Opus Gluei Challenge #63 Sending smiles. The one where I stay up far too late.

The challenge over at Opus Gluei in the third century B.C. (or at least it feels like it was that long ago).

It was to make something to make someone smile, what a wonderful challenge, I can't think of a nicer one really can you?

Although this challenge has turned into a cautionary tale of what can happen when you stay up way past your bedtime crafting.

It all started off well, I had seen a card style in a crafting magazine that was of a wrapped bouquet of flowers, that I thought had loads of potential for variations on the theme. I made this first card for my Mum's Birthday which needed to be "normal" not like my usual stuff anyway. I used one of the Elusive Images flowers from their Big Flowers plate of stamps that I watercoloured and put glossy accents over the flower centers.

It doesn't matter what card size you use. Just have a play with some scrap paper to find the right size of square to use as the wrapping paper of the bouquet. It'll depend on the size of your blooms as well, so choose your flowers and card blank first.

 

Then once that one was finished I thought I would have a go at a grungy flower bouquet so I could use my new Tim Holtz distressing tool. The centres are Inkadinkado button stamps.
 I used the brayer technique I mentioned in my last post to ink up a background stamp with two colours and stamped the bouquet wrapping paper with a Chapel Road Artstamp called Celtic page (A) after I had brayed the white card with antique linen distress ink to make it look older than me.
 At this point I was concentrating more on being really chuffed with my newly acquired brayer techniques than  considering whether or not I was making anything that looked like a bouquet of flowers. I think this card still resembles a bunch of flowers sort of.
Can you see where this is leading?

By now it was getting late but I was on a roll. So my next thought was OK do it again but with musical flowers this time and so I got out some more white card and more stamps and made the flowers and wrapping paper using stamps.
Now if I hadn't already got you thinking about cards showing bunches of flowers would you even know what this was?
 No I wouldn't have a clue either, but this insight didn't come to me until I looked at what I had made the next morning.
So as far as I was concerned I was making smokin'  bouquets of flowers.....hmmm.

By now it was really really really late (I am not a fast crafter) and did I have the sense to go to bed?
I did not.
I can only imagine I was in a state similar to being punch drunk because my next thought was
"I know, make a bouquet of owls and trees!"
Owls and trees. WTF?
What can I say, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
(Spanky made me do it.)

So now you know what'll happen if you craft way past your bedtime.

OWLS AND TREES

Happy Creating!

Gini

xx

Three 3D cards.

I made a side step card to celebrate Craft Stamper magazine's 10 Birthday.
As always, click on the images to make them bigger.

This is a story that reads left to right and front to back.

We start with all the eager Craft Stamper readers waiting in a tree patiently or not so patiently for their local newsagents to open on the morning of the issue of the latest magazine.
Can you spot me?
I'm the one too fidgety with excitement to sit still.

 Up goes the shout by the scout. The lights are on, come on!

An orderly line all the way to the door. I think they've done this before.

Whoohoo we've got it, let's make a celebratory tottering tower of beautiful birdiness.
Can we run away to the circus?

A good trick is to make a "W" shape piece of card to glue to both inside edges to help the card stay upright and in place. Nobody likes to do the splits that they didn't intend.

One last shot, the centerfold shiny shot.

What I used.
I used distress inks for the background and versa fine black stamp ink.
I coloured in using Cosmic shimmer watercolour paints.
The birds are Elusive images. The house stamp is by October Afternoon.
I cut out the bottom window of the newsagents and replaced it with acetate and put the teeniest tiniest copy of craft Stamper in the window.
Did you spot it?


 I also made an Easel card and I hope to make a lot more of as they are so easy yet glamorous to make.

I used Elusive Images stamps. My minds Eye designer paper. Papermania butterflies with the holographic silver cut off. Some brads. The image is coloured with water colour pencils.
It's never too late for a desk calender!

Then I made a pop up card.
The card mechanism is disappointing because it has no means of supporting itself, so you have to prop it up against something and you have to decorate the front that won't be seen.
It would have made a much better Easel Card. So a big raspberry to pop up cards.
This is a Jo Kill design.
She designs for PaperCraft Inspirations magazine (among others) and all of her cards in this style are made as much as possible from punches. I adore all the animals that she makes, she's so clever!
You don't get templates, but this squirrel is just circles and ovals with a little bit of drawing needed for the tail and the ears. I used my nesties for the cutting.

Happy creating!
Gini
xx