Friday and that can only mean one thing .. the weekend starts here!

Morning readers,

A pal recently requested that I make a few "all occasion" style cards but with no wording ....... I thought I would make some more sombre (get well/sympathy) and some brighter and/or more whimsical, for brighter occasions ....... what do you think?

My card

  

The front, back and inside of my card along with the front and back of my envelope

Materials used:

• White A2/C6 card, 250gsm, and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card, cut to fit
• One piece of grey card, cut to mat
• Floral image (Stampers Anonymous Artistry CSS27836 "Natures Elements") stamped using Ranger Archival cobalt blue ink

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Addicted to Stamps - challenge No. 314 - CAS (Clean And Simple)
2. Crafty Creations - challenge No. 376 - ANYTHING GOES
3. Crafting With An Attitude - challenge No. 44 - ANYTHING GOES

And now for one of the "brighter" cards ..

My card

  

The front, back and inside of my card along with the front and back of my envelope

Materials used:

• White A2/C6 card, 250gsm, and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card cut to fit
• One piece of black card, cut to mat
• With a piece of scrap card I die cut a rectangular aperture before taping it to the front of my card front using low tack tape - voila! Instant MASK!
• Using a Tim Holtz mini blender I applied Distress Inks in mustard seed and spiced marmalade (I forgot how much I enjoy this exercise!!!)
• I removed the mask and then stamped Penny Black image (40-012 "Irises") using Versafine onyx black ink
• Once all inks were dry I paced the mask back in situ before applying a coat of matte sealant, to protect those water based inks and set aside to dry
• Once this layer was dry I used stardust stickles to bling it up a bit!

I'll be entering the above for the following challenges:-

• International Art and Soul - challenge No. 44 - ORANGE and BLACK
• Back to Basics - challenge No. 14 - STENCILS or MASKS
• 4CraftyChicks - challenge No. 425 - ANYTHING GOES + option to FINISH THE INSIDE

And, finally, a journal page .... many of you will recall that a few friends and I challenge one another to produce a journal page per week ... we've been doing it since June and I haven't missed a week yet! This week the word has been set by Cherry and she's gone with SPICE - I've gone with spicy warm colours and the sentiment "Variety is the SPICE of life"!!!

My journal page

A closer view of the doodling and washi tape

A closer view of the sentiment

Materials used:

• One page of my Strathmore journal
• I sprayed Adirondack colour wash in butterscotch, once dry I laid the Dylusions circles stencil over the first layer and sprayed Adirondack red pepper through, before setting aside to dry
• Once dry I added the washi tape to one corner and then doodled a border using a Faber Castell "B" thickness pitt pen, also filling in the "Life is an adventure" printed on the washi tape as I felt it didn't show up enough
• Using a small alphabet set (from Studiog) I spelled my sentiment and stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• Dylusions woman stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• November freebie from Craft Stamper "coffee stain" image stamped using Memento tuxedo black ink
• White Sakura gelly roll gel pen used to accentuate the sentiment
• My final step was to spray with a Krylon sealant, to "fix" the water based inks

I'll be entering the above for the following challenges:-

1. Stampotique - challenge No. 309 - USE WASHI TAPE
2. A Inky Mess - challenge No. 24 - ANYTHING (Mixed media) GOES
3. More Mixed Media - October challenge - ANYTHING (Mixed media) GOES + option of USE ORANGE
4. WeLove2Create - challenge No. 13 - ANYTHING (Mixed media) GOES