Put the Kettle On

My friend Christine (aka calex) was in the UK recently and brought me back a lovely tin of tea - on the outside of the tin, it said "keep calm and carry on", so when I saw this stamp saying "keep calm and put the kettle on", I just had to buy it so that I could use it for a thank you card for her.

Both my background and the small tag were made by sprinking mostly blue and a little bit of red bister on coated cs, then spritzing heavily and letting the colours run, then leaving it to dry on its own.

The larger tag was cut from a piece of aqua blue dp over which I stenciled a tiny script stencil with texture paste.

It's finished off with a scrap of ribbon and a few sequins that were exactly the right colours!

I'm entering it in the CAS Mix Up challenge for April - "stamping + stenciling + your choice". The things I chose from the list for "your choice" are bister and die cutting.  And in the SCS Mix-ability challenge "Nesting Shapes" - to use the same shape twice but in different sizes. I used two different sized tag dies. My mixed media are bister powder and embossing paste.

Stamps: Stampendous "Keep Calm..."

Paper: white cs, coated cs, Little Yellow Bicycle dp

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Staz-on black

Accessories: blue and red bister, ribbon, sequins, Die-namics tag dies, TCS script stencil, texture paste

A Card and a Tag for Happy Little Stampers

I love the fact that the Happy Little Stampers challenges run for a whole month!  It gives me a chance to enjoy them so much more.

This month the HLS CAS challenge is "Gilding".  I did an earlier card for it using my gold gilding flakes but also wanted to do something with my silver ones.

For the doves and the words, I covered scraps of cs with Sookwang tape, die cut them, and applied the gilding flakes to the top.  For the background, I used a stencil and spread IndigoBlu's Flitter Glue (designed for use with gilding flakes) over it, then removed the stencil and applied the gilding flakes to the glue.

The doves are popped up on foam tape, as is the blue panel.

Then the HLS Christmas challenge is "Tag" and the HLS Mixed Media challenge is also "Tag" (though for the Mixed Media challenge, it doesn't need to be a Christmas tag).  I'll put this in both, but because I'm on the Design Teams for these two challenges, I won't be in the running for one of the great prizes!  I'm also taking it over to Loll Thompson's "Twelve Tags of Christmas" event.  You have until November 22nd to link up your tag for this.

 

I really stepped outside my colour comfort zone with this one!  Those who know me will know that the peace dove card above is right in my comfort zone but this tag is way out of it.  

I inked up the tag with some red, pink, and orange Distress stains, then spritzed with gold spray.  Added a faint bit of text and some stencilled poinsettias with a Christmas blend of glitter on the embossing paste.

I die cut the layers of the mini poinsettia in three different colours of shimmer cs, the flourish in two of them, and the sentiment in the gold one.  I dyed a scrap of seam binding to match the background and tied a gold cord bow around it.

Here's a close-up of the die cut poinsettia:

My next tag will be back to blue and white - I don't think I can handle much of these hot colours!

Supplies:

Peace Dove card:

 Dies - Memory Box and Impression Obsession doves, Tim Holtz peace on earth

 Paper - dark blue, shimmery silver, and scraps of white cs

 Other - Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil, IndigoBlu Flitter Glue, Cosmic Shimmer silver 

 gilding flakes, foam tape

Poinsettia Tag:

 Dies - Spellbinders Noel, Cheery Lynn flourish, Memory Box small poinsettia

 Stamp - Inkadinkado text stamp

 Ink - Memento London Fog

 Paper - white tag; gold, bronze, and burgundy shimmer cs

 Other - Tim Holtz poinsettia stencil, white embossing paste, Sparkle 'n' Sprinkle Christmas   

 glitter,  homemade gold spray, Distress stains, gold cord, seam binding

 

Mixed Media Reindeer Tag

My good friend, Loll Thompson, is having her second Christmas tag challenge.  It's called Twelve Tags of Christmas and it runs from November 4 - 15, with the linky remaining open until November 22 so participants have lots of time to enter.  There are some fabulous prizes! 

The tags have to be mixed media.   For this event, Mixed Media is defined as stamps + ink, plus two other elements which add texture and/or dimension.

I'm honoured that Loll asked me to be one of her Guest Designers.  Here is my tag:

I started by inking a white tag with two shades of Distress stains.  I then darkened the edges with a matching Distress ink.  Then stamped the text stamp after wiping off some of the ink.  I added a spritz of homemade gold spray (appropriately made for me by Loll!).

I die cut two layers of the "joy" sentiment and three of the reindeer from a copper shimmer cs, glued them together and glued to the tag.  I decided the upper left corner needed something so used embossing paste over a small sprig of a holly stencil, then searched all my glitters for a green that would work - none would so I had fun blending green, blue, and graphite glitters together.

I embellished with a bit of ribbon and one gemstone for the dot over the "joy".

Here's another shot that shows more of the wonderful gold spray:

Thanks so much for looking and please join us before November 22 by creating and adding your tag to Loll's blog.

Supplies:
Stamps: Inkadinkado text stamp
Ink: Distress Brushed Corduroy and Peeled Paint
Paper: premade white cs tag, copper shimmer cs
Size: 4.75" x 2.5"
Accessories: Distress Stains (Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage), Tim Holtz holly bough stencil, embossing paste, glitter, dark green ribbon, copper gemstone, Tim Holtz joy die, Dee's Distinctively deer die, homemade gold spray

Tag for a Baby Girl

I'm on the Design Team for the new Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge.  The first challenge, which runs till the end of November, is "Tag".  I decided to step outside of my frantic Christmas mode as I need to send a gift to my god-daughter's new baby girl so I can use this tag for her.

 

My mixed media are ink, sprays, embossing paste, glitter, and ribbon.

I started with a blank off-white tag that I sprayed with two different sprays.  I let the colours run, blend, and air dry.  I then used embossing paste over a star stencil, added a blend of silver and pink glitter, and set aside to dry.

I stamped a lovely sweet stamp from an old SU set, die cut it with a circle and backed it with a scalloped silver glitter paper circle.  I had planned to run the "congratulations" sentiment level along the bottom but did something radical for me and put it at an angle! 

The ribbon I used is silver with a pink thread along each edge but I don't think it shows in the photo.

Please come and join us at Happy Little Stampers and make a mixed media tag of your own!

Supplies:

Stamps: SU In the Stars, Memory Box sentiment

Ink: Memento Rose Bud

Paper: off white tag, silver glitter paper

Accessories: Spellbinders oval tag,  circle, and scalloped circle dies; ribbon, Hero Arts star stencil, embossing paste, silver and pink glitter, Mr Huey's First Kiss spray, Glimmer Mist Tattered Rose spray

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Tag

Hello All,

It's time for the November Christmas challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  This month the challenge is "Tag".

I find making tags quite a challenge - it's a smaller canvas and a different shape to a regular A2 card.  But I was happy with how this one turned out (and it's in my favourite colour combination of blue, silver, and white!).

I started with a blank white tag and sponged it with Distress inks.  When dry, I used a tiny snowflake stencil and went over it with Pearlescent embossing paste.

I set that aside to dry while I die cut the trees out of white cs and the word "winter" out of self-adhesive silver paper.  I very lightly rubbed a green coloured pencil over the trees, then added the dies and white layers to the tag.

Finally I added glue to the hilltops and trees, and sprinkled on glitter.  The ribbon is hard to see, but it is blue, with silver threads that match the sentiment.

Thanks for dropping by, and please join us by making Christmas tag for the Happy Little Stampers challenge.  You have until the end of November to enter.

I'm adding this tag to Loll Thompson's Twelve Tags of Christmas event.  This is for mixed media Christmas tags and is open for entries until November 22nd.  Every day from now until November 15th, Loll will be posting one of her tags alongside two tags by guest designers.  I'm honoured to be a guest designer on November 14th.   So watch for another tag from me that day!

Supplies:
Paper - premade white tag, white cs, silver self-adhesive paper
Ink - Distress Broken China and Faded Jeans
Size - 4.75"x2.5"
Accessories - Memory Box stencil, Dreamweavers Pearlescent embossing paste, blue and silver ribbon, Stampendous Crystal Snow glitter, Tim Holtz "winter" die, Memory Box trees die, green coloured pencil

Happy Little Stampers Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog! 

Happy Little Stampers are celebrating the first release of their stamps with a blog hop! 

Comment on the HLS blog, and then continue on to each Designer. You must comment on all the blogs in the hop to be eligible for prizes.

You should have come to me from Carol Dunham's blog. If you got lost, don't despair. Just start back at the Happy Little Stampers blog.

The blog hop will run for one week giving you enough time to hop through and check out what the designers will be creating.

The prizes

GRAND PRIZE

One lucky commenter (selected randomly) will win the whole release! That's four sets of stamps with a value of AUD$69

MINOR PRIZES

Four lucky commenters (selected randomly) will win a gift certificate to the HLS store!

My cards have been created using some of the fabulous Christmas sentiment stamps.  For this first card, I used a sentiment that fits perfectly on one of my label die cuts.

I was experimenting at Loll Thompson's house recently with Inka Gold.  We sprayed cardstock with various sprays, then ran the cs through an embossing folder (in my case a star ef), and then gently rubbed Inka Gold over the raised part of the embossed cs.  I sprayed with dark blue and used gold Inka Gold - a lot of the Inka Gold smudged onto the lower parts but I was able to salvage just enough of a good section to die cut a tag.  I added a frosty Christmas tree, punched a few gold stars to scatter around the card base, and stamped and heat embossed my sentiment (love the fonts Kylie used on this stamp set!) on a die cut label tag to give it more interest.  Finished off with a gold bow on the tag.

Next up is a card using two of the sentiment stamps.  And again I'm using something from my fabulous day of experimenting with techniques at Loll's house.  We were testing translucent gel medium coloured with Pearl Ex - in this case, green Pearl Ex used with a holly stencil on black cs.  I'll be back another day to show you a couple of other Pearl Ex / gel mixtures.

When I got home, I added the "Deck the hall" sentiment and heat embossed it in gold.  I have inverted scallop Nesties dies that I think are perfect with holly images so cut part of the image with a smaller one and then a gold border with the bigger one.

I happened to have the perfect shade of green cs for the cardbase - love it when that works out!  Added the "Fa la la la la" sentiment and heat embossed it in black.

A few gold pearls stand in for the traditional red berries.

This is also for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge "For a Man" - I think the black and muted green colour scheme are pretty masculine, even with a bit of gold and pearls.

And for the Happy Little Stampers September challenge "Holly".

  I hope I have inspired you today with my card. The designers and I have had so much fun playing with these stamps! Next you need to hop on over to "Bonnie Klass's" blog. 

Happy Little Stampers 
Kylie Purtell

Loll Thompson

Linda Walmsley

LesLee Stone-Rasmus

Gail Townsend

Gloria Lee
Ingrid Blackburn
Birgit Norton
Melissa Lane

Sue Trembeth
Anita Bowden
Carol Steedman
Carol Dunham
Susan Bridgman - you are here

Bonnie Klass

Valentyna Komisarenko

Penny Black Pups

I recently picked up some older Penny Black dog stamps in a sale.  The dogs are quite spaniel-like so remind me of my dog!

I've had fun playing with two of them in the last couple of days.  This post has a tag and a card using one of the stamps.

I wanted to make a tag for the Tag You're It challenge blog.  Here's the inspiration:

And here is what I came up with:

I substituted the dog for the bear and coloured his stocking in red, yellow, and blue to reflect the balloons in the original. 

I used my mixed media cs as it is quite heavy so good for a tag. The image was stamped and coloured with Distress markers.  The tiny star cluster was stamped multiple times.  

I then went on and made another tag with the same stamp, but this time, fussy cut the dog, and stencilled the sentiment on the tag, sponged it for a more rustic look, and mounted it on a dp background.  I had another star cluster stamp that I coloured with red and green markers and stamped on the tag to reflect the dp.  Once I'd put it together, I had second thoughts and now feel it's a bit of overkill on the stars - I like things more CAS.  But I do like the tag part of it!  Feel free to tell me what you think!  Here it is:

Supplies for the tag:

Stamps: Penny Black Xmas Treat, Rubber Stampede To/From, unknown mini star cluster stamp
Paper: mixed media cs
Paper Size: 4.5x2.5"
Ink: Archival Jet Black, Distress Mustard Seed
Accessories: Distress markers, gold and green ribbon, Dienamics tag die

Supplies for the card:

Stamps: Penny Black Christmas Treat, Memory Box Magic Stars

Paper: mixed media cs, ivory cs, ColorBok dp

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Archival Jet Black, Distress Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Pine Needles and Barn Door

Accessories: Dienamics tag die, green ribbon, foam tape, Distress markers, Tim Holtz Christmas Words stencil

Early for Christmas, Late for a Birthday!

I love making Christmas cards so much that sometimes I get distracted and miss a friend's birthday.  So today I've got my latest Christmas card, and a belated birthday card to share.

The Christmas card is for the Mixed Media challenge "Blue".  I had to take part in that challenge as those of you who know me well, will know that I passionately love blue!

I was playing with my Inka Golds and made a few sheets of background by putting small blobs of different colours of Inka Gold (in this case blue and silver) onto my craft sheet, spritzing with water, and pressing my cardstock into it.  In some spots it comes out thick, in others thin so there is some nice texture to the card.  Here's a close-up showing the texture:

I then stamped some random bits of text on the piece (with some of the ink wiped off of the stamp before stamping).  Because it did not dry flat, I used a trick I saw Bonnie use recently where she made a frame to put around a piece to keep it flatter.

Out of slightly glittered cs, I die cut some small snowflakes and the "winter wishes", making three layers of each and sticking them together for dimension.  I lost the little die cut dot for over the "i" in "winter" so substituted a little embellishment.

Now on to the belated birthday card:

I missed a friend's birthday and so had to make a belated card for her.  I wanted to take part in the Tag You're It Challenge as I really liked their inspiration tag with a flower, some script, a border, and a blue background.

And I wanted to CASE this gorgeous card I saw on SCS.  I love Maura's poppies against the blue stencilled background.  My blue is lighter, almost aqua blue, and I used a different stencil and poppy die, and of course my focal image is a tag.

The background is Tumbled Glass ink sponged through a stencil, then a bit of script stamp in grey.  The poppies are die cut twice - the stems on one set sponged green, and the flowers cut off the other set, sponged with two shade of orange, and then stuck on top of the other die cut. 

I then die cut using a tag die, and die cut a tag the next larger tag die, and sponged the edges of it with the Tumbled Glass to match the colour.  Added a grey ribbon and a grey sentiment.

Thanks for taking a look!

Supplies:

Christmas card:

Stamps: Inkadinkado text stamp

Paper: white and silver glitter cs

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Ranger Archival black

Accessories: blue and silver Inka Gold, L'il Inker stiched rectangle die, Cheery Lynn snowflakes die, Penny Black winter wishes die

Birthday card:

Stamps: Old Island Stamp Co. script, Rubber Stamp Farm sentiment

Paper: PTI white cs

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Vivid Cobblestone; Distress Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage, Wild Honey, and Spiced Marmalade

Accessories: grey ribbon, dimensionals, Memory Box Poppy die and Texture stencil, Die-namics tag dies

Merry Monday Tag Two

The Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge is one of my favourite challenges.  It has really helped me over the years to get a good stash of cards built up by November.  I liked this week's challenge "Tag, You're It!" so much I decided to do a second card for it.

I find tags are a great way to play around with mixed media and I really like the look of them on a card.

A few weeks ago, my friend Christine came over and we made some mixed media backgrounds together.  This is the last piece of one of those backgrounds.  It consisted of blue and green acrylic paints swiped on mixed media cs, then toned down with gesso, torn pieces of text paper layered over it, then some stencilling and embossing paste (in this case a harlequin stencil and clear paste so it doesn't show up much) on top.

I die cut the sentiment out of a scrap of shimmery green cs.  The dove is die cut twice and layered together for extra dimension, then rubbed with versamark and heat embossed once with Frantage Shabby Blue ep, then again with Frantage Chunky White.

The background is sprinkled with both Frantage Shabby Blue and Shabby Green and heated from underneath to add a bit of interest to it.

It's also for my June quota at SCS's Christmas Card Challenge.

Here are the challenge links:

Merry Monday

Splitcoast Stampers' Christmas Card Challenge

Paper: white cs, mixed media cs, shimmery green cs

Card Size: A2

Ink: versamark

Accessories: Tim Holtz Peace on Earth die, Memory Box dove die, green ribbon, green and blue acrylic paint, gesso, Stampendous Frantage (Shabby Green, Shabby Blue, and Chunky White), SU tag punch, harlequin stencil, clear paste, dimensionals

Merry Monday Tag

One of the challenges I love to take part in is the Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge.  This week's theme is "Tag You're It" - to put a tag on your card.

I also take part in the SCS Christmas Card Challenge.  It basically encourages you to create a certain number of Christmas cards each month so that come November, you have a stash ready to go.  Someone suggests a theme each month, but it is optional.  For this card, I've used the September theme of snowflakes with some blue on the card.

I used the faux mother of pearl technique on the tag, done by pouncing a scrunched piece of cling wrap in sparkly white liquid ink and then pouncing that onto the cs. When dry, I sponged over it with various blue Distress inks - the liquid ink acts as a resist. Then cut it out with a tag die cut.

I added a dove die cut in sparkly cs. I die cut two of the main body and glued them together, but just one of the separate small wing - it gives a nice dimensional effect to the wings. The small die cut snowflakes were randomly tapped with my Versamarker and heat embossed with sparkly ep. The sentiment is attached with dotted ribbon to match the ribbon at the top.

The background is a Darice embossing folder and the cardbase is the same shimmery green cs I used for the dove's branch.

Here are the links for the two challenges:

Merry Monday Challenge

SCS Christmas Card Challenge

Supplies: A Muse sentiment stamp, Gina K luxury white cs, Coredinations glittered cs, green shimmery cs; Distress Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, and Salty Ocean inks;  Darice embossing folder, dotted ribbon, Impression Obsession dove die, Cheery Lynn snowflakes die, Memory Box Teramo label die, Die-namics tag die, Tsukineko Frost White liquid ink, Versamarker, sparkly ep