CCM Challenge #91 - Pick three different techniques

Sharon has  taken inspiration from her youngest daughter's recent 3rd birthday and therefore would like to see 3 different techniques on your card or project. Take your pick of 3 from the following list and be sure to state which 3 you've used:

• Embossing (wet or dry)
• Distressing
• Masking
• Making your own flowers
• Paper piecing/patchwork
• Shrink plastic 

Our sponsors this time are Milk Coffee Stamps who are offering a prize of 5 digis from their store, and Sir Stampalot who have a set of new Stampendous Fran-tage Mica Fragments on offer. 

                     

For my three techniques, I have chosen ultra thick embossing, distressing (using Kroma crackle) and making my own flowers.

I started with a blank wooden heart from The Range, and painted it with Pebeo Poppy Red Acrylic Paint. I wanted to create a distressed, crackled effect so coated it with a generous layer of Kroma Crackle and left it for a few days

It took a good 3 days for the crackle to completely go dry. While I was waiting, I decided to finally get round to playing with my new melt pot - which is where the ultra thick Embossing element comes into my project. I started by making my own flowers using the largest of the Bitty Blossom Spellbinders dies, and the newsprint paper from Papermania's Portobello Road collection. I dunked these into clear UTEE to glaze them.

Next, I used Spellbinders new Media Mixage Hearts One bezels and dies.  I cut more Portobello Road paper using the smallest of the dies, and put it into the smallest bezel, before pouring in the molten UTEE. To the remainder of the clear, I added some very old Papermania red embossing powder and some Cosmic Shimmer Lava Black. I poured a little of this into the smallest heart bezel (no paper this time), and also some onto the Scalloped Lace texture tread.

Before adding any of these elements onto the heart, I used IndigoBlu Slap it On to seal the crackle onto the heart.

I also wanted to play around with beeswax, so stamped a really old (think it's La Blanche) foam backed swirl stamp onto single ply tissue, melted some beeswax in the project pan, and added the pieces of tissue onto the heart. I have to say that I wasn't overly keen on the final effect of the wax, but will try again on other projects at a later date. To add to the collage effect on the heart, I also added some Enchanted Gold gilding wax (Creative Expressions) and used another of the swirl stamps with FlitterGlu and Crafty Notions Pirate Treasure gilding flakes. Because I wasn't overly keen on the matt effect of the beeswax, I gave it a waft of Spray and Shine.

I finished off by re-attaching the string and wooden bead that had originally come with the heart. I am pretty pleased with the finished result. There are some other bits and pieces I made at the same time with the UTEE - but I'll leave those for another day.

Pop over to the Crafty Cardmakers blog to see what the other DT members have come up with, then get busy on your project. REMEMBER, you need to use three of the listed techniques, and state what they are in your write up.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Cxx 

CCM #89 - Card/Tag and Matching Gift Bag/Box/Wrap

So, this week it is my turn to set the challenge! And I as I love things that match, I decided the challenge would be to make a card or tag, AND a matching gift bag, box or gift wrap. You need the two elements to be in with a chance of a prize.

Our sponsors this week are The Paper Shelter, who are offering a $20 gift certificate, and also Woodware.

 

I chose to use an image from Paper Shelter for my projects - Home Sweet Home - the idea being they can then be given to someone who is moving house!! 

 I started by printing the image in 3 different sizes onto Joanna Sheen Elegance Card, and coloured the images in at the same time, so I wouldn't forget what colours I was using. This is only my second real attempt at Promarkers, and I was really glad that I had bought some of the fine tips, as the smallest image was, well, very small!!  

  

 At the start, I had no real idea of what colour scheme I wanted to use - it just evolved as I worked. The colours I used were: Almond, Sunkissed Pink, Coral, Blush, Walnut, Henna, Teracotta, Spice, Sandstone, Umber, Saffron, Soft Peach, Orange, Apple and Forest Green. I cut the images out with Spellbinders square dies, and used Vintage Photo to ink them whilst they were still in the die.

I then started work on the tag and box. Sitting on my shelf for quite a while now has been a tube of Kroma Crackle. I bought it with some other projects in mind, but thought this would be a good opportunity to try it out. The idea was that I would end up with a lovely crackled finish to my pieces. So, from the Papermania Bare Basics range, I used an Instant Pillow Box and Kraft tag. I also decided to prepare a piece of Papermania Kraft cardstock in the same way, in order to be able to match the card to the tag and box.

I painted all the pieces with Eco Green Acrylic Paint in Pumpkin, as I wanted a little of the orange showing through the cracks on the finished work. 

I then mixed some more Eco Green Paint (this time in Mulch) with some Kroma Crackle ...

.... and spread it onto each piece. And this is when it started to go a bit wrong. I am obviously very stingy when it comes to products that are not particularly cheap. And this is one of them. So, I didn't really get a very thick layer on any of the pieces. 

And as it wasn't thick, it wasn't particularly even either. At this point I was not happy, but decided to leave it overnight and see what happened.

But even the following day, it was obvious that it hadn't worked in the way it was supposed to - there were some very small areas of cracks, but really not what I had hoped for. This is definitely a product that you have to be prepared to use a lot of, to get a good result. So, I had a choice. I could abandon this attempt and try the same process again, try something completely different, or see what I could salvage. As I said before, I am rather stingy, so decided to carry on and see if I could make something out of the disaster.

 So, when in doubt, get out the Distress Inks!! I covered all the pieces with Vintage Photo. Part of the result of this was to dislodge some of the Kroma Crackle that had cracked - but it actually didn't look too bad.

Next, I tried out another new product - Creative Expressions Gilding Wax. I used mainly Enchanted Gold, but added some Autumn Bronze too. You can see that this really highlighted the areas that had some cracking on them.

Once I had buffed it up, I was actually really pleased with the results! Kroma Crackle needs sealing otherwise it all flakes off, so I finished off with a layer of Indigo Blu Slap It On Matte.

The rest of the materials I used for matting and layering were: Craftworks Cards 148mm square white base card; DCWV brown cardstock; Bazzill orange cardstock; Papermania Chelsea Green Capsule Collection DP; ribbon and pearls from my stash.

The little box would be perfect for putting a gift card inside, and because the Kroma Crackle is flexible, it didn't crack further when the box was put together. The photographs do not really show the metallic sheen that the gilding waxes have added to the surfaces - but believe me, it really makes a difference. It was well worth persevering with!!

Pop on over to the Crafty Cardmakers blog to check out all the great inspiration from the other DT members. Remember, you need to have TWO pieces to be considered for the prizes - a card or tag AND matching gift wrap, bag or box.

I am really looking forward to seeing what you all come up with.

Cxx

CCM #88 - Humour

Our latest challenge is hosted by Suze, who has chosen the theme of Humour. It's April Fool's Day, a day for fun and trickery! Suze would therefore like to see some humour in your project. Perhaps a funny image or sentiment, or you might just want to add some googly eyes. Remember, laughter is the best medicine - so have fun! 

We are sponsored by Di's Digi Downloads who are offering a $10 gift voucher. And also by Hobby Art, who are offering two sets of their fabulous stamps - Mouse Power and Bubble Bath.  Pop over to the Crafty Cardmakers blog to see what they look like.

Having held out against buying any marker pens, I finally succumbed a few weeks ago. Not really sure why - but decided I would like to give Promarkers a try. I asked the rest of the DT for a bit of advice on a good card to use with them, and they came back with several suggestions. I have gone with Joanna Sheen's Elegance Satin 300gsm card, as I prefer a heavy weight card to play with. It has a lovely feel to it - even my husband commented on the quality of it and he's really not that interested in the weight or finish of cardstock!! 

I then needed a digi stamp to try them out with. After a lot of searching, I found the 'Margarita' digi stamp and sentiment in Whimsie Doodles Summer Fun collection. I chose this firstly because it looked like an easy image to colour in for my first attempt. And secondly because life is giving me lots of lemons at the moment, and I need to try to be more positive and see the lighter side of things. I mustn't let things get me down so much! Maybe I'll even try a Margarita - I had to look up what was in it before I coloured it, so I didn't get  it too wrong!! 

The image and the sentiment come separately  so I combined them in Publisher, before printing onto the card. I then set to and coloured in. I am sure the keen colourists amongst you will immediately notice the bleeding around the cherry. That is not the fault of the cardstock - it is mine! I oversaturated the card with the Blender pen to try to tone down the redness of the cherry - and it bled out!! I decided to continue with the card, as I felt pretty proud of how the rest had turned out!

The colours I used were: Primrose, Lemon, Cool Grey 1+2, Poppy, Orange

The base card is from Craftwork Cards (148mm square), and I scored and folded the top part to make the easel. I cut the image using a Spellbinder Grand Oval, and backed it with a light lemon coloured card (this doesn't show on the photo - obviously!!). I inked it whilst still in the die using Squeezed Lemonade DI. Once it was out of the die, I went around the edge with ink too.

The grey, bottom mat is Bazzill Bling,and the next is Ivory Centura Pearl. On the card front there is an extra, lighter lemon layer from my scrap box. The DP is from an old  Papermania pad - Ivory and Black Creative Tones. I used the light lemon card to cut another oval, and the  DP to cut a Grand Scalloped oval. These were cut up to form the basis of the mat on the card front, and the stopper on the base. The ribbon is from my stash, and the tiny pearls are from Kanban. I decided to use red ones, as well as yellow and grey, in order to pick up the colour of the cherry. The little detail on the stopper is made from the smallest dies from Spellbinders Decorative Labels 27 and Exquisite Circles.

To finish it off, I added glitter along the edge of the glass to represent the salt they put around the top of the glass!! 

Apart from the cherry, I am quite pleased about how this turned out. My husband is resigned to me now collecting the Promarkers (having only just finished with collecting the Distress Inks!!) - why is it that we need to have the whole set of something?

Anyway, I would like to enter this into the following:

Passion for ProMarkers - Bingo Board (Die Cut, Free, Glitter)
Opus Gluei - Where you haven't gone before (Promarkers)


Cxxx

Congratulations!!

Congratulations indeed to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law on reaching their 25th wedding anniversary!! They went away to Paris to celebrate - and from the photos, it looks like they had a pretty good time!!

So, here's the card I made for them!!

I used the Kanban Silver Wedding topper from the recent Love and Marriage collection. I really love that it isn't just white and silver - the lilac is just perfect to go with it.  

My base card is an 8x8 pearlescent base, and I chose three shades of purple Bazzill cardstock to layer up on top. I cut the edges of all three layers with the Spellbinders Classic Triple Scallop Edgeability. I then used an insert from the Petal Edgability set on the darkest and lightest mats,  and one from the Brackets set on the middle layer.

The white pearlescent mat was cut using the largest die from the Majestic Elements Exquisite Circles. After embossing with That Special Touch Swirls mask, I cut it in half to tuck under the sides of the topper.

The three purple mats were stuck together, and wrapped with white satin, and lilac organza ribbons. The white mats and the topper were then stuck on. I shaped the bottle and glasses, and used silicone glue to raise them up slightly. 

I used more of the lilac organza combined with white organza to tie the bows. The waste from the decorative inserts was used to embellish the card, along with some lovely pearls. I finished it off with two of the sentiments from the topper sheet.

I was pretty pleased with the result! Hope they are too!!
Cxx

Fred's Birthday Card!

Just a quick post. Have been looking through my pictures to see what I haven't blogged, and found this. It was my brother-in-law's birthday card! 

He's a real footie fan, and this Kanban topper and border strip were perfect for his card.

The red base card is from my stash, while the green and buff cards are the matching backing cards from Kanban. I used the Spellbinder Classic Postage Stamp Edgeability on both pieces of card, and a piece of twine to wrap around the buff mat. The little embellishments at the bottom were cut from the excess of the border strip. The letters were cut with X Cut Roma Alphabet DIes.

As I said - just a quick post.

See you soon,

Cxxx

Quilting Project

Have finally got round to blogging about a project I finished a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit that it was a friend's 40th birthday present - and it was late!! There were reasons - not being well over half term seriously cut down on my crafting time, as all my spare time went into writing reports.

It's the most complicated quilting project I have attempted so far - although probably not that complicated for the more experienced out there.

I decided to have a go at the Amish Friendship Star cushion cover that Jenny Rayment posted on Create and Craft's website (under Nov 2012 Quilting Classroom).

I started with this piece of material as my inspiration. I loved the colours - although not se keen on the pattern. I thought the colours would go well with my friend's beach type theme in her living room.

As you can see from the finished article, I cut my pieces very selectively so I ended up with bluey grey pieces, peach pieces and lilac pieces. I wouldn't have been able to achieve this without my Sizzix dies. I used the 1/2 square triangles (3" square when sewn together on the diagonal), and the square die (3" unfinished - 2 1/2" finished).

I cut them all in one go so I had enough to do each of the four patches to join together. The glittery silver material was left from another project. Because of the way the 1/2 square triangles are cut, it makes them very easy to join together. I then followed Jenny's instructions on how to join the squares for each patch together (see above).

When joining the squares, I used my Tim Holtz piercing ruler to measure the seam allowance - it does look like the pencil line is wobbly, but its just the way the photo was taken.

I then joined these, ironing open the seams at each point.

Finally the patches were ready to be joined. The whole thing was then sewn onto the wadding, The outside of the finished cover was made from a charcoal grey material - although I know it looks black on the photos. I made a very simple pillowcase type back using just this material (Jenny suggests you use several different materials - I'd had enough complications by then, so went for the simpler option).

Despite the hiccups, it turned out pretty well. Late - but I hope it was better late than never.

Cxxx

CCM Challenge #87 - Friendship

Welcome to our latest challenge, hosted by Yvonne who has chosen the theme 'Friendship'

Yvonne would like to see the word 'Friend' or 'Friendship' included somewhere on your card/project.

Please ensure your card has one of the two words stated above to qualify for a winner or Top 5 slot. 

We are sponsored by SATURATED CANARY with 2 of their gorgeous digis

And also by Sir Stampalot who are offering 2 great stamp sets. Pop on over the Crafty Cardmakers blog to check them out.

I wasn't really sure where to start for this challenge, so decided to have a rootle and a rummage through my box of sentiments, as the wording was the important part of this challenge. And lo, and behold, there it was - the beautiful little tag with "Friends are Forever". 

So, now I had a pink colour scheme to work with, and I decided to team it up with grey and silver - I think they go really well together.

The papers I have used are all from my stash - I have had them ages - I think they are all Papermania - the pinks are possibly from one of those 'Colossal' pads - and the greys from a Creative Tones pad. But I could be wrong. 

Another item I have had ages are the card blanks! They are what I think were called 'small tall' cards. I used to love using them - and have a rather large stash of them still.

I covered the card blank with the darker grey paper, and then added a pink layer, the edge of which I cut with Spellbinders Class Triple Scallop Edgeabilities, and a decorative insert from the Petal Edgeabilities. I then used a smaller, lighter grey mat on the top, all wrapped round with silver and pink ribbons.

The layers of the flower were cut using X-Cut's Glorious Gerbera and Nesting Blooms dies.

I curled the petals slightly to give a bit of dimension, inked the edges with Iced Spruce and Victorian Velvet DI's, then sprayed them with a bit of Iridescent Spray and Sparkle.

I added more of the ribbon to the tag, and finished off with pearls in the centre of the flower, and on the tag.

Don't forget to pop on over to the Crafty Cardmaker's blog to check out all the other DT inspiration!!

See you soon,

Cxxx