Florence's hospital stay.

This is Florence, she has been our granddaughters favourite bear for years. Florence is a  very well travelled bear. Everywhere Ellie went Florence went too.  

Recently poor Florence had an unfortunate encounter with her other grandma's dog.         The encounter left Florence with some serious damage to her face.  Her dress was shredded and beyond repair. So Florence had to go to teddy bear hospital.                                                    This is when hubby and I decided to have some fun with her.

Once Florence arrived at hospital  she was accessed.

Florence later  dictated a letter to a nurse to send home to  her mum.

The letter informed  Ellie of the procedures she would be having, facial reconstruction, two eye transplants, a nose job and a good bath and brush up. This was quite a lengthy letter explaining things from  Florence's perspective.
To cut a very long story short Florence had her facial reconstruction surgery and during her time in hospital it was discovered she was pregnant. 
Poor Florence then had to have an emergency C section.  

Hubby raided the garage for some tubing and a some wire so we could make and hook up a drip to make the photo's we were sending Ellie look authentic.

I made a new dress to replace her shredded one. I decorated  a straw hat  with paper flowers and organza ribbons to hide  her missing ear.
Florence's bandages stayed on until her mum came to collect her.

Ellie was delighted to be re united with her beloved Florence and the new baby.

Ellie  has named the new baby Edward.
Florence and Edward  were discharged from hospital on Saturday.










Edward was created with wool roving and felting needles.
I lost count of the amount of times I stabbed my fingers while making Edward. The look on Ellie's face made the sore fingers  worth it .


An old, printed hospital sheet came in handy for this project.

Beautiful You 2

Regular readers of my blog will know, I enjoy creating silhouette cards.
 I am not really sure about this one. It started out as an experiment to see how the dancing female looked as a silhouette.

I used;
Marina Mist ink pad.
Midnight Muse ink pad, 
Night of Navy ink pad, 
Black pigment ink such as S.U 's black craft ink or black Versacolor,
White Gel pen, 
Black marker pen.
Beautiful you Stamp set,
Pocket silhouettes  stamp set, 
Sponge daubers. Post it notes.
 1  1/2  inch  Circle punch or die to create a positive and negative mask for moon.





 First I punched out a large circle from a post it note and used the negative to mask off the sky around the moon.


 With  a sponge dauber and light strokes, I applied a little ink through the aperture to add a little colour to the moon.


I  removed the negative mask and covered the moon with the positive mask to protect it.


With  Marina Mist ink and  the same sponge dauber,  start sponging the sky,  starting ON  the moon mask working outwards towards the edges.


 You'll need to take your time this part  and you will need to keep applying the lighter ink until you have the good coverage over the majority of the card.



Using Night of Navy ink and a sponge dauber, apply ink to the edges of the card working inwards, about 3/4 s of an  inch. Start inking from the bottom of one side working uo the side , along the top and down the other side in a rough arch shape. Leave the bottom edge un inked.



The Midnight Muse ink was used in between the  Night of Navy and Marina Mist to soft and blend  where the colours meet. This does not have to be perfectly blended, just so long as there are no  hard, straight lines of  colour.

Place a post it note over the bottom third of the card and apply Night of Nay ink with a dauber over the edge of the post it to create the horizon. 
You may notice a dark patch on the left of the photo below. This because I picked up  my black dauber instead of the navy one. Rather than scrap my sample piece, I decided to carry on and see how it turned out.

Remove the moon mask and with a black Memento  ink  stamped the  lady in the centre. I used Memento ink as I will be using alcohol marker to colour the image in and I don't want the ink to smudge.

 On this sample I stamped her a little higher than I wanted her, which meant I had to raise my horizon line  a little.
Which just goes to proves,  most errors can be rectified.

Using silhouette foliage stamps and black pigment ink, ( such as S.U's  black craft ink or Versacolour ) stamp some foliage in the bottom corners. 

Allow the ink to dry thoroughly this may take some time as pigment inks are much slower drying, but this can be speeded up with a heat gun.

I  previously said, I used a black marker to colour in the stamped image on my first card.  On this sample I used Copic Marker BV29  (Slate) , It is not as strong or  as intense as black so it almost looks like the moonlight is shining  through her skirt.


A little black ink was added to the bottom corners to give the impression of solid land.

Final touches were added using a white gel pen was used to add highlights on the edges of leaves, the lady  and  to create the stars and ripples on the water. These are just random dots and dashes,   but they really lift the scene.

Photo's now added to help you make sense of my ramblings.

Thanks for dropping in.   I hope you like this project and give it a try.



Don't forget to....Credit the creator.

Beautiful You.

The new Spring and Summer  catalogue was released earlier this month.
 After perusing the pages I knew,  I just had to have the new stamp set entitled,  "Beautiful You" .
It's a lovely set. 
There are quite a few stamps in this set, three female images and the rest are sentiments.  I can't say I would use all the sentiments in this set, but there are a couple of nice ones.

I have enjoyed playing with them  and making these simple cards. You can view the complete set  of stamps and the new catalogue  by clicking on the catalogue link on the side bar.

Sympathy Card

Unfortunately I have needed to make two sympathy cards this Christmas. this was the first one,
Using the Bokeh technique I created the background.
If you are unfamiliar with this technique it very easy to do.

It is created by sponging two or three colours of ink over white card stock in patches until you can no longer see the white card stock.
The next step is to dry the card either using a heat gun or allowing the card to completely dry naturally.

Once the card is dry you can start the next step.
Punch several different size holes in  a sheet of acetate or vellum to create a masks.   Place the mask over the coloured card and  fill in the aperture with white pigment ink and a sponge dauber. Repeat this process using at least three different size apertures. Overlap the circles occasionally, but be sure to use a dabbing motion when applying the  ink over the overlaps or you will lose the overlap effect.

Dry the card with a heat gun or naturally, Be aware that the white pigment ink takes a lot longer to dry thoroughly. Once it is dry, I advise you wipe over the area with an embossing buddy. (chalk powder filled bag).  Your card stock is ready to be over stamped.
I stamped the ferns on this card using Mellow moss, Always artichoke and black ink.

For my second card  I used the same technique and colours, but changed the size of the white card stock to a 6x6   square and added one more step, which was to stamp the fern  or just a small part of it again using Versamark ink and heat embossed using gold embossing powder. Before  doing this step it is essential that you use an anti static bag  before stamping with Versamark and heat embossing.

Silent Night Card 2

My second card using the Silent Night stamp set.

This time I stamped the image on craft card using Dark brown  Stazon ink.

 I used Stazon ink as it's a solvent based and I didn't want the brown ink to run when I painted the image with white craft ink.

Once the white ink was dry, I added white glitter to the snowy area with a glue pen.

Silent Night Card

It has taken a while, but a couple of months ago I managed to find somebody willing to sell her  "Silent Night" set of stamps. It's been retired for some years now.
So I had a little play with it last week.
My first card was stamped on white card using Early Espresso ink then coloured with Copic Markers.
I added glitter  to the roof, trees and snow drifts using a quickie glue pen and  ultra fine white glitter.

Ultra Quick Tags For All Those Christmas Presents.

 As promised here is my tutorial  on  making these ultra quick tags.

To make the Tags I cut strips of heavy white card stock into 2" wide strips. Then cut them  in  to 3 3/4 "  lengths.

 I used a label top punch from S.U to punch the tag tops.

Once all my tags were cut I was ready to decorate them. I had planned on sponging them, but realized I only had about half an hour before hubby got home from  and sponging would be too slow. So some experimentation was called for.

I took a baby wipe, really nice wet one
( If yours are not that wet, spritz them with a little water one or two squirts should be enough.)
I used Stampin' Up s dye based inks, but any  water/dye based ink will do.

I started at the top of the tag and gently stroked down the tag stopping  about 3/4" from the bottom.
 Try not to use more than 3 or 4 strokes  as you will run the risk of furring up your card stock.  If you're not getting good coverage spritz your wet wipe with a little  more water. But don't soak the tag.
Do the same to all your tags.  By the time you have done the last the first will be dry enough to work on the bottom.


Turn the tag sideways and stroke across the bottom of the tag with your second colour.
No more than 4 stroke . It doesn't matter if the effect is streaky as this only adds to the depth and gives the appearance of snow drifts.


Tip, if your card is too porous it will soak up the ink too quickly and give a patchy result. Use a heavy card that the ink takes longer to dry on.

Ink up your tree stamp with dark brown ink and stamp the images where you want them.

I used the trees from the Happy Scenes stamp set from last years S.U  winter catalogue. I have to say I cut this stamp down as I didn't like the extended lines below the trees .

Once I had stamped the images I took a Quicky glue pen the fine line one and drew thin lines of glue and spots of glue wherever I wanted to highlight the snow.

I can tell you, It has taken me considerably longer to type up this tutorial that it took me to make 24 tags.

I hope you will have a go at this technique.

I did get asked if using a baby wipe on your stamp pads ruined the pads. I can honestly say I don't really know.  But I seriously doubt it.  As  I only dabbed my baby wipe on one small corner of the ink pad, My ink pads are refillable so I really don't think think is going to cause a problem. If you are at all worried about ruining your pad. dab the ink pad onto an acrylic block and take the ink from the block. If you use S.U ink pads you should know that,  if you squeeze the lid down while  pad is closed some of the ink will transfer into the lid, so you could use the inside of the lid as your palette.

Jingle Bells.

I have say this is my favourite card tonight.

I used two sets of stamps from this year's Autumn Winter  Catalogue fro S.U.

The  bells are from the "Christmas Magic" set and I hav coloured them with Copic Markers.

The sentiment /ornate border  are from the Father Christmas  set.

The Pine Needles are from a die set by Marianne Designs.

Dove of Peace Card

A very  quick and simple Christmas  card using the Dove of Peace stamp from last year's Autumn Winter catalogue.
The Peace on Earth stamp is  from another retired S.U stamp set. (Sorry the name escapes me right now.)
I stamped the dove and sentiment using Versamark ink and  applied gold embossing powder and heated it until the powder melted. Unfortunately the gold  doesn't photograph very well.
This is a simple but elegant card that can be made in  about 3 minutes.  So it's ideal if you need to make a lot of cards quickly.

Snowman Family card.

 I paid another visit to my old stamp drawers and discovered this snowman stamp. What better time of year to discover it and to play with it.
Again I have used the Cable knit embossing folder for the background.

More Merry Mice

Have I mentioned how much I love the Merry Mice stamp set and the cable knit embossing folder  from Stampin' Up. These are the red version. lol

(The stamp set and embossing folder are available from the 2016 autumn / winter catalogue).

Stampin Up Marker and Ink Refill Storage

 My latest project is a box for storing S.U, markers and refills.


 It consists of two boxes made of chipboard, one sits on top of the other. I added two struts to each end to create a cantilever action. So the top box lifts and swings over while remaining attached to the base box.

I designed the base box big enough to store all four colour families of the S.U re inkers.  (either in or out of their boxes).  There is a little extra space for extra  In Colour re inkers.


The top box will hold about 60 markers.
There is also a small removable compartment that will hold more refill bottles if needed.


After making all the boxes,  I used papers from Tim Holtz French Revolution  stack to cover most of the boxes and some pretty sheets of card left over from another project to give it a more feminine feel.

Inner boxes completed  it was time to make the outer cover.

Drawer  handles from  our local DIY store.
Clasps from a french company on  Ebay.






The cover  is  basically two,  three sided boxes, deep enough to encompass the two storage boxes completely when attached to a base. The outer sections will then fold up and the six clasps will hold everything together.

The two storage boxes  are then glued to the centre section  of the cover... see pic  on left.

Hubby cut another piece of  thin steel and drilled holes for the handles as he did for my ink refill box. ( see post below)

I made some liners to reinforce the edges of the cover and to hide the backs of the brads attaching the clasps and handle reinforcement and screws.

I covered the liners for the edging  in leather effect wallpaper. 

 I also used the leather effect wallpaper to make corner reinforcing pieces for the outside.

 I cut 2 panels and covered the liners with vintage card stock and glued them to the inside of the cover for extra strength and to tidy up the inside after gluing in the side liners .

Tips

Use something strong and tear resistant like Tyvek sheets  to join all the sections together, especially  the joins  that act as  hinges.

Tyvek and chip board are not the cheapest of materials so careful measuring and cutting are essential.

 Longer leg brads are essential for attaching the clasps as the chipboard is quite thick.

Copic Refills Storage.

 I found I was in need of storage for my Copic marker re inkers.

Unable to find something I liked that was suitable I decided to make my own box.

This box is made from chipboard and covered in paper from Tim Holtz " French Revolution" paper stack.

 I love these little clasps,  hubby bought for me for a project I am working on for his mum.  There were a couple left over so I used on on this little box.

They came all the way from France. I love them so much hubby has ordered some more for me.

We purchased a pack of drawer handles from our local  Homebase store. Of course the screws were far to long,  so  hubby cut them down to fit.

To reinforce the card for the handle Hubby cut a piece of thin steel a little larger than the handle and drilled two holes through the steel for the handle screws to go through.
Unfortunately I had already lined the inside of the box before we decided to  add the steel.
I could cover it with another piece of card and decorative  paper to hide it, but to be honest, I am not to worried about this.

The  leather look corner reinforcing pieces are actually leather effect wallpaper.
 I can tell you this stuff really does look and feel like leather, it's pretty tough too.




I cut some dividers to help keep the bottles in position.

I used a scraps of floral wallpaper  to line the inside of the box.

The box is approximately 6 inches square, each section holds 10 refills. the whole box holds 40.

This weekend .....I ordered more refills and hubby had ordered some for me for Christmas.......so,  "I'm gonna need a bigger box". So my next project is designing a much bigger box that will take longer to fill. lol.