Friday and time to share a swap make

Morning readers,

I hope you've all enjoyed a good week, I know I  have - with coffee with a pal on Monday and a day out with a crafting pal just yesterday, we met at Snazzy's in Swindon, where Val made us very welcome ......  and then followed up with lunch at the Sally Pussey - yumscrumptious even though neither of us had room for dessert!

I don't buy magazines very often .. for one thing, the prices are hideous! I was powerless to resist issue 186 of Simply Card Making and Papercraft though. I was flicking through said magazine and spotted something which held my interest .. naturally, I didn't have the exact materials so had to make a "close approximation" / interpretation - see below

My Artist Trading Card

Materials used:

• ATC blank
• Snippets of card in black, pearl grey and white
• That Special Touch stencil, used in conjunction with Distress Inks in picked raspberry and wilted violet and also the fabulous Glitzkraft golden glitter frosting - applied with a sponge blender and a palette knife respectively
• On a separate snippet of card (which I used some of the excess distress ink to colour) I stamped the magazine freebie using Versafine onyx black ink

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

1. Crafting From The Heart - challenge No. 234 - ANYTHING GOES
2. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - challenge No. 97 - ANYTHING GOES
3. EllieBelle's Corner - January challenge - SPARKLE AND SHINE
4. Crafty Gals Corner - challenge No. 183 - MAKE IT SPARKLE

And the second project? I wanted to make them different so, the first was sort of simple but luxurious - the second? Whimsical and a bit of fun!

My Artist Trading Coin

And a closer view

Materials used:

• Snippets of green mirri and white card
• Ranger/Simply Cardmaking and Papercraft free images and stencils
• Distress Inks: Squeezed lemonade, Mustard seed and Fossilised amber
• Triangle stencil from above freebies
• Flower, stem and border stamped on to snippet of white card, coloured using Sharpie pens then fussy cut out and mounted on to my ATCoin using dimensional foam tape
• Sentiment stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• Anita's dimensional gloss and stardust stickles to finish

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

1. Dream Valley Challenges - challenge No. 193 - ANYTHING GOES
2. Stamps and Fun - challenge No. 338 - ANYTHING GOES
3. Crafty Creations - challenge No. 382 - ANYTHING GOES
4. Creative Inspirations - January challenge - ANYTHING GOES

Additionally, this is the card used to transport the above ATC and ATCoin ... to my swap buddy

My tent fold card

Materials used:

• One sheet of cream, 300gsm, card - cut to form my tent fold card, image panel and insert
• WRMK nesting rectangle dies used to cut the image panel and insert and also a slightly smaller panel of funky foam
• Kaisercraft image stamped using Ranger Archival library green and sentiment stamped using Ranger Archival jet black inks - both image and sentiment are from the "Botanica" set
• Funky foam cut to form a dimensional foam layer .. there I go again, trying to use up the almost centuries old funky foam I have!!!

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

1. Get Creative - challenge No. 76 - ANYTHING GOES
2. Corrosive Challenge - challenge No. 1 - ANYTHING GOES
3. Dragonfly Dreams - January challenge - ANYTHING GOES
4. Addicted to Stamps - challenge No. 324 - CLEAN AND SIMPLE
5. Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday challenge - CLEAN AND SIMPLE

I don't know which of the ATC's I prefer but I'm hoping my swap pal will like them both. The free images that tempted me? My friend bought the same magazine and we challenged ourselves to make a project using the new stash .. challenge ACCEPTED! The downside of my dimensional ATC's AND my dimensional card? They don't fit through the standard postal rate aperture so will have to be going LARGE rate ... memo to self for future reference EITHER a dimensional card OR dimensional ATC's but NOT both!!!!

And, if you are curious to know what the swaps were like (also made using the stamps and stencils above) ... then here they are