Springtime Wreath

Hello everyone, I have a floral project to share with you today, using some of the stamps from last month's TV shows on Hochanda.

I have created a wreath with a touch of Spring, by choosing pastel colours for the flowers. I created the project by first drawing a circle on a piece of card, and then stamped the blossom image from the Tranquility stamp set around the circle. I masked the images as I went along, and stamped an image from the Wisteria Lane stamp set, using first and second generation stamping.

I coloured the flowers and stems with Koh-i-Noor pencils, lengthening the branches to create a continuous wreath. I added a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set, and finally added some inking around the edge of the background, using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I chose a coordinating dark green card to mat the background onto before adhering it to a large card blank.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Stamping on Fabric

Hello everyone, I have some projects to share with you today incorporating fabric. I really like to add some texture into my projects whenever I can, as it adds a bit of interest and makes the project look and feel quite expensive, for very little cost. I demoed these three projects on last month's TV shows on Hochanda, and I hope that you managed to watch Lesley and I in action.

To create the first card, I cut some small pieces of cotton fabric, and put some Distress Ink onto a craft mat, which I spritzed with water. I chose relatively earthy colours, Fossilized Amber, Ripe Persimmon and Shabby Shutters. The colours are quite muted, and you could go for much bolder colours if you like, it depends on what sort of look you want, I just wanted a subtle backgrop for the stamps on this occasion. I patted the fabric into the ink, moving it around to blot up the ink. I added more ink and water if necessary to get a good coverage of the fabric, but was happy to leave some areas uncoloured. I left the pieces of fabric to dry by themselves, so that the colour did not fade too much, drying the fabric with a heat gun would cause the colour to be much lighter in the end.

I frayed the edges of each piece of fabric, and stamped a silhouette image from one of the stamp sets: Tranquility, Serenity, Wisteria Lane or Eastern Grasses, and added a sentiment as well. I chose words from Artistic Affirmations, Amazing Mackintosh Words, and Words to Dazzle and Sparkle. I used Archival black ink to stamp all of the images onto the fabric, leaving the stamp on the fabric slightly longer than I would on card or paper, to allow the ink to grab onto the fabric. You do not need to press any harder.

I attached the fabric pieces to a piece of black card before matting them onto a card blank. A little button with paper string tied through was a finishing touch to each card.

For my next card, I created a paint swatch effect by masking sections of a piece of cartridge paper, and inking three toning colours of  Distress Ink. I chose Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean and Shaded Lilac. I stamped the silhouette image from the Eastern Grasses stamp set onto the piece of card. I matted the panel onto black card before adding the panel to a piece of linen card.

I coloured a piece of cream ribbon with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and stamped it with Archival Ink as before, using a sentiment from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set. I attached the ribbon to the background and then placed the background on a square card blank. I like to colour my ribbons to match projects, it is so quick and easy, check back to this project for another example.

For my final project, I used a Crafty Individuals tag, and stamped the main image from the Tranquility stamp set across the bottom of the tag. I coloured the image with pencils. I added the wisteria image using water based markers across the top, using first and second generation stamping for a fuller effect. The ribbon was made in exactly the same way as before, picking up colour from the craft mat, and then once dry, stamping with Archival Ink. I used a word from the Serenity stamp plate.

 

I hope that my projects will inspire you to try some stamping on fabric, I will be back later in the month with more projects to share. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Affirmation Journal

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all enjoying your Easter break. If you are in the UK, then like me, you are probably wishing that you were somewhere a little bit warmer! However, there is always something to be positive about, and that is what I hope my project will help you to discover.

I have made a little journal full of individual cards with positive and motivational phrases. You could make this project for yourself, or to give to a friend, who is struggling with their creativity at the moment. I have covered some pieces of white card with an injection of bright colour, and left the backs either blank, or covered them with plain paper to write your own thoughts. You could add extra stamping if you wish.

I started my project by blending two colours of Distress Oxide Ink over the pieces of white card, and spritzing them with water. I blotted the cards with kitchen towel so that the background had a lovely splattered effect.

 I added a border or background to the cards by selecting some of the stamps from either the Artistic Affirmations, Wisteria Lane, Serenity, or Tranquility stamp sets. I chose a phrase from the Artistic Affirmations stamp set, and added this to each card using black ink, then I added some white highlights to the words to make them pop.

I created some pages to contain the cards by cutting some A4 sheets of black card in half. I then scored these sheets at the 10cms point, and then took half a centimetre away, leaving a 9.5cms flap. I trimmed this flap down to 7cms high and stuck down the side and bottom edges with very thin double sided tape, to create a pocket. I stuck two pages back to back, and then punched two holes a third of the way along from the top and the bottom.

The outside covers were made just a fraction bigger than the actual pages, with black card, and then I coloured the slightly smaller pieces of white card in exactly the same way as I made the little journal cards. I used two book rings to attach everything together, which allows me to add more pages whenever I want to make some more.

I really enjoyed making this project, and hope that you caught my demo on last month's TV show when I made a couple of the cards.

Thanks for stopping by, xx