I Tried Something New

Over at
FASHIONABLE STAMPING CHALLENGES
the current theme is 

'Show Us a New Style/ Show Us Something New'.

We all like to experiment with new products and techniques from time-to-time and I've been meaning to have a go at triple heat embossing but never got around to it.  So this was the perfect opportunity.

Using Distress Inks, I made this hanging from very thick card, inking both pieces with Vintage Photo and edging with Black Soot.  I used Pumice Stone to stamp the script with Crafty Individuals' CI-017 and then over stamped with CI-255 in Vintage Photo.  The sentiment is from Tim Holtz 'Stuff to Say'.

Using Blonde Moments Ultra Thick Embossing Powder in Suet Silver, I triple embossed three corner sections on the base and used stamps free with Craft Stamper Magazine to emboss the images while the powder was still hot.

For my first attempt, I'm pleased with the way the embossed images turned out, particularly the words. I did wonder if they would just merge into a grungy mess but they didn't, although I've missed the 't' off the end of 'Fugit'.  I'll definitely be trying more of this technique in the future though.

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Sun, Sea and Beach Tag Time

The warmer weather is finally here (for the time being anyway) and thoughts turn to holidays, lazy walks along the beach and all things summer.  Luckily, there are three blog challenges which allow me to combine this theme into one project.  So I'm entering this tag into the following challenges:

CRAFTY INDIVIDUALS - Sun, Sea and Beach
CRAFT ROOM - Here Comes Summer

and

FASHIONABLE STAMPING CHALLENGES - Tag Time

I started with a square of card which I covered with torn pieces of pale peach paper to give texture and resemble the sandy beach.  In the past I've used DIY sandpaper to great effect but I liked the colour contrast and decided to shy away from the obvious materials.  

The stamped tag is a Crafty Individuals' plain tag, inked with Distress Ink in Broken China and Milled Lavender.  I stamped the twigs using an Inkylicious stamp and DI Pumice Stone and then the seahorse, which was a free stamp from Crafty Individuals, in DI Vintage Photo.  I stamped the seahorse again onto acetate using black StazOn and cut out.

  The Seagull picture is from Crafty Individuals' Miniatures, People & Places 2 and the stamping on the ribbons is from a seashell stamp which was free with the July 2010 issue of Craft Stamper Magazine.

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Monochrome Colour Schemes

I like monochrome colour schemes, as you've probably noticed.  I don't start out this way, in fact I usually have the desire to use a really wild mix of colours but once I begin putting something together I revert back to type.

This was a very simple card to make, using the Cuttlebug to emboss the card blank and then inking with Distress Ink in Black Soot, using a piece of Cut n Dry Foam.  The image was a free stamp from the February issue of Craft Stamper Magazine.

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How Cute

I had to share this with you all and if you're a cat lover you'll really appreciate it.

This is the reminder card that came from our vet's practice regarding our cat Smudge's annual vaccinations.  I  loved the image and kept the card by my work table.  Smudge is a grey and white tabby but looks just like this one, although I don't think she'd be interested in sugar mice.  I bet they smeared fish oil on these ones to get the cat interested.

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Tag Card

As well needing to make a few extra cards at the moment, I'm also busy making my first DT project for Altered Eclectics.  I look forward to sharing it with you when the challenge goes live on 1st July.

For this card I've taken a tag I made sometime ago.  Using tags for cards is a great way of making dimensional cards without fancy folding and cutting and it makes an unusual card.  Leaving the card blank means I can use this for a number of occasions when the need arises.

I used the Cuttlebug to emboss the Swiss Dots on the lavender card before layering with mirror card and ribbons.

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