February 2016 Rudolph Days Challenge

My first Christmas card this year!  I missed the first Rudolph Days Challenge this year cause I wasn't well so I am glad I managed this months.

I stamped the Clarity snowflake and the Winnie and Walter star multiple times in Versamark ink and embossed in white powder.  Then I inked the background with Distress Inks and the white embossing resisted the ink.  I spritzed the background with water and dabbed with kitchen roll then stamped and embossed the sentiment which is by Woodware.  Lots of Stickles was added for sparkle.

I would like to enter the February Rudolph Days Challenge - Anything goes as long as its Christmas!
Its a fabulous blog and worth joining in!

Thank you for visiting me, I love it when you do!  Have a lovely weekend. Take care. Christine xxx

Industrial for Vintage Journey

I was very pleased to receive a Pinworthy Mention from A Vintage Journey recently and be asked to be Guest Designer.  Now, the theme is Industrial, which is so far outside my comfort zone my immediate reaction was to say 'no thank you,!  I thought about it though and decided to go for it which is really scary as I know everyone else who is either on the DT or enters, will be far better than me at this theme but here goes!  It was really hard to photograph too!

I started by randomly covering a square piece of card with pieces of the silver sticky tape you can buy from DIY stores.  Then I used a ruler and an embossing tool to score across all the lines where the tape crossed and using stencils or freehand, I added detail to each section.  When complete, I went over the whole thing with Sunshine Yellow, Butterscotch and Stream Alcohol Inks using a blending tool.  I then added black Distress Paint to dirty it up and rubbed it back with a soft cloth.  The butterfly is from Sizzix Flights of Fancy set and is a Sizzlits die which I cut with my Big Shot them embossed with Tim Holtz Alternations embossing folder then hit it with lots of the Purple Twilight and some Stream Alcohol Ink.  Here is a close up picture to show some of the detail:

The layer behind is silver card coloured with the same Alcohol Inks.  The corner brads are not overly industrial but the colour matched so I used them anyway and I added silver brads to the buttlerfly body and wings.  I used a sentiment from IndigoBlu which I rough cut out and distressed with Salty Ocean, Scattered Straw and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks.  The 'miracle' was me actually completing this, I found it more difficult than any card I have ever done!  It was good to have a try at something so different though!

Please join in with the fab Industrial Challenge at A Vintage Journey - if you love all things
Tim Holtz,you will love this blog!

Thank you so much for visiting me, I really appreciate it!  Take Care.  Christine xxx

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day for yesterday! I am a bit late!  I am a bit of a romantic so love to send my wonderful husband a Valentines card.  Last year it was a very inky mixed media style card so this year, I went very clean and simple.

The Cuttlebug embossing folder was used with the card sticking out of the bottom and the folder also sticking out of the plates of my Big Shot so there wasn't a line where the embossing ended.  This left room for the fabulous sentiment by Avery Elle which I stamped in Versamark ink and embossed with white detail powder.  The little die cut hearts are Spellbinders.  The sentiment is popped up on sticky pads.

Its a very simple card but I like the way it turned out and I wanted it to be all about the sentiment!

I would like to enter the following challenges:

That's Crafty - First Love
Pixies Snippets Playground - Use Snippets (my hearts were cut from tiny snippets of card from my bit box).

Both of these are fabulous blogs - well worth a visit!

Thank you so much for popping by to visit me!  I appreciate it so very much!
Take care, Christine xxx

My First ATC's

Hello!  I haven't posted for just over a month!  I also haven't been visiting your blogs much either, I am so sorry!  I have been knocked off my feet by the dreaded cold, cough and sore throat bug and its taken me ages to get over it!  I have not made ATC's before so thought I would have a go and I made three to go together.

The ATC's were cut from a leftover piece of card I had previously coloured with shimmer watercolours.  I think they were a mixture of Cosmic Shimmer and H20s.  I am not sure though as I made the original card with the rest absolutely ages ago! I cut the ATC's to size then rounded the corners with my corner chomper. The flowers and leaves are from Button Florals by Creative Expressions and, again, these were leftover from another project I did a couple of years ago and I fished them out of my bits box.  I added the dotty stencilling to the backgrounds and edged each ATC with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.  I think the flowers were coloured with Distress Inks too but again, I am not sure.  Clear sequins and a little gem were added to the centres of the flowers for a bit of bling.  The butterflies also were out of my bit box and I can't remember which stamp I used, maybe InkyDoodles.  I did stamp the words today!  I used black Versafine embossed with clear powder and the stamp set is Trendy Butterflies by Stamplorations.  The words are stamped on scrap card which I coloured with Distress Inks, then cut out.

These ATC's were quite quick to make as most of the elements were bits I already had but I really enjoyed making them!

I would like to enter the following challenges:-

That's Crafty - ATC's
The Craft Barn - Triplets
Pixie's Snippets Playground - use snippets - the inked card for the ATC's and the card for the sentiments are my snippets.
Butterfly Challenge - over the edge or undulating - my butterflies are 'over the edge' of the ATC's (just!).

These are all fabulous blogs, definitely worth a visit!

Thank you so much for visiting me, I really appreciate it!  I will pop round and see you soon - I have a lot of catching up to do!  Take care. Christine xxx