Graph'It Marker Challenge - Fur 'n' Feathers!

Yep this week over on the Graph'It marker blog we want to see Fur 'n' Feathers! I opted for feathers as I was desperate to use this gorgeous little guy from Polka Doodles! Isn't he just the cutest thing ever??

Anyway, I tried something a little different this week with my colouring and I have to say I'm really pleased with the end result! I coloured the robin with my Graph'It markers and then added a few light strokes with my Prismacolor Pencils. I think the result is awesome as the pens add real depth to the image whilst the pencils help to add even more texture.

I made a little box card to sit him in and used a range of the new stamps that Polka Doodles have launched to embellish the card with.

I hope you like my project this week and that you'll come and join us.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Ingredients:

Robin Stamp, Poinsettia Stamp, Spruce Bough, Holly Heart Wreath 

Graph'It Markers - 2110, 2150, 5220, 3245, 3255, 1180, 9500, 9503, 9909, White Shake Marker

Backing Paper - Rose Budd CD

Prismacolor Pencils

Distress Inks

Snowflake Embossing Folder

Stickles Glitter Glue

Pinflair Glue

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Eclectic Paperie - Embossing

It's All About The Vintage - Photo Inspiration (The chandeliers reminded me of icicles)

Addicted to Stamps - Make a mark

Crafting for All Seasons - Feature a creature

Crafty Creations - Flower

Little Red Wagon - embossing

Simon Says Stamp - Sparkle

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Make My Monday - Birds

New England Patriots Pop Up Box Card

Just a quickie from me today. I thought I'd show you the 18th birthday card I made for my daughter's boyfriend. He's a massive American Football fan and supports the New England Patriots, so it seemed only right that I make his card in this theme. Anyway, here it is:

Patriots stuff is almost impossible to find here in the UK, but I managed to find a seller on ETSY that sold a digi pack and sports fan forum that had various fonts and images for non-commercial use. I chucked in few die cut stars, some glossy accents and glitter and ended up with this.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Graph'It Marker Challenge - Hot Colours With An Optional Extra Of Airbrushing With A Straw!!!

Good morning. It's challenge time again over on the Graph'It marker blog and we want to see your hot colours. In addition this week we've had a go at airbrushing with a straw! I have to be honest and say that I almost didn't join the airbrushing part of this challenge as it made me go "Eeekk". However, I'm glad I did, as it has given me lots of inspiration for future projects. I'm not thrilled with this one but I literally ran out of puff not to mention time! I really hope that you'll give this a try and enter the challenge - remember we have a fabulous Graph'It Marker prize and you don't even need to use GI's to enter!

Anyway, onto my offering for this week. I decided after much panicking that I'd try my hand at graffitti but on a small scale. So I created some simple stencils using a graffiti font from Dafont and a very basic bomb. I then taped them in position and started airbrushing with a straw........EPIC fail!!! Nothing, not one single drop of ink landed on my page. So I dug out my aerosol air dusting cannister which proved a little too powerful and sent ink everywhere. Finally I found a solution when one of my fellow GI teamies Claire C suggested using an empty biro case - thanks Claire :)

When I removed the masks the images didn't really pop and I was more than a little disappointed. So after a bit of a sulk I decided I'd see what would happen once I outlined them with black ink - best move ever, the images came to life and popped right off of the page. Once I was completely happy with the background I ran it through an embossing folder to give the appearance of a wall.

I was going to use a printed backing paper, but again it toned the graffiti down too much, so I decided to create a random spray painted effect background using the straw technique again.

Finally I coloured the boy image from the Pretty Tuff CD added some dimensional glue and mounted him onto the card.

Ingredients:
Graph'It Markers

Airbrushing: 8150, 5245, 1180, 7155, 9909

Skin: 4115, 4155, 4135, 4170

Trousers/Hat: 9100, 9103, 9909

T-Shirt/Shoes: 5210, 5245, 9501

Pretty Tuff CD

If you do decided to give this a go, please let me know, I'd love to see what you come up with.

Thanks for stopping by

Claire x

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:

Graph'It Marker Challenge - Altered Kraft Bag

Morning. Sorry for the lack of posts recently but life has got the in way of my creating.

There's another challenge this week over on the Graph'It marker blog and this week it's Christmas (I know, I know it's far too early but as I've been making Christmas cards since mid June then the least you can do is keep me company!). Remember, you don't need to use Graph'It markers to enter (although obviously we'd love it if you did) and you can win a fabulous Graph'It prize.

This was sample that I made for the launch of the Tatty Twinkles Christmas Collection by Tattered Lace. Sadly she never got sent off as I just ran out of time before the post deadline. It seems a shame to not show her off, so I thought as she was coloured up and ready to be made into a project I'd use her for this weeks inspiration piece.

I stamped the image onto some Ultimate Graphic Paper and then coloured her in with my Graph'It makers. Initially I used a circular die to cut around her, but then decided she needed something prettier, so I fussy cut her out and mounted her onto a doily. Now the fab thing is, if you're not a stamper you can buy her in the form of a collection on a MCS CD which is packed with not only Tatty Twinkles but loads of papers and Stationery (in fact that's where the lush papers are from).

I was then a case of cutting the papers, lace, ribbon and bead trim to fit on the Kraft bag. The whole thing is pulled together with the addition of a wooden snowflake, kraft snowflakes, gems, buttons and oodles of glitter glue.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Recipe:
Ultimate Graphic Paper
Graph'It Markers
Skin: 4115, 4135, 4155, 4170
Hair: 1270, 1250, 1110
Dress: 7109, 7125, 7119, 9502
Wings: 9502
Buttons
Tatty Twinkle Stamps/CD

I'd like to enter this bag into the following challenges:

There's somebody at the door!

Morning! It's time for another challenge over on the Graph'It Marker Blog and this time it's a nice easy one - Anything Goes - so I really hope that you'll come and join us. Remember you don't need to use Graph'It Markers to enter and we have some fabulous Graph'It prizes for the winner.

I've been really lazy this week and used another one of the cards I made for the Create & Craft release of the Rose Budd Collection CD. As is always the way with these samples turnaround is very tight and this was a last minute make but took forever due to the fact that everything was hand cut.

I started out by making another of those flat base cards. I then printed out the door and frame several times to cut and layer up to make a 3D door and surround. The image is of course coloured with my Graph'It markers. I used the following colours:

Skin: 4115, 4120, 4135, 4155
Hair: 1270, 3245, 3255
Clothes: 4135, 4145, 4150, 8280, 8290, 0000

I covered the base with papers from the CD and then layered the cut out door pieces onto the card. The card was then embellished with diecut leaves, punched flowers and some more images from the CD.

My only regret with this card is that I would've liked to add some pretty rose buds but couldn't find my stash of them and didn't have time to cut and roll some from the CD, so ended up with these daisies!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Ingredients:
Rose Budd Collection Papercrafting CD
Graph'It Markers
Ultimate Graphic Paper

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Roll Up, Roll Up.....

For all the fun of the fair!! That's right the fair is in town! This is of course another one of the stunning images from Tattered Lace which I was lucky enough to get to play with, to make some samples for their show on Create and Craft.

As soon as I saw this Tatty Twinkles I knew I wanted to make some form of fairground stall my only problem was what to put on it as there were so many lovely elements to choose from!

The base card is a simple concertina card which of course means that the card can be folded flat for posting. I've covered the base with papers from the collection. The stall hoarding has been made using some die cuts from Tattered Lace, the text has been covered with my Shake It Glitter Marker which gives it a cool embossed effect.

The images have been coloured with Graph'It Markers as detailed below:

Bears: 1250, 2110, 3255
Skin: 4135, 4150, 4155, 4170
Hair: ,1250, 1270, 3245
Dress & Pink Bows: 5130, 5260,5280, spots added with Shake It White Marker
Shoes: 9504, 9506, 9909
Goldfish Bowl: 9501,
Ducks: 1180
Coconuts: 3255, 3245,3280

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire xxx

Ingredients:
Tattered Lace Dies
Tatty Twinkle Stamps or CD
Graph'It Markers
Glossy Accents

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Gorjuss Girl 50th Birthday Pop Up Box Card

Well this is something a little different from me today! It's something I've NEVER done before but will definitely be repeating in the future!!! I just hope that no one is going to judge me negatively (well to be honest if they do then tough cos it's not going to change my mind!!!). So what have I done? Well I only went and bought the Gorjuss Girls Ultimate Decoupage Pack!! No wait, come back, it's not as bad as seems!!! I only bought it because it was heavily reduced and contained some lush papers which would go with the rubber stamps. My plan was to snag the papers and give the decoupage to the kids to play with! However when I opened it I soon changed my mind, the decoupage is stunning and ideal for those impressive but quick makes. Hopefully this pop up box card will show you what I mean? Sorry for the picture overload, it's one of those cards that has way too many details to show in just one picture!

I made this card for my SIL's 50th Birthday and  was really surprised at how quickly the whole thing pulled together. I followed Nikky Hall's video tutorial for the no measure pop up box card which can be found here. The image is from the pack and I've layered it up with Pinflair Glue before selecting my papers and potential embellishments.

I cut the papers to size and attached them to the box and then decided that I wasn't completely happy and that something was missing. So I grabbed the Gorjuss Girls stamp set and used the silhouette branch to stamp and then heat emboss directly onto the papers. I then inked the edges of the box and added some silver embossing powder.

Next I die cut lots of leaves in two assorted colours of cardstock and punched some flowers out of a co-ordinating paper. I also cut some railings (which of you look carefully you can just about see peeking out from behind the image) and attached some numbers to fine wire before adding all of the elements to the card.

Once I was happy with the arrangement I decided to decorate the box flaps with some ribbon and more elements from the decoupage kit and stamped a Birthday greeting on the front of the card. To finish I added lots of sparkle with Stickles and a Shake It Glitter Pen.

So what do you think? Decoupage kits rock? Well I think this one certainly does! You can expect to see a few more Gorjuss makes from me in the future using this kit, so keep your eyes peeled!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Claire x

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Ladybug Crafts Ink - Anything goes
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes/One Layer
Crafting From The Heart - Anything Goes
My Craft Creations - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - A product/technique you wish you used more often! Mines the pre-cut decoupage! Paper crafting snobbery has made me totally overlook this fab product!
Sparkle & Sprinkle - Anything Goes
One Stitch At A Time - Anything Goes