Shining Star

Trying something a little different, I went way out of my comfort zone to make this card.  The background is mainly washi tape and a spritz of Fireworks ink.  I added a sentiment from Clare Llyod's Paperartsy stamps and the embellishment is a diecut topped with a snowflake gem.

The card follows this weeks RetroSketches layout. 

25th December

While I have run out of ink in my printer (more has been ordered and is on its way!) I have been playing with making a few more 'arty' cards using some backgrounds I prepared last week (as you can see from my blog the last two days).
This is another.

The card follows the current Sweet Sketch Wednesday layout.

 

Merry and Bright

This is the second card I made using one of the mixed media backgrounds I prepared last week.  Again, I stamped the image on a book page and paper pieced it together with the bauble stamped on a different background paper.  I have used Clare Llyod's PaperArtsy Christmas stamps in the background, along with the sentiment.

The card follows this weeks Sketch Saturday layout. 

Christmas Fairy

I as playing around last week making some 'arty' backgrounds (acrylics, wet wipe, inks, stamps...).  I decided to make this one into a mixed media card.  The image was stamped on an old book page, cut out, stuck on and coloured.  The Christmas tree 'backing paper' is actually part of an old cereal packet covered in washi tape!

Ok, she didn't end up quite as I had in my mind's eye but it is all a learning curve and I enjoyed making the card.

A smaller batch...

...well, is it a 'batch' when it is only two cards (and really the only thing they have in common is the same stamps)??

 

Batch making

After admitting the other day that I had only made one Christmas card so far this year I thought I'd best make a few.  (Rest assured though that I have *boxes* of them I made in previous years which I didn't need and so strictly I don't *need* to make any this year.  But.... why not add to the supply for future years and an excellent reason to give my Christmas stamps, papers and digis an airing.)
Hence, I used sketch 355 from a past Sketch Saturday challenge and made four cards.

 

Arrrgh Matey!

I made this fun little card using the sketch from the current Retrosketches challenge.

 

Spaceman!

I was a very lucky person last week and received quite a few cute stamps from a friend (thankyou x).  Couldn't resist getting some of them inked up quickly, including the pirate yesterday and todays spaceman.  I teamed him with my fave papers at the moment (from Tiger- love this circle one as you can colour it (not sure it is designed for that, but I think it works) to suite the project.

The card follows the layout of this weeks Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge and I will also enter it into this weeks Passion for Promarkers (embossing) challenge.

 

Pirate Matchboxes

I think with all the ATBs that I have been making lately, I got the urge to have a go at altered matchboxes again too. This duo is made from part of a cereal box!

 I first made a masterboard stamping the skull and bones background in black ink.  Next came gloss varnish though a stencil, followed by flicks of green, blue and white acrylic (wiped back with a baby wipe).  I did the same on an old book page for the inside of the box (to hide the side of the cereal box which had writing on).

 I cut out and scored the match boxes, stuck in the inner 'lining' (book page) and assembled.

 The stamps (background and image) were a recent gift (thankyou Clare).  I saw matchboxes decorated with the head on the top and body in the drawer ages ago and always wanted to give it a go.  This image is perhaps a little big for it though, hence why I made a 'duo' set.

 The image has been coloured with promarkers and I added a few finishing touches of staples, stars and gems (treasure!).

Must have another go sometime.  Really enjoying this 'arty' stuff :-)

ATB V- flowers

This is the last ATB for a while, I promise!  The block is the second offcut that I mentioned yesterday and it was prepared in a similar manner.

 This time I painted some book pages in acrylics and used them to make three torn flowers (button centres).

 I wrapped wire round the screws to make 'leaves'.

 I'm quite pleased with the result and I can wholly recommend ATBs to anyone who wants to try something different.