Christmas Teddy

Yes I know ... Christmas is a long way off, but I found some photocopies of some drawings I did many, many years ago, while clearing out my craft room.

"Nice"  stamps were few and far between or too expensive for my pocket.
So I drew this  image along with many other  Christmas  Teddy  images  to make cards for the children I worked with.
 I'm afraid my drawing skills  didn't progressed much after  I hit 12 years old. 
But still,  I thought I'd  try colouring one of these images using Copic Markers to see how it turned out.
I have to say it does looks better coloured with markers. 

Photocopying them  all those years ago was not only a huge time saver,  but toner doesn't run when you add water.  Which meant painting them was a lot easier. 
In those days finding an ink that didn't bleed when water was applied was difficult.

Sharon's Wedding Invitation.

The postman delivered this  last week.

My friend Sharon is getting married in the summer and had made her own wedding invitations.
Glad to say,.... here is mine.

Sharon has used my  all time favourite floral stamp set.

I love the Stippled Blossom  set and I was very surprised it didn't stay in the catalogue longer.
To my mind it should be a permanent fixture in the catalogue, like Lovely as a tree. lol.

Inside Sharon has made pockets and  very pretty little labels with all the relevant information on.
I am guessing Sharon has used the S.U. scallope top label punch to  create these lovely labels.

I just wish she  had printed the details a little larger though as I had  trouble trying to read the small print and had to get a magnifying glass out to read the information. (This aging business is not much fun.)
Sharon if you read this, Thank you for inviting me and  I will be delighted to attend your wedding.
 I will be sending back the RSVP as soon as I have worked out which label is the RSVP.  LOL

Beautiful You by Amanda

This card was NOT made by me. It was sent to me from my Stampin' Up,   upline  Amanda Fowler to mark my 7th anniversary with S.U.

Most of you will know I have this stamp set and have made loads of cards using it.

For new visitors to my blog,  keep scrolling down to see more  cards with this stamp set.

I have loved playing with this set over the last few weeks.

I like the colour combination  Amanda has chosen to make is card.

Masculine card

This stamp was a very popular stamp for men's cards  some years ago. I don't know the make of the stamp but I can tell you it is a polymer stamp  and  surprisingly, one I can actually use.
regular readers will know, I fail big time with polymer stamps.

A few weeks ago I was digging through my stamps looking for some images I could  stamp off then colour while watching TV. 

I like to do something while watching TV, then I don't feel I have completely wasted the evening.

When I need to make a quick card I have a whole host of images coloured in ready to use.






Here is a picture of just a few of the images I've coloured in while watching TV.  
I have small box full of images ready to go. 
By colouring  images in advance I save loads of time when it comes to constructing  a card. 

Mulberry Paper Memories.

I have had to have a little clear out of the craft room this week. This was brought on by

 by hubby bringing home a new, more use-able filing cabinet  for my room. 

So I had to have a cabinet re shuffle and re organize some of my craft stuff. During my clear out I came across a half made card using Mulberry paper. I started this card many years ago, when it was fashionable to use Mulberry paper in almost all of ones makes. 

I didn't turn it into a card until today.

 I don't really like this card and  Mulberry paper is a little old fashioned now,   but had to share a memory of my card making from years ago.

Invitation to a Soiree.

Tonight's post is an invitation to  a little soiree that's  happening in  approx  8 weeks . 
 I used the retired  Stampin' up background stamp "I love Lace".   I  really love the delicate pattern on this stamp.  The lace is so fine, but it heat embosses beautifully  if you use a fine "detail "embossing powder.  I  didn't heat emboss it on this card, but I  just couldn't resist telling you this is a great stamp for heat embossing.  
 For this card I stamped the image onto white card stock and cut the image into strips 1  1/4 inches wide and mounted each strip onto a piece of black card  1  1/2 inches wide.  Then I glued one strip along the top of a tent fold card and the other  along the bottom. 
I stamped the greeting using a stamp from the Sincere Salutations stamp set from S.U.
The bow is made from black card.  I used the bow punch from Stampin' Up.

I may go a little quiet on here for a while.... I have got  a few of these to do  and I have a couple more projects on the go that require considerable amounts of time. But hopefully when I get  to updating my blog I will have lots to share with you all.

Laura. x

A How To.... Post.

Tonight's post is to answer a couple of  questions
 I keep  being asked.
 I hope this helps. I'll start with how I created the the card on the left, then move on to a very simple technique that seems to  be baffling quite a few people.

In the photo below  you'll see I have stamped the image and then drawn a line about 1" in from the edge from the top down to the hat.  the line starts again from  just below her foot and continues down the the bottom of the card. 


























With a metal ruler and a sharp craft knife cut these lines. 
If you are good with a knife cut along the line of the arm and        around the female form until you meet up  with the cut below her foot. 

If your'e not handy with a knife, swap the knife for a small pair of scissors for the fiddly bit.





Once the cutting is done,  mask of the image and  sponge in some background colour.  
Remove the mask and colour the image.
Cut a strip of black card  about an inch and a half wide and the same length as your white card. 

Apply a little glue to the  arm and the area that will overlap the black card. Butt  the  black card up to the white, making sure those straight edges match up perfectly and press the glued area down firmly. 

Flip the card over and apply glue along the outside edges and the  edges where the black meets the white and adhere to a base card.
Stamp  a sentiment in the bottom corner and this card is complete.




The second technique I want to share is an alternative to colouring with pencils or markers and that is to apply patterned paper.







The easy way to do this and that is to stamp the image on to patterned paper and cut out the dress. 

All that's left to do is apply adhesive to the dress and position it over a second  image you have stamped on white card.    It's as simple as that. 


To see more examples,  continue reading,  there are more posts below featuring  this technique.

More my style.

Yet another  card with that stamp set.
 I think  this is more my style and this is probably my favourite  creation over the last few days.

Because  water was involved in the making of this card, I used dark brown Stazon ink to stamp the lady onto craft card.
Then I painted the image and the background with white craft ink mixed with a tiny amount of water.
Some areas had two  or three layers of ink to make these areas brighter.  Once the white ink was dry, I sponged a little brown ink along to bottom. This looked a little harsh, so I  brushed a little white ink over the brown to soften it.

I stamped some  foliage  on each side using the stamp set Pocket Silhouettes.

With an S.U marker in soft suede,  I drew over the female image to strengthen the lines that had been covered by white ink.
For the background I used the "I love lace"  stamp and Early Espresso  ink.  This was mounted onto dark brown card and then adhered to the craft card base.

Fashionable card

Another  card using the Beautiful You set.... so sorry if I am being boring now, but there are so many things to try with this stamp set.
I love the look the patterned paper gives the dress on this  card.
It's a very simple technique to do.
You just stamp the image on the patterned paper and and cut away the head, hands and neck until you are just left with the dress.
 Then you cut out the hat and stick the dress and the hat onto another image you have  stamped on white card.
I have combined the image with the film strip die. I think they work quite well together.
the mini camera came with the film strip die. It's not not a very impressive die and the embossing is delicate so can look like a black blob from just a few feet away, so I added a touch of gilding wax to highlight the embossing.

Beautiful you....yawn yawn.

I have been playing with with the new " Beautiful You" stamp set again,
this is a very simple card that needs no explanation on how to make it.

But I will give a list of tools and materials  used just to fill up this blank space.

Black card
White card Soft Sky card
Oval layering dies
Adhesive
Beautiful you stamp set
Embossing folder of your choice.

Masculine Card

The truck stamp I used for this card is from S.U. I think the set is called Country Living.

I messed up on this one.  I didn't quite line up my layer properly, so when I tried to prize them apart I tore the image.

I did a small repair but the tear could still be seen slightly.
That is why my sentiment is in the position it is. 




I had originally planned to place it across the bottom of the oval aperture. 
Which is why I didn't bring the grass colour down further.   I will have to go back and fill in that white space now.

Beautiful You ...again

Here is another card using the Beautiful You stamp set from this year's Spring and Summer catalogue.
I have been trying a few different things with this set over the last few weeks.
The idea for this card came from a Google search.  I can't remember the lady's name but I do remember that she said she had CASE d  the card on Pinterest.

I saw the card 24 hours before making this one, so I'll be interested to see  how mine differs.

CASE ing a card 24 hours or more after seeing it is something I like to try.  One reason is to test my memory and eye for detail. I have to say both are not good, so I usually end up with a similar card but never exactly the same.
 I stamped the image onto white card and cutaway the white card on the left side of the image.

I stuck a piece of black card down the hinge side of the card and then glued and butted up the straight edges of the white card against the black and sticking down the overlapping arm and etc.
I masked off the female and sponged some colour around the dancer.  The final step was to add colour to the image and stamp the sentiment.

Beautiful You....again.

I have been itching to use this technique on these stamps ever since the set arrived. I have finally found enough time to try out a few ideas tonight.
This is a nice quick and easy card to make.
To make this 6 x 6 card I cut a piece of DSP and mounted it onto a piece of dark grey card stock.  I adhered the DSp to the hinge side of the card. and stamped the sentiment in the bottom right hand corner.
 All that's left to do now is stamp the lady image twice.  Once onto white card stock and once onto a scrap of DSP.
I cut out the dress and the umbrella from the DSP and stuck the on top of the image stamped on the white card.
With Copic markers I added some colour to her legs, hair and the background. The final step was to die cut the image and mount the image on to another piece of grey card stock and stick it to the  prepared base card.

Dad's Birthday Card

Here is another one of those stamps that have been sat in a drawer for twenty years.  I have used Copic markers to colour most if the image. To colour the fine lines around the lighthouse and the fence I use Stamp and write markers.  I also drew in more rocks using a stamp and write marker.

Iris card

I haven't been spending  much time in my craft room of late, probably because it needs a good sort out.  Instead I have just been popping in there to stamp a few images then taking them downstairs to colour while watching TV.
I have owned  this stamp for many years, but until today, I had never made a card with it.
 I tried water colouring the image a couple of times, but  I was never happy with the results. Twenty years ago  I had never heard of Copics or  any other brand of alcohol markers.
So this  Iris stamp, along with many other stamps got shoved in a drawer and left there for many years.
Over the the last few weeks  I have been digging out a few of those old stamps and colouring them with Copic markers. I am a lot happier with the results now.
I think these stamps will get used more often now.

Fast card

For this very fast card,  I used the stamp set Awesomely Artistic from S.U. coloured with Copic markers.

So NOT my style.

These cards are not my usual style, but  I thought I would challenge myself to do something out of my comfort zone.

I have to say the stamps I used on these cards are from a set I didn't like. In fact they were in a box of goodies to put up for sale.
I really don't know why I decided to get them out and  play with them. It may have been because they were easier to get at.



My craft room became a dumping ground over the Christmas period and I haven't had the time or the energy to get in there to sort things out.

I went to a craft show years ago and met the lady who developed the Hougie Board.
As she handed out sheets of 12 x 12 paper,  I remember thinking this was very ugly paper, not the sort of paper you would give a second glance. I can tell you, I was not the only person unimpressed by the paper she was handing out for make and takes.
 Then she said something that made me think and something I have never forgotten.

She said  " use the papers you don't like, You will be amazed at how different they look turned into something else.
We scoffed at her words,  until the projects were finished,   we were all eating our words. ...the projects were stunning.

So here I have used a stamp set I didn't like and orange,  I really don't like orange. I can't say these cards are masterpieces or even inspiring, but they didn't turn out as bad as I thought they might.

Florence's hospital stay.

This is Florence, she has been our granddaughters favourite bear for years. Florence is a  very well travelled bear. Everywhere Ellie went Florence went too.  

Recently poor Florence had an unfortunate encounter with her other grandma's dog.         The encounter left Florence with some serious damage to her face.  Her dress was shredded and beyond repair. So Florence had to go to teddy bear hospital.                                                    This is when hubby and I decided to have some fun with her.

Once Florence arrived at hospital  she was accessed.

Florence later  dictated a letter to a nurse to send home to  her mum.

The letter informed  Ellie of the procedures she would be having, facial reconstruction, two eye transplants, a nose job and a good bath and brush up. This was quite a lengthy letter explaining things from  Florence's perspective.
To cut a very long story short Florence had her facial reconstruction surgery and during her time in hospital it was discovered she was pregnant. 
Poor Florence then had to have an emergency C section.  

Hubby raided the garage for some tubing and a some wire so we could make and hook up a drip to make the photo's we were sending Ellie look authentic.

I made a new dress to replace her shredded one. I decorated  a straw hat  with paper flowers and organza ribbons to hide  her missing ear.
Florence's bandages stayed on until her mum came to collect her.

Ellie was delighted to be re united with her beloved Florence and the new baby.

Ellie  has named the new baby Edward.
Florence and Edward  were discharged from hospital on Saturday.










Edward was created with wool roving and felting needles.
I lost count of the amount of times I stabbed my fingers while making Edward. The look on Ellie's face made the sore fingers  worth it .


An old, printed hospital sheet came in handy for this project.

Beautiful You 2

Regular readers of my blog will know, I enjoy creating silhouette cards.
 I am not really sure about this one. It started out as an experiment to see how the dancing female looked as a silhouette.

I used;
Marina Mist ink pad.
Midnight Muse ink pad, 
Night of Navy ink pad, 
Black pigment ink such as S.U 's black craft ink or black Versacolor,
White Gel pen, 
Black marker pen.
Beautiful you Stamp set,
Pocket silhouettes  stamp set, 
Sponge daubers. Post it notes.
 1  1/2  inch  Circle punch or die to create a positive and negative mask for moon.





 First I punched out a large circle from a post it note and used the negative to mask off the sky around the moon.


 With  a sponge dauber and light strokes, I applied a little ink through the aperture to add a little colour to the moon.


I  removed the negative mask and covered the moon with the positive mask to protect it.


With  Marina Mist ink and  the same sponge dauber,  start sponging the sky,  starting ON  the moon mask working outwards towards the edges.


 You'll need to take your time this part  and you will need to keep applying the lighter ink until you have the good coverage over the majority of the card.



Using Night of Navy ink and a sponge dauber, apply ink to the edges of the card working inwards, about 3/4 s of an  inch. Start inking from the bottom of one side working uo the side , along the top and down the other side in a rough arch shape. Leave the bottom edge un inked.



The Midnight Muse ink was used in between the  Night of Navy and Marina Mist to soft and blend  where the colours meet. This does not have to be perfectly blended, just so long as there are no  hard, straight lines of  colour.

Place a post it note over the bottom third of the card and apply Night of Nay ink with a dauber over the edge of the post it to create the horizon. 
You may notice a dark patch on the left of the photo below. This because I picked up  my black dauber instead of the navy one. Rather than scrap my sample piece, I decided to carry on and see how it turned out.

Remove the moon mask and with a black Memento  ink  stamped the  lady in the centre. I used Memento ink as I will be using alcohol marker to colour the image in and I don't want the ink to smudge.

 On this sample I stamped her a little higher than I wanted her, which meant I had to raise my horizon line  a little.
Which just goes to proves,  most errors can be rectified.

Using silhouette foliage stamps and black pigment ink, ( such as S.U's  black craft ink or Versacolour ) stamp some foliage in the bottom corners. 

Allow the ink to dry thoroughly this may take some time as pigment inks are much slower drying, but this can be speeded up with a heat gun.

I  previously said, I used a black marker to colour in the stamped image on my first card.  On this sample I used Copic Marker BV29  (Slate) , It is not as strong or  as intense as black so it almost looks like the moonlight is shining  through her skirt.


A little black ink was added to the bottom corners to give the impression of solid land.

Final touches were added using a white gel pen was used to add highlights on the edges of leaves, the lady  and  to create the stars and ripples on the water. These are just random dots and dashes,   but they really lift the scene.

Photo's now added to help you make sense of my ramblings.

Thanks for dropping in.   I hope you like this project and give it a try.



Don't forget to....Credit the creator.

Beautiful You.

The new Spring and Summer  catalogue was released earlier this month.
 After perusing the pages I knew,  I just had to have the new stamp set entitled,  "Beautiful You" .
It's a lovely set. 
There are quite a few stamps in this set, three female images and the rest are sentiments.  I can't say I would use all the sentiments in this set, but there are a couple of nice ones.

I have enjoyed playing with them  and making these simple cards. You can view the complete set  of stamps and the new catalogue  by clicking on the catalogue link on the side bar.

Sympathy Card

Unfortunately I have needed to make two sympathy cards this Christmas. this was the first one,
Using the Bokeh technique I created the background.
If you are unfamiliar with this technique it very easy to do.

It is created by sponging two or three colours of ink over white card stock in patches until you can no longer see the white card stock.
The next step is to dry the card either using a heat gun or allowing the card to completely dry naturally.

Once the card is dry you can start the next step.
Punch several different size holes in  a sheet of acetate or vellum to create a masks.   Place the mask over the coloured card and  fill in the aperture with white pigment ink and a sponge dauber. Repeat this process using at least three different size apertures. Overlap the circles occasionally, but be sure to use a dabbing motion when applying the  ink over the overlaps or you will lose the overlap effect.

Dry the card with a heat gun or naturally, Be aware that the white pigment ink takes a lot longer to dry thoroughly. Once it is dry, I advise you wipe over the area with an embossing buddy. (chalk powder filled bag).  Your card stock is ready to be over stamped.
I stamped the ferns on this card using Mellow moss, Always artichoke and black ink.

For my second card  I used the same technique and colours, but changed the size of the white card stock to a 6x6   square and added one more step, which was to stamp the fern  or just a small part of it again using Versamark ink and heat embossed using gold embossing powder. Before  doing this step it is essential that you use an anti static bag  before stamping with Versamark and heat embossing.

Silent Night Card 2

My second card using the Silent Night stamp set.

This time I stamped the image on craft card using Dark brown  Stazon ink.

 I used Stazon ink as it's a solvent based and I didn't want the brown ink to run when I painted the image with white craft ink.

Once the white ink was dry, I added white glitter to the snowy area with a glue pen.