Divine Sparkle & Shine

Hi everyone. A few days ago I took delivery of a couple of beautiful sets of flower & foliage dies; and although I'm sure they will come in very useful for making cards, I really wanted them primarily to decorate ATC's. I've hardly made any ATC's for about a month what with the usual Christmas card rush, so I couldn't wait to have a play! I also decided to try out a new (to me) technique I have seen on various videos of applying Brushos through a stencil - and I have to say I'm very pleased with my first attempt! I have called this series “Divine Sparkle & Shine”.

I took a large snippet of white card and spritzed with water, then placed a large Lavinia stencil on top and tapped on Brushos in three colours before spritzing again. I dabbed off the excess liquid with paper towel and then carefully removed the stencil, to find I had a fab grungy background that was ideal for my ATC's! This really was so much fun I could easily become addicted! I also made a home made Mica mist with my gold Perfect Pearls and water in a miniature spray bottle, which I sprayed onto the stencilled panel to give it more of a sheen. I cut the panel into three pieces each 3.25 x 2.25" and topped each one with a die cut flower of gold glitter card. I attached 2 co-ordinating sparkly brads and a sticker sentiment to each card, then edged each one in black and attached to standard ATC size gold glitter card cut from another large snippet (I was quite thrilled to find this snippet in my box, as i didn't think I had amy more gold glitter card to matt the ATC's onto!). 

Here are closeups of each individual ATC.

ATC1

ATC2  

ATC3  

Stamps: None;

Media: Brushos (Leaf Green, Prussian  Blue, Light Brown); Perfect Pearls (gold);

Tools: Lavinia stencil - Divine; flower dies - unbranded (from Amazon);

Other: Tim Holtz Idea-ology "Small Talk" stickers.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Cards 4 Galz #186 - Use a Stencil

Crafter’s Cafe #291 - Use Dies and/or Punches (2nd entry)

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (November) - Anything Goes With Stencils (3rd entry)

Moving Along With the Times #148 - Bright on Dark

Path of Positivity #106 - Anything Positive Goes (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Not a Card (2nd entry)

Snippets Playground #442 - Anything Goes With Snippets

Sparkles #158 - Dies and/or Punches (2nd entry)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #571/572 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

it was brilliant to have this interlude from Christmas card making ... but I guess it is nose back to the Christmas grindstone now! Thanks so much for taking time to visit today and take care.

Hugs,

Floating in the Deep

Good morning everyone,

Today I would like to show you a recently made set of ATC's ... this was another experiment with a brusho background which just suggested to me an undersea scene. I am still at early days with brushos,  but I am so loving these vibrant colours!

I created my background on a large snippet of white card with brushos spritzed with water, then cut into 3 pieces slightly smaller than standard ATC size. I stamped and heat embossed my seahorse and decided it needed some sea foliage but I don't have any such stamps ... so I stamped my Lavinia leaf creeper in various shades of VFC which I felt worked quite well. I drew bubbles with a mix of blue sparkle pen and white gel pen using my Lavinia White orbs stencil to guide me, then matted each panel onto snippets of dark blue linen card stock and finished off with a little washi tape.

Here is a closer look at one of them.

Stamps: Visible Image - VI Minis #1; Lavinia Leaf Creeper;

Media: Brushos (Turquoise, Ultamarine, Sea Green); Versafine Clair (Twilight, Rainforest, Green Oasis, Warm Breeze); Sakura Stardust pen (blue); white gel pen;

Tools: Lavinia White Orbs stencil;

Other: Washi tape - The Range.

Challenges I would like to enter

Arty Divas (October) - Anything Goes - SPOTLIGHT WINNER

DL.Art (November) - Anything Goes

Fab 'n' Funky #560 - Shades of Blue

Happy Little Stampers (November): Watercolour - Anything Goes with Watercolour

Love To Craft #71 - Anything Goes - TOP PICK

{PIN}spirational Challenge #295 - Colour Theme - FAVOURITE

QKR Stampede #455 - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Snippets Playground #440 - Anything Goes with Snippets

Word Art Wednesday #567/568 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Talking of bubbles … last Thursday we visited the stunning Liverpool River if Light, which is on for 2 weeks until November 6th. One of the light sculptures was based on the concept of bubbles, representing the fragility of life.  Here’s a pic, plus a few more of the stunning light installations.

Take care, and thanks so much for visiting today.

Hugs,

Allsorts Challenge #699

Good morning everyone, it's time for another weekly Allsorts Challenge. This week Brenda has chosen the theme and it is

*** Colours of Autumn ***

This week we have a fabulous prize donated by AALL & Create - this beautiful autumnal stamp set Acorn Collage

Here's my card for this week.

I made this card with a Visible Image stamp set which is another purchase I made at Port Sunlight specifically for making autumnal cards, and some of my new Brushos.

Firstly I made a coloured panel by sprinkling two colours of Brushos onto stamping card and spritzing with water. When dry I stamped my leaf images and fussy cut out. I then cut another square of stamping card and created a smoosh background with Distress Oxide inks, and stamped my focal point leaves again plus some extra small leaves in the background. I used my VI "Broken Mesh" die to create a stencil, and blended Distress Ink through it onto the centre of my background, then attached my fussy cut leaves. I stamped my sentiment then matted the panel onto three autumnal colours of card.

I was really pleased with how this experiment with Brushos turned out, and felt the colours in the leaves reflect the sentiment really well!

Stamps: Visible Image - Erika's Maple;

Media: Brushos (Gamboge, Vermillion); Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade); Distress Ink (Vintage Photo); Versafine Clair (Pinecone).

Tools: Visible image die - Broken Mesh.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Creative Inspirations (October) - Autumn or Hallowe’en (3rd entry)

Daisy Chain #68 - Autumn/Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Four Seasons (October) - Anything Goes Fall 

Let's Craft and Create #188 - The Colours of Fall - WINNER

Path of Positivity #105 - Anything Positive Goes with option Celebrate Something Special About Your Favourite Season - TOP PICK

(I always think beautiful autumn leaves are pretty special)

{PIN}spirational Challenge #294 - Inspirational Photo - FAVOURITE

Stamping Sensations (October) - All Things Autumn (3rd entry) - TOP 3

Taylormadecards4U (October) - Anything Goes with option Halloween/Fall (3rd entry)

We Love Stamping (October) - Autumn Colours (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #565/566 - Anything Goes (3rd entry) 

In fact I was so happy with my inky experiment that I decided to get my money’s worth out of my new autumn stamps, so I sat down in a completely separate crafting session and made a set of co-ordinating ATC's, which not surprisingly I called "Falling Leaves".

Here's a close up of one of them ...

These were made using more or less exactly the same method/supplies as listed above, except that I used a different stencil on the smaller space - Crafter's Companion "It's Time".

Challenges I would like to enter:

ATC's Around the World - Autumn - TOP 3

Addicted to Stamps and More #440 - Die Cuts and/or Stencils

Ally's Angels #63 - Anything Goes

Colour Crazy Craft Challenges #42 2022 - Anything Goes With Colouring

Craft Rocket #97 - Autumn/Hallowe'en (2nd entry)

DL.Art (October) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Happy Little Stampers (October): Watercolour - Anything Goes with Water Colour Media

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2242 - Anything Goes

QKR Stampede #454 - Anything Goes - TOP 5

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us this week, and I look forward to seeing your entries. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more fab inspiration from the rest of the team. 

Before I go, just a quick heads up about next week's challenge, which will be Allsorts' 700th Challenge - woo hoo!! It will be party time with guest designers to provide extra inspiration and some fantastic prizes to give away, so you won't want to miss it!

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Dragon's Night Flight

Hello, today I would like to share a pair of ATC's I made with Hallowe'en in mind.  My newest acquisitions include a Lavinia fairy castle and teeny tiny dragon, so I tried to represent a flight of the dragon over the castle at night with a blood red sky  - very Game of Thrones!!

I created an inky background on a large snippet of stamping card using Gamboge (yellowy orange), Vermillion and Purple brushos spritzed with water, then cut the inked panel into 2 pieces each 3 3/8" x 2 3/8". On each panel I stamped my castle using Versafine Clair, then used a small punched circle mask to create a moon using black Distress oxide ink. I stamped my li'l dragon and some tree branches to frame the scene, then coloured the castle windows and highlighted the moon, dragon and castle with Sakura Stardust pens. Finally I added sentiment stickers related to the flight of the dragon (as I don't have any specific Hallowe'en wordings, but I thought these would work well with the dragon), and added some gold Posca Pen spatter before matting onto standard ATC size cards cut from snippets of black card stock.

Here is an angled pic to try to show the sparkle ...

... and a close up of each ATC.

1/2

2/2

Stamps: Lavinia Far World Castle, Mini Dragon, Mini Branch;

Media: Brushos (Gamboge, Vermillion, Purple); Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Black Soot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Sakura Stardust pens (copper, clear); Posca pen (gold);

Other: Tim Holtz Idea-ology "Small Talk" stickers.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Tiny Craft #14 - Spooky

ATC's With a Heart #121 - Hallowe'en - TOP 3

Country View Challenges (October) - Hallowe’en or Harvest (2nd entry)

Crafty Calendar (October) - Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Dragonfly Dreams (October) - Hallowe’en (3rd entry)

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #153 - 31 Days of Hallowe'en - WINNER

Sheepski #67 - Autumn/Hallowe’en (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Hallowe'en/Spooky - DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT

Snippets Playground #439 - Anything Goes With Snippets

The Most Magical Time of the Year #1 - The Most Magical Time of the Year (3rd entry)

That's all for today - take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Vibrant Florals

Hi everyone,

Today I would like to share my latest set of ATC's which involve sparkling white die cut flowers and a vibrant brusho background - I'm still very new to brushos, but I absolutely love the intense colour effects that are possible. I have called this set "Vibrant Florals".

I cut a panel of white stamping card and made a splashy background with brushos spritzed with water. When dry I cut into 4 pieces each slightly smaller than standard ATC size, overstamped with grungy text, then die cut my flowers from various snippets of white pearlescent card and attached. I also attached a few co-ordinating sparkly gems, and small snippets of sequin waste (punchinella) that was kindly gifted to me by one of my ATC swap partners - Sonya in USA. I spattered each panel with silver Posca pen, edged with dark blue marker pen and matted onto standard ATC sized white pearlescent card. I finished off with a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment on each panel.

Here's a closer look at each ATC.

1/4

2/4

3/4

4/4

Stamps: grungy text - Woodware Additions;

Media: Brushos (Ultramarine, Purple); Versafine Clair (Medieval Blue); Posca pen (silver);

Tools: Memory Box dies - Fresh Daisies, Bella Bouquet, Prim Poppies, Meadow Rue;

Other: Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers; gems and punchinella from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Crafty Catz #608 - Anything Goes with option Use the Colour Blue - WINNER

Flower Challenge #73 - Use a Sentiment

Krafty Chicks #631 - Anything Goes - TOP PICK

Mixed Media Lovers #18 - Mixed Media With Flowers

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Snippets Playground #438 - Anything Goes with Snippets - TOP PICK

Word Art Wednesday #563/564 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Take care, and thanks so much for visiting.

Hugs,

Dancing Till Dawn

Hi everyone,

Today is my cousin’s daughter’s 40th birthday, so I would like to share the card I made for her.   What do you make for a 40 year old?? …   I decided the only way to go was to use my brand new Lavinia fairies “Dancing Till Dawn” as that is what I would wish for her … here’s the result, which is a large 8” x 8” card.

First I cut a square of stamping white card, spritzed with water and the applied brushos to make my background sky. I then applied Distress Oxide ink around a circle mask to create a moon outline, and pink DO inside the moon outline to give some dimension. I used a hill mask with DO’s to create landscape, then stamped my Lavinia fairies, trees and flowers in various shades of Versafine Clair. I added some stars using Versamark heat embossed with silver embossing powder, then used the head of one of my Lavinia dandelions to represent a firework burst, stamped three times around the moon and heat embossed in silver, white glitter and holographic EP. I stamped my sentiment over the moon, and applied silver stickers for the number 40 … in hindsight die cut numbers would have been better, but hey it’s done now. I highlighted everything liberally with my Sakura stardust pens to make it sparkle, then matted  the finished panel onto black linen card stock then onto my card base, and decorated the inside of the card and envelope to match.

Here's a pic of the matching envelope - also an angled shot to show the sparkle!

Stamps: Lavinia Dancing Till Dawn, Celestial Tree, Dandelions, Silhouette Foliage Set, Silhouette Grass, Stars Mini; Uniko Birthday Sentiments;

Media: Brushos (Ultramarine, Purple); Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Black Soot, Seedless Preserves, Chipped Sapphire, Spun Sugar); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Medieval Blue, Charming Pink); Versafine (Majestic Blue, Imperial Purple); Versamark; coloured embossing powder (white tinsel, silver, holographic); Sakura Stardust pens (pink, clear).

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthdays #40 - Anything Birthday Goes

Classic Design Challenge #8 2022 - Anything Goes

Country View Challenges (August) - Happy Birthday (2nd entry)

Creative Knockouts #466 - Anything Goes

DL.Art (August) - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #150 - Silhouettes

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Stamping Sensations (August) - Make It Magical

I hope the recipient will like this card and that she has a wonderful day. It is also a close friend of mine’s birthday today, so I will be back tomorrow to share the card I made for her. Until then, take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Dragonfly Dreams II

Hi everyone,

I’ve been rather MIA  as I’ve not had a lot of time for crafting recently due to having some work done on our house. Life seems to have been a constant roundabout of prepping for workmen, supervising them, cleaning up after them, researching, ordering, collecting (and in some cases returning faulty) soft furnishings and accessories … the house has been upside down for the last 5 weeks and it’s been a whirlwind! Things are now starting to calm down slightly, and I had a number of projects I needed to complete so I thought I’d better crack on!

Today I would like to share a set of ATC’s that I made for a monthly swap in the Visible Image FB group … you can use only VI stamps, stencils and/or dies. This month’s theme was “Mother Nature’s Marvels”, so I pulled out my favourite dragonfly stamp for my focal image. The swap is one ATC but I made a set of 4 so that I would have some extras to trade separately - I have called this series "Dragonfly Dreams II". 

 This is my first ever completed project using Brushos ... wow I love the intensity of the colours they create!!

First I cut a piece of white stamping card, spritzed with water and then tapped on some brushos and spritzed  some more to make my first ever brusho backgrounds … yay! I stamped and heat embossed my dragonfly image and highlighted the wings with Sakura stardust pen, then stamped some second generation background circles in Versafine Clair, and my DNA stamp in Versamark heat embossed with white powder. I stamped my sentiment onto separate card, heat embossed and cut out, then attached to the ATC. I then matted the image panel onto black linen cardstock and finished off with teeny heart gems.

Here's a closeup of one of the ATC's.

It is the convention in this group to enclose the ATC within a handmade greeting card, so I also made a card to match the ATC design. The only additional step for the card was to spatter the image panel with metallic gold Posca pen.

Stamps: Visible Image “Dragonfly Dreams”, “Creative Chaos”, “Butterfly Effect”;

Media: Brushos (Leaf Green, Turquoise); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Warm Breeze); Versamark; clear and white embossing powder; Sakura Stardust pen (clear); gold metallic Posca Pen.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #17 2022 - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar (August) - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations (August) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2233 - Anything Goes

Sheepski #65 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Snippets Playground #434 - Anything Goes With Snippets

(My ATC’s were all cut from snippets)

Stay Crafty With a Blog Named Hero (August) - It’s Hip to be Square

(square card and squares in the dragonfly stamp design)

Sweet Stampin’ - Firsts

(First brusho backgrounds)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes 

Word Art Wednesday #557/558 - Anything Goes

I'm hoping to be back soon with some more of the projects that I need to be making .. until then take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,