Debbie's Bat Birthday Card

More night sky sponging this time with bats flying in front of a full moon. Less romantic than my last moon lit card but this one was created for my cousin's wife Debbie, who is into bats. I hope she liked it.

Inks used were Stampin' Ups  Marina Mist,  Midnight Muse, and Black craft ink.
A white gel pen for highlighting.
A sponge daubers to sponge in the sky and another to sponge in the foreground.
Stamp sets Serene Silhouettes from Stampin' up! and the bats are from a retired set  called Wicked Cool.

I masked off the moon  and sponged in the sky,  first using Marina Mist ink pad and dauber, I  always start on the mask and working outwards.
When I was happy with the density of the colour,  I sponged on the Midnight Muse ink this time starting from the edges of the card and working in towards the moon but not quite getting there.

Having completed the sky,  I removed the mask  and  blotted off  any excess ink from the dauber on scrap paper then gently sponged over the  edges of the moon,  just to add a small amount of colour and depth to the outer edges and  leave some white patches  towards the centre.

To form the clouds drifting  across the moon I used the very edge of the dauber  and without adding ink I dragged it part way across the moon. These drag marks  kind of look like streaky  clouds drifting by.

When all the black ink had dried completely,  I added white dots and dashed with a white gel pen to give the impression of moonlight hitting the edges of the plant life.
 I have to say doing random dots and dashes does seem to look better than  highlights added  precisely.

Nautical 21st Card in a Box

 This card in a box has been done with a Nautical theme for a young man that will be 21 years old at beginning of next week.
It only seems like yesterday I was making his 18th card.... where does the time go.


This Box is much larger than the previous card in boxes I have done before.
This means it needs more stuff sprouting out of it. So this box has 5 bridges inside to hold all the lollipops  (so to speak)

 The stamps sets I used to fill this box were "Open Sea"
 "By the tide", "Banner Blast",  "Cheers to you", Hello Sailor,"  all from Stampin up although some are now retired. They were all heat embossed using black embossing powder, then sponged over with three different inks.
bashful blue,so saffron,  and lucky limeade.

 I think I used Stampin' ups whole range of circle punches plus the bigz circles die to cut out all the designs and backing  circles.  The corresponding banner blast punch was used to cut the banners.

Glimmer paper was used along with the number dies to make the 21 a little more glimmer paper touches in the form of a banner and a little heart as the card will be from his mum,  who obviously loves him so the tiny heart seemed a subtle way of adding some love.


Mum also chose the words I typed up and added to the back section of the box, leaving her plenty of room to add some extra messages if she so wishes.
I used the "The World" stamp  by Stampin' Up to decorated the side panels of the box. Heat embossed in black and again sponged with the above mentioned colours.
The base of the box was stamped  using the new "hardwood" background stamp from S.U.

The lighthouse is just a small section of a stamp I have owned for many years and only ever used once. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get it out again. 

I have to get it in post now or it won't arrive in time for his birthday.

Giggle Greetings Card

This one was made for my 93 year old Mother-in-law  who loves  the colour green and has a fondness for cats.
She did laugh when she read this card.
Which goes to prove this  stamp set is suitable for all ages.
It's called Giggle greetings and  it's in the 2013/14  catalogue.
 (It comes with three other humorous  stamps. See below)
to make this card I stamped the cat on to vanilla card stock and again onto  thin scrap paper. I cut the cat on the scrap paper applied some two way adhesive to the reverse of the scrap cat and allowed it to dry.
Once the glue was dry,  I  placed it over the cat I had stamped on the card to mask it .The purpose of this is to keep the cat clean when stamping the brick wall and sponging the grass area.

I inked up the brick wall stamp (which is one of the  Cover a Card range of stamps)  with creamy caramel ink ( a retired colour from SU) and  stamped  over the  top half of the cat.

To do the grass,  I used  Pear Pizazz  ink a sponge dauber and sponged in the grass  area then over stamped it  randomly  with a small grass tuft stamp using Old Olive ink pad.
Once the wall and grass area were completed I removed the mask from the cat.

 The bushes were created using a small foliage stamp which  was stamped repeatedly until I was happy with the effect. I used a white gel pen and added some dots on the bushes to give the impression of flowers.

Tanya s 50th Birthday

This was  a card  I made for my friends sister  who was 50 over the Christmas Holiday. Allison wanted the card to have a  gardening theme as her sister's passion is gardening.                                                                                                  I chose some blue stripe  dsp paper from S.U. for the background and  mounted it  onto  silver foiled  card.    Then I wrapped a length of blue grosgrain   from top to bottom, adhering the ends to the underside of the topper  to  conceal the raw ends. The  background was then stuck to the base card.

The image was mounted onto a layer of silver card and using foam pads I stuck the image over the grosgrain.  The foam pads give a little dimension to the card.

 I added a bow in the same grosgrain using glue dots.                                       

   I printed off the greetings and hot foiled them, then cut them  out to resemble seed labels and tucked them behind the bow. The next step was to stamp, colour  and cut out the butterfly. I added some sparkles along the butterfly's body and glued it to the label.

The last tasks were to print and hot foil the insert and make the box.

Simple Christmas card

This month I saw my 3rd anniversary as  a Stampin up demonstrator. I am sorry to say this will probably be my last anniversary.
The current economic climate has taken it's toll on so many people and made it  impossible for me to continue.
 So many people I know have been hit so hard by the downward spiralling economy, including myself. As much as  I love the stampin up products,   I can't keep on buying  products just to reach my quarterly figures. Dear hubby as patient and as understanding  as he is of my addiction, would have a fit if I did.
So unless a miracle happens this will be my last year on the SU demo list.

I will  continue to post cards and other items I make as and when I make them.
I have to say I have been busy making doll's clothes for my Grandaughter and have really enjoyed getting back into sewing.  We also  have another grandchild on the way.
So...
I think it's a good time for me to take a small break from the paper crafting
and start using up all the boxes of fabric lurking  all around the house, hidden away in  chests, ottomans and plastic boxes stashed away in the loft and shed.
Not to  mention the  cloakroom  size cupboard that is stuffed full of fabrics.....
I am now feeling the need to make a teddy bear and try my hand at quilting.


 Ooops, I just told hubby the answer to all those,  What's in there?" questions, that  I just answer with a,  "you don't want to know?"  and bless him,  he leaves it at that.

Dress Card

 I  woke this morning with a stiff neck and a stinking headache, which was probably the result of spending so much time working on this card. It's for a very special young lady who is my eldest son partners . She does have a passion for fashion  so I hope she likes it.
To make this card, I cut out the dress shape  twice in black card. I then cut about an inch and a half  of the fish tail off  of one of dresses and applied versamark ink  and heat and stick powder all over the top part of the dress. I heated the powder until it began to melt (DO NOT OVER HEAT) then I applied  black glitter and pressed it down into the heat and stick .  You can  used a xyron to apply the glue if you prefer. 
I then added some crystals along the top edge of the dress.

Taking the second dress shape, I cut off the  bottom 2" of the  fish tail and discarded the top part of the dress.
Using some soft, limp lace fabric,  (about 1 1/2" wide and 6 - 8" long )  I ran a line of  small gathering stitches very close to the edge of the fabric and pulled the thread up to gather the lace until it was approximately an inch wider than the card fish tail.
I put a strip of double sided tape across the card fish tail  half an inch down from the top edge to hold the gathered lace edge.
Lining up the bottom edge of the lace with the bottom edge of the card fish tail I pressed the gathered lace edge onto the the double sided tape (arranging the lace as I went along. ) leaving about half an inch of card above the lace.  ( This is to join the two parts of the dress together later.)
 I  folded  the  ends of lace to the back of the fish tail and held them in place with double sided tape.
Apply a little glue  across the width of the card fishtail  ( the bit  that's above your gathered lace)  and place the  glittered  part of the dress on top,  butting up the bottom edge of the dress to the top edge of the lace.
I ran   a very thin line of crystal effects  across the the lace where it meets the glitter and sprinkled with more black glitter. I then layed a kebab stick over the lace gathers and pressed it down to flatten the lace join .
My lace looked a little too matt against the all the sparkle of the glitter so I lightly brushed some crystal effects over the lace with a stiff paint brush and applied  more black glitter.
The last thing was to gather a small length of ribbon to form the flower and stick a diamonte in the centre.

Now you maybe asking why didn't I just use edging lace and and just stick over one  of the dress shapes........ My answer ....edging lace usually has a slightly thicker edges,  which adds bulk and makes it more springy therefore  making it more difficult to stick down.

Joining the two pieces of card at the fish tail created a a slight step in the card which means I have a join between the lace and the card  that is flush and there is no bulk . I have  a stronge dislike for cards with fabric on that look bulky and out of control.

The handbag was made using  a tag punch, 2 circle punches  , and an oval punch from SU.

The crown was created by stamping a crown in versamark ink and heat  embossing in black and apply tiny dots of crystal effects over the embossing and applying black glitter.

cards that impressed me

 I have had a lot of time this week  since my injury to go looking at other people s blogs. Wow !!! there are some amazing ladies out there making wonderful cards.

Here are two that I found and had to have a go at making.
The first one doesn't show the  enbossing detail very well. So I will say  that the candles  sizes are about  1/2 " wide  X 3" long. I inked the edges with the same colour ink as the card. and placed them in an embossing folder before sticking them on to the white card. I punched 7 Bird wings  in yellow. Using the  bird punch from S.U.   and daubed some apricot appeal ink at the base of the flame.

This second card  Looked fantastic on the ladies blog but when I reproduced it  looked flat and to be honest very disappointing. So I took it all to pieces and inked the edges of all the circles and stuck it all back together. I was much happier with the result.     It  was created using three different size circle punches. 

finger print mice

I haven't done much in the way of crafting for quite some time now.  I have been very busy trying to have a sort out  in the house since we broke up for the summer. If you can call this summer  that is. Very little chance of getting a sun tan here in the uk . We more likely to get  rust, as it has been so wet.
Anyway  this is a little card I made  yesterday . The mice were created by dabbing  my little finger onto the ink pad and then onto the paper. It's not a new idea by any means but it's quite effective. I used the matching marker to draw in the ears and whiskers. Using a small hole punch, I punched holes for the tails then threaded  some  jute threw threw the holes. I did  colour the jute but rolling it across  the ink pad and smoothed the fibres down  using a little crystal effects and allowed it to dry before threading it through the tail holes. I used the grass stamp from the dinoroar stamp set to stamp the grass.

Paisley petals card

This card was found on a lady s blog in the U.S. I was stunned by this card  and just had to reproduce it.
It is made from Stampin' ups marina mist card with the paisley petals DSP. I also used  the background stamp En Francais for the  text on the flower and strips of  card which I daubed the edges with soft suede ink.
The flower stands  out quite a bit on this card so instead of using an envelope I decided a Clear dvd case with no moulding inside would make the perfect case for it.
This card  won't be  going any where I am keeping this one.  I love it.

Fresh Vintage Cards

Here are  three cards  that using Fresh Vintage stamp set.

These two I have CASED from other Demonstrators. This Black and White is  card is so classy, I couldn't resist having a go at making it.

This is the end result.  Dawn of dostamping.com has a terrific video on how to make this card.

 

I spotted the card at the side  and thought I just have to do that one I loved it, but I have no idea where I saw it first. So I cannot credit it's creator.

Now this one I don't know if this my adaptation of the side card or whether I have seen something similar some where else  and unwittingly reproduced it. I guess that is the problem one has when one spends time blog hopping.                                                                                   

Stamp a ma jig Tutorial

This was  a fun video to make.  But my  battery died before I had the time to  say the imaging sheet  comes with a blue sticker in the centre.

 I  strongly recommend that you leave this sticker on the sheet. You very rarely need to use the centre of the sheet for positioning your stamp. So it doesn't affect your work.  What it does do however,  is helps you find it.

Being an opaque  plastic square it is hard to see, especially if your work space is as messy as mine. I have spent many hours trying to find this sheet during and after a crafting session. (I have a tendency to use the it and  put it down rather than put it back in it's box)   When looking for it now I  look for the blue sticker rather than a opaque plastic square.

 One last thing I am curious to know why I sound like I have a lisp on this video, I didn't have one before on the original  recording, Perhaps you get a free lisp with every video uploaded on blogspot. lol

Toilet Roll tube Pillow Box

Here  we have a darling little pillow box. I think this is so cute and believe it or not it is made from a toilet roll tube.

This is so easy to make you hardly need me to give you instructions but just in case you need them  here are the basics.

Flatten a toilet roll tube that has been in the microwave for  ten minutes to sterilize it. Place it in and embossing folder and run it through the bigshot or  a similar device.

Take something like a large circular die (the nestabilities are perfect for this)  and place it over the end of the tube and  score  a semi circle from one side to the other using the die as your guide.

 Do this on both sides and at both ends of the tube.

 Gently bend the  semi circles in to form the pillow box ends. 

Make your belly band and decorate anyway you like and attach around  your pillow box.

I used the always elegant wheel stamp from Stampin' up with choc chip ink.

 I punched 3 red different size circle, which I sprayed with water and screwed up several times and then  flattened.  When they were dry I  inked the edges of the circles and  popped a brad through the centre,  added two leaves and glued the flower to  the belly band.

Hey Presto!  one very cheap gift box.

Fresh Vintage

Yet another card using the floral flourish from the Fresh Vintage stamp set.

This time I used Baja breeze card, seam binding  and ink.
I have to say I have CASED this card from another demonstrator   I saw her version of this card and thought it was lovely. Mine is not as neat or as well planned out as Dawns but it will give you another idea for your Sale-a-bration stamp set.

Fresh Vintage in Black and White

Just how versatile is this Fresh Vintage stamp set from Stampin' up.

Here is a black and white card using the Fresh Vintage stamp set along with a sympathy greeting from another set.
How classy is this. Yet it is so simple to make. I don't think I even need to explain this one.
I will say that this card measures 6x6

Curvy Verses

Apologies for the poor quality of photo here.
This is another card you may recognise It's my version of one of the ideas in this years  Sale-a-bration catalogue.
I made a few changes because I didn't have the stamp set they used. 
 I used the curvy verses  stamp set as the background stamp and I ruffled my seam binding and attached it to the card with snail adhesive instead of sewing  it to the card . It was far too much effort to get my sewing machine out.
The flower was cut using a flower die from S.U but I can't remember the name right now.

outlined occassions

Another Card using  a set of the sale-a-bration stamp sets..
This  one is called outlined occassions. I really like this set. as you know I am not fond of colouring in as I have  difficulty staying with in the lines. My optician says it's an age thing.
Anyway back to this card I stamped the greeting  and  very carefully coloured in the lettering. 
I  punched out a few pennant s and assembled the card.
 A very simple but effective card.

sale-a-bration fresh vintage

This is certainly not my favourite card but it does show the use of markers on stamps well.
For the novice stamper, this where you use  different coloured markers to ink up your stamp instead of a single colour ink pad.
Once you have coloured all the areas over your stamp with ink you then take a deep breath and huff all over your stamp   to re moisten the inks and print the image onto your card stock.
It does take a little longer  stamping this way but hey,  think of it this way..... there is NO  intricate colouring in to do Whoopie! I am not a love of colouring in.... I can't stay inside the lines. lol.

I used the beautiful Fresh Vintage stamp set for this card. This stamp set was a free set from Stampin' up ,during the Sale-a-bration period. Every customer  spending  £45  got a free set of stamps.
I used the Stamp and Write markers to colour in my stamp. Old olive grosgrain, Razzleberry, Pretty in pink  and Whisper white card stock.

punch art owl card

I think this guy is kind of cute.
He was created using the owl punch and the scallop circle punch for the wings.
I daubed the edges  with chocolate chip ink and then put the owl together. 
I added the leaves and  a flower.
The bark effect was created , by inking up the inside of a bark embossing folder  with a darker ink than my card stock and running it through my Bigshot. This  gives the bark slightly more definition.

Amanda s card.

As promised here is the lovely card sent to me by my upliner Amanda.

Amanda has used the Artistic Etchings stamp set to create this card with a touch of the Victoria lace and a few sticky back pearls .

Hot Air Balloon Card

This hot air balloon was made using the heart punch from S.U. I punched out 5 hearts folded them in half and glued them together . On reflection I think 7 or 8 hearts would have have been better.

The background was created with sponge daubers , torn paper bashful blue, pear pizzazz and old inks. The mini trees on the hills were stamped using the little leaf stamp from the vintage vogue stamp set.

The conifer stamp is one I have owned for years from another company. The pine needles in top corner was one I bought second hand on Ebay from a lady in Canada, I believe.