Retro colours

Today's card is a play around with the colours from this week's Colour Me...! challenge, and this is what I came up with. It was supposed to be something completely different but turned into this instead. Oh well, it's always a journey. I was also inspired by the Just Add Ink "Just Add Thank You" theme. 

I absolutely adore Vintage Photo, it's the most amazing brown colour and I use it all the time. This time I inked it through a Tim Holtz stencil to create a background. I punched the flowers and inked around the edges in matching colours, and added a big rhinestone after shaping the flowers for a bit of a 3D effect. I stamped the butterfly and fussy cut before adding the clear jems. Last I stamped using Gorgeous Grunge for the splatters, stamped the sentiment, and inked around the edges of the front panel which I adhered with foam pads.

Card: Kraft card, Stampin' Up Pool Party, So Saffron and Real Red card

Ink: Stampin' Up Pool Party, So Saffron, Real Red and Tim Holtz Vintage Photo

Stamps: Stampin' Up Yippee-Skippee!, Gorgeous Grunge, Bloomin' Marvelous

Other: Tim Holtz stencil, Stampin' Up Petite Petals punch, Papermania adhesive rhinestones

Exciting News!!!

Today I am showing you my fourth One Sheet Wonder for the Viva La Verve December Challenge. But before that, I have some really exciting news. I am so very excited to join the amazingly talented group of ladies over at the Crafts Galore Encore Challenge design team!!! What's so special about the Crafts Galore Encore challenge is that they embrace all sorts of crafts, not just cards so it will be a great opportunity to maybe get back into some other crafts besides card making again. There are two other very talented ladies who are joining with me in January 2015, so head over to the Crafts Galore Encore page to have a look. You also have a few more days to enter the December Crafts Galore Encore Challenge. The theme is the all-inclusive Anything Goes, so please come and play along with the current challenge if you are doing any sort of crafting in the days between Christmas and New Year. And of course there is a great prize for the winner, 3 digis from Beccy's Place which has the most adorable selection of digis. I'm thrilled to join the DT, and my first creation will be for the January challenge, so stay tuned.

Then on to today's card. It's the last of the four One Sheet Wonders for Viva La Verve. You can find the others here, here and here. I'm also entering That's Crafty Challenges where Anything Goes this week. 

Card: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake

Stamps: Stampin' Up Ornament Keepsakes and matching dies, KaiserCraft Merry Christmas stamp

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo

Paper: Stampin' Up All is Calm DSP

Other: Stampin' Up Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, All Occasions Snowflakes dies, Stampin' Up Basic pearls

Viva La Verve One Sheet Wonder 2

Crafting has taken a back seat for the moment as I'm now back home in Finland for the Christmas. I have a few more Christmas card posts lined up for the next week. It's a bit strange to be so far away from my crafting stuff, and I'm sure I will lock myself into my craft room for 24 hours straight when I get home. But for now I'm focussing on seeing family and friends and enjoying a very relaxing Christmas time.

This is the second of four one sheet wonder sketches over at Viva La Verve for December. You can find my first card here. Very much same theme, same colours and same embellishments. Might give some idea what to expect from the remaining two... But it's almost Christmas so a few quick cards certainly were needed! You can see the from the sketch below that I did exactly what I was told. These cards turned out to be real life savers as I quickly needed a few more cards. 

I'm also entering the card over at Addicted to Stamps where the theme is Snowflakes and Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge where the theme is "Anything that is urgently needed for Christmas" (what a great theme!!).

Card: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake

Stamps: Stampin' Up Ornament Keepsakes and matching dies, KaiserCraft Merry Christmas stamp

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo

Paper: Stampin' Up All is Calm DSP

Other: Stampin' Up Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, All Occasions Snowflakes dies, Stampin' Up Basic pearls

Viva La Verve one sheet wonder 1

The challenge over at Viva La Verve for the month of December is to make four cards from one 6x6 in sheet of DSP. There is a nice diagram on how to cut the DSP and four sketches, one for each week. I loved the neutral colour scheme in the DT sample, so I decided to go with something similar. I chose to use the Stampin' Up All is Calm DSP along with heat embossed christmas ornaments. This is my first card out of the four. I'm also linking up over at Crafty Creations Challenges where the theme is embossing and at Christmas Card Challenges where there is a colour inspiration in hues of green, brown and grey. 

I embossed the background cardstock and inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink. I cut out the pieces from the DSP and inked the edges of each piece using the same ink. I stamped the christmas ornament in Versamark and heat embossed using copper embossing powder. I die cut the ornament and inked the edges. Last, I die cut and inked a snowflake, and added some pearls. I stamped the greeting on the inside of the card as I couldn't find a good way to incorporate a sentiment on the front of the card. 

Card: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake

Stamps: Stampin' Up Ornament Keepsakes and matching dies, KaiserCraft Merry Christmas stamp

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo

Paper: Stampin' Up All is Calm DSP

Other: Stampin' Up Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, All Occasions Snowflakes dies, Stampin' Up Basic pearls

Fusion challenge - shiny pink

It should be fairly obvious why I love this week's Fusion challenge. I mean it's pink. And shiny. But I also love the juxtaposition of something so stereotypically male as a sports car with the bright pink colours. So I wanted to do the same with my card - use very typical male themes such as cars and steampunk gears but at the same time make it very feminine by using a bright pink colour scheme. And I love the combination of pink and kraft. Usually you see a much more soft baby pink combined with kraft, but I went for a really cold and bright pink instead just like the inspiration photo. I am also entering the card in this week's Pink Elephant challenge where the theme is embossing, as I have used both heat and dry embossing on this card. By the way, you have to go and check out the cool card by one of the TPE DT, Nance, who has used glow in the dark embossing powder. How cool is that?

For my card, I stamped the antique car using Versamark and embossed using Pink powder. It has a nice shiny look that doesn't come through very well from the photo. I dry embossed the background and inked using Vintage Photo and Worn Lipstick distress inks, which I also used around the edges of the car panel. I die cut the star using my new Xcut dies, inked with Versamark and embossed using pink embossing powder. Finally I added a sentiment from Paper Smooches and some adhesive gems. I finished the card late yesterday so it was too dark for pictures, and today I raced the sunset on my way home, and almost made it.

The lovely shine from the embossing powder
 on the car and star don't show very well in the photos
 but it's really nice in real life.

Card: Craft UK kraft card, Coloured 240 gsm kraft card Pink Raspberry, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous The Journey, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz distress ink Worn Lipstick, Vintage Photo 
Other: Tim Holtz Steampunk Embossing Folder, Xcut Nesting dies star, Papermania embossing Powder Pink, Papermania Adhesive Gems Capsule Heather

Steampunk-ish

Today's card was inspired by the current Snarky Stampers challenge which is "S is for Steampunk". Not sure if this is quite hard core steampunk, but it's steampunk-ish enough to qualify I would think. 

After my decision yesterday night to start an art journal, I wanted to get my Distress Paints out in anticipation of my mixed media journal that hopefully will arrive in the next few days. I'm so eager to get going, I can't wait to be making a complete mess and ending up with who knows what monstrosities. But it's a new way of being creative. And you know that feeling when you have a new idea and you just want to get going but have to wait and you are afraid the inspiration will go away and by the time you have all the stuff you need you have already moved onto something new... 

I haven't had much success with the Distress paint metallic colours, I just haven't been able to make them look like I wanted. As it so happened, my new watercolour paper pad arrived today, so I thought I would die cut the cogs from the heavy watercolour paper, spritz the paper until soaked and then use the paints onto the wet surface. And that really worked for me, I love the look. I used my heat gun to dry the cogs until almost dry, then sprinkled some matching embossing powder and heat set. Not too much of it, but just a little for that subtle texture and shine. I also wanted to try out my new washi tape that arrived today (the first washi tape I have ever bought). I used the colours in the washi tape as my inspiration for the cogs and the background. I created the card background by stamping the Gorgeous Grunge stamps using clear embossing powder and sprinkling with a mix of copper, silver and gold embossing powder and heat set before using a foam applicator and Distress inks in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain to create a leathery look. You can't quite see it in the picture, but the embossing powder has a nice subtle shine giving the card a bit of texture and depth. I couldn't resist stamping a slightly snarky sentiment inside the card. 

Card: Craft UK kraft card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Daler & Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Pumice Stone and embossing ink
Stamps: Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, Hobbycraft typewriter alphabet clear stamps
Other: Tim Holtz alterations Gadget Gears die, Papermania Silver and Copper embossing powder, golden embossing powder from my stash that is so worn I can't tell what make it is, washi tape I ordered off ebay, Tim Holtz Distress paints in Antiqued Bronze, Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass, gold paper from my stash

Another male card - birthday

I'm on a roll with the male cards! I won the bid for this great Tim Holtz The Journey stamp set on eBay, and it is perfect for easy male cards. This is a birthday card for someone in the family who loves old cars, so I thought it would be perfect. I picked a neutral colour scheme and my favourite Tim Holtz ink - Vintage Photo. It is just the most perfect brown.

I am entering the card in two male themed challenges: The Pink Elephant challenge, Papertake weekly, and the Cardmaking and Papercraft challenge.

I stamped the car and sentiment in Vintage Photo onto beige cardstock. I distressed the cardstock edges using scissors and inked with Vintage Photo. I matted onto darker brown cardstock from my stash, and distressed the edges with Walnut Stain. I created the background by randomly stamping the other stamps in Stampin' Up Sahara Sand and added a bit of Gorgeous Grunge for that added aged feel. I created the banners using the Stampin' Up set Banner Blast in Vintage Photo and punched them with the matching punch. I also stamped the banners on the envelope  and punched some more banners for the inside of the card. To finish off, I die cut the numbers and added them to the card.

Inside of the card and the envelope.

Card: A4 coloured craft card in beige, brown cardstock from my stash
Stamps: Tim Holtz stampers anonymous The Journey, Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge, Banner Blast
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress ink in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain, Stampin' Up Sahara Sand
Other: Stampin' Up Banner punch, Tim Holtz Alterations inside out alphabet die

Simon Says Stamp challenges - time and tags

Yesterday I spent most of the evening in my craft room working on this tag. I haven't done many tags before, but obviously I have admired all the amazing tags out there created by amazingly talented crafters. And one of my tag heroes is without a doubt Tim Holtz, and his grungy, shabby take on crafting. I also love working with the Tim Holtz craft supplies, and Vintage Photo is probably my most used distress ink of them all, it's just a perfect colour.

This time I was inspired by two challenges, the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge "tick tock", which is about time. With my holiday drawing to a close soon, I have been thinking about time a lot, especially about how it flies when you are having a wonderful time. I have enjoyed my time in the garden, kitchen and craft room, but these short one and a half week have just flown by, so I definitely wanted to participate in this challenge as it was so... timely... for my current situation. When I saw that the Simon Says Wednesday challenge was "tag it" and it also encouraged the use of Ranger product (for once something that I do have a huge selection of) I knew I wanted to combine the two challenges. I have been meaning to do a tag or two for quite a while, but halfway through I always give up as they don't turn out quite as I wanted them to. This time I was determined to get one done!

I only had one piece of crafting supplies with clocks on it for the time theme, and that was the Tim Holtz texture fades embossing folder Pocket Watches from Sizzix. Without a doubt this had to be the focal point of my tag. I started by inking a Ranger Inkssentials #8 Craft tag using Victorian Velvet, Seedless Preserves, Vintage Photo and Walnut stain to create a leathery look. I then embossed using my Sizzix and coloured the embossed areas using the Picket Fence marker. I used the Stampin' Up white pigment ink to stamp the Tim Holtz script stamp around the edges of the embossed areas of the tag, and used the Picket fence marker to draw some stitching to the top of the tag. I then distressed the edges of the tag.

Then onto the embellishments. I used the Tim Holtz Alterations Gadget gears die form Sizzix to die cut the gears, and inked with the same colours and added two layers of Ranger Ice Stickles in Coffee ice. I stamped the angels from Tim Holtz Stampers anonymous Regal Flourish set in Walnut stain and fussycut using scissors (this was definitely the most time consuming part of the tag) and then inked using Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. I also stamped a banner from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Sketch CMS131 set in walnut stain, fussycut it and inked. I wrote the sentiment free hand. Lastly, for that little bit of colour, I used the Tim Holtz distress paints in Picked Raspberry and Seedless preserves to stamp the adorable butterfly from the Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Heartfelt set onto vellum, fussycut it and inked around the edges with Vintage Photo and Walnut stain. As a final touch, I added some paper twine and a die cut lace border using the Tim Holtz Vintage Lace sizzlit which I inked using the same colours as the tag.

My first completed tag! I'm quite chuffed, although of course it never ends up looking as you wanted it in the first place. But I'm quite happy with this none the less, a good effort.

Card: Ranger Craft tags #8, Daler & Rowney 190gsm watercolour paper, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white cardstock, Dovecraft Premium Vellum 110 gsm
Inks: Tim Holtz distress inks in Seedless Preserves, Victorian Velvet, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Stampin' Up 
Stamps: Banner from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Sketch CMS131 set, angels from Tim Holtz Stampers anonymous Regal Flourish, butterfly from the Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Heartfelt set, Tim Holtz script stamp
Dies: Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzlits Vintage Lace, Tim Holtz Alterations Gadget Gears
Other: Tim Holtz Texture Fades embossing folder Pocket Watches, Tim Holtz distress marker Picket Fence, Tim Holtz distress marker Black Soot, Ranger Ice Stickles glitter glue in Coffee Ice, Tim Holtz idea-ology paper twine