Sunday Snippets - another Christmas Candle!

Hi Playmates!

I have published RESULTS from the previous challenge, so please hop over to the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND to admire the top picks and discover which lucky playmate won the prize. There's still nearly a week left to play in the current challenge if you haven't already done so. Remember to look at the Noticeboard at the bottom of the Playground blog post.

For my homework this week, I made another hand-drawn candle card!

As mentioned last week . . . . I was inspired to draw the candle after seeing Tina Cox’s designs at Clarity Stamp.

5.5” x 3.5” card

White snippet that I scribbled some red Tombow pen on in order to
die cut some berry shapes (I used the larger 3 berries!) 

White snippet that I scraped my VFC Spruce
ink pad on so that I could stamp and cut
out the holly leaves in a dark green.

I stamped the holly leaves first, then drew the candle.
(You can still see my pencil marks on the flame!)

Details:

• Magnolia holly leaves stamped 3 times onto a white snippet for the main panel, and again onto a further white snippet that I had scraped a VFC Spruce green ink pad across. I then cut out the leaves and adhered them to the panel with foam pads. 
• Hand-drawn candle, coloured with a mixture of Tombow pens and Distress Inks.
• Berry dies - probably Sizzix(?) which came as part of a foliage set.
• The Merry Christmas sentiment comes from a PaperArtsy JOFY set of stamps.
• Main image mounted onto a red snippet of card.
• The originally A6 sized card was cut down to give an even border around the main panel.

Textured ATCs

Hi there!

Today I have a couple of textured ATCs to share - but be warned - this post is a bit photo heavy! Both ATCs were originally playing cards, which I trimmed to 2.25" x 3.25" and rounded the corners so that I could mount them onto a 2.5" x 3.5" base.

Here's the first:

ATC

Attempting to show you the embossed texture
of the base and the flower.

ATC MATERIALS:

• Focal flower: Flower head from a retired Stampin' Up! set, coloured with yellow & orange Distress Inks then heat embossed with clear EP. The stem and leaves are from Tim Holtz Flower Garden CMS125, stamped in black VFC ink, then heat embossed with clear EP.
• Background: Stamps from Studio Light Grunge set SL GR STAMP229 and Creative Expressions Arty Background stamp set CEC-784. Base was created by painting and smearing the playing card with a mixture of black, white and turquoise gesso. (Yes! You read that right . . . TURQUOISE gesso - by Jane Davenport!)
• Texture: created with different layers of gesso; heating embossing and the flower head was stuck to the card with a foam pad.

I couldn't believe how glossy the flower turned out. I had simply stamped it onto some plain old copy paper and coloured it with a yellow and orange Distress Inks. I liked it like that - but, as I had the heat gun and embossing stuff out on my desk, I wondered what would happen if I dabbed a VersaMark ink pad onto it and covered it with clear embossing powder! This was the delightful result:

Sooooo glossy! Happy days!

I would like to enter the flower ATC into the TAG ALONG & ATCs CHALLENGE where the theme is to ADD TEXTURE.

Delighted to be picked.

This is how the playing cards looked at first:

I covered the playing cards with
gesso and acrylic paints.

Here's the other textured ATC I made from the above:

The photo below shows how it looked after the gesso & acrylic paint, with the added stamping, stencilling  and heat embossing, but minus the chicken and flower "sun" and the sentiment which I cut out from a magazine and inked.

If you managed to get to the end of this longer blog post . . . congrats and THANK YOU!

Sunday Snippets - a Christmas Candle

Hi Playmates!

There's a new challenge to play along with over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND hosted by Miss Di for the next fortnight.

For my homework I was messing about in Art Class and drew a small candle on a snippet of white card. I quite liked it - so I mounted it onto a black snippet of card after rounding all the corners with a punch. I was inspired to draw the candle having seen Tina Cox’s designs for Clarity Stamp. (However, I figured I could draw a candle myself and save £20!)

It was still quite a small image due to the size of the snippet I picked, so I reached for a long strip of white card (a snippet left from making my own card blanks). The strip measured 2.5" x 11.5", so I scored it at 4", 8" & 9¾" to make a zigzag card base.

Side view to show the card shape.

A face-on shot!

After making the card shape, I stencilled over it and glued the candle to the front panel. Then added the Merry Christmas sentiment.

Materials:

• Hand drawn candle, coloured with Tombow pens.
• Retired sentiment by Clearly Besotted*
• Stencils: "Dotty Circles" (magazine cover gift); "Bubbles" Dinky Stencil TC005 by That's Crafty.
• Snippets - ALL the pieces of card used for the card.

*EDITED to say I originally stated that Clearly Besotted were no longer trading but this is not the case. I’ve checked and the owner, Stephanie, says her little business is fully operational. 

Sunday Snippets - Crafty Roo Stamp

Hi Playmates!

Di has published RESULTS from the previous challenge, so please hop over to the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND to admire her top picks and discover which lucky playmate won the prize. There's still nearly a week left to play in the current challenge if you haven't already done so.

For my homework this week, I thought I’d make a card with an NBUS Crafty Roo stamp to showcase one of the stamps that also happens to be available as part of the prize in the current Snippets Playground Challenge. 

A6 sized card

Attempting to show you the glossy wings!

Card and matching envelope.

Materials used:

• Inks: DI - Mustard Seed & Spiced Marmalade for the honeycomb. SU - Pool Party & Night of Navy for the circles. Versafine Onyx Black for everything! Ink pads were dabbed onto an acrylic block and picked up with a waterbrush to paint the card.
• Stamps: Main stamp with honeycomb and circles is by Crafty Roo; the small bee is from the Julie Hickey “Sunflower Bee” set - plus I used the matching die for the bee; the “Flourish” word is from AALL & Create set #628 “Spread a little Happiness”.
• Other materials: Foam pads to attach the die-cut bees (all the bees are snippets);  "Sea Breeze" Nuvo Jewel Drops (added to the bee wings).

Jersey Moth ATC

Hi there!

Today I'm sharing an ATC with you. 

ATC

I'd like to enter this ATC into the November TAG-ALONG & ATCs CHALLENGE where the optional theme is to ADD TEXTURE.

I'm entering under the 'anything goes' option as although I have dimension on the ATC from the raised moth stamp, I'm not sure I have actual texture on it.

Details:

• Background: snippet cut from a scrap sheet I used to stamp off extra ink prior to cleaning my stamps properly. (I stamped a few little circle trios by Uniko onto the sheet.)
• Main image: Jersey Moth stamp from the "Tall Grass" set by Funky Fossil - stamped onto a snippet of acrylic paper, coloured with a waterbrush and Picked Raspberry DI. It was stuck to the ATC with foam pads for dimension.
• Sentiment was cut from a sheet of paper from the "Warm Breeze" Paper pack by Craft O’Clock.

Textured ATCs

Hi there!

I made a set of ATCs just for fun!

I'd like to enter these ATCs into the November TAG-ALONG & ATCs CHALLENGE where the optional theme is to ADD SOME TEXTURE. 

Set of 4 ATCs

Below: work in progress:

This pic shows how they looked after stamping; stencilling;
adding modelling paste; Washi tape and
gold splatters (which remained raised once dry) 
and before  adding the die cuts and mounting onto
SU Misty Moonlight card.

The left over snippets I can play with another day!
These show up the original stencilled and stamped layers 
prior to adding the different textures.

DETAILS:

• Stencils: 'Ink Swirls' by Visible Image and TCW various circles stencil and 'Zippy Dots' by Memory Box.
• Inks: Distress Oxide colours Spiced Marmalade; Peeled Paint and Faded Jeans for the stencilling; Misty Moonlight dye ink by SU for all stamping added on top of the stencilling.
• Stamping: blue circles ('Tall Trees' set by Funky Fossil); line of numbers by IndigoBlu; broken circles from a grunge set by StudioLight; blue splatters from the Gorgeous Grunge set by SU.
• Washi Tapes: Aall & Create numbers #7 and #41.
• Galeria Modelling Paste - trowelled on through the dotty & circular stencils mentioned above. I brushed more Distresss Oxides over the paste once it was dry as it didn't show up very well! I do not recommend the Galeria modelling paste (recently bought from Hobbycraft) as it is very lightweight and although you can FEEL it, it's hard to actually SEE it unless inked over!
• TEXTURES: All ATCs have modelling paste, raised gold splatters and Washi tape added to them. In addition 3 of them have die cuts from snippets of SU Misty Moonlight cardstock as follows: Top Right = Marianne swirly foliage die, plus a few extra leaves from a die by The Works; Bottom Left = Daisy Flower by Leane Creatief and two smaller flowers from "The Missees" set by Karin Joan for Studio Light, flower centres = a tiny floral die by Gummiapan, and Bottom Right = two unbranded daisy dies bought from Amazon.