curly birds

I think I may be getting the hang of these challenges - the more you can do with one card the better! So this is my card for the next level and corrosive challenge blogs, which both asked for folded cards this week. I did an accordion fold, changing the measurements a bit from those on the next level tutorial. After cutting out my new curly bird stamps from Elusive Images i just had to play with them, and this is the result.

Base card by papermania, stamped randomly with the bird tails in old paper distress ink. All the images were stamped onto the same base card and silver embossed then fairly randomly painted with H2Os in a mix of blues, greens and lilac. The word plate was mounted onto a thin strip of silver holo, then onto a piece of paper from the Graphicus Guild, then onto more of the blue base card and stuck at the bottom of the last fold. the birds were cut out and glued onto the first 2 folds.

Sorry it is only a scan, don't have a working camera at the moment!

another challenge card

this is a very last-minute entry for the corrosive challenge blog - again there was a sketch to follow. Sorry for the rather dark scan - the chalky background doesn't show up well behind the butterfly image. The image is gold-embossed after stamping over a chalked background, then the butterfly and poppy heads were painted with H2Os. I used stamps from the Elusive Images butterfly poppy plate for the main image and to make the flower. Flowers were stamped onto a scrap of paper left over from the last challenge card with faded jeans distress ink, which was also used to colour the edges of the white base card, as I didn't have any matching blue card to use.

the next level 3

This is my entry for the latest challenge on 'the next level', where we had a sketch to work from, and a template for the arch shape - it had to include a tag as well. The base is pearlescent blue card, with the pocket printed from the Artylicious 'seasons greetings' cd. Image is a Graphicus Guild stamp stamped in distress faded denim inks, and coloured with a waterbrush and faded denim, also a few dots of ink from a marvy blending pad. Matting onto a glimmer-misted bit of cuttlebugged card - done so long ago that I have no idea what colours of gm's were used. The flowers from the Elusive Images poppy butterfly plate were stamped using the same paper and ink; the distress ink was used to colour the tag - both the tag and the flowers were then painted with a pale blue mica powder to give a bit of sparkle . Ribbon was originally white, treated with the same distress ink.

blog candy alert

there is some gorgeous stuff up for grabs on the Elusive Images blog - check it out quickly! Bit different system this time, so good luck - just remember that I NEED the trees!!

the next level 2

This weeks challenge on 'the next level' is to use a ribbon border to frame the image - this is my effort. I had to use a knife to cut the ribbon corner slots, which accounts for the quirky effect - would love to say this was deliberate, but it wasn't!

The stamp is from the Elusive Images flora and fauna plate, stamped with black versafine and clear embossed, then coloured with inktense watercolour pencils. After adding the ribbon, it was matted onto paper from the Artylicious peacock summer party cd, then on red mirri board and green base card.

the next level

There is a new challenge blog called http://thenextlevelchallenge.blogspot.com- it is a completely different format, more like an online magazine than your usual blog, with some interesting tips. the first challenge was to do a card with an aperture and lollipop flowers (tutorial included). The flowers are fiddly, and take some time to make, but could easily become addictive!

This is my attempt, using Tim Holtz and Elusive Images stamps and lots of glimmer mists.

The card was sprayed lightly with blue and green glimmers, then the foliage from the Elusive Images wild meadow and hedgerow plates was stamped in a mix of distress weathered wood and blue jeans inks, marvy blending ink in reds and finally versafine black for the big spray - the mini flowers were dotted with inksessentials white pen. The bird from the Tim Holtz urban tapestry set was stamped with versafine black and clear embossed on the inside of the card. the white patches on the bird were masked out before Glimmer mists were sprayed through a circular mask in gold, starfish and midnight to try to give the effect of sunrise.

The flowers were made from bits of leftover background papers sprayed with candy apple red in the hope that they would look like poppies - didn't quite work, but not too far off for a first try.

graphicus challenge

The themes for June on the Graphicus challenge are exotic and hot pink and orange. I had just finished clearing up some collapsed stash (courtesy of mountaineering cat!) - among the heap was a pile of alcohol-inked cards, 2 of which just happened to be pink and orange! I had been meaning to play with the flowers on the EI butterfly poppy plate for ages, never got around to it, so made 2 ATC's - I don't normally do these either, but it was a quick way of finding out which way I liked the petals curved. Background also from butterfly poppy plate, stamped in distress concord ink - the flowers are brilliance black

These may not be exotic, but definitely pink and orange!

Apologies for the photos -bottom one is more the true colours.