There Be Dragons In The Male Room

     This time the challenge at The Male Room is to make a masculine project with something recycled. This was a great opportunity to fold another book, I had this dragon pattern in my stash so all I had to do was find the right book.
     Once all the pages had been folded it was time to set about decorating it. This was when I discovered that in my haste to fold I had chosen a book with a glossy printed cover, every thing I tried didn't work very well. Acrylic paint scratched off, so did gesso, so did marker pen, it was driving me crazy, then I remembered aluminium tape.
    Now all I had to do was decorate the cover with texture, ready to be covered with tape. The back has a mosaic pattern made with a Sizzix die, I kept all the little bits that are usually thrown out so now I have a cardboard stencil left for another project.
     The front has a collection of shapes, including a hand drawn dragons head cut from an old cereal box. The spine just has the word dragon in die cut card, as not much else would fit.

    I covered the whole book cover with pieces of aluminium tape overlapped at random, I found this easier than trying to lay down neat strips.
    On the front cover there are tiny 'rivet' marks added to some of the joins, this was done using a ball tool. 
    Once all the tape was on the book it was time to paint over it. Black acrylic paint dabbed all over the tape was left to dry completely, in the past I have rubbed the paint off while still damp but this time I wanted a much more aged, grungy look.

    When all the paint was dry it was then time to rub some of it off, mainly on the raised areas to give the impression of wear over time.
     The inside covers could then be covered as they had tape ends showing and splodges of paint. To do this I used some textured wallpaper, I thought it looked a bit like dragon skin. It was painted with acrylic paint and then knocked back with black ink. Once the ink was dry I rubbed over with some gold gilding wax.
     All that was left was to add some corner protectors to finish off. I'm rather pleased that all the items used for this project have either been recycled or were already in my stash.

     Please pop over to The Male Room and take a look at all the DT inspiration, then come and join us with your masculine, recycled project.

I would like to enter this project in the following challenges:

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes   (W)
International Art & Soul - Use Stuff You Already Own   (F)
Not Just Cards - Anything Goes   (M)
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes    (M)

MHK Designer Inspiration

     A quick and simple card using the new MHK Designs set Valentine Roses. With postage costs rising cards need to be kept to a medium size and minimum thickness to qualify for standard postage.

     I have changed the flower heads to red and the leaves and stem to green using my photo package. Our very own Mynn has several video tutorials on YouTube showing you how to do this and other changes, making digi images even more flexible.
     The shadow was added with a pale grey marker pen, I had seen this done by another crafter and loved the effect. I'm sure it's possible in the photo package but as yet I haven't discovered how, a project for another day I think.
     A simple die cut shape mounted on thin foam pads straight on to a black card blank makes for a simple but striking card. The addition of a small butterfly just adds a little more interest. I haven't added a greeting but I don't think it really needs one with such pretty roses.

Valentine Roses

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Craft Rocket - Love   (M)
Digi Choosday - Anything Goes   (W)

Male Room Winter Olympics

   The Male Room has a new challenge, sport/Winter Olympics, anything masculine following this theme can be linked up over the next two weeks.

     I haven't got many sporting images in my stamp collection so I downloaded a free image to work with. I wanted to use circles to follow the Olympic theme, so I decided to die cut the image but with a twist. Snowboarders are so fast and I wanted to show that by having mine flying off the edge of the circle. The end of the board was cut round with scissors, then while the die was over the main part of the image the end of the board was above the cutting edge. A sprinkling off chunky white embossing powder helps produce snow over the image.
     A darker circle around the image panel helps frame it and maintain the circle theme. The background was done with a stamp and watercolour pens, this helps achieve the multi colour effect.
     A simple circle greeting added to the corner finishes off the card and it's circular theme.
     Pop over to The Male Room blog for lots more inspiration, then come and join us with your project.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Make My Monday - Circles   (F)     Editors Choice

Just For Fun - Silhouette   (M)

MHK Designs - Sending Love To Dawn

     Hello friends! Today the MHK Designers are banding together to tell one of our own dear ladies, Dawn Bennett, that we are thinking of her during a difficult time in her life. Dawn recently lost her mother-in-law, and we wanted to let her know how much we care! We hope you take some time to leave Dawn some love, then hop with us to see the cards our team has created in her honor. 

Here is the hop order~ 

MHKDesigns Blog 

Mynn 

Asha 

Judy 

Rocky 

Shawna 

Jess 

Julie 

Em 

    In addition to the hop, we have a special *NEW* digital stamp set made in honor of Dawn's mother-in-law's life. It is called...

Sentimental Lily

House Of Cards Goes Pink

       House Of Cards new challenge is to make a Valentine background for your card, you can use our suggested colours if you wish.

   
     Making a background gave me another chance to break out the Distress Oxides, these inks are so much fun to work with. I used three shades of pink on white card to blend a background, then I spritzed a stencil with water and laid it over the background. The water reacts with the ink and turns it chalky giving a fab pattern.
     The stamp was a hand me down from a friend, it's perfect for anniversary cards. This was stamped with black Versafine, I chose not to colour the image as I like it just as it is.

     Once trimmed the image panel was die cut with a small Sizzix die to show the word Love, It also has two of the corners shaped.
     Mounting on black makes the image and the cut out pop but when it came to mounting on a card a white one didn't look right. Using the image panel as a guide I coloured a white card blank to match. A small pearl heart in the two shaped corners finished it off.
   
     Pop over to the House Of Cards blog to see all the DT inspiration, then come and show us what you have made.

Valentine background and/or colours

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Scrapbook Stamp Society - Valentine   (F)

Shopping Our Stash - He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not   (W)

Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes   (W)

MHK Designs - February Challenge

     Welcome to a new challenge from MHK Designs, as it's February we have a pink, love theme for you to use.
     I have used the rose from the new set Valentine Roses to create a very simple card. The image and the sentiment were changed to white using my photo package and then put on a pink background before printing.  If you would like to know how to change the image colours our designer Mynn has some tutorials on You Tube that show you how.
     To keep this card simple the image panel was trimmed and mounted on a black card. It's a simple, flat card which makes it perfect for posting or slipping into someone's pocket or bag for a Valentine surprise.
     Why not come and join our challenge, you don't have to use an MHK Designs image but you could win some just by playing along.

Valentine Roses

   

 I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Digi Choosday - Anything Goes   (W)

Dream Valley - Love   (W)

The Crazy Challenge - Love   (F)

Foam Rose Plaque

     Altered Eclectics returns after its Winter break with its usual mixed media, recycled artwork challenge, anything Goes with the exception of cards and ATC's.

     This project features a large rose created with some Stix2 mouldable foam covered with micro beads. The foam was die cut using the large Tattered Florals TH die, the inner petals have one section removed so they would curve more easily. Two leaves were also cut with the same die.
     The back and edges of the foam are coloured with an alcohol marker before adding the micro beads. As heat is required to shape the foam I wore the silicone finger protectors and used a silicone cake case. The hot glue used to hold the inner petals together did soften in the heat but the cake case helped hold it all in place.

     The background is a square of mountboard, which takes Distress Oxides very well, three shades of green blended over the cream board.
     Using a stencil and water to lift the ink I added a leaf pattern to the background.

     To get the speckles of green foil I sprinkled chunky white embossing powder sparingly over the board, covered it with foil, then parchment paper and ironed it. Where the powder melts it takes the foil and gives you gorgeous shiny speckles.
     Create and Art are two words stamped on the board and then embossed with Wow powders.
     There are two holes punched and set with eyelets at the top with a length of organza, coloured with an alcohol marker, threaded through for hanging.
     A small pool of hot glue was added to the centre of the rose and some gold glitter added to give the middle some sparkle. Hot glue was also used to secure the leaves to the rose and the rose to the board.
     Please come and join us at Altered Eclectics with your mixed media and recycled projects, there is no theme just no cards or ATC's.

I would like to enter this board in the following challenges:

Die Cuttin' Divas - Anything Goes    (W)

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes   (W)

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes   (M)