The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge - Letter X

It's finally been pulled out of the bag - the letter X in the Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge. There is so little choice. For the previous Alpha Challenge in 2013 I used xenogamy (cross pollination) and didn't want to do a repeat of that word, so I dipped into the dictionary and come up with xerophyte which is a plant that needs very little water.

I don't have a cacti stamp in my collection but I found a picture on line which I printed off (I hope this isn't considered cheating!) and coloured it with Distress inks. I stamped the birds in flight and added the computer generated dictionary definition.

Postcard Recipe

Card

Anna Marie Designs Super Smooth Printer Card 200gsm

Inks

Distress Inks - Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain

Ranger Archival Jet Black

Other

Computer generated definition - Typewriter font

The Craft Barn Fortnightly Challenge - All Around The House

Thinking outside the box (substitute box for craft room) is the current Craft Barn Fortnightly Challenge. We need to use something that can be found around the house i.e. shaving foam to make a background or perhaps junk mail or that piece of corragated card that you've kept waiting for a challenge like this to come along.

It's a good few years since I've used lemon juice to create a background so it seemed like a good idea to revive the technique. I spritzed some lemon juice onto a piece of cream linen card - I used the non textured side - and then kept heating it with my heat gun until I achieved the desired colour of brown. I cut the card down to make a tag and inked around the edge with Ground Expresso Distress Ink. The leaves were stamped onto white card that had been sponged with autumnal colours of  Distress Ink and then cut out. The quote was computer generated. A length of seam binding coloured with Distress Inks was added to complete the tag.

Tag recipe
Card
Craft Creations Cream Linen Card
Anna Marie Designs Super Smooth Printer Card 200gsm
Inks
Ranger Archival Jet Black
Distress Inks - Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Ground Expresso
Stamps
Leaf - Inkadinkado
Other
Lemon juice
Quote - computer generated - Papyrus font
Seam binding

The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge - Letter O

I started my postcard for the Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge just after the revealing of the letter to be used but then the Paralympics began and I had to resume my summer of sport watching. It seems I have done very little else these past few months!

The current letter is "o" and I have chosen the word octagon. Like so many crafters I have a few (thousand) scraps left over from projects and it really is time I started dipping into them to justify the reason for having kept them. I cut the octagons from some scrap background pieces and over stamped them with stamps from a new Crafty Individuals plate that I won for a knock down price on the auction site. The background was brayered using some left over paint from a previous project and then stamped using Distress Ink. The dictionary definition was computer generated.

Postcard recipe
Paper Card 
White recycled card
Anna Marie Designs Super Smooth Printer Card 200gsm
Inks/Paints 
Worn Lipstick Distress Ink
PaperArtsy Fresco Paint
Ranger Archival - Jet Black, Watering Can
Stamps 
Crafty Individuals CI-207
Other 
Definition - computer generated Typewriter font

The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge - Letter H

It's the letter H this time around in the Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge and so many words to choose from, in contrast to the letter Z, the previous week's task. I've chosen the word hinge from my long list of possible contenders.

I started by painting my postcard with PaperArtsy Fresco paint and then covered it with Crackle Glaze before adding another layer of paint. In the past I've never been very successful with Crackle Glaze but this time it came out pretty well. While it was still a little damp I sanded some of the paint away to give a distressed look. I painted the die-cut hinges and escutcheon black and then embossed with black embossing powder. I found some silver peel-offs which I painted brown and used for the screws. I finished by adding the computer generated dictionary definition.

Postcard Recipe

Card 

Anna Marie Designs Smooth Stamping Card 300gsm

Anna Marie Designs Super Smooth Printer Card 200gsm

Paints

PaperArtsy - Inky Pool, Mermaid, Chutney

PaperArtsy - Crackle Glaze

Eco Green Acrylic Paint - Black

Other

Die-cuts

Circle peel-offs 

Dictionary definition - computer generated, "Typewriter" font