Spotlight - Silhouettes

Gooooooood Afternoon everybody! Thank You kindly for our spotlight on plastic entries!  Winners will be announced on 15th March.  This is our last spotlight here, we will be moving them to the new blog just to give us some space and reduce confusion so the one after this will be in its new home HERE so please do follow! 

Our new spotlight challenge which has been set by Joy who has chosen Silhouettes. Your design must contain a silhouette(s), preferably as the focus of the card.

We're being sponsored once again by Stitchy Bear Stamps who have provided the team with fabulous silhouette images from her range, she has got a LOT to choose from!

Over to the team and our creations!

Judie

I used Big Ben for my choice on this challenge. I brayed my background with silkies and added some inkadinks to get some texture into it. I trippled embossed Big ben, attached a few watches pieces and embossed them as well, I added the stamped with distress inks and added some yellow glitter around the edges. More piccies on my blog xx

Jenni

I used the digi stamp watching you and printed it onto white cardstock - my printer has been playing up recently and any tone on an image is printing out green (?!) in this case it works quite well but it can be a bit of a nuisance! I used distress ink to colour my cardstock and sprayed some Dylusions ink to give the splattered effect. I made the flowers with lengths of twisted gold net, adding a light spray of the ink and finished off with dew drops to the centres.

Ei

For my demo this week I chose Dance Fever silhouette from our sponsor.

As it is a digital image, I thought I'd give it  a digital-hybrid 'treatment' and printed out my digital layers before decoupaging them, finishing with an acetate layer adhered with four real screws!

The background paper and mat are my own Eiglas digi papers.

Josephine

I love silhouettes - especially digital ones! This one is from the Touch of Class set from Stitchy Stamps. For this card, I added a frame and some leaves to the image, then printed it on film. The background uses some images from a CD, some PSE generated trees and shadows, and is printed on paper. The two layers are separated by foam pads to give some depth. I finished the card with some die cut flowers and punched ferns.

gill

I ended up making 2 cards for this spotlight choice as had made the flowery one before i received my silhouette image from stitchy stamps.
My first card made with some lovely card i had from qvc ages ago but goes well with this sort of card and with fairies too. used some black peeloffs from stash just matted and layered them up and added a few odd peeloffs to the main background card with a rubon down the spine and that was that quick and easy
the 2nd card i used the download of the reach fairy from stitchy stamps, printed on rainbow card.die cut the heart frame matted on pink glittery card doodlebug card added a few black die cuts and again that was that quick and simple but quite effective gill x

Sarah W

For this card I used 'Reach'.  It really is a beautiful digi stamp and from the moment I saw it I had ideas bouncing around my head about what I wanted to do with it!  I have created the background using Cosmic Shimmer Mists sprayed over a piece of glossy photo paper.  I was really worried when I was making it that the inks wouldn't stick and that it would end up a big slidey mess, but a gentle drying over with my heatgun set the colours and  to my surprise created a surface which my printer actually let me print on!  This was good luck more than anything else I think... I finshed of the card by trimming the image piece to a square and matting onto a slightly larger black square and then added some diecut corners to create a frame.

Vix

For this I used 2 images by Stitchy Bear Stamps - Dolphin silhouette and Relax making a scene which coloured with promarkers using the letrajet airbrush.  I've added sparkle to the water with sakura stardust clear pen.

Challenge 22 - Least & Most

Thank You all for your fantastic entries to our Inside Out challenge! Such a wide range of ideas and styles, if you get some free time go take a peek at the entries! I'm glad you enjoyed that one even if you only get round to decorating the insides on occasion you know how special it makes a card look.

Thank You also to our fantastic sponsor Joanna Sheen for her support once again and to Susie Sugar for being our special guest! We're finishing off our comments rounds and we will be back with winners in a week or so!

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Challenge 22 - Least & Most

Our challenge to you this fortnight is a colour challenge, please make your design using your MOST FAVOURITE COLOUR COMBINED WITH YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE. Makes for some interesting combos that you may otherwise have avoided! Just a note, yes black and white do count as a colour choice e.g black least fav and pink most.

Use your chosen colours predominately on your design and lets see what you come up with, ya never know you might like it! Please remember to link back to us, there are tutorials in the sidebar if you don't know how to do this.

We're sponsored for this challenge by the fabulous Stitchy Bear Stamps who gave the DT a choice of images to play with. Gosh how can we choose!!! There is a huge selection of digital stamps, papers and elements to choose from. Here's what co-owner Stitchy has to say...

"Hi my name is Stitchy and I am Co-Owner of Stitchy Bear Stamps...we started this store April 1st, No Fooling haha..I live in upstate New York with my husband and two TEENAGE adults haha, I do say that loosely as they think they run the show here, NOT...
I been creating stamps for a little less than a year now and I am totally addicted to the craft..I started about 4 years ago making digital scraps and I knew there was much more out there, so a friend of mine introduced me to digital stamps...and the rest they say is history...I look forward to seeing all the beautiful creations come through...good luck everyone..stitchy xoxox"

Stitchy Bear stamps is offering the lucky winner a choice of any 3 of their digital stamp range, thank you Stitchy!

Challenge closes at 12 noon GMT on 13th June, please link to your creations via the blue froggy thingy! Quite like that as you can see all the entries!

Lets see what the girls have come up with using images provided by Stitchy Bear Stamps.

GUEST DESIGNER - RACHEL

Using Relax Silhouette with her colour choice of Teal and Brown

Joy

I found that this challenge was difficult to work out how to do as I love all colours and do not have any that I do not like. Finally I decided to use Red as my favourite and Black as the least favourite simply because I do not use it as often as I use other colours. I tried to keep the number of colours I used to a small amount as I think I often use too many, but did you two different shades of what I thought was Red although one looks more like pink doesn't it?
I used a square red card and added a piece of black paper which I had put through our crimple so that it looks like corrugated paper.
Next I coloured in The Raggedies picture using Dovecraft Dual Permanent Markers. and then stuck it onto the black paper using DST & finally added a silver corner shape in each of the four corners & Best wishes at the bottom of the picture.
I really did enjoy making this card and hope that you enjoy looking at it.

Jack

(Jack has been busy with family so wasn't expected to take part but managed a creation at the last minute!)

For my card I have used one of my favourite (but subtle) colours - Grey - plus a colour I find really hard to use - Orange. I started with a white card blank and then added a piece of orange card that I had edged with my Fiskars Punch and Emboss punch. Then on a central strip of white card I stamped Creative Expressions French Script in grey using a felt pen to colour the stamp. I also rubbed some grey pen on a tile, spritzed it with water and sponged it round the edge of the card. The flowers are Hero Arts Verbena, again coloured with felt pens in grey, orange and a touch of red, then spritzed.

Judie

I am afraid I have cheated a bit here, have not had time to make my backing papers this week so I just used backing papers (shop brought) printed out my image Army Dude supplied by stitchy stamps (thanks so much for these), coloured with glitter pens and added some leafs and card candy.
For the least and most colours, well my fav is always green/s and horrides are always pinks/red

Julie

For least and most I have used the green which I love at the moment and brown which I would not choose for cardmaking although I have a lot of it in my house !! I started with a square card, punching some shapes and matting and layering, using papers from Papermania Temptations paper stock. The image is Playtime from Stitchy Stamps which I have printed and coloured with promakers. The flowers are layered and attached with a brad.

Lisa

Lisa used black for her least and pink for her most using Butterfly Love with core-dinations cardstock and a martha stewart Doily Lace punch.

Mandy

On holidays - To Follow

Toria

I decided to use lilac and brown for my colour combo. I do not really have a colour I am not keen on, but do not use brown very much, so thought I would use it this time. Lilac one of my favourite colours. I used Relax Silhouette from Stitchy Stamps. When I saw her, I knew what I wanted to do. I had seen this shoe template on a blog and had to have a go at it. I created a background with starburst stains and use the image to create a shoe buckle. The flowers are created using punches from the starburst background and the brown paper. I added stickles to the centre of the flowers. The leaves are also from a punch. I also added ribbon and a beaded fringe to the side of the shoe. I think that the colours work really well together.

Vix

For this challenge I decided to challenge myself a bit having never used a digital silhouette before as I'm a promarker fiend so I opted for "Watching You" I've used blue as my favourite colour and orange as my least.

First I printed the image out onto card to test and my printer ink was running with all the inks I tried so I changed tack and carefully marked on a sheet of A4 card where the image would print, added a circle mask for the moon and used a brayer with a big and juicy inkpad (Beach Umbrella) to colour the card then removed the mask, heat set and printed the image directly onto it. I've hand drawn a rock and coloured with distress ink then I've then inked around the edges, stamped oak tree branch by stampscapes, gave it a spray with iridescent gold glimmer mist and added some sticky gems to finish.

May I now introduce our very quirky special guest Cheryl! Cheryl is on the design team for Stitchy Bear Stamps, Creative Inspirations and Lil Diva Stamps. She has a very unique attention to detail which is delightful, adding litle feathers and unique flower arrangements to her designs which is a real treat to see.

SPECIAL GUEST DESIGNER - CHERYL - CHERYL'S CREATIVE CARDS

1. How long have you been cardmaking and how did you get into it?

I have been cardmaking for nearly 2 years,but only seriously for one,when I got my blog. With the kind help of my dear friend Jude at creative inspirations.
I got into it through illness,Severe Depression,eating disorder,with combo of arthritus,and saw Dawn bibby on TV one day saying this can help people,so I gave it a go and the rest they say is history. It has really helped me a lot.

2. What techniques and materials do you like most and least?
I love using pro markers,and distress inks especially shading,and doing direct to paper techniques.
I also love punches,flowers,and ribbons,as they add so much dimension to a card,plus lots of sparkle too.

Least favourite,not sure really as I love to have a go at anything but if I had to choose I would say decoupage,especially if you have to cut it all out yourself.

3. You have an eye for detail and create some wonderfully unique embellishments, tell us more about these.

I have no idea were my ideas come from,it depends on the challenge,image,and how the image looks to me. Like when I did the wee duck in the bath,for the bubbles,I used,drops of pearl paint,then waited for it to dry then,added stickles glitter,to make it look,more effective. A picture or layout will always say something to me,no I am not daft well some may disagree,but it does,it takes me usually a day to make a card I will get the image printed or stamped,then decide on my colours. Lay out the papers,pens,etc then go off make a coffee,do something else then come back to it make a definate decision on the colours I want to use. Then i colour in the image,then go off again,then design the layout several times unless its a sketch I am following. Then it will take me hours to get the correct papers,then i put the card together,then decide if it needs,little embellishments,a lot of that something extra,like stitching,adding pins,feathers. I never decide untill the card,is all laid out.

4. What do you love most about the blogging community?
Making friends,helping people out,and learning,new things,I adore my DT work as it brings,so many wonderful people to my blog,and all the DTs I am on, are the most amazing people to work with.And would love to thank them all for allowing me to be part of it. And to thank all the generous people who visit me each day.

5. Your top 3 tips

1. Always plan your cards first decide on the image,then colurs,then plan the layout.

2. When working with Pro Markers,always colour the face first,that way if you happen to go over onto another part of the image,its easy to cover with darker pro markers

3. Always use good card stock especially for stamping your images onto I always use Bristol board,and card from the craft barn,makes such a difference to the finished card. Also materials, its always great to find a bargain which you can in most stores,so when you see your favourite papers flowers etc Always stock up if you can as a card made with good crafting items makes a professional finish.



Thank You Cheryl x