Destinations at Always Use Rubber

We have a new challenge for you at Always Use Rubber, and this time the theme is Destinations.  That means we'd like to see something that represents a place, maybe a city or country, or maybe a generic place that you could go to, like the seaside or the mountains.

For my destination, I have chosen Paris.

 

The two postcards are made with the Paris panorama from the Tim Holtz cityscapes set, used with a postcard stamp I was given in a RAK some years ago,  and the large stamp collage and tiny postcards are from a bargain unnamed set I bought at the Make It show. The two ribbon snippets are both printed ribbons from Crafty Ribbons, and yes, you're not seeing things, one of them really IS an exact match for the cityscapes stamps - the whole length ribbon has the full set of stamps on it.

 

The background - well, I wish I'd dug it out before I started colouring my stamped images, as I would have used different colours! It's an old street map of Paris, one of those freebies you can pick up at hotels and tourist attractions, and I ironed it (between two sheets of paper in case the ink ran) to get rid of the fold lines.

 

I stamped all the images onto watercolour paper using Stazon ink, then used distress inks and a water brush to very roughly colour them and then spritzed the whole thing with water to soften all the edges of the colours. When it was dry, I added some highlights with a white gel pen.

 

After cutting the postcards to the right size, I was left with part of the borders so I fussy cut them and added them to the lower corners of the card to cover up a bit more of the map!

 

Now why don't you head over to Always Use Rubber to see what Zoe and Christi have created, and share a destinations themed make of your own?

 

I am sharing this with

 

Classic Design Team Open Challenge - November

Loves to Craft - November 

Crafty Creations Challenge - Water Colour   

Butterfly in the snow

Have you ever seen a butterfly on a snowy day? I've not, but if our strange weather patterns continue, it may well start to happen. Yesterday we woke to frost, yet in the afternoon there was a butterfly in the garden.

For this card. I made a watercolour background and then overstamped it with the snowflake (a very old Hero Arts stamp) in the same colours. Then I stamped the snowflake again in silver over everything else and embossed it with silver embossing powder although having to take the photo in electric light has made it look more brown than silver.

The sentiment was a free gift with an order, but I can't remember whether it was from Paper Artsy or Crafty Individuals. I added silver matting and a die cut butterfly, using the Memory Box butterfly die I won in Liz (Crafty Sunflower)'s recent blog candy.

I think this would work well as either a Christmas card or a winter birthday card.

I'm sharing this with
Rubber Dance - Purple, Pink, Turquoise and a very happy birthday to Bibi!
Butterfly Challenge - Quote and/or Quicksilver
Cuttlebugmania - Tic Tac Toe - I chose embossing/die cuts/purple
Naughty or Nice - Don't Pull Your Punches  (just to prove that I CAN do Nice sometimes!)

Like, erm, MICE around a candle flame

I love this House Mouse image of the little mice sneaking into a lantern from the snow and warming themselves against the candle flame!

I'd got as far as stamping it and colouring it with Promarkers, and selecting some papers to go with it,  but I just couldn't decide how to put it all together. Then I looked at today's new challenge at CRAFT Challenges and saw that it is a sketch - and a perfect sketch for this image.



I've followed the sketch almost exactly (apart from the small diagonal trim on the bottom left which I'd thought was a watermark until I saw the DT samples!)
Other challenges I'm sharing this with are
House Mouse and Friends - Christmas 
Addicted to Stamps and More - Holiday 
Fab'n'Funky - Animals

Rainbow Unicorn

The current challenge at Cardz 4 Galz is Fairytale/fantasy and to my mind the most beautiful fanstasy images of all are on the Joanna Sheen CD/Project Book "Josephine Wall".

I printed the image  and background onto glossy photo paper instead of the matte I normally prefer, to make the most of all the intricate details.

With such a stunning image, it was very hard to do anything more for fear of detracting from it, so I simply added some AB crystals to pick up the rainbow in the picture.

Bespectacled Santa

I love the fun short sighted Santa images on The Wine Buffs Christmas Spirit CD from Katy Sue Designs. The CD has some great cartoons of Santa nd his reindeer friends, but here I have picked one of the toppers showing just Santa balancing along the top of a roof - you just KNOW he's about to step off and land in a snow drift, don't you?

I've added paper and a topper from the CD and some lovely self adhesive snowflake border, given to me by a friend, atop a strip of red card to make it stand out.

Challenges for this card:
CD Sundays - Father Christmas
Christmas Card Challenges - Santa and/or Elf
52 Christmas Card Throwdown - pick a previous sketch - I used this sketch from November  2013

Holly and Ivy at Sparkles Christmas

It's time for this month's challenge at Sparkles Christmas, and this month our theme is Holly and Ivy.
Our prize this month is two gorgeous  Buzzcraft stamp sets donated by DT member Sandra H

For my own card I have used a design sheet from the CD The Best Of La Pashe 2012. I thought at first all the holly and ivy was going to be a nightmare to cut out, but the artist has very cunningly provided a very faint grey line to cut along, leaving a very narrow white border, which of course works really well with a snow scene. The backing paper is from my stash - I have an idea it  was part of a free gift with a card blank order some years ago.

I am sharing this with
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - November  

Remembrance or Sympathy at Cardz 4 Guyz

Welcome to November, the month of remembrance. And this week we are marking that at Cardz 4 Guyz as our theme is Remembrance and/or Sympathy.

I like to keep sympathy cards very simple, I think they are somehow calmer that way, which is welcome at a time of great stress. I wouldn't normally use flowers on a card for a man, but at this time of year the significance of poppies makes them perfect for the occasion, especially if the person being commemorated has ever served in the forces.

So I've used a very old poppy stamp - it's an unmounted one that I got in a grab bag way back when I first started stamping, and a sentiment stamped with an Anna Griffin stamp. Some simple black matting completes the card.

 

I am sharing this with

A bit more time to craft - Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes