Just to remind you

Hi folks, I know two posts in one day, a rare thing for me! I just wanted to remind you that Kay from IndigoBlu will be demoing on Create and Craft again tomorrow. She will be on the 'Tool Shed' programmes at 12-12.30 and 1-1.30, so watch out for lots of Design Team samples. She will be demoing Flitterglu and the gilding flakes again. The stamps will be for the most part, different to those on the last show, so there will be a whole batch of new samples.

However, I've got one of the samples from the last Show for you today. This one is using 'Ella Bella' and the 'Harlequin' stamps. I have created my background using the wrinkle free distress technique, then stamped the harlequin stamp twice, using Versafine Onyx Black ink. I stamped 'Ella Bella' with Flitterglu and flakes onto a cream circle, and then edged the circle with Distress Ink. I made some rolled roses, added some gold leaves and some curled wire as an embellishment.

 

Don't forget to look out for my new samples on the show, and hopefully, I'll post some on here in the coming weeks. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Forgotten Friday 46- Add a bit of bling!

Hi folks, it's Friday and time to rummage through your stash again, to see what you have lurking unused and neglected in your crafty supplies.

I've only just made it today, as we've had a busy day, and I'm not feeling 100% either, so please forgive the late post.

This week I have chosen to use a Christmas stamp from Crafty Individuals, that I hadn't used before. I have used Antique Linen and Weathered Wood Distress inks throughout, with just a touch of pencils for the little angel. I have added the CI crackle stamp to the background as well, I love that stamp.

I broke open my ironworks Nesties too, as yet unused, and added some flat-backed gems. I have tons of these, because I don't generally use them. However Christmas cards are the perfect excuse.

I really like this gentle colour combo, and think that I will have to use it again.

Don't forget, if any of you make something, please leave a comment, and I'll pop along to your blog to take a look. Don't feel that you have to follow my lead, and add bling, or even make a Christmas card. Just do your own thing if you would like to. My pile of Christmas cards is starting to mount up though, and it's only January! Thanks for stopping by, xx

Art Nouveau Friendship Card

Hi folks, here's another card made with some of the great new stamps recently released over at Chocolate Baroque I really like this stamp plate, it's called 'Wisteria Lane', and there are some great stamps on this one. I particularly like the large stylised flower, as it reminds me very much of the Art Nouveau era. I set about creating a card with that theme in mind.
I chose to go with a very strong colour theme for this one, and used Butterscotch and Caramel Adirondack inks to create the background for the card. I used one of the smaller flourish stamps to finish off the larger piece of card, using Black Archival ink. I then stamped the large flower onto the smaller piece of card.

I decided to use a Crealie Doily Element Die (Number 8) to mat the smaller card piece, which added definition to the piece. The shape of this die really fitted in well with the Art Nouveau theme. I cut the pieces out, and just put them on the back of the piece of card by eye, I didn't use a template, then stuck them down with double sided tape. I started with the corners, and then worked the other pieces in to fit, adjusting where necessary.

I added a sentiment from another Chocolate Baroque stamp set 'Art Nouveau Birthday', which is sadly soon to be retired. The font is great on this.

Don't forget to pop over to the Design Team Blog to see what the other Design Team members have been up to with the new stamp sets. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Forgotten Friday contribution by Sue

Hi folks, I'm just popping in really briefly to show you a lovely card made by Sue. She doesn't have a blog, and so I'm posting a picture of her lovely card here. This is how Sue made the card :

"I made the background with oil crayons and moved the colour around with sansador and stamped over with Adirondak expresso .  Main image stamped with Adirondak expresso and coloured with Colorsoft pencils , flower and leaves Crealies dies."

I love the colours that Sue has chosen, and the image looks great with the 'eyes' of the peacock feathers coloured in.

If any of you would like me to feature your creations, then don't hesitate to email me like Sue did, and I'll be happy to oblige.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Wisteria Doorway

There are some new stamps recently released over at Chocolate Baroque and as a member of the Design Team, I have been creating some samples with them. There are some great flower stamps in these new sets, dandelion clocks, honeysuckles, rose trees, and some fabulous little insects too.

The first card that I have made to show you combines some of these new stamps with a great door stamp from the 'Echoes of Italy' stamp plate. I stamped this first, and masked it off, sponging Distress Inks over the card. I coloured the image with Polychromos pencils, layering up the colour to create depth and shade on the door.

I used several different colours of Versamagic chalk inks to stamp the flower head in the foreground, starting with the lightest, and moving through to the darkest. I then went back to the lightest colour to fill in the gaps, and add a bit of light to the foreground. I used Versamagic to stamp the wisteria at the top of the card.

Finally, I stamped the butterflies with Versafine Onyx black ink, and coloured these with Polychromos pencils again, before adding them to the picture with some stamens. The picture was matted onto lilac and purple card to tone in with the flowers.

I have used stamps from 'Wisteria Lane' and 'The Rose Tree' to complete this card. Do pop over to the Design Team Blog to see what the other Design Team members have been up to with these stamps over the next few days. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Aloysius goes green

Hi folks, here's another sample that I made for the Create and Craft TV show that Kay from Indigoblu presented recently. I was so proud to see my samples on the TV, and had a lot of fun making these.

This particular sample is another one of those book cards that I enjoy making so much. You have seen me make them before, so I won't go in to the specific details of how to make them, but there is a tutorial on the Whiff of Joy tutorial blog.

I used some green Bazzil card as the base card for the book, adding some old book paper for interest. This paper was quite old, so I layered it onto card to make the flower, to give it some strength. I used Claudine Hellmuth Matte Medium, taking care not to get any on the top surface, as I wanted to colour the paper.

(My good blog friend Elaine gave me a great tip that matt Mod Podge works if you want to colour over the top. I have now bought some, and am going to give this a go. She has had great success, and made some stunning pieces of art.)

I coloured some card with Old Paper Distress Ink, and then stamped the card with Flitterglu, covering it with some of the flakes. The result is a lovely shimmery crackle effect. I distressed the edges and coloured these with Walnut Stain Distress ink. I stamped the bear onto a piece of card coloured with Scattered Straw Distress ink, using Versafine Vintage Sepia ink, and cut the image out. I assembled the front of the card, adding some lace and a bow for the bear.

For the tag, I created the background as before, using Flitterglu and flakes on the crackle stamp. I then stamped Aloysius onto shrink plastic using Stazon Timber Brown ink. I coloured the image with pencils before cutting it out and shrinking it. I added a piece of lace and ribbon to match the front of the book card.

The niche inside the book was simply coloured with Distress Inks and stamped with the crackle stamp. Although the bear stamp could be used for a child's Birthday card, I felt that the colours I had used meant that this card could be suitable for a bear lover of any age!

I'll be back in a couple of days with another sample using the gilding flakes and Flitterglu. Pop over to the IndigoBlu website to take a look at all of the fabulous stamps that they have. I'm working on the next batch as you read this, preparing for the next show. Thanks for popping by, xx

Feeling Flaky!

Hi folks, I thought that I would show you one of the designs that I made for Kay and Alfie over at IndigoBlu This is one of the cards that I made for the show for Create and Craft last week. Unfortunately, this one didn't get an airing, I spotted it, but I knew what to look for. It was in the wrong pile, but never mind.

I have used a gorgeous stamp called 'Love Is', which I have stamped with Flitterglu, and then applied gilding flakes to show off all of the lovely details of the stamp. I have used the same stamp to create a border around the edge of my card. The heart has little birds and dragonflies around it. I have chosen slightly unorthodox colours for a romantic card, but I really like these caramel tones. The gilding flakes have a great verdigris tinge to them, so I added a pearlescent green card as a layer behind everything else.

I have made another one of those handmade flowers using the brass ring, and pouring seed beads into the Glossy Accents. These are such fun to make.

I am prepping samples for the next TV show as we speak, which is due to be aired on 29th January. I'll show you some more samples over the next few days. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Forgotten Friday 45- Red and Brown

Hi folks, it's Friday again, and that means that it's time to rummage through your crafty stash to find something neglected and make a project with it. This week, I'm giving you a colour challenge again, if you would like to take up the option, and I've gone for non-Christmassy items, as twice a month is often enough, thank you very much!

I've been rummaging through my Stamp Camp stamps, I have some beauties, and the two that I have chosen for this project are no exception. I bought these when I went to the Happy Stampers show at Port Sunlight, one in the Autumn, and one from the show previously, in May. I love all of the Stamp Camp stamps that I have bought, but I seem to buy them, and forget about them. Anyway, I stamped 'Side Face' onto Kraft card, and coloured it with Polychromos pencils. This stamp came out so well, just with Versafine Vintage Sepia. I created a piece of background paper by spritzing white card with Distress reinkers and water, then stamping a fabulous leafy stamp over the top again with the same Versafine ink.

I made a flower by spritzing some handmade paper with the reinker solution and some gold Perfect Pearl spray, before cutting the shapes out. I really like to put these brass rings in the middle, and drop seed beads into Glossy Accents for the centres.

I'm going to leave the card without a sentiment for now, and when I need a card for someone special, I'll put the right words on before I send it to the recipient. It's been lovely to just make something for fun today. Why don't you have a look through your stamps and other crafty supplies. If you do make something, post a link in my comments, and I'll pop along to take a look. Thanks for stopping by, xx
 
EDIT: Following a couple of enquiries about how I made the flower in my comments today, I thought I'd just pop back to let you know what the die was that I have used. It is the Peony Nestability die. Hope this helps.

Popping in midweek, whatever next?

Hi folks, it is unusual for me these days to find the time inbetween my Forgotten Friday posts to come and say hello. However, I have been feeling that my poor blog has been woefully neglected lately. My OH and I have just got back from an overnight trip at a lovely hotel called Dunston Hall on the outskirts of Norwich, in Norfolk. My two BILs bought us the trip for our Silver Wedding Anniversary back in November. It was a lovely gift, as it gave us a brief bit of time out, and the surroundings were lovely.

The hotel seemed very imposing when we arrived, but I loved the tall twisted chimneys.

The frosty mornings were just so cold though, I would have liked to have seen more of the grounds, but it was just too chilly to walk around. This week, I have been working on shrink plastic with my card class, at their request. I made a card with them based on a lovely project made by Linda Elbourne for the Craft Barn She used Tim Holtz fragments, Paper Artsy stamps, and shrink plastic. I started by getting the class to make a masterboard with Distress Inks, choosing Old Paper, Victorian Velvet, and Crushed Olive for myself. They chose completely different colours. I kept the application fairly light, as I wanted to add lots of layers afterwards. Now as my shoulder is still quite painful, my blending is still a bit off, so I misted my card with water when I had finished, which kind of smoothes the blending out a bit. I then used a chicken wire mask and went over the Old Paper sections again, using Old Paper DI over the mask. At this point, I chopped my card in half. On one piece of card, I started to add lots of small Paper Artsy stamps, using the DI colours that I had used on my background, to build up some layers. I then stamped the large flower head in Black Archival Ink three times. I stamped the word 'Fly' and the 'birds in the grass' stamp onto the plainer piece of card, again using archival ink, and heat set this. I stuck the fragment pieces over the top of these stamped images with Glossy Accents, trimmed around them, and smoothed the edges with a nail file. I then cut two Nestability butterflies from clear shrink plastic, after sanding it a bit, to give it a key. I coloured it lightly with pencils, and then stamped it with parts of a scroll stamp, using Stazon ink. I shrunk these, bending them slightly with my asbestos fingers, while they were still warm (very hot!) Then I edged these with a gold Krylon pen. Once the card was assembled, I stuck the butterflies to the card with Glossy Accents.

I loved Linda's original project, and I hope that she won't mind me casing it for the much simpler project that my card class really enjoyed putting together.

Thanks for stopping by today, and I'll be back on Friday with my Forgotten Friday project, xx

Forgotten Friday 44- Silver and Blue

Phew, what a day I've had! I've been trying to post these cards all day, and everything has just conspired against me. I did joke to someone earlier that I'd have to rechristen the post 'Slipped my Mind Sunday' soon!
I've been mighty busy the last couple of weeks with other crafting commitments, and unfortunately didn't manage a post last week. So, I'm making up for that this week with two cards. These are my first Christmas cards of the year, ta da!

I am working on a theme of silver and blue, as you can see from my post title. My first card uses some beautiful stamps from Art Journey, from a set called 'Noel'. I love these stamps, but it is the first time that I have used them, in fact I only cut them out for this card! I have gone for a clean and simple theme, unusual for me, but these stamps look lovely used this way.

I stamped the girl, masked her off, then embossed the words. I used a smidgen of colour, then coloured her face and her highlights in with Polychromos, before blending them.

My second card is made using IndigoBlu stamps. Now I told you a while back that I have been very lucky to have been asked to work with their stamps, producing samples for them. I am now officially on their Design Team, and on Sunday they have a programme on Create and Craft! Have a look at 11.00 a.m. and see if you can spot any of my samples. You all know my 'style', so you may think you know which ones I have made if they don't call my name out anyway! The show is to promote 'Flitterglu' and the gilding flakes that IndigoBlu sell, as well as several of their fabulous stamp sets. I have made a very quick card here, using the gilding flakes on the santa and reindeer, plus the sentiment, to show you how the glue and flakes will pick out quite fine detail.

Right, so that's two Christmas cards that I've got made already this year. How are you getting on? Why don't you have a rummage through your stash, I bet you haven't finished packing everything away after Christmas properly yet anyway. Make a Christmas card or two, and leave a comment on my post, and I'll pop along to your blog and take a look. Why not stick to the theme of blue and silver, as I have done?

Thanks for popping by xx