bah humbug 17

The challenge this week was to use pleats or ruffles - I did wonder if I could get away with just using this image from Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque), which is on the same plate as the stocking I used for an earlier challenge. I think I did this the wrong way round - pleating that is - as I stuck a strip of dst on the card and then pleated the paper strip onto it - in hindsight, would have been far better to have pleated the paper first, then stuck it down! (I might also have got it straight that way!- well, it is straight, just not straight on the card, if you see what I mean)
The backing paper is from an old pad of Christmas papers by DCWV, which is coming in very useful after being liberated from the bottom of a heap - it fell over, no tidying involved - image stamped with an Adirondack pad in raisin onto white card. After tearing the image out, the paper was sponged with DIs in old paper, wild honey and rusty hinge, trying my best to avoid the cook's apron. I did use a waterbrush to spread a little ink onto the ribbons and ruffled edge of the apron and to add a bit of shading to the face, hands and head.
Thank you to Ann and Max for letting me play with Bah Humbug this month, have really enjoyed my DT month, and my best wishes for an equally happy time to the new DT team for May

bah humbug 16

As I was pressed for time this week, it was fortunate that the challenge from Bah Humbug was for Father Christmas - I knew exactly which image I would use, as I bought the My Craft Studio Christmas cd last year just because I fell in love with this Santa image! The problem of what size to use was solved when I found the Tim Holttz snowflake die on a stall at the Thetford Papercraft show last Sunday - I have been looking for this since getting a Christmas card using it (and getting a Big Shot machine for Christmas!). The dark blue square card was cut down from A5, the snowflakes from white glitter card (also from Thetford) and the print sized to match the snowflakes. Santa was matted onto what I thought was silver mirri - turned out to be holographic silver in daylight - and pearlescent blue card, and I added a few dots of white glitter to some of the snowflakes. All in all, a very simple card this week!

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.

grace

I first saw this little cutie on Edna's blog quite some time ago, and was very tempted, especially as it is available as a digi image - I did eventually buy it, plus another one in the range. It is very different from the images I usually use, actually a point in it's favour! I had just finished colouring several in with promarkers, and feeling quite pleased with how they had turned out, when I discovered the sugarbowl blog while bloghopping - the current challenge was for a purple and green colour scheme and a sketch -  as I had just finished colouring this in in purples,  I followed the sketch  using a green base card, with papers from K and Co and Artylicious. The green mat was cut using fancy edged scissors.

candy canes

 This week's challenge at Bah humbug is to use candy canes - I found it difficult to get my head round this one, to me candy canes are seaside holidays and watching fascinated in the rock shop as the letters were rolled into the rock!
Anyhow, not having any stamps - or even bp- that fitted, I went on a trawl around the internet, and eventually came up with a couple of digi stamps; not many companies seem to be admitting to having Christmas images at the moment..........

The basic candy canes image came from Squigglefly, and I coloured it with promarkers before cutting out with a nestie and mounting onto a sheet of  paper printed from the Artylicious Season's greeting cd (now available from Chocolate Baroque, at a bargain price when I looked), then onto a DL card.

I used a DL card again for the second one, this time from Pollycraft, think it was called Sherbet elf. Again I used promarkers, with a glitter gel pen on the wings then cut out  the   image and sat her on the base of   a green mirri card nestie shape before using Anita's dimensional glue over the fur trimming on her outfit.  Bp again from Season's Greetings cd.

Bah humbug is really making me use themes that I would never otherwise use, and I suspect that I will be making a nuisance of myself causing friends to dig deep into their stash for me several times before the year is out!

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.

bah humbug 13-unlucky for some?

the 13th challenge from Bah humbug was for a humorous card, with the option of plaid/tartan - have to admit I groaned when I read the email details from Ann and Max! I eventually found my one and only bit of plaid paper and  some matching card, then hastily begged my friend Barbara to find me a funny stamp (she has grandchildren, so has several funny stamps). The one she could find easily - see, it is not just me who puts things in such a safe place she can't find them again - is the reindeer from Anita's. I stamped him with black versafine, then coloured him in with promarkers - the tinsel round his horns was dots of a very ancient Suzie Weinberg Pure Glitz in sequin -  no idea how long I have had this, it is very similar to Stickles glitter glues, and actually still worked after a good shake! I cut him out with a nestie after the glitter had dried, then cut a larger one in red mirri card.

The second card follows the sketch on Less is More and uses the adorable scruffy angel from Judikins - I think she counts as humorous anyway, and is the nearest stamp I have to that! Black versafine again, promarkers, and glitter pen on the wings, and the small nestie agin too. The border is a Martha Stewart punch, backing paper left over from a boxes workshop last year, think it was Papermania. I like this one best, but then I am a sucker for angel stamps........

Ann and Max were kind enough to say they liked them, but I think i have a fair way to go to ctach up with Judith and Fiona from last month!

hope this works, first time I have tried to schedule a post!