Coloured Crackle for Umbrella Man

Over at Linda Ledbetter's website the latest Tim technique to try is Coloured Crackle out of Compendium of Curiosities 3. 

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is the sponsor of this challenge.

I decided to give Umbrella Man another change of clothes! I do like doing this and have another one half finished on my desk. Here is the link to Sunshine and Showers where he had his first transformation.

I treated Umbrella man as per Tim's instructions on Page 53.

My tag was treated with various colours of Distress inks:

I then used Tim's rays stencil, versamark and clear embossing powder to 'seal' some of the coloured areas. I then went over the whole tag with black soot - but of course it doesnt cover the embossed areas.

I stamped my words in Stazon - I love how it came out being stamped partly over ink and partly over the embossed areas.

A few more close ups:

And that is my Rainbow Umbrella Man - hope you like him!

I would also like to enter into:

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday - Anything Goes

CraftyCatz - Anything Goes (253)

Nikki

xxx

Butterfly Card for Country View Crafts

I am back with my second Bugs, Bees and Butterflies project for Country View Craft challenges. This time I decided to make a simple card using Stampin Up stamps and inks.

It may not be everyone's colour choice but I love greys! The card design is based on a number of versions I have seen on Pinterest - I am not sure who created the original, it may have been Michelle Last. My card base is Basic Grey cardstock and I have stamped with smoky slate and black ink. The stamps sets used are Kinda Eclectic (leaves and butterflies) and Gorgeous Grunge (lines and splatters).

I added a little dimension to the card with the lower butterfly and the sentiment slightly raised. Simple, quick and effective and a great card to have for when I need to send one quickly!

Thanks for looking

Nikki

xxx

Country View Crafts - Bugs, Bees and Butterflies

 

It is a pleasure to be joining the Country View Crafts Challenge and Projects Design team today. Two fabulous blogs and a great online shop (where I spend far too much money!). I am sure you all know them well but here are the links just in case:

Country View Challenges

Country View Crafts Project Blog

Country View Crafts Shop

The first of the month means a new challenge and it is Bugs, Bees and Butterflies. The winner will receive a £20 shop voucher from our fabulous sponsor, Country View Crafts. The Top 3 entries and our Special mention award ( the most original and creative representation of the theme)  all receive blog badges and a chance to feature as guest designers.

So onto my project. I was recently at my first weekend craft retreat and attended a short class (run by Lorraine Bilsby) where we were creating this reversed canvassed. The original class project was based on Tim Holtz September tag - however I did change mine quite a bit !

Having applied gesso over all the areas of the canvass that were on show I started on the base section. I squirted some alcohol ink onto my craft mat and swooshed my glossy card through it to get a subtle uneven covering. Any gaps were filled in randomly used a felt applicator. The card was cut to slightly bigger than the aperture. I then stamped various stamps in archival ink. Once dry this was carefully bent to fit inside the canvass aperture.

The frame of the canvass (once dry) was covered in some text paper, carefully cutting the corners to fit. I inked with gathered twigs distress ink and stamped the side edges with a crack stamp (sorry no photo).

The sentiment was cut from one of Tim's dies in mirri card and alcohol ink added (sorry not an expert on alcohol inks colours - an orange and a blue). I love this effect on mirri card. Brads were added and smashed a bit to age them. I edged with black archival.

In the class we then set about making rainbow butterflies with alcohol inks as Tim did with his tag. Having done these I really didnt like them so decided to take more mirri card and use the same technique as the label. I stamped various sizes of butterfly, cut them out and edged with black archival.

They are mounted at different heights using coiled wire.

I still felt something was lacking on my canvass so cut some swirls later from grey board and applied some distress paints randomly including antiqued bronze to continue the metallic feel.

Quite a long post for me - thank you for getting this far! I will be back on Monday with my second project for Country View - but the next one is a little simpler!

Nikki

xxx

Thankful at A Vintage Journey

 

It is the turn of Sandy to chose the theme at A Vintage Journey this time and she has chosen ' A Bountiful Harvest'. What a great theme for the autumn months. Sandy suggests we think about harvest; maybe pumpkins, wheat or corn; perhaps the Harvest Moon or Thanksgiving may inspire you.

For my Tim inspired card I used some of his papers for my background - I just love how they take the ink and how easy it is to distress them.

 

I cut my letters from greyboard with Tim's block talk lowercase die and then dabbed them with various distress paints (blues, greens, yellows). Once dry I gave them a spritz with black soot distress spray and edged with ink as best I could.

My leaves were cut from more Tim dies out of some scraps I had left over from other autumnal projects and I added some additional embellishments from my stash. I stamped my Stampin Up hardwood stamp on some card and cut into a circle before adding some gathered twigs DI. I mounted on a larger circle.

Finally I added some leaves from garden greens cut from kraft core and sanded a little. I added some twine and dyed some candy dots in aged mahogany distress paint just to balance my colour a bit.

I hope you like my card - there is plenty more inspiration over at A Vintage Journey for this great theme.

Thanks for looking
Nikki
xxx

The Colours of Autumn

The colours of autumn is the new challenge at Try it on Tuesday starting today. My creation is quite a clean card for me using some Stampin Up stamps and inks.

The sets used are French Foliage (retired), Kinda eclectic (the sunrise) Work of Art (the sentiment) and Gorgeous Grunge (to create the speckled background layer). I have used Hello Honey, Cajun Craze and Mossy Meadow inks.

Do hop over and see the gorgeous creations from the DT.

Thanks for visiting.

Nikki

xx

Halloween Die Cuts for Speedcraft!

It's another Speed craft day - to see what you can create in ten minutes. Donna chose the theme this time of Halloween. I don't have any Halloween stamps so used some die cuts someone had kindly done for me. This one was really quick as the dies were already cut!

I took the 'boo' and sprayed with black soot distress spray. While drying I die cut the 2 circles and my card base and matt layer. I finished off my card with some cosmic shimmer glue dots and the die cut bat.

Thanks for looking

Nikki xx

October Tim Tag - Christmas version and the series

Here is my third version of Tim Holtz October tag and the series of three! The final one is a Christmas version and my favourite. I used Tim's techniques but added the new stacked snowflakes as my focal point. I cut them from chipboard and treated with some distress stains and paints before adding a sprinkle of glitter.

 

 

I hope you like my series of tags - great to use Tim's techniques and formats but change it a bit!

I would like to submit my tags into Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge as anything goes this week.

Nikki

xxx