OLW27 - Christmas kindness ....

... and a Give-away, is how Susan introduced her OLW challenge at Simplicity, this week.  Susan has received an email from Rhonda Schmidkunz (part of group who make cards for inmates at North Dakota Penitentiary).  Rhonda's group usually made layered cards, but the rules changed and now only one-layer cards are allowed - so Rhonda asked for Susan's help.  Thus, the OLW challenge this week is to:

"Make a December Holiday card that meets the North Dakota State Penitentiary rules for cards, as follows:

• No metal (brads, wire, etc.)
• No gemstones or pearls
• Limited glitter
• Flock, ribbon, embossing, and punched shapes are okay"

I think many of the girls in the States will be sending their cards to Rhonda to forward to the Penitentiary, but my card would not get there in time to be included, but it will form part of my Christmas collection for 2010.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! - Contempo Christmas;  Papermania - Filigree Christmas Tree; Waltzingmouse Stamps - Text-It
Inks:  Versamark; Memento - Cottage Ivy; Distress - Pine Needles
Embossing Powder:  Stampendous - Detail Clear, Detail White

I've been doing a course on stamping techniques, run by Glenda Waterworth, on the My Creative Classroom site.  We've been learning about the versatility of using Versamark and resist techniques.  I'd done this technique a long time ago and sort of forgotten it.  But it's great for getting some detail into one layer cards!! 

On my card I stamped a background of green Christmas text using the Text-It set.  I'd already put on the main greeting using Versamark and embossing with Detail White.  I then rubbed my anti-static pad (but missed a bit, as can be seen by the slight glow around the bottom of the tree) over the card.  I used Versamark on the big Christmas tree and this time embossed with Clear Detail.  The final bit was to use a direct to paper technique; I used dark green pine needles distress ink, which also brought out the texture in the card.  Finally, I wiped the excess ink off the Christmas Tree and Greeting - to reveal text under the tree!!  Very pretty!!  Click on the picture to see the detail.

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out.  That's all for this evening - I'll be back tomorrow.

MCC homework ...

... my tone-on-tone green card is now complete!!!  You may recall that I posted some tone-on-tone backgrounds which I'd done as part of my MCC course homework.  I've already made cards with the other backgrounds, but was struggling at bit with the green one.  Then today I knew what to do.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Stamps - Nutcracker Sweet, Seasons of Love - Tags, Very Vintage Labels No 4; Stampin' Up! - Baroque
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Dusty Concord, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters
Pens:  Promarkers - Prussian, Bluebell, Lilac, Primrose, Lemon, Almond, Cinnamon, Tan; Sakura Stardust - Golden Star #703, Copper #705
Spellbinders:  Labels 4, Labels 10
Card:  Green card from stash, Gold mirri card, Mondi IQ 160gsm white paper

As you know, I'm rather keen on Waltzingmouse Stamps - designed by the very talented Claire Brennan.  Last month Claire released the Nutcracker Sweet set - which is forming a large part of my Christmas 2010 collection.  I've already stamped and coloured a number of the Nutcracker and St Nicholas images as toppers for my cards, and I remembered that one of the St Nicholas stamps was coloured purple - which works so well with green.

I used Distress inks to tint the edge of the St Nicholas image and leave a crisp white border around the image.  To make the gold matting layer I used the same die that I used to cut out the image, only this time I drew around the outside of the die and then cut out the shape.  This gives a smaller border than using the next sized die up - that sounds sort of complicated, but I hope you know what I mean!  The greeting was made using Labels 4 (a set I don't use often enough), adding a border from Very Vintage Labels No 4 and the actual words come from Seasons of Love.  I added some sparkle to the card by using Sakura Stardust pens to colour the belt, staff and clasp.  Afterall you have to have some sparkle on Christmas cards.

I'm so pleased to have finished that lot of homework.  Glenda's course has been brilliant - she has given us all so many tips and I've learnt loads.  However, I do have a backlog of homework to do :))  But as it's crafting it's more like play!!

I managed to get into Chester this morning and get my shopping done early, which was fortunate, as the weather this afternoon has been awful.  Rain, rain and more rain!  And it's still pouring now and blowing a gale too. 

Well that's all for today.  I'll be back again tomorrow with a few more cards. 

"And now for something .....

... completely different"!! said John Cleese in Monty Python.  I loved that show - so strange and just a bit weird.

You may recall that I posted up some tone-on-tone backgrounds that I did for my MCC homework.   I hope direct link to my page works; I think I've sorted out internal links, but please let me know if it doesn't work.   I had to see what type of card I could make with them.  I love Stampin' Up! Circle Circus stamps and thought they'd make a good general card.  You can see the whole set by clicking on the link - it takes you to the index page on Splitcoaststampers Gallery.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! - Circle Circus
Card:  Blue and orange from my stash - I think I originally got them from a pack that I got from QVC
Peel offs:  Dawn Bibby - mini sentiments
Pens: Promarkers - Cyan

As I used a smallish card - A6 - I decided to stick to the smaller stamps in the set, and I used Versamark to give the tone-on-tone effect.  As the background card was such a bright blue I opted to continue the theme and go for a strong contrast in orange!!  Yes, I said orange.  It's the complimentary colour and works - it is however, quite bright :)  But it makes for a cheerful and fun card.

The card was easy to make.  I simply chose one of the stamps that I'd used on the background, inked with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then used a Stampin' Up! circle punch to cut out three circles.  I used sticky pads to give some dimension as I mounted them on blue paper.  Finally I cut out an orange matte - just a bit larger than the blue layer - and added a greeting "Congratulations" which I coloured with Promarkers.

Overall effect - bright and cheerful; pretty much how I felt once I'd finished making it!!  Certainly cheered up a grey day.

Versamark ink is ....

... oh so versatile.  I've had it in my craftroom for ages, but I mostly use it simply for embossing.  Last week's lesson in Rubber Stamping: Back to Basics course that I'm doing on MCC - My Creative Craftroom - covered just how useful Versamark ink is.  I've already shown some of my early attempts at brayering - not the best!!  However, today at craft class I decided to have a go at a resist technique.

It's easy peasy!!  But the catch is having good quality gloss card - which I didn't use in my early attempts - and makes a huge difference.  So I used some of my Stampin' Up! images, inked with Versamark and then brayered using Kaleidacolor inks.  I am delighed with both backgrounds, and I will post the completed cards once they are done.  In the meantime, this is what they are like now:

Now I know I've used the next technique before, but it's so simple and I'd sort of forgotten about it.  Simply using Versamark on a stamp, and stamping onto a pastel (or not too dark) card.  The image left is a tone darker then the starting card.  Easy!!  And effective.  Again, both these cards are works in progress, and I'll post the finished cards later this week.

 

That's all for today - I've got loads of house stuff - washing, ironing, etc to do, as well as finishing my OU assignment.  I've done some - but keep putting it off in favour of crafting :)))  That's so much more fun.  Anyway, I'll be back again soon.  Thanks for reading.

Catching up with homework ....

... for my on-line class with Glenda Waterworth.  Last week's lesson was about types of backgrounds and how to create them.  And I hadn't done any of the homework until this evening!!  So I've had a very quick play - I've done two tags using the direct to paper method, and two brayered backgrounds.  I found that the tags needed to be much more matte in finish - but I'm reasonably pleased with the result - not sure what I'm going to do with them though.

As for the brayer technique - I did try using a brayer for my daughter's birthday card, and it wasn't totally successful.  However, this time I used some Big and Juicy ink pads (wonderful stuff) and some glossy card.  And it worked like a dream.  I love the finish that I got.  I added some black peel offs to complete the exercise - I'm really pleased with the result and will be making some cards with them both.

 

I've also been busy today working on my entry for the October Blog Hop with Waltzingmouse Stamps - check back on 17th October - that's when it goes live!

One for two ....

... by that I mean, one card - two objectives.  I've submitted the card below for my final assignment on Glenda's course at MCC and also for the challenge at One Stop Card Challenge.

Stamps:  Creative Impressions - Floral
Inks:  Distress - Tumbled Glass, Spice Marmalade; Kaleidacolor - Blue Breeze, Fresh Greens; Versamark
Paper:  Blue holographic paper from stash; White hammered card base
Embossing Powder: Detail Silver
Greeting:  From a set with Large initial C and little images and words - can't remember who made it, but I'll post details if I can find them.

I used all three of the stamps from the Floral set, using the largest with the distress ink and stamped the background.  Then I overstamped with the smaller flowers using shades of Blue Breeze.  I mounted the topper onto some blue holographic paper from my stash.  Next I used the largest flower image on some watercolour paper, stamped with Versamark and embossed it with detail silver embossing powder.  Then I wet the paper and added inks from Blue Breeze, allowing them to merge.  I used Spice Marmalade for the centre of the flower.  I used the same technique for the leaves.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to help me position the greeting so that it lined up with the edge of the topper.  For the greeting I used the darkest shade of blue in the Blue Breeze inks.

I'm really pleased with how this card has come out.  It's a very simple congratulations card - can be used for just about anything - new job, passed an exam, wedding; a useful addition to my stash.

That's all for today, I'll be back tomorrow.

Crafting lessons ...

... and homework sessions; that's what I've been up to this morning. Glenda Waterworth of Graphicus, is running a Rubber Stamping 101: Back to Basics on My Creative Classroom.  The first lesson was on Wednesday night, where Glenda went over inkpads, cardstock, getting a good impression and care of your stamps.  It was really good. 

So the homework bit involved making ink swatches (which I'd already started) but I finished last night, testing out the differences between various black inks, misting inks and stamped images and finally producing a floral card.  So all the homework's done, apart from the floral card which I'll do later this week.  I think it's a great course - go have a look.

I decided to combine the misting exercise with one of the challenges that I've found.  The Creative Card Crew do a weekly challenge, and this weeks it's flowers, lots of them!  So, I've had fun with flowers.  I really like this stamp, but haven't used it much.  I think is absolutely perfect for the challenge.  So I inked it up using the Kaleidocolor pad and stamped onto watercolour paper, which I then misted to get the colours to run.  I was very pleased with the effect; I dried it with a heat gun.  I used the stamp-a-ma-jig to position the black overstamp.  I then used the flowers round the face to stamp randomly around the card.  I coloured some of these flowers with the Kaleidacolor inks.  I used nesties to cut out the image and mount it on a softly coloured background.  Finally, I added a number of punched flowers from my stash along with a greeting - Just because!!

Stamp:  Funstamps - Flower Face
Inks:  Kaleidacolor - Luau; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Spellbinders Nesties:  Scalloped ovals; Plain ovals
Flowers:  From my stash
Greeting:  Craftwork Cards

That's all for now.  I might not be able to post tomorrow as I'll be getting ready for my Stampin' Up! party which should be good fun.  Will be back soon.