Masculine Mica and Layers

This card started life as an experiment with building up layers on a tag, and ended up as a pleasing masculine birthday card. 

I started with a #8 manila tag and dabbed Stormy Sky distress ink through the Tim Holtz Burlap stencil to create a resist.  Once dry I blended on Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed distress inks adding someWalnut Stain  at the edge.  I made up a solution of Aged Mahogany reinker with water in a mini mister, as I don't have any of the distress sprays, and lightly spritzed through the Tim Holtz Dot Fade layering stencil in a couple of places; as you can see I over spritzed in the bottom left corner and ended up with a splodge but I decided to leave it as I was going to be adding the 'splatters' anyway.  I built up layers of Walnut Stain distress ink through the Splatters layering stencil and added some stamped images using black Archival ink.  The stamps that I used were from the AOD 2 - Nautical collection by the Stamp Man.  Once I was happy with the finished tag, I went back round the edge with Walnut Stain distress ink to finish.

Amazing Day

I had the most amazing day today with a really good crafty friend and fellow football fan.  It was my birthday treat - a Craftathon with 46 fellow crafters under the inspiring tutelage of Phill Martin and Julia Watts.  Four fabulous cards (that's four christmas cards made for my family), new techniques and products and plenty of chance to meet new people.  It certainly made up for the disappointing footie result yesterday (2 players sent off and losing 1-0).  When you're covered with glitter you can't help seeing the bright side.

Paper Mosaic

The idea for this card came after I watched the Quilt Card tutorial by Sue Wilson.
 

I chose to use shades of blue as I am always being asked for masculine cards.  However, as I didn't have the die that Sue used in her tutorial I had to do things a little differently!

Jeepers Creepers

Just a quick post today, to show you a card I made for the students at my school to make on the last day of term before the summer holidays.  I had to find something that would appeal to ages 9-13, both boys and girls, and these stamps from Woodware certainly came up trumps.  I needed something that was possible for complete beginners to make in an hour and a half at most and with relatively few resources.

I pre-stamped the sneakers and the sentiment for the students, as well as pre-cutting all the blank backgrounds (A5 white card).  They all had a go at stamping their own graffiti background using the Woodware Graffiti stamp set.  I coloured my card using the Spectrum Aqua pens from Crafters' Companion, but I wasn't letting the students loose with those, so they had to make do with Berol fibre tip pens.

Paper Weaving as a Background

For the background to this I was inspired by an art journal layout by France Papillon in the March 2014 edition of Craft Stamper Magazine.  I decided to use the technique to create the paper weaving but as a full background rather than just sections of the page as in the original version.

I started with 2 x A5 pieces of white card and lightly blended Vintage Photo distress ink all over one and Peacock Feathers all over the other.  I then used the same ink to lay down some darker sections through stencils (Tim Holtz - Bubble (THS002) and Harlequin (THS016) layering stencils).  I added some Black Soot distress ink through a Prima Crackle stencil (#564247) onto the brown piece and also a little at the edge.  A very light mist with water in some places on both to add further texture, a dab with some kitchen towel and I was ready to start the fun part! 

Canvas Roses

I saw the rose challenge on the Allsorts Challenge blog and thought immediately of this card.  I also thought I would enter it in the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge.
I was experimenting with a Crawford & Black Canvas Pad and wondered if I could use it with an embossing folder.  No sooner thought than tried!
Out came the Embossalicious A4 Paisley folder and off I went.  I dabbed Mustard Seed and Salty Ocean distress paint separately onto a craft mat; spritzed with water and pressed the canvas into the paint - note to self yellow and blue make green!

WOYWW - first time!

I must thank my sister-in-law Pat for putting me onto this group.  Seems like a great way to share snapshots of what people are up to in an informal way.

So here is my first contribution to What's On Your Workbench Wednesday.  The canvas is from my post yesterday - the first time I've had a go on anything but card or MDF.  When I took the photo I was in the middle of designing a card for a birthday do on Friday that my husband and I have been invited to.  You can see where I've been trying out different gold embossing powders and techniques - heat from above; heat from below.  I am also incredibly lucky that a good crafty friend has joined me in my craft shed for the last couple of days.  She has been working on the zentangle and kindly allowed me to share what she has been up to.