Having had a bit of a stressful day, I retreated to the craft room when I got home from work. I needed to de-stress, ... big time and the way I do that is to shut myself away for an hour or so and make something to take my mind off the issues of the day. Today's make was made using the new "Father Christmas" stamp set from S.U. This is a gorgeous set, if a little difficult to colour , but worth the effort.
stamp in chocolate chip ink and coloured with Copic markers and finished off with a touch a glitter.
I mounted the image onto a rich, chocolate brown, shimmery card stock. Then mounted again on to Cherry Cobbler card stock, which I had embossed using the new cable knit embossing folder. You may have guessed from the amount of time I have used this folder this week ...that I love this folder.
Wednesday 23 November 2016
More Merry Mice.
I am a little bit hooked on these "Merry Mice" stamps From S.U .
I have spent the last couple of evenings sat in front of the TV colouring in the stamped images.
Today I have been turning the coloured images into cards.
This card is far from the traditional colours of Christmas and I am a little unsure of what I think of it.
I stamped the borders, which are in the" Father Christmas" stamp set from S.U in chocolate chip ink then stamped the mice and greeting and coloured the images with Copic markers.
The dark layers are a beautiful shimmery chocolate brown card stock.
Unfortunately they look black in this photo.
I finished this card with just a touch of glitter here and there. I love glitter but, to my mind too much glitter cheapens the overall look of the card. So I keep glitter to the minimum.
Time to rescue the dinner!!
Sunday 20 November 2016
Mandy's 50th Card.
One for Mandy.
This one was made for my sister who will be celebrating her 50th Birthday this week.
She has the card already so it's ok to post this early.
I used two retired Stampin' up sets on this card ...Cheers to you, and the medallion background stamp.
I like the look of gatefold cards when closed, but I don't like the way they look when on display.
So I made this card to look like a closed gatefold card, although it's not.
I used clear embossing powder and heat embossed the Medallion image on Real Red card stock.
Christmas Card.
I did say I had gone mad with this new embossing folder, didn't I.
Well he re is another card using that folder.
This time as a background for this cute stamped image.
I can't remember the name of the company that makes this stamp.
This card is going to a male member of my family so I chose bottle green for the background.
The little boy reminds me of him when he was younger.
Santa Card.
This was because I found him difficult to colour .
Twenty years ago the choice of colouring materials were limited. Colouring pencils, kids felt tip pens or water colours, the few markers that were available were very expensive and didn't offer the results you get from markers today.
My choice of colouring material in those days were water colours, but I still found, I wasn't getting the results I wanted. So Santa and the few stamps I owned at that time were put in a drawer and there they stayed for many years and I never stamped a thing for all those years.... It wasn't until I joined Stampin' Up that I began to stamp again.
This year I decided to revisit that old stamp drawer and try out one or two of those old stamps and, I am glad I did.
Using Copic markers I finally got the result I wanted 20 years ago.
Merry Mice Christmas Cards.
I have finally got round to using the cable knit embossing folder I bought sometime ago.
I really love the look this embossing folder gives, so I have gone a little mad today, using it as the background for the Merry Mice images.
This stamp set is available from S.U. it features in the new 2016 autumn-winter catalogue .
I forgot to ground the mouse on the first card and on the second I was a little too heavy handed with the ink.
I used Copic markers to colour the images.
I added a little glitter to some of today's makes, on the others I used Wink of Stella to add a little shimmer, but neither show up in the photographs.
I really love the look this embossing folder gives, so I have gone a little mad today, using it as the background for the Merry Mice images.
This stamp set is available from S.U. it features in the new 2016 autumn-winter catalogue .
I forgot to ground the mouse on the first card and on the second I was a little too heavy handed with the ink.
I used Copic markers to colour the images.
I added a little glitter to some of today's makes, on the others I used Wink of Stella to add a little shimmer, but neither show up in the photographs.
Emelia's Card
A box card to congratulate a couple on the birth of their new daughter.
Lots of Blushing Bride balloons in this one. I also included a few white balloons with the relevant facts on. The lace die is a signature die from Joanna Sheene. I used the balloon punch from Stampin' Up. I like this punch as it punches two different size balloons at once. I think the alphabet die I used is an X cut die.
Acrylic Block Stamping.
I have been neglecting my blog of late due to other commitments so I have some catching up to do now.
This little card was made by applying three different colour inks to an acrylic block, then lightly spritzing the inked block with water and stamping the block onto water colour paper.
Once the ink was dry I over stamped the little tree over the inked patch.
I have to say getting the amount of water right so a little tricky for me. " squirts wasn't quite enough, but three was too much.
As with most things, it takes a little practice, and thankfully water colour paper is pretty thick, so if you don't like the look you can flip the paper it over and use the emergency side.
This little card was made by applying three different colour inks to an acrylic block, then lightly spritzing the inked block with water and stamping the block onto water colour paper.
Once the ink was dry I over stamped the little tree over the inked patch.
I have to say getting the amount of water right so a little tricky for me. " squirts wasn't quite enough, but three was too much.
As with most things, it takes a little practice, and thankfully water colour paper is pretty thick, so if you don't like the look you can flip the paper it over and use the emergency side.
Thursday 6 October 2016
Wine Bottle Covers
So paper crafting isn't just about making cards or scrap booking. There are lots of other things to made from paper and card.
Checkout these wine bottle sleeves.
I have been meaning to make a couple of these wine bottle sleeves for sometime now.
Today I finally got round to it.
I have no idea who the original creator of these is, but I do know that Linda Parker has made a great video tutorial, which you can find on Youtube or on her blog.
Linda makes the most amazing things and her video tutorials are easy to follow, so if you fancy having a go at these check out Linda's videos on Youtube.
I made three of these this afternoon, a practice one, then the pink full size wine bottle cover followed by the Bermuda Bay mini wine bottle cover. Which proves they don't take an awful lot of time to make.
Linda has two videos on these, one for the full size bottle and the other for the mini bottle, she provides all the measurements you need to make the covers in her videos.
Thanks Linda for your fabulous tutorials.
Full size bottle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1fIEOiO9jE
Mini Bottle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5C0kiBaKEA
Checkout these wine bottle sleeves.
I have been meaning to make a couple of these wine bottle sleeves for sometime now.
Today I finally got round to it.
I have no idea who the original creator of these is, but I do know that Linda Parker has made a great video tutorial, which you can find on Youtube or on her blog.
Linda makes the most amazing things and her video tutorials are easy to follow, so if you fancy having a go at these check out Linda's videos on Youtube.
I made three of these this afternoon, a practice one, then the pink full size wine bottle cover followed by the Bermuda Bay mini wine bottle cover. Which proves they don't take an awful lot of time to make.
Linda has two videos on these, one for the full size bottle and the other for the mini bottle, she provides all the measurements you need to make the covers in her videos.
Thanks Linda for your fabulous tutorials.
Full size bottle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1fIEOiO9jE
Mini Bottle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5C0kiBaKEA
Friday 30 September 2016
Wedding Shutter Card.
I have to say this rather elaborate card and it's gift bag took up all my free time for over a week.
Making all the panels for this card seem to take an age,
An old school friend asked me to make this card for an up and coming family wedding,
The brief for the card was: one red rose, shamrock , 4 bees and cupcakes.
(For a closer look at this photo click on the photo.)
Lots of layering, heat embossing, hot foiling, punching and die cutting in this card.
The 3D elements on this card, meant it required something deeper and more robust than a standard envelope.
So I created this wedding handbag from pearly card for the card to be delivered in.
I confess,, it took about 3 attempts for me to get this just right.
The closure on this bag is a very strong, rare earth magnets concealed in the liner of the bag.
Thursday 29 September 2016
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.
Sunday 11 September 2016
Angel Fish Card
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.
Simple Sponged Card
Here's a simple card that was created by tearing an aperture in a piece of scrap paper to create a mask.
Secure the mask on to a piece of water colour paper.
Apply inks over the entire area the area starting on the scrap paper and working towards the centre.
Once the entire area is covered with ink, remove the mask and over stamp with black ink and a stamps of your choice.
I saw this card somewhere on the internet and rather liked it so thought I would have a go at reproducing it.
Secure the mask on to a piece of water colour paper.
Apply inks over the entire area the area starting on the scrap paper and working towards the centre.
Once the entire area is covered with ink, remove the mask and over stamp with black ink and a stamps of your choice.
I saw this card somewhere on the internet and rather liked it so thought I would have a go at reproducing it.
Thursday 8 September 2016
Loving this years autumn - winter catalogue
Just loving the goodies in this years Autumn -Winter Catalogue. click on the image of the catalogue on the right to view the goodies with in.
Love the Merry Mice stamp set, the Pine cone charms, the Father Christmas and the Christmas Magic stamp sets and several items.
Wednesday 7 September 2016
30th Wedding Anniversary Card.
I wanted to make something special for a lovely couple I know, that were very quietly celebrating their 30th anniversary.
But I have been struggling the last few days to come up with an idea for an anniversary card with the wow factor, that didn't require hours of work and was not too fussy.
My lack of inspiration resulted in me chopping up card and trying different things for a few days but I still came up with nothing usable, until last night when I suddenly gained some inspiration.
The inspiration came from the Apple blossom, ornate heart die I bought at the beginning of the summer and had yet to use.
This is the first card I have made in years that has absolutely nothing from Stampin' Up in it.
Thankfully the tiny pearls I used were on a sticky sheet that I cut into strips. This certainly made applying all these pearls much easier and quicker than applying them one at a time.
But I have been struggling the last few days to come up with an idea for an anniversary card with the wow factor, that didn't require hours of work and was not too fussy.
My lack of inspiration resulted in me chopping up card and trying different things for a few days but I still came up with nothing usable, until last night when I suddenly gained some inspiration.
The inspiration came from the Apple blossom, ornate heart die I bought at the beginning of the summer and had yet to use.
This is the first card I have made in years that has absolutely nothing from Stampin' Up in it.
Making this card reminded me of the type of cards I was making in my pre Stampin' up days. So it was a bit like stepping back in time while making this one.
This card is one of the largest cards I have ever made, measuring in at around 7 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches.
I typed up the personalized sentiment for the centre of the heart and printed it off, using a (black only) laser printer.
A laminator and some toner foil were used to turn the black text into gold. A simple, but effective technique.
The flowers were purchased from my local craft store.
I used a Heartfelt creations die to cut the backing leaves .
There are an awful lot of pearls on this card that are not immediately obvious.
Thankfully the tiny pearls I used were on a sticky sheet that I cut into strips. This certainly made applying all these pearls much easier and quicker than applying them one at a time.
Wednesday 17 August 2016
Christmas card four
A centre step card featuring the Pine tree from the "Lovely as a Tree" stamp set and some retired DSP. I was reminded of a technique the other day that I haven't used for years , so I decided to use it on this card.
I cut the oval from cream card, but before removing the card from the die, I sponged some green ink over the die onto the card. When I removed the die, the die cut edge was clean creating a frame for my little tree. I added a few glitter baubles to finish.
I cut the oval from cream card, but before removing the card from the die, I sponged some green ink over the die onto the card. When I removed the die, the die cut edge was clean creating a frame for my little tree. I added a few glitter baubles to finish.
A discovery too good not to share
I think the picture says it all really... But just in case you don't know what this gadget is I will tell you. Its called a "Sticky Buddy" it is designed to be a clothes brush, it's great for getting dog hair off your clothes and off the furniture. You just run the roller over the area and it picks up hair crumbs and all sorts of bits. Once it's full and no longer sticky you run it under warm water and gently wipe the debris off the roller, dry it and it's ready to go again.
We have had this one for a few years and one of the disc s at the end of the roller is broken so it's not so good on clothes these days.
I decided to put it in the craftroom to be fixed, but I haven't got round to it yet.
Last week, I celebrated my birthday and one of my pressies were two intricate lace dies. Now we all know that some intricate dies can be a real pain to clean, even with those expensive rotating brushes designed for the purpose.
Seeing this broken sticky buddy lying around in my craft room, I decided to see if it would remove all those little pieces left in the die.......................IT DID BRILLIANTLY!!!..... two rolls over the die and it was completely clean.
I then rolled it over the back of the die cuts and it collected all the little pieces left in the die cuts brilliantly.
Once the roller is full it will need rinsing to remove all the pieces of card and to restore the stickiness of the roller. I will say, it may not be advisable to do this in the sink as the small pieces of card will probably block your drains after a while.
I think, I will be rinsing my sticky buddy off in a small bowl of water and then strain the water through a tea strainer to remove the pieces of card. This may seem like a bit of a faff, but I still think it will be quicker than poking through every single hole in the back of the dies, then having to clean all those tiny pieces from the floor.
We have had this one for a few years and one of the disc s at the end of the roller is broken so it's not so good on clothes these days.
I decided to put it in the craftroom to be fixed, but I haven't got round to it yet.
Last week, I celebrated my birthday and one of my pressies were two intricate lace dies. Now we all know that some intricate dies can be a real pain to clean, even with those expensive rotating brushes designed for the purpose.
Seeing this broken sticky buddy lying around in my craft room, I decided to see if it would remove all those little pieces left in the die.......................IT DID BRILLIANTLY!!!..... two rolls over the die and it was completely clean.
I then rolled it over the back of the die cuts and it collected all the little pieces left in the die cuts brilliantly.
Once the roller is full it will need rinsing to remove all the pieces of card and to restore the stickiness of the roller. I will say, it may not be advisable to do this in the sink as the small pieces of card will probably block your drains after a while.
I think, I will be rinsing my sticky buddy off in a small bowl of water and then strain the water through a tea strainer to remove the pieces of card. This may seem like a bit of a faff, but I still think it will be quicker than poking through every single hole in the back of the dies, then having to clean all those tiny pieces from the floor.
Christmas card three
These cute mice are all on one stamp and they are part of a set called "Merry Mice" This set will be available in September. I really like the sentiment in this card..." Merry Christmouse,"
Christmas card two
An oldie, but a goody today.
I was inspired to make this card yesterday after spending Friday teaching lots of techniques to a new stamper.
Having refreshed my own memory on lots of different techniques I decided to try this technique again.....it's basically sponging through a mask, then over stamping.
I began by cutting out an oval from scrap paper, I discarded the oval centre as it was the negative I wanted to work with.
I applied some two way glue to the back of the aperture mask and allowed it to dry.
Once the glue was completely dry, I placed it over a piece of white card stock and pressed it down gently to secure it to the card.
I tore a very narrow strip from the sticky edge of a post it note, (just so that it no longer had a straight edge but still had lots of sticky left along the edge)
I stuck the post it note across the middle of the aperture and began to sponge Barely Banana ink ( a warm yellow ink) from the centre of the post it note and worked upwards in an arch shape.
I applied Apricot Appeal ink from the sides and worked around the yellow arch and blending the edges of the two colours.
I added a touch of Pretty in Pink ink around the arch and blended it the Apricot . t
That was followed by a few light strokes of Lavender Lace ink around the arch, again blending the edges. The final colour was Smokey Slate at the very top of the arch and a touch at the edges.
I removed the post it note and then began to sponged small amounts of Smokey Slate ink over the edges of the bottom half of the oval and worked the ink in towards the middle.
When I was happy with the effect, I inked up two thirds of the row of trees stamp from the "Lovely as a tree" stamp set in black ink and stamped over the sponged area, positioning the stamp slightly over to the right side.
I inked up the pine tree stamp and stamped it on the left side of the card, overlapping the sponged oval.
I added some glitter glue to the branches of the trees on one of the cards. When the gltter glue was dry, I added a greeting.
I was inspired to make this card yesterday after spending Friday teaching lots of techniques to a new stamper.
Having refreshed my own memory on lots of different techniques I decided to try this technique again.....it's basically sponging through a mask, then over stamping.
I began by cutting out an oval from scrap paper, I discarded the oval centre as it was the negative I wanted to work with.
I applied some two way glue to the back of the aperture mask and allowed it to dry.
Once the glue was completely dry, I placed it over a piece of white card stock and pressed it down gently to secure it to the card.
I tore a very narrow strip from the sticky edge of a post it note, (just so that it no longer had a straight edge but still had lots of sticky left along the edge)
I stuck the post it note across the middle of the aperture and began to sponge Barely Banana ink ( a warm yellow ink) from the centre of the post it note and worked upwards in an arch shape.
I applied Apricot Appeal ink from the sides and worked around the yellow arch and blending the edges of the two colours.
I added a touch of Pretty in Pink ink around the arch and blended it the Apricot . t
That was followed by a few light strokes of Lavender Lace ink around the arch, again blending the edges. The final colour was Smokey Slate at the very top of the arch and a touch at the edges.
I removed the post it note and then began to sponged small amounts of Smokey Slate ink over the edges of the bottom half of the oval and worked the ink in towards the middle.
When I was happy with the effect, I inked up two thirds of the row of trees stamp from the "Lovely as a tree" stamp set in black ink and stamped over the sponged area, positioning the stamp slightly over to the right side.
I inked up the pine tree stamp and stamped it on the left side of the card, overlapping the sponged oval.
I added some glitter glue to the branches of the trees on one of the cards. When the gltter glue was dry, I added a greeting.
Tuesday 16 August 2016
Magic of Christmas
Here's a little card made using three stamps from a new stamp set from Stampin' up.The set is called "Christmas Magic " and it will be available on 2nd of September.
The holly branch is from another new set coming out in September. I have to say, I am very excited about this new Autumn- Winter catalogue. I think it's was because almost all the stamp sets I love come in the red rubber, wood mount rather than the photopolymer.
I coloured the images with Copic markers and used a black stamp and write marker to drawn in a few more snow mounds to match the mounds at the base of the snowman.
The background I created using the Serene Snowflakes stamp set, (now retired) and white craft ink.
The holly branch is from another new set coming out in September. I have to say, I am very excited about this new Autumn- Winter catalogue. I think it's was because almost all the stamp sets I love come in the red rubber, wood mount rather than the photopolymer.
I coloured the images with Copic markers and used a black stamp and write marker to drawn in a few more snow mounds to match the mounds at the base of the snowman.
The background I created using the Serene Snowflakes stamp set, (now retired) and white craft ink.
Monday 25 July 2016
Wedding Card
I have had this die set for a while now, but I haven't had the chance to do anything with until recently.
It's a floral heart die from Stampin up that also has two single flower dies (in different sizes) that come with it.
I chose Peekaboo Peach and Flirty Flamingo to colour the flowers on this card to correspond with the colour of the Roses in the wedding bouquets.
I cut a piece of ivory card 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 and cut out the floral heart, then glued the negative piece of card ( not the heart ) onto the front of my base card.
I cut the heart out again this time in silver card, added a little glue to the back of the silver heart and set it into ivory cut out .
I cut the floral heart out again, this time in green and snipped of some of the leaves and adhered a little foliage to the underside of each orange flowers.
Sunday 24 July 2016
Baby Dungarees Card
I found the template for this card on the Trimcraft website. I printed off the template, but it was very small, to enlarge it to the size I wanted, I had to cut the template sheet into pieces and enlarge all the pieces individually. Not having access to an A3 printer, I had to print the back and front of this template off on to two pieces of card.
Then join the front and back pieces together at the shoulders to create this card.
On the website it was made from papers with cute baby designs printed on it. I didn't have any printed papers suitable for this card, so I used the Bundle of love stamp set from S.U to create my own baby paper for this card.
I used a textured card stock that resembled a fine needle cord fabric. I have to say, I was surprised at well the stamps printed on textured card stock.Once I had covered the card stock with stamped images, I coloured each image
using Copic markers and S.U
markers.
Unfortunately some of the inks bled a little, but I don't think the bleeding is bad enough to ruin the overall effect, so I went a head and completed the card.
I lined the inside back of the cars with some pretty checked paper to correspond with the colours on the front.
Baby Congratulations Card
Regular readers of my blog will know this Two by Two stamp from S.U is one of my favourite stamps for baby cards. Although I used the stamp quite a bit, I tend to change the die or the orientation of the die when cutting out the image, of course I also change the background papers and colours for a different look.
I coloured the image with Copic markers and a few S.U markers.
Grand daughters request for a Tudor dress.
My grand daughter's school were holding a Tudor day, She wanted a tudor style dress for the occasion. (Luckily I had a pattern for one in her size).
I was given 48 hours notice to knock up something for the occasion. But in reality I had a lot less time to put something together for her. Having work commitments and various appointments booked, severely cut down on the time I had to make the two dresses to create one tudor style dress.
Having no time to go shopping for materials, I decided to make this overdress from an old blue velvet curtain. I wanted to add a broader gold trim as decoration, but I couldn't find anything suitable in my stash, so I added a narrow gold ribbon to trim the dress.
The under dress was made from an old T shirt and some rather lovely floral silk I had stashed away. I stitched the silk skirt to the bottom of the T shirt and extended the sleeves of the T shirt to give the impression of a full gathered sleeve.
Little Miss loved her new dress and couldn't wait to wear it.
Sunday 19 June 2016
Chain Die card.
This one is a little different from my usual style. There is not a lot I can say about this card.
The Spellbinder Chain die is larger than I expected it to be. To give you an idea the overall measurements of this card are 8 X 6 inches.
I think you could make some very retro looking cards with this die and the popular colour combos of the 70's.
Monday 13 June 2016
By the Tide
To create this card I cut a 3 1/2 inch square of whisper white car stock.
I took two wide post it notes and stuck them across the top and bottom of the card, leaving a gap of about 2 inches between the post it notes.
I use the lines on my cutting mat when adhering the the post it notes to ensure they are straight, thus ensuring my art work will be straight.
See the photo below for the three colours I chose for this card.
I started by applying Marina Mist ink with a sponge dauber. I always start sponging on the post it note to remove the excess ink before I start working on the card stock. It doesn't need to be even coverage, In fact patchy is better. Repeat with the Coastal Cabana leaving some patches of the M.M showing through.
Finally I sponged some Night of Navy around the edges and overlapping the other colours slightly.
I began stamping over the sponged background using Night of Navy ink.
The stamp set I used is called "By the Tide," It's a retired set now.
Once I had filled the area with stamped images, I removed the Post it notes.
I stamped the sentiment and rounded off the corners with a corner punch. After adding some twine round the top layer, I mounted the piece on to a piece of Night of Navy card stock.
For the second layer I stamped around the edged of the card stock then sponged over the edges i the same colours. Obviously I didn't need to stamp and sponge the middle of the card stock as it will be covered by the top layer.
Then mounted onto a white 5x5 base card.
I added a metal fish charm
before sticking all the layers together and mounting onto the base card.
To go with this card I made an envelope with the Envelope punch board. I decorated the back flap of the envelope to co ordinate the two.
Another version of this card is the Father's day card below. This time I have not used a second layer of background paper and I only used Night of Navy ink.
Another Moonlit Scene
I gave this card to lady who wants to try a different style of card making. I made this card as a sample to show her one of the inking and stamping techniques she will be learning. I am really looking forward to having a crafty day and sharing lots of techniques and tips with her.
Unfortunately we can't have that crafty day for a few weeks yet, due to work commitments. But that gives me lots of time to plan the day and select techniques that won't require huge amounts of equipment and materials, so she will be able to start her card making journey without having to spend a huge fortune on materials before she can begin.
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