zentangle tags

The challenge for October for the Chocolate Baroque technique tags was to use zentangling - this was definitely not one I looked forward to!
 I can admire the work that many people do - indeed I own a beautiful tangled birthday card, and am totally awed by the skill of Paula - but it is not something that I would in any way describe as relaxing.
I dug out an ancient Elusive Images mandala stamp, (sadly no longer available, they were great fun to do), stamped it in black versafine onto white card and added stripes and dots in black marker pen, and some solid black areas too.
Once all filled in, I cut it out and glued it onto a red tag - first one done!
I did think about just repeating it for the second tag, but decided to try using a newer stamp, the clear peony, which hadn't seen a great deal of use.
Again black versafine on white card, and more marker pen, this time mostly just stripes, with circles where the stamens were in the centre. A quick whip through the big shot with a spellbinders die, glued onto another red tag, and that was it.
The tags went into the post very quickly before I had any second thoughts, working on the principle that almost any swap tag was better than none...............

coasters

After making tile coasters at a SU day, I managed to acquire some of the leftover tiles, and made a set for myself using the sun image from an old Elusive Images set of stamps from lino carvings by Carrie Dennison called Earth Spirit.
I never got around to using this image before, but thought it was perfect for coasters, as well as being a nice bright image. I stamped it in black versafine ink onto  copy paper, then coloured it using promarkers.  I cut it out close to the image edge, then glued it down onto the tile with studio multi medium - I only had the matte version, gloss may have looked better though. One coat of medium on the tile itself, add the paper, then another  coat to glue it down properly, with another coat when the first was dry. I added a square of felt underneath once everything was dry to protect the table from the rougher undersurface of the tile.
Apologies for not posting for so long, and I wish everyone a very happy, healthy and prosperous belated New Year!

the last two.............

 The last two tags for the Chocolate Baroque alphatag challenge - I know they were not due till next month, but I still need to make my Christmas cards!
The Y is for yellow roses - not at all original, but I could find the stamp and the die, which helped! The embossed tag background used the SU Sizzix embossing folder called lacy brocade, which was inked up with summer starfruit (SU) ink before running through the big shot -funny, but having actually used this ink pad, I quite like it,  yellow is not a colour I would normally use....................which explains why this is the only yellow ink pad I own.
The rose is from the largest stamp on the  Harlequin Rose plate, stamped in black versafine ink and coloured with inktense pencils before cutting out and adding to the tag. Yellow roses were cut from yellow card using the Tim Holtz tattered florals die and the Sizzix (SU) blossom party die for the larger flower. All the flowers were heavily spritzed with glimmer mists in wheatfields and bronze.
Z is for Zoroastrian magi - the Magi are thought to have been Zoroastrian priests, who were renowned astronomers. The blue card of the tag base was stamped with the small star using a snow cap dabber, then white gel pen and finishing with a rhinestone centre. Tiny dabs of gel pen to represent other stars, then a shimmer spray finished the background. The 3 kings from an old DL Elusive Images plate were stamped 3 times on paper from the Echoes of Italy pack (had to grit my teeth a bit here and sacrifice this paper) using black versafine ink and clear EP. The various kings were then cut out and reassembled before gluing onto the tag. I did try using gilding flakes before using the paper, but the image is so finely detailed that it didn't work, and my eyesight is definitely  not up to colouring in a blank image!
Will have to post the swap tags separately when they have all arrived

holly

I came across this holly stamp from Elusive Images (available from Chocolate Baroque) whilst looking for something else, and it was ideal for the colour challenge 2 to use red,green and gold from 52cct.
the base card is A5, and the red is fairly accurate on the scan - but the next layer is actually a pale dull gold, not the orange it has scanned as! This layer was slightly smaller than A5 to start with, and I cut both short edges using the Tim Holtz on the edge snowflake die.
 The stamped image in black versafine was coloured with H2Os, and a very pale green wash added to the background to tone down the harsh white of the card. The matting layers for the stamped image are a brighter shinier gold and green, with the corners rounded on all the layers.
One for Judith's Forgotten Friday as well, as the holly stamp hasn't been used for over a year.

fabric flower

This is a rather late entry for Bah humbug, where Ann and Max wanted something using fabric  - I thought I had some glittery fabric, couldn't find it, so dug out the felt and net I bought ages ago to try out with the tattered florals die. I cut one layer in felt, several layers in different nets - afraid they all look the same colour in the shot, but there are actually 4 different shades in there somewhere - and layered them up, adding a chipboard circle triple embossed and stamped with a poinsettia stamp from an old Elusive Images set. Leaves are paper from the tattered leaves die, and all mounted on a box created from the Sizzix  top note die from Stampin up
Am also linking this to the craftroom challenge, for flowers,  thanks to Kate !

Christmas stocking

The challenge on Bah humbug this week is to use a Christmas stocking - I have a lovely stocking stamp by Elusive Images (now available from Chocolate Baroque) which I had never used last year. It is a very detailed stamp, stamped and embossed and coloured with promarkers - I felt it needed to be in dark colours to stand out from the glimmery background (the first version was stamped in gold, and painted with H2Os, and just looked way too gaudy with the background).
The background took a little while to do - I randomly stamped the stockings in versamark across the paper and clear embossed them. Distress inks came next, peeled paint, forest moss and red brick sponged on fairly randomly to cover the paper - then it was ironed through copy paper to remove the embossing. The next step was spraying a mix of english ivy glimmermist and cosmic shimmermist in rich gold over the page, ;eaving overnight to dry thoroughly. I cut out an interesting-looking piece to fit the 5x5 card blank, and added the stocking matted onto gold mirri card.

less is more 10

This week's challenge is a one-layer card with a sentiment as the main focus. I needed a sympathy card, so used this sentiment I found at Ally Pally last year, stmaped in black versafine. The leaves are an Elusive Images stamp, randomly inked with pigment inks - I was trying to get an effect of falling leaves.

three kings

The challenge on CHNC this week is for a square card, so lots of options there! This stamp from Elusive Images turned up during the week, when I was looking for something else - I printed outt he starry paper from the Artylicious Season's greeting cd, stamped and embossed the kings in black below the large star. I then stamped them out again onto 3 Artylicious papers in yellow, orange and brown and paper pieced the image - it is a very detailed image, so quite hard to colour in, and I had run out of the gilding flakes I usually used with this stamp.
Apologies for the scan, have had to fiddle the image so that the colours show up better, the background is a bit darker in real life
Elusive Images stamps and Artylicious cds are now available through Chocolate Baroque online.

christmas tree

Having used trees on the last few Christmas challenges, I thought that I ought to use a different tree this time - still an Elusive Images stamp though! I stamped it in versamark onto a scrap of Artylicious bp, embossed it in white regal ep, then cut it out with a small nestie - having mounted it, am not now sure it was in just the right place when cut.......anyhow, it was mounted onto copper card using the next size up, then onto another sheet of Artyylicious paper - this time from the Seasons Greetings cd, that had been spritzed with glimmer mists. White peeloff greeting added to a copper mount using the smallest nestie in the set - have loads of DL blanks that need using up, so there may be quite a few DL cards being made!
This is for the latest Bahhumbug challenge 12, for Christmas trees - hopefully I won't need a Christmas tree again for a while!

off the page

the Less is more challenge this week is for a one-layer card off the page - snag this week was that i had planned to use the big Elusive Images butterfly stamp, then realised several others had already done this in much the same way that I had thought of - great minds obviously think alike! With time running out, I dug out my wild meadow stamps,  also from Elusive Images. I used a grassy stamp in the background, in distress inks in weathered wood, shabby shutters and peeled paint, then the cow parsley(?) in forest moss in the foreground. the butterfly was added using faded jeans.
Apologies for the scan, for some reason it insists on leaving a black line at the top at the moment, and the card is clean, all marks from the scanner!!

Bah humbug 10

The challenge this week on Bah humbug is to use an aperture - I was a little limited as I only have a few nesties, none of which really seemed to match any of the stamps I had thought of using. In the end I  cut a middle-sized oval out, used the Judikins angels behind the aperture and the Elusive Images tree in front to hide some of the spare space. The angels were coloured with promarkers, and the tree with H2Os.
Just crawled in under the finishing line this week.............

pastel poppies

Pastel colours were the challenge on Less is More this week - think I may have gone a little too pale here, as the scanner at first decided it was black and white.............I usually stamp and emboss this Elusive Images stamp in gold, and have the traditional bright red poppies, but for this card I stamped in smoky grey Versafine, and coloured the poppies with watercolour pencils in pinks and lilac. I matted it onto a pink card, not quite the right pink, but the nearest one I had  and I think it came out as quite a pretty card - will probbaly become a Mother's day card eventually.

colour splash

Play Date challenge 71 is for black, white and a colour - after rejecting several favourite stamps, I decided to use this image from a set of stamps by Carrie Dennison for Elusive Images as I thought that all it needed was a touch of green for the grass - I was very tempted to just add pale blues and make it a winter scene, but it was nice and sunny today!
The image was stamped with black Versafine, and coloured with watercolour pencils - backing strip is from the Essence of Nature cd by Glenda Waterworth

things that fly.....

Challenge 8 at Bah Humbug is things that fly - I decided to save my angels for later challenges (surely there will be an angel one?)- and use this Rudolph stamp from Elusive Images a couple of years ago.
I did try creating a sky background with a brayer, but couldn't get the colours right with my big'n'juicy pads, and mucked it up even more trying to brayer DI ink over the top! So I used a piece of blue card, stamped Rudolph in versamark and  detail silver EP. I then darkened the sky with black soot DI, stamped a roofline using more Elusive Images stamps - I think mostly village life plate, but possibly townhouses too - fairly randomly along the bottom and colouring them in with black marker pen.  Rudolph looked a little lost, so he got the sakura stardust pen treatment, and I added dots along the stardust trailing from his hooves as well. I matted him onto matt silver card, then on to a black card cut down from a folded A4 sheet.

earth spirit and pudding

The challenge at Less is more this week is for a one-layer card featuring either trees or flowers - I have had the set of stamps by Elusive Images from carvings by Carrie Dennison for some time, and not got around too using them, and they definitely need  a simple treatment.   I may be pushing the boundaries a bit, but my favourite  earth spirit carving is definitely a tree spirit..... It was stamped in versafine and clear embossed, then sponged with distress inks in bundled sage and tumbled glass

Bah humbug 's challenge is to use doilies - I had just bought a pack of these when I read the challenge, couldn't believe my luck! Admittedly, they don't seem to punch the holes out as well as they used to these days, but a doily is a doily even so, and these ones just fitted onto a gold 5x5 card.  The stamp is from Elusive Images, and seemed to fit nicely in the centre. I added a little colour with promarkers, and used dimensional glue to add some texture to the cream topping.

green,grey, orange

the original plan was to make one card, using the colour scheme from Playdate 65 of green,grey and orange, and the sketch from Moving along with the times 82 which also needed a flower image.

The rose image is from Elusive Images (yes, I do have an awful lot of their stamps) stamped in smoky grey versafine, coloured with pencils- torn our, matted onto dark green paper. Base card is Stamping up, and the cuttlebugged panel was glimmermisted..This is the one I prefer, and is for the Playdate challenge.

The second card -well,actually it was the first- is for MAWTT - uses the same image, this time with the edges sponged with spiced marmalade DI. The grey panel is embossed using a Tim Holtz music folder, rubbed over with bundled sage DI; the ribbon was coloured with pear green promarker; flowers from a woodware pack. Sorry, the scan isn't too good, will try to get a photo tomorrow

bah humbug 2

Bah humbug 2 challenge was to use stencils - that had me worried, as I don't have any - then Janet provided the helpful hint that glimmermist masks counted, so I dug out - eventually - my masks. I used the snowflake -like one, even though it was a bit on the big side, sprayed blue glimmer mist over it to make the backing. The stamp from Elusive Images New England plate was stamped with DI in broken china, with stardust stickles rubbed over the tree in front.
One very last-minute entry here!

brown, grey and silver

 The Playdate cafe challenge this week has been for cards in brown, grey and silver - not having done any challenges for some time, I was determined to do one, and the early snow here has helped as traffic was backed up past here most of yesterday due to accidents on the main road, so going out meant walking, which I am not a great fan of in snow!

This card is actually the second effort, and uses a stamp from  the Elusive Images 'New England winter' plate, which I had had for a few weeks and not got around to using.............Just stamped using vintage photo distress ink, ink brushed out with a waterbrush; image cut out and mounted onto a bit of cuttlebugged and glimmered card (it is much greyer really, the scan is very much bluer than in real life) torn and edged with silver EP - the silver EP was also dotted onto the tree by the house. The bp is from my Graphicus Guild pack, and the white card remaining was coloured with DIs in old paper and black soot  .     The second card was the first attempt, stamp was borrowed from a friend, and I think was from Personal Impressions - anyhow, stamped in vintage photo, clear embossed, torn out, mounted on a piece of torn brown paper, then glued at an angle across a grey gatefold card. The inner fold of the uneven gatefold was covered with a piece of the cuttelbugged card, and a silver strip of punched snowflakes (Martha Stewart) added to the larger side.

halloween 2

When looking for more beads in my local Range store, I found some readymade diamond-top cards in black -just right for more halloween cards - and no, I couldn't find the beads! I used the same stamp from Elusive Images as last time, but this time stamped on to a freebie paper from Glenda Waterworth last year. I copied an idea of Glenda's by adding a coat of gesso to the prrinted paper to get a misty effect, then stamping onto this with versamark and embossing with black sparkly Wow EP. I coloured one bat in in black on the background, as it was orange originally, then sponged round the edges with black soot DI.  The image was mounted onto a dark grey mirri paper, then onto black  card bfore mounting across the diamond top. The same paper was printed out on draft to get a simialr misty effect, stuck onto the base of the card, then the word was stamped along the bottom, using two different SeeD alphabet sets that have been lying around for ages, and consequently losing letters....................the edges were again inked with the black soot DI.
I am entering this for 2 challenges, from Moving Along With the Times  68 (halloween) and Corrosive Challenges 86 (no white).