A Year of Inkscapes - December

For my last calendar panel of the year I wanted to capture some of the essence of approaching Christmas. I used a mix of evergreen foliage, cones and berry stamps, hopefully without making it look too much like a Christmas card.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Inks: Tumbled Glass, Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles. Stampin' Up- Soft Suede, Garden Green, Mossy Meadow, Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Stampin' Up - Ornamental Pine, Inkadinkado and Inkylicious sentiment.

A Year of Inkscapes - November

My calendar panel for November aims to capture the mistiness and gloom of November so I worked in tones of grey.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Inks - Iced Spruce, Pumice Stone, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot. Adirondack Pigment Cloudy Blue. memento London Fog
Stamps - Indigo Blu, Inkylicious, Crafty Individuals Flourish - Sentiment Quietfire

A Year of Inkscapes - October

My calendar panel for October aims to capture the real essence of autumn with golds and brown shades and uses images of ripe seedheads, bracken and leaves.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Inks: Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo, Wild Honey. Stampin' Up - Hello Honey. Memento - Peanut Brittle, Cantaloupe, Rich Cocoa
Stamps: Crafty Individuals, Lavinia and Chocolate Baroque sentiment.

I'm entering this into Stamping Sensations Autumn Glory challenge, it's a lovely theme.

A Year of Inkscapes - September

My calendar panel for September aims to capture the feeling of ripening crops and the onset of autumn with shades of red.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Inks: Wilted Violet. Adirondack dye ink Cranberry. Stampin' Up - Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, Cherry Cobbler. Versafine Onyx Black
Stamps: Woodware Cow Parsley, Inkylicious sentiment

A Year of Inkscapes - August

My calendar panel for August aims to capture the feeling of  the beach in summer. The main inspiration for this design was the sentiment which comes from one of my favourite song lyrics.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool. I used some torn paper for masking to add different coloured inks to the beach and sea areas and to create the horizon.

Inks: Distress Inks: Vintage Photo, Salty Ocean (of course!). Memento Rich Cocoa. Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Pool Party/ Paris Trunk Yellow Damasque. Versafine Onyx Black
Stamps: Inkylicious Windswept, Stampin' Up Wetlands,Impression Obsession sentiment, Stampscapes wave pattern 286E

A Year of Inkscapes - July

My calendar panel for July aims to capture the height of summer sunshine in warm yellows, oranges and reds.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Inks: Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Dusty Concord, Aged Mahogany. Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie
Stamps: Woodware, Inkadinkado and Inkylicious sentiment

A Year of Inkscapes - June

My calendar panel for June aims to capture the bright blue skies of summer.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Inks - Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire. Stampin' Up - Lost Lagoon, Coastal Cabana, Soft Sky
Stamps: Stampinback - Idiot Flowers, Sentiment Quietfire
Stencils: Imagination Bay Leaf

A Year of Inkscapes - May

My calendar panel for May aims to capture the increasing warmth of summer, so my colour palette is warming up!

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Inks - Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet and Picked Raspberry. Versafine - Black Onyx
Stamps: Crafty Individuals Flourish, Chocolate Baroque Wild Meadow, Rubbernecker sentiment
Stencil: Tim Holtz Wild Meadow

Playing with Distress Oxides

I finally got hold of the new Distress Oxide inks and have been having a play with making some backgrounds. I am still feeling my way, but I am enjoying the process of finding out what the new inks can do. They are certainly different from anything else I have used and very effective. This panel was coloured with Fossilised Amber and Cracked Pistachio inks.

I used this background to try out two new sets of Kay Carley stamps I bought when I went  to Ally Pally last weekend, when I had a smashing two days with my lovely Craft Stamping Quartet girls.

I stamped onto the background using my MISTI, both to position the sentiment which I stamped in Onyx Black Versafine ink and then the first stamping of the flower stamps with Old Paper Distress Ink. This pale stamping helped me to position dots of Distress Oxide inks in Fossilised Amber and Wilted Violet using a fine tipped sponge tool, before putting the panel back into the MISTI and re-stamping the flowers in exactly the same place, with Sap Green Archival ink and then adding dots with a white Jelly Roll pen. I added stems from the Stampingback Idiot Flowers set in archival ink and Olympia Green Versafine ink. Finally I added some dots with Nuovo drops and stamped a couple of butterflies from the Kay Carley stamps that I coloured with Prisma pencils and added white gel pen dots. Sorry the photo is a bit bleached out. I have tried all sorts of places to get a better pic, but it wont play!

Last weekend was a special time as it was three years since we had all been together in the same place! It's hard to believe this time last week we were wandering around a nicely quiet show hall (Sunday is always a bit less hectic) and realising our time together was ebbing away. As always, the lovely building of Ally Pally and its view across London makes the show a great experience.

 

 

I'm looking forward to more playing with the lovely things I bought. I have plenty to keep me busy!

 

 

Who knows, perhaps I might even be able to manage a few more frequent blog posts!

 

Thanks for popping by.

 

Elaine 





A year of Inkscapes - April

Here is my calendar panel for April. This month I wanted to capture the vibrant greens of spring as everything leaps into life.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Ink - Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn
Stamps: Woodware Script, Rubbernecker sentiment and Justrite Fern
Stencil: Stamps by Ryn Maidenhair Fern

Paper Artsy challenge - Topic 4 - Doors, Windows, Architecture

When I saw the current theme for the Paper Artsy challenge of doors and windows I knew I really wanted to try and take part. It's not often I can find the time for challenges, but this was irresistible.

I started with an Infusions background which reminded me of a wall covered with lichen. I am trying to get the hang of the best way of using these powders, but what fascinates me is the different sort of finishes you can achieve by using them in different ways. This led me into the direction of a scene inspired by The Secret Garden which is one of my favourite books. The doorway and hinges are from Paper Artsy stamps. I used Sleight Blue infusions mixed with a Fresco glaze medium to paint a wood effect for the door part which I then drew lines onto for a plank effect. I then overstamped and cut out the archway onto a sprinkled infusions background made with the same colour to get more of a stone effect. The hinges are from another Paper Artsy set and I embossed these and the keyhole and fence die cuts in gold embossing powder. I decorated the scene with paper flowers, tiny punches leaves, I wired a bit of branch from the garden covered in lichen onto the panel and added a die cut printed butterfly from K & Co and a Prima enamel word plaque. I set the panel into a frame from the Pound Shop that I had painted with Fresco Paint and highlighted the moulding with Treasure Gold gilding wax. The finishing touch was a Tim Holtz chit chat sticker

These are the materials I used:

Colouring mediums - Olive Tree & Sleight Blue Infusions, Fresco Satin Glaze & Toad Hall paint, Treasure Gold in Florentine and Amber Green
Stamps - Paper Artsy - Squiggly Mini 22 , Wrought Iron plate 2
Dies & punches - Memory Box - fence and key hole, Martha Stewart leaf edge punch, Joanna Sheen rabbits

I really enjoyed making this project, although I really made an awful mess of my craft desk.

It really was a wonder I managed to make anything given I had virtually no space left to work in. In the end though a quick 20 minutes of tidying while the dinner was cooking sorted me out until the next time!

Anyway, the main thing is I made the challenge deadline in time.

Elaine

Getting inky!

I have found the odd opportunity to have an inky play recently.

Firstly, I made this card with International Women's Day in mind.

The main image here is a B Line stamp and I really love it. The sentiments are from a Ranger Dian Wakely set that I really love and find myself using often to send messages of support to my women friends, many of whom are facing challenges in their lives. I used Distress Inks to colour the background and used a Clarity stencil of a chrysanthemum to add interest as it made me think of the flowering of womanhood.

Secondly, I made a card today for a friend who needs some TLC. Yesterday I got some new colours of Paper Artsy Infusions to add to my collection of 2! I now have 9 colours to play with and room in my little Perspex nail varnish container from Poundland for 3 more! I was having a play to see what I could make.

One of the things I wanted to try was to mix the powders with some of my much underused shimmer sprays to see what happened. Here I sprayed Sapphire Glimmer Mist which was a very powerful colour. I wasn't sure what would happen when I added Infusions on the top. I think it was Royal Blood that I used here. It definitely added depth.

When my panel was dry I added the sentiment from Quietfire heat embossed in silver detail powder. Then I added some splatters of white calligraphy ink and finished with some punched and die cut silver glitter stars and tiny weeny gems.

I have had that spring time urge to reorganise my craft supplies and here I sorted out all my Memento and Versamagic dew drop ink pads which are underused as they live down in my craft shed and I tend to work much more indoors now. Here I managed to put them into an underused drawer under the desk in my craft cubby, so there is no excuse to neglect them any longer.

Last but not least, there are definitely signs of spring. This week we managed to get a walk and picnic in on top of the cliffs and it was lovely breathing in that smashing sea air. We had the added bonus of spotting a peregrine falcon riding the thermals. I have a picture, but it is not worth sharing, but it did enable us to confirm our identification with the bird book when we got home!

Hope your days are being kind to you and you are managing to create some happy times for yourself.

Elaine

A year of Inkscapes - March

Here is my calendar panel for March. I wanted to try and capture a sense of things starting to tentatively green up. I have also added flying birds as geese often seem to fly at this time of year.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Inks: Bundled Sage, Iced Spruce/ Stampin' Up - Mint Macaron and Pistachio Pudding. Versafine Onyx Black
Stamps: Inkadinkado and Chocolate Baroque teasels, Inkylicious- sentiment, Stampscapes birds

A little bird told me

I recently wanted to make a simple card to let someone know I was thinking of them. I love this little bird image and have used it a lot for Christmas cards. This time I changed the colour scheme a little!

I stamped the bird image onto a white background and added some stencilling and ink shading with distress inks. I then stamped the bird image a second time, cut it out and inked it again in some darker colours. I wanted to add a little extra touch to the bird and used a scrap of metallic wrapping paper and a little red heart to catch the light. I finished with a little punched leaf in the bird's beak before sticking it all onto the background.

I am still keeping very busy with my crochet projects. I am working hard to keep up with my Moorland CAL blanket designed by Lucy at Attic 24. I am about a week behind, but hopeful of catching up as there is an extra week built into the timetable. I keep promising I will not start new projects and then something comes along to tempt me so much my resolve fails me! The latest temptation is the Scheepjes Hygge shawl CAL designed by Kirsten Ballering which is due to start next week. I have bought the kit, but do not plan to start mine until I have some other projects done and dusted. I opted for the gorgeous Rainbow colour way as it is so bright and cheery.

This project is made from two of my favourite yarns so it is going to be a joy to work on. The unusual thing about this crochet project is that it includes cross stitched detail worked on the crochet background so it will be very interesting to see how that works out! Wish me luck!

Hope whatever you are up to February is being kind to you. Here the first snowdrops are opening and I even have an advance party of daffodils joining in. I know they forecast some colder weather again, but today the sun has been shining after a week of wet weather and it really feels like there is a touch of spring in the air.

Elaine

A Year of Inkscapes - February

Here is my next panel on my calendars. I wanted to catch a sense of the chill of winter with seedheads, mistiness and muted colours.

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Inks: Distress Ink - Milled Lavender, Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire
Stamps: Kaisercraft Script, Inkylicious Wild Allium and sentiment, Penny Black Nature's Friends

Woke up it was a misty morning!

Well the freezing fog forecast has certainly arrived here this morning, but it is very beautiful!

I have finally got back into my teeny indoor craft space to make some much needed cards. The temptation of sitting with my knitting and crochet by the cosy wood stove in my freezing house has been too much, but I needed a kick to get back to my papercrafts! I was given a couple of unexpected Christmas cards by some ladies in my exercise dance class. I decided I would give them new year cards, but felt that I wanted something with a message that might be able to be displayed a bit longer. A good job as for various reasons tonight will be my first class since Christmas!

 

 

I went for my favourite style of ink shaded background, stamped a background stamp lightly using a couple of shades of ink across the stamp for variety and then overstamped with the sentiment and main image. I have to say I do love the ability to restamp over black images the Misti gives me. I know it is an expensive tool, but it has allowed me to do something I have never managed before with other stamp positioners. I was very interested to see the new Tim Holtz stamp platform to be released later this year. It has some interesting design features, like the reversible lid to allow for stamping rubber or clear stamps.

 

Stamps: Kaisercraft sentiment, Impression Obsession background swirl, I think the dancing lady may be Lost Coast

 

Inks: Distress Inks: Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet,  Chipped Sapphire, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Barn Door and Aged Mahogany. Versafine: Onyx Black.

Several knitting and crochet projects are keeping me busy. I have vowed to finish some things off and not just start new ones, but I have not done well so far. I have started the Moorland blanket designed by Lucy at Attic 24 and made a reasonable start on that. It is a gorgeous colour palette, although I have struggled a bit to master the pattern, it is the lining up of stitches that bamboozles me sometimes! I now have 4 blankets on the go, so I really must rein myself in! Still I should be cosy next winter!!!

I have also made time to organise my book jar for this year. I started this idea at the beginning of 2016 when I realised I had 130 books waiting to be read! I kept a book diary to keep track of my random selection of titles from the jar and by the end of the year I had read 59! Needless to say more new books have been added, but I am already on book 3 of this year, with 101 in the selection for this year so far!

Whatever you are up to, I hope you are keeping as warm and cosy as possible. Some books about the Danish concept of hygge have slipped into my reading. It makes so much sense to me, I naturally enjoy cosiness, and this time of year and with the sorry state of things in our world, there is a real need for comfort, companionship and simple pleasures.

Elaine x

A Year of Inkscapes - January

Happy New Year!

As soon as I saw these black do-it-yourself calendars, I knew what I would do with them as I love to mount my ink shaded cards onto black backgrounds. I decided to make 5 calendars for special crafty friends and one for myself. What I failed to realise initially that this meant that I would need to make 65 inked panels for each month and the covers. Phew that was a bit of a labour of love. However I am really happy with the results.

First of all here is my cover. I wanted to try out the new Concord and 9th alphabet stamps I had treated myself to, enabling me to get a customised calligraphy like font.

Inks: Stampin' Up -Pistachio Pudding. Distress Ink - Cracked Pistachio, Chipped Sapphire. . Versafine - Onyx Black
Stamps - Concord and 9th Upper and Lower case Sophisticated Script, Inkadinkado
Stencil: Tim Holtz Wildflower

Inks are applied with a mix of Clarity Stencil brushes and round Ranger Ink blending tools and a lot of elbow grease! Sentiments were all positioned with the assistance of a MISTI stamp positioning tool.

Here is my panel for January depicting the aurora borealis.

Inks: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Cracked Pistachio, Blueprint Sketch, Wilted Violet, Chipped Sapphire & Black Soot. Versafine - Onyx Black
Stamps - Stampin' Up - Wonderland, Quietfire Sentiment.