January Card Chain Challenge Reveal

This my second post today. It is surprising how often the 2nd of the month falls on the first Sunday of the month, which is when we start a new challenge over at We Love Stamping.  Anyway, it is time for the big reveal of the January Card Chain Challenge. This month 32 card makers took part and I sent my card to Julia in MA USA.

 I used the colours, the theme of friendship and the product of scraps. Unfortunately my jade was a bit too blue, but never mind, it is too late now. The lavender is from some coloured cardstock and the walnut is on the coloured cardbase and from the CP icing on the cake ink, which I used to stamp and colour the flower. I used CP aquatini ink to colour the matt and the flower. The scraps are the arched die cut pieces that were left over from a cover plate by Crafters Companion that I used on another card. I had intended to just stick the gold pieces onto a jade background and cut the die from white card to use as a template to get the pieces in the right position. Unfortunately, when I came to remove the white template, it was stuck fast. The gold pieces were so small that the glue leached out and stuck the white down too. At this point I realised that the technique wouldn't work with this die. I have used it successfully for other cards though. I was inspired by this card by Ashwini. Don't you just love the black and gold?

I didn't want to cover up too much of the gold so I found this flower stamp and matching die by MFT called sending a smile. I wasn't very happy with this when it was done, but Julia told me I was being stupid, and now looking at it again as I write this, I am changing my mind. I used a gel plate to stamp a reverse image of the flower onto the insert. Unfortunately I neglected to clean the plate after my practice and I got a shadow. That's another lesson learnt. Always clean the plate between stamping even if it looks clean.

Here are three cards made using the technique showcased by Ashwini. I have used 2 different cover plate dies. The first on uses the pieces from the Geo Tiles die by Pinkfresh.

I seem to be into using gold card these days both shiny and mat

This is such a great way to use those little die cut pieces. The pieces on the second 2 cards come from the same cover plate. Diagonal Chevron Shapabilities die by Spellbinders (I think it is very old).

Back to the card chain challenge, I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Michaela in Austria. Thanks too for the enclosed doilies.

If you would like to take part in the next card chain challenge, you have until 6th to sign up here

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

We Love Stamping February Challenge

Today is the first Sunday of the month so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping. Where we love to see you showcase your stamping. This is the first of two posts today as it is the card chain challenge reveal today too.

Faith has chosen our theme this month:

**CAS**

OR

**Anything Goes**

I do love CAS cards, but I don't feel as though I have been making many these days, so I did enjoy making this one. I have always liked the look of a blended panel with simple stamping over it, so I decided it was high time for me to give the technique another go.

I chose a smooth white card to blend my Catherine Pooler inks onto. I used 'orange peel' and 'apricot' to get the ombre look. I stamped the flower stem in CP midnight black ink (Altenew wildflower garden) and stamped the flowers in CP flame. I decided to add interest by die cutting the edge (Heffy Doodle edge dies) and then mounted the panel onto a coloured card base (Hunkydory adorable scorable mattastic). The sentiment is from Alex Syberia expressing gratitude stamp set. I stamped the same flower on the insert and envelope for a coordiated look. I do love it when everything matches.

You will definitely want to enter this month as there are prizes of stamps and stencil from Lavinia. Why don't you head over to the challenge blog to check it out? The prize winner is selected randomly and in addition the DT will choose a top three for special mention.

I hope I have inspired you to join us this month, all you have to do is ensure stamping (including digi) is seen somewhere on your card front, it no longer needs to be the main focus. Please also mention the products used. It would be great if you could join in with our theme, but anything goes is always an option if you are out of ideas. The challenge will close at noon (UK time) on Wednesday 26th February.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

Of course I didn't just make one. Here is the second card I made using this technique. I don't think it worked quite as well as the first one and it was more complicated because I had to mask the flower. I have used CP inks 'with an olive' and 'lemongrass' and the flower is from Altenew's pen sketched flowers stamp set.

I used drawing gum to mask the flower, simply because I saw it on my shelf and thought it would be quicker than fussy cutting a mask. It worked pretty well, but there was a tiny bit of ink on one of the flowers so I decided to get a yellow zig watercolour pen and add a little here and there on the flowers - it kind of worked. This time I mounted the panel on a yellow coated card base. I did use a few tiny gems on both cards.

What do you think? I would love to know which you prefer.

I am also sharing the first card at:

CAS on Friday - #301 Flowers

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it.