Christmas Card 1

Good afternoon.

At last I have been able to start making Christmas cards. This year, for non-family cards, I have decided to go back to basics and keep everything simple.

I apologise that this is not a brilliant picture but I am trying to get used to a new camera.

This has been created purely by doing a background with Distress inks through a mask cut with a scalloped square Spellbinder die. The Sentiment stamp is by Clarity and the image from a stamp by Creative Expressions. The red berries were created with a pearl pen. The sentiment and image were stamped using a permanent ink as this was created on a white pearl card.

Poppies

Hi there. Just a quick blog to let you know that I am still alive. Busy, busy, busy but still there!

An A5 acrylic painting of some poppies which I hope you like. It is mounted in an A4 size mount. The One Stroke painting method by Donna Dewberry has been used.

Dragon Flight

Good morning.

A quick blog to show one of my encaustic pictures that I produced while doing a demonstration at the shop in Stonehouse last Friday. These are my favourite sort of colours for fantasy encaustic pictures and I just love dragons. This is A5 in size mounted in an A4 border.

The dragons were produced from two rubber stamps using Stazon ink so as not to smudge the images when the molten wax was applied over the top. All of the wax work was done with an iron.

I have opened a Folksy Shop

Good evening.

This is just a quick note to say that I have opened a Folksy Shop. This is a website that is dedicated to crafters selling their hand made creations. If you would like to have a look you can either click here or else on the link in the right hand bar of this blog.

I hope you like what you see. At the moment I have added examples of my encaustic art and some of my small acrylic paintings. other things will follow as time goes by.

Encaustic Art Workshops and New Artwork - Jungle

Good morning.

A quick update. The workshops are go! All the equipment is ordered - it should arrive today or tomorrow and the workshop dates are booked. I have 6 sessions set up for 2011 so all I need now is to start advertising and to take some bookings. I have another demonstration session set up for this Friday afternoon. I am so looking forward to that.

Here is a new piece of Encaustic Art that I created at the weekend. It is on canvas board and it is about 10 inches by 12 inches in size. I used a hot air gun and the scribing tool to create this and I am so pleased with the effect.

Exciting things are happening

Good morning. Sorry I have not been around much of late but things are happening and so I have not had time to make cards and do challenges.

I have the opportunity to start holding workshops in both rubber stamping and encaustic art. I am hoping to start the encaustic classes in October so all my energies are being directed at getting this sorted out. Initially I will be holding the workshops in the Craft Emporium in Stonehouse which is currently stocking some of my encaustic pictures  and also some of my acrylic flower paintings. Once I am up and running I will be able to hold them anywhere so I will be starting to look for other venues. It is even something I can do in people's homes. How exciting is this.

This picture shows two of my new encaustic pictures. These are the first I have painted on canvas rather than the usual glossy card. To see some more of my canvas encaustic work click here

Once I have got these classes underway, as I have already had a lot of interest following a demonstration day at the shop a couple of weeks ago, then I will contemplate the rubber stamping one.

'G' is for ...... Gardening (and Green)

Good afternoon.

A card for 4 challenges:
Crafty Creations #134 - Dies 'n' Punches
Sketch and Stash #69 - Sketch
Cards for Men #'18 - 'G' is for .....
The Paper Shelter #29 - Anything Goes

I believe that this design follows the sketch provide by the Sketch 'n' Stash Challenge except for the fact that I turned it though 90 degrees. The stash was the stamp set which I have not used for some time.

The 'G' is for - Gardening (and Green) gives you two Gs for the price of one.

For the dies and punches, of which you had to use a minimum of 3 - well, as near as I can tell I think I used 13. They were all Spellbinders, mainly from various flowers sets, which were used to cut out all the layers from the flowers, all of the leaves and the oval shape was cut using an oval Grand Nestability for the main image. All of the flowers and leaves were tinted with Distress inks which had been used in the main image to make sure that they coordinated. The flowers were layered up and fixed together with gold brads.

The main image is a composite picture made from stamps by Sheena Douglass for Creative Expressions. These were coloured with various Distress Inks and a water brush. The 'With Love' Sentiment was also from a Stamp from one of Sheena's "A Little Bit Sketchy" stamp sheets.

The various strips of card were cut from my hand marbled sheets. Everything was mounted onto a dark green background which in turn was mounted on to a lighter green A5 size card.

Butterfly

A card for  challenge:
Crafty Creations #133 - Your inner Animal

Well, as you can see die cuts abound in this card. Spellbinders were used to cut the main oval and scalloped oval, the flowers and leaves and the sentiment.

This is based on an A5 white card base which had the edges tinted with two tones of green distress ink - Shabby Shutters and Pine Needles.

The main image is a beautifully large and colourful butterfly from a stamp by Chocolate Baroque which was stamped with black archival ink and coloured with Promarkers.

The white oval was embossed in a large floral embossing folder and then coloured with Milled Lavender, Shabby Shutters and Broken China distress inks which match the colours of the butterfly.

Vin Rouge

A card for just one challenge: Totally Papercrafts #79 Food and drink

This is based on a tall thin card made by folding an A5 piece of card the other way (so you don't end up with an A6 card!).

I have both Food and Drink here as the background features the grapes and the bottle contains the drink!

The large background mat is made from hand marbled card.

The Grape vine mat was from a Stamp by the Stamp Man. This was stamped with black Stazon, coloured all over with Shabby Shutters distress ink and the detail of the vine and grapes painted in with Adirondack inks.

The bottle was created from a piece of white card and I drew the bottle shape before colouring with distress ink. The label was cut from white card and edged with a small leaf stamp by Sheena Douglass. The Cheers stamp is also by Sheena and the Vin Rouge by the Stamp Man.

A bow was added as a small embellishment to complete the look.

Quite a simple card, but fun to make none-the less!

Christmas in July

Good afternoon, the weekend is upon us once again so it must be time for Shirley to hit the challenge trail!

This is an entry for three challenges:

Crafty Catz #93 Christmas in July
Crafty Creations #129 Christmas in July
Totally papercrafts #77 Bling It Up.

So here we have an unusual colour combination for Christmas but I think it works.

The main image is from Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque). This was stamped on acetate and gold leaf was applied to the back for the first bit of bling.

This was layered onto glossy card which had been coloured with various alcohol inks. Once trimmed to size the edges were picked out with fine gold peel offs (not something I use often but they do have their place).

This was mounted onto black card which had been embossed with the brand new embossing tools from the makers of the Cuttlebug. It was a corner embossing tool that was positioned on the master board and used to emboss each corner. This layer was mounted onto a pink A5 card blank and then the holly berried were highlighted with gold glitter glue for added bling.

The "Joy" sentiment was also embossed on gold textured card using the Cuttlebug system, cut to shape with a circular Nestie and backed with the scalloped circular Nestie to finish the look.

Invention

Good morning. Happy Sunday.

Here is a card for 5 challenges:

Crafty Creations #128 - Seeing Double
The Paper Shelter #23 Colour Green
Totally Papercrafts - One for the Boys
Crafty Catz #92 No Pink or Blue Allowed
CES Challenge #46 Humour / Funny

I hope you like the two sentiments. I find them funny but that I have a weird sense of humour.

For the seeing double you actually have a reflection. This was done by inking the stamp with die based Adirondack Bottle ink and transferring the image onto a brayer. This ink was then rolled onto the white card. The image was stamped again in the usual way  and then both were cut out.

The main image stamp, the cogs and gears and the quote from Thomas Edison are all from Creative Expressions - designs by Sam Poole. The other sentiment is by Clarity Stamps.

The card is made from a dark green base A5 card. Layered onto this is another piece of green card which had been sprayed with Glimmer Mist through a Tattered Angels screen.

All of the images were tinted with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink before being bonded into position with paper glue.

Cat Scratch

Good evening.

Here is a card for 2 challenges:
Die Cut Dreams #94 - Animal Antics
Sketch and Stash #66

All the stamps are the stash that I haven't used for ages. They are from a set by Chocolate Baroque

All of the papers are decorated by myself. The background is white card sprayed with Glimmer Mist. The same card is used for the scalloped Nestie die cuts.

The strip down the middle is hand marbled paper.

The meow backing card and the paw print strip were stamped on white card and tinted with distress inks. The paw print embellishments and the sentiment were treated in the same way after being cut out with circular Nesties.

The main image was stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with a water brush and distress ink.

All these elements were mounted onto an A5 size card to conform to the Sketch and Stash challenge sketch.

Princess

A card for 2 challenges:
The Stampman #27 Anything by Tim
Totally Papercrafts #75 - Girly Girls

For the Anything by Tim challenge I used Distress Inks and Tim's Coredinations paper.

The stamped image was by Creative Expressions.

To create the main panel white card was swished over my non-stick mat which had been daubed with various colours of distress ink and spritzed with water. It was dried between swishes until \I achieved the result I wanted. The princess was stamped with Stazon ink and coloured with Twinkling H2Os including gold for her crown and the stars. The edges of the panel were aged with more distress ink and then the whole panel was triple embossed with clear powder to give a beautiful shiny finish.

For the next layer, Coredinations card was put through a Cuttlebug in an embossing folder. The panel was sanded to show the core colour and the edges highlighted with Tea Dye and Frayed Burlap distress inks.

The tree paper was made by spraying Glimmer mist over a tree mask by Tattered Angels.

Ribbon was wrapped around the Coredinations panel and bonded in place. All the layers were mounted onto the A5 card base and a faux bow added over the ribbon.

One for the Birds

Good morning.

Here is a card for the The Paper Shelter #22 For the Birds  and for Sentimental Sundays #64  challenge.

I think this looks quite dramatic in black.

All the stamps used are by Chocolate Baroque. The main image was stamped on black card with Versamark ink and Cosmic Shimmer mica powders, in various colours, were dusted over to reveal the image. This was roughly torn and then the edges were embossed with gold powder.

The coloured mat layer was hand made marbled paper again with the edges torn and embossed with gold. The sentiment was treated in the same way.

The two birds were embossed with gold on black card. They were cut out leaving a black border around the edges.

The main image and mat were bonded to the black A5 size card with Pinflair gel and the birds and sentiment with sticky foam pads

The First Christmas Card of the Year!

Here we are in July and here I am making my first Christmas card of the year. I know I usually start early but not this early! This exception is for the CES challenge #45 - Christmas challenge

This is one of my all time favourite Snowman stamps. I have had it for about 4 years and out he comes every year. This was stamped on Navy card and embossed with white powder. This, in turn, was layered onto hand marbled card,  pale blue card and finally onto the A5 navy coloured blank.

The snowflakes were created from 3 individual snow flake layers, cut and embossed using Spellbinders Shapeabilities, layered with Pinflair gel.

The snowflake ribbon was pushed through a slot cut in the spine of the card blank and tied in a bow. A plaque was cut with an other Shapeability and the message placed on the front with sticky foam pads. This was mounted on the ribbon with Pinflair.

Flowers - One Layer Card

Good morning.

This card if for the Crafty Cardmakers #50 Challenge and what a challenge it was too. The one layer technique is exactly what it says - put your image straight onto the card blank with little or no embellishment.

For this A5 card I chose to use the Donna Dewberry one stroke painting method. Unlike Sheena Douglass' paint fusion technique, this is done without the aid of the safety net of using stamps to give you an outline to paint. This is done entirely by hand starting with an clean sheet of card!

Once  the paint had dried overnight, I tinted the edges with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and stamped "With Love" in the bottom right hand corner with green ink. Stamp by Sheena Douglass.

I only started trying this technique last weekend so I am delighted with the results. I hope you like it too.

Bouquet

Good morning.

Here is a card for two challenges:

The Paper Shelter #21 - Lots of Dots
CES Challenges #44 - Recipe

The recipe for the CES challenge was to include 1 image, 2 ribbon lace or twine, and 3 designer papers. Therefore I chose 3 papers with spots and dots for the Paper Shelter challenge.

I used a cream A5 card blank. I trimmed each of the layers to size and edged them with a gold pen to give more definition without actually using more layers. The middle layer of paper was stuck onto a backing card to give it more stability for wrapping the lace around it.

The main image was stamped on mount board with black Stazon, which had previously been painted with blue and cream emulsion paint. The bouquet was painted with acrylics. The stamp, by the way, was from the Simply Sweet set by Sheena Douglass for the Paint Fusion technique. When dry it was edged with gold embossing powder using Versamark ink. The gold twine was wrapped around and secured on the back and a small bow was made from the same material to mount on the lace. Both the image and the bow were mounted with Pinflair glue.

The Beach

A card for 2 challenges:

Crafty Catz #90 - Vintage Look
Totally Papercrafts #74 - The Beach
I do love this stamp from Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque). Both the main image and the  poem on the post card are from them. The post card header is from Creative Expressions.

To keep the vintage look I have used cream card for the base A5 blank, which was tinted at the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

The main image was stamped on watercolour card with Timber Brown Stazon ink and the picture was water coloured with three different tones of Distress ink to give an aged sepia effect. The edges were then tinted with more ink to give a vignette. Crocheted lace was bonded to the back of the image . The post card was made in the same way, without the lace.

To finish an old gold bow was added as an embellishment.

Poppy Painting

Good morning.

Poppies are definitely the theme for this week. Therefore I thought I would add another one created on canvas board using the Paint Fusion techniques of Sheena Douglass. If you click here you can pop over to my other blog to see a couple more examples  - Pansies and Daisies.

Poppies

Hello again.

I'm sorry, it is yet another poppy card. I just love them and I seem to have so many different stamps that include them!

This card is for the Critter Challenge #72 - Sketch plus Red.

I started off with a cream linen textured card for the base.

The 2 red square panels are Coredinations card which has been through a Cuttlebug and embossing folder. The surface was sanded to remove the top layer of colour to reveal the core. These were then simply bonded to the base card.

The poppy image is from Chocolate Baroque which was coloured with Promarkers. Glossy Accents was applied to the flowers to give a beautiful shiny finish and the whole thing left to dry overnight. The panel was trimmed to size and Fired Brick Distress Ink used to tint the edges. This panel was added to a black shiny mat and then bonded to the base card.

Earlier this week, I rediscovered Mizuhiki cord so I had another play to produce two different knots to embellish the corners of the card.

Geisha

Good afternoon to you all.

Here is a card for two challenges:
Spotlight challenge - Masking
Sketch and Stash Challenge #65

The design of the card is to match the sketch in Challenge #65. The stash was the Mizuhiki cord which I used to make the embellishment and also the Impressability used for part of the masking exercise.

The squares and triangles were made by putting the blue card through a Cuttlebug with the Impressability. It was carefully removed from the machine and with the Impressability still in place and this was used as the mask to add the green to the raise parts of the pattern. This was cut up and mounted onto silver mirror card and put to one side.

The main Geisha image is a stamp from Clarity stamps. A lot of masking and brayering went into producing this picture on glossy A6 white card. The right hand geisha was stamped with black Stazon ink. Two more images were stamped out on copy paper. The geishas on the copy paper were cut out very, very carefully as both the geishas and the intact surround were required for this exercise. I also cut out the moon by drawing round a 2p piece on a Post-it note.

OK, the masking challenge asked for a description of how the masking was done, so here we go:

The first geisha was completely covered with a cut out and the second one stamped in place.

When dry, the first geisha had the mask removed and was surrounded by the cut out sheet. I also masked her head so that this did not get coloured. The colour was added to her dress using a brayer and a Waterfall Big 'n' Juicy ink pad basing the brayer at the blue end of the pad. Still with the mask in place the fern (another Clarity Stamp) was added in green ink from the other end of the Big 'n' Juicy pad. When dry, the geisha mask was place over the first geisha again and a surround and head was used to mask the 2nd lady. This time her costume was brayered with ink from the green end of the pad and the ferns were stamped in blue.

When all this ink was dry, both geishas were fully covered and the moon mask was added in position.

Another piece of copy paper was torn to give the shape for the hills. Starting from the bottom of the picture, the hills were brayered in place high enough to ensure that the geishas had something to stand on. Then it was moved up and lighter coloured hills were added, again with a brayer. A third layer, lighter still were brayered in place so that the hills were receding into the distance. The hills were all done in Adirondack Bottle ink.
The sky was brayered into place using blue Adirondack ink.

All the masks were removed and the birds and flowers (more Clarity stamps) added to complete the picture.

All I can say at the end of that is "Thank you, Barbara Gray, for the inspiration"

Poppies

Good evening.

The second post of the day.

This is for the The Paper Shelter Challenge #20 - Anything Goes

This was a fairly simple card. The main image was created on mount board which was painted with pinky-purple colour. The image was created using the Poppy stamps by Sheena Douglass from the Paint Fusion range. Once painted with acrylic paint the edges were embossed with copper  powder.

This was matted onto a black layer which had been punched with a Martha Stewart punch and had the sentiment embossed in copper powder. This in turn was matter onto the base A5 card which matched the background of the image.

The flower is one from MCS which had been layered and glittered on the edges.

Summer Time

Good evening.

here is a card for 2 challenges:

Totally Papercrafts Eyes down, Look in and let's play bingo from which I chose ribbons, brads and flowers
Crafty Catz #89 - Colours of Summer

Stamps used - Sea scene - Chocolate baroque
Daisy - Sheena Douglass.

The scene was stamped with Stazon on water colour paper, coloured with Distress Ink, cut out and embossed with a Nestie and matted onto the yellow Nestie shape which was edge tinted with Wild Honey distress ink.

The flowery back ground paper was some that I have had for years. This was layered onto yellow card and attached with orange brads. The yellow and orange ribbons were plaited wrapped around the edge of the matted layers and secured in position on the front (where it would be hidden by the image) with Pinflair glue. This assembly was attached to the A5 orangy-yellow base card.

The image was attached to the front of the card with more Pinflair glue, raising it quite high to clear the ribbons.

The daisies were stamped on to white card and painted using Sheena's fusion techniques. When dry they were cut out and again Pinflair glue was used to attach them to the card.

Thank You

Good morning.

Here is a card for three challenges:

The Stamp Man #26 - Alcohol Inks plus Optional Sketch
Crafty Creation #125 - Thank You
Sentimental Sundays #62 - Anything Goes (with a Sentiment)

As you can see, I have majored on Alcohol inks on this one. I used them on white gloss coated card to produce the pinky purple sheet and then on metal sheet for the music and the pansy.

Stamps used - The Sentiment "I cannot thank you enough" by Chocolate Baroque and the Pansy by Sheena Douglass.

I have based the card on the optional sketch but I did take liberties with the design by adding the pansy and the double row of punched edges.

The card base is A5 in size in a dark navy blue. The same colour card was used for the blue strip punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.

The white card was coloured with the alcohol inks and silver mixative. I made this sheet some time ago so I am afraid I cannot remember exactly which colours. A strip was punched with the same punch. The sentiment was stamped onto another piece of this sheet with Versamark ink and embossed with Platinum WOW powder. This was cut out with the Nestie Label which was matted onto a blue background made from drawing around the same Nestie and cutting it out by hand.

The metal sheet was coloured with the alcohol inks. When dry, the right hand edge was embossed by hand using a brick design former and various metal working tools. The sheet was then put through a Cuttlebug with the music embossing folder making sure that it was clear of the brick embossing. The resulting sheet was trimmed to size.

The pansy was stamped onto the back of another metal sheet with Stazon. When dry, it was cut out and coloured with the same inks used for the music sheet. The flower was then hand embossed on a sponge mat working on the reverse to bring out the edges of the petals. Glossy accents was used on the reverse to fill in the embossed lines so that is supports the metal and will not let the pansy get squashed.

For both the music sheet and the pansy the ink on the raised portions of the design was removed with blending solution so that the silver of the metal shows through.

The 2 punched strips were mounted with DS tape and the metal with glossy accents. The sentiment was added with Pinflair glue

Such Excitement

Just a quick note to say that I am really excited. A new shop has opened up in Stonehouse, where I live, called The Craft Emporium. It is compact and bijou, as they say, but they are taking in craft work from local crafters and selling it for them. This weekend I submitted a whole stack of my encaustic art work - framed pictures, mounted pictures, bookmarks and key rings and they loved them. So keep your fingers crossed. It seemed very odd to see my pictures hanging on a wall in a shop! They are still on the look out for more crafters from the locality so could this be you? Note: they do not take cards as the shop owner is a card maker herself but they take all other craft work from pottery to cross stitch and from hand made cosmetics soaps to jewellery.

Stripes, Dots and Hearts

Good morning. Sunday again already.

Here is a card for two challenges:
Totally Papercrafts #72 - Spots and Stripes
Crafty Catz #88 - Add a Charm

I went for lovely bright summery colours to go with the beautiful yellow daisies. The striped paper I have had for years but I thought it suited this one well. The dots are embossed on a large Nestie scalloped heart and the edges tinted with Wild Honey Distress ink to pick up on the dots.

The charm, a cute little daisy which was part of a pack that were a prize from a challenge I won.

The dimensional flower was created using the new Carnation Creations Nesties (I thought they could double up as a daisy too!). It was coloured with Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade inks and assembled with a bright yellow brad. The flourishes were also cut with Nesties and coloured with Wild Honey.

The main image is one of the lovely stamps by Sheena Douglass for the Paint Fusion technique. It was stamped onto a mount board heart with a crackle background, painted and edged with gold embossing. When mounting everything on the A5 size blank card I used DS tape for the layering and Pinflair glue for the two hearts, flower and flourishes.

Life

Good morning.

Here is a card for 2 challenges:
Critter #70 - Sketch
Spotlight Challenge - Sentimental

For this the sentiment had to be the main item and so I hope that the Critter team forgive me for moving the sentiment to the main image position.

I think this sentiment is lovely - Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. This is from a Clarity stamp.
The sentiment was stamped in Dark Green Brilliance ink on a piece of my hand marbled card. A frame was cut with a Nestie from another piece of marbled card. This was bonded in place around the sentiment and the card trimmed to the edges of the frame.

Two strips of lilac ribbon were bonded in position with Stick and Stay. A double bow, using satin edged organza ribbon and satin ribbon., was manufactured using the bow maker on my Ultimate Pro.

The base card is A5 in size made from an A4 sheet of a beautifully textured lilac card. The framed sentiment was bonded in place with DS tape. The bow as added and the ribbon tails carefully bonded in place to give some dimension with the rippling effect.

The flower and leaf arrangement was made from an MCS die cut sheet with a large crystal gem in the middle for shine.

Butterflies in Blue

Good evening. That is Tuesday over with. I always consider it to be the worst day of the week. Still, at least I found time to do some crafting.

This card is for 2 challenges:
Sketch and Stash #64. The stash being the red and blue hand coloured cards that I made months ago for just such an occasion.
Die Cut dreams # 92 - Red, White and Blue

I apologise but I seem to be having a bit of a thing about butterflies at the moment. I just love them.

All the stamps used are by Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque). There are two sizes of butterflies and the beautiful collage stamp from the same set. All were stamped with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and brushed over with a water brush to draw the colour from the sides to the centre. When dry, red lacquer dots were added to the wings of the individual butterflies. These were cut out and given gold wire antennae.The sentiment was from a set of sentiments from the same company.

The red and blue background papers were made from white card which was sprayed with various colours of red and blue Glimmer mist. The blue one was allowed to dry naturally whilst the red had cling film laid over it whilst the mist was still wet which concentrated the colour and the mica in some places to give a lovely effect.

An A5 white card blank had one end punched with a Martha Stewart border punch. A strip of the red card was placed behind this to accentuate the pattern

The collage stamp was cut out with a Nesties frame - the first time I have used this one. It is very pretty. The sentiment was cut from a smaller one of the same set of Nesties but it was embossed as well. The edge was tinted with more of the same Distress ink to highlight the border embossing.

Once the card had been assembled with the large butterfly placed over the butterfly in the collage stamp and the two smaller ones positioned with Pinflair glue gel, a red bow was tied, trimmed and bonded in position for the finishing touch.

Summer Butterflies

Good morning.
Sunday is with us once again so I have been busy in the craft room making this card for several challenges:
The Paper Shelter #18 - Punches and Dies
Totally Papercrafts #71 Die Cuts and Punches
Crafty Catz #87 - Fancy Folds
CES Challenge #41 - Lots of Sparkly Flowers
The Stamp Man #25 Butterflies and Dragonflies
Sentimental Sundays - Summery and Sparkly

So the basis for this card is a tri-fold card made from a piece of A4 dark green hammered card. The folds and top shaping were achieved using my Ultimate Pro from Crafter's Companion.

The background paper was made using a marbling technique on white card using yellows, oranges and greens - all nice summery colours.

The flowers and leaves were die cut with small flower Nesties. The flowers were cut from pale yellow thin card, edged with Dried Marigold distress ink. They were cut into towards the centre, the petals shaped with the edge of a bone folder. The leaves were shaped by hand. Sparkle was added to the edges of the petals and the veins of the leaves using Frosted Lace Stickles. A crystal gem was added to two of the flowers for extra sparkle.

The two sizes of butterflies were taken from stamps by Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque). The were stamped with black stazon onto another piece of marbled card - this time in yellows and blues. The Frosted Lace Sickles was added to the edges of the wings and to give some veins on the wings too. The antennae were cut off the butterflies when they were cut out and gold wire ones were fashioned for when they were bonded to the card.

The sentiment, another stamp by the same company, was also stamped onto the same card as the butterflies,  and cut out with the Nestie Label. I love this sentiment - They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. The dark green mat behind it was sized by drawing around the Nestie. The card was assembled with double sided tape and Pinflair glue (for the dimension on the flowers and butterflies.

Elephant Card

Good afternoon,

Here is my first challenge offering for this weekend. This one is for Critter Challenge #69 - I love Chocolate

The main focus needed to be chocolate brown colour so as usual I have gone a bit over the top.

The background paper script and the elephant are stamps from Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque - good name for this challenge!)

The background had the script stamp repeatedly used on a piece of cream card with Brown Stazon ink. This was then misted with Creme de Cacoa Glimmer Mist to add a bit of bling.

The elephant was stamped with Espresso Adirondack ink and a water brush was used to pull ink from the outline to shade the elephant. This was cut out with a circular Nestie and the image tinted whilst still in the die so that the cream border was maintained.

The patterned shape behind the elephant was made using a square pendant Nestie and chocolate card. 8 of the shapes were cut and folded using a Teabag folding technique. They were bonded together to give this lovely result.

To make up the card, which is A5 in size:
The base card is cream hammered card.
A layer of chocolate coloured linen card was added which was 5mm smaller all round than the base card.
The background paper was cut 5mm smaller all round than the previous layer.
A strip of the lovely crystals was added across the background card and then the top of this was covered with chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon. This was wrapped round to the back of the background and bonded in place to give a nice finish.I thought that the crystal drops reflected the decoration on the elephant's ceremonial covering.
This assembly was mounted onto the base card after which the Teabag folded rosette was bonded in place with DS tape. The elephant was added with Pinflair glue.

Finally a bow was made from the same ribbon and stuck in position with Pinflair glue as a finishing touch.

Brief Encounters

A card for 3 challenges.

Cards for Men - Blue and Black
CES weekly challenge #40 - Saturday Night at the Movies
Sentimental Sundays #59 - Masculine.

What can I say. The movie to end all train movies - Brief Encounter. How good is that for a mans card in Blue and Black - three challenges sorted!!

The train & station, luggage and clock - all stamps by Sheena Douglass for Creative Expressions. I thought that the clock was great to show the two meanings for Brief Encounter - time ticking away for a brief meeting between two people with all that that means but also the brief encounter of seeing a steam train in this day and age.

The images were all stamped with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. A water brush was used to blend the ink out to provide the shading by drawing the ink in from outline stamp. The edges were tinted with the same ink.

Nesties were used for the oval shapes and a Spellbinders film cutter was used to give the film out-take.

All were mounted on a black A5 size card.

Summer Flowers

Good morning. Happy Sunday. It's a bit wet but who cares when these is so much crafting to be done.

This is my entry for the Totally Papercrafts #70 - Summer challenge. Summer to me means flowers and lots of them.

This is an A5 size card. The background paper was created using marbling techniques starting with plain white card. I love the patterns this creates.

The main image is from Sheena Douglass' Pansy stamps from her Paint Fusion range. Once stamped onto mount board the flowers and leaves were painted in acrylic paints and the board was framed using a gold Krylon pen.

The lime green open weave hessian strip is something that I have had kicking around in my stash for years.

The butterfly and the flowers are made from some pre-printed flowers on a plastic base which when heated can be moulded into the required shape.

The main image, the butterfly and the flowers were bonded to the card with Pinflair glue.

Leaves and Flowers

Good morning.

Here is a card for 2 challenges:
Die Cut Dreams - Recipe
Critter Challenge #68 - Let's get Crafty

The recipe was three stamps, three flowers and a bow. The "Let's get Crafty" element was to incorporate Kraft paper into the design.

Well, the whole of the front of the card is made from Kraft paper which was screwed up, unscrewed a bit, wiped with two colours of Distress ink to catch the peaks on the paper, sprayed with water to make the inks blend, and finally given a spritz with Glimmer Mist to give it a shine. It was then allowed to dry thoroughly before being put through a Xyron machine to add adhesive to the back so it could be well stuck to the front of the A5 base card.

The stamped elements are the leaves and sentiment from Sheena Douglass. The Tag was coloured with distress inks applied with a blending tool. The sentiment was added using Timber Stazon. The leaves were stamped and embossed with copper embossing powder. These were coloured with Twinkling H2Os and then cut out. Pinflair glue was used to arrange the leaves so that the sentiment was framed.

The flowers were made by cutting flower shapes out on a Cricut. These were then inked up and aged with Distress ink. The flowers were created by layering up 3 sizes of petals which were shaped around a pencil. The copper flowers centres were made with Pearlidoodles. Pinflair glue was used to bond them in place.

The bow is very small made from a goldy coloured organza ribbon and finishes the design off at the hole in the tag.

Paper Marbling - Experimentation

Good morning. Welcome to Wednesday - half way through the week already.

I spent a bit of time last week experimenting with paper marbling inks. These are some of the results. These are all on A6 size card and I have to say that I was quite pleased with the results. I can't wait to use some of them in my card making projects. I did a whole load of A4 size as well. I am afraid it is a bit addictive! The room was littered with drying sheets of paper. Thank goodness the weather was warm so that they dried quickly and then I could do some more!

I did find that the first "impression" taken from a newly set up bath of inks was more difficult to get a pleasing result. It could be too bright and a bit blobby. However the second and third impressions taken were often much more interesting as the swirls started to show through and the colours were paler as there was less ink to transfer.

What I did discover was that you shouldn't use more than about 3 colours. I found that it could become very muddy looking which whilst OK for some projects, would have limited use I think.

Right.... all I need now is the right project to use them in....! "Watch this space", as they say.

Designs on Craft - the Other Blog

Good evening.

I have deciided that it is time to get myself organised so I have created a second blog. There is only one entry at the moment but it will soon grow. The new blog will be for non-paper crafting projects such as Encaustic Art, Altered Art, Cross stitiching etc whilst this one will remain for papercraft projects and card challenges. I thought it would be easier if I split them up. I do hope you will visit "the Other Blog" and follow it to see what I am up to. To go to have a look, please click here.

Pink and Orange

I don't know, you don't see a blog from me for ages and then they all come along at once!

Hmmmm, pink and orange, not my favourite combination but this card is for the Crafty Creations #121 - Pink and Orange challenge.

The stamped image is from a stamp by Creative Expressions. The background for this was created from a white piece of card which had distress ink applied from a non-stick craft mat where it had been spritzed with water, After the first go, I dried it and then re-dipped it until I got the effect I was looking for.

The image was stamped with graphite black ink and embossed with clear powder. A tinted edge of distress ink was added and then gold embossing powder was added round the edges.

The flowery edge to the pink and orange card was made with a Martha Stewart punch.

The flowers were made from MCS pre-printed die cut sheets. The flowers were pushed out from the sheets and curled and layered with Pinflair glue. Ultra fine glitter was added to the edges of the petals to add some shine and interest.

Berries

Good morning again.

For the second card of the day we have Berries for the Totally Papercrafts #69 - Get Fruity challenge.

I have been practicing with the Sheena Douglass paint fusion techniques and so here is one of my attempts featuring Blackberries.

This was painted on mount board 4" x 4" in size. The background was created by using the vaseline technique so that the cream coat of paint does not stick where the vaseline was placed which shows the brown undercoat.

After stamping and painting the picture, the word Berries was stamped in green ink. It was aged with distress ink and then edged with gold embossing powder. This was matted onto dark green card, then a lighter one to tone with the lighter green on the leaves and this was bonded to the square, dark green base card. The leaves, were pre-cut ones from a kit that I have had for years. They were slightly manipulated to raise the leaves up to give more texture and depth to the card.

"We Are Sailing"

Good morning. Another Sunday is here and at last I have been able to make a card for a challenge or two. I don't know where the time is going but I hardly  have time to craft at the moment which is very bad indeed.

Still, on with the show as they say. Here is a card for 4 challenges:
Sentimental Sundays #58 - Inspired by a Song
The Stamp Man #24 - Boys and men
Crafty Catz # 85 - Lots of Circles
CES Challenge #39 - Clean and Simple

For the Card base three large circles were cut from two different colours of blue card with a Grand Nestie. One circle was cut in half, stamped with a script stamp from Aspects of Design No. 2 - Nautical and the circles were stuck together to make the base card.

A piece of white glossy card was coloured with three shades of blue alcohol ink and silver mixative. Once dry the main image was stamped (from the same Aspects of design sheet) with graphite black ink and embossed with clear powder. This was then cut out with a small Grand Nestie and several smaller circles were cut from the same sheet of material. Chipped Sapphire Distress ink was used on each of the circles to give them an extra tint.

The sentiment was printed using a Xyron Design Runner on blue card, cut out and mounted on a matte silver card which was trimmed to the required size.

The embellishment knots were made from silver Mizuhiki cord and cocktail sticks where required. I thought the knots added to the Nautical theme - very much a boys thing.

The circles, knots and sentiment were all added to the card with Pinflair glue.

I think that this does justice to the challenges. I hope you like the result.

Poppies

Good afternoon. Happy Saturday.

Sorry for not being around for a couple of weeks. We went up to Northumberland for a holiday and there was no broadband , mobile service or anything. Shock, horror! Still, I am back now with a card for 5 challenges to make up for it.

CES Challenge #37 - Embellish It. - 3 different types of embellishments required
Crafty Catz #83 - Anything Goes
Totally papercrafts #67 -- Don't be Square - any shape of card but square
Crafty Creations #119 - Mayflowers - flowers, patterned paper and ribbon
Sentimental Sundays #55 - Handmade flowers (and a sentiment)

The base card was card from and A5 pearl cream card using a Grand Nestie. The backing paper (Joanna Sheen) was cut from the next size down and the sentiment card from the smallest of the series, again from the Pearl card.

The gorgeous sentiment, (Elusive Images - or Chocolate Baroque as they are now known), stamped in red chalk ink says - "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it".

The flowers were printed from a MCS CD rom, layered up with Pinflair glue and the flowers highlighted with crystal glitter.

The ribbon was wrapped around the bottom of the sentiment which was then mounted onto the backing paper and base card. The bow and flowers were added with more Pinflair glue and the swirl of individual crystal gems finished the card with a bit of bling.

Daisies

Wow, 2 posts in one morning! I obviously have some catching up to do!

This is a card for two challenges:

CES Challenge #34 - Inspirational picture from which I took the gingham and flower elements.

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #80 - Congratulations

The image was created with Sheena Douglass' Paint Fusion techniques and using the Daisy set of stamps to create the picture before applying the acrylic paint. A thin laminate of wood was used as the substrate for painting on and I made a simple crackle background before starting to paint the flowers.

The card is A5 in size in a gorgeous turquoise blue. Layered onto this is navy blue, blue gingham, turquoise blue and then the image which has been framed using a gold Krylon pen.

To match this, the word Congratulations was stamped using an Elusive Image (now Chocolate Baroque) stamp with Versamark ink and gold Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder.

A turquoise ribbon and bow completes the look.

Landscape

Good morning.

I hope that you are all enjoying your long weekend.

Here is a card for 3 challenges:
Cards for Men #9 - Circles
Crafty Creation #116 - White Space
Totally Papercrafts #64 - Glitter

Leaving so much of the card white was quite a challenge but I managed to restrain myself.

The base card is A5 white pearl card onto which I have directly stamped the sentiment. Both the sentiment and main image are from Sheena Douglass' Sketchy range. The image was stamped onto white card with Timber Brown Stazon and then was shaded with Espresso Adirondack ink.

As this is a card for a man I was not too heavy on the glitter. In fact I am not sure if it shows up too well on the photo but I used a gorgeous dark brown glitter on the edge of the main image and on the scalloped edges of the two smaller Nestie cut outs. I used glue that would dry clear.

The two small circles of white card were put through a Cuttlebug embossing folder before being mounted onto the scalloped circles. I left them plain white to continue with the white space theme.

I like to think that this is a good man's card. In fact, I think it will be the one I give to my father who is 83 this month.

Spring Flowers

Good morning.

Well, I hope you all had a good Easter break. It went by all to quickly didn't it. Still, there is another long weekend just around the corner!

Here is a card for the CES Challenge #33 - Spring Colours or Image.

What can be more indicative for Spring than flowers. All the stamps used are by Clarity including a Clever Corner, Daffodil, Primrose and Bluebells. I have used some nice fresh greens to add more spring colour.

The Clever corner was used to stamp floral framess, on silk finish card. The images were stamped within the frames, coloured with Aquamarkers and cut out. Each image was mounted on a double mat of Nestabilities in light and dark green.

The background layer was made from white card and alcohol inks with a little bit of gold mixative added for richness. The lace edging was added to the back of this layer once the card had been trimmed to the required size.

The base A5 card is in a lovely Spring green. The gorgeous beaded trim was bonded to the base card before the assembly of lace and background card was stuck into place. The three motifs were then mounted in place with foam pads.

TRIANGULAR TAG CARD

 Good morning.

First I must apologise for the irregular blogs at the moment. The new house is just taking up so much time.

Still, I have managed to make a bit of time today and I hope to sneak in some more tomorrow!

Here is a card for the Stampman Challenge #21 - Resist Techniques

The 3 cream tags were stamped with the script and patterned stamps (Stamp Addicts) and embossed with clear embossing powder. The tags were then coloured with 3 different Distress inks - Fired Earth, Marmalade and Frayed Burlap. The excess ink was rubbed from the embossing to show the original cream tag card underneath.

The same technique was then used with stamps from the Stampman Aspects of Design 6 - Nature but this time three green Distress inks were used.

The stamped images were cut out to give a strip of 3 mini images. These were mounted onto each tag with foam tape.

Gold thread was used through the tag holes. Holes were punched in the tags to thread the pearl tape through which is then used to tie the card into a triangle shaped card.

Butterfly Tag Card

Good evening. Here is a card for two challenges:
Crafty Catz #77 - Embossing
The Stampman challenge #20 - Embossing

The base card started out A5 in size and was cut out with a Grand Nestability and the edges of the yellow card were tinted with Distress inks. The mat was cut with a smaller size of Grand Nestie. This was ready embossed card and the embossing was enhanced with Distress ink.

The lower tag was first coloured with Distress ink and then embossed in a cuttlebug embossing folder.

The top tag was coloured with distress inks, and stamped with a Stampman Butterfly and flourishes by Sheena Douglass. All of these were stamped using Versamark and embossed with Moonglow embossing powder.

As a final touch the buttons were made from Fimo polymer clay which was embossed with a stamp to give the textured finish.

Blue Crane

Good afternoon. At last my craft room is set up and I can get back to my favourite hobbies. Here is a just a simple card to get me back into the swing of things. It is for the following challenge:
CES Challenge #31 - Monochromatic.

I chose to use blue for my base colour. This card is A5 in size. I sprayed the base card and the blue embossed layer with a lighter blue Glimmer Mist to give is a bit of shine. The embossed blue card is mounted on white card which in turn is mounted onto the base card after the dark and light blue ribbons had been wrapped around them. The dark blue bow was made separately and bonded in place with Pinflair glue gel.

The main image is following the great techniques as demonstrated by Barbara Grey. The mountains int he background were added using a torn edge of paper and a brayer using Denim Adirondack ink. The Crane was stamped using the same ink as were the flourishes at the top of the image. Grasses were used, again with the same ink, to complete the foreground.

The three little flowers, which were part of a prize from another challenge, were a bit too turquoise so I sprayed them with some darker blue ink to dull them down a bit. These were then bonded in place with Glue gel.

I hope you like the card. I will be uploading some more later this week to really get back into what I love doing best.

Hello to Gloucestershire

Good morning. Just a note to say that I have survived the move to Stonehouse in Gloucestershire and I started my new job yesterday. The house is about 90% sorted. My craft room needs another couple of evenings work to get it useable. Consequently I hope to get back into crafting and challenges this weekend. I just hope I can remember where I have put everything! Therefore......watch this space.....!

Goodbye to South Wales.

Good morning one and all.

This is just to let you know that I will not be around for 3 weeks or so whilst my life is turned upside down by moving house and changing jobs. We move out of our house in South Wales on 31st March, into the new one on 1st April and I start the new job on April 4th. That gives me a weekend to try and get the house straight before starting work. In the meantime I will try to have a look at your blogs and make comments whilst I still have an Internet connection but I will not be able to do any posts of my own as I am about to pack up my craft stash for the move to Gloucestershire. Please do not think that I am ignoring you if I cannot get to make comments! Hopefully our broadband Internet will be set up when we move in (according to BT it will be but I will believe that when  I see it).

The great thing is that I will have a whole room for my craft stuff in the new place rather than it taking up one end of my bedroom like it is now. That is what I call luxury. Then I will be back to posting my projects and entering challenges again.

See you all soon.
Hugs, Shirl xx

Peacock Lady - a Card for a few challenges.

 Good morning. Hurray for the weekend.

Here is a card for 4 challenges. It was mainly inspired by the Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight Challenge which required you to make your own design papers. You know how much I love doing that so here is the result.

This has been entered in the following:
Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight - Make you own papers
Crafty Card Makers #110 - Mothers Day
Totally Papercrafts #58 Add Buttons

Crafty Catz #74 Mothers Day

The backing papers were made using Glimmer Mists (in peacock sort of colours) and Glimmer Screens. Once dry it was stamped with a peacock feather stamp from Elusive Images. These were coloured with Twinkling H2Os.

The backing for the Peacock Lady (again an EI stamp) was card sprayed with the same colours as before but without the screens. She was stamped and embossed with silver embossing powder and colored with H2Os. She was mounted on dark green card and then a sheet of quite thick acetate was stuck into position over the top giving a curved surface. This was secured on the back with D-S tape and mounted on another piece of green card.

The dark green base card was A3 folded to give an A4 gate fold card. For the front of the card two panels of the hand coloured card were cut to size and mounted on silver mirror card. These were stuck to the front panels with D-S tape. The main image was mounted onto the left hand panel of the card ensuring no tape was put on the right hand side which would prevent the card from opening.

The buttons were made from Fimo and stamped with oriental style stamps and brushed over with Perfect Pearls mica powder. Once baked, they were threaded up with lilac ribbon to match the colour used on the dress.

A "love you" sentiment was added to tell Mum how much I love her. This as a stamp by EI, embossed with silver powder.

In side the card, I lined the left hand side with some paper printed from a Graphicus CD ROM. The front sheet is another hand decorated sheet. This time, I did not use the screens but it was stamped with feathers and coloured as before.I folded the sheet in half to find the mid line. It was flattened again and stamped with two peacocks (EI). The entire area of the stamp was then cut away to give peacock shaped apertures so the printed paper could be seen in the background.

This card was many hours in the making. I do hope you like it.

Ruined Church

Good afternoon.
Here is a card for just 1 challenges:
Cards for Men #6 - Sketch Challenge
The wonderful main image is from one of the new stamps from Stamp Addicts. It was stamped with black ink and embossed with fine clear powder to keep all the detail. This was tinted with Black Soot Distress Ink after being cut out with a Nestie. A second white Nestie shape was cut to provide a mat.

The base card is 5.25" square. Two different black and white papers - stripes and dots were used to make up the rest of the sketch. The dotty triangles were backed with white card to provide a border.

The sentiment (Elusive Images) was stamped in black ink on white card and the edges tinted after it was trimmed to size.

The black dots on the triangles are black, flat back, self adhesive gems

Yellow Rose - A card for 5 challenges.

Good evening. Here is a nice bright easel card which I am going to enter in 5 challenges:

Totally Papercrafts #57 - Shaped cards
Crafty Catz Weekly challenge - Colour Combo, Yellow and Green
The Stamp Man #18 - Mother's Day - Floral Theme
Sentimental Sundays #46 - Let's go Green (Colour or Recycled) + a sentiment
Diecut Dreams Challenge #85 Mothers Day or Special Friend

To create the shape I used Grand Nesties in both Scalloped Ovals and Ovals on both pale yellow hammered card and plain green card. Many of these were cut, matted and layered to give the final look. The largest plain oval was stamped with a flourish stamp (Creative Expressions) using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.

The large central rose, the leaves, the smaller rose on the base of the easel and the sentiment  are all stamps by Creative Expressions. They were stamped on white card, coloured with Distress inks and Aquamarkers.

The double bow incorporates both pale yellow organza ribbon with satin edges and pale green satin ribbon.

The sentiment says: "If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I'd be picking roses for a life time." My Mum passed away nearly 3 years ago so I don't have one to give the card to but I do think of her a lot.