Caught in Crystal Technique

Hello everyone, I have a couple of projects to share with you today incorporating the 'Caught in Crystal' technique and using some of the lovely silhouette flowers from both the Silhouette Grasses stamp set and the individual Baroque Meadow stamp.

I created a large piece of caught in crystal background, by dropping Crystal Laquer all over a large piece of acetate, and then dropping Distress re-inkers in Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold and Picked Raspberry over the acetate in between the Crystal Lacquer. Using my fingers, (I wore disposable gloves!), I smooshed the mixture around on the acetate, until I was happy with the coverage, trying to leave a few gaps of the acetate uncovered. I sprinkled some fine glitter over the acetate, and then pressed some  tissue paper over the top that I had scrunched up and then smoothed out again reasonably well. I added a little bit more Crystal Lacquer over the top, and then added a piece of plain card as the final layer, using a brayer to ensure that everything was stuck down properly.

Once the glue was dry, I stamped the Baroque Meadow image, adding the three little silhouette butterflies, using Stazon Jet Black ink. I trimmed the piece of background to size, and matted it onto black card.

I found a larger piece of wrinkle free distress background in my stash of left over backgrounds, which was a lovely bright orange, (I had used Ripe Persimmon originally to create the background), and simply added some Picked Rasberry Distress Ink around the edges so that it toned in with the caught in crystal panel. I added a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set, and adhered the background to a large black card blank.

I had a piece of the crystal background left over, and die cut an oval piece from what was left. I stamped an individual flower and one of the little butterflies onto the oval, before matting it onto black card as before. I created a background using various orange and yellow Pan Pastels, adding pink and purple around the edges. I then added some foliage using Versamark, and  orange and purple tones of Pan Pastels over the top. Finally, I added a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set.

I hope that you will try this technique out for yourselves, there are lots of You Tube tutorials, and you do not need to use an expensive glue to make the project; I just used what I had to hand. You can even use various types of floor polish, just Google 'Caught in Crystal' to find out more.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Flowers Galore

Hello everyone, over on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team, we are sharing a bumper monthly post of our Fifteen Minute projects; cards and tags made in fifteen minutes or less. We aim to show how lots of the fabulous stamps from Chocolate Baroque can be used quickly to create brilliant projects, but without spending all day to achieve great results. Sometimes, our Design Team samples can look too complicated or someone may think 'I can't make that, I'm not experienced enough', so by creating clean and simple cards, or cards that are less complicated, we are showing that you can make cards that are achievable. These cards are great for batch cards, like Christmas cards, or Wedding invitations, or maybe to use at craft fairs, or for fundraising events. There is not a limit on the number of cards that you can make with the stamps, as long as you hand stamp each item.

I rummaged through my box of backgrounds, I always save left over pieces of card that I have from previous projects, and found a piece of watercolour card, that I had coloured with orange and pink Distress Ink, plus lots of water. I trimmed the card to size, and stamped the main image from the Baroque Meadow stamp set, adding the three little butterflies, using Versafine Onyx Black Ink. I then stamped a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set. I matted the background onto a piece of black card. This was such a quick and easy card, and by changing the background colours, you have endless possibilities.

Over on Hochanda today, Lesley is showcasing lots of our Spring stamp sets. The Design Team have made some absolutely stunning designs to support the TV shows, and I do hope that you get a chance to watch the shows. If you keep a keen eye out, you will see some of my designs on the show, and I will be sharing some of them in later blog posts. A couple of my cards are remakes of older designs that I made when some of the stamps came out originally, as I loved making these designs so much. I have used the Spring Birds Multibuy stamp set for both cards.

The first card has been revamped slightly, because I used a background stamp from the Silhouette Grasses stamp set, not available when I first made the card, of course. I stamped the little flower several times, onto a smooth piece of watercolour card, masking it as I went along. I then stamped the foliage from Silhouette Grasses using Seedless Preserves and Shaded Lilac Distress Markers in first and second generation stamping. I added a couple of butterflies to the little scene. I removed the masks and coloured the flowers with the same colour markers and a water brush. I also coloured the butterflies with Distress Markers.

I cut an aperture from an 8" x 8" kraft card blank, and added a border od stamping around the edge using one of the little images that often get ignored on the stamp plates. I used Versamark and white embossing powder.

Originally, I had used an orange background for this card, and Distress Markers to colour the flowers. I decided to opt for a more yellowy background, as it felt more Spring-like. I coloured the seam binding as before, using the wet ribbon to dab onto the watercolour paper, creating the background.  It creates a lovely random pattern. (I used Fossilized Amber Distress Ink this time as my chosen colour). I dried both the ribbon and the background with a heat gun. I stamped a border across the top and bottom of the background, using one of the small elements and Versafine Onyx Black Ink. I used a faint pencil line as a guide, which I rubbed out afterwards.

I stamped and embossed two strips of border onto some yellow vellum using one of the small images on the stamp plate, using Versamark and white embossing powder. I trimmed around the outer edge of both strips. I stamped both tulip images onto a spare piece of card, and coloured them with Polychromos pencils, before cutting them out and adhering them to the background. I matted the background to a piece of black card, and then added the seam binding. I attached the two strips of vellum at the top and bottom of the panel and then adhered the panel to a large kraft card blank. Finally, I added a sentiment from the stamp set.

I had a lot of fun making these cards again, like visiting old friends, but with a bt of an update. I hope you don't mind the revisit, and will enjoy the new projects to come.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Tando Tag

Hello everyone, I would like to share a project which featured on the recent One Day Special shows on Hochanda.

I have used a large Tando Greyboard Tag, which I covered with a piece of watercolour paper, that I had coloured myself, using Distress Inks, left over from a previous project. I stamped the background with a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set, using Black Archival Ink. I then used a couple of images from the Silhouette Grasses stamp set, to build up a collaged effect, using a combination of Olive and Siena Archival Ink. I added some Fossilzed Amber Distress Ink around the edges of the tag.

I then coloured three pieces of 2" x 2" Tando Twinchies with Yellow, Orange, and Lime Green Brushos, and added three layers of clear Ultra Thick Embossing powder. I stamped into the last layer each time while it was still soft, using some of the foliage images, and then brushed a small amount of gold mica powder over the top. I attached the Twinchie pieces to the tag, and added a piece of co-ordinating ribbon to the tag.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Birthday Card for my FIL

Hello everyone, I'm back again with a masculine Birthday card to share with you. It's my Father-in-Law's Birthday today, and I needed to make him a card. I had these stamps out on my craft table, and decided to use them for his card. The card did not take all that long to make, as I had a design in mind, and so I managed to complete the card in about half an hour.

I cut a piece of smooth watercolour card 11cms x 11cms, and stamped the image using Potting Shed Archival Ink. I coloured the image using watercolour pencils, and then added the sentiment, also using Archival Ink. I edged the panel with Fossilized Amber Distress Ink.

I cut a larger piece of kraft card, a little bit smaller than my card blank, and randomly stamped the two fern stamps over the background, using Olive and Library Green Archival Ink. I matted both panels onto dark brown card.

Unlike both of my previous cards, I have gone for a much simpler design, showing that you can make a very stylish design in a short space of time. The earthy colours make this card ideal for a masculine Birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Song of the Kingfisher

Hello everyone, goodness my second post in two days! I hope that you managed to catch Lesley's fabulous One Day Special Shows on Hochanda on 31st January/1st February.  She shared some wonderful techniques with the latest stamps from Chocolate Baroque, the stamps are exclusive to Hochanda for ten days, but after that, you will be able to order them from Chocolate Baroque as usual.

I have a couple of cards to show you today that were featured on the TV shows, which utilise several of the new stamp sets. I love to mix and match stamp sets, and so having lots of new stamp sets to work with all at once was just perfect for me.

For my first card, I created a gelli plate background, using Salty Ocean and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, and used the bubbles stamp to stamp directly onto the gelli plate before I took a print from the plate. This created a cloudy effect on the background. I then stamped a couple of the kingfishers onto the card, and masked them. TIP: To be able to use the bottom left kingfisher, I needed to mask off part of the stamp image before inking it up, as it belongs to a larger scenic image. I simply used masking tape, inked the bird, and removed the masking tape before I stamped the image onto the background.

I added branches and foliage, using various colours of Archival ink, and then used the bubbles stamp once again to create foliage for the branches. I coloured the birds with watercolour pens and a water brush. I edged the panel with teal coloured ink. I stamped a greeting onto some sage green seam binding ribbon, using Archival Ink, and then adhered the ribbon across the bottom of the scene, before attaching the panel to my card.

To create my second card, I stamped the large Kingfisher onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, and masked the image, before stamping the large branch a couple of times. I added Orange, Sea Green, Emerald Green and Turquoise Brusho powder, and spritzed them with water, blotting off the excess liquid with a spare piece of card. (I saved this piece of card for another project). Once the background was completely dry, I stamped the small leafy sprig using three different colour greens, and I used first and second generation stamping to give a feeling of depth to the foliage.

I removed the mask from the Kingfisher, and coloured the image with watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment, and edged the panel with teal coloured ink, before matting the panel onto a deep green card.

Please do keep visiting the Design Team blog each day for more beautiful designs from my team mates. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Dreamy Butterfly

Hello everyone, I have a project to share that is featuring over on the Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog today.

I have created a panel using a heavy duty greyboard panel, covered with script paper. I then covered this with a light coat of watered down gesso, and chose two pretty stencils to add more detail to my background. I used Bundled Sage Distress Ink for the harlequin stencil, and both Victorian Velvet and Festive Berries to colour the floral stencil, adding a touch of red pencil to the flower tips. I edged the panel with Peeled Paint Distress Ink.
I added a lovely sentiment from the See Beauty clear stamp set, and my favourite big butterfly from the Patchwork Butterfly stamp set. I coloured the image using Zig Clean Colour markers and a water brush.

Thanks for stopping by, xx