Wednesday 5 April 2017

Hey Chick Easter card.

 "Hey Chick"  This stamp set was one of the free gifts in this years Sale a bration  event  held by Stampin Up.  It has three chickens in the set and a couple of sentiments.
 I love this funky looking chick and have been playing with it quite a bit, trying  him out different colours.  But so far this is the only card I have made using him.

The background I coloured with Copic markers then drew in some grasses  using stamp and write markers.


Wednesday 29 March 2017

DSP Candles

I can't take the credit for the design of this card. I CASE'd it from Karen Johnson's blog.

I think Karen used a stamp for the sentiment on her card. I didn't have a sentiment stamp suitable for this design so I created this  very similar greeting on the PC, printed off and die cut it.

The candles are just strips of Stampin' Up's DSP and the flames are the wings from the bird and branch punch.

This card should arrive tomorrow, I do hope he likes it.


Boho Chic meets Summer Silhouettes.

I have to say I have own the Summer Silhouette stamp set by S.U.  for quite some time and have only just got round to  using it.
This years  Mother's Day card  was made and given without photographing it.  So I made another  in different colours... just for my blog and you guys.    It will be quite easy  take the sentiment off and replace it with a sentiment for another occasion, so it won't go to waste.
I used Night of Navy and Crumb Cake inks and card stock for this one. The Embossing folder is called Boho Chic from S.U.

Monday 27 March 2017

Ladybirds ... love you lots.

If you're a fan of small cards this one should appeal . It measures approximately 3  1/2" x 4 1/2". 
This  Ladybird stamp is from the Stampin' Up  hostess set called  " Love you lots." There are some really cute stamps in this set.

I love this Ladybird stamp despite it's small size, measuring up at  about an inch big.  
 On a larger card they might look  a little lost.  Especially  if you're  using heavily patterned paper or  embellishments.

To make sure the Ladybirds stood out on this card,  I used strong colours to colour the image and increased the  the overall size by drawing in some grasses.
I punched out the image and then die cut a slightly larger circle in grey to mount it on. I stamped the base card using the "Beautiful Baroque  stamp" (now retired)

Sunday 19 March 2017

Water colouring with ink

Last week I shared a card that was sent to me by the very talented Debbie of Arakoola Kard Art.  
Her card inspired me to have a go at the technique she used.

I use insulating tape instead of masking tape because the only width of masking tape I could find was 2 inches wide.  

I did notice that the insulating was less tacky than  the masking tape I have used in the past, that usually ended up with me tearing my work when removing the masking tape.


The insulting tape was slightly narrower and didn't tear the paper as often and you can re use the strips a few times before  having to discard them.
 I used  S.U refill  inks instead of water colours to colour the background.W

I did make a third card  using this technique and  I did photograph it. But I had an issue with my laptop and the photo's were deleted as they were being uploaded.  Hubby had already posted the third card so I couldn't re photograph  that one.

Quick Technique

Here's a technique for creating the quick background paper.
 An ideal technique for those that don't like colouring or if you just need a quick way of adding colour to certain stamps. 

I took the  polymer leaf stamp and stuck it to the acrylic block upside down. Yes,  I did say UPSIDE DOWN. 
I inked up the WRONG side of the stamp with a mid green ink and stamped the solid image multiple times over my paper.  
When the paper was covered,  I flipped the stamp over,  inked up the detail side of the stamp with a darker green  ink and stamped  the detail over all the solid images.

It doesn't work with all stamps. First the stamps have to be polymer and secondly they have to be  symmetrical. 
Also the back of the stamp is larger than the detail side,  so your solid image will be slightly larger than the detail.




Retirement card using French Foliage stamp set


You may remember I made another version of this card a few weeks ago in yellow and green. and made as a sympathy card.
This time I thought  I'd try it again in different colours.

I used some post it notes to mask off the areas I wanted to keep white and sponged various inks randomly over the area between the post it notes. Then over stamped  with the  retired stamp set French Foliage.
The  ink pads I used were Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Hello Honey, Pumpkin Pie, Almost Amethyst  and Early Espresso. 

I stamped the sentiment in black and  the splotches in Crumb Cake.




Birthday Blast






 I needed a card for my brother in laws birthday today.  So this afternoon I got to play with this stamp and die set.


I made three different cards.I love the navy, white  and gold combination so all three are in those colours.


 The first card is using both the stamp and the die.  


The second is using the stamps only.  Heat embossed in gold.







For the third one I used the die as the focal point. I cut the die out twice. Once in navy and once in gold. The gold die cut is under the navy one and off set a little to give just a hint of the gold.









The stars that fell out of the gold die cut,  I used to embellish the rest of the card along with a few tiny gold heat embossed stars.


















I am not sure which of the three I prefer but my brother in law received the card at the top of this post. 

The set is called  Birthday Blast. 
The die and stamp can be bought as a bundle or individually.

Perfect Mix.


Not sure about this one at all,  It is the result of my first play with this  new set of stamps from S.U. called "Perfect Mix".
It's a great set for making cards for friends and family that love cooking. this card was just an experiment to see what it would look like as a background paper. 

Child ' s Card

I am ashamed to say  this Teddy bear stamp has been in my collection for many, many years and I have never used it, until now that is. I don't have  a lot to say about this card, it's pretty straight forward and needs no explanation.

Tip for getting those stamps to fit back into the case.

An ultra quick tip. 

Sometimes Stampin' Up sell stamp sets that have either quite a few stamps in or the stamps are quite large.
 In our eagerness to get those stamps mounted on to the blocks we don't take any notice of how the blocks fit  into the case.  Once we've mounted all the stamps it's often almost  impossible to fit them all back in the case.
 I know,  I for one have spent an awful lot of time  trying to get all  those stamps to fit back in the case. I have been known to say sod it and give up at times because I have been so frustrated with them.

I personally think there should be a stamp map printed on the inside of the cover of the case  showing us how they  fit in.
But until they do,   my  suggestion is.....  the moment you get your new stamp set,   open the case and take a photo. You can print the photo off laminate it and stick to the inside of the case. This should put an end to all that frustration.

Circular Card For Kris

This circular card was made for my son's birthday last week. I used an  X cut hexagonal die to cut the shapes to make up the football.
Before piecing together all the hexagons I sponged  the edges with a little River Rock ink to define the joins.
The black hexagons I cut from black glitter paper.

Friday 17 March 2017

Card Swap from Arakoola Kard Art.

A while back I took part in a card swap. this is the gorgeous card I received. 
I was absolutely delighted with this card from Debbie. It is the best card I have ever received from a card swap.
Debbie says,  she used masking tape on water colour paper and applied water  colours over the top. 
The masking tape act s as a mask and keeps the paper underneath clean.
Debbie then  removed the tape and over stamped the coloured background  with various stamps in different colours.
The  overall effect is stunning and sounds pretty easy to do, but it's not actually that easy to get the professional result you see here..... I have tried and I certainly didn't results as good as this.
The fact I don't have  many stamps that are suitable for this type of card doesn't help, But I did have ago.  I 'll post a photo of my poor attempt later. But this post is just for Debbie's Card. Thanks Debbie,  this is a card I will treasure. It has inspired me to try the technique and will continue to inspire me,  until I actually manage to perfect the  technique....If  I ever do. LOL.

Thursday 2 March 2017

Balloon Blowing Mice.

This House Mouse stamp was another of my purchase at the  "Make it Show".
 I think they look more like rats than mice to me, Especially when the tails are coloured  in with a flesh colour... but  they are still quite cute. 
I think,  if you have the patience to colour in a lot of these images  they would make fabulous party  invitations..

Shoveling Snow

 Here is another of those cute Lili of the valley stamps.  
Coloured using Copic Markers.  I think this would make a cute  Christmas card for a guy.


Copper Kettle New Home.

This stamp  was just too cute to pass up. So it went in my shopping basket at the  "Make it Show  at Farnborough last week.
I thought this stamp would be perfect for a "New Home" card.

I didn't want the background to be fussy on this as I feared it would detract from the small mice.

Floral Thank You Card.

Last week was half term and I really owed it to my craft room to have a bit of a clear out and tidy up. 
Two bin bags of  rubbish later and I got distracted.
A huge box of peel offs was one find. 
Ten years ago nearly all my cards had a peel off sentiment, corners or  maybe even a border. 

When I joined S.U peel offs were not allowed in demos so they were hidden away in a cupboard.
 So I haven't used  a peel off on a card in donkeys years.  Until this card that is.
The flower stamp is from S.U and is still in the current catalogue.   I think it's called "You've got this".  I coloured the image using Copic markers.


My real reason for making this card was to try out a new set of dies.  These double stitched dies are made by Nellie Snellen .
 I rather like the double stitch feature on these dies. If you are unfamiliar with this  term ...all it means is when you cut out one circle the die perforates the edges of  both the positive and the negative of the die cut in one pass through the machine.  
So you can use the negative a frame as I have here.  The positive circle with it's perforations give a lovely  finish to a stamped topper.

French Foliage Sympathy Card.

This is the fourth card of this type I have needed this year and we're only just in March..
To make this card,  I used post it notes to mask off the either side of the card,  leaving a strip of card about an inch and three quarters wide exposed.
Using sponge daubers I applied random patches of Stampin' Up's Hello Honey and Mellow Moss ink .
Once all the white area of card was completely covered in ink, I stamped the text in chocolate chip ink all over the sponged area. Then I stamped the darker ink splats over the
sponged area..
I changed the ink pad to Early Espresso,  removed the post it  note from the right side of the card  and stamped the leaves over the same areas  I stamped previously.
 The leafy stamp set is called " French Foliage". It is a retired stamp set now.

As I was NOT working on good quality stamping card,  I had to wait quite a while for the inks to dry thoroughly before continuing with the next step.  (this is attempt 3 because I didn't wait long enough on the earlier cards)

The sentiment. ... I have to say,  I had trouble getting the "So Sorry" straight on this card. This maybe because I have been a little stressed out of late and unable to concentrate fully. But that's another story.
I drew a fine pencil line across the card where I wanted my "So Sorry" to go and used the stamp a majig to line up  card.the sentiment. This too took sometime time dry.
 I  used the splatter stamp again  this time with Sahara Sands ink and stamped a few splatters on the white section, ....not because it I thought it would enhance the card, but to hide a very small smudge under the sorry. This tiny little mark  stood out like a sore thumb on the starkness of the white.
The splatters hide it perfectly. So nobody will ever know it's there.....unless of course,  YOU tell them.



Thursday 23 February 2017

Masculine Leaving Card.


Last card for tonight.  For months I have been wondering what what sort of card I could make with a stamp  of boots. This stamp is in the set called "Country Living" from Stampin' up.
It occured to me today, that one puts on ones shoes or boots when one leaves. So why not make a sorry you are leaving card  with it,
As these boots are quite masculine looking this card would have to be for a guy.
I didn't have a stamp that said Sorry you are leaving so I printed the words off using a PC.

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.

Sunday 12 February 2017

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

Saturday 4 February 2017

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.





Thursday 2 February 2017

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.

Thursday 26 January 2017

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.

Wednesday 25 January 2017

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.