Fly on!

 I was in the mood for making a word mess today. I have a lot of ancient stamps - and I mean between 10 to 18 years ancient. It was high time to show them some much needed love. 

 

"Of course" I was inspired by a couple of challenges, as always. 

I started by stamping the background with the handwritten text stamp up and down. Then I gessoed over everything, it was simply too busy-looking for my taste, and sprayed some DO over it and let it dry.

The result was nice and subdued, perfect for the bird carrying an envelope. I also added some rub-on flowers to create some interest. The sentiment reads "Thinking of you".

 

This card is playing along in these lovely challenges:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Transport it 

Allsorts:  #858 Sympathy / Thinking of You / Get well 

The Neglected Stuff: September 2026  - This card was made of only neglected materials!

Aud Sentiments: #341 Tags and/or Thinking of You + sentiment 

 

Glittery and frosty

A New Year's card - in September? That has to be a first! Normally I make them just before Christmas to cover up the fact that I have forgotten to send Christmas cards...

It all started quite innocently: some glittery card stock, an old die, markers and a new stamp of an Ice Queen.

 

The lilac-lavender card stock became the base. Then I cut the half snowflake twice out of the silver. The join was visible, so the sentiment had to go there. Then I stamped the Ice Queen, colored her in and fussy cut her out, then propped her on foam strips to give this card a background and a foreground.

Originally I had a Christmas card in mind, what with the snowflake and the included sentiments. But looking at it it really was too... cold, if you know what I mean. Christmas is mostly green these days and the cold spell really often starts with January.

So there, a New Years card it is.  

 

Playing along in these challenges:

Sunday Stamps: #ssc394 Get in Shape

 

G&TAOL: #35 De letter I van... Ice Queen

NBUS: #90 

We Love 2 Create: #8 AG

Polkadoodles: #9 week 2 AG 

 

Gelli prints and rhinestones

I was inspired to try combine materials that have a different vibe. To explain: gelli prints are casual, gold thread and rhinestones are pure luxury. Would the combination read like an festive evening gown with trainers? Or like ice cream with spinach?

Of course I was inspired by several challenges, again. I challenged myself to try Gelli prints, gold thread and rhinestones and see what could be made out of them.

I started by stamping flowers on select parts of gelli prints. because they were made with acrylic and thus it is doubtful whether the ink would ever dry, I treated the stampings with clear embossing powder and heat embossing. This gave them some beautiful shine. I then proceeded to fussy cut them and arranged them inspired by a sketch. I also added the rhinestones.

 

I then took a length of gold thread, doubled it up and stitched the flowers: one cross stitch for the smaller ones and lots more for the large flower. 

 

Entering this in these inspiring challenges:

Festive Friday: FF0218. - I picked 'Jewel tones - gold thread - rhinestones - stitching'

 

Just Add Ink: 794 Sketch

 

 Just Us Girls: #840 Word week: BOld

Seize the Birthday: #334 Add a sentiment strip

 

Halloween magic

I did not set out to make a Halloween card per se, but now I am glad I did. 

It all started with stencils and sprays.

 

To build up texture I used more stencils and 'Aged silver' embossing enamel (Stampendous).

 

I wanted a grungy look, so I stenciled black gesso onto the card, then poured the enamel over and heat embossed it.

 

To complete the card I found die cuts of a gigantic star and two cats that I had received from my crafting friends. Never knew what to use them for, but today was apparently the day - I was aided in my thinking process by a couple of challenges.

 

I cut out the bats from black card stock and arranged everything. I printed out the sentiment.

 

Entering this in the challenges that inspired me today:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Add some texture

TioT: Emboss it 

Archiscraps: Use a large star as a feature

Craft Rocket: #140 Use dies 

As You Like It: Favorite Halloween colors - and why?  - Mine is anything with purple, be it yellow, orange, black, even green.

Creative Artiste Mixed media: #130 Anything MM goes 

Oh no!

I spotted some challenges that I thought could work well together: a call for jungle animals (and any animals), use a stamp and make it masculine. I recently purchased a tiger stamp (first used here) and it seemed like an appropriate starting point.

As the stamp is rather large and fills a card front by itself, there was little need for any other supplies. I grabbed a feel snippets of design paper and selected some GT watercolors.

I stamped the tiger on a separate piece of card stock as I wanted to raise it. The leaves were stamped onto the base. Then I watercolored everything.

Waiting them to try I cut out a platter and cake shape out of the papers. Lastly I cut the beast in halves and arranged it so that it is upsetting the birthday cake.

 

With this card I am playing in the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon: #875 Use a stamp

Sparkles Monthly: #203 Animals

Simply Clean and Simple: Jungle animals

All About Papercraft: #9 Masculine 

 

Creative Crafting Uncles: #80 AG masculine

Crafts Galore Encore: AG 

Remember Lyra Belacqua?

Lyra is the 11 year old heroine of Philip Pullmans trilogy His Dark Materials. The film is named the Golden Compass. Living in a parallel universe Lyra sets out to rescue children that are held in captivity in the abouts of the North Pole. She has a daemon, a soul animal, that can change shape from ermine to moth to wildcat to a mouse, and who is her constant companion.

This is a story line in a very small nutshell. I set out to make a card that would incorporate all this and also answer to several challenges at the same time. 

I needed stamps, papers and watercolors.

 I started by stamping the background with white ink and the snowfall stamp. I then added blue papers on top and bottom of the sheet. Next I stamped the girl and a mouse, colored them in, then fussy cut them. I punched the stars from gold foil - the color gold a hommage to the name, 'Golden compass'.

As a nod to the scenery, North Pole, I decided this would be a good Christmas greeting to a child, so I stamped the sentiment 'Christmas greetings' and adhered it to the card.

 

Entering this in these challenges that were my inspiration today:

 

Time Out: #321 The Movies

 

Stamps&fun=Creativity: #501 Metal/ Metall - mein Metall is Gold

 

Do-All Creatives: #117 Verwende die Farbe 'Kraft' / Use the color 'kraft'

 

Krafty Chicks: #837 Christmas 

 

A Perfect Time to Craft: #9-2026 open challenge

Lavender's blue, lavender's green

I found some challenges again that called my name. Especially there was a sketch challenge that I wanted to try. To that I wanted to add 'inspired by a song'.

I have slowly collected Japanese stamps and thought this would be a perfect occasion for them. This is what I pulled out:

I had a song in mind, old English folk song "Lavender blue", which is is also a nursery rhyme. Luckily I had a stamp with lavender.

I worked according to the sketch, but turned it sideways. I used grey ink for stamping, I wanted the result to be delicate and dreamy. I stamped the stem of lavender as is, but had to isolate the stems I wanted to use in the oblong Japanese stamps. I selected the Kanji characters 'imagine' and 'beauty' as my text. 

Then I used a large brush and added watercolor in blobs to the stamped flowers.

Entering this in these lovely challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches: #593 Sketch challenge 

A Place to Start: #202609 AG/ relates to a song - My song is Lavender blue

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Stamp it

Love to Craft:  #94 AG

Polkadoodles: #9 week 1 AG 

 

It's time...

 ... to spread your wings. I purchased a magazine solely for the free stamp sheet that came with it. (Although the magazine, Creative Stamping, is great, too.)

Today's ingredients were inspired by a couple of challenges.

I started by smearing a paper with some leftover paints. The lower half is more or less mud, but I stenciled the top half with a round stencil and green paint, which created some interesting structure. I cut out a good piece off it, selected some stamps and a sentiment to match and set to work. The flowers were colored in with markers, the bird with watercolor pencils. As for the tag, after die cutting it I left all the little pieces in place that would normally fall out. I think the effect is nicer this way as it does not garner more attention than the bird.

 

I am entering this in these challenges that inspired me today:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Stamp it

 Stencil Fun: AG with a stencil / yellows optional. I am playing with AG

Addicted to Stamps and More: #525 Die cuts and/or stencil - I have used both

Triple B: Birds-blooms- butterflies AG - My bird has a yellow breast, but otherwise I veered off from inspiration photo

 

PIP: #2636 AG 

 

Greetings from forest

 Several challenges were calling my name today: a sketch, a color prompt, a word prompt, a call for layers and a die-cut. Well, then!

I laid out the supplies I wanted to use:

The blue background is a cyanotype. I tried to make some cool designs earlier in August, but most of them did not go as planned.

 

Their backside is actually nice, too. And this is what I used.

 

I started by cutting a cyanotype to size, then darkening the edges where some of the depth had been lost through cutting. I die cut the twig and leaves from gelli prints. The large leaf is a left-over from years ago - yes, I am good in hoarding stuff.

I then stamped the mushroom set and colored it in with my markers. Lastly I arranged everything according to sketch and stamped a zig zag stitch along the edges. (My sewing machine could not have handled this cyanotype paper!)

 

I am entering this in the challenges that I was inspired by today:

The Paper Funday Challenge: #91 AG / Sketch - I am playing with the sketch

 

Passion for Markers: #853 Stitching, real or faux - I am going with faux

Just Add Ink: #793 Colour Inspiration

 

Creative Knockouts: #578 Lots of layers

Classic Design Challenge: #8-2026 ATG/ Use die cuts - I am playing with the die cut option

 

On the farm / 100 days

 Today marks the 100th day of my private and unannounced challenge. After a break of two years from card making I wanted to challenge myself

* to make a card every day for 100 days 

* to use everything I had

* not to be precious about anything: all papers, all rub-ons, all toppers and ephemera were fair game and there to be used

 I had blogged my cards until September 2024. Then came the time we tried to sell our house and all signs of private life had to be packed away. This took a while. Then came the move, after which I was left with no craft room and had to fit a desk into my bedroom. I had to let go of a lot of papers and ephemera, I no longer could fit them. (And technically I should change the blog name: we live in a blue house now...)

In May this year I was sufficiently rested - and organized - to take up card making again. May 31st marks the first day of this 100 day challenge. What I learned about myself: I need ideas from outside to be able to make cards, be they prompts, pictures, layouts, tic-tac-toes, anything to get my 'cerebral juices flowing' (did Sherlock Holmes say that?). I took pleasure on combining three to five challenge prompts into one card. I applaud all challenge teams, you do a terrific job! Without your ongoing dedication to your challenge this hobby would be so much less. Thank you all!

I used a lot of my supplies, mostly dies, markers, watercolors and perhaps 10% of my stamps. This last week was tough. I had the feeling I had exhausted my supply of ideas. Making a card felt like walking in muddy boots, they want to hold you back.

As the fall season is beginning I won't be able to spend so much time at my craft desk. So no daily blog posts! But I will still make cards. My challenge now is to use more rub-ons in my card making (even though it feels a bit like cheating - I don't know why?), use more stamps and paints and try to experiment more.

It is time to present the card of the day and the challenges that led my way. 

I got inspired by a color and the prompt to make something farm related. Additionally I wanted to use die cuts. I gathered my supplies: a stamp set of farm animals and floral die cuts. I also used markers and, contrary to the photo, a ready sentiment.

After I had cut the center off a print (which I used here) I was left over with floral designs in delicious tones of brown. I decided to die cut them out, to be used in some future date. These came in handy today!

I played with a few arrangements for the flowers and finally settled on  a linear one. I stamped three sheep, colored them in with markers and fussy cut them. I then placed them behind the (raised) flowers. They seem to be delightfully grazing in a flower field.

Entering this in these challenges that I was inspired by today:

Colorful Options: September Rusty brown I am using Option 2, Warm earth tones

 

Little Red Wagon: #874 Hayloft

FarmQuest General Store: #42 Anything farm related

Just Us Girls: #839 Die week

 

Crafting from the Art: AG August