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.