Wednesday 31 August 2011

Vintage Good Luck

I've made a good luck card for my sister-in-law who is starting up a new business making and selling pearl jewellery.  Of course I had to incorporate pearls into the design, so I thought a vintage style card would be perfect.



The card also fits with this week's Fashionable Stamping Challenges which is "Ribbon or Lace".

Stamp - Crafty Individuals CI-148
Versafine Vintage Sepia and Tattered Rose DI
My Mind's Eye DP
Pearls and Lace

Thanks for paying me a visit and an extra special thank you to all the lovely ladies who follow me.

PS. I'm having another play about with my blog background - please bear with me - can't make up my mind what I like!

Suze xx

Saturday 27 August 2011

An Oriental Recipe

Week 30 over at the Less is More Challenge and this week it's a recipe ...


Take 3 Challenges
We want you to choose 3 from any of our previous 29 and combine them in your design.


I've been very good and have used a scrap which I had left over from yesterday when I was playing about with inks and my new Geisha stamp.

This is the scrap piece ...


and the finished card ...



I've incorporated:
Week 4 - 3 Squares
Week 12 - Off Centre
Week 28 - Ink
(it would also fit with a couple more weeks)

Background was made with Distress Inks and Geisha stamp is by Bravura.

Apologies for not getting round to visiting many of you last week - it was just one of those weeks!

Thanks for popping by - have a great week everyone and thanks again Chrissie & Mandi for a great challenge.

Suze xx

Friday 26 August 2011

Geisha Bookmark

I bought a beautiful new stamp this week and I've used it to make a bookmark for the Just for Fun Challenge which is "Black, White, Silver & 1 Other Colour"



Geisha by Bravura Stamps (inked with Versafine Onyx Black)
Swallow Stamp is Papermania
Hero Arts circular background stamp (inked with Stampin Up Pink Passion)
Edged and added detail - silver Uni pen

Thanks for visiting and hope you're having a lovely day.
Suze xx

Monday 22 August 2011

Corrugated ATC

This little ATC just 'evolved' - I wanted to use up a little bit of painted corrugated card I had lying around.

I've made it for the Just for Fun Challenge which this week is Black, White & Silver.


Corrugated card painted with white acrylic
Images stamped onto black card and silver embossed
Stamps are an Inkadinkado Inchie & a freebie leaf stamp from Craft Stamper Magazine
Silver marker pen & silver Stickles

Have a great week everyone.
Happy Crafting.
Suze xx

Sunday 21 August 2011

A Swing Card

The Less is More Challenge this week is:


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!


Well that's an easy challenge thought I, but I do like to try and do something I haven't done before, so after a bit of thinking I decided to do a 'moving' card.

There are plenty of tutorials to be found on the internet & YouTube for various types of moving & slider cards but I settled on a "Swing" (or Flip) card ...
Front View

Rear View

Card closed


(photos don't show the true colour of red - it's actually a darker shade IRL)
Base is white linen card
Red Stampin Up card, embossed with Victorian Fleur EF
Inkadinkado inchie, inked in red, clear embossed with a touch of stickles
Sentiment was a freebie with a magazine

Thank you all for paying me a visit.
Have a great week everyone.
Suze xx

Friday 19 August 2011

A Teen Card

I'm a bit of a happy bunny today as I've been inking up my first Stampotique stamp.  I've made a card with two challenges in mind:

Stampotique Designers Challenge - SDC36: Altering a Book Page, and
Gingersnap Creations - GC115: Tribute to Teens

I used a page from this notebook ...


and altered it to this ... (my first attempt at altering a page - I think it's maybe a bit 'minimal'!)


Stampotique "Girl with Heart Purse"
Promarkers & Glossy Accents
Worn Lipstick & Dusty Concord Distress Inks
Tim Holtz Script Stamp
Kraft card and DP

I'm sure most of you will figure out that HB2U is text talk for Happy Birthday to You!

Thanks for taking the time to visit.
Enjoy your weekend.
Suze xx

Thursday 18 August 2011

Angel ATC

The current theme at ATC Challenges is Anything Goes/Wings.

I've had a go at colouring Sugar Nellie's Guardian Angel  using the "no lines" technique which I saw over at Debbi's blog.  (Don't think it's a great success but it was my first go).


Card base is silver miri, embossed then 'dabbed' with acrylic paint.
Image coloured with Promarkers and I've added Rock Candy Crackle Paint to their wings
The clouds are Tim Holtz Tattered Floral cut in felt

Thanks for dropping in.
Suze xx

Monday 15 August 2011

Yin Yang

The challenge this week at Just for Fun is "Black and White", so I've gone for a little oriental style yin yang piece.

First I made a round origami thingy made from After Eight packets (yum) - found a video on YouTube.

Then I white embossed bamboo and buddha stamps (Inkadinkado Asian Influences) onto black paper and layered them up.


Now after all that monochrome I think we need a bit of colour ....
Yesterday we went for a little walk in the woods ....
                         some rowan berries
     
and a toadstool (do you think this is where the fairy snowman lives!).

Thanks for another great challenge ladies.
Have a fun week and thanks for dropping by.
Suze xx


Saturday 13 August 2011

Inky Less is More

It's a One Layer Week over at the Less is More Challenge with the additional feature to
USE INK
(i.e. try not to use any computer generated image or sentiment)

I thought I'd have a go at what Mandi had done - ink up an acrylic block and stamp straight onto the card.  Well, I gave it a couple of goes and basically the result was pants (and the card warped a bit).




I'll cut it up and use it in another project but I decided to try something else .....



I masked off a panel and inked over some sequin waste with Stormy Sky & Faded Jeans Distress Ink












I then stamped my image and sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black and added a couple of gems ...


(Image is Kanban Mini 06 & sentiment is American Crafts Sentiments)

Have a great week everyone, thanks ever so much for stopping by.  I'll try and get round as many of you as possible but I think there's going to be LOTS of entries this week.

A quick edit - I've trusted Chrissie suggestion and stamped over my 'pants' inky attempt ... what do you think .... 

I think we have to admit she was right!

Suze xx

Friday 12 August 2011

A Crown Tag

There's a new challenge blog in town - Fashionable Stamping Challenges.

The design team have made some fabulous pieces and I really wanted to enter into their first challenge, but rummaging through my stamps there was nothing that really inspired me. However, I did notice that I have quite a few stamp sets which have crowns in them, so I thought I would do a tag, simply using all the different crowns.

I searched the internet for a suitable quote and came across one by John Wodroephe (a 17th century writer).




Background - Stampin Up - Very Vintage Roller - Broken China DI
Crown Stamps - Versafine Imperial Purple & Dusty Concord DI
Edged with Brilliance Galaxy Gold Ink
Top crown is a Cuttlebug Die, inked in gold with some Stickles & Liquid Beadz

Thanks for taking the time to visit.

Suze xx


Saturday 6 August 2011

Colours of Scotland

Less is More time again and this week Chrissie and Mandi have given us the challenge


COLOURS 
of 
YOUR NATION'S FLAG!


I'm a Scottish lassie and the official flag of Scotland is The Saint Andrews Cross (The Saltire) ...


My initial thought was, mmmm, blue & white, we did shades of blue a few weeks ago, but then I thought oh, I could use the Royal Standard of Scotland (Lion Rampant) which is much more colourful ...

So I've made a couple of cards, stamped images look a bit 'orangy' in the photos but they're redder IRL ...


Bird & Flowers from Stampin Up 'Punch Potpouri' - stamped onto yellow cardstock in Dew Drop Rocket Red and clear embossed
Foliage - red miri card cut with Sizzlits Little Leaves die from Stampin Up

Couldn't make up my mind about a sentiment so left one off meantime.

and my second card ...


Image - Hero Arts 'Poinsettia' stamped onto yellow cardstock in Rocket Red and Clear Embossed
Mounted behind a circular frame cut with a nestie
Touch of red liquid pearls and white enamel accents

Thanks for taking the time to visit, it really is very much appreciated.

Have a great week and Happy Crafting!

Suze xx

Friday 5 August 2011

Pure White

This week over at Just For Fun, the challenge is "White on White".

I really liked the painted corrugated card that Sam used in her DT piece, so I've taken a bit of inspiration from that and created a tag.



A white card base, with 3 corrugated panels on top.
Tim Holtz dress form - I cut two and embossed one to use as a bodice.
Foam hearts and felt strips make up a 'skirt'.
Buttons around neckline.
The word 'pure' cut from Tim Holtz Vintage Market Die.

Why not join in the fun this week - but remember - it's strictly white only.

Thanks for another great challenge ladies and thanks everyone for stopping by!

Suze xx

Wednesday 3 August 2011

A Tag for The Bard

Well here's something completely different.

I wanted to make a tag for this week's challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show and in my "small" pile of newly acquired but uninked stamps, I have a Kanban mini set which has a thorny rose stamp.  Whenever I think of roses I immediately start singing (usually out loud!) my favourite Robert Burns song/poem - "My love is like a red, red rose".

So hence this tag was born.



I have to say I quite like it and I may even make a few more based on other Robert Burns poems.

Stamps: Stampin Up Music Roller & Kanban Mini Stamp09
Inks: Wild Honey, Crushed Olive, Forest Moss, Vintage Photo Distress Inks and Rocket Red & Hint of Pesto Dew Drop, with a touch of Glossy Accents
Sentiment printed on PC
Tartan scraps

Thanks ever so much for stopping by.

Suze xx

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Mini Elephant Canvas

Ages ago I bought a mini canvas to play about with but it has lain untouched until today when I was inspired by this post by Gay Peplow.  The canvas is the perfect size for my new (un-inked) Crafty Individual's stamp so I've had a bit of a play day and here's what I've ended up with ....



I first painted the canvas with gesso then painted over in lemon acrylic which was a bit too bright so I stippled some yellow ochre on top which toned it down a bit and gave it a bit of texture.

I stamped the elephant stamp (CI-321) onto some DP and embossed it in detail white. Added some bling, beads and ribbon (which has been coloured with Promarkers).

Have to say I usually go for a more subdued colour palette but I think it's turned out ok.

I'd like to enter it into two challenges:
The Stampsmith Challenge -  TSC19 Teal & Yellow
Crafty Individuals - Bright & Beautiful

Thanks for visiting and happy crafting.
Suze xx