Guan Yin - my special goddess

I made this card for the friend who is opening her new shop tomorrow. It is just to wish her well, so I hope she likes it. It is a shop about spiritual things, incense, crystals, healing arts etc. So, I thought Guan Yin might help her get off to a good start.

The central image , and the first layer backing paper, are from Joanna Sheen's Oriental Dreams CD - an all-time fav for me!! For the other backing piece, I started with a sheet of semi-gloss paper and printed the Hobby Arts circular best wishes with versamark. I embossed with clear ep then began adding colour. I used dried marigold, old paper, shabby shutters and brushed corduroy, onto my heat sheet, spritzed with water and swooshed the paper through the inks. The overprinting was done using the same colours. Some white peel-offs and a Chinese coin, from my stash, complete the piece. Thanks for looking...

Ad-awww-able Girlie Gothic Arch!!

This darling piece was made for the challenge at Gothic Arches this week, which is little girls, chosen by Sandy. I don't do cute, but I adore Mabel Lucy Attwell images, as I had all her annuals for Christmas when I was a child. So they always make me smile.

I made the background with glimmer mists and Starburst Stains in shades of pink and gold. I overprinted with a Dimension Fourth swirl, one from UMount and floral scroll from Hobby Art. The flowers are from my stash. There is nothing terribly difficult or arty about this one, but it is SO pink and sweet, and really pretty in real life. Thanks for looking.

April Showers Rainbow Swap

How wicked am I ?? This is SO late and I have only excuses... But I hope my partner likes it and forgives me. At least I told her it was going to be late!!

I stamped a Kodomo lady for the front image, in versafine onyx black and embossed in clear. I took a shiny card and used my sponge pad on my alcohol ink tool. The ink pads were distress inks in old paper, mustard seed and dried marigold. After splodging all over in this mixture, I spritzed with water. The effect is beautiful. I was very taken with it. I had masked the lady, so she was white and so I painted her with the same inks, plus a little sparkle from Sakura pens. The embellishment is an inchie I made for my recent guest designer stint at InchyByInch. The rain / shower is done with a rule and a Zig millenium pen.

The back of the card is a stamp from Hobby Art called floral display. I LOVE it. I used the small floral scroll, too, to make the background, front and back. I have put the card into the post now, so my partner should get it soon... better later than never!!

Numero 4 - as seen on TV

This is the fourth in the series for Jenny of Hobby Arts, for her show on Thursday 16th April. She has all the samples now, and said they are "as shown on TV" lol!!! She will have them there on display, so I am pleased she likes them. This is a lovely stamp. So pretty and swirly. The story goes that they were drawn by a lady called Jean, and taken to Jenny by Jean's daughter, because her mum is very ill now, in a nursing home. Unfortunately she will never know the pleasure she gives to us stampers, but here is my "thank you" to Jean. The background on front and backer is made with another of her stamps, printed with a shades of blue Blending Blox pad. The main image is coloured using watercolour pencils. Thanks to Jenny for the opportunity, and Jean for the inspiration...

New Stamps - another sample

Here is another sample made for the Hobby Arts show. Jenny should have them in her sticky mitt now, so I hope she likes and them, and wants to use them in her show... if not, I like them anyway, and enjoyed using the stamps!! This one is really lovely, but I wanted to use some of my other stamps with it... frustrating!! So I kept it so simple, printing it out and embossing it in different colours, as you can see. The top is the front, the lower image is the backer. A few peel-offs, a piece of ribbon and a circle punch complete this small piece.

Daisy Medley - sample for show

This is another in the series of samples made for Hobby Art Show on Ideal World/Create & Craft Thursday 16th April at 11.00am GMT+1. The top image is the front and the bottom image is the backer.

I used the best wishes stamp to print a background in versamark ink, embossed with clear ep. When it was cool, I sponged dried marigold and shabby shutters, then sprayed with clear water to mottle the effect. I overprinted again using the shabby shutters ink pad. The main stamp is quite large, and is coloured in the same inks as the background paper, with a few strokes of matching Sakura pens for stronger accents. The three centres are picked out with perlidoodles 3D splodges. The backer uses the orange cardstock, overprinted with the small butterfly, in the same two inks, and coloured with the same pens. A single image, printed on white, finishes off the piece.

New Stamps - preview

This card is made as a sample, with new stamps from Hobby Art. They are lovely, and print out so well. The top image is the front and the lower image is the back of the card. I used violent violet stazon and coloured in with Sakura pens. I used the swiss dots folder for the Cuttlebug and stroked over with the violet pad, to highlight the dots, in order to echo those on the images. The card front is purple mirri board, (which is why it looks so dark in the scan) and I used the insert paper for the backer to the triple embossed piece. Do hope Jenny likes it when I send it to her. She has a new show, on Ideal World/Create&Craft, on 16th April at 11am, so I hope you will support her by watching, if you are able...

It also fits in nicely with the challenge at MMM - to use stripes or dots.!!

Rainbow Lady's Rainbow challenge - yellow

This is my card for Rainbow Lady's Rainbow Challenge this week. I decided to do yellow as I well and truly "did" red the other day. I made all the backgrounds here except the pale lemon glitter card. The stamps are from Umount, for the swirls and flourishes, and full bloom from Hobby Art. I just went for all my yellow sprays and dabbers. The beads have slightly distorted the scan, but I expect you get the idea??!!

Theme Thursday 4x4 - Double Layer

I have entered this one in the Theme Thursday challenge, which is to make a 4" x 4" piece. I have gone more soft and gentle with this one, and chose blue, because I have not used it for a while!! The flower stamp is from Hobby Art, and is a fav of mine, because I feel it is so oriental. I used a french blue chalk eye inkpad and embossed in clear ep. The flourishes are from a UMount set, and I added dots with my Sakura pens, in the same colours as I used for the flower. The second, chalked layer, is a collage stamp from Creative Stamping, done with versamark to obtain a soft, ghostly imprint. I think it works and I enjoyed it anyway...

From the Silk Road

This is my entry for Rainbow Lady's Fashion challenge this week. The girls are printed onto figured silk paper, using the JS Oriental Dreams CD. I still love it to bits! The backgrounds are made using a floral Hobby Arts set, using Old Paper and Brushed Corduroy distress inks. I oversprayed with medieval gold Glitz spritz and sandy beach Glimmer Mist, to soften the edges of the flowers and add that wonderful gold and silver mica. The edges are lightly rubbed with the corduroy ink using a piece of Cut-n-dry -, which is just so usful in many ways.

I have made three paper beads from some wonderful paper my daughter bought me for crimble (this one is called Japan Journey) and it has all the colours of the girls' dresses in it. The beads are strung on dark blue organza ribbon. The whole ensemble is mounted on very dark blue card, which matches the stripes in the printed image. This is a large card, measuring 11ins x 8ins. The backer features the full bloom stamp and a large piece of the figured silk paper. I hope you enjoyed looking at it.