Dynamic Duos #36

Time for another colour challenge at the Dynamic Duos blog, and this week is Real Red and Basic Black with the option of a Valentine Theme.

I have to admit that my Mojo is well and truly MIA at present, so nothing is easy when it comes to creating!  Lets hope it returns real soon….

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I also struggled with trying to make this photo work – I have used the flocked window sheet out of the Candlelight Christmas Specialty papers, and of course it reflected everything that was behind me…
The card didn’t really turn out how I had intended it and then I didn’t know what to do with it, so I hope you will find some inspiration in the fact that I am human and have my “off” days too  🙂  I would love to see what you can do with this challenge, so please share with us at Dynamic Duos, and while you are there, check out the gorgeous work from the rest of the Design Team.

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

 

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

Card Kit Nights

I am excited to announce my new Card Kit Nights, starting on the 1st of February and running on the first Friday of every month.  Here are the details:

Do you like to make your own cards, but don’t have the time to do all the cutting and preparation?  Do you have some experience in stamping and card making?
Why not come along to my monthly Card Kit Night?

When: On the first Friday of the month, from 7.30 – 9.30pm
(Dates: 1st Feb, 1st Mar, 5th April, 3rd May, 7th June, 5th July, 2nd Aug, 6th Sept, 4th Oct, 1st Nov, 6th Dec)

Where: My house in Melba – (directions provided when you book in)

How does it work: I will make up card kits from various different Stampin’ Up! products.  In each kit there will be everything you need to make a card, all you need to do is stamp and put it together in your own design.  You can use my tools, stamps and inks, and other materials will be available for purchase. Please bring your own adhesive or let me know if you need to purchase some.

Cost: $2.50 per card kit – make as many or as few as you wish in 2 hours.

More details can be found on my “Classes” page.  Make sure you contact me asap to book your place, and I look forward to crafting with you soon!

Dynamic Duos #32

Some nice, pretty girly colours today, so I made a nice, pretty girly card! 🙂
I have used a layout for this card that I found, well, some where on the internet when I was blog hopping… anyway, I thought it would work well with some swirls and flowers and here is the end result….

 

The stamp sets I have used are Field Flowers, Perfectly Penned and Elements of Style, along with some pink Seam Binding Ribbon (Non Stampin’ Up!) and white Baker’s Twine and a button.
This is a very pretty colour combination, and could work well for Christmas if you are busy making Christmas cards.  So feel free to join us this week, and you can check out what the rest of the Design Team have come up with here.
Have a crafty weekend.  Happy Stamping!
Chris

Foil and Alcohol Inks

Another fabulous challenge for Our Creative Corner this week from Sue at Scrumplescrunch:

The technique of dripping Alcohol Inks onto Foil has an amazing effect. 
The item you make can be anything; a free standing decoration,  or an element to place onto your project, experiment and have some fun, it is getting close to the silly season, so why not let go and free all those inhibitions and let rip with some colour!
I decided not to do Christmas again this week, but did I have fun with the foil and alcohol inks!  Once I am unpacked after my move I will most certainly be playing with this one again 🙂  Thank Sue!
I have die cut the flowers out of a backed foil and then dripped the different colours of alcohol ink onto the foils, adding more colour once the first colour was dry, if I thought it needed more variation.
Here is a closer look at the flowers:
Well, I hope you are all getting lots of crafting time in.  I am looking forward to being able to unpack all my precious stamps and equipment and getting back into it.  But in the meantime, why don’t you check out all the creative and gorgeous inspiration from the very talented Design Team at Our Creative Corner.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #28

I did find this colour combination a bit of a challenge.
Actually… very much of a challenge!    But that’s the whole idea, isn’t it? 🙂

So, I am not terribly happy with how my card turned out, perhaps you can do better with these colours.  We would love to see what you come up with.


I have used the Papaya Collage stamp set, and one of the Ribbon Slides with the gorgeous Seam Binding Ribbon.

You will most definitely find some inspiration from the very talented Design Team, and do come on over to the Dynamic Duos blog and share your work with us.

Until next time, happy stamping!
Chris

 

Make your own Background

Absolutely loved this week’s challenge at Our Creative Corner from the fabulous and very talented Susan Butler at Scrumplescrunch.  If you haven’t already, definitely head on over to her blog for some serious inspiration!
Sue’s challenge is to make your own background:

“Decide whether you are a Pablo Picasso- and delve into mixed-media which involves paint, inks, glue, newspaper-clippings, photographs; in fact anything that you can lay your hands on to make it work visually.
Or do you lean toward Paul Cezanne- water-colours-   (you are allowed to use Distress Inks as your watercolour medium) to set your scene, mood and connection to your project. 
Try not to cover up your background too much with your focal image, allow everyone to view it in all it’s splendour.
And absolutely no patterned paper on your project!”
Since I just love to do water colouring, I decided to use this technique for my background.  I have used a large sheet of water colour paper and wet it down completely under the tap.  So when I say, wet it down, I mean literally  put it under the tap and get it wet all over.
I then used my markers to add ink in different colours (you could use re-inkers for this but mine are packed!) and then an aqua brush to blend the colours nicely.  I wanted to keep the colours soft and subtle.  I then used the French Foliage stamp set to add the leaves, splodges and very faint words, while the paper was still very wet.  I thought it needed a bit more colour then, so I have used some alcohol inks and dropped some blobs of ink in various colours.  The flowers are from the Field Flowers stamp set, which have been stamped and then cut out and layered over the background.  The centres of the flowers have some tiny spots of  Copper coloured alcohol ink in the centre, which gives it a nice shine, along with some Champagne Glimmer paper and Crumb Cake Tulle Ribbon.
Lots of inspiration from the OCC Design Team this week (as always!) so make sure you check out their creations.  And please join in the fun with us this week.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Beautiful Butterflies

I love Papillon Potpourri stamp set, such beautiful butterflies!
And I have seen this idea around on the net in a few places so thought I would make a couple of different ones.  What I really wanted to do was to show you just how easy it is to change a couple of elements and come up with a completely different card.

So, as you can see, I have change the colours, the first card uses Midnight Muse, Cajun Craze and Summer Starfruit.

I used a different piece of patterned paper, although both are from the Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper.  The greetings on both cards are from the Curly Cute set.

 

The colours in the second card are Whisteria Wonder, Pool Party and So Saffron.

I have also used a different butterfly to achieve a different look, but both are from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set.

I like this design, I think I will make a Christmas card using it 🙂

I also want to let all of my lovely followers know that there are going to be some pretty major changes going on over the next couple of months. My son and I have decided that it is time to move back home to Canberra.  We have started packing,  but we don’t have an exact date to move yet, but imagine it will take place before Christmas.  So I will attempt to continue to craft and blog over that time, but I hope you will understand if it’s not as frequent as it has been.

Happy Stamping!
Chris

Masking for Halloween Challenge

This week’s Our Creative Corner challenge from Marcy, is to create a scary creation in the theme of Halloween, and using a masking technique.

Oh dear, this one was a challenge for me, I don’t have any Halloween stamps (this seems to be happening a lot lately!!) so I went scouring the local craft stores.  Halloween is not big in Australia like it is in the US, however it is becoming bigger and more people are celebrating it, so I was not entirely without hope of finding something that I could use. Hmmm famous last words.  The best I could come up with were some stickers.  My son likes creating craft projects and uses stickers sometimes, so I knew they wouldn’t go to waste, and that he wouldn’t mind if I used one or two.
I’m not really sure that this little witch is particularly scary, she looks rather cute really.
I have used Serene Silhouettes stamp set in Midnight Muse and Basic Black inks, and used the masking technique to get that layered effect, where some of the trees look like they are behind others.  The spider web is from Mixed Medley stamp set, (yes, it does have a couple of halloween stamps in that set) and is stamped using the Illuminate Glimmer Ink Pad (Page 23 of the Holiday Catalogue).  The moon was punched out of the silver Glimmer paper, and the stars are just some half-backed Rhinestones.
I hope you will have a Happy Halloween, and hope you play along with all of us at Our Creative Corner this week.
Happy stamping!
Chris