Wicked Wednesday 'One for the boys' ATC

The sponsor at Wicked Wednesday #156 this week is Fred She Said, and I have used Nolan and the bullfrog :

My thoughts obviously on the Muppets and Kermit the frog... LOL

Nolan is colored with copics, his shirt is paper pieced :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Photobomb ATC trade

Lots of people at the Stampotique facebook group voted for the challenge this month and the winner was 'photobomb'. I thought that would be fun, but oh my, it was so much harder than I anticipated ! I think for me it was difficult to combine whimsical with real life, it didn't look right. But you know what, I went and did it anyway ... LOL

Here are my photobombs, which is actually entitled 'An ode to Brangelina'

I normally make these elaborate mixed media backgrounds, so it was unusual this time to use a photograph. The images were stamped onto white cardstock in brown ink, clear embossed and colored with inktense pencils.

Here is Ignis taking the opportunity to look down Angelina's top :

 Twinkie is getting some red carpet and paparazzi action :

 Molly is joining in for the photoshoot :

My ATC's have gone to Oz and the UK, hope they are well received :)

Wicked Wednesday - Case a DT

The challenge this week at Wicked Wednesday #155 is to case one of the design team. 

The sponsor is The East Wind. 

Here is my DT make, featuring Lucy Loo Mermaid :

I printed her to be exactly ATC sized : 3.5" wide x 2.5" high. I colored her with copics and prisma color pencils and added some wink of stellar pen to make her skin glisten. I colored the dots/bubbles with white gel pen. I cut the three sides of the ATC totally square and edged them in black ink, then I cut the back of the ATC to the contours of her tail etc. Its meant to give a feeling of continuity ... rather than the solid edges opposite.

Some card organisation

I have been meaning to make something like this for absolutely ages. It's such a nuisance to forget Birthdays and other special occasions, or having to create a card at the last minute. This is now officially a thing of the past : I present a custom made book to store my cards and record special dates. Here is the cover :

I didn't want the cover to be too fancy, as it will be used a lot and I didn't want things falling off. I may write something in the frame at some point, but the paper is so pretty ...

And on the inside of the book there are 12 page pockets for cards, with space to record the special events that are happening during that month. Once I have written the dates in, I wont forget to make cards :)
When is your Birthday again ? LOL

To make this book I used custom sized chipboard 0.060 depth from Southern Ridge Trading Company. The cover is 8 inches x 8 inches, the inner page pockets are 7.5 inches x 7.5 inches and made with 110gram card stock.  I selected this chipboard in particular because of the strength, durability and quality. If I had made this book from regular cardboard it would not have held up over time, it would have buckled under the weight of the cards in the pockets. I knew I needed a quality product.

For the cover I also used a frame, FRA-132. I painted it with white acrylic paint, then in a pale green - with a dry brush, you don't add too much water. Did you know that you tend to get a truer paint color when you paint something white before you paint it with a color? When the paint was dry I lightly touched a blue ink stamp pad to the surface, and clear embossed it - can you see the reflective nature of the blue in the pic below. I sponged the edges in brown distress ink. Finally I wove some flowers, also for sale from Southern Ridge Trading Company, through the trellis. It was all glued firmly onto the front of the book.

I punched holes with my crop-a-dile and used 1.5 inch book rings, with co-ordinating ribbon tied to them.

And finally, a view from the side :

Doesn't organisation feel GREAT ! LOL I think this little book will get a lot of use.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you found some inspiration here :)

Its Wednesday ... time for ATC's

I just love Wicked Wednesday ATC challenges, every Wednesday there is a new one and I look forward to it each week :) Here is my design team make, using a gorgeous gal from All Dressed Up, called Just So Cool. The ATC challenge is Groovy Chicks.

She is colored with copics. The background chevron is a patterned paper, I added a little white acrylic paint in random spots to subdue it a little. The musical ground is Tim Holtz tissue paper, cut and glued down with matt medium. You cant event see the edge which is great because I tore it, not cut a straight line.

After I made the ATC I decided I would turn it into a Birthday card. I havent been doing this, I have been hoarding my makes, but I know my friends DD will just love this, so I used more of the paper and made it to a card : 

Thanks for stopping by x

Tag Along Challenge : Theatre

I decided to play along with the Tag Along challenge this week, the title was : Theatre, and I used the wonderful Showgirls from Lost Coast Designs :

To create this tag, I first stamped the image onto the tag with coffee archival ink, then stamped the stamp onto a piece of scrap paper. I fussy cut this and used it to mask my image. I then added some white acrylic paint and let it dry. I added distress stain over that, the acrylic acts as a light resist. I removed the mask and colored the girls using inktense pencils, finally adding some washi and ribbon :)

That was fun to do, hope you found some inspiration here :)

THE END

Altered Playing card - Week 23

... and the fun continues into week 23 ...

I am a bit behind schedule as the actual challenge has finished, but I am thoroughly enjoying it so I decided I am going slow on purpose to prolong it ! LOL

I am doing to a bit of a tutorial for this I decided :

My first card :

I made this background using my palette knife. I mixed the blue and white to make a lighter blue, then with my knife I dabbed the pallet knife onto the card to give it a sort of marbled look and texture.













See the lines where the pallet knife touched and was lifted straight up :

I stamped a grid pattern onto the card, then stamped the face straight onto the blue background. I stamped the face again onto white card stock, painted a few bits and fussy cut her. The flowers were punched from patterned paper and added. The quote is from a set by Dylusions :)

 I have no idea what stamp this is that I used for the face, a friend sent it to me as a gift - thanks Jo :) I like that she is being her own person, wearing an interesting array of flowers.
 The finished APC :

My second card :

Claudine used gold, but I decided against gold, if I had used my gold paint I couldn't have stamped or sponged over it, so I opted for a yellow/orange combo. I again used my craft knife to apply the paint - I think I am a bit lazy to clean brushes LOL. Whilst the paint was wet I pounced it with paper towel.

 Yummy texture and colors combined.











I just love that a little of the blue playing card still peeps through.

When my background was dry I used a stencil and distress ink in tea dye. I used a stamp from Lost Coast Designs, the largest butterfly from the butterfly set. It was stamped in versafine and embossed in clear powder :

 I liked how the clear embossing powder also stuck to the distress ink so I melted that too, a lovely shiny APC surface :) I liked the saying for this, Find Joy.

 So all done, week 23 APCs :

Hula Pig ATC

Wicked Wednesday challenge this week is to use a fold on an ATC, and is sponsored by DRS designs. I have used Hula Pig :

My folds are in the palm tree I created. I cut long thin petal shapes, then folded them in half length ways and cut all the little fronds.

A little but of fun here, with my hula dancing pig :)

Altered Playing cards ... week 22

For my dt post at Lost Coast Designs and week 22 of the Altered Playing Card Challenge I have used the 'see no evil' monkey from the three monkeys stamp.  I was inspired to create this in response to some of the terrible images we seem to be constantly exposed to these days.

 My background was made by first gessoing the playing card and then by drawing some chevrons in pen and  using Arlene's tacky glue to draw inside the lines. 

When it was all dry (about 2 days later ! LOL), I painted it with green and brown acrylics, then peeled off some of the glue chevrons to reveal the playing card beneath. I used some film strip transparency and fourth dimension background stamp also by Lost Coast Designs for the ground. The words were typed and printed on my printer. 

Here is a close up of my monkey. He is stamped on white card stock in black versamark, embossed in clear powder and colored with inktense pencils.  I fussy cut him and glued him over my background.

For my second Altered Playing Card I used a free digital image from Smeared Ink, as I played in the Smeared Ink 'Freaky Freebie' March challenge. This image is drawn by Victoria Searcey and is part of a set called Toxic Ballerinas. I colored her with copics.

For my background I used collage glue stick through a stencil onto a gessoed playing card. 

 

I let it dry overnight then I put red and white acrylic paint onto my craft mat, spritzed it with water and ran the card through it. When it was dry I rubbed a green stamp pad over the raised dots and around the edge of the card and clear embossed them. The words are printed from my computer, a quote from the 'Love Actually' movie, the wording seemed to fit as my thoughts for her went to paranoia and self-preservation.

I was laughing when I saw the other entries for this Smeared and Smudged challenge, which were all OMG fantastic, as they all did the arms in flesh tones, whereas for some reason I liked her in sleeves. I think it was the hands that guided me in that direction. They looked like gloves.

Here is a photo of my 2 altered playing cards for week 22 : 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you were inspired to create :) Nikki x

Easter and spring

 Hey, I made an Easter card, I actually think it may be the first I have ever made ! LOL

Nothing religious though, more like white chocolate meets milk chocolate bunny :)

 For this card I did a mixed media acrylic paint background. The filigree cross is from Southern Ridge Trading Company CEL-538, and I painted it with paynes grey acrylic paint and gold acrylic.  The white bunny is also from Southern Ridge Trading Company CEL-546. Its a set of 4 bunnies. The bunny was painted in white acrylic and I sprinkled pink sugar beads on when the paint was wet. 

 The chocolate bunny is from Lost Coast Designs, its an awesome rabbit silhouette with flowers engraved into him. I stamped him in versamark, added heat and stick powder (a glue embossing powder), then heated it and added the pink sugarbeads. I then sprayed him liberally with chocolate brown dylusions ink and added a dot of diamond glaze/crystal effects for his eye. Doesn't he look delicious :)

The grass was cut by hand from an additional strip of the mixed media paper I colored :) 

This months challenge at the Lost Coast Designs blog is 'spring', why not go and check it out, and using a Lost Coast image create something spring themed :)

This months challenge at Southern Ridge Trading Company is anything goes, check it out :) 

Thanks for stopping by x

Favourite Holiday ATC

This week Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge blog is sponsored by the fabulous Creepie Cute Stamps. The image I have used is called Vampling. 

I have made this atc on a playing card, and used it as part of the Altered Playing card challenge, week 21. I love that you can see the patterened back of the playing card through the layers of translucent molding paste and acrylic paint. Vampling is colored with copics. The word Route and circles are cut from a patterned paper and have a layer of crystal effects on them. The words are printed on my printer. Doesn't she look jolly, just about to head off on her holidays ? LOL

My second APC uses an image from Vera Lane Studios :

The background is gesso'd and painted with acrylic, I added the camera washi and green and white circles. The image is colored with copics and i doodled on her dress with white gel pen. The color inspiration came from that gorgeous duck stamp, which is a British stamp. The other co-ordinating dragon fly is a Canadian stamp. I imagined my photographer snapping pics of these adorable creatures.

These were so much fun to do, I'm just in the zone tonight :) Here they are together :