Dandelion Wishes

Dandelion  Wishes is the name of the set these stamps come from.

I heat embossed the Dandelion heads with white embossing powder and then coloured the centre and stalks with a light green alcohol marker.

 the floating seeds I stamped using white craft ink.

We must celebrate stamp set.

I haven't done a huge amount of crafting of late for a few reasons I'd rather not go into too much here.  But the last few months haven't been easy after a sudden death in the family. 

I am now slowly getting back into crafting with a few simple cards to start with.

For this card I have used  the  "We must celebrate" stamp set from the  new Spring  and Summer Catalogue. 

Here I  have only used greys to colour the animals. 

I refrained from adding a sentiment to this card. I will add one when I've decided on who the card will go to and the occasion.

Feeling of Christmas.

A simple card using a new stamp set from S.U for this Christmas called  

 Feeling of Christmas.

Floral Cards

 This card was an experiment to try out my new "Burlap"  background stamp.

I got a little carried away and ended up using stamps from five different sets for this one: Burlap background, You've got this, Riveting, Sharing is caring,  and You've got this.

I coloured the flowers with Copic Markers.

For the  second version, I used the retired Background stamp called
" Friendly".

I haven't added a sentiment to this one yet as I don't know what occasion this will be used for,  or who this card will be sent to.

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.

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.

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.

1st Birthday Card.

This  little step card was created  for a first birthday.

Using the" I love lace " background stamp from SU I heat embossed the card stock in white for the lacy background.

The bear stamp is from the "Me to You" range of stamps.  

The Text on this card is all hot foiled in pink.

Angel Fish Card

Loving this new stamp set from Stamping up. It's called Seaside Shore,   I used  Copic markers to colour the images and added a touch of Wink of Stella to add some shimmer. 
To get the red  Angel fish to swim the oppose it way, I stamped it upside down ...it does mean the eye of the fish is in the wrong place, but I don't really think it matters too much on this fun card.

Hubby doesn't like this one.  It's too pale and plain for his tastes.
I think it's pretty and feminine without being fussy.

I used a large background stamp called "I love Lace". It's a retire stamp from Stampin' Up.
It's a beautiful stamp perfect for girly cards.

I stamped the lace image  with Versamark ink and heat embossed  it using white embossing powder.

I die cut a couple of ovals for the sentiment.

I added a bow in the same colour ribbon as the card, but the lighting at the time of the photo makes it appear more peachy than pink.

The sentiment stamp came from another retired stamp set called "Sincere Salutations".

Quick Valentines Card

Just a quick post tonight, probably about as long as it took to make this card.  I left it kind of late to make my hubby's Valentines card this year. Ummm, like this morning while he was walking the dogs. So this had to be a very quick and easy card to make.

 I started with a blank red base card topped with a layer of black, then another layer of red glittery paper. 

The topper was a layer of black 2  1/2  x  3  1/2 inches and a white  top layer,  in which I punched out two hearts slightly overlapping. I  used fast fuse adhesive to stick a layer of acetate over the  back of the heart apertures.   
Then I attached a strip of glittery paper  to the underside of the acetate  ( so that's six layers in total) and stamped the sentiment.  
The last step was to stick the topper on to the card with  foam pads.

Stippled Blossoms Birthday card.

I wish I could say I enjoyed making this card for my sister in law. But I  had so many mishaps with this one it's unbelievable. The top layer was the main issue .  I think I must have made and re made the top layer half a dozen times before I was happy with it. 

Then just as I thought I had finished it ,,,,,I dropped a black ink pad on it. So had to start again. 

This time I chose to use the Stippled Blossoms stamp set for the flowers rather than the Birthday Blooms stamp set, purely because I was sick of colouring the flowers over and over again. 

 No colouring involved with the Stippled Blossoms set.

The little tag gave me just as much trouble. 

For the lettering I used a spellbinder alphabet set called Indulgence,

The striped paper is from the SU  DSP pack call Birthday Blooms (I think) 

Blushing  Bride card stock. 

Chocolate coloured glitter paper for the lettering.

Blossoms Abound in pink

I love this Blushing Bride ink and card stock from S.U.  so I thought I would combine it  with my new favourite stamp set  Blossoms Abound. Okay so the stamp set is an old one but it's new to me. 

I have  also use  this new cotton ribbon in Blusing Bride on this card. I love how S.U do ribbons to  match their card stock. 

 I really do love this ribbon,  being cotton there is little slippage, meaning my bows are less likely to come undone.   May have to invest in some other colours now.

Stippled Blossoms Again

 
 
 

Have I mentioned how much I love this is stamp set.

 Here's another card or two using this beautiful two step stamping set.  These cards are  8x6 inches in size.

The colours I chose are from Stampin' up.


Pretty in pink and raspberry ripple.
Pool party and Bermuda bay
Old olive and always artichoke
Crumb cake and Black memento ink.

There is a lot of stamping and masking in this card. I began by stamping the flowers and masking them off before stamping the leaves and chicken wire background.

 Okay so this is basically  the same card as above. I have just changed the colour of one colour  the chicken wire and mounted the piece onto Stampin ups Wonderful Wisteria dsp.

 I swapped the pool party and  Bermuda bay inks for  Stampin 'Up's,   Almost  Amethyst  and Concorde Crush ink pads for the flower and the chicken wire was stamped using the Smokey Slate ink pad.

The sentiment is from an SU stamp set called chalk talk.
The seam binding ribbon is from SU along with the designer series papers  (DSP) used for mounting these mini works of art.

Vintage Mother's Day Card

Okay, this was a last minute card and it 's still waiting for it's insert  which needs to be done as soon as I have finished writing up this post. So I'll make this a quick one.

I don't usually use ribbon flowers for my cards but as I left it so late to make this card I had to cheat a little.

I chose to do a vintage style Mother's day card for my Mother in Law,  she is 93 years old, so I'd say she is vintage too. 

I know she won't mind me saying that,  she has an amazing sense of humour. Probably due to raising my husband, who is very much the comic.
I love making cards for her, she appreciates them and work that has gone into them so much. It makes it all worth while. I do hope  she likes this one.

I used the Spellbinder Envelope  corner die  to  cut two corners  in cream card and glued them onto a cream card square, then I lightly sponged over the entire background using soft suede ink from Stampin' up . 
The sentiment is from the  stamp set "Occasional Greetings"  I think. 
It's a retired stamp set but it still comes in very handy.

 I die cut the circles for the sentiment/ layers  and cut the butterflies,   inked the edges with soft suede ink and a  sponge,   stamped the greeting and assembled all the layers. 
Lastly I added the  flower and butterfly.

Guest artist Sharon.

This card was sent to me for my birthday last summer.  I am little bit late posting it.
It was made for me by my lovely  friend Sharon.
Sharon used the Wetland Stamp set for this card along with  one ink and white gel pen. Isn't it effective.

Something Saucy for Valentines Day.

Here's something a little saucy for Valentines Day. all done in Bashful Blue and Whisper white

card and ink. 

First step for this card was to make  up a template for the corset and bust.

Once happy with my  template,  I stamped up some whisper white card stock using Versamark ink and the lace background stamp,  using  a pale blue embossing powder , I  heat embossed the image.

Then I cut out the bust and  corset parts and sponged the edges with a little ink. 

After folding the the corset in half  I punched a series of  small holes along the  folded edge for lacing  the ribbon.

Then assemble all the parts using thin foam pads to give the bust a little dimension.

The choker flower was made from the left over card from the corset using the  SU  Boho flower punch.  

The stamp used on the corset is the beautiful background stamp from Stampin' up called 

 "I LOVE LACE".

The background papers were created with Stampin' up's,   stampin ' round wheel stamps

 ( now retired.)

  The stick insect and the busty wench.

I hope all of this makes sense, feeling very tired and need my bed.  If you need further advice just ask .

Time for bed now.

Nite,x

Star Christmas Card

This card was inspired  by a project featured in this years Stampin' up catalogue.
I really wanted to have a go at this style of card but didn't have the stamp set or the star dies. It wasn't possible for me to buy both sets before Christmas.
But another demonstrator on our team offered to lend me her stamp set and dies so I could have a go before Christmas.  So  a Big Thank You  to Rosie.

I also wanted to CASE a card that Rosie  has made.  I have not done this yet.
I guess part of me is scared of getting ink on the wood blocks of  the stamps. 
I get pretty  peeved with myself  if I get ink on the wood of my own stamps. So I would be devastated if I stained the  blocks of stamps that don't belong to me.  So to date I have only used  Rosie's stamps with versamark.

The Glittery white card used on this card is the new Dazzling Diamonds  Glimmer paper.
I don't like this new glimmer paper at all,  it doesn't sparkle much.



In the second version of this card I used the a larger star die to cut out the centre which leaves a much larger opening.

I can't help but think there is something missing from this card.

Sharon's Christmas Candle Card

It's been a while since I posted anything here that is probably due to having flu and a chest infection so I hadn't been up to doing very much before Christmas and then Christmas was upon us which left me no time to make anything let so I v'e  had nothing to post.


This card was the only handmade card I received this year it was created by my friend Sharon. I loved the simplicity of this.


My first reaction was to text Sharon and tell her I loved her card and would be CASE ing it as soon as I felt up to it.



I have recently found the energy and time to do just that.




Here is my take on this card. I used the  Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper from SU and punched out the flames using a retired petal punch.  (Sharon used the wing of the bird from the bird punch for her flame.)
 I then coloured the glimmer paper  using the blendabilities   alcohol pens.

I also sponged the edges of the candles for a little dimension.

I gave my background a little more foliage by stamping the pine branch from the stampin' up set Ornamental Pine twice before adding the candles and greeting.

Round Easel Card Tutorial

Tonights post is a very long one and it's a  step by step tutorial on making this round easel card. It's one I have been meaning to do for a very long time,  but knew it was going to take me ages to do, so I have been putting it off.

Step 1
Fold a sheet of card in half and place it over a large circle die.  So that the folded edge is only partly cut, lay the card on the die and leave a little of the die exposed. This will create the hinge of the card.(see photo on left)
Run it through your die cutting machine.
The folded edge should NOT be cut completely. See photo below

Step two
Cut another complete circle in the same size and colour card.  (this will be the front of your card.)

On one half of your hinged circles, score a line about half across  the circle making sure it is straight and fold in half towards the center of the card.

Step three



Your base card should now look like the photo below.

Step four


Add adhesive to the outer edge of the folded circle.

Step five

Take your full single circle and place it over the glued section lining up the edges of the circles perfectly.

 Your base card is now ready for decorating.

 Step six.

option one
Cut two white circles one die  size smaller than the base card. 

or

Option two 

Cut, two  white lace doilies and one smaller white circle two die sizes smaller than you base card.

 Step seven
Ink up a  small tree stamp  in a light blue ink. ( I used stampin' up's Bashful blue) near the top of your circle.
 Make sure you leave room above for a  second row of trees.
Using the same ink and stamp  ink up the stamp and lightly stamp the image onto scrap paper then stamp the image again (without re inking)  above and between the first line of trees you stamped. Repeat this process until you have a pleasing arrangement of  trees.

The stamping off of the excess ink before stamping the second row of trees will make them look further away, increasing the depth of your card.

Step Eight .

Ink up a larger tree  or group of trees
(I used the line of tree s stamp from  stampin' up's set Lovely as a tree) with the same ink and stamp the image either side of the circle leaving a gap in the centre  for your focal point .

 Step nine

Take a sponge dauber and ink it up lightly with the same blue ink. Dab off a little of the ink onto scrap paper, then using the edge of the dauber begin making streaks starting at the sides and bringing the streaks in towards the centre and under the larger trees. 
Then draw soft streaks below the smaller trees. This will create the impression of snowy  land and anchor the trees to that ground.
( have a little practise on scrap paper if you have never done this before.)

You can now stamp your focal point.

 Step ten

Using a darker ink ( I have used Stampin' up's Night of Navy) 
The pine tree stamp is from the "Lovely as a tree" stamp set from S.U. 
Stamp the tree in the foreground.







 Step Eleven

Very Important!!!  you card has been handled a lot and has collected oils from your hands and moisture from the inks, so if you apply embossing powder now it is going to stick in places you really don't want it to stick.So the next step is crucial.

Once the inks are dry wipe over the card with an embossing buddy/ anti static pad.  If you don't have one DON'T DESPAIR, you can make one from several layers an old pair of thick tights and some talcum powder. But that's another tutorial.
Another option is to just sprinkle a little talc over the card and  brush or wipe off with a clean cloth or tissue. This method is a little more messy.

Step 12
Ink up a smallish snowflake stamp with Versamark ink and randomly stamp the snow flakes over the trees. 
You won't be able to see where you have stamped very well with this ink as it's clear, so have a good light available and you should be able to see the sheen. 


When you have stamped enough  snowflakes cover them with  a  fine silver embossing powder,  tip the excess back into the pot. 
Then gentle  tap off the excess powder from your work and heat until the embossing powder begins to melt. Don't over heat, once it is shiny move your heat tool to another area of the card.
Over heated embossing powder is not a good look.

 This is the front panel of the card finished.

Now you will need to create the bottom panel.

For option one

just recreate the top part of the front panel on the lower half of the bottom panel.  ( see above photo)
Then adhere this panel to the bottom circle of the base card.


 For option two

Adhere the doilies to the  front  and the base panels. Then adhere the stamped circle into the center of the doily on the front of the card.

So now you need something to stop the card collapsing  when it's being displayed.
This can be done by cutting two strips of card  the same length as the width of your card and layering them. 
Stamping a sentiment on the top layer.

This this then stuck across the middle of the base panel using sticky foam pads  to give it a little height  which will act as the stopper when the card is on display.

My final words on this card are  why not mix and match the options. I am thinking  I may like  one doily on the front and the tree scene on the base. That's  a project for another day as it's time to say goodnight.