Valentine Background

I am taking the opportunity with my background #2 DT sample for Country View Challenges to make a Valentine card for my hubby.

I began with ivory smooth cardstock and stamped the Valentine words from Tim's Valentine Silhouettes set using antique linen distress paint and heat dried it.

Next I took festive berries and fired brick distress inks and blended them across the card and over the paint.

Take a damp cloth and gently wipe over the surface lightly to remove the ink from the painted surfaces and then spritz with water to activate the ink and allow it blend and create distressing. You can see the water marks in the photo below.

Then scuff, distress and blend ground espresso ink around the edges and ... eh voila the background is finished.

 

Now let's see what I did to finish the card.

Using the same set of stamps I stamped the hearts in antique linen and fired brick, cutting some out not knowing which ones I wanted to use at this point. I needed something brown so I found a scrap of card that had been altered to look like rust and I stamped the set of hearts again in clear embossing powder and clear embossed.

With the rust one I added a red and an antique linen one stamping them all with text using Tim's ledger set.

Using the friendship words thinlits I die-cut the words I wanted found a black star and a customer fastener in which I put a clock face.

With a piece of coloured hessian the design now came together.

Fairly simple but quite effective I think.

I'm now ready with hubbies card for Sunday and looking forward to a quiet day.

I see Frilly and Funkie have a 'Love is in the Air' challenge so I am entering their challenge again this month.

Thanks for stopping by again today, I hope you have been able to take a look at the new backgrounds challenge at CVC and maybe you have even entered.
Enjoy the rest of the week and happy Valentines Day to you all.

hugs Brenda xxx

All you need is love.......

 But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.

Charles M. Schulz

Tim Holtz - Valentine Silhouettes	Ledger Script Stamp Set by Tim Holtz	Tim Holtz Distress ink pad - Festive berries	Tim Holtz Distress ink pad - Fired brick
Tim Holtz distress ink pad - Ground Espresso	Ranger Archival ink pad - Jet black	Tim Holtz Distress Paint Antique Linen	Tim Holtz - Crescent moon & stars Bigz die
Thinlits Die Set 16PK - Friendship Words: Script by Tim Holtz	Idea-Ology Custom Fasteners

InLinkz.com

The Stamp Man - Challenge 12 Anything Goes Tag

Week 12 for The Stamp man Challenge Blog and this week Frankie is hosting and  invites you to make a tag and YOU can choose the content. If you are still in Christmas mode, then that's fine, but some of the DT members have made non-Christmassy tags and I chose to make one that I can put on a card as a birthday card for my son as his birthday is early in January. So I do hope you will be able to join in and make a tag and show us your creative style. Have fun.

Apologies for the photo but I have had to take it at night time. But as you can see two of Ben's favourite pastimes are aeroplanes and playing cricket, so I have combined the two on here. You can just make out the glitter from the rock candy stickles and you can see several of Tim's techniques.

I also decided this was my opportunity to make something for the Studio L3 CoC challenge 24 which is 'Rock Candy Stickles' and as usual the technique can be found in Tim's great book on P.47. If you want TH inspiration do go over to Linda's lovely blog and see what she makes and the other entries for this fantastic challenge. This also fits Simon says Stamp and Show which is to use a Lord Tim of Holtz technique.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and hopefully the snow will fall but not cause too much havoc.

 I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.

Thankyou for stopping by. Take care. Luv {brenda} xoxox

Precious punches - OSAAT challenge 26

Happy Sunday

That's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning
I wanna be high, so high
I wanna be free to know
The things I do are right
I wanna be free                          
Just me, babe!

That's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning             Lionel Ritchie

So how's your Sunday going, easy I hope and free to do the things you wanna do.

Well Sunday is OSAAT day and there's another great challenge for you to enter called Pack a Punch (not literally of course), but to use punches on your projects.  Today the challenge is sponsored by Ididitcreations who are going to give the lucky winner 3 digis of their choice.

The designers are using digis from the creators at Stitchy Bear Stamps so pop on over and take a look at their fabulous creations.

I have used a digi called 'Precious' by Beary Dust Stamps and it is a gorgeous image which I have loved to work with. Precious is standing in front of a fence so I wanted to give it a garden them and use my punches for the flowers, leaves and trellis.

I coloured her using promarkers and I punched the leaves on her hat and stamped and coloured the flower. The large rose flower I made using a MS edge punch and layered it round a circle of card. The little flowers are also a MS punch and a small one from my collection. The trellis is the MS punch that was a TSV at QVC a few weeks ago, I thought it fitted the bill perfectly as I don't have anything else that looks like one. I have used various stickles on edges and distress stickles on the centre of the pink flower. The backing paper is making memories boho chic pad.

Have a great day and a good week ahead.

Luv B xxx

First MAWTT DT card

Hi Everyone

It's so great to be able to post my first card as a design team (DT) member for 'Moving Along With The Times' (MAWTT). I have had an incredible week getting to know new people and what the expectations are of working with a new team -  and what lovely people they are, so helpful and kind. Thanks girls for making it an easy transition.

So here it is using the fantastic sketch created by Hazel.

I still want to use challenges to stretch me and take me outside my comfort zone at times so I have used the theme of fairies for Gingersnap Creations, a rub on 'Happy Birthday' sentiment for the Creative Belli challenge, stitching to link with the Crafty Creation challenge, the colours raspberry, aqua, kraft and white for the Play Date Cafe and embossing for La la Land.

The image is from the Cemerony Share blog and is soo cute, the colours fitted well for the theme today.  I have used a Spellbinders pendant called Fleur De Lis, to frame it. The DPs are ones I have organised into a box and not kept a note of where they come from, I shall have to try and be more careful so that I keep the same make together. The flowers I made using the Nellie Snellen punch with embosser and the stamen punch. I used DI worn lipstick and tattered rose on them to give them a more weathered, vintage look. I had to include a butterfly and a bird as they seem to almost be my trade marks on many of my cards.

Other supplies
Distress inks - Broken China, Worn Lipstick and Vintage Photo
Cosmic Shimmer Aqua Twinkles
Stickles - Star Dust
Distress Stickles - Tattered Rose
Glossy Accents
Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen (on the stamens)

Have a wonderful day, not long before the weekend and Ella is having her 4th birthday party. I will be there.

Take care. Luv and hugs.  Brenda xxxx


Challenge List
Gingersnap Creations - Fairies
Creative Belli #93 - Rub-Ons
Crafty Creations #72 - It's  a stitch up
La La Lands #43 - Embossing

Picture Inspiration

Happy Good Friday.
It's the Easter weekend, but it is wet and miserable here, what about you? I am hoping to get out in the garden at some point, we will have to see.

Today I am posting two creations to fit the Paper Sundaes challenge of a picture inspiration. It caught my attention straight away. I wanted to use the image in a piece of art rather than interpret the colours or shapes, however to do this I knew I needed to experiment with materials I have never used properly and when I did try with them I wasn't very successful. So out came the alcohol inks (AI). I had bought some new stamps last week - British Wild Flowers from Creative Expressions and it includes a dandelion stamp. So I set about dabbing away with the AIs on glossy cardstock, but after 5 or 6 attempts I was not happy with the results. There was just one I felt I could stamp over.  Here it is. The central stamp is the new one, I also used some others including some grasses.

My next experiment started by using a brayer and a big and juicy stamp pad with a sunset range of colours. I then used the AIs over the top to create more depth. This time I stamped the grasses and some small flower heads using a snow cap pigment ink and dusted cosmic shimmers over them. I stamped the main design using archival ink.       You can see there is a difference in the 2 examples. I edged both with cosmic shimmer aqua twinkles, used similar colours in the DI ink pads and distressed white card which I then used the distressing tool on and edged further with star dust stickles. The butterflies I printed off from a collection I am accumulating and covered them with rock candy distress stickles.

Well, the girls are down in Seaton and apparently the sun has come out and they are going for a walk on the beach. What a lovely thing to be doing. I have some things to post made by my sister Chrissie and by my granddaughter Becca that I will put up over the weekend.

Thankyou for stopping by and for all the lovely comments that have been left on my other posts. Enjoy your weekend. LOL Bxxxx

This is the photo from Paper Sundaes that started me off.