Monday 31 August 2015

Masculine Mica and Layers

This card started life as an experiment with building up layers on a tag, and ended up as a pleasing masculine birthday card. 

I started with a #8 manila tag and dabbed Stormy Sky distress ink through the Tim Holtz Burlap stencil to create a resist.  Once dry I blended on Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed distress inks adding someWalnut Stain  at the edge.  I made up a solution of Aged Mahogany reinker with water in a mini mister, as I don't have any of the distress sprays, and lightly spritzed through the Tim Holtz Dot Fade layering stencil in a couple of places; as you can see I over spritzed in the bottom left corner and ended up with a splodge but I decided to leave it as I was going to be adding the 'splatters' anyway.  I built up layers of Walnut Stain distress ink through the Splatters layering stencil and added some stamped images using black Archival ink.  The stamps that I used were from the AOD 2 - Nautical collection by the Stamp Man.  Once I was happy with the finished tag, I went back round the edge with Walnut Stain distress ink to finish.

Sunday 30 August 2015

Amazing Day

I had the most amazing day today with a really good crafty friend and fellow football fan.  It was my birthday treat - a Craftathon with 46 fellow crafters under the inspiring tutelage of Phill Martin and Julia Watts.  Four fabulous cards (that's four christmas cards made for my family), new techniques and products and plenty of chance to meet new people.  It certainly made up for the disappointing footie result yesterday (2 players sent off and losing 1-0).  When you're covered with glitter you can't help seeing the bright side.

Saturday 29 August 2015

Paper Mosaic

The idea for this card came after I watched the Quilt Card tutorial by Sue Wilson.
 
I chose to use shades of blue as I am always being asked for masculine cards.  However, as I didn't have the die that Sue used in her tutorial I had to do things a little differently!






Friday 28 August 2015

Jeepers Creepers

Just a quick post today, to show you a card I made for the students at my school to make on the last day of term before the summer holidays.  I had to find something that would appeal to ages 9-13, both boys and girls, and these stamps from Woodware certainly came up trumps.  I needed something that was possible for complete beginners to make in an hour and a half at most and with relatively few resources.


I pre-stamped the sneakers and the sentiment for the students, as well as pre-cutting all the blank backgrounds (A5 white card).  They all had a go at stamping their own graffiti background using the Woodware Graffiti stamp set.  I coloured my card using the Spectrum Aqua pens from Crafters' Companion, but I wasn't letting the students loose with those, so they had to make do with Berol fibre tip pens.

Thursday 27 August 2015

Paper Weaving as a Background

For the background to this I was inspired by an art journal layout by France Papillon in the March 2014 edition of Craft Stamper Magazine.  I decided to use the technique to create the paper weaving but as a full background rather than just sections of the page as in the original version.
I started with 2 x A5 pieces of white card and lightly blended Vintage Photo distress ink all over one and Peacock Feathers all over the other.  I then used the same ink to lay down some darker sections through stencils (Tim Holtz - Bubble (THS002) and Harlequin (THS016) layering stencils).  I added some Black Soot distress ink through a Prima Crackle stencil (#564247) onto the brown piece and also a little at the edge.  A very light mist with water in some places on both to add further texture, a dab with some kitchen towel and I was ready to start the fun part! 

Wednesday 26 August 2015

Canvas Roses

I saw the rose challenge on the Allsorts Challenge blog and thought immediately of this card.  I also thought I would enter it in the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge.
I was experimenting with a Crawford & Black Canvas Pad and wondered if I could use it with an embossing folder.  No sooner thought than tried!
Out came the Embossalicious A4 Paisley folder and off I went.  I dabbed Mustard Seed and Salty Ocean distress paint separately onto a craft mat; spritzed with water and pressed the canvas into the paint - note to self yellow and blue make green!

WOYWW - first time!

I must thank my sister-in-law Pat for putting me onto this group.  Seems like a great way to share snapshots of what people are up to in an informal way.
So here is my first contribution to What's On Your Workbench Wednesday.  The canvas is from my post yesterday - the first time I've had a go on anything but card or MDF.  When I took the photo I was in the middle of designing a card for a birthday do on Friday that my husband and I have been invited to.  You can see where I've been trying out different gold embossing powders and techniques - heat from above; heat from below.  I am also incredibly lucky that a good crafty friend has joined me in my craft shed for the last couple of days.  She has been working on the zentangle and kindly allowed me to share what she has been up to.

Tuesday 25 August 2015

Clarity Challenge Bingo - My First Canvas



I have had some small 5" x 7" canvas boards sitting on a shelf daring me to use them for over a month.  Then the Clarity Challenge for August arrived.  I have also been attempting to add more texture to my cards recently, so my choice was a no brainer - horizontal line - Stencil, Stamp, Grunge Paste!

Chill - Life's a Beach!

Here's another card to remind us of summer.  I thought I'd enter it into the Countryview August Challenge as the topic was Summertime.
I was inspired for the background by an idea used by Barbara Gray in her 'Strength Always' New Design Stencil Club 14 booklet.  The combination of distress ink colours that she used gave such an impression of summer and the beach - Mustard Seed, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmelade.  I had had the Sheena Douglas Laguna Surf and Endless Summer stamp sets for a few weeks and thought that they would make the perfect combination with the background.  I also decided to use pearlescent white card to add shimmer.

Monday 24 August 2015

Psychedelic Colours to Brighten up the Day

I made this card some time ago but as the weather isn't so great today I thought I'd try to brighten things up.

I started by covering a piece of white card (20x13.8cm) with small pieces of masking tape overlapping each piece randomly and burnishing them onto the card.  I then went over the whole piece with Salty Ocean distress ink.  I stamped the Indigoblu circle dot background stamp onto a separate piece of white card using Versamark ink and heat embossed using white detail embossing powder. 

Sunday 23 August 2015

MDF book - Life begins at 50

I bought this Kaisercraft MDF book on a whim as it was half price but I was really pleased with the way it turned out - and my twin sister loved her birthday book.





The colour scheme was easy - my sister's favourite combination.  Having primed the MDF with white gesso I painted the front and back panels with Reeves Lavender Acrylic paint and the middle panel with Pebeo Studio Acrylics Iridescent Green Yellow (359).  I then put it to one side for a couple of weeks as I couldn't make my mind up how to decorate it further.


Friday 21 August 2015

Having a Day Off

No card today sorry.  Tomorrow is the big 50 and I have spent most of the day with the family getting the garden ready for a barbecue get together tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll be able to share the MDF book that I made for my twin sister tomorrow,  if she tells me it's OK.  Until then - I am ready to drop! 

Thursday 20 August 2015

Up, Up and Away

Just for a change from zentangle I thought I'd show some paper piecing using both stamps and dies, as well as how inking up an embossing folder can add depth and detail.

I started off by using a brayer to apply Versafine Majestic Blue ink to the inside front panel of the Crafters Companion Embossalicious 8"x8" cloud embossing folder and embossed a piece of white card.  This enabled me to get raised white clouds against a blue sky background.

I die cut both sizes of Memorybox balloon using 3 different coordinating papers and also stamped all three sizes of Claritystamp balloon stamp onto each of the same three papers.  Having trimmed down as appropriate I matted the different coloured papers together creating a little depth.  I then used a black fineline pen to add dashed lines round the die cut balloon layers, to tie them in with the stamped images.

Wednesday 19 August 2015

Zentangle stencil

I didn't realise how often I used zentangle in my cards - I must be going through a phase.  Stencils are also a great starting place for zentangling.  Here I used the Claritystamp checkerboard stencil and teamed it up with Woodware chess stamps which included the greeting.

Before I started I drew round the bottom 2 layers of the chessboard in pencil and stamped in the appropriate places.  I then laid the stencil back over and went round all the checkerboard squares using pen but without going over the chess pieces.  I added lines to the chess pieces as the stamps are only outlines, then zentangled all the 'black' squares of the chess board.  I repeated the same pattern more than once in different areas of the board to tie the whole thing together.

Tuesday 18 August 2015

Zentangled Christmas Trees

This Personal Impressions Zendoodle Trees stamp is ideal for zentangling.

Any simple stamp with large plain areas can be zentangled (they can also be stamped onto patterned paper and paper pieced).

I like the fact that each tree is already divided into interesting shapes which sometimes help with ideas for a suitable zentangle pattern.  Some of the patterns I drew were ideas I had seen online, and some grew from the shape that they had to fill - such as the triangular shapes in the tree to the far right.

Once I had finished zentangling, I cut out the stamped image leaving a narrow white border and stuck it to red mirricard.  I then decided to use a Spectrum noir pencil which matched the background to pick out some of the zentangled details.  I matted the red mirricard onto white card and then onto black leaving a narrow border.  The whole thing was stuck onto an A4 card folded in half (A5 landscape); a small peel off greeting was the finishing touch - coloured red to match the key background colour.

Monday 17 August 2015

Panorama Cards

I like mixing dies and products from different sources.

The main template is cut using the Tattered Lace A5 Panorama die set but the inserts were from one of the first X-cut create-a-scene collections.  The castle stamp is an old one by Crafters' Companion; (Kid's Collection - girls).

 The back A5 panel was created using the Claritystamp large moon mask and cloud mask.  I used Adirondack Stonewashed ink and a Claritystamp stencil brush to create a panel of sky/clouds.

The castle was stamped seperately and coloured in using Chameleon pens. I cut the castle out and stuck it flat onto the back panel.  The sentiment was then stamped into the centre of the moon. (Whimsy stamps)

Sunday 16 August 2015

Turning Tags into Cards

 I love this style of card because it can be adapted for any occasion.

Take 3 #8 manilla tags and emboss them using any suitable embossing folders.
(I used Sizzix folders by Tim Holtz for the 'French' card and Cuttlebug folders for the baby card.)

Blend on distress inks to suit the occasion - including a darker tone at the edge.

Saturday 15 August 2015

A little Zentangle is good for the soul

I was inspired by the book Zentangle 9 - Color with Mixed Media and my new Typewriter and Handmade Paper embossing folder sets from Tattered Lace.  I already had the Marianne typewriter die and stamps.

This is an 8x8 card - I used Tim Holtz's Typo stencil and Aged Mahogany distress ink to stencil the main card and Exotic Orchid and Sunrise Orchid Core'dination cardstock for the backgrounds and die cutting.

The large background is 18.5cm by 18.5cm and embossed with the Typewriter embossing folder.  I then sanded it back and added Aged Mahogany at the edge.