & a piece of spotted Bazil both of which i put though my nifty tool to make them corrugated to give a bit of texture. 

I then mounted them both onto a piece of blue card.

I then stamped the image onto the blue card using white ink & cut off part of the image & inked the edges to give a bit of definition.

Here you can see the blue base coming through the white ink.

To finish I stamped the sentiment straight onto the card.

So there you have it my Union Jack inspired red white & blue card.

Postcard swapping

The theme for the August Postcard swap on UK Stampers is Tea Time

and this is my postcard for the swap.

For the background I used a torn page from an old book & distress inks.

I used a Paper Artsy script stamp & then over stamped with the pocket watch (a freebie from Craft Stamper magazine)

both of the other sentiments are Paper Artsy stamps

The cup & saucer is another Craft Stamper magazine freebie

I firstly stamped it onto the card in the position that I wanted, then stamped another onto white card & inked it & then liquid embossed to make it more prominent & shiny to draw the eye. 

It was then left to dry properly & then stuck down firmly.  

I'm looking forward to seeing the other participants creations now :-)

Fruity problem

Less is More challenge this week has asked for

FEELING FRUITY

We would like to see fruit on your cards or fruit colours...easy peasy 'lemon' squeezy!

Well it would be but looking through my quite extensive collection of stamps I found that I was fruitless!! How could this be?

So I had to do some thinking ..... I wasn't going to let this stop me entering!!

and found a small border punch that had hearts & flowers, so used the heart pieces to make the small strawberries on my card

I drew freehand the stave & clef & popped on the hearts on which I drew on the pips & the stalk

The phrase I would have printed onto the card if I'd been able to but as I couldn't I wrote it & underlined with the red pen.

The larger strawberry I created again from a slightly larger heart punch &  cut the stalk freehand from green paper, again drawing on the pips.

To finish I cut the frame border from red card.

I did try using a ruler for the stave but much preferred the arty freehand version which went better with the freehand writing.