Monday 28 September 2015

Celebration Easel Card

For once, I have given stamping a rest and focused on embossing to create a quick and easy wedding card.  It can easily be adapted for a wedding anniversary with the addition of a sentiment instead of the Double Link Trim strip on the easel stand; the colour scheme of the wedding (anniversary) is a great starting point, combined with either white or ivory as appropriate.

Sunday 27 September 2015

Zentangle round a Stamp

The idea for this card came by an article by Lisa Mason in the November 2012 edition of Craft Stamper.  This was the first time that I had done any zentangling, but if you've been following my blog, you know that it hasn't been my last.

Proud of my first attempt at Zentangle


Saturday 26 September 2015

Mixed Media Tag

Back to another popular combination - a masculine card which started life as a mixed media tag!  I like to use cream and black as a combination as I find it less stark then black and white.

Tuesday 22 September 2015

Brusho Blossoms

The inspiration for this card came from Kay Carley in the July 2015 edition of Craft Stamper.  I had just bought some Brushos and happened to have the same colours that were used in the example in the magazine.  I used ProMarkers instead of Copic pens and replaced the stamps used in the original with the Stylised Flowers by Indigoblu.


Sunday 20 September 2015

Saturday 19 September 2015

Thanks for Looking in

After another short break for the day job, thanks for coming back for another look at my blog!  This card could be adapted as a wedding thank you card using the colour scheme from the day or any occasion where a thank you is required.

Tuesday 15 September 2015

Landscape Easel - Motorbike Madness

This is a more straightforward easel card - with a bit of zentangle and shrink plastic thrown in for good measure.

 The base card is a sheet of A4 white card scored and folded in half; the front of the card is then scored and folded in half again (A4 gatefold on a scoring board), forming the easel base.

Monday 14 September 2015

Double Twisted Easel Card

A masculine theme for this card - but the style can be adapted for any occasion.  It looks complicated but using a scoring board or a ruler makes the construction far more straight forward.


Sunday 13 September 2015

We Support Our Local Team!

As a season ticket holder at our local football (soccer) team, Stoke City: currently languishing at the foot of the Premiership - but not for long; I always find that cards which reflect that support go down really well.  This particular card is easily adapted to fit whomever your local team is (or your sporting preference)!
We love you city, we do!



Saturday 12 September 2015

Round the World in 80 Days

The inspiration for the tag and the starting point for the whole card, came from a mixed media tag by Vicky Papaioannou on her Clips-n-Cuts blog.

 The #8 manila tag was covered with a piece of Tissue Wrap (Tim Holtz - Postale) and sealed with matt medium.  A light coat of gesso was followed by distress paints in Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade; using a wet wipe to blend the colours.  Each layer was thoroughly dried with a heat gun before adding the next!  I dabbed Antiqued Bronze distress paint through the Treads layering stencil (THS045) using a mini blending tool; added Dreamweaver metallic gold embossing paste through the Dot Fade stencil (THS006) in opposite corners and left the tag to one side to dry.

Wednesday 9 September 2015

WOYWW - birthday goodies

First proper day back at work today after the summer holidays, so not much time to share today. 

However, it is great to get home after a long tiring day, to find that the goodies that you ordered with your birthday money have arrived.  Can you tell that I'm a big fan of Tim Holtz?  So that's what's on my workbench today!  Now I just need some time to enjoy playing with them.  I'm already looking forward to the weekend.  Maybe next Wednesday I'll have something more productive to share!

Tuesday 8 September 2015

What's in the Shed?

This is a really versatile card; you can include any type of hobby inside the 'shed' as long as you have a suitable die and some small stamps which link to the hobby. 
As my son works in ICT it was an easy choice for me!

Monday 7 September 2015

Sandcastle at the Beach

As summer slowly comes to an end, I thought I'd share a reminder of brighter days and holidays!  This card was made for my great niece's 3rd birthday - but in the photo I hadn't yet added the number; for which I used a peel-off.

  

Sunday 6 September 2015

Side stepper - Purple Peonies

I created the base of this card from scratch so it took me a couple of goes to get it exactly as I wanted it.   

I laid out a sheet of A4 purple card (297mm x 210 mm) in front of me in the portrait position and drew a line all the way down the right hand side;  6.5cm from the right hand edge of the card.  From the top, I then measured down 3.3cm, 6.6cm and 18cm, and drew 3 lines at right angles to my first line, across from the first line to the right hand side of the card. -  these were my scoring lines for the step on the right of the photo.  Next, using a steel ruler and a craft knife, I cut along the first line that I drew, from the 3.3cm mark down to the 18cm mark.  The 3 lines were scored as far as the cut line, and then the remaining side of the card was scored in half (14.8cm); again only up to the cut line.

Saturday 5 September 2015

Quick and Easy Hexagons

Just a quick card today.  Yet another masculine one - being the only female in the household means that I have to make a lot of these!

It just so happens that 7 of the smallest hexagon dies fit perfectly across an A5 landscape card (21cm).  My youngest son likes minimalist cards, so when I found the Happy Patterns stamp set by Hot of the Press on sale in my local craft shop, I knew that they would be perfect for his birthday card.  I already had the hexagon nesting dies by XCut, and when I put the two items together; perfection.


Friday 4 September 2015

42 - The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything!

With apologies for stealing the quote from The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams; but it did seem the perfect starting point for my brother's birthday card - Happy Birthday to you in North America from across the pond!

Once I had the theme, everything seemed to fall into place very quickly.  The Elements Twinchy Stamps by Stamps Away make a great background.  I stamped them in Coffee Archival ink onto a white A5 landscape card blank, and set it to one side. 

Thursday 3 September 2015

Rememberance Poppies

Although I actually finished this card as a birthday card for a November birthday, I believe that it would also be suitable as a sympathy card.
The base card is A5 landscape, made from a piece of black A4 card.  I cut 3 panels of silver mirri card (13.8cm x 6cm) and embossed two of them using the Couture Creations Great Chain Wire embossing folder, and the 3rd using the Large Wire Barbs folder.  The panels were painted over with black acrylic paint and once nearly dry, rubbed back to let the silver show through.

Wednesday 2 September 2015

WOYWW - back to school

Unfortunately there isn't much craftiness on my workbench today as the new term starts next week and I have to get everything ready.  WOYWW

My birthday flowers have lasted really well. I have my new goodies from the Craftathon on Sunday calling to me, but lesson plans are overruling everything.  Luckily as a reward for two days of solid work I have a crafty morning planned for tomorrow with a good friend before I have to get my nose back to the grindstone.

Tuesday 1 September 2015

3 Wise Men Zentangle

I always seem to come back to zentangle as it is so relaxing.  Unfortunately the stamps that I used for this card are now unavailable - and I did look online to check.  However, I am sure anyone wanting to use the idea could find suitable substitutions.

As usual the card started with some zentangling, using a stencil this time (Creative Expressions - Sunrise Mask); but for a change I decided to experiment with black card, and used a silver pen to draw round each section of the stencil.  I repeated all of the patterns but distributed them randomly.  The finished piece was matted onto silver mirri, leaving a narrow border.