Shrink plastic

 

It was Sheila's turn to choose the theme and this week it is shrink plastic.

 

Sheila's card

 

 

Well as you can see my project is not a card, I did think about doing some shrink plastic flowers to add to a card but then thought I would do something different. So here it is, not perfect but my daughter loves it. I started off with some dies from my collection and chose clear shrink plastic for the large star and frosted for the smaller stars and squares. After cutting my shapes I stamped the word Mcfly (my daughter Holly's favourite group) and then coloured the edges with momento ink. I then pierced a hole in them before shrinking. I used jump rings to attach to my chain, added a clasp to finish.

 

Kathy's card

 

 

This is a Beige pearlised base landscape card, and for the main matt l used co ordinations card in a naturalcolour, embossed with a bark effect emboss. folder, sanded it back and layered it landscape so as to give sea-waves look  I then stamped the map onto toning card, added text, and a strip of waste card that l had run through a dotty folder, for ribbon. All the edges were inked with Walnut distressed ink.The shrink plastic embellishments were from the same stamp collection from Creative Expressions. This was a nice change and l enjoyed using my shrink plastic.

 

Chris's card

 

I sat pondering this week's challenge wondering quite what to do. Shrink plastic is oneof those mediums you love or you hate, personally I don't use it much. Anything that can take a beautifully coloured drawing or stamp and shrink it into a dark, dingy bit of thick plastic is lost on me. However, that's what the challenge is and that's what you've got, lol.

 

For this ATC I took a cross from a Tim Holtz die, coloured it very lightly with an alcohol pen in order to keep it light in colour when it was shrunk. The base has a very soft miniature daisy backing paper covered with a plain white die cut using the Sizzix Damask border with lace added to the bottom. I've edged it with blue and black distress ink and added the stained 'Easter text.

Decoupage

This weeek was Kathy's turn to choose the theme and she chose decoupage.

Kathy's card

This is a white A5 landscape card and l embossed the large matt with my hearts embossing folder then trimmed with scallop edge.  The decoupage is of bells and flowers, therefore ideal for either Wedding or Anniversary this l matted onto silver mirror card to give lift.  When wrapping the organza ribbon l attached a cross charm (from my stash) within the bow. Qhite an easy card but l think quite effective hope you do too.

Chris's card

A friend of mine asked me to make her two Mothers' Day cards earlier in
the week so I decided to make one of them utilising this weeks challenge.

Purple is such a lovely colour and I can't say I know anyone that
dislikes it so that's the colour I chose. The decoupage papers have been
in my cupboard for about 10 years so it was high time they saw the light
of day. Being floral they suited the Mothers' Day theme well. The card
background is simple so that the eye focuses on the foreground ie the
decoupage.

I've placed the bottom two layers behind the handle and the top four
layers above it which adds some depth to the bucket handle. I played
around with positioning a 'Happy Mother's Day' sentiment on the card but
felt it was too much so that features on the insert only. It's simple
but I like it.

Sheila's card

I don't do decoupage very often, so my thoughts were what to do. I made this card a little while ago so my apologies for not making a new card, but I think it is simple and elegant and fits the theme perfectly. I first made my aperture, then stamped and coloured my rose image ( this is my favourite flower stamp) a few times. I stamped the flower inside the aperture too. I then cut out a section of the rose and apllied it to the front overlapping the aperture. Then with smaller pieces of the rose I applied to the card again overlapping the aperture. To finish I put some extra layers creating my decoupage and added gems for that finishing touch.

Music

The challenge this week is 'Music' set by Chris.

Chris's card

Now I don't wanna get too philosophical but my card this week is as much about how I feel about music as music itself. I love music with a passion, there are few genres I don't enjoy. It makes me feel alive, brings a spring to my step and so the colours of the card kinda reflect this.

Music is such an individual thing and evokes different emotions in different people and that reflects how individual we all are. I came across this quote in amongst my treasures.... how apt. The card had to have a music background of course but despite all the music stamps and die cuts I have I decided that just a simple die cut stave worked better - that old adage of less is more.

I've added some flowers I made just to add some zing and remind us that Spring is just around the corner. I hope you have a lovely week folks. Chris W xx

Kathy's card

This is an A5 portrait card, and the front was trimmed a little shorter, l then stamped randomly the music etc. in black, the front was matted with black card than l had stamped and embossed with clear powder more music notes etc. The topper-Harp was also stamped and embossed in black onto white card, then trimmed and added onto the front, then finished off with the text. This card would be suitable for either male or female. 

Sheila's card

I always struggle when it comes to making cards for men, so I thought with this challenge I would tackle a man's card. I started with an A5 base card and matted some paper onto black card and used this as my first layer. I used one of my embossing folders to go along with the theme of music. I then stamped my image and coloured before using distress ink on the edges on both my toppers and placing them onto a black matts. After placing my toppers I finished with a sentiment and card candi.



Die cutting

Chris's card

This weeks challenge of 'Die cuts' was set by Sheila. I sat pondering what I should make and remembered that I needed to make a 'Thankyou' card for someone.

The word 'thanks' was cut using a Sizzix die.

Now I don't know if any of you have invested in the Sizzix Pop 'N Cuts dies but they're great and this is an example of what you can do with them.

You buy the Pop 'N Cuts base tray and it comes with a Pop 'N Cuts circle that you can affix greetings or embellishments to but you can also buy additional dies to sit in the tray for specific shapes or words.

I've recently bought some new Tonic floral dies and not had the opportunity to use them so decided to use some of them to make the flowers and leaves. The lacy square base is also a die cut.

Kathy's card

Here's the information on how l made the card for this challenge. I started with an A5 landscape card, and found in my stash some varigated blue paper that looks like clouds, so that was used for the main matt. I then used a set of dies that l had bought a few weeks ago, Build a Scene by Xcut, this was a bit fiddley but worked out quite well just using blue and white theme. There are quite a few small pieces, a little patience is needed, but the finished card is well worth it.

Sheila's card

As mother's day will be upon us before we know it I thought I would take the time to make my mum's card for this theme. I started with an 8x8 card and used silver mirror card for my first layer. The black card layer I score using a score board to get the trellis effect. I used a spellbinders set of dies to cut all my elements, I used a distress ink to bring out the embossing detail. I then stamped my flowers,coloured and then trimmed leaving a small border before placing onto my card. I finished with adding a sentiment and lots of gems.

Hearts and Flowers

Chris's card

Kathy is setting this weeks challenge - hearts and flowers. My card is very simple, tying the floral die cut to the colours of the backing paper. I've used a silver heart buckle on the ribbon and two heart brads to fix the sentiment. Simple, simple, simple.

Kathy's card

This card is an A5 white card, for the matt l used the waste after l had cut out the hearts from a Xcut die, assorted hearts, having placed them in the correct places it made a lovely mask for me to use, tinting with Worn Lipstick distressed ink. I used my  tapestry stamps to embellish the hearts, after stamping the sentiment within the large one, then tinted the edges with Pine Needles ink. Finished off with a flourish from green card and some flowers made with my tonic punches. 

 

Sheila's card

I have a confession to make, I didn't really put any thought into my project this week. I had been looking through some old craft mags when I came across some lovely papers ideal for this weeks challenge. I simply followed one of the projects in the mag, and the papers were just too good not to use.

Stenciling

Chris's card

Sheila and I sat musing what this week's challenge could be. Now, bear in mind we are both avid crafters and totally spoilt for choice both for tools and materials, we decided that we would use something we used to use alot but haven't touched for years........ stencils! So this is what I came up with, really, really simple.

 

As Valentine's Day is approaching (and I found a lovely square stencil in my box that lent itself to making a square card) I decided upon this lovely heart stencil. All I did to finish the card off was to add a small rose and wind the stem around a pencil to add a little form and make it easier to use.

Sheila's card

My card using stenciling is an 8x8 base card. I used a mask placed onto card and used a distress ink to colour through the mask. I matt this onto a contrast card and placed it onto my base card. I then did some paperweaving and used a die to cut the shape, I drew around the same die to get a faux shape and matt the two shapes together. I stamped a verse onto white card and used a die to cut the shape, inking the edges before removing the die. I finished off with ribbon, card candi and a sentiment placed on a small tag shape.

Kathy's card

I am the third of the four craftateers and wanted to join in with this challenge, so here you have my card. The base card is  A5 white, and l used Crafters Companion Ice White pearlescent card and used one of my brass stencils, a swirl corner, run it through my Calibur and cut small sections out with craft knife, then matted it onto red card. The topper is a stamped image from Swalk range, named "I Do", l used my Spectrum Noirs to colour, inked the edges with Barn Door distressed ink, and layered that onto same red card. Finished off with a sentiment also matted onto same red, then just added 2 red gems.

Just trees

Chris's card

Isn't it great when you can take simple things and make something artistic from them? I love monochromatic pieces, especially black and white,  so when Sheila and I challenged each other to make something using these Crafty Individuals tree stamps it was an obvious black and white piece for me. The four square stamps have been framed using Sizzix framelits dies and overlaid the bottom background which was created by repeat stamping a Clarity Stamps treescape stamp. The top decoration was created using a Hero Arts flourish stamp. How simple is this?

Sheila's card

I decided to use Tim Holtz distress inks, a backing paper from one of my many cd's. I used the tree stamps to create a background then used the same image in slightly different colours along with gold flakes on one of them. How different do they both look?