Woodware - Punches on Parade

I am last up this week at Woodware for our theme using punches. I have to admit I don't use a lot of punches in my cards so I ended up keeping it very simple. I was all set to sit down and create something a little more involved like a spray of summer flowers. Then my daughter phoned to ask if they could come up for a while that evening. She and her boyfriend Sean were just back from a week's holiday in Tunisia. So I thought she wanted to show us her holiday pictures. And I have to admit I was less than enthusiastic on the phone claiming I had a lot to do that night but sure they were welcome to come up for a wee while. Anyway it turned out they had got engaged when on holiday. So a couple of glasses of wine later I suddenly remembered I needed to get this card made as Dorothy (our team leader was going away) and needed stuff from us early.
So I literally made this card in about 20 minutes. Most people have circle punches or dies so these flowers are so quick and easy.

 Once punched out I just roughen up the edges with my scissor blade and sponge the edges with a darkish ink to give them a distressed look. Then I use a large ball embossing tool on a foam mat to give them a bit of a cup shape to make them stand out a bit.

I like to finish them off with some buttons and pearls. I quite like the rustic but contemporary feel to the flowers. I also added a few punched out leaves to the hand drawn stems.
Well it looks like it's going to be another cracking weekend. Hope it's a good one for you. I am now counting down the days to our holiday ... only two weeks to go!!!! Boy do I need this holiday!!
Siobhan x

Woodware - The Great Outdoors

Whoops!!! I am a little late posting this. I completely forgot last night that I was first up this week for Woodware. This week our theme is the "Great Outdoors". I was about to reach for my trusty Stampendous Tree Poem stamp when I thought I had better use something else instead. I have used that stamp several times recently and didn't think Dorothy, our team leader, would appreciate another version.
So I had a rake through my Dreamweaver stencils and found another tree!! This is called Cedar Tree. I love oriental style cards and haven't made any for a while.

The tree was stencil embossed by running it though my die cutting machine. Then I coloured it with pigment inks and stencil brushes. I also found another stencil of cranes that had a bamboo border and used the bamboo down the edge of my background paper. I blended a little Antique Linen Distress Ink over the top to help make it stand out more.

Here is the finished card.

 

To finish of I used an embossing folder on bronze card and wrapped some garden twine around. I couldn't find my rafia!! Then I found a chinese coin and used some beads to dangle off the ends.

 

Simple but effective!!
I have no idea what the other girls will come up with for this theme. Should be interesting!! Check them out at the Woodware blog.
Have a good week!!
Siobhan x

Woodware - Sketch 25

We are on to sketch 25 over at Woodware this week. How the time flies. When this appears on my blog I will still be in Ireland. I am visiting my Dad and sister and her family with my daughter Catriona. I am looking forward to a few days of doing very little. The weather is meant to be good!!! Work has been a bit full on since I got back from Vancouver and I am still very tired. So I am hoping to recharge my batteries and come back full of energy and ready to go again ..... wishful thinking on my part. I put all my current ails down to the menopause!!
Here is the sketch:

 



And here is my sketch challenge card. I killed two birds with one stone here as I was asked to make an engagement card for a couple soon to have their first baby. 

This Stampendous image is one of my favourites. I haven't used it for a while so high time it got an airing. I coloured the card stock first by blending Distress inks. The rest doesn't need any explaining. I stamped a script (also Stampendous) on the brown layer behind the birds.

I finished off with a simple punched flower embellishment and some pearls.
Hope you are having a good week. 
Siobhan x

Woodware - No Paper, No Problem

This week at Woodware the team has been challenged by Jill Tuck of The Stamp Man to make a card from scratch - using no pre patterned paper. Anytime I visited The Stamp Man in Skipton I was alway so impressed with Jill's work. She always made the most fantastic background papers from spritzing inks and mica powders and scrunching up paper etc. 
I am afraid my offering doesn't quite live up to that. But I do a lot of background techniques anyway with Distress or other dye inks. 

I have used several browns, rust and orages for this masculine card. I wanted it to have a more summery feel than my usual dark and grungy backgrounds. Splattering the blended backgrounds with a little water always gives a nice distressed feel. 
My main image is this fab Stampendous steamer which I stamped in black onto another piece of white card with the same blended colours. 

For a bit of texture I added a border of Aged Gold and Aged Black frantage powder. Whilst hot I sank a few cog and gear stamps for added interest. They don't really show up well in the photo but look quite good in the fleash, as it were!!

 
 The sentiment is another Stampendous stamp that I stamped twice and cut out as two tags. I also found these screw brads which I thought perfect to finish off. 
Be sure to check up on what the other girls have come up with this week at Woodware. 
I am off on my travels again on Friday. This time to Ireland to see my Dad and my sister and her family. So if I manage to make next week's project I hope to schedule it to appear while I am away!! Oh the pressure ......!!
Siobhan x