Crafty Cardmakers challenge #167 Shabby Chic/Distressed

Ina is hosting our challenge this time. We would like to see your shabby chic/distressed creations. 

As usual you can enter anything you fancy, it doesn't have to just be cards, as long as it meets the challenge, and doesn't exceed the 15 total challenges entered rule!

We are sponsored for this challenge by 

WOODWARE CRAFT COLLECTION

With a prize of £12.00 to spend at your favourite Woodware Stockist, either in store or on line.

Woodware are a Yorkshire based family owned business, as well as distributing Dreamweaver Stencils and Stampendous Stamps we have a wonderful range of stamps designed for us by Francoise Read and Jane Gill. We also scour the world for new and innovative products for the crafty card maker, and have a great range of punches and tools of the trade, to find stockists in your area or to see the range visit the website www.woodware.co.uk.

 
The Woodware design team are playing along with the challenge so check out their blog, which is there for inspiration at www.woodware.co.uk/blog.

My craft room has been partly packed up recently, as I have had some windows replaced and as a result nothing is where I need it to be and all my stamps are in a nice box underneath other boxes.  So where I normally use stamps to create a shabby chic background, I have had to resort to other methods this time!

I decided to create my topper sheet using my Serif Craft Artist 2 software (which to be fair, I use a LOT for backing papers anyway) and this was my first effort at creating something like this.  I was quite pleased with the way it turned out, but of course, added extras to it!

My card base is a new favourite - A5 landscape - for which I totally blame Anna Marie, of Anna Marie Designs...

I used some backing paper already in my stash for the main background layer, and onto this I applied my "topper sheet".  Before I stuck the sheet on though, I first tore all the edges and distressed them with aged mahogany distress ink.  I rolled one of the corners up, and in the gap created I attached a bookprint flower, also coloured with the same distress ink.  (I got the bookprint from an aperture I cut out from another project - the trauma!!  I hate damaging books, even when they look lovely afterwards).

I randomly stamped some butterflies using the mahogany ink and stamped the sentiment in the top corner.  Finally, I attached some faux pearls to the flower centres and the top of the butterfly feelers.    

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 166 - for that special man

With Father's Day a couple of days away we would like to see your projects for a Special Man. This challenge is being hosted by Lin!

You can enter anything you fancy, it doesn't have to just be cards, as long as it meets the challenge, and doesn't exceed the 15 total challenges entered rule!

My card was made using a sheet of elements from a Debbi Moore CD - I had been asked for a 60th birthday card for a train enthusiast and this image just fit the bill.

It is one of the things I like about Debbi Moore CDs - she provides a sheet of images that all go together for those times when you have to make a card on the quick  and just simply don't have time to research the right stamp/image, much less colour it in.  And then track down the corresponding paper!

This was one of my newer cds from Debbi, but I can't for the life of me think what it was called now - might have been vintage something (or for the men).  Apologies for the poor record keeping, as always!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 165 - monochrome

Kim is hosting our challenge today and the theme is Monochrome. We would like to see your creations using MOSTLY one colour (hair and skin tones are allowed). Please make sure though that there is only one other main colour.

You can enter anything you fancy, it doesn't have to just be cards, as long as it meets the challenge, and doesn't exceed the 15 total challenges entered rule!

My card was made using my fave 6 x 6 card base.  Onto this, I used a piece of background card I made myself, using the "baby wipe inkpad" method with brilliance inks.  I overstamped it with a floral image (most likely dreamees or chloe stamps).  Onto this I mounted a frame - I forget which die this is but it's really versatile when you cut the centre out with a scalloped edge too - I coloured this offcut with distress inks to match my background, and stamped it with the same floral image and a sentiment.  I turned it so it was diagonal to the way it was cut so that the background could still be seen and the final touches were the flowers I stamped out and cut out, and the dragonfly.

A really pretty card - and if you haven't tried the wetwipe inkpad technique, it's pretty fun!