Artful Times Tag

I was over the moon to be runner up for the Artful Times challenge 59 : A Postcard from Abroad, I enjoy those challenges and look forward to seeing what the design team and participants come up with.

Challenge 60 is a tag, sounds straightforward doesn't it, except not so easy for me as I feel guilty about tags!
I have not posted any for a very long time and there is a reason for this. In 2012, I agreed to do an Alpha Tag swap with my friend Sally, one tag for each letter of the alphabet. Sally completed her set and sent them to me last Autumn. I have yet to complete mine (9 to go, I'm getting there). I WILL finish them and when I do there will be 26 of them to post here.

Having said that, I just have to play along with the Artful Times challenge so this afternoon I made a tag.
Here it is:

Background : Distress inks in Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters, a few water drops flicked onto the tag.

Foliage stamped using Peeled Paint DI - Zendoodles String Theory set CICSA6192

Kaisercraft Butterflies stamped in black versafine ink.

The sentiment is from a Butterfly Kisses set.

Some die cut leaves added - Tim Holtz Spring Greenery (love that die, one of my favourites).

The ribbon is stained with peeled paint distress ink to match and a few dots of green distress stickles added for a bit of interest.

I hope you like it, and Sally, if you read this, I really am working on the tag project, I have not forgotten!

A Postcard from Abroad

The Artful Times challenge 59 is A Postcard From Abroad.
I love mail art and had so many ideas for which country I would choose but in the end I choose Holland as it is less obvious and Dutch things are really so nostalgic for me. I had an Aunt who was married to a Dutchman. She spent 6 months of her year in Holland and 6 months in Cornwall and when she came back, she always brought gifts. I wonder how many little Dutch windmills are in people's houses in Cornwall due to my Aunt's gifting. I also had the misfortune of owning a pair of clogs, mine were red, the real wooden type - very uncomfortable.

Here is my entry for the challenge, my postcard from Holland.
The focal image is a windmill stamp called Delft Style Windmills from Katy Sue Designs stamped in Denim Adirondack dye ink and colour tinted with salty ocean distress marker. Salty ocean distress ink applied with a duster brush. The postcard stamp is a Tim Holtz one.

When I think of Holland I think of the blue and white of the Delft china and, of course, orange. I wanted to add some tulips to my postcard but have no tulip stamp but .... I remembered a Mariane Designs embossing and cutting folder that I have which has tiny tulips. The tulips are the waste from that cut and emboss folder, they took an age to pick out of the die and were devils to pick up, so tiny. The stamp is from a sheet of vintage images from my stash and the flowers were made using a Martha Stewart punch  with tiny orange gems in the middle.
Phew .... my postcard is done, and I loved doing this challenge.

Earth Tones

Earth Tones is the theme for this week's Less is More challenge. Resisting the temptation to produce yet another Autumnal leaves card as I'm pretty sure I did one of those last year for a Less is More challenge, I decided to use earth tones for the background on my card.

I used a Memory Box designer stencil with TH Distress Inks applied with some cut and dry foam on Crafty Individuals coated cardstock. Lovely result, the colours blend so well on that card.

The focal images are die cut from Crafters Companion Centura Pearl card, the poodle is mounted on 3D foam. These are lovely quality dies from Frantic Stamper purchased from Oyster Stamps with my winnings from the Artful Times Challenge last month.

Summary of Materials Used:

Precision Cutting Die by Frantic Stamper Inc. - FRA-DIE-09093 Toutou the French Poodle

Precision Cutting Die by Frantic Stamper Inc. - FRA-DIE-09091 Loretta

Memory Box designer stencil - Texture Mesh 

Centura Pearl black cardstock

Coated cardstock from Crafty Individuals

Tim Holtz Distress Inks : Vintage Photo, Ripe Persimmon and Wild Honey

A Day Without Laughter .....

Just a quick share today of a card I made using my Charlie Chaplin stamp. I kept it simple in black and white as I feel it should be.

Materials : 

Charlie Chaplin Stamp - Deep Red

Stamped with black versafine ink

Aperture cut in black Centura Pearl card using a Spellbinders distressed edges die.

..... and don't forget to laugh.