Quickie crazy bird

What is a girl to do when she gets home and discoveres there is 1h38mins left on a challenge she was planning to play along with? Give up and look for other challenges? Of course not. Instead she will get into full gear crafting mode asap, and even manage to get a sub-par-quality photo in the fading evening light, and submit the card to said challenge with several minutes to spare! It must be my new Shaun the Sheep shirt I bought and am now wearing. Nothing says inspiration like a shirt full of Shaun the Sheep. 

The inspiration for this card was this week's Freshly Made Sketch (but don't plan to play along unless you can create a card in minutes). I was also inspired by the (also soon coming to it's deadline) ColourQ challenge. Third, I was inspired by the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge (which was only published today, so plenty of time to play along with that one!!) which is Love This Technique. I have managed to work in not one, not two, but three favourite techniques. First and foremost, my love of watercolouring. Second, stencilling. And third, my newly found love for the Tim Holtz Spritzing tool (if you didn't read yesterday's post, I  have FINALLY mastered the spritzing tool. Only took me a year to get it, duuuuh!). Now that I got it, I'm spritzing away to make up for lost time. I used a lovely STAMPlorations stencil to create the background for the cheery little fellow. Wonder why he is so blue... or should I say purple? Last but not least I would also like to link up with the Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge, where the theme is colouring.

Card: White 300 gsm card, white 300 gsm hammered card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper
Ink: Tsukineko Staz-on Jet Black, Tim Holtz distress markers Fossilized Amber, Seedless Preserves, Fried Brick, Victorian Velvet
Stamps: Tim Holtz Bird Crazy and matching dies, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles, STAMPlorations Tribal stencil, Tim Holtz Spritzer tool

Be Grateful

I don't know if this applies to most crafters out there or just me, but most of my cards turn out a bit disappointing. It's just because I often have such a clear idea in my mind of what they are supposed to look like, and then they never do. But you have to learn to live with your limitations and not kick yourself too much about it. And then, from time to time, you do get a very surprising card that actually turns out much better than you expected. Maybe it's because I had very low expectations for this card, as I'm not a big fan of autumn colours. Or maybe because I don't usually like the fall themed cards with leaves. Or maybe because there is a lot of brown in this card, which I usually find a bit stuffy. But I have to admit I think it turned out rather nice. It's the distress inks, I love playing with them, and there is always some magic happening when they blend. That Tim Holtz is truly a genius, what more can I say. 

The basis of today's card is the colour challenge over at My Favourite Things, and I was very skeptical when I started as these colours just don't do it for me. But I thought I would go with them anyways, if for no other reason than learning new things and creating something I wouldn't have otherwise. Over at RetroSketches they are running a "pick your favourite" challenge, and I poured over the great sketches, having a really hard time deciding but ended up with sketch #49 from February last year. I was also inspired by this month's theme over at STAMPlorations which is Stamping & Embossing. I used emboss resist for my card. I'm also entering the card in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is fall, Craft Hoarders Anonymous where the theme is Happy Fall Y'all and Shopping Our Stash where the theme is fall colours. My stash items were using leaves from stamp sets I already had, instead of buying new ones. Also, I think this is the first time I have ever used my Forest Moss Distress ink despite having it for ages. Thinking about it, I also have had that pad of Core'dinations card stock for at least a year, and although I have used up my favourite colours from it ages ago, it's great to find some use for the other colours as well.

For the background I stamped small leaves from the Lawn Fawn Critters from the Past set in Versamark and heat embossed using clear powder. I used Tim Holtz Distress inks Fired Brick, Forest Moss, Spiced Marmelade and Walnut Stain to ink the background. I love how the embossed images appear when you layer the ink onto the paper. I used Tim Holtz Distress Core'dinations cardstock for the green panel, and lightly distressed it with sandpaper and inked the edges in Walnut stain. I stamped the large leaves from the Hero Arts Layered Flowers set again in Versamark and heat embossed using clear powder and applied inks before fussy cutting them. Last, I stamped a part of a stamp from Penny Black Life's Messages in white ink onto the brown cardstock and added tow red adhesive gems.

Card: Craft UK kraft card, coloured 240 gsm kraft card in Chocolate Brown, Tim Holtz Distress Core'dinations Forest Moss, Hobbycraft 160 gsm cream card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters from the Past, Penny Black Life's Messages, Hero Arts Layered Flowers
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Disterss inks Fired Brick, Forest Moss, Spiced Marmelade, Walnut Stain, Stampin' Up Whisper White craft ink
Other: Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder clear, Papermania Adhesive Gems Capsule Red Hot