Big Eyed Cowgirls and Cowboy

Today I would like to share a couple of projects using some images from Carmen's Veranda, love the Big Eyed Girls and Boy images.

Firstly I made this mail art :

It was so cool when I wrote the address on , it  now says : "Are you Liz (name and address) feeling lucky'.  LOL

The background is dylusions sprays, then I creased the envelope and sponged a little green onto the ground to give it some texture. I stamped the postcard background and I used the old typewriter alphabet from Lost Coast Designs for the wording. The big eyed girl and boy are stamped in stazon, colored with inktense pencils and fussy cut. I sponged the edges and added white gel pen detail.

 I like to make Altered Playing Cards (APC's) and Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) and these images are the perfect size.

I have used Big Eyed Shooter Girl for this APC:

I love the Western theme, and the monochromatic look. 

Just a reminder about our challenge blog, The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, this months challenge is Zentangle. 

Hope you will come and join us :) Nikki x

Altered Playing Cards

I began a challenge in 2014 to make two APC's a week, its been such a fantastic challenge, I just love it, but sadly it is coming to an end. I just have two jokers to do and my pack is complete. 

My week 26 APC's for the monochromatic theme :

Firstly this is using an image from SLS Lines, called Mad Hatter : 

 For the second APC I have used one of the Big Eyed images from Carmen's Veranda, this is Big Eyed Shooter Girl : 

And together they look like this :

Monochromatic is not always the easiest to work with, but I like a challenge :)

Hope you found some inspiration here x

APC week 25

Here are my week 25 Altered Playing Cards, the backgrounds are all about alcohol inks on glossy cardstock :)

For the first one I used the dog from Stampotique. The dog is stamped in stazon on mixed media paper and colored with Neocolor II's. The brick work ground created using a stencil :

 For the second I used a star stencil with versamark and clear embossing powder, and a paper airplane stamp from Penny Black. I stamped it in coffee archival ink, then stamped separately on crumb cake card stock and paper pieced some of the planes :

And both APC's together :

Altered Playing Cards week 24

The Altered Playing Card (APC) challenge has actually ended, but I still have a few weeks to catch up on. I think I just dont want it to end ! LOL. Here are my week 24 makes :

For this APC I have used the new zombie cat from Vera Lane Studios. He is feeling very frustrated with the birds on the wires tweeting away. LOL He is in a set of 3 digital images, with a sentiment. What a cute kitty he is :)

For the second APC I have used the steampunk wing die from SCACD. I love this shape of the negative cut :

This is my pair of Altered Playing Cards :

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 :

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 :

Altered Playing Card Week 19

Oh my, I am on a roll ... only a week behind in this Altered Playing Card Challenge.

Here are my Week 19, Steam Punk APC's : 

 This first APC uses a Tim Holtz embossing folder on black cardstock, then I went over the raised areas with a silver gelato and rubbed all over with my finger. I added the Steam Punk train stamp across the bottom with versamark, and embossed that in silver embossing power. Did the same for the cogs too, used a cling set by Prima. The little wind up bird is from the same Prima set, I stamped him in stazon on water color paper and colored him with inktense pencils and fussy cut him. The wheel he is standing on is from a Memory Box cog die set. I liked 'Enjoy the Ride' as the little bird is walking around and around on the cog :)

 I was having a lot of fun with this APC, when I first started it and added the mesh tape and some ink it looked really really awful. An 'Oh no' moment for sure ... LOL. So I added some white acrylic, some washi (to co-ordinate with my snail) and a couple of cogs from the Memory Box cog die set. This wonderful snail is an Eclectica individual stamp from Paper Artsy, EM04. How fab is that, a steam punk snail ! He is colored with inktense pencils and india ink. 

For the wording I wanted to mention travelling as the snail is moving slowly forward ... But I liked the idea of incorporating a little Hash House Harriers humour.  Hash House Harrier groups are all over the world, especially active in expat communities. They are a social network, they describe themselves as a drinking group with a running problem. LOL I was fortunate enough to be a Hasher while I lived in Hong Kong, a few years ago now .... The combination of snail and a running chant was amusing to me :) 

But then 'on' ,,,,, (pause) ...... 'on' .... can also indicate a slow rate of movement.

Oooh a double word play, love it ....

Thanks for stopping by x

Altered Playing Card Week 18

Flowers is this weeks theme at the Altered Playing Card Challenge, week 18 :

For this APC I smushed my card through vibrant red, green and blue acrylic, then stamped the flowers from a Paper Artsy flower set, fussy cut them and added the sentiment.

Firstly, can you believe I used the same paint as for the APC above ? The addition of white made all the different in muting the tones. For this APC I used a flower from a retired Stampin' Up! set. When I had smushed my card through the paint for the background I smushed another pice through, then stamped the flowers in black and fussy cut them. I love that the colors all co-ordinate that bit better :)

 Thanks for stopping by x

Altered Playing Card Week 17

Claudine Criners Altered Playing Card Challenge (APC) is more than half way through now - yikes. I am really enjoying it and will be sad when its over. I find myself slowing down, to make it last longer. LOL At least that's my excuse because I am a few weeks behind ;)

Here are my Week 17 creations :

 For the first APC I used Scribbly Birds by Dina Wakley for Ranger. I stamped the bird onto old book paper in archival ink. I then added a layer of acrylic ground for pastels, which dries clear and creates a fantastic scratchy surface to add wet medium to. When it was dry, I used my inktense pencils to color him, then a layer of clear embossing powder. The sentiment is from a stamp set by Crafty Secrets called Bird Notes. I added the little heart x I used a lot of thick gloss gel medium on my background, you can see it a little bit in the pic, it adds a lot of yummy texture.

 For my second APC I used this near little bird from a Hero Arts set, colored with inktense pencils on water color paper. The bird has been altered slightly as I wanted her to walk proudly upright, she is, after all strutting her stuff in her peacock feather head dress :) The feathers and wording are from a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp called Vivienne.

Another fun week of APC creations - feels so good to be making something for myself. Hugs, Nikki x

Altered Playing Card Week 16

My makes for this weeks Altered Playing Card Challenge, week 16 :

 The first APC uses this gorgeous image from Viva Las Vegas Stamps, Boy in Cape. This is such a great sentiment to accompany this image. A whole world of opportunity awaits this little wanna-be superhero :)

 The second APC uses this digi image from Vera Lane Studios. She is colored with copics and coupled with the 'capture your dreams' sentiment. With her holding the heart so delicately, I thought maybe she would be finding lots of love x So sentimental aren't I ! LOL Wings and sentiment glittered with my Wink of Stella pen.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave me a comment so I know you were here :)

Altered Playing Card Week 15

Week 15, this week was fun, out came my unusual, interesting and fun characters :)

The first APC uses one of the awesome gals from Doodles Dolls 1 Set :

Here is a close up of her and you can more clearly see the background :

The playing card was lightly gesso'd and I intentionally missed a few areas. Then I used crackle paste and a stencil, then dylusions inks in blue and spiced marmalade. The girl was stamped in mulberry momento ink and colored with copics, white and black gel pen. I used this cool new rotary stamp from Stampin' Up! for the words. I liked this APC, its groovy :)

For the second APC I used Tree Topper from Stampotique :

This background was fun, its gesso'd, then I used black gesso for the hearts. When that was dry I used pink dylusions, when it was dry I ghosted it with the heart stencil and a fine mist of water. Left it for a few seconds and removed the ink from the ghosted areas. Then I sprayed red. Let that dry and white over the top. Look how it all ran into each other - Loved that marbelled look.

I stamped and embossed the circles and swirl with pearl embossing powder and added the words, which are from a set by Waltzing Mouse Stamps (WMS), Frame It. WMS have awesome sentiment sets, I often find just what I am looking for there. Tree Topper is colored with copics and white gel pen. I added crystal effect to the heart.

And thats it, another week of APC's completed. Loving this weekly challenge, its so much fun. 

A final view of both of week 15's APC's :

Week 14 APC

Playing a little bit of catch up with the Altered Playing Card Challenge, and it does feel odd to be doing Christmas themed APC's in January .... LOL. 

Here are my week 14, deer themed APC's :

 For this APC I used a Tim Holtz Bigz die, which was too big for the playing card, so I had to stand him in deep snow. The background is done using a snowflake Spellbinders embossabilities. I embossed the white cardstock, then sponged through the metal design in pale blue and then added versamark and some iridescent ice embossing powder. I stamped believe then used my wink of stella pen to add some reflective snow to the ground, the deers nose and eye

For this APC I used the Stampin' Up! set 'Lovely as a Tree'. I stamped the trees, embossed them and cut them out. I wanted some contrast from the blue and green, so thats where the red came in, Rudolphs nose was the inspiration obviously ! LOL. The sentiment says O' Christmas tree. 

OK, so I better crack on, 2 more weeks to catch up on before Claudine releases the next set of guidelines.

Thanks for stopping by x

Altered Playing Card - Week 13

This weeks challenge was all about the bees. Here are my APC's :

The first APC is using the wonderful and very realistic bee from the set by Lost Coast Designs, called More Bugz. Look how realistic it is :

The bee was stamped onto white cardstock in black ink, colored with mustard colored india ink and the wings are painted with my wink of stella pen. I then fussy cut the bee.

Here is the whole APC. The background was done with a thin layer of gesso and I used a honeycomb stencil. I colored the whole background in wild honey distress ink. The flowers were stamped in brown and green and embossed in clear embossing powder, top right corner too. Then when it was dry I removed the ink with a baby wipe. I sprinkled a little gold embossing powder behind the bee and heat set it, you can probably see that clearer in the pic above.  I then added the sponged hexagons and strip of patterned paper across the bottom. The whole thing was lightly edged in a burgundy ink.

The sentiment was really quite meaningful, "Long Live the Queen". I get so upset when I read about the chemicals used in farming that are killing the bees, its utter stupidity in my opinion and we should all be concerned about that ..... I hope we can protect these beautiful and very important little insects and colonies.

The second APC is indicative of my life with three young ones at home. I am always busy as a bee ....

 The background was painted with yellow acrylic paint, sponged some orange and then I added some gold - that signifies the honey :) I stamped in black ink some criss-cross and honey comb shapes. I used a Stampin' Up! embosing folder to make the honey comb, and the bees were stamped from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Nature Walk. The bodies were stamped onto white cardstock and colored in. The wings stamped onto vellum and heat embossed. I like to stamp using black versamark then use Wow white pearl embossing powder. I love the pearl look of it and you get a little black showing through.

Close up of the APC, showing the shine of the background and the bee's wings :

 Loving this altered APC challenge, I always look forward to the next weeks ideas from Claudine, although mine hardly seen to resemble hers in the end. I love that everyone doing this challenge interprets it differently.

Altered Playing Cards week 12

A week of self reflection for this week 12 challenge.

My week 12's - not properly written out yet but the 'what I like about myself' will be about sitting back and smelling the flowers and the 'I am thankful for' is about the days, sunrise sunset type of thing.

Altered Playing Card week 11

Cant believe I am keeping up, am really enjoying this challenge : My week 11 apc's, the theme is snow : 

 The first apc uses paper towel from my spray box as the background. I added acrylic paint and white embossing powder to the ground, edges and sentiment. The image is by Vikki Douglas, colored with acrylic paint and then highlights added with india ink pens. It is fussy cut and glued onto my background. I don't know about you, but I think its a super cute digi image.

 For the second apc I added a layer of Golden acrylic ground for pastels to the card (no gesso), then lay my piece of sprayed kitchen towel on top. I left it for a short time so that the ground was still wet and when I peeled it off, some of the color transfered from the paper towel to the ground, but I could still see the pattern on the card background. I loved that and the gritty feel of the ground on the card, it really added a lot of texture and dimension. I added white acrylic splats, some silver embossed snowflakes and the snowy floor is made with a joy stamp from Stampin' Up!. The bird wreath is a freebie from the Craft Stamper Magazine, layered, doodled and embossed. And the stem of the bird weath is silver washi.

That was a super fun way to pass a few hours :) Thanks Claudine for the challenge x