Grumpies !

I am participating in a trade, which was to make postcards inspired by a song. My grumpies, from Smeared Ink were giving me the stink eye .. they wanted to play, so out they came :) 

First is a song from the 1980's by The Human League. I liked the surprised look on his face :)

Background is a few gelli prints and I cut them up and collaged them. Grumpy is coloured with copics and fussy cut. The words were created with a small alpha stamp.

The second postcard is giving a bit of love to the Biebs : Justin Bieber rocks ... in my opinion :)

The background is made with dylusions sprays and stencils.  Words typed on my typewriter.

These postcards have gone postal, to the UK and Australia. Hope my partners like them :)

Contemplating Gratitude

Today I wanted to share with you a postcard I made for this months thankful challenge at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, featuring the beautiful image from Lost Coast Designs  'Head in Hands' :

The background is made with nuance powders on water colour paper. 

In the background I have also stamped a long swirl flourish, and I stamped some butterflies from the Butterfly Set. The words are typed on my typewriter.

Thanks for stopping by x

You are Beautiful

I am up on the Viva Las VegaStamps! blog today, sharing a postcard I made featuring the beautiful Whimsical Ladies Face with Tears : 

Firstly I used a blue painted piece of card to make my background. I added red, yellow and white acrylic paint and a brayer and my fingers. Then I stamped her and clear embossed her. I used color pencils to make the face area lighter, and added color to her lips, white acrylic to the highlight in her eye : 

The scrap paper that I used to clean my brayer was then used to make the flowers, since obviously the colors are already the same : 

I used a die by Tim Holtz Alterations to cut the flowers, then I layers them and lightly sponged the edges in blue :

I added color co-ordinating brads and layered the flowers and glued them in place around the face : 

A close up of her face : 

Final step was to add some black and white splatters and the wording, which is embossed in white : 

Stamps used :

Whimsical Face with Tears 19773

You are Beautiful 19832

Hope you found some inspiration here :) Nikki x

We're all in the same boat

I am over at the Viva Las VegaStamps! blog today with this fun postcard.

 I really like this image, Four Ladies in Boat, just look at the expression on their faces, aren't they great :

I guess the meaning of the wording is open to interpretation, deep and meaningful or just humorous .. what do you think ?

For this postcard, I used water soluble powders for the background, I love how the colors swirl and mix when you spritz it with water. I dabbed off the excess water from the sides.

Then I added some of the powder to my craft mat and sprayed it with water. Using this as a sort of stamp pad, to add some cloud like images on my background. I used Smear/smudge stamp to do that :

Then time to stamp my focal image. I stamped it onto the background, and then again onto plain white card stock, which I colored with alcohol markers and fussy cut :

Finally I glued my image over the top of the other, edged the postcard in black and mounted it onto black cardboard. The words were typed on my typewriter.

These ladies are adorable, here's a close up. You can just make out the crystal effects I added to their glasses to make them a little more reflective :)

I hope you found a little inspiration here :) Nikki x

Our house .... postcard

This month I am taking part in a houses postcard trade, and here is my make. Inspired by two things, one of my fave bands, Madness, and art I made in a class with Dyan Reaveley recently : 

The postcard is 4x6" and the background is made in the class with Dyan. I also used the mixed media die to cut out some hexagons.  I have used various techniques with stencils and Dylusions sprays, including ghosting. 

The house is a retired stamp set from Close to My Heart. I stamped it onto a mixed media background I had made and fussy cut it, I cut out the little round window and used a circle punch to cut the windows in the house. I used clear plastic and drew in the panes. 

The door is from the same CTMH set, I stamped it onto yellow card and clear embossed it. Adding a little white detail. The flowers are punched from the same papers as the background with circle punches and glued into place.  I added a little green foliage.

The words are stamped and I also used the little alpha stickers from Ranger.

Its a very bright and cheerful make, I like how it came out :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Eat My Dust

How exciting, my very first post as part of the Viva Las VegaStamps! Design Team. Check out the post on their blog HERE.

I have made a 4"x6" postcard featuring one of the newest additions to my VLVS addiction, erm ... I mean collection ! LOL. 

I enjoyed coloring Lady on Scooter, with copics and metallic pencil, isn't she great. I sure hope I am still scootering at her age!

The wording 'Eat my Dust' is to demonstrate just how fast she is actually going ...  

Can you see the determination on her face :

For the background I wanted to do something in stark contrast to her somewhat conservative demeanor so I went for a northern lights mystical sort of background, with lots of space dust :)

I used mixed media card stock and painted it with black gesso, then sponged on white actylic paint. When that was dry I sponged over the white with alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. Adding color on top of white always makes it appear more obvious and vibrant. I splatted water down white acrylic for my stars :

 Now to really highlight this gorgeous gal. I used my 4" round gelli® plate with green acrylic and a stencil, then I stamped this onto my background and rolled off some of the excess paint on the roller to make the ground and added a little green into the sky :

This green whimsical moon-like sphere was perfect to highlight the focal image. I adhered my image to the postcard with miracle tape. Finally I added the wording 'East my dust' with letter stickers.

Thanks for stopping by, Nikki x

Non - Traditional Postcard

A most wonderful trade group I belong to chose 'Non- traditional Postcard' for our December challenge.

Here is my make : 

The most amusing thing about this is that it will be mailed as a postcard, not in an envelope. I hope the postman and the recipients family have a good laugh. LOL

The background is distress paints, then I stamped the La Blanche stamp of Santas face. I added snowflakes  in white, and gold to the edge of the postcard.

The dominatrix is a stamp by Smeared Ink, and the sentiment is in the same set. Isn't she a doll :)

I colored her with copics and fussy cut her, yes, even all those tiny little bits of the chair legs. I am a glutton for punishment ! 

I did actually use versamark and clear embossing powder to emphastize the outfit. I took this photo with the light reflecting off her : 

+

I hope the recipient appreciates my weird and slightly rude take on 'Naughty and Nice' :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Viva Las Vegas Stamps postcard trade

I decided to join in a postcard trade at Viva Las Vegas Stamps. We had to make four 4x6" postcards, mail them and then get three back from other players :) One will be be displayed in the store. 

The title was Fall Harvest. Here was the glitch ... All my VLVS images are quirky and weird beings. I did not have a single fall or Halloween image ... So I improvised :

Here is my make using Some of the Dr Who images from plate o rubber 925 

I was quite amused making this, that she is covering her eyes. I am a big Dr Who fan, its such a wonderful and quirky show, glad I finally got to use this stamp set I bought recently.

The background is made with Dylusions paints, there is lots of embossing, fussy cutting and stamping, close up :

 And here are my four postcards, all on their way to DeeDee at the store in Las Vegas, hope my swap partners like them :)

Thanks for stopping by, Nikki x

Scary Fairy Blog Hop

In honor of International Fairy Day 2015, Smeared and Smudged are having a blog hop, entitled 'Scary Fairy'. The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity is taking part in this hop and here is my make : 

I have used a couple of stamps from Carmen's Veranda : Big Eyed Girl and Wings. They are stamped with versamark on velum and embossed with pewter embossing powder and fussy cut. I also stamped the Long Swirl from Lost Coast Designs in the background with versamark. Here is a closer look at her, I colored the back of the velum with markers :

For the background I made my own bead gel with pop beads, then painted it all with acrylic paint. I loved the larger balls and went over them with white Neocolor 2 crayons to highlight them. The white smoky ground is made with my white big brush marker, and the the words typed on my typewriter, edged in the same color acrylic paint.

I don't know if you are a Shakespeare fan, but I am. I have spent many happy hours reading and attending plays. Seeing The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon being the highlight. This line is taken from A Midsummer Nights Dream :

"Lord what fools these mortals be !"

Although Shakespeare refers to falling in and out of love, I imagine any fairies would look at us in bewilderment at how we treat our planet and each other.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you will check out the rest of the hop :)
Link is here

• 
  

Some Elephant Love

You know how sometimes you see or read something that inspires you to create. This happened to me when I saw a picture of an elephant online with the caption : 

'No-one in the world needs an Elephant tusk but an Elephant'. 

 This is my creation featuring this imposing and wonderful animal, The Elephant from Safari Set by Lost Coast Designs.

The background is done with alcohol ink on acetate, then I stamped the elephant and individual letters with archival ink. When it was dry I removed the archival ink with paper towel and it removed the alcohol ink as well. Isn't that an effective technique.

The ground is made from torn and layered book paper. The acetate is mounted on pale ivory cardstock. 

A close up of the elephant. Note that he is in a hat, I love that and see many used for this wonderful set, both serious and fun.

The elephant is a very symbolic animal and very proud. Its an honour to use an image in my work.
Thanks for stopping by x

We Can Can dance ...

The new challenge on the Lost Coasters Review is 'Girls, Girls, Girls'. So funny that this title also prompted Yvonne, another dt member, to use the same image, Showgirls. My postcard :

The curtains are made from crumpled Tim Holtz tissue paper. I colored them with Neocolor II crayons, then lightly sponged with red distress ink to highlight the creases and texture. I made the tie backs from crumpled cardstock. The girls are stamped three times. The first time in elderberry memento ink and clear embossed. Then I masked the girls faces and stamped two more times slightly to the left side. I wanted to get the feeling of motion and shadows from the spot lights, because lets be realistic, can can girls don't keep still on stage :) I was fortunate enough to see a live show in Dawson City in The Yukon, Canada a few years ago - it was mesmerizing. 

The girls are colored with copics and Faber Castell artist pitt pens used to create depth around the curtains and for the floor.

The post card went live yesterday as part of our challenge, go and check it out. But I wanted to share more detail and how I created it for my dt blog post today :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Stamper's butts ...

Sometimes there is a stamp that crosses my path and I can not resist it .... especially if it is unusual, unexpected, slightly weird or humorous. So here is the latest installment, this is a stamp from Viva Las Vegas Stamps, made into a post card :)  Isn't it fab.

 This idea sprung to mind looking through the VLVS fb group and Wayne Gartley had added a pic of a butt with the sentiment "I suffer from Stamper's Butt". And I thought, "Me too" ! LOL I spent all weekend at a craft retreat, so this stamper's butts seemed appropriate as we sat on them for a loooooong time. LOL 

I stamped my image in brown archival ink and colored it with my inktense pencils. The background was made using paper towel from my spray box, with some molding paste and stencil. Love that the paste takes on the colors of the dylusions ink from the paper towel.

Thanks for stopping by, and appreciating the stamper's butts .... LOL

Eccentric chubby mermaid ?

I love the detail in the images by The Chubby Mermaid, they are so fun and saucy :)

Here is a postcard I made using Alice in Waterland II :

 I cracked open the big box of prisma color pencils for this project, Oh they are sooo lovely. She is colored exclusively in prisma, just a little black india ink pen for a few details :) Isn't she sweet. Her hair is actually a mixture of brown and metallic gold, but its maybe a bit hard to see in the pic.

 The background was done with gesso, which I textures and then colored with gelato's, a layer of gel medium then I sponged with brown distress ink to pick out some of the background detail. I added some white acrylic splodges and my wording, using two different alphabet sets. The wording is meant to be a little flamboyant, because she obviously is, sitting there in her teacup with all her favorite items around her.

Thanks for stopping by x

Euroclown brightens you day ...

One of the sponsors of Not Just Cards challenge blog this week is Rick St Dennis. When I saw this Euro clown with balloons image I fell a little bit in love .... Here is my Guest dt project, another page for my positive affirmation hand made journal :

My idea was that you would see muted colors but the brightly colored balloons would be the focal point. I hand wrote the words, with a Faber Castell Black india ink pen - they come in various thicknesses.

This is my creative process : 

I resized and printed my image onto X-Press It paper, my preferred copics/digi paper. I then got my washi tape out and covered the background, tearing and cutting the tape around the image.

 Then I added a layer of gesso over the washi to tone it down. Some washi can can have more of a waxy coating, and it gives a great, sort of distressed look as the gesso lightly beads on it. I colored the clown and balloons copics, added my light reflection in the balloons with a white gel pen and then the crystal effects or diamond glaze to the balloons and clowns eyes.

 A close up of the copics colors I used and the colored image : 

The final thing was to add the green embroidery thread. To do that I cut slits with a craft knife, above and below his hand and carefully fed the thread through. I used a small glue dot to adhere the thread to the bottom of the balloons, but the middle yellow one I used a needle to piece the paper and feed that thread through to the back. I then lightly sponged the edge of the postcard and matted it onto black card stock. 

What a fun project, love the Euro Clowns x Thanks for stopping by today

Its a Marvelous night for a Moondance ... Van Morrison

I was really inspired to play in a more arty challenge this week, over at The Gauche Academy blog. The October challenge was moon related, inspired by “Le Voyage Dans La Lune” and this is the mood board :

Loved loved loved this whole thing. So clever, so well considered, a real artistic challenge. Oooh la la ... I remember this from years ago, the movie and music. Love how whimsical and free it is. Some things really just are better in black and white.

Here is my creation and I just love the ambience I created here  :

My fairy is of course dancing on the moon to the classic Van Morrison song "Moondance". Dont you just long to be free like her and dance in a whimsical, non judgemental way ...

I used the moon die from Ranger and paper that was in a 2007 edition of the Stampers Sampler magazine. The dancing fairy is an image from Artchixstudio, #147 winged nudies and I think she is awesome. The chipboard flourish is from Southern Ridge Trading Company, and I love the shape and how I could get the letters to dance across it. I colored the flourish and stars with inka gold. Below the flourish is a strip of Ranger tissue paper with musical notes, adhered with gel medium. Each letter was stamped individually and cut out.

I had a little aha moment with the background. My faithful old spray box had come to the end of its life, it was warping and totally ink saturated. As I broke up the box the light caught the shimmer ... and I knew ... this was my background : 

I had a really lovely time making this project, yes, a little risque to use a nude image but it is very tasefully and artistically done. This cardboard piece will form the back cover of my positive affirmation journal when I bind it. I wish you could see all the colors and layers in this background, its stunning.

Thank you for stopping by and if you get the chance, go and watch the wonderful video, All I wanted was the moon :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLXt2KBOYP8

Guest dt projects - Not Just Cards

I made a few projects for Zoe at Not Just Cards. Thats a great challenge blog is anyone is looking to create, link up and possibly win free stuff ! 

My first project is using an image from SLS Lines called Garden Flower Fairy. She is so beautiful, sitting their contemplating life and the universe .... 

This is a postcard sized piece of art that with either be framed or go into my positive affirmation book. I loved this poem I found online on the Gothica Website, so decided to hand write it around her :

"Believe in fairies, they make dreams come true.

Believe in the wonder, the starts and the moon.

Believe in magic, from the fairies above.

They dance on the flowers, and sing songs of love.

And if you just believe.

And always say the truth.

The fairies will be there to watch over you".

The image is colored with copics, prisma pencils and Faber Castell india ink pens. The wings are shining thanks to my wonderful wink of stella pen. You can probably see better in this close up. Isn't she gorgeous.

My second project was something really quite different, its an easel card using this cute image called Forest Gathering by Dragons Lair. 

The dinosaurs and animals are colored with a combination of copics, Prisma pencils and Faber Castell India Ink pens. I paper pieced the frog - frogs are my favourite, so maybe I was a bit biaised and gave him some special attention :)

Close up of the adorable little critters :

They are fussy cut, sat on a strip of washi tape and adhered to the easel card front. I used October Afternoon pattered paper and a sentiment from a set by Scrappy Moms.

OK, thats it for me today, thanks for stopping by x

Sailing Pineapple - Lizzy Love Blog hop

Hello hoppers :)

If you find yourself here, you have possibly come from Ilaria's blog, welcome :)

Lizzy Love images are so great aren't they, The Sailing Pineapple sell the rubber stamps by Lizzy Love, there are LOTS to choose from. The stamped images are approximately 3.25" high.

I hope you have enjoyed the Halloween theme of this hop. For the hop finale, I have used the super cool Frankenstein image, image #92 if you visit the store :).

This quote is from Young Frankenstein. It is actually pretty long, so I shortened it, but you get the idea (whole quote is at the end fyi). It works so well with the image, dont you think ? I stamped the letters individually from an alphabet stamp set I have. My mixed media background is made with Dylusions sprays in blue, lime green and orange with salt added for that spotty/grain affect. I added a layer of white dylusions over the top to lighten it all up. I doodled around the edges in white gel pen and added a Halloween washi-tape pedestal for Frankenstein. The bats are dollar store plastic embellishment.

Frankenstein was colored with copics. I actually have about 25 copics, so if you ever need to know the colors I used, please ask, it is fairly easy for me to rediscover with my limited selection :) I added two coats of clear embossing powder to him and popped him up. He looks pretty great I think :)

Hope you enjoyed the inspiration here, now we have a great offer for you  :

We are offering 35% off all Lizzy Love stamps Oct 25-27 (Saturday through Monday), and if you buy 4 or more Lizzy Love stamps, you get a FREE digital image from Lizzy, so head to the store and pick up some great stamps :)

And leave some love on everyones blogs for a chance to win a Lizzy Love rubber stamps :) Winner to be announced on the Sailing Pineapple blog on Monday 27 October :)

Here are the blog links for the hop, incase you want to go back and look at anything :

The Sailing Pineapple- http://sailingpineapple.blogspot.com

Sharon- http://sharonshowcase.blogspot.com

Tanya- http://little-scrapper.blogspot.com

Tracey- http://mowbraydesigns.blogspot.co.uk

Vikki- http://tspvikki.blogspot.com

Kim- http://craftisanstudios.com/

Ilaria - http://ilascrappa.blogspot.com

Nikki x

Whole quote from Young Frankenstein :
"After many years of observation, multiple hypothesis, well structured analysis, and deeply reviewed interpretations .... I've FINALLY come to the conclusion : I'm NOT normal!"