July Scrapology Card Challenge - embossing

Marion Emberson from Sugar and Spice Crafts set the challenge this month - to use embossing powders. 

I have so many of them, and don't use them nearly often enough. 

This is the card I have produced. 

I started with the Craftwork Cards blank and covered it with Pink Bazzill cardstock.  All the other bits are from my pink scraps bag. 

Patterned papers are Papermania, SEI, and I used the smallest bits of Making Memories paper to create the banner - I thought it was perfect here! 

I embossed the greeting and the baby carriage in silver and then used corresponding accents, which the sun really picked up. My friend Fran recently had a baby girl and named her Cora - I hope she likes the card. 

The stamps are by Judikins and EK Success. 

Thanks for stopping by - and why don't you dust off your embossing powders and take the challenge?

Banana Frog Blog Hop

Good morning good morning good morning!  I have no idea why I am feeling so chirpy, but it is an exciting day for me - today is the Banana Frog Blog Hop, and I am also featured this month as I was the guest designer for October. 

Today's theme is autumn and I have added my own twist to the interpretation.  I used the beautiful colours of autumn to make a layout instead about elephants (hmmm - random at all?  Naaaaa.....  :lol:) Earlier this year, I was involved in the ardent hunt  to capture the most number of elephants I could which were displayed around London as part of the Elephant Parade.  Most of them were sold off afterwards by auction which raised double the target - £4 million! to save the endangered Asian elephants. 

I found the beautiful decoration and design of the elephants very inspiring and will have great fun making arty scrapbook pages around these beautiful creatures, so with the theme of autumn colour in my mind I chose this particular elephant, Cha-Chang! to be the first model. 

Supplies:    Banana Frog Perfect Paisley  

                 (available now for a staggering £3.30!)

                 Banana Frog teen lower (also on special!)

                 Banana Frog Christmas elegance

                 American Crafts Tropical cardstock 8 1/2 x 11"

                 Tim Holtz Ideology - Paperie Journaling Ticket

                 Tim Holtz Sizzix Sizzlets Decorative Strip die - Ticket Strip

                 Twinkling H20's

                 Paisley ribbon

                 Versamark

                 Gold embossing powder

                 Ocean Sunlight Cosmic Shimmer mist

                 Turquoise Stickles

                 Jo Sonja Lagoon acrylic paint

                 A date stamp and smaller alphabet stamps

                 Scraps of cardstock

                 Lots of chalk inks!

I started off using this particular stamp from the Perfect Paisley set and embossed it onto the cardstock with gold embossing powder, which is perfect for Asian themes.  Paisley was also a very dominant theme in the Arts and Crafts movement, and to me it represents home comforts. 

                 

I stamped this all over the top right hand side of the page, and just used the leaf top as a stamping margin on the bottom of the page. 

Did you know you could turn part of a stamp into something akin to a border punch?  I took the journalling stamp from the Christmas Elegance set and used the bottom half to embellish underneath the photo.  This stamp also made a lovely background number embellishment as a plaque. 

This Chatterbox sticker alphabet is something that has been kicking around in my stash - probably for almost five years - and I kept looking at it, wondering how on earth I would use it.  I think it looks great here - sometimes it is worth banging stuff onto a page without too much unnecessary worry about how it will turn out!  Same with choosing the scraps, too.  Whilst I am not a huge fan of too many clashing patterns and colours, sometimes a bit of extra interest really adds some dynamism. 

I really like how this layout turned out - a mix of painty, a bit grungy, a bit blingy - not too clean!  But it still feels a bit folksy and "handmade" to me.  I think Autumn is a bit like that too - so an autumnal representation on a page, using a different subject. 

Thanks for stopping by on this first leg of the Banana Frog blog hop.  Make a comment here to be in with a chance of winning some lovely Banana Frog goodies!

Why don't you hop on over to Julie's blog, to see how she has interpreted Autumn?  Happy leaf gathering! :)

The Bay of Naples

This is the start of a big week for me - I am setting the UK Scrappers challenge this week, I am a guest designer at Banana Frog for October, and a new challenge goes live at Scrapology this week!  Oh - plus, I have a sketch challenge layout due on 1st October also.  Phew!  No wonder it's been quiet in here lately - not so quiet behind the scenes. 

First things first - the UKS challenge - September Week 4.  With all that activity, I decided it was essential to multi-task.  One of the lovely sets of stamps Bev sent me was Swirls and Butterflies.  What's not to love about this set? 

I used it perhaps differently to the way a lot of people would - a girly layout springs to mind immediately, but instead I used the set to embellish a panoramic view.  Here's my layout!

I really wanted to use some kind of glimmer mist or shimmery wash, but I only own two mists, neither in the colours I wanted.  So I mixed up some pastel Jo Sonja acrylic paint to a watery wash, and used the Ranger mini-mister to squirt onto the background. 

A very difficult layout to photograph, being a double, and full of painty effects.  However, I have done some close-ups: 

I used the largest swirl in the set to emulate the water.  I embossed the swirl with pink translucent embossing powder and painted over the top with a pinky yellowy wash, some Jo Sonja Opal Dust (which are the glittering holographic particles) and a shimmery orangy/pinky wash which glimmers.  It looks a bit of a mess in the close-up, but the effect is beautiful (in my opinion!) from normal viewing distance. 

I used a Rebekka Erickson "Fancy" Box Board alphabet, which I then painted with a wash of Jo Sonja pink and peach acrylic paints, to which I added a dollop of violet iridescent.  I then embossed over the top with pink translucent embossing powder, which gives a lovely lustre.  Straight on, the letters are a pearly pale yellowy/pinky cream, and at an angle, they are quite reddish!  Perfect for a sun setting. 

I couldn't complete the layout without using some of those beautiful butterflies!  I embossed the butterfly straight onto the cardstock for no reason apart from working out my placement, and then I washed over the immediate area with some of those glimmer paints.  I then stamped out the butterflies in a pigment blue ink, heat dried and set, and then washed over the surface with some washed out glimmer pastel colours.  I stamped and embossed the butterfly "trails" onto recycled packaging, and attached everything onto the layout with acid free silicone glue.  I love the dimensionality of that stuff! 

To sum up, this week's challenge on UK Scrappers is to use panoramic photos (no people or pets allowed!) of nature/landscapes etc.  Use stamping, and also to alter an alphabet using techniques, a mix of colours/fonts, etc.  I shall be checking to see what people come up with! 

Back later in the week to share another Banana Frog project. 



The Footpush

I was lucky enough to have a holiday in Mexico September, 2008.  Paul only came out for the second week, so my friends and I did a couple of days chilling and a couple of excursions.  One of these excursions was called Garrafon Discovery. 

The bus took us to Cancun and then we took a speed boat out to Isla de Mujeras.  As much as it seems a very cliched experience, I thought it was a must that I chose to go swimming with the Dolphins when I had the chance.  And it was fabulous!  I swum out to do the footpush, and had given my camera to my friend.  I didn't realise it, but he had taken this series of photos!  I regret the way I look, but I don't regret him taking the photos or the experience. 

It was the monthly house challenge at UK Scrappers - use 7 photos or more, and then using a new technique.  I used the Impressions plate and the embossing pad on my Big Shot for the first time. 

It will be the first and last time I sew on glossy cardstock - what a nightmare!  The shiny texture on the cardstock caused the machine to slip and slide - a total pain. 

Supplies:  DCWV Taj Mahal , scrap of Rouge de Garance which I embossed with dots, scrap of Fancy Pants Delight on title.  Rhonna Farrer rub-on, which reads "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together - van gogh."   The title was cut out on my Cricut using "Opposites Attract" cartridge. 

My journalling reads:

1. How did they say to stand? 2. Oh wait! I’m not ready! 3. I don’t know if I want to do this! 4. I’m not sure if this is right …. 5. Oh, I don’t like this! 6. This feels really weird! 7. They said to put your arms up and lock your knees … 8. Oh no, here I go …. 9. It feels like I am flying through the water! 10. What a rush! 11. Who would have ever thought I would have done this? 12. I’m going quite fast … 13. Hey! Look at me! 14. Coming in to land. That was fantastic!

And so it was.  An unbelievable experience. 

Break from the Usual Programming....

Anyone getting sick of elephants yet? I'm not but a bit of variety is good and healthy ....

The challenge was to incorporate one predominant colour into the layout, scraplift a favourite, use little or no journalling, and incorporate a number into the title. 

The picture is of my nephews in Australia and when I last visited I got my sister to upload loads of favourites onto a disk.  This photo was taken some years ago, so I don't know any of the detail - which suited the "no journalling" aspect.  A predominant colour is blue - the Crate Paper shaped paper background has a delicate blue grid pattern on it.  I scraplifted a favourite in my UKS gallery by Craftystash - because I loved all the elements in her layout - the colours, the choice of papers, but particularly the design - especially the stitching. 

This layout is too busy for my taste, but I got the main elements in - and I used old stash, too by colouring my chipboard letters in with Promarkers, and then clear embossing them to match the colours in the layout.  Patterned papers are Fancy Pants Delight, We R Memory Keepers White Out and Crate Paper Mia.  Other products in the title are some Making Memories rub-ons, some black plastic letters, and some K & Co paper alphabet letters that I got in a huge kit some years ago. 

Normal service will resume tomorrow!  :)