Graphicus April Challenge

This months Graphicus challenge is very much in keeping with the season as the theme is Blossom with the colours being pink and green. As you can see I have used no imagination whatsoever and done exactly as it said!:) The stamps used are by Elusive Images and they come from the Orchard build a tree stamp plate. The trees were stamped with light brown and the blossom was stamped using a couple of pink shades a light green and the odd dab of white all from the chalk ink range. The tree background has been painted with the Derwent Inktense pencils and a water brush. The border has been stamped with the blossom stamps but the green used is peeled paint distress ink along with the pink chalk inks. The border has been cut from an A5 card and glued to the front of the card using silicone glue. I have blended the colours in the border and trees by sponging some extra chalk ink to blend it all together.

Moonlight Swan

Like alot of crafters I follow Michelle Zindorf's blog. She can turn a simple stamped image and some inks into an amazing piece of art. Now I am not for one minute comparing myself to her but her work has inspired me to create this swan card using some of her techniques. I used two sets of Inkadinkado stamp sets , patterned birds and bugs for the swan and delicate branches for the grass and trees. The grass has been stamped using peeled paint distress ink and then clear embossed and the tree branches and the swan have been stamped in black and clear embossed. I painted the swan with white and grey inktense water colour pencils and highlited with a white souffle pen along with holographic glitter. The grass and branches have been highlighted in the same way. I took a sponge and covered most of the card in a light blue dye based ink and then worked in some navy ink followed by a touch of lavender at the edges. The picture has been matted and layered onto light blue and navy card which has had the corners punched with one of those triangle paper punches (you can tell I have forgotton its make!) I set an eyelet in the top left of the base card and then treaded through some beads and fibres to finish off.

Your Special Day

I had forgotten how much I liked the brass stencil used as the centre piece of this card until I dug it out for my yellow beaded canvas a short while ago hence why it has been used again. I coloured some chip board with green tinka billa ink and then placed the Plaid stencil onto it, securing it with masking tape. I then applied snow tex paste to the stencil and when it had dried I brushed some faded jeans distress ink to add a slight blue tinge to the white snow tex. I then dabbed clear drying glue to the image and sprinkled with the blue glitter which was a free gift with a magazine a while back (can't remember which one). The chip board has been edged with the blue ink and then mounted onto some olive green glossy card. The base card has been stamped and clear embossed using a scroll corner from Elusive Images and stamped in a blue pigment ink. I then went over the whole card with Peeled Paint Distress Ink using a sponge.
The paper flowers from Kaiser Craft have been stamped on using the scroll corner and the Peeled Paint Distress Ink and finished off with a small green button from Paper Mania. The greeting has been created on the computer and printed onto white card then coloured with the peeled paint. I then layered it onto the olive green glossy card and attached it to the base card using 3mm foam squares.

Blog Candy

Here is some fab blog candy from Kim Dellow, why don't you pay her a visit at Crafty Makes and guess how many beads there are to be in with a chance of winning!

Happy Easter

Hope you are all having a great Easter Weekend. I thought I would show you one of the Easter cards I have made using Joanna Sheen's Messy Rabbit CD rom. I think I have said before that I don't usually do decoupage but there are some lovely images on this CD so instead of just printing them out and sticking them on the card I thought I had better make more of an effort so decided to cut a few out to decoupage up!

Birthday Last Year!

It is my daughter's birthday next month and so I have to start thinking of ideas for her card. It becomes a challenge every year! I thought I would show you what I made for her last birthday. It's a box card made using the Deco Template from Creative Craft Cabin which I love making but they can be a bit time consuming. The decorative panels inside have been stamped with a background stamp and the letters, hearts, flowers and balloons have all been cut using the Cricut and the George cartridge.