House Of Cards Summer Blog Hop

     Welcome to my contribution for the House Of Cards summer blog hop, full hop details can be found further down this post as well as who to visit next.    

      My main image is from A Day For Daisies called Green Lady. I love the simple elegance of this image, she's beautiful. I have printed her out on white card suitable for alcohol markers and again on two different papers from MHK Designs Damsel In Distress paper set.

     After working out which colour would go where I cut the designer papers, then added a little shading using the markers.

    The image was coloured before adding the papers using Graph-It markers, the paper pieces were then stuck in place.      

     The image panel was trimmed and mounted on a lime green pearl card that has the corners punched. After playing around with several colours I settled on mounting this on a cerise pink pearl card that complimented the pale pink on my lady.

      There is a stamped, gold embossed oriental word in the top left corner to balance the greeting in the opposite corner. The greeting is a stamp from Reverse Confetti set My World, this sentiment seemed to go perfectly with the lady's thoughtful pose.

     I coloured the card the sentiment is on with Distress Ink and mounted it on some more green pearl card, then mounted it on thin foam pads. It should all go through as standard post as it's 5x7 and thin, I don't know how postal services work in other countries but here in the UK we have to stick to certain dimensions to keep postal costs low.

     Below you will find full details on how to join in with our hop and what you could win just by playing along, so thank you for popping in and good luck.

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

Alphabet Challenge - G is for Girlie

Crafting From The Heart - Anything Goes

Our Crafty Corner - Anything Goes

Hi everyone!  Can you believe we've are at the end of our fifth term here at House of Cards?!  Unfortunately we are saying a fond farewell to some of our DT members and fortunately we are so happy to those staying on.  To say goodbye and thank you, we're celebrating with a blog hop! 

This hop will run FROM June 1ST AT 6:00 AM CST THROUGH June 15TH AT NOON CST,  ANY CARD STYLE is welcome and we've got a gorgeous photo inspiration for your crafting enjoyment!

***PRIZE WINNERS FROM THE BLOG HOP WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THE 20TH OF JUNE.***

***CARD WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED NEXT MONTH ON THE 15TH, AS PER THE USUAL HERE AT HOC.  THANK YOU!***

Please email Mynn at onastampageATgmailDOTcom if you have any other questions!  And now...

Here is the photo inspiration~

So, are you ready to get hopping?!  Yep, it's time, but first we've got some fabulous sponsors to share with you!  Make sure you leave a comment at each person's blog along the way because the prizes are hidden and we'll be doing random drawings from the blogs where they are hiding! :)  After you're done, make a creation to share with us here, too, for another chance to win!

Here are all of our fabulous sponsors.

Our team will be using a variety of products

from these amazing companies!

A Day For Daisies

Prize: 3 Digital Images

A Day For Daisies provides themed categories of over 1000 digital illustrations, including fairy tales and magical mermaids, cutie kids, vintage illustrations, sentiments and lovely designs for all occasions!

Reverse Confetti

Prize: $25 Gift Certificate
REVERSE CONFETTI offers on trend, high quality photopolymer stamps, high quality CONFETTI CUTS steel dies and exclusive paper products to coordinate with our releases…all made in the USA.

Great Impressions

Prize: Prize Package

Great Impressions was founded in 1984 by Ken and Deone Mackenzie.  With a love for stamping, the company grew.  The result is a quality rubber stamp in either wood mount or stickable mount backing for all your stamping needs.  Great Impressions' goal is to provide the highest quality stamps and to inspire creativity!

MHKDesigns

Prize: Any three products of your choice!

MHKDesigns is a vintage digital stamp Etsy shop owned and operated by Mynn Kitchen from On A Stampage.  She creates vintage stamp sets and digital paper packs for all your crafting needs.  Contact her with any requests you have at mhkdesigns.etsy@gmail.com!

And now, here's your hop order~

HOC Blog | Mynn | Sue T. | Cohenna | Donna | Dotty Jo | Em | Emily 

Heather | Jane | Judy | Karen | Katarzyna Ewa  | Katy | Leslie | Linda

Merethe | Merlina | Michele | Paula | Rocky | Rosi | Ruza

Shawna | Shirley | Steph | Sue N. | Susan | Tina | Toni

Now get to hoppin'!  Your next stop is Rosi  Don't forget to link up a project with us after completing the hop for an extra chance to win a mystery prize from one of our fabulous sponsors, too!  

A Man With A Fan

     This time the challenge at The Male Room is Oriental as it's Chinese New Year next week. We would like to see any oriental creations suitable for a man or boy.
     This image is from a rather old CD Rom by Joanna Sheen, I'm not sure if it's still available and you'd probably have to have an older computer to run it on, I printed off several sheets of images ages ago.
     The image is layered on gold and black, then stuck onto a green card blank that has been watermarked with Versamark and a fan stamp. It is a very simple card that needs no extras.
     Please come and join us at The Male Room with your oriental creations, the DT have some lovely inspiration to help you get started.

Taking Shape at The House Of Cards

   This month at House Of Cards we would like to see a shaped card, no squares or rectangles, any other shape, colour, style or subject is fine.
    I was given a card kit some time ago and am sorry to say it has stayed in my stash ever since, spending the last few days trying to tidy up and sort out has revealed quite a bit.
    I have decided to try and use some of this vast collection of bits and bobs so I can feel a little better about buying something new.

    This card kit is just right for the House Of Cards challenge as it's octagonal so I set to with putting it together. I had to sand the edges of each piece when it came out of the host surround to remove all those little tab bits that get left behind.
     The base card is decorated both front and back which makes it rather nice. I have layered up the two centre shapes using foam pads and done the same with the greeting.
     Nice and simple but using what I already have in my stash. I shall use this for my Mum for Mother's Day as she loves blue and white oriental designs, I just have to print out an insert and cut it to fit.
     Please come and join in the fun at House Of Cards with your shaped creations, our challenge is open all month.

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

Fussy and Fancy Friday - Monochrome
Kitty Bee Designs - Favourite colour combo ( Mum's favourite )

Cherry Blossom Birthday

     A new project for Creative Expressions this morning using a John Lockwood Striplet stamp, Cherry Blossom. I love oriental designs so this stamp will be used a lot!
     It's a very basic card, nice and easy to make and no additional postal costs either.

    The design is stamped on to smooth white card using Perfect Medium, it's them embossed with CE Cosmic Shimmer Bright Gold.
     I have used Graph It alcohol markers (9201, 5110) to colour the flowers and the open area in the middle. I stamped some extra flowers and cut them out so I could add dimension to the card. Each little extra flower has a tiny gem in the middle.
     The design panel has been cut out and mounted flat onto a plain white DL card blank, I wanted to keep the whole card very simple.
     The greeting is die cut in gold mirri card and glued on flat to the design, the only raised work are the flowers so this scan be sent in the post without too much trouble.

Materials used
CE John Lockwood Striplet Stamp - Cherry Blossom
CE Cosmic Shimmer Embossing Powder - Bright Gold

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

Creative Corner - Happy Birthday

Colouring Crazy - Pink and Pretty

Sister Act - Anything Goes

Sweet and Sour Dragon

      As you can probably tell I'm having great fun altering jars. This one began life as a Sharwoods Sweet and Sour Sauce jar, so it seems fitting that it should be decorated with oriental motifs as suggested by Tracy.
     I don't have many dies that seemed right for this so I have used peel offs. The image isn't as prominent as a die cut as peel offs are quite thin, but it does still work. So if you have any peel offs sitting around feeling a little unloved then this could be another way of using them, it also means that you don't have to have a die cutting machine.
     I put the peel offs on the clean jar and then covered them with my trusty aluminium tape, I have done lots of similar projects with this tape and I love it. I bought my tape locally, it's used for temporary exhaust pipe repairs, sealing heating duct joints and car panel repairs.....oh, and crafting!!
     As before I have used some cereal packet card to cover the thread on the rim before adding the tape in small random patches.

     Once the whole jar was covered I used black acrylic paint to cover the jar, left it for a few minutes and then rubbed some off to give me that worn look.
     The beauty of using a glass jar is it can still be used for flowers, paint brushes, etc. and the water will not damage the tape. This jar will look just right with some origami flowers in it.

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

As You Like It - Favourite recycled item and why.

Crafty Creations - Anything But A Card

Allsorts Challenge - Oriental

Technique Time Tuesday CASE

      This is a CASE card from Technique Time Tuesday's current challenge. I'm hostess this month with the Faux Silk technique, there is a video tutorial on TTT to show you how we've done it.
     I have chosen a card by a very talented lady named Kimbo to CASE. There are some really great cards entered this month but Kimbo's caught my eye because of the oriental theme and the fact that she had heat embossed tissue paper.
     I chose green tissue to emboss with bamboo leaves, then I crumpled it up and opened it out again. To my surprise non of the embossing cracked at all, maybe it's the Cosmic Shimmer powder that's the secret, I'll have to experiment further. Once opened out the tissue is stuck on to white card but not smoothed out completely, some of the wrinkles must stay to imitate silk.
     The image panel is stamped in Archival Olive Green on cream card, it's an old PSX stamp of my Mum's. Both image and background panels have been mounted on black before being put on a pale green water stamped card.
     The coin is a gift from a fellow DT member, thanks Karen, with a few Mizuhiki cords knotted through it. There is also a Mizuhiki knot at the bottom. Karen of Stamping In Pink has been campaigning to bring back the oriental style, I've been trying to help because I love it's simplicity and style. I think with the launch of some new oriental stamps by Sheena Douglass that we may be on to a winner!

     Please pop over to TTT and take a look at the DT cards and challenge entries, there is still one week left to join us.

Sparkling Koi

    Today I have used the a background method from Technique Time Tuesday called 'Smakin Acetate', it's really quick and easy to make a shaded background with this. There is a tutorial on the blog to show you how to get started.
    Before I coloured the background on this card I stamped and embossed in clear. After colouring I used a water brush to lift the colour off the fish. Once dry I then coloured the fish with a Sakura Stardust pen in orange, he has a lovely sparkle but I couldn't get it to show well in the picture, sorry.
    The Chinese Proverb is from the same stamp set by Chocolate Baroque, stamped in dark blue with distressed edges and cut to a square to fit in with the challenge at Here Come The Boys. I have used a metal coin with a small ribbon as my embellishment. This came from my DT buddy Karen, thank you Karen, of Stamping In Pink. We have been trying to revive the oriental style, although I am lagging far behind at the moment.
    I don't know what the word says but I hope it's something nice, it has a nice flowing look to it and I use it a lot. I can't remember which set it came from as I've had it so long. Just a note to let you know that there is a new challenge tomorrow at The Male Room so pop over and join us if you can, remember we are a multi craft challenge so it doesn't have to be a card it could be a scrapbook page or a gift, anything as long as it's masculine.

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

Cards for Men - Heavy Metal

Country View Crafts - Quotations 

Here Come The Boys - Only Squares

Scrap-Magic Kimono

    I have a love of most things Oriental so joining forces with Karen from Stamping In Pink to try and bring it back to card making is no chore at all. We have been swapping stash and inspiring each other to bring it all out and use it.
    I have made a card very much like this one before, I loved it so much I had to do it again. The Kimono was made using a Scrap-Magic template by Nellie Snellen and some origami paper. I cut out all the pieces and stuck them on to light blue card. The Kimono is mounted, using foam pads, on to a piece of paper printed from Joanna Sheen's Oriental Dreams CD.
    There is a small Plum Blossom knot made using Mizuhiki cord attached to the Kimono. This cord is made from paper but is extremely strong and completely archive safe. It comes in long lengths and is available in many colours, there are some books available on how to tie the knots as well as some information on the web.
    The patterned paper is layered up with gold and light blue before being stuck on to a darker blue card, the small gold corners are peel offs. The long cord with tassells has been tied around the front of the card near the spine.
    I shall be making some more oriental style cards, some with a male feel to them because there is a new challenge site going live on the 31st July that is male cards only called The Male Room, the first challenge is 'Anything Goes'.
    If you would like to join Karen and myself  in trying to use up your oriental stash please leave us a comment with a link, we'd love to come over and see what you've made.

Oriental Shimmer

     Two posts in one day...What's going on?  I really want to enter this card in a challenge that closes tomorrow while I'm demonstrating at Snetterton Park in Norfolk. We're beside the A11, next door to the race circuit, so if you're out that way please call in and say hello. There will be three of us all working away at different techniques from stamping to polymer clay.
     This card is inspired by my favourite technique, water stamping, and a little light hearted challenge between myself and Karen of Stamping In Pink to revive the Oriental theme. We both have plenty of stash in this style, which we recently shared - thanks Karen, giving us both a desire to make oriental cards again. Join us on Sunday at 5pm to see another oriental card, if you'd like to join in then please leave us a comment with a link so we can visit you. There is NO prize involved, it's just for fun.
    This card was made by colouring white card with Distress Inks Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss. Then I used a bamboo stamp that I have had for some time but never used. I spritzed the stamp with water and stamped onto the card, then I mopped up the water with a kitchen towel. This was repeated across the card almost to the right hand edge where I used an oriental script stamp.

    Before the ink dried I spread Cosmic Shimmer Mica Powder Enchanted Gold over the entire card and brushed off the excess. The powder only sticks to the wet ink and not the dried off water stamping, this is my twist for The Technique Twist challenge. There is no need to seal this as the powders have a binding agent in them activated by moisture but if you feel happier doing so I would recommend hairspray.
    Once this was completely dry I stamped and embossed in gold a small phrase in the top right hand corner, placed a delicate black paper cut of a lady given to me by Karen and finished it off with a Mizuhiki cord knot. I have layered the image up with dark green and light green before mounting on to a black card blank.

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

Make My Monday - A Non-Inked Stamp

The Technique Twist - Water Stamping

Don't forget, if you'd like to see more oriental cards then pop back on Sunday afternoon.

Chinese New Year

Happy New Year!  This is the year of the Rat.

   As New Year is celebrated with fireworks and the giving of Lucky Red Envelopes containing money I chose to make this card for the celebrations.
   If you would like to know how it was made then please pop over to the J&C Creations blog to find out all the details.