WOYWW #246

Good Morning everyone- this is what currently resides on my desk, for this weeks Show & Tell, hosted as always by our Head Desker, Julia, at The Stamping Ground. Click the link and join in the fun.
Looking a whole lot tidier than it has for the last week, what with glitter for the Valentines card, and then gilding flakes, in my last two posts.Although I have to say, gilding flakes make glitter look positively well behaved.
 This card came from the scraps in my last post- the pieces that didn't come out as well as I wanted. I'd punched out some squares from them, and luckily got 9. It sort of shouted 'Oriental' at me, so that was how I went. Matted the squares onto black, then embossed gold card, then black again. Mounted that onto a square of Origami paper, then onto a square black card base. I also managed to punch a few dragonflies from the last remaining scrap bits,with an X-Cut punch that surprisingly goes through quite thick card easily, so added a couple of those, and a Chinese coin to finish the theme. Got a few dragonflies left over, and three more images to turn into cards. A few bits at the back, from a UFO a few weeks ago. Sat staring at me, waiting for inspiration to strike. So that's me, short and sweet this week- there's a novelty! After this has posted, I shall also be entering it into Pixies Snippets Challenge, as it came from scraps.

Oriental Poppy in Gold

   This is a stamp by Hampton Arts, 4523 Asian Poppy, which still seems to be available, I found it here, and here. The background was brayered with Adirondack Lemonade, Sunshine yellow and Sunset orange, the Post-it note Sun mask was added after the Lemonade.The Image was stamped in Versafine onyx black then heat embossed with clear powder. It is matted onto black cardstock, then mounted to the card front. the base card was cut to 14cm square, then covered with a gold patterned washi paper, I think this was in a pack from Hobbycrafts. The Japanese Shop also has a great choice of washi papers,as do Roze. An Oriental coin and Black & Orange ribbon finished it off.

Oriental Poppy in Red & Blue

 Another Oriental Poppy card using the Hampton Arts stamp, this time on a background brayered in  Adirondack reds, Watermelon, Red Pepper & Cranberry. Again the post it note Sun mask was added after the first colour was brayered. This one is also heat embossed, and matted onto black cardstock. I used a blue & gold washi paper for the card base here, as all the red papers are very heavily patterned, and the result was just too busy. I also stamped  a kanji  letter, onto a piece of card coloured with red ink, then triple embossed and the letter stamped in Black into the last layer.  A coin and a piece of knotted blue ribbon finish it off.

Oriental Poppy #2 Tag

The Oriental Poppy & Script image is clearly very popular, and this is a different take on the theme. I finally found out where I got this from- it was featured recently in Craft Stamper Magazine. It is Aspects of Design, Floral 01, from The Stampman. Here it is stamped on an alcohol ink background, in Black & heat embossed. I cut this into a tag, and cut a slightly larger tag from black glitter paper to matt it on to. I added a chinese coin, and the two little black sticks are cut down cocktail sticks, rolled on an embossing pad and dipped into black embossing powder, then heated! I tied a little red raffia around them, and attached them and the coin with a dab of silicone glue.A few strands of red & black fibres finished off the tag. The paper that covers the base was part of a roll I bought years ago one Christmas at the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC. I added three small coins, which have a little hanging loop at the top, so I secured them with a little bronze coloured brad. A narrow black ribbon was tied in a knot on the left side.
                        I often use a knotted ribbon when I am making a card with no particular person or occasion in mind. I think that knotted ribbon works o.k. on mens cards, whereas a bow is definitely more female. It just means I have a little more flexibility with who I can send it to. That is also why a lot of my cards have no sentiment on them- I add that when I need it.
  I seem to have my mojo back, I have been struggling to make enough time to get into my cards lately, and trying to squeeze them in just hasn't been working for me.

Oriental

A black base card, with a panel of gold washi paper from Hobbycrafts.The stamp is an unmounted rubber, but I can't remember where I bought it from. Its stamped onto an alcohol ink background using Cranberry, Red Pepper & Raisin, with a little Gold Mixative. The image is matted onto black, then gold, then Black card.I mounted this at an angle, and framed two corners with a peel off corner & straight line, leaving one gold and colouring the other with a black peeloff pen. The mizhuiki knot is formed from 1 gold, 2 black and 2 red cords.This was attached with a few dabs of silicone glue.

Japanese Lady with Ravens

The title is also the name of the stamp, from Stamp Francisco. I stamped it using a Cracked Sapphire Distress ink-pad, then wiped the blue ink off the Ravens with cotton buds. I then coloured them using a black Marvy marker.Stamped onto a grey marbled card, then matted onto black, then blue/gold card.The two strips are Washi paper( Hobbycrafts, among others).For the Kanji strip, I used the Cracked Sapphire inkpad again, tapping it onto white card.This gave me a nice mottled look. The distress pads are also wet enough to take the UTEE, and I used 3 layers. The Kanji letters stamp is just called OASIS( I think this may be the maker) 212E. It has 9 characters in a vertical line, I just taped off the bottom 4 while I inked it up ( Encore Gold Metallic), then took off the tape before stamping.Added a tassel and mounted with silicone glue.Lastly I printed the title in black onto white paper, and used a label die cut from my Silhouette, to give a 'Gallery' feel.

Oriental with mizhuiki knot

I wanted to have a go at mizhuiki, but didn't have the cords, so I improvised and used some scoobies! They actually work quite well, and especially if you are new to this, as they stay put while you get the others in place. I found it helped to stick down some small pieces of double sided tape to attach the ends to. Otherwise this was a very simple card- I used the Black with Gold flecks from PDA card & paper, Chinese Dragon stamp, and an Oriental character stamp. Both stamped in gold ink & embossed with Gold detail powder onto red card, then matted onto black, then gold textured card. Add a panel of Washi paper( Hobbycrafts) to the right of the card, mounted the main image offset to the left over this. Mounted the character to the lower left, and the mizhuiki knot with silicone glue.
I've added some links to sites with details on how to form mizhuiki knots, and also where to buy the proper cords.