Disasterous orange!

Well I did warn you... I had a really difficult time with the April tag swap. The colour theme was orange and I just could not get to grips with it.

No matter how many ways I mixed different yellow, pink and red paints and inks everything seemed to end up the same colour, and every sheet of paper and card I had in orange seemed virtually the same when put together - not that there were many to choose from. I don't naturally tend to select orange.

Completely stuck, I had to beg the lovely swap co-ordinator to allow a bit of something else, and my desperate pleading resulted in a small amount of copper being allowed. Even so in the end I admitted defeat. I had added so many bits and pieces - and cheated dreadfully by using some collage pictures with more than a little unpermitted colour - that I was making things worse instead of better.

Anyway, here they are complete with die cuts again. I am more than a little fixated with these Memeory Box dies at the moment.

 

I am a bit happier with the backs. I managed to stop myself adding more and more and more. I think having permission to use copper by this staged probably helped although I'm not sure this large image counts as a little.

Next month the colour theme is white. I think texture is definitely the way to go. I hope you call back to see how I get on.

Challenge Time Again

In the new issue of Craft Stamper that came out last week there is a beautiful project by Helen Chilton using a tearing technique to add dimension. This is the technique featured in the latest Make It, Take It Challenge on the Craft Stamper blog. Do take a look and then join in for a chance to win.

The technique this time is much more my style. Tearing and grunginess I can do!

With the days now longer and occasional glimpses of sun appearing I have chosen some very light and airy colours. I am trying really hard to feel Spring like despite the cold.

As well as tearing I seem to have used quite a lot of die cuts in this project. The arches were marked out using Sissix thinlit arch dies as a template and the rosette and foliage are die cut from paper and funky foam.

 

 

To keep things light and bright, I didn't ink the torn edges on my project. Instead I applied some PVA using a bit of sponge and then sprinkled on glitter. I sabotaged the edges of the rosette by tearing and glittering in the same way.

 

The central image is a Lynne Perrella stamp from Paper Artsy plate 011.

 

OK so that's my take on the theme. What's yours?

Ooops! Back to my bad old ways...

And here it is, the third of April after a very long weekend and only just posting a March swap. Tut tut!

I did manage to actually get the swap sent out in good time though, it is just that rotten bits of real life got in the way of on-line posting.

Players in our swap each made six mettalic inchies so I'm eagerly awaiting six back from six of the other players. I love joining these swaps because everyone has such different skills and techniques to share and I find I learn a lot by seeing the actual art work up close and if I can't figure out how something was done, or what with, the artists are always ready to explain.

 

Being one for rules, metallic for me meant use metal. In fact I embossed some Paper Artsy metal covered card as the basis for my inchies and used a punch to cut them out. They are coloured with alcohol inks and Brilliance ink pads (heat set).  On some I added some extra sparkle or used a pokey tool to add texture. Each one has a small metal embellishment added to finish.

And to finish, a quick reminder that the current Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge ends this Friday so there is just time to get an entry in if you want to take part.