Young Crafters Unite!

Hello everyone, and welcome to this very special Friday!
"Why is it special?", I hear you cry!
It's because today is the Young Crafters Unite blog hop, of course!

You should have arrived here from the wonderfully talented Kathy Racoosin's blog: welcome :)

So the question of the moment is this: What makes me a young crafter?
Well, I'd have to say lots of things, but I'll just share two (and I'll just warn you - this is going to be a long post!).

1. For a start, I've always been told that I'm an old head on young shoulders, mature for my age, old before my time... but I'm only 25!

2. I also love playing - my 'stash' is my toybox, my craft desk my playroom - and crafting is playtime! You know how kids can get so incredibly absorbed in a make-believe world, so that nothing and no-one can break them away from it? Well, that's me when I'm making a card (at times, much to Mr. Blackburn's consternation)!

So that's little ol' me :)

Right, now on to the card. I actually decided to be extra generous, and give you two cards, since you've all been so nice and have stopped by today!

The 'favourite thing' I'm using is the 'distressing' technique, more specifically, my collection of Tim Holtz Distress Inks.
I'm going to show you two cards because this technique is so incredibly versatile, and creates so many different and gorgeous effects.

Here is the first card:

 With this card, I inked up the entire card base with 'Victorian Velvet' Distress Ink. The centre strip is inked with a light coat of 'Antique Linen', and then the edges are blended with more 'Victorian Velvet'.

I inked the poppies heavily with more Antique Linen on a separate sheet of card, trimmed them and adhered to the centre strip, and then added some pink hints with a Prismacolor pencil. The stems were coloured with an earthy Copic marker, and adhesive pearls finished off the centre of the open flowers.

I added a sentiment, and some butterflies, and there it is!

So that is the first effect - a lovely, soft all-over colour, which gives an elegant and charming, vintage effect.

Okay, here's the second card:

And instead of boring you by typing up all the details on how it was put together... I've made you a video!:

So with this card, you can see that the distressing technique has been used again, but it has a totally different effect; it ages the edges of the paper, and gives the card a sort of rustic, organic feel which compliments the jute twine and the veggies without changing the overall 'feel' of the card. It's still clean and simple, just with a twist :)

(Visit Marie/Legojenta's blog, which focuses on that Tuxedo Black Memento marker in her video.)

And here is a picture of some purple carrots that I found, as promised in my video!!! How cool are these?!:

Right. Finally, I want to share a past post with you, of one of my favourite cards that I've made (to continue the 'favourite' theme).

It was really hard to choose between two previous posts, but this one won out:

http://www.natashablackburn.com/2011/04/antique-butterflies.html

(If you're interested in the second one, view it here: http://www.natashablackburn.com/2011/05/hang-me-out-to-dry.html)

The video of the second card I made uses the carrot image from the 'Vegtastic' stamp set by Paper Smooches, which I just loooooove!!! And, while we're on the topic of Paper Smooches, this lovely company are generously giving randomly selected commenters a chance to win one of their stamp sets! (Thank you, Kim!)

We also have a $20 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp (thank you, Heidi!), and a stamp set from Lawn Fawn (and thank you, Kelly Marie :)

So, once again, to win one of these fantastic prizes, be sure to leave comments on each blog as you stop by. The more comments you leave, the greater your chances of winning!!!

Okay, well, that's it from me. Thanks again for visiting, and don't forget to leave a comment (as if you could :) !!!

Your next stop is CiCi's blog.

See you soon!

SUPPLIES:

Card #1:

Cardstock: White card blank, from my stash; 200gsm white coated cardstock, Ryman's (UK)

Ink: Antique Linen and Victorian Velvet Distress Inks, Tim Holtz by Ranger; Tuxedo Black, Memento; Copic marker

Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages, Papertrey Ink; Delicate Blossoms, Hero Arts

Etc: 3D squares, from my stash; Martha Stewart 3-butterfly punch; adhesive pearls; Prismacolor pencil; ATG gun

Card #2:

Cardstock: White linen cardstock, Papermill Direct (UK); Kraft, from my stash

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Memento; Memento Marker; Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Tim Holtz by Ranger

Stamps: Vegtastic, Paper Smooches

Etc: Jute twine; Soft green pearls - both from my stash; Prismacolor pencils; 3D squares; ATG gun