TIO #15 - Nature's Beauty

Finally made it to the TIO #15 challenge, Nature's Beauty. I have had such an odd week, but am so grateful to friends, bloggers, Creating Rainbow forum members, and especially my lovely Fred, for getting through it quite well. This horrid period finishes Wednesday 12th, which would have been my wedding anniversary...

Thanks especially to the lovely Beth, who has been VERY poorly herself, and has managed to keep up with you all and her challenge. XXX to you, Beth, the Queen of Cups!!

I have used a sheet from Elusive Images and words from Butterfly Kisses. I love conkers and toadstools, so that's what I chose. They were masked and then brayered with gumdrop. I coloured with distress inks and Inktense pencils.
Thanks for looking...

InchyByInch Challenge - Text

Here is my entry for the InchyByInch challenge this week - text. Right up my street again , this one as I love using calligraphy and text in my art - but curiously, I never use it on the front of cards!! Odd lady...

The backbrounds are swirled distress inks on shiny card (yet again!!!) in mustard seed and tattered rose, and I printed using a variety of stamps from UMount plates and Butterfly Kisses. The spots of colour are from Sakura pens... really enjoyed myself here...
Thanks for looking!!

Booklet Front Cover and Frames for RL

I have created this piece for a friend, who is about to open a new shop. She will be selling things such as crystals, incense, my cards, postcards and tags!! and providing complementary services such as Reiki and Indian head massage... Her open day is next Saturday, and this piece is for the cover of her booklet. I hope she likes it!!

I want to enter it into Rainbow Lady's challenge, too, which is frames, this week. I discovered the way to make the narrow frames (could be broader if I wanted) on my printer, this evening, that was a great find... I began by stamping the Butterfly Kisses stamp, then adding the cloudy moon image, from A Stamp in the hand. My fav swirl corner from UMount, was next, the butterfly from Elusive Images and then the agapanthus from Stampendous.

Most of the inks were versafine in onyx, smokey grey and vintage sepia, and the black ones were embossed with clear ep. I masked the head image and the moon, swirled distress inks mustard seed, worn lipstick, dried marigold and old paper on my heat mat and spritzed with water. I dibbled the shiny card about to get the colours where I wanted them, just blending a little with my fingers etc. My hands are FILTHY now, but I LOVE the piece. It will be a shame to give it away. Thanks for looking.

Altered Postcard

This is my entry for Wednesday Stamper's challenge, alter the back of a postcard. I printed out one I had saved from The Graphics Fairy, as shown above. I used distress inks, spritzed on my heat pad, then overprinted with several different stamps, in the same inks. The main image was printed in stazon. I added a little paper butterfly and mounted on to music paper. The stamps are from Lavinia, Butterfly kisses and UMount, basically. I really enjoyed the freedom of this piece after the more traditional work of my sample cards!!

A Rainbow Inspired Gothic Arch

This is my answer to my lovely friend, Rainbow Lady's challenge, over on Gothic Arches. We were to use 2 colours, 2 stamps and an inspirational comment. I decided to go pink/violet and purple because she didn't!!! We both love the colour, but she desisted and I have jumped in, lol...

I used bubble gum and rum raisin glimmer mists sprayed on to doubly embossed white card. I used swiss dots and stylised flower, through the Cuttle Bug. The stamps are Aspects of Design, by Kay Carley, from the StampMan and a huge dragonfly from Creative Expressions. The words are from a plate by Butterfly Kisses. I rubbed over the embossing and aged the egdes with a lavender chalk cats eye pad and printed with black onyx versafine, embossed in clear ep. I painted with the same glimmer mists. Sakura pens add touches of sharper colour and shimmer and the whole arch is mounted on a sheet of paper, printed from a Joanna Sheen disc. Loads of lovely texture, I hope she likes it!!!

I also want to enter this one into Mixed Media Monday challenge, which is come fly with me.

I would love to shrink small enough to fly with this dragonfly!!