For ATC’S sake … #46 and #47

Two fairly simple atcs this time… this was a stamped Swallowtail on a piece of copy paper I used to mop up a Brusho rainbow I had used for another project about 8 months ago. It then sat there getting crumpled and not being used… so here is the perfect way to use them. I cut them both to slightly smaller than ATC size and then edged them with black ink. Next I added a layer of versamark and clear embossing powder and then embossed them. 

I love the mottled shiny finish this gives them. I love the vibrancy of the colours that the layers of embossing gives them too.  I had forgotten how much I love brushos… think they may have to come out to play again very soon! 

I then mounted them onto some navy thin cardstock to frame them. 

A simple pair of ATC’S that would make very good card toppers too! 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

Crafting at Helen’s retreat … oh so succulent!

Yesterday I took myself out for the day to craft with my friend Helen who is a Stampin up demonstrator and great teacher. She had planned a one day class using some lovely products from the Oh so succulent range (Oh so succulent stamps and Succulent garden dsp) and we made cards to go in the tin that’s in the saleabration.  I had a lovely day following Helen’s instructions (sort of!) and managed to make 7 cards and have oodles of supplies left to make more to go in the card tin… which I’ve planned to give as a gift to my auntie. 

Here is the tin… 

Then the inserts which I’ve only done three types of card so far… so that’s all I’ve done for the categories… 

Right now here are the cards I made following Helen’s designs and instructions… on most of the cards I also decorated inside the cards… not something I often remember to do but thought it would be a nice touch for my auntie. I also did some simple stamping for the envelope too. 

This was the most time consuming one I made as it involved lots and lots of masking but love the effect I got in the end. I did go a bit dark with the inking through the mask but still I love it. 

The colour scheme was so pretty for this project… I love the sugar Plum pink and the mint macaron in particular. So pretty. 

Helen had the matching framelits available for us to cut all the stamped images and Daisy flowers out. They did speed up the process a lot and I wouldn’t have wanted to fussy cut all the flowers out but I still am not a fan of framelits so I will have to use the good old fashioned scissors next time I use this set.

I do however love the Daisy flowers that are die cut from this set. They are super cute… and having seen what others have created using the larger succulent dies they are amazing. So I can see the value in getting them… even if it’s unlikely I would get them myself.

I chose, as Helen had, to make the cards tent fold. I much prefer this … or even to make them landscape … I think it’s a more unusual fold and makes the cards look elegant. Plus when cutting your own card blanks you have the freedom to do this and otherwise these are an expensive card blank type to buy.

So those were my take on Helen’s designs. I then made a card using scraps from the off cuts and a tiny bit of stamping… 

…as you can see I changed the envelope for this and also the card looks so different without dsp! 

I also made three ATC’S from some of the scraps on the table but not quite finished them yet so will post them when I do. 

As per usual for Helen’s classes, there is a ton of product left as she is suoer generous, so have enough to make three more cards on white card bases and then probably at least another ten cards if I was to use some precut card blanks or even some of the coloured cardstock she’s included too.  Maybe by the time my auntie gets this for her birthday in March it will be funny with plenty of lovely cards to last her a while. 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

Postcard Art exchange… monochrome 

I joined in the postcard art exchange again this month. The theme was Monochrome and I must admit I struggled to think of what to do at first but then I saw the Gorjuss stamp I bought sitting on my desk begging to be used! 

So this was masking and over stamping and paper piecing and fun stencil play! 

At this point the texture paste (iridescent medium mixed with black gesso) needed to dry so it was a good time to take a picture. I used the lovely Ghoulish Grunge and Tape it stamps to add the background stamping and then the creative impressions mini stencil for the hearts. 

I finished it off with a silver pen… and a little quote. 

Love how this turns out and enjoyed playing with the limited colour scheme.

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

Paperartsy challenge … and for ATC’S sake … 38 – 43 !!!

It’s been a while since I managed to do a Paperartsy challenge … but I kept seeing amazing art both on the blog and from my friend Hazel who has made three different projects already (all of which are stunning) so I had to join in. 

Last night was the night to get in the zone and do this! The first DT project by Corrie I loved and although my make was nothing like hers it still inspired me to get my colour going! 

The first challenge for 2017 is a colour scheme… pink and orange! Lovely and bright and zingy.  Of course in keeping with this year’s challenge I had to make some ATC’S.  

So I grabbed some paper which I got in the sale at M & S as part of a stationery kit… and went to town with abandoned coral and carved pumpkin distress stains. I didn’t bother going to the edges as I knew that on this 8 x 8 paper I wouldn’t be using it all.

Next I grabbed some neon pink paint. This is DoCrafts fabric paint but I use it quite often on my papercrafts and never on fabric! I grabbed a stencil and added some onto the background but the paint is translucent so barely visible. So then I got out some gesso and an open design stencil so I could provide a base for the pink paint. 

That’s better.. more stencilling and stamping with bottle tops and credit cards and all that remained was some speckles! For this I used the metallic paints from Finnabair to also add a bit of a sheen. 

So I then cut up the pieces into ATC size and added stickers that were included in the stationery kit.

Right onto the focal images.  I wanted to keep them all in one theme and happen to have very recently bought some stamps that I knew would work perfectly… these Tim Holtz Runway ones… stamped in archival onto white cardstock and loosely coloured with the distress stains… perfect. 

I cut them out with a reasonable border and then adhered them to the backgrounds.  They are slightly larger than the atcs so they did loose legs etc… and in one case the dog! 

Then I decided to trim them down and add them to a cardstock base that I cut out of the postcards from the same kit… they had cute postcard style cards and they were perfectly 2 atcs for each… so I did half on the kraft side and half on the white. Oh I and so edged each of the panels with ink before sticking it down. 

Next up… doodling. A bit of doodling and outlining and then some stickers for sentiments. 

And here they are… gorgeous even if I say so myself! I also added a little bit of enamel accents on each just to add a little more texture. 

And here they all are in close up…

So that’s another six atcs made towards my challenge… I am way ahead of schedule (16 ahead already) and really enjoying this challenge.  I also love joining in with the Paperartsy gang for the pink and orange challenge… I do realise that I didn’t use any PA products this time … but I have an idea for another project using these colours and PA products so if idea get a chance in the next couple of days I will be back with that one too.  

In the meantime check out the Paperartsy blog and all the fab inspiration.  

Happy crafting! 

Cafe cards… 35, 36 and 37

Hello there… another few atcs to share today that are part of the weekly challenge Marta sets up in Maremis Creative cafe fb group.  

These are the cards for weeks 2, 3 and 4…

Week 2 was bubbles… so bubble printing and doodling and quote about bubbles… perfect.  Then added the sparkly domes too. 

Week 3 was coffee… of course I had to use the perfect blend stamps… plus some beads and thread to add texture.

Week 4 was Dragonfly… the feature came from Awesomely Artistic and this was added to a pretty pastel background card to which I added the quote from Darcy’s stamps.  

Love how different these look and grateful for the inspiration in the fb group. 

Happy crafting ! 

Catherine 

PATWITS circle journal… Marie’s journal pages

It’s been an age since I shared a circle journal page … so glad I can share this one. This is a really special one as although it’s a PATWITS circle journal… it is for one of my raggy doll sisters! The lovely Marie made a fab circle journal for us all to work in and the instructions were to do both sides of the page…. so here is my first side. I used a lot of different book print papers to add texture and pattern and then a mix of coral and autumn fire and terracotta and chalk fresco finish paint to do the background with some flicks of Bora Bora too. Then some iridescent medium through a heart stencil and lots of Darcy heart stamping and embossing. Then doodling and outlining and inking. The big heart I also gave a coat of the opal magic paint. Then found the he perfect quote for the page for Marie. 

Next is the reverse and this time I went a little different.  

I decided to do an ombre type background with the paints and then use the Lynne Perrella stamps as the main feature. I then grabbed the Darcy sentiment and some of the bits and pieces from the Artful Days goodie box to finish off. 

Love how incredibly different both sides are and that they both started with similar colours but went pastel for one and rich for the other. 

Hopefully Marie will like it too. 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

An Artful Days goodie box card

Just a little card I made using some Artful Days goodie box pieces of loveliness! 

So so easy to put together as Julie has taken all the hard work out of it in putting together pieces that match already. 

A simple bit of assembling and then adding some shading with Inktense pencil and jobs a good’un!

I can’t recommend these boxes enough in terms of variety and value for money. They are so fab! I have so much stash left from the December box and so many ideas on how to use it but so little time! Lol! 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 


A little framed canvas 

Well I have something a bit different to share tonight…. a canvas I made and framed… not an ATC in sight! 

This is how I started.  A 3×3 canvas board which I gessoed and then added the time Holtz tissue paper to it. All the goodies I used (except gelatos) are from the Artful days goodie box from December.  

To this I added gelatos in a mixture of lime and yellow.  I then used a stencil and baby wipe to remove some colour. 

Then I went to town on embellishments from the Artful Days goodie box… 

Once I had layered them up I adhered them and added the whole piece to some dark brown cardstock so I could frame it in the box frame I had to hand. 

I also added a sentiment from the Tim Holtz stickers I had in the stash. 

How lovely is this? And super simple to make. Loved playing with the goodies and creating this piece to go on the craft room wall. 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

For ATC’S sake… 33 and 34

Hello there… another couple of ATC’S made…. this time using the first prompt from the 52 week art challenge I am following… the prompt was plants. 

I took some scratch paper and doodled my plants. 

These then became my atcs! I love the splashes of lime green that the paper already had. It worked perfectly with the plant theme. 

Simple but good to do a little sketching and incorporate it into my challenge. 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

For ATC’S sake … 32

One more ATC this morning…. managed to get myself a little bit ahead on the challenge…

This started as a piece of cardstock I covered in black gesso and added texture paste through a stencil.

I then added the paint on the top added and built up the little cluster of textures and layers. 

So there we go… 32 ATC’S made since 1st Jan and only 333 to go!!! Wonder when I will get bored of these mini pieces of art?

Happy crafting!