Splatter and Sparkle

Another crafty Sunday speeds by..why do the weekends pass so quickly? I've been working on a mixture of things - the Compendium of Curiosities challenge from Linda at Studio L3 being one of them. This week the technique is Alcohol ink Splatter (P52) and I'd been looking forward to this one since getting the book - I even went and bought the necessary special equipment. However it took me loads of attempts to get something I was happy with. I am pleased with the colours and it has a shimmer which you can't see in the pic from the pearl mixative that I used but I don't know what to do with the finished piece , it will probably end up cropped and on a card at some point but for now it's just as it is......

I've also been cracking on with Christmas cards still and used the colours from the Play Date Cafe Challenge #56. This is one of my favourate challenges and they are having a 'Player Appreciation Week' so go check it out. The colours are Red, Olive and Turquoise which I have to admit I was unsure of to start with but out came the distress inks and after some smooshing I was loving this combination.

I love making my own Background papers and did just this with Distress inks and my favourate Judikins script stamp.  The main stamp is by Penny Black and I've stamped it once using Marvy Markers, then masked and stamped some more. I applied crystal stickles to the main image which had the additional effect of making the colours bleed. I cut flourishes with Tim Holtz's elegant flourishes die and added a Tim Holtz Type charm, some ribbon, lace and Gems.

I used the sketch from the Penny Black Saturday Challenge (left) and so am entering there this week and also into the following Challenges:- The Play Date Cafe - Red Olive and Turquoise ; Simon Say Stamp and Show - 'Whatever  makes you Happy' (Distress inks, stickles, creating own BP); Penny Black at Allsorts -  'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas'; Allsorts -'Lace, Ribbon and a Charm'

I hope you've all enjoyed a good weekend, thanks for stopping by...Esther xx

Another crafty weekend....

Hi - well here I am having another great crafty weekend - should be thinking about getting washing and ironing done for our holiday but...well..other things just sort of got in the way like blog hopping and Christmas cards....

This first one was inspired by the challenge 'come fly with me' at Daring Cardmakers - and who better to have flying across the sky than Santa!! This is a new stamp for me this year from Crafty individuals and I've stamped it onto some card which I'd brayered using a Marvy Blending Block.  The card base is stamped with a christmas script stamp using an Opalite ink pad.

Challenges - Daring Cardmakers - Come fly with me

                Creative Inspirations - Pink & Black

                                       Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes

Next I kept it simple using the colours from The Play Date Cafe inspiration photo. I love turquoise and red together and used my marvy markers to randomly colour the bauble stamp - a green sentiment and some icicles stickles finished off. The design was inspired by the One Layer Wednesday Challenge  on Susan Raihala's blog Simplicity. Susan challenged us to use three images and a sentiment.  I'm also entering this over at Stamptacular Sunday where the challenge is to incorporate a grid pattern which my PSX bauble stamp does nicely - more by fluke than planning! 

Finally after two simple cards I moved away from Christmas to try and get an entry into the Compendium of curiosities challenge this week - I've missed the last couple but really enjoy  this challenge so wanted to get back to it. I made this tag using  TH mini masks (see P58)  and my favourate stamps. This little fairy stamp is one of my all time favourates, though it is tricky to choose just one, I love this image so it's a strong contender...and my favourate background stamp of the moment is the Hero Arts cling Dots which you can also see in here! This favourate choosing is all in aid of the Lets Ink it up challenge - I've been trying to enter this since it started a couple of weeks ago as it focuses on my first crafty love - stamping, and finally I've managed it! Although these challenges were my main inspiration for this tag it also fits into these ones - Allsorts - Use three Punches (3x flowers) and Gingersnaps Creations Spicy Supply challenge - Punches and Tag you're it - from the Fairy Garden

Phew - that's a lot of challenges - they just kind of all fell together this week! Anyway thanks for looking, better hop off to the ironing pile!!   Happy Creating...Esther xxx

Two for the price of one...

Sticking with summer themes today but changing the colour palette completely I had a play with my Marvy  markers (a mixture of Brush and Le Plume) to see if I could come up with anything for the Gingersnaps Spicy Supply Challenge, which is 'markers'. The Brush Markers were one of the first things I bought all those years ago when I first started stamping. I still really enjoy using them but often forget about them in the excitement of newer products.  So seeing as I don't have any other kind of markers, this challenge was a great opportunity to re-discover what I could achieve with them.

I started simply with a stamp from Elusive Images (Oriental Flourishes) and coloured the markers directly onto it, using the lightest colour first over the whole stamp, then adding additional colours in rough stripes getting darker as I went. I spritzed with water and then stamped (I had to line it up and stamp a second time to cover from edge to edge - tricky business - don't look too closely!).  I did the same with the thin border from the same set and stamped the sentiment over the part that had run too much !! I scanned this card as I couldn't get a clear photo and didn't have the patience to fiddle with the camera settings that I don't really know enough about!  I'm adding this to the One Layer Wednesday - Watercolour challenge  on Susan Raihala's blog, Simplicity. 

I was pleased with the results of my experimenting so carried on to make another piece using the same technique. The Pixie/Fairy is a Magenta stamp which has a border and moon (See it in full here), but I used a versamark pen to ink just the part of the image I wanted, then embossed with black EP.

I used Black glitter EP for 'Believe' and added the corner and swirls (Fancy Pants and Penny Black).    The Butterfly is made from assorted scraps of Fusible Fibres ironed on an inked stamp from an Aspects of Design Stamp set. It looks a bit muddy on the pic but is more sparkly in real life. Lots of stickles followed (may have got a little carried away in the corner!!) some fibres through the tag and a border stamp from the Elusive Images set - again coloured with markers but not spritzed with water.  

I'm posting this tag to  -

Gingersnaps  Creations- Spicy Supply Challenge - Markers

                                      Chestnut Theme - Heat

Sunday Stampers - Believe/Journey

Something Completely Different - Fantasy

Well hope you've enjoyed your weekend as much as I have (I didn't smudge the nails by the way!), Thankyou for all your comments, I think a I kind of lost my way a bit when I first started my blog, feel like I got caught up in trying to meet challenge themes and do the 'right' kind of creation rather than applying my style, if that makes sense. Anyway, it's all a learning curve, and think I've found me again......thanks for the encouragement, Esther x