Summer Fairies

Hi Folks, there is now a fourth set of fairy stamps which has been recently released at Chocolate Baroque completing the seasonal collection. This one is the Summer Collection. This set is full of lovely fairy images, and some great floral images as well.
My first card uses one of the large silhouette fairies, which I have placed on an inked background, made using Distress Inks. I chose several colours which I blended across the page, and then placed a leafy stencil over the top, and used the same colours again to stipple colour through the stencil. I added some deeper colour around the edges of the background to create a frame, and then stamped the trailing ivy across the top of the page, using Paris Dusk Memento Ink. I added a border around the bottom half of the card, using a tree stamp taken from the Fantasy Woodland stamp set. The two trees are a stamp from the same stamp set. I added some shading underneath the trees using a paper mask, and Old Paper Distress Ink. I stamped the silhouette fairy, and the little butterfly, which comes from the Autumn Fairy stamp set, using Versafine Onyx Black Ink.

I added some glitter glue to the fairy and butterfly wings for a little bit of sparkle.

My second card uses a couple of the flower stamps from the collection to create a fairly clean and simple card. I cut a rectangle of smooth watercolour paper, and stamped the freesia stamp at the bottom of the card. I covered the image with a mask so that I could stamp the image again on either side of the original image.

I coloured the silhouette freesia stamp with Distress Markers, blending several colours, and stamped the background with the mask in place. I placed the mask on top of each freesia image in turn, so that I did not stamp over them. I then coloured the three freesia images with Distress Markers and a waterbrush.

I matted the picture onto a piece of dark green card, and then placed this onto a larger square of light green card, adding some orange and green ribbon to my main image. I added three Crealie butterflies to the large background. These Crealie butterflies are great, they co-ordinate to create dimensional butterflies. You can use them individually, or layer them together as I have done for my sample.

My last card was created using lots of masking again, and a hand cut stencil. It is very easy to cut your own stencils using blank stencil sheets.

I used one of the large fairies from the collection, which I stamped and masked off, before stamping poppies from the Poppy Meadow stamp set. I then masked these flowers and stamped the little silhouette flower from the same set. I love this little stamp and it is going to be a favourite from now on. That's the beauty of revisiting older stamp sets, you often discover stamps that you have never used before! I added the stencil and coloured the sun rays using Distress Inks, before inking the remaining sky with blue. I have added a shimmer spray over the top.

I have coloured the fairy and flowers with Distress Markers. The two tiny butterflies are half of a butterfly stamped twice, taken from the Spring Fairy stamp collection. I simply covered half of the stamp with masking tape before I inked it up, then removed the masking tape before I stamped it onto the page. I have decoupaged them, and added glitter glue to their wings. The sentiment is taken from the Fairyland Words clear stamp set.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love poppies, and I had great fun creating this card. I hope that it has given you a few ideas as well. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Two colourful Tags

Hi Folks, I have a couple of tags to show you today, using the stamp of the month stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque

I wanted to create a peice of artwork reflecting the fashions of the twenties, when the dresses were often beautiful ombre shades, with fringing and feathers, with lots of decorative elements. I love the elegance of these dresses, and the way that the skirts swing from the hips. So my first tag tries to reflect these style features, using a background of Distress Inks, ranging from pale green to dark blue. I have spritzed the background with a shimmer spray to give the impression of a chiffon overlay.

I stamped a portion of the background with one of the slihouette flower stamps from the Nouveau Lovebirds stamp set, and added some fringing and a large feather. I used a tiny portion of one of the flapper ladies dresses from the Fabulous Flappers stamp set, which I coloured with pencils, and encapsulated it into a Nautical Frame with Dome charm. I have stuck the dome over the image using Glossy accents. These are great little embellishments, as they slightly magnify the image.

 

My next tag was made using Gelatos on the background. I had this tag lurking in my stash from a while ago, and decided to try and make something with it. I used a Crealie mask, and some stamping with gold embossing using a stamp from the Texture Fragments stamp set over the background. I stamped the flowers taken from both of the A5 stamp sets onto self-adhesive labels , and coloured them with Copic markers, adding some leaves from the Tangled Garden stamp set. Some funky crackle gems and ribbon complete the tag.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Crafting with Dragonflies One year Anniversary

Hi Folks, it's time for another challenge over at the Crafting with Dragonflies challenge blog. It's our one year Anniversary, and so we have chosen the theme of 'Celebration' for this challenge. You can make a project for this theme celebrating anything you like, Wedding, Anniversary, Engagement, Birthday, anything that falls under the umbrella of a celebration.

I have chosen to make a card using an image from one of our sponsors Handmade Harbour. I thought that this image was so versatile with the bunting, and was really pleased to see that the words 'Good Luck' would fit onto the number of triangles in the image. So I went with a generic idea of a Good Luck card initially, and my card just developed from there.

I created a wrinkle free Distress baclground, using Antique Linen and Shaded Lilac Distress Ink, building up the layers, until I was happy with the colour. I then added some Biscotti Perfect Pearls spray for a bit of shimmer. I only covered half of my watercolour paper, and once the paper was completely dry, and ironed flat, I printed the image twice, once on the patterned area, and once on the plain area. I die cit the image from the patterned area, using a large circle die cut, and edged the shape with more Shaded Lilac Distress Ink. I coloured the second image with Coloursoft pencils. I decoupaged the image onto the circle background.

I used some of the waste background which was left over from my watercolour sheet to die cut some little banners from a Joanna Sheen die cut. The waste hearts from the die cuts were used to decorate the bottom of the card. Waste not, want not! I added some cream lace to continue the cream highlights throughout the card. Finally, I chose some Magenta card as my mat layer for the circle and background card, which is a Prima Firefly paper.

Our very generous sponsors this week are Handmade Harbour, who are offering the winner six digis as a prize:

Make it Crafty, who are offering the winner $10 to spend in their store:

and Flourish with a Bling who are offering the Winner $15 to spend in their store:

There is also a DT call on the Crafting with Dragonflies challenge Blog, so be sure to pop over and check out all of the information.

Sadly this is my last post for Crafting with Dragonflies, I am hanging up my wings. Life has taken over somewhat and I am saying goodbye to my fellow dragonflies. I will miss them after a year of working on the team with them. I would like to wish them well as they head into another year of challenges.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Fluttering By

I needed to make a Birthday card for a very dear friend recently, and my project here is the end result. I had a vague idea as I started out, and knew which main components I was going to use. They were purchases from my recent trip to Ally Pally, but I wasn't sure of the exact outcome, that's part of the fun of crafting sometimes!
I used some fairly plain background paper from my stash which was a soft golden colour, and stencilled a flower from one of Lin Brown's new stencil plates onto the background fairly randomly, using a soft pinkish acrylic paint. I then added a coral colour to the edges of the petals. I added some ferns from another one of the stencil plates, using an olive green. I added some stamping to the background, using a deep brown, but used second generation stamping, as I did not want the stamping to be too dark. I added a touch of Distress Ink around the edges of the background, using an olive green to blend with the colour palette that I was already using.

I stamped a large butterfly from IndigBlu onto watercolour paper, and coloured the image with Distress Markers and a waterbrush. I stamped the body and antennae part of the butterfly directly onto the background, which allowed me to cut the watercoloured butterfly out, omitting the fiddly antennae parts. I then attached the butterfly to the card.

 

My camera battery was flat when I needed to take a photo of this card, so I used my phone. The picture has come out fine, in fact, I think that it has probably turned out better! 

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Birds of a Feather

Hi Folks, I have a couple of bird related samples for you today using the stamp of the month stamps from Chocolate Baroque

For my first sample, I created a couple of backgrounds using Distress paints and water. I used some smooth watercolour paper, as I wanted to add lots of water to the paints to create a watery feel to the backgrounds. I have used Seedless Preserves, Crushed Olive and Antique Linen as my colour palette. On the larger background, I stamped a border using a tree stamp from the Woodland Dreams stamp set using gold embossing powder. On the smaller background I have used one of the lovely Lalique style birds, which I have coloured using Distress Markers. I simply matted the backgrounds with plum card, and added some ruffled ribbon.

One difference I noted between Distress paints and Distress Inks was that I could not bleach my central image to paint it, owing to the acrylic base of the paints. It did affect the final look of my project, however, I was still able to add sufficient colour to the image to achieve the look that I wanted.

My second project is a little altered notelet box, using Weathered Wood Crackling Medium and acrylic paint from my stash. I painted the little box using navy and and pale blue paint, applying the crackling medium in between the two layers. I used very cheap acrylic paint, so I am happy that it works very effectively. I stamped the bird onto tissue paper using silver embossing powder, and coloured it with Distress Markers. I adhered the tissue paper using Matte Medium, taking care not to wet the front of the image, as I did not want to make the coloured image run.

I used a sentiment from the Mackintosh Sentiments clear stamp set to stamp along a piece of ribbon to embellish the sides of the box, using Versamagic Ink. I added a couple of Crealie flowers to complete my project.

Thanks for stopping by, xx