Purple Butterflies

 It's COLOUR week over at the Less is More Challenge blog and the colour that has been chosen is PURPLE.

Here is my submission:

The leafy swirl stamp is by Clarity and the butterfly is by Visible Image which has been coloured with Spectrum Aqua Pens.
I used a clear sparkle pen on the wings( I'm a little addicted).

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

I wanted to frame the image without adding more colour so embossed a line around the perimeter of the 6" by 6" card.

Black Birds in the Sky

It's sketch time over at  Less is More this week.

 

I am not too good at thinking outside the box with sketches. I tend to stick to the same layout. Some crafters are very inventive with their interpretations and there are quite a few in this week's submissions to date.

 

Here is my card.

The chalks and the Spellbinders circle die were still on my desk from a previous challenge entry so I started there.  I really love the Clarity hummingbirds stamps (there are more than this one). The title of this post may be misleading but there is a space between the words and I have used Black Versafine ink to stamp!
 

I stamped the wing twice more and cut them out to add to the impression of flight. I then die cut a circle from card and used the aperture as a mask before applying chalk to create the sky. I then ran a pen around the aperture to link the two birds together.

I photographed the card in the garden (between showers) and looked up to see a buzzard circling above. As I had the camera in my hand, I took a picture.  Too far away to be clear but lovely to see anyway.

 



 



 

A New Challenge

I recently came back to Blogworld after a break from frenetic card making.  Challenges are a great way of rekindling "The Mojo".  They focus the mind to produce  a card with a specific element.  In taking part in these challenges I find it fascinating to visit the blogs of fellow entrants where many a fantastic tip or technique is explained.

It was on one of these recent visits that I was intrigued by the use of masking tape as a stamping medium.

I decided to give this technique a go. Not as successful as I had hoped but next time I will use a brayer to apply ink to produce a more even result.

 

 

On my virtual travels I came across the Allsorts Challenge Blog which, this week required participants to -  make a project without using any flowers

 

Fits the brief, I think.

 

 

 

The tree stamps are all from Clarity Stamps and the Ink Pads are : Distress Inks - Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint ; Adirondack - Lettuce; Archival Brilliance - Graphite Black Sentiment was computer generated and die cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities oval. 





Flying High

As today is Halloween, I was all prepared for the door bell ringing tonight and hearing those words "Trick or Treat?"  *
But sadly, they never came.  This could be because there are very few children who now live near us.  Changed days from 25 years ago when it was mostly a young family neighbourhood.  The other reason could be that parents are afraid let their children out of their sight.  A sad reflection on society today.  I suppose I would feel the same if I had young ones.

* I have to mention that, "when I was young", this night was the opportunity to  ask for "A penny for the guy?"  This money was then used to buy fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night on the 5th November.( A long held tradition that has been taken over?)

And here endeth the history lesson.


The challenge this week over at Less is More involves using a sketch.

 

I used Post- it notes  to mask the background areas to be coloured.  Out came the brayer and Distress Inks. I'm getting braver with my brayer!  The bird stamp is one that I bought from Clarity Stamp recently.    I used an embossing board and tool to create debossed lines either side of the stamped area.

 

I am a little disappointed that the colours in the photo are not really true.  The inks used were Broken China, Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint.  The middle colour is reall a pale green. ( I'm sure that there are many of you out there who know their Distress Inks off by heart.

I have been playing about with the settings on our new camera - I really need to go on a course. I have found lots of advice online but there is nothing like face to face tuition.  In the meantime I will plough my way through the manual.

Things With Wings

I came across this site while blog hopping. A fellow Less is More Challenge entrant also takes part in the Top Tip Tuesday challenge which, by coincidence, also had wings as a theme. (I love the tutorials here - check them out).
I also discovered the Stamp Man Challenge where the theme for October is Butterflies, Birds and Bees.  So I will enter the following card for both.

I decided to enter and use the same Clarity stamp as I did for Less is More.(see previous post)

I am totally enamoured with this Clarity hummingbirds stamp and intend to use it several more times very soon. Sorry!!

I created the background with my brayer using Distress Ink. I applied the ink to my Splodge Mat which gives you better control of the ink when applied to the card. (I have linked to their site because as this is a new product, it may not be known to you)   I got a bit more confident and was able to create some subtle cloud shapes. 

I used a Versafine inkpad to stamp the image. The bottom bird was then stamped on to white card and embossed with clear powder before cutting out and adding to  the card with 3D foam pads. From there it was a simple mat and layer with black card on to a 15cm by 15cm card blank.

Very happy with the result!!
 

Wings

Wings is the theme for this week's One Layer challenge  over at Less is More and, as I had spent quite a lot of money in the Clarity Stamp sale last weekend, I though that I could take this opportunity to justify my splurge. (not withstanding that I  have a number of stamps that would have suited without my recent purchases)

I have wanted this hummingbirds stamp for a while and I just couldn't resist the half price tag. 

I have used IndigloBlu Flitterglu and Morris Dance Mega Flakes to produce the image.  I love this technique. I am always amazed at the detail achieved.  The shimmer produced has not been picked up with the camera.  I will try again.


Having watched Barbara Gray yesterday on Create and Craft, I was inspired to get out the brayer and Splodge Mat.  I cut a square mask slightly smaller than the 15cm by 15cm card so that I could create a border.  I edged this with a gold pen to give definition.

The sentiment was stamped using Dew Drop Brilliance inkpad. (Lightning Black)