summer silhouettes

 I have made this 7 x 7 inch card before but in navy and crumb cake inks. I fancied making it again but in a different colour. So this time I used crumb cake and blackberry bliss.

I think this colour combo works quite well. The stamp set is an old S.U set called summer silhouettes.

Post Box Christmas cards

I have been doing a little reorganizing in my craft room  and I came across the post box stamp in these cards, It was one of the first stamps I ever bought. I was never happy with colouring mediums at the time. There were none of the quality colouring products that are available today. So I was always disappointed with the results.

 So this stamp got packed away along with  the rest of my meagre collection. That was when I decided stamping wasn't for me. 

Since then, stamps and the products used with them have come a long way, making the whole experience a lot easier and more pleasurable. 

So upon reacquainting myself with this lovely stamp, I decided to try creating a scene around the post box using Lavinia stamps.

After blending in the horizon and the sky, I stamped the postbox , masked it off and began building up the scene.  

Using the edge of a piece of torn paper and a small blending brush with next to no ink on, I brushed in a few snow drifts.

 Then stamped in the background trees and foliage in the foreground.

I used copic markers to colour the post box and white Posca pen to add snow to the branches and create  snowflakes.

This was the finished card . I enjoyed creating this card so much I decided to make a few more and tried to vary the background, by either using different tree stamps or drawing in the  trees myself.

On this card I decided to draw in the background trees with copic markers.

I stamped a fence in but didn't line it up too well.

On the card below I added a rabbit and missed out a few trees.

Most of the stamps I used to create these scenes are from Lavinia's mini stamp collection.

The sentiments are from an S.U set called itty bitty Christmas.

The size of these cards are 4 x 8 1/2 inches.

The smaller withches

 On this card I used all three of the smaller witches in the set and one of the small cats on this blended background. I added some tiny evergreen trees along the horizon and larger deciduous trees behind the witches. And an assortment of mini foliage stamps as silhouettes around the outer edges.

spooky house

The spooky house used on these cards is also included in the dream witch bundle from Lavinia stamps.

 The tree branch and moon are quite old stamps from the same company, but are still available.

I used S.U inks to blend the sky. First I lightly blended in some yellow then stamped the moon and masked it off  while I added more yellow, orange and red to the sky. and dark grey to the bottom half,  I stamped the scene and  drew in a the path and grave stones and highlighted them with a white paint pen.

 
 This one I'm not so happy with.  I loved the purple splattered background I started, but I didn't think one through before starting. But as I said, I was just experimenting with background colours.

Halloween cards.

 

I think this card has a very autumnal feel to it.  It was my  first attempt using the  witch bundle from Lavinia stamps. 

I have had some extra time to play with them this week. 

Many of my creations this week were just about experimenting with colours and backgrounds.  

I used diluted lemon Brusho powder and painted the entire piece of card lemon. While the card was still wet, I brushed in a little  diluted black brusho into the corners and let the black bleed into the wet lemon. 

Once dry I stamped the images and added a bunch of sparkles using Posca  paint pens.

 For the card above, I blended light brown ink over the card  using blending brushes to colour the background.

 I used an old Lavinia tree stamp in the background to give a little depth.   Then used a selection of the mini stamps to add foliage to the trees and sides.

 Along the bottom I used larger plant stamps to fill in.

I think this one has be to my favourite colour. 

 I am including a link to Lavinia stamps witch bundle.

https://www.laviniastamps.com/product/the-dream-witch-collection-bundle/

Halloween cards 2024

 

Another Halloween card using the newly released witch bundle from Lavinia stamps.

  I have used the same stamps as I used in my previous post below

 I just changed the background colours.  I used S.U  dye based inks,  regular stamping card rather than watercolour card.

Halloween cards

I haven't done a huge amount of crafting of late, partly because my employer has said we can no longer give the children treats and partly because I have been busy trying to get the work we want done in the gardens organised and completed. (easier said than done).  Along with trying to repair all the damage caused  by a leaking roof and  having our cloudy windows replaced. 

Any crafting I have done has been very last minute, and I have forgotten to photograph  it before giving it  away .  I realised  this too late.  But enough of the excuses. I have severely  neglected my blog for way too long, for which I apologise. 

BUT THERE IS A LITTLE GOOD NEWS.  I was  recently inspired by new set of Halloween stamps  by Lavinia stamps based here in the UK.  

( I believe they're available in some parts of  the U.S too)

So I  purchased  the newly released bundle of witches stamps  and had some playtime.

The bundle consists of three individual witches and two trees small and large, a stamp with three smaller witches on, a cauldron , a verse , two tiny cats and two larger cats a set of three bats and a dotty flourish .

 On these two cards, I used two of the larger witches, sections of the larger tree, the small bat, one of the small cats, the flourish, the verse and the cauldron, along with a foliage, a berry and  a twig  from the mini stamps collection. Which retail at £1.10 

 These mini stamps are not included in the bundle. In my opinion  these minis  are worth their weight in gold.  They don't look like much but they are so,so useful for building up scenes.

 I  have enjoyed playing with these stamps after my long break from stamping.

if you're wondering how I created the background . I used a brayer and applied thin layer of  Versamark Clare ink  (colour twilight) onto my gelli plate  then sprinkled  splatters of  yellow brusho powder  mixed with water over the top.

I placed a sheet of watercolour card stock on top of the inked up Gelli plate and rubbed over the back of the card well  to transfer the colours to the card, peel off the card and allow it dry before stamping in black Versamark Clare ink. 

 Black Versafine in  is an intense black,  so silhouettes really pop out.

The sparkles were created by drawing small circles with a yellow posca pen and adding a smaller white dot in the middle once the yellow has dried.

 I also added dots of stickles (glitter glue) randomly over the scene.

News

 I have some news to share... After 14 years, I have finally dropped as a Stampin'up Demo.

I found there were not enough products in the catalogues I liked enough to buy. Which means I couldn't make my quarterly figures. So last month I decided to drop.

 I will now be a customer and buy only the products I like, but from another demo.

I will continue with my blog as and when I make something worth sharing. You'll probably find my creations will be more varied now. 

I have a few projects in mind I want to try.  I think you'll love a couple of them. But it's going to take some planning and some time before I can get started. My craft room is due to get new windows in a couple of weeks,  so I need to clear everything away and make space for fitters to work in. I don't want to start  this project until the windows are done and I'm back to normal.

Laptop Mended I'm up and running.

 Wow!!!  I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. It's been a few months now.  There are a couple of reasons for this,  the first being my laptop has been playing up for quite a while. To log on would take about an hour on a good day which was really frustrating. 

The last two weeks it's been in the repair shop having new organs fitted and programs.  It came home yesterday and I am now up and running.

The second reason is because, I haven't been making any cards.  No handmade Christmas cards this year, no handmade Valentines card for hubby, and no Birthday cards.  However , I have been  kept very busy sewing. 

We were supposed to be going to a wedding in October, as we were packing, I realized  we didn't have any toiletry bags. This gave me the idea to make some. Everyone that saw them said they were lovely and that gave me the idea to make sets of travel bags for the granddaughters for Christmas. Then it was suggested the other female family members may like a set , either for Christmas or those with January /February birthdays.

I then extended the three bag set by including a tissue holder and a chap stick holder .

This set was made for my eldest granddaughter. I also bought some single sided emery boards those ones that usually have a really garish design printed on the reverse.

 I found,  I could peel off the tacky printed side and replace it with a print to match the bags.  

To achieve this, all I did was to photocopy the fabric (a laser printer is best for this)  I used to make the bags. Then adhere the printed paper to the back of the nail file and trim off the excess paper , if necessary  use a second emery board (a fine one) to neaten any rough edges.  

This set I made for myself. I needed a new bag to keep my hair accessories in, I didn't need three bags for these so this set is just a two bag set.

 Below is a photo of a small selection of the bags I've been making.

I made quite a few more  bags in different fabrics and vinyl's that I didn't photograph.

These bags are pretty easy to make  and can be addictive to make.

If you're interested in making these, there are countless tutorials on Youtube.
There are a few different methods to put them together, I suggest watching a few tutorial and decided which way suites your sewing skills the best. 

You don't need  a lot of fabric either. A large bag will take two fat quarters, one for outer and one for lining.

I bought the larger metallic coil zippers by the metre from Amazon.

 The wadding however was a bit more problematic. We don't have any sewing shops here now.  So I had to order online. The problem with this is you can't feel the thickness or the quality from a photo, so you  don't know how much body it's going to give the finished bag.  I order a wadding from Amazon which was perfect, so I re ordered the same stuff....what I received was so thin it didn't even offer enough body for the smallest bag.

So I ordered more from somewhere else... that arrived and it was fine for larger bags, but too rigid for smaller bags.

In desperation to get the project finished, I ended up going to a well known craft shop and paying  £26 per metre. To my mind that's way too much money.

If you plan on making them in vinyl  I strongly recommend  using a walking foot or a teflon foot. for the top stitching.

Two tone floral wedding card

I have to confess, I did not enjoy making these 7 x 7 inch cards at all. I had five or six attempts at this card before I came up with something I was happy with.  I am glad I persevered, I think these have turned out quite well. I do hope the bride and groom will like the one they receive.

 

I had intended for these to be single layer cards. I masked off the centre strip to keep it clean, unfortunately  I stamped over the masking tape so often, the ink started to seep through and under the the tape. So I had to resort to stamping the Mr & Mrs on fresh strips of card and  place them over the inky marks.

I 've listed a lot of stamps sets used in the making of these cards, but I only used one foliage stamp from each set, apart from the two tone florals.

The card below started off as another 7 x 7 inch card, but I managed to get inky finger marks on it where they couldn't  be hidden or disguised.  

I decided I would try something different to try and save a portion of my work rather than put the whole thing in the bin.  So I cut off the bottom section, and use it on it's side.

I don't find this one quite so appealing, so I wouldn't use this for an important occasion like a wedding .

The funny thing is... I found out yesterday that the colours I chose to create these cards are very close to the brides colour scheme for the wedding.
 

Sunset scene.

 A brief post tonight as there is not much to this card, just a little ink blending and some stamping.
 Another little sunset scene using  little Pipin and one of the foxes from Lavinia stamps. (I can never the names of the foxes or which one is which)  The fence and tree I believe were from Inkscapes.

Baby welcoming card.

This bench card was made for my nephew and his girlfriend, who have recently welcomed their first child into the world. I have had to hold off posting this one so the postman has enough time to deliver it.

 I am not going to give instructions for this card as I have previously written a tutorial on this style of card. ( If you want view further instructions, look for bench cards in the side panel listings.)

 I am just sharing a couple of photos here just to show how the baby sits in the middle of this cot.

 I used 300gsm card to make the base card, I cut a slit just slightly over 3/4 of an inch long into the mattress base where I wanted the baby to sit (leaving enough room around her for the blanket to sit )

Once I had coloured and cut out the baby holding her blanket,  I glued a strip of card  about 1 3/4 inches long  by 3/4 of an inch wide. I glued the strip to the back of the baby leaving an inch at the bottom to slide into the slit in the mattress.

 Because the card is thicker and more sturdy it makes for quite a tight fit when assembled so there is no need to glue baby in. She will sit there quite happily without glue. 

 Not adding glue means the recipient will be able to adjust her position easily. 

My last tip would be to stand the card up and check the baby's tab isn't showing underneath when the card is viewed head on, and that it's not so long, it prevents the card from standing properly.

If you find you have this problem, slide out the baby and snip off the required amount from the bottom of the tab then, place her back in the slit.

This card does fold flat to fit in an 7 x 9  inch envelope.  You just push the bottom of the mattress up and push the right side over towards the middle and flatten the left side. 

I almost forgot...The teddy bear! I would you believe I only have two teddy stamps and neither were suitable for this card so I had to draw one. I think he turned out quite well considering I don't draw.

 

single layer card.

I need cute card for next week.  As it's a certain young ladies birthday. So I created this card using some stamps from Lavinia stamps and a couple of stamps I bought at the Stamperama craft show last week. On this card I have stamped Lori the rabbit outside the scene looking in.

The birds are literally  part of the " in the Harbour " stamp, by stamp addicts. If you look at the boat cards in the post below you'll see the birds are on this stamp.  I cut the birds off the stamp so I could use them on their own.
 

On this version I added a row of trees and swapped the wild flowers for toadstools and used a different fence.  I missed out the birds and added a the sun going down behind the hills. I swapped Lori out for Pippin.

On this version I changed the position of the sun and the toadstools.

I also missed out the row of trees and changed the colour of the sky.

The hedgerow beneath the trees in this photo was created using just the tip of the rounded tree used  in second photo. I masked off the area under the tree with scrap paper and stamped just the top of the tree multiple times over the edge of the masking paper.

In the harbour.

Last Sunday I went to the Stamperama craft show in Newbury.  There were only three stalls I really wanted to visit and one of them was the Stamp Addicts stand. I visited their website the night before and made a short list of stamps I would like to buy. Unfortunately they only had two of the stamps that were on my list. This stamp one is called "in the harbour"  and it's by Stamp addicts.

I also went looking for images of cards made using this stamp on the internet, I only found two samples, both of which were on display at the craft show and neither were my style. So I 've had to do my own thing with this stamp.

 I decided I wanted a moody sky on this first card, so I blended some yellow and grey ink into the sky area and also on the shore.

 I used Copic markers to colour the boats and the wall. 

For the rest of my samples I chose to do blue skies using torn paper and  blended blue ink to create the wispy clouds.

I used warm grey ink pads for the shore with subtle touches of green here and there , Which don't show up in this photo.  Again using Copic markers to colour the boats and wall.

 On this last card, I added some tree tops. This was because I somehow managed to get an inky mark in the sky so to cover the mark I stamped some trees. Hubby pointed out the trees were not straight, my reply....it's a windy day.

Lots Lavinia Stamps

I have been distracted from crafting and blogging by the lovely weather we have had.  When it's dry and sunny, it's time to get out in the garden to do lots of pruning,  fence painting, cleaning and painting a few pots, planting up the pots and  generally tidy up. I have to say it's been a lot of  hard work, but well worth the effort. I also made a little friend while working outside. He pops in  every day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a few snacks in between. He will come very close and sit in the feeder next to the garden table and cocks his head to one side as I sit close by and talk to him. He doesn't seem to be too bothered that I am sat so close if I put my hand out I could touch him. You probably think I am crazy talking to a blackbird, but as he sits there with his head cocked to one side and looking directly at me, he really does look as though he is listening to every word I say. 

My son tells me that birds recognise faces, so maybe he has seen enough of my face over the last few weeks to recognise me and trusts me enough to realise, I will not hurt him. If this is the case I feel truly honoured.

The weather has taken a turn now and we've had some heavy rain and a thunder storm, which will do the garden good and give me some time to catch up with my crafting and blogging. 

I used a whole host of stamps from Lavinia stamps to create this card. I used Stampin up ink pads, Blending brushes,  seven or eight colours of posca pens for the flowers, plus a black Versafine Clare ink pad.

Coffee filter hydrangeas

 About two years ago I started making these hydrangeas,  I'd been looking for a suitable container for them every time I went shopping, but could never find just what I had in mind for them. So I lost interest in the flowers and stashed them away. Last week I was looking  at garden ornaments in Home Bargains and spotted a small tin bath. That was exactly what I wanted and that in turn inspired me to getting out the re inkers and coffee filters and start making.

I posted a photo on facebook of these flowers and received a few requests for instructions on making them.  Although I had already written a post on the making them two years ago I have decided to re write it, as I have changed a couple of  things to make construction easier. I also think I was on another planet when I wrote the first post, so here's  hoping the  re write, with extra photos will make more sense.

You'll need :

8 large basket type coffee filter papers for each flower.

Re inkers, in hydrangea colours. 2 pinks, 2 blues,  1green and  1yellow.

3 spritzing bottles 

Green garden wire 

Florist tape, optional 

Tools.

Scissors, hot glue gun, a stapler, and wire snips.

Something to display them in, 

 Brown Oasis for artificial flowers.

Take two coffee filters, fold them in half and keep folding them in half, four times in total if I remember correctly. 

In my last tutorial I said dye the coffee papers first. In this re write I recommend cutting out the flowers first. I'll  show you the reason why later in this post.

Draw a four petal flower at the top and give that flower a long neck and shoulders, as in the photo below. Cut out the flower, neck and shoulders carefully.

Open out each coffee filter and check that all the flowers are single and  not connected to the one next to it.  If  you find you have some flowers  still connected snip them apart.

On a plastic sheet, spritz the centre of the coffee  filter with a little plain water.

Spritz  a couple of the flower stems and flowers with a little diluted yellow or lime green ink.

 I have used a little spritz of lucky limeade on some. Google hydrangea images for ideas on colours. You'll see a touch of yellow or green in most of the flowers, especially the white variety. 

The beauty of Hydrangeas is they come in may colours pinks, blues, white and even lilac and purple. I am partial to the blue ones myself, but they turn pink in my garden... even when grown in pots.

Then spritz on a diluted pale blue ink on the rest of the coffee filter. I used Bashful blue, which I realize many people wont have now.  Diluted Seaside Spray is a close alternative,  but any blue that is close to a baby blue will do,  Alternatively you could use Orchid oasis water down of course. 

I use roughly 6 or 7 drops of ink to two table spoons of water. If you want a stronger colour add a couple more drops of ink, and if you want a paler colour add more water. It's a good idea to test your mix on a spare coffee filter before applying it to your flowers, so you can adjust the intensity.

While everything is still  wet  add  just a couple of fine spritzes of a darker cool blue to one or two small groups of petals. I used Starry night. on a couple of my flowers and night of navy on a couple of the others.   BE CAREFUL.  Not to spritz on too much of the darker blue. You only need a very small  amount on the edges of a few flowers. If you feel you have used too much, spritz the area with clean water to help dilute it.

Take care at this stage the filters are quite delicate at this stage, so handle them gently. If you lose a flower or two don't panic, it won't show in the finished flower.

Now fold the filter in half, and in half again and hang up to dry. On a nice day and if you don't mind your neighbours thinking you've gone mad, hang them outside on the washing line to dry from the corner so the petals are hanging down. They'll take about ten minutes to dry. 

On a wet day rig up a mini washing line over the kitchen sink/ drainer.

I used garden wire wrapped around the cupboard handles.

Because I didn't have much space on my makeshift  line I had to hang several filters together , which meant they took an awful lot longer to dry.

Now the reason I said  cut the flowers out first and to hang each filter from the corner, is so that the ink can drain  down to the tips of the petal, which will give a lot of the petal tips a darker edge. I think this effect gives the petals  more depth to the flower giving a  realistic look. You won't get that edge on all the petals but that's ok.

 If you stain the coffee filters first as I did on my first three flowers. I found I was cutting that lovely  dark edge off and binning it. My last photo will be a picture of the first three flowers without that edge, I think you will agree it does make a big difference.

Once dry,  you can start assembling the flower head.  With each coffee filter folded in half , just once, and  stack eight.  Make sure the petals are pointing out and not trapped between the layers of the filters.

Another change I made from my original post where I glued each layer together was to just staple the layers together.  Just two staples does the job just fine. No messing with glue and waiting for it to dry or set, and no burnt fingers.

The next step is to add the stem.  I cut a length of garden wire to approximately 12 inches, I folded over one end by about and inch. just to give the glue a bit more to grab onto.

Find the centre of the coffee filter and glue the wire in place.

Now I found it impossible to take a photo while doing the next bit, as I need two hands to hold my camera.  I placed a line of hot glue across the first half of the filter and began to roll the filter into a cone shape, keeping it fairly tight to the wire at the bottom.

The second half was easier as the cone was shape was now formed.

 

Add more hot glue and continue to roll.

You may find as I did, that the layers are a tiny bit flappy on the outside, to remedy this just squeeze little hot glue between the flappy bits. Alternatively you can bind the cone and the stem with green florist tape. I did bind my first three flowers with tape, but when I made the second batch I really couldn't see the point as you don't see the stems. If you want to bind the leave to the stems then you'll need to bind the cone and stem for good adhesion.

Now the eagle eyed among you may have spotted I only used four coffee filters for this post, to save me time. I  still got a good flower, but it's much looser and limper and lacks body  and the petals droop and its lost the wow factor the eight filter flower has. But as I didn't need another flower, this one was made purely for this post so you guys can see how they were made. so I am not too worried about this one.

 The Leaves.

The leaves are made from coffee filters too.  I folded two green coffee filters into quarters and drew on

the rough leaf shape you see above and cut out four at a time.

 Word of warning here,  To get the leaves dark green was a real mission and a half. I spritzed them with a very strong solution of green, so strong in fact they looked almost black when wet. However when they had dried they were quite a muted grey green, I ended up spritzing them 5 times and allowing to dry between spritzing. I think If I were to make them again I would probably just paint them with neat ink.  I used Evening evergreen on these leaves with a squirt or two of night of navy.

I had trouble with the first batch of leaves I made, so I knew this leaves were going to be a challenge this time.  They looked more like cabbage leaves. Not a good look for a hydrangea.

Other ideas might be to cut the leaves from evening evergreen card, or try water colour paints or food colouring.

Once I had achieved a reasonable depth of colour in my leaves, I used a hot glue gun and sandwiched a length of garden wire between two leaves.

My final tip on these flowers, after a time the colour will fade a little if kept in a less well lit part of the house, but they will fade a lot if kept in a sunny spot.   All is not lost if  they do fade,  simply wave them in the air and give the tips the lightest of sprays with the same colour diluted ink and hang them upside down to dry.

No darker tip on these.

Well I think that is all I have to impart on making these flowers I hope you find this useful and will have a bash at making them yourself.