Faux Barnwood Technique

Faux Barnwood Technique - well, that's what it's supposed to be - I followed the instructions given for Stampotique 25 - I'm not sure that my end result is as it should be, but I quite like it anyway. It's certainly not the best card I've ever made, but I tried - and perhaps I'll give it another go and practice might make 'perfect' (or at least 'better' - lol!).

I chose broken china distress re-inker to add to the white acrylic paint - perhaps it wasn't dark enough to give good effect to the technique, but on the other hand I like the sky effect it produced.

I simply stamped over and over again with Janet Klein's lovely butterfly image and used a Dawn Bibby sentiment which I thought was appropriate.

This is also for:

Order of the opus gluei 93: show us some new tricks (and mentioning Order of the opus gluei, you must have a look here to see what I received today
Totally stampalicious: try a new technique
Pile it on 10: up, up and away
Flutter by Wednesday 144: open
Ellephantastic 24: cute with a butterfly
Crafty purple frog: fly away with us
Alota 54: it's all about bugs
Paper crafting journey 5: things with wings
Stamp with fun 101: monochrome blue
Your next stamp 37: feeling blue
Creative card crew: no flowers
Wild orchid 18: anything goes
Papertake weekly: anything goes + optional: something old (I've had the acrylic paints for ages - they get used occasionally!)
Aly's: anything goes
Card cupids: anything goes
Craft your passion 48: anything goes

A lovely surprise

I had such a lovely surprise in the post today - all the way from the States - and completely unexpected.

It was from Rosemary and Jana who run the Order of the Opus Gluei challenge blog with a card that said that they thought that this Christmas paper might be fun for m and my Christmas challenges. How kind is that?!


Thank you so much, Rosemary and Jana.

On a winning streak

I have been privileged to win quite a few challenge prizes recently - I've amassed quite a few digis as a result of being able to spend vouchers - you'll be seeing these from time to time on the cards I produce. You can see the challenges I've won recently in my sidebar.

I have also received 5 promarkers for winning challenge 48 on One stitch at a time.

I recently received a £10 voucher to spend at Lili of the Valley as the prize for winning a challenge on Kort o mania - I bought 3 stamps: together forever, destiny's moon and busy baking.

And I received a voucher for £10 to spend at Joanna Sheen's online shop for winning challenge 37 on I love promarkers - I bought some embossing folders (a girl can't have too many).

I am a very happy crafter.

And, as if that wasn't enough, I received a surprise gift today - I'll post about that in a while.

Arch card

Today's challenge on 365 cards is to make an arch card.

Over a year ago I made a tag using my Stampington Leonardo stamp you can see how it originally looked here. I decided to take off the original lace and replace with some lighter lacee at the bottom and some BG bling at the top, cutting the size of the tag all round including the top to make it more of an arch.

I then distressed it with worn lipstick DI, although the pinkiness doesn't really show here.

I had a tall tag card that I cut at the top into the arch shape and then distressed it with worn lipstick and then with brushed corduroy DI. I then stamped with Leonardo strategically placed to make a background collage. I got this idea from Tanda teaser 166: back to front, which is 'to use the same thing to make the background and the focal point of your project.'

This is also for:

Crazy challenge 57: lovely ladies
Paperminutes 156: women
Creative stamp friends 20: lace
Spoon full of sugar 142: anything with a vintage/shabby theme
PaperPlay 9: shabby chic/vintage
Created by hand: women/shades of pink
Try it on Tuesday: Women's day tags - feature women
Wednesday stamper: Bohemian rhapsody - the image conjures up Bohemian times in Paris
My time to craft 131: jewels (the BG strip of bling)
Sukkersoft 115: card with a homemade tag
Creative cottage 34: tag you're it
Delicious doodles 15: make the card YOU want - I love vintage, stamping and inking
Creative card crew: no flowers
Wild orchid 18: anything goes
Papertake weekly: anything goes + optional: something old (the stamp is quite old now, but I still love it)
Aly's: anything goes
Card cupids: anything goes
Craft your passion 48: anything goes