Still AddINKtive Challenge #3

This week’s challenge from Still AddINKtive is to use the colours River Rock, Pink Pirouette and Soft Suede.

Not quite sure how I feel about this combination, that is until I saw all the beautiful samples using these colours – lots of gorgeousness…. 🙂
So my card uses the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder on the Soft Suede layer, and then the Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder on the white layer.  The stamp set is the Everything Eleanor set, the swirls stamped in River Rock and the flowers in Pink Pirouette, and then hand cut.  To add a little shimmer and interest, I have used a dab of Frost White Shimmer Paint, which I have added using a paint brush, and looks much prettier in real life.

I’ll be back with more soon!
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #38

I found these colours a bit of a challenge this week…

so I have added quite a lot of neutral to it, but of course, once I had made my card, I had a whole heap of other ideas.  I will just have to share those with you another time! 🙂

My card this week uses one of the gorgeous Doilies from the Seasonal Catalogue that have just been released.  I have stamped straight onto the doily using the swirl from the Everything Eleanor stamp set, in Pretty in Pink and Sahara Sand. It may be a little hard to see in the photo but there are also some of the swirls stamped onto the Sahara Sand background, which I then ran through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  The flowers have been inked and then hand cut, and the red flower has been coated with Crystal Effects to give it a nice shiny finish.
Heaps of inspiration again from the Design Team this week, so make sure you have a look.

I am a little late with posting this today, I had a bit of an incident with some glass and my thumb.  No serious damage done but it was a pretty nasty cut and slowed me up a little yesterday for a while.  Won’t stop me from stamping, or blogging! 🙂

Happy stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #37

More Masculine cards from me again today!  I thought the colours would lend themselves nicely to masculine cards, but then I have seen all the beautiful flowery cards from some of the other Design Team members…… just gorgeous!  Make sure you check them out here.

I started off just making one card, using the Dapper Dad stamp set, (which will be available from the 1st Feb ), and then thought I may as well make a set of matching cards.

Here they are individually, so that you can see them in more detail.

 

 

 

 

In my previous post, I started on some tips for making masculine cards.  So here is another one… I guess this might be obvious from the cards I have made here, dry embossing (using Textured Impressions Embossing folders) make great backgrounds for masculine cards, giving lots of texture and interest.  Great ones to keep in mind are the one I have used here, which is the Argyle, Square Lattice, Houndstooth, Perfect Polka Dots, Woodgrain (one of my favourites!), Chevron, Stripes, and definitely Spider Web.  You can change the entire look of a card just by using a different embossing folder in the background.  Give it a try and see what you like best.
You’ll be pleased to hear that there are more great embossing folders coming in the new Seasonal Catalogue – Cloudy Day, and Honeycomb, both of which would work just fine on a masculine card (available from Feb 1st).

I do hope you will join us this week with this gorgeous colour challenge, we love to see what you have come up with, so make sure you share your work with us 🙂
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Feeling Sentimental

I’ll be the first to admit that I love making cards that are girly – pinks, purples, ribbons, lace and vintage in style, but I also really enjoy making masculine cards.
A lot of people have commented that they struggle with making cards for the men in their lives, so this year I plan to share with you lots of tips and ideas for male cards, and hopefully some inspiration too 🙂

This particular card uses the new Sale-a-Bration stamp set called Feeling Sentimental, and it is great for masculine cards.  I am also going to enter this card in this week’s Paper Players challenge #129, which is a sketch challenge.  Pop on over to their site, lots of inspiration for you!

So, my first tip for making masculine cards is, don’t be afraid to use patterned papers, as I have done in this card.  I have used the Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP here, which is perfect, but don’t forget to look at the packs of papers you already have.  Stampin’ Up! are fabulous when it comes to incorporating all sorts of possibilities, so have a look through those flowery papers and look for stripes, spots, even what may seem like a girlish pattern, could be cut so that it changes it’s look. How about some of those Christmas papers?  Red or green stripes or spots or patterns could easily be turned into a background for a tree or other masculine image.
Let’s see if I can give you an example…. The Twitterpated DSP is a lovely flowery, pretty pack of papers, but have a look at the reverse side of each paper.  Green and blue checks… stripes…. geometric designs in grey, and a red geometric pattern that could easily be cut to look masculine.

For my card, I have die cut the patterned paper using the Window Frames Collection, and then layered that over my stamped image.  This particular patterned paper is only available for a few more days, so make sure you get in quick if you want to get hold of some!

Happy Stamping!
Chris

Still AddInktive Colour Challenge

I had the great pleasure of spending a few hours stamping yesterday with my lovely friend Deb Fearns.  She was kind enough to let me have a bit of play with some stamp sets that will be available from the 1st of Feb, so I thought I would give you a little sneak peek at one of the cards I have made using this set called Dapper Dad.

This card is also a very last minute entry for this week’s colour challenge over on Still AddINKtive.

Summer Starfruit is still not a colour I like very much, and as such, this was a good challenge for me.

Hope you are having a crafty week!  Happy Stamping!
Chris

Owly Thanks

I’m not entirely sure that “Owly” is a word, but you get the idea!  Hopefully all of the recipients of these little thank you cards have received them by now, so it’s ok to post them here.

I love this gorgeous Owl punch but it has been very much neglected.  So he got a work out making some thank you cards, and while I was at it, I thought I would make a book mark for my son, who always has numerous books on the go at once, so we can never have too many book marks in our house!

Happy stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #35

Gorgeous colours again this week for the Dynamic Duos challenge, and here is the third card in my Bordering on Romance set that I shared in my previous post.

I have used mostly So Saffron with just a hint of Certainly Celery on the leaves.

The sprays of flowers have been cut out by hand and then lifted off the card with dimensional tape.  And this time, instead of lots of faux stitching, I have just done lots of paper piercing 🙂 it does create a completely different effect.  The greeting is from the Perfectly Penned stamp set.

Lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, which you can see here.
Hope you are having a crafty and productive weekend.  I know I am! 🙂
Happy stamping!
Chris

 

Bordering on Romance CASE

I wanted to make a card for our lovely neighbour who has been unwell for some time and recently had an operation, and when I saw the “August” card in this fabulous line up of cards on Kathy Tanners blog, I just knew I had to CASE it!
It’s also been a while since I did some serious water colouring and thought it would be a good time to get some practice in.

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I did however do the watercolouring on Whisper White card stock.  Watercolouring with inks works best on watercolour paper…. yes, really…. 🙂 as it absorbs the water, whereas the Whisper White card stock can’t absorb as much and can easily become scuffed up.  So I have used a Blender pen and added the colour as quickly as possible and with as few strokes of the brush as possible.  Nevertheless I am not entirely happy with how it turned out.  More practice required!

So I made another one…….

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I just love purple!

There is a third one, but you will have to wait a few days to see it! 🙂  and you never know, I may feel inspired to make a fourth 🙂
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Happy Stamping!
Chris

Melon Mambo and Island Indigo…

….sounds kind of exotic, doesn’t it?  I really like the names that Stampin’ Up! use for their colours, and I like the combination of colours for this week’s Dynamic Duos challenge too!

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I had too many ideas for this combination, so in the end I decided to keep it simple.

I have used the flower from Button Buddies stamp set and fussy cut them to create the layers of different colours.  The greeting is from Wacky Wishes and I have used the zig zaggy background was created using the Chevron Embossing folder through the Big Shot.

Lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team again this week, so make sure you have a look here, and lets see what gorgeous designs you can come up with using these colours.
Have fun with it, and happy Stamping!

Chris

Stampin’ Royalty Challenge #156

I thought it was time I did some stamping for the enjoyment of it, so I have gone looking at some of the challenge sites that I used to frequent regularly, and today I have made a card for the latest challenge from Stampin’ Royalty.

Here is the sketch:

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And here is the card I have made:

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I have a few bits and pieces which arrived just before my move, and which have not been used, so definitely time to start using some of them 🙂  I have used the Summer Afternoon Hostess stamp set along with some of the Fan Fair patterned papers, which are just gorgeous!

I will be back over the next few days with more creations and with some updates for classes etc for the new year.  In the meantime, happy stamping!
Chris