CCC # 21 ...and it's only Monday!

 Wow..I can't believe I'm actually posting my entry to CCC 21 on the SAME day it opened...gotta be a first! This is such  great techniques though I just had to have a play straight away (and I had the day off work which helps!)..it's on P38 and if you've been under a rock somewhere and haven't come across this great challenge set by the lovely Linda at Studio L3 go have a look, now...go on...go...(but come back here after...!).  So this is my entry - a Gothic Arch, I love making these little arches and this will also be entered into the challenge on the Gothic Arch Challenge blog which is currently 'Baubles'. The large bauble stamp is one of my oldest and favourite Christmas stamps, by PSX , not sure about the little two. The pine branch round the outside is from Judikins Winter Botanical Cube and the tiny star is from Hero Arts.

it's really tricky to show the sheen of the Perfect Pearls but I managed to catch the gold over the red DI on the large Bauble in this pic below - as well as being able to see where the ink splashed as I was too heavy handed with the water spritz - still, it adds character I say, my version of the technique should be called imperfect distress! 

Oh and has anyone noticed the new banner on my side bar...have a look...right at the top under my profile blurb...oh I can hardly contain myself...I've been picked for the Stamp Addicts Design team..so excited... I hope they know what they're letting themselves in for!

Have a happy crafting week....Esther xx 

Gothic attempts...

I've had a play after musing about a gothic offering for some time and have come up with something I'm sort of happy with.  As I said before my gothic stamp collection is non-existence so I had to be a bit imaginative and hope I've managed something along the right lines...

I was aiming for a ghostly figures floating in the moonlight look - I used the technique from P33 of Compendium of Curiosities again as I love the effects it gives (and I can add a second entry to this weeks Studio L3 challenge - never managed that before!) then used a mask of a stamp by inkadinkadoo before adding more Distress ink - Dusty Concorde, Peeled paint and Pumice Stone. (I would of liked to get a darker background but don't have a black soot DI so this had to do.) I used a foliage stamp with DI and stone grey Stazon, sponged a moon in Brilliance Moonlight white and added the birds which I though could pass as bats with a bit of imagination! I'm entering this into challenges at - Gingersnaps Creations - Gothic Elements, Studio L3 - Wrinkle Free Distress, Ink it Up - Halloween colours, Something Completely Different - Purple and Green, Secret Crafter Saturday - Distress it, and Alter It Monthly - Ethereal/non-corporeal/supernatural (though not really sure if a Gothic Arch counts as an Altered item or not) and Simon says Stamp - halloween

...And here is the 'Day' version I made using same technique with different colours and obviously I stamped and coloured the couple image rather than masked it. I was inspired to do this from the Gothic Arches challenge 'night and day' which I've just missed the deadline for but am going to share anyway seeing as it's done now.

Thanks for popping by - happy Crafting....Esther xx