Distressing Playtime

I have been playing with my new Distress Stains and Tim Holtz stamps and made a couple of tags in the process.

For this butterfly tag I put the Distress Stains on my craft mat and swooshed my card for the tag background and the butterflies over it and dried with a heat gun in between swooshes and edged the tag with Distress Ink. The butterflies were covered with Glossy Accents.

Tag recipe
Card
Craft Creations Taffeta Smooth White
Distress Stains
Broken China
Dusty Concord
Wild Honey
Inks
Dusty Concord Distress Ink
India Ink Black
Stamp
Tim Holtz Papillion Set
Other
Glossy Accents
Fibres

On this second tag I applied Spun Sugar Distress Stain directly onto the card and then stamped and clear embossed the background script. I then dipped the tag into Spun Sugar and Broken China Distress Stains on my craft mat and let it dry naturally. I used the Distress Stains to change the colour of the lace and fibre. The flower was made using Neil Walker's "Paper Transformation" technique that I'd seen him demonstrate at the Craft Barn Extravaganza.
I'm entering this tag in the Craft Barn Tim Holtz Challenge

Tag recipe
Card
Craft Creations Taffeta Smooth White
Distress Stains
Broken China
Spun Sugar
Ink
Worn Lipstick & Spun Sugar Distress Ink
Versamark
Die
Tim Holtz Tattered Florals
Stamp
Tim Holtz Papillion Set
Other
Clear gloss embossing powder
Fibres
Lace
Rub'n'Buff
Pink brad

Alcohol Ink Serendipity

Having watched Andy Skinner’s alcohol ink floating background tutorial I got out my AI’s and had a go and these three pieces were my favourite using this technique. They make me think of a country cottage with chintz curtains and a jug of wildflowers on the table.

Using the pieces to make a tag and a card I wanted the backgrounds to be the star of the show, so have kept the embellishment simple. I’m entering the card in the Craft Barn Alcohol Ink Challenge – this will be the first blog challenge I’ve ever entered.

Card recipe
Inks
Alcohol inks
India Black Ink
Adirondack Lettuce Dye Ink
Worn Lipstick Distress Ink

Stamps
“Yesterday “ - maker unknown
Flowers - Fourth Dimension

Other
Vellum
Craftworks Card Candi
Lace
Raffia

Card recipe
Inks
Alcohol inks
Brilliance Moonlight White
Brilliance Pearlescent Coral
Worn lipstick Distress Ink

Stamp
Free with Craft Stamper April 2011

Other
White detail embossing powder
Leaf ribbon

Bookmark swap

I recently took part in a book mark swap over at Cardmaking Paradise. Mine didn't turn out quite as I had imagined. I had intended cutting a semi circle around the sunflower but I chickened out as my cutting skills are not the best if it doesn't involve a craft knife and metal edged ruler!

Card Recipe
Card
Black card
Craftworkscards White Digital Ultra Smooth Premium Cardstock

Inks
Memento - Tuxedo black
Distress Inks - Wild Honey, Vintage Photo, Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss

Stamps
PSX Sunflower F1989
Stampotique Bee

Other
Copic Markers - Y06, Y08
Computer generated sentiment - Bookworm font

My beautifully shimmery swap below came from Hilda. She made it using Grungepaper and it has the feel of leather. The colours are gorgeous - silver with just a hint of purple and lime. Such a clever idea cutting partially around the birdcage so the bookmark slips over a page. Thank you Hilda.

Butterlies are self propelled flowers

I have used the new Beautiful Butterfly template from Cardmaking Paradise for these two butterflies.

For this first one I used Wild Honey Distress Ink (DI) to cover all the sides of my white card. I then applied Spiced Marmalade DI with a small stencil brush around the masks on just the front of the card and followed this by inking around all the edges with Rusty Hinge DI. Finally spraying the front with Cosmic Shimmer.

Card Recipe
Card
Craftworkscards Digital Ultra Smooth Premium Cardstock

Inks
Distress Inks - Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge

Other
Cosmic Shimmer - Rich Gold
Flat back crystals
Artificial flower stamens

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When I went to the Craft Barn Extravaganza recently I took part in a metal workshop with my forum buddies from Craftmaking Paradise. So for the card below I used some of my new found knowledge to decorate the butterfly with metal. Still need lots of practice!

The base colour of the metal was silver which I painted with alcohol inks. Rather difficult to photograph because of the flash bounce back from the metal.

Card Recipe
Card
Craftworkscards Digital Ultra Smooth Premium Cardstock

Distress Inks
Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw

Alcohol Inks
Jacquards Pinta Colour - Calabaza Orange, Sunbright Yellow

Other
Artificial flower stamens
Spellbinders Premium Craft Foil
Tando Creative Mask

Blog Candy

Not only is Jennie (The Artistic Stamper) offering free postage on her website until Sunday 10th July, she also has some fantastic Blog Candy on offer HERE.