Using Old Stash

I've been trying to get a few Christmas cards made so that I don't have a sudden panic in December. I'm also trying to get rid of (use) some of my very old stash. The following cards are all made from bits from a very old Kanban kit from QVC!

I'm sharing the bottom  card at The Holly and Ivy Christmas challenge. I'm on a bit of a roll with these so  there will be more old stash cards coming up!

Rudolph Day

This is the last Rudolph Day of the year and also the last one that Sarn is hosting. But never fear Maureen of ScrappyMo has agreed to take it on for next year. I must confess that I don't enter throughout the year as I really can't get motivated to make Christmas cards all year long! So enough waffling here are my two cards. (Sarn has insisted on two cards in one post this year - a hard taskmistress!)

I have been trying to use up some of my stuff bought some time ago. These were from an old Kanban kit of toppers and some more of the paper pad I've been trying to get rid off!  Still loads of both left though!

My 1st Art Journal Page

After commenting on Sarn's lovely page here she sent me an email which shamed  encouraged me
to make a start!

 

 Creating it was not without some hiccups! After creating a background I got some stamps out and inked them up with black archival, the pad slipped out of my hand and stupidly I tried to catch it and ended up with a perfect ink pad mark on my top (which was pale blue) - fortunately a very old one which has now been relegated to the  "decorating clothes" cupboard. So the background now had badly stamped images so went back to the gesso and paints. This time more succesful but would have been better if I'd had a bit more patience and let it dry properly, before stamping. Then I got the gilding flakes out. I really want to do a canvas similar to this so it was a way of seeing whether the end result was vaguely like I envisaged.  I'd forgotten how messy gilding flakes and flitterglu were! But they did look like i'd imagined so a good result. But as I craft upstairs the nearest supply of water for the fliterglu'd stamps etc is the bathroom - so then that had to be cleaned as well!

Anyway Sarn - the book is no longer pristine - and despite the hiccups along the way I enjoyed playing! Stamps used are Clarity, Stampin' Up! and Kanban. The background, acrylic paint, distress stains and Cosmic Shimmer sprays.

Merry Monday#69

Last month the Merry Monday challenge lasted for a whole month and I managed to miss it. So this week made my card for it in plenty of time but I'm only just managing to post it in time. Another great sketch to follow and I think it will be one I use again. The circle images are from some Kanban topper sheets that I've had for a couple of years. They seem to last for ever!

The paper is again very old - in fact I think it when I first started making cards but never found the colours in the pad very easy to use. They never seemed to be just the right shade of green or red!

 

 



Merry Monday Snowmen

Hello from a snowy Hampshire! When I started playing with these snowmen for the Merry Monday challenge I didn't expect to be posting them while it actually snowed! But it is and looks like it is here for the day and tomorrow too. I decided to use two stamps that I've had in my stash and have never seen an inkpad.

The one with the holly leaves is a Kodomo stamp that I bough when I first started cardmaking! I stamped it in London Fog so the outline wouldn't be so harsh but not sure it works too well. The paper is from a pad that I think was a freebie with a magazine some time ago, but I've managed to hide most of the holly leaf pattern! The holly border I cut out of some scrap dark green card with a Spellbinders die.The second one is a Kanban stamp. The background gave me a chance to play with my latest acquisition - gilding wax! I think it will become a new best friend for adding some bling to cards. I found the embossed piece of card in my scraps box and rubbed first the red wax over half and then the pewter over the other half and blended them in the middle. It doesn't show up to well in the photo but it has added a lovely metallic sheen. As they have both used scraps I was also  going to take them to Pixie's Playground but I've realise I'm just too late!!

Less is More Number 2!

Well having done one card I'm on a bit of a roll! This time I have used another Kanban stamp set for the first time! And instead  of colouring the dress I paper- pieced it using some SU paper that was sitting on my table.

Less is More Challenge - Week 66 Colour Challenge

I haven't done one of these challenges for ages, or indeed any other challenge!. Every Saturday I look to see what the challenge is with the intention of entering and before I know what's happened it's Friday and I haven't even started. This week I have done better. I did find yellow quite difficult though - not a colour I would normally use as the main colour.

I used a Kanban stamp that had never been inked and the sentiment is from a Creative Expessions set. I must say having got round to inking this stamp I rather like it. Must go and have a look to see what else I've got unused! Quite a lot I think!

Lemon and Lavender

The Crafty Cow forum has a monthly challenge which I set and this year we have decided to have a sketch each month. This is the card I have made for the July challenge .

The paper is from some old Elusive Images paper I had, the stamp is from Kanban,coloured with Copics and the flowers were punched from the paper.  am aslo entering it in the Simon Says challenge which this week has a theme of lemon and lavender.

Less is More- One layer and a frame!

The challenge at Less is More this week is to make a one layer card that has to include a frame! After much thought I came up with this. I used another of the Kanban stamps from the recent QVC TSV stamped it with Memento black then coloured it with copics. I used YG23, R85,R20,R46 and R59. I enhanced the frame with a fine black liner. The sentiment was another Kanban stamp and I drew the frame round it by marking with dots where I wanted the corners then joined them with a wiggly line! I also added a bit of colour to the background of the image by dabbing DI Tattered Rose on with a make up sponge.

Less is More - Monochrome

As many of you have commented that a photo might look better I have added one above so you can compare.

This is my entry for this week's Less is More Challenge- which is to use only one colour. I have used a Kanban stamp which was part of last week's QVC TSV. I stamped in Adirondack Cranberry and used a water brush to blend the colours.
Thank you to everyone who commented on last week's card - I do appreciate them and I think you were all right - I should have left the mount off or put it in the middle.

Easter cards

I don't usually make Easter cards but the card swap I participate in has the the Easter for this months and decided to send one to each of my grandsons as well as it's difficult to post Easter eggs. No doubt they'll have "chocolate tokens" in!! No idea what make the decoupage is as it's been in my stash a long time but the dotty paper is from Papermania as are the flowers and bow and the cardstock is from Kanban.

Black and White Christmas

 Well my playing session with Friendly Plastic ended up with it going in the bin! Not very successful this time so I've got nothing to show on that front. However I have now got nearly all my Christmas cards made so here is the first few. The card swap on the Crafty Cow forum this month was black and white Christmas so having made one I then made a few more! Most were from the remains of a Kanban kit I bought from QVC a couple of years ago.

Elegant Ladies

I bought the elegant ladies from QVC in a rash moment, a while ago. So have been making some quick cards for my "emergency" box. They are very quick to make and do look rather nice. The trouble is that there is so much in the kit I'm sure I won't use all of it.

Monochrome Christmas

Just for a change I made these cards from a Kanban kit bought from QVC. I must say I rather liked the result.