Embellish it at The Stamp Man....

I'm having an erm sort of afternoon. Today started off in a promising manner- Mr M has a couple of days off work (twas his birthday yesterday), and as we WENT OUT yesterday, we decided to STAY IN today. The requisite chores were swiftly dispatched, we settled down to be down right decadent- which in this house means watching an over 12 rated DVD on our own. We went for the new X Men, which was very good, then Burke and Hare which was funny. 

Soooooo. Why am I in what can only be described as a meh mood?

The other 3 (husband, child one and Miss Little Legs) are all off to Tae Kwon Do in an hour or so. Love 'em to bits, but I can't wait for them to go today, and I feel guilty for it.

Ah well, shall I show you something I made instead? No point in answering, I'm showing you anyway......

This is my DT card for the new Stamp Man challenge, which is embellish it. I went for one BIG embellishment.......

I'm going to enter this into the Try it on Tuesday challenge of In the Mail- as this is a Valentine's Card that will  hopefully be in the mail to it's recipient.......

Right, I'm going to give myself a good talking to and snap out of it! Wish me luck.

For this card I used....

Aspects of design plate 62- Artistic elements

Aspects of design plate 61- Butterfly beauties

ATC Challenge blog- anything goes or a Mermaid

It's time for a new challenge over on the ATC challenge blog, so if you're an ATCer, get over there. This fortnight, the challenge is mermaids or anything goes.....

This is a lovely Sweet Pea stamps that has been languishing unloved in my stamps for ages. It was nice to dust her off and ink her up.

I've painted it in with Distress Inks, and her body is sparkly- which doesn't come across well on the photo. Lots of pearls to finish her off and voila!

If you fancy being on the ATC Challenge Design Team, there's a call out at the moment. Come and join us, it's fun!

I'm going to enter this into the Papertake weekly challenge, which is anything goes, with optional added bling!

In a card making frenzy......

.....well as frenzied as I get lately! 3.30 I was up this morning! For no good reason!!!

Well, at least I have some cute cards to show you. I've been trying to use up the images I've already coloured to make some stock to sell. This one is a Gorjuss girl painted with twinkling H20s. 

Oops, sideways photo, sorry! The tag was intended for on the card, but it looked a bit weird, so..... now it's a tag to go with the card. Plus as a bonus, it fits with the I Love Promarkers challenge, which is tags! I'm also entering it into the Crafty Ribbons Bingo challenge (I used Die/Flowers/Ribbon).

This is a promarkered Lili of the Valley image, with the sunflower decoupaged up for added oomph. The swirls are coloured metal and have languished in a box, unloved and forgotten until I found them whilst looking for something else- always the way, eh?

Cloooooooooseeee uppppppppp!

I'm entering this into the Passion for Promarkers challenge, which is for a child and into Charisma Cardz challenge which is anything goes.

ATC Challenge blog time.

Calling all you ATCers, how about having a go at the ATC challenge blog?

Here's my DT ATC.

It was made as one of a pair for a woman's face swap on Docrafts. She looks so wistful.

Pumpkin heads for the ATC Challenge blog

Made this yesterday and the more I look at it, the more I like it.

The Stampotique pumpkins are coloured with Promarkers, background is an offcut from my Fat Page (see previous post). He he he, they make me laugh.

This is my DT ATC for the ATC challenge blog. The challenge at the moment is Anything Goes, so nothing to lose, just have a go!

The Stamp Man challenge- monochrome

Apologies for my tardiness! Life's kinda gotten away from me a bit lately, and crafting has taken a back seat. I've started my new job and I'm settling into a new challenge and new hours, which have had a toll on my organisation at home! However, the children are back at school which means I get some daylight crafting time, woohoo, so no excuses!!!

This fortnight at the Stamp Man the challenge is monochrome- soooo, white and another colour- I went for standard black I'm afraid, but I'm kinda pleased with the result.

This gorgeous Hero Arts Clings Stamp-Engraved Flower stamp doesn't need much, it speaks for itself. So it suits a simple colour palette.

Right, over to you guys, pop over to the Stamp Man challenge (button on my right sidebar) and show us your stuff!

Alcohol inks or a sketch at The Stamp Man

This fortnight at The Stamp Man challenge blog you have a choice! You can either follow the sketch, use alcohol inks, or do both!!

Here's the sketch, courtesy of Brenda.....

Here's my take on it.....

I used the Aspects of design stamp plate 6- Nature. I love this set of little squares. I stamped them in Adirondack Wild Plum ink, and then used the same ink and some post it notes to create a strip down the lefthand side of the card. The crinkled paper I used to mat is made with starburst stains.

The jigsaw blank was coloured with lettuce and cranberry alcohol inks, and the whole thing was finished off with gems and raffia.

Righto, over to you, show us something fab!!!! There's a prize up for grabs, as ever. See the blog for more info.

I thought I'd add my entry for the Stamp Man ATC swap as well- the theme for July is vintage.

Clean and simple? Me? Yeah, right!

The challenge at Stampotique Designers Challenge is clean and simple, so I decided to have a go!

Stop laughing.


Seriously, it's not polite and I can hear you sniggering from here.

I know clean and simple isn't something that comes naturally to me (have you seen my house?), but it is certainly something I aspire to......well, if not aspire to, it's something I admire in others. Particularly in card making.

I can still see your shoulders shaking, you know.

Anyway, talk about out of my comfort zone... my work, as you can probably tell is usually messy, inky, layered and bright. Over the top, some might say, everything but the kitchen sink, but it's what I like to make. So this was one hell of a challenge. You get the picture, right? So, I'd better show you the picture....

Hopefully you're not still laughing...... I'm really, genuinely chuffed with it. I had the idea floating around my brain all day yesterday, so I got up and whipped it up in 5 minutes flat this morning. Quickest card EVER! The most difficult bit was holding the sequin waste in place whilst I found just the right shade of yellow ink (it pays to be prepared kids). In case you're wondering, Impress ink lemon yellow over the top of chartreuse green.

I am so proud that I have resisted the urge to glitter, add ribbon, distress, stamp, ink, rip, tear or otherwise gussy it up.

I'm going to enter it into the following challenges:

HD Macabre Monday- Pleasure and pain (Pleasure= Stampotique, Pain= Keeping it simple!)
Try it on Tuesday- Weird and wonderful
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge- Male card
Papertake weekly- Anything goes (with optional all white + one accent colour)
Crafts and me- Stamp something

Ingredients
Stamps- Stampotique Mort had a pin curl, Smirk You're awesome
Inks- Versafine Onyx black, Impress Chartreuse and Lemon yellow
Stash- sequin waste to ink through

New ATC challenge blog- first challenge is......Anything Goes!

So, the new ATC Challenge blog is up and running and the first challenge is underway. It's an easy one for the first time- anything goes! So, show us what little wonders you've been working on.

There's a fabulous DCWV paper stack up for grabs for the lucky winner, and lots of fabulous inspiration from the Design Team over on the challenge blog along with all the details and rules. Here's mine....

A big fat bee! I picked up the CArt-US stamp at the NEC show and he's fabulous. The background is a smacked acetate teachnique, and the flower stamps are all Hero Arts Real Flowers. The word is a rub on and I should really have called the ATC Scent, right? Except the bee spoke to me and it's called A Big Fat Bee......

The flowers are stamped using my Aquamarkers. I'm still unsure whether I like these or not, some of the colours are like paint, others watery and non existent. The jury's out, I might have investigate some tutorials.

Right, what are you waiting for? Show us your ATCs!