Julie's Crafty Bits

Wall Hanging

2012-01-16T12:38:00.004Z

Hi blogger people. It's been a while (again) since my last post and a new year has started and still nothing has changed lol!
The wall hanging I have to show you today was made from three wooden dolls house windows. I stamped into hearty clay for the individual squares. The frame edges have been decorated with melted wax which has been poured into a border mold and the paper flowers have been inked and stamped. There was a tiny bit more to it than that but I'm sure you get the idea! Thanks for looking, see you again soon x

Make a Note....

2011-12-14T13:45:00.002Z

Hi all hope you are well and nearly ready for Christmas. This note book that I have to show today was made out of two canvas boards, which I have inked, painted and stamped within an inch of their lives. I used a crop o'dile to punch the three holes at the side and then used book rings to form the spine. You may recognise the three disks covering the punched holes as they have come from the centre of some discarded floppy disks that no longer fit in our computer!

Just finished my batch of Christmas cards which I am quite pleased about. Up until last week I had only made 15 but that has now doubled so a few more people will get a stunning Smith work of art lol!

Bye for now and thanks for looking.

2011-11-23T14:22:00.003Z

Afternoon ladies, the card I have to share today is a birthday card made using a stamp set from Inkadinkadoo. The main image has been stamped and embossed on a spellbinders die cut which I layered over a black die cut. The feather and swril from the same set has been used for the background and Distress Ink sponged around the edges.

I made this card some time ago so have forgotton the exact details as it has long been sent but thought I would post as it has been quite sometime since my last blog entry......oh hum. I wont make any excuses, but will just aim to post a bit more which is always my aim but never happens! Does anyone else feel like that, honestly meaning to do something but really never getting on top of the task?

Thanks for looking and will (hopefully) be back soon.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T11:33:00.007Z

Hello crafty bloggers. Hope you all have a happy Halloween. I made these two cards along the theme of Halloween using a set of stamps from Chocolate Baroque. Really love the set as they are not tied to Halloween and can be used anytime you need something a bit creepy. The inks used are all distress from Tim Holtz apart from the tree in the howling dog card which was some silver Brilliance. I love the howling dog as the silhouette could easily be that of our dog, Ellis, thankfully he is much more well behaved than the dog in the picture!

Butterfly Tree

2011-10-11T13:52:00.002+01:00

Hi bloggers, hope your Tuesday afternoon is going well. The card I have to share with you today is this butterfly tree birthday card that I made for one of my daughter's friends recent birthday. All the main images have been stamped using a set from Little Claire. The happy birthday sentiment is from a stamp set from Stamp Addicts and was cut out using a spellbinders die. I coloured the stamped images with promarkers and sponged some pink distress ink around the edges of the top layer and the happy birthday. Its hard to see in this picture but I have added some crystal stickles glue to parts of the tree and main butterflies which adds an extra little sparkle to the card.
Thanks for looking...........

Oriental Lady

2011-10-05T11:50:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone. The card I have to share today is a something I made for a friend as she is off to China tomorrow and it was her birthday last week. I think the lady is Japanese but I thought it was close enough and I think my friend appreciated it.....lol.
The stamps I used are all from an oriental set by Michelle Marsden and they have all been coloured with Promarkers. The red ribbon is just a strip of card coloured with the red promarker used in the main image so that it matches. The Happy Birthday sentiment was stamped onto a spell binders die cut and the coins were stamped onto gold card and then cut out with a small spellbinders circle die.
Thanks for looking and will be back soon.

Introducing Ellis

2011-10-02T16:02:00.006+01:00

Hello blogger folk. Big apologises for not posting anything crafty for nearly a month but I have a reasonable excuse this time lol! Bloggers that are not Facebook friends will not know that I am now the proud owner of a rescued collie cross called Ellis. We have had him for five weeks now and the time has gone so quick. He is a fantastic little dog but just needs some work when he is out on walks as he is not sure how to greet other dogs. He runs up to them and gives them a doggy sniff but then quickly runs away again while the other dog looks on thinking what a loon! He also loves jumping up at people if they happen to glance at him to give him a friendly smile. Ellis takes this as they want to play and doesn't think to check that this is ok with them before he goes and bounces on them......very embarrassing!

Ellis does not like his photo taken and he does not like the hoover. In this picture he is hiding at the top of the stairs away from the hoover and I go and make it worse by taking his pictures so he is not looking very happy. We can only take pictures of him while he is asleep because as soon as he sees a camera he will look or run away. Obviously not going to be a model then......

One Stroke Painting

2011-09-05T13:20:00.003+01:00

Good afternoon. I have something slightly different to show today. These two projects are my first attempts at one stroke painting. I spent the day at Brushstrokes in Wokingham yesterday and this is what I was taught. The first project we did was the picket fence painted onto the front of an A4 folder. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out, however the butterfly looks a bit surprised by something and seems to be trying to stop in mid air lol! The second project we did was the gift bag and it seems the butterfly on this is not much better, but over all I had a good day and picked up some new skills.

2011-08-30T17:06:00.003+01:00

Afternoon bloggers. The card I have to share with you today is a boys birthday card that was coloured using Promarkers. The car stamp was a freebie from a card magazine but I am afraid I can't remember which one it was :-(. The back ground has been created using a That Special Touch Mica Mask which I ran through my Cuttlebug to emboss the paper before colouring with distress ink.
Thanks for looking......

2011-08-28T17:00:00.003+01:00

Hope everyone is enjoying the bank holiday weekend. In keeping with the bad weather we have been having recently I thought I would post the last of the cards I made using the Stamp Addicts, April stamp set. To make it look like actual rain drops I dripped diamond glaze onto acetate and attached it to the card with brads. The scalloped edge around the main image has been created by stamping the little solid umbrella stamp from the set.
Thanks for looking, will be back soon......

2011-08-25T22:14:00.002+01:00

Evening folks. Haven't blogged in ages I know but I do have a reasonable excuse as it is the school holidays and we have also been organising our new family member's arrival. He is in the shape of a black and white border collie cross called Ellis that we have got from the local rescue shelter. I will post a couple of pictures later but for now I just have this anniversary card that I made a while back for a friend's 50th wedding anniversary.

Lets go fly a kite.......

2011-08-14T13:42:00.002+01:00

Good afternoon. The card I have to share with you today is again made with the April set from Stamp Addicts. I just used the kite and umbrella stamp. As you can see I have used the umbrella stamp to form the butterflies by just inking up the main umbrella part and wiping the ink from the handle and tip of the umbrella to form each wing of the butterfly. The kites have been decoupaged and both the butterflies and kites have been coloured using promarkers. The background was created by using a colour duster brush and stippling blue and white ink onto the card to form a sort of blotchy sky effect. The Thank You sentiment is from a different set but also from Stamp Addicts and has been stamped onto a spellbinders diecut. The sky background was mounted onto a scrap of card that I coloured with the green promarkers around the edges to match the rest of the card and the tail of the bottom kite has been replaced with some wire that I beaded and then attached to the reverse of the kite. To finish off I just added green and purple stickles glitter glue to the butterflies wings and to the kite.
Thanks for looking, will be back soon.

April Showers in August

2011-08-11T11:54:00.003+01:00

Hi folks. Hope it's not too wet where you are. It's raining here so thought it appropriate to post this card made with a set of stamps from Stamp Addicts titled April. The background has been created by stamping the little solid umberella stamp in a pale blue and then over stamping with a darker blue. The little girl has been stamped with black memento ink and then coloured with promarkers. A pale blue was brushed around the little girl and then the darker blue was added on top of the pale blue with a scrunched baby wipe. The topper was layered onto a piece of card that I edged with the red promarker that I used to colour the hat and wellies so that it matched exactly.The card was finished off with a little red and white gingham bow which I tried to match with the little girls ribbons by coloruring them red and then dotting a white marker pen onto them. There you have it, hope the sun comes back soon!

2011-08-06T21:30:00.002+01:00

Hello ladies. Just back from my hols so thought I had better do a quick blog post. This is another of the many 13th birthday cards I have had to make. The main stamped image along with the chalk sprays used for the background were free gifts for subscribing to Craft Stamper magazine. The Happy Birthday is from a set by Stamp Addicts and the 13 was cut using a quickutz die set. The wooden butterfly charm was covered with distress ink before being glittered using stickles glue. The same stickles was used to highlight the butterflies on the main stamped image and there you have it, another 13th birthday card.......

I found It......!

2011-07-29T22:09:00.002+01:00

I found it, I found it! What have you found I hear you ask, well it's my camera cable so that I can finally upload my photos. I tidied it away and then forgot where I put it. So it is true housework is a bad thing as you can never find anything again. At least when everything is out and covering every inch of spare surface you can put your hand on whatever you happen to be looking for! Anyway the card I have to share this evening was made for a 12 year old boy and I used the Psychedelic Grunge stamp set from Tim Holtz. I love this set especially the sun rays as I can see they would be so useful. The inks used were blue and grey versafine for the main images and then mustard seed and faded jeans distress ink was sponged over the background.

2011-07-18T10:57:00.004+01:00

Morning bloggers. The card I have for you today is for a 13th birthday. I did say the other day that it seems like all I have made is 13th and 40th cards and it really is true!

This card was made using a stamp set from Creative Expressions. All the bottles of perfume are individual stamps but I have used a mask so that I could stamp them next to each other without overlapping. The sentiment is also from the set and was stamped on a spellbinders die cut. I punched the die cut with a crop o dile and set the eyelet so that I could attach a shrink plastic version of one of the large perfume bottles using jump rings. The bottles and make up have been coloured with promarkers and the background has been sponged with distress ink. I added some clear crystal lacquer to the nail varnish to give it some extra shine. I thought the hand mirror would make a good background for the age which I cut using a Quickutz die and glued it to the mirri card that I cut the mirror from.

Thanks for looking. See you soon.

40th birthday

2011-07-16T13:12:00.003+01:00

Hi all. Today's card is another 40th birthday card. I seem to be making 40th and 13th birthday cards and nothing else at the moment!
The main image has been stamped from a set by Joanna Sheen. I love the Diva collection of stamps as they suit all occasions and are really easy to use. I stamped the party girl on a die cut circle using memento black ink before colouring with promarkers. The base card has been stamped with the accessories stamps that come in the set and has been sponged with distress ink. The circular happy birthday is from Creative Expressions and the 40 is a Quickutz die cut. The card has been finished off with a brown ribbon and there you have it, another 40th birthday card.

2011-07-15T11:18:00.002+01:00

Hello folks, today I have a 40th birthday card to share. My hubby put in a card order for an ex colleague and this is my offering. As usual nothing fancy. The flowers are stamps from Making Memories which have been stamped onto some patterned NitWith paper. ( a freebie from Home Made magazine) The sizzix die cut tag has been decorated with a Personal Impressions happy birthday stamp, fiskars decorative edge paper punch, and paper flowers which have been finished off with Craftwork Cards candi centres. The ribbon through the tag has been made from a strip of paper cut using scalloped edge scissors and the whole card has had a liberal smudging of distress ink.

Creative Expressions Calling Card Challenge

2011-07-09T14:09:00.017+01:00

Hello bloggers hope you are all well. I have decided to enter the Creative Expressions design team challenge which has been titled Calling Card. After doing a bit of research it turns out that amongst other things a "calling card" is an ATC type card that was given as part of contacting like minded people in the early 19th Century. Typical, I thought, as I have never made an ATC in my life as I must confess I couldn't see the point of them. Why would I want to make a card measuring 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches ? But after making the six for this project I am definitely converted as I really enjoyed designing them.

I started off by making the calling card case. For this I die cut 3 Labels 8 nesties. 2 from chipboard and one from black cardstock. The chip board labels were painted with Gesso and then inked with Tim Holtz Distress inks before being over stamped in Weathered Wood distress ink using the cracked paint effect stamp from Words Like Honey. The sunflower was created by using a melt pot, ultra thick embossing enamel, and yellow melt pot dye. The melted UTEE was poured into a sunflower mould and when cool was coloured with latte and gold alcohol inks and then mounted onto die cut circles before being glued to the front chip board die cut using Pinflair glue gel.

The inside of the case was made by attaching lengths of foam board around the edges of the other chipboard die and then painted with black acrylic paint. The inside is covered with black card that has been stamped with the cracked paint stamp using weathered wood distress ink. The outside of the strips has been covered with a length of brown self adhesive ribbon to hide the joins at the corners. For the hinges two lengths of black ribbon were glued to the back strip of the case. The other ends were attached to the reverse side of the front panel (lid). Once the black cardstock nestie label has been stamped with the cracked paint stamp it can be glued to the reverse side of the cover to hide the black ribbon hinges. I cut a piece of black cardstock to fit the inside of the case and stamped it with the cracked paint stamp using weathered wood distress ink.

Here you can see the calling cards fit nicely in the finished case.

The first card was made using a set of stamps from Stamp Addicts. The base card was covered with broken china and mustard seed distress inks. The gazebo was stamped using vintage photo distress ink and then a water brush was used to pull some of the colour out to colour in some of the image. The cross keys have been embossed in black. The two little birds embossed in gold. Correspondence has just been stamped using black memento along with priority. The priority stamp is from Chocolate Baroque. The card has been finished off with black soot distress ink sponged around the edges.

The second card was created by covering the base with broken china distress ink then placing the bird cage mask from That Special Touch Of onto the ATC and then spritzing sunflower glimmer mist over the top. When dry Correspondence and the birdcage and branches from Words Like Honey were stamped over the top using black memento ink. As before the edges of the card were sponged with black soot distress ink.

The butterfly and dragon fly card was created from stamps by Chocolate Baroque. Firstly the base card was spritzed with a red glimmer mist then when dry a leaf mask from creative expressions (That Special Touch of)was placed on the card and then a green glimmer mist sprayed over the top. When dry the butterfly and dragonfly was stamped onto the card using a green and orange memento ink. The detail stamp for the butterfly and dragon fly was then over stamped using black memento ink.

The clocks ATC card was made the Time set of stamps from Creative Expressions, however I must confess that I have lost the stop watch from my set so had to substitute it for a very similar stamp that I found in my stash ooops! I covered the card with a dab of colour in stone from Stamps Away and then some pumpkin dab of colour. I stamped the stopwatch in blue Versafine and then placed a mask that i had cut from a sticky note over the top of the stopwatch. I then stamped the clock background to the top half of the card using the blue vesafine and then in brown memento I stamped the sentiment. I have used Promarkers to colour in the edges of some of the clocks and gears. The card has been finished off with edging the card with ocean Dab of Colour.

These last two ATC's were sponged with stone dab of colour from Stamps Away before being stamped with Darkroom Doors playing cards. The queen of hearts has been stamped using red memento and the hearts have been glittered with red stickles. The edges have been embossed in black. The urgent stamp from Chocolate Baroque has been stamped with black memento. The Ace of spades has been stamped using black memento and then sponged a bit with black soot distress ink to create the smudges. The edges have been embossed by mixing glitter red and black embossing powders together.

So there you have it one finished project.............

Butterfly Fantasy

2011-06-25T18:13:00.002+01:00

Evening crafters. The card I have to share with you this evening is another teenager's card. It's all I seem to be making at the moment lol. The stamps used are from Inkadinkadoo and the circular background stamp is from Hero Arts. I have added a dab of crystal stickles glue and glossy accents to some of the design and the 3 butterflies at the bottom of the card have been clear embossed and mounted on the card using 3d foam. Simples....

Ooops better late than never.....!

2011-06-21T21:56:00.004+01:00

Oh dear, blog has been a bit neglected of late, must try harder....... Anyway here is the father's day card I made for my daughter to give to hubby. I think he liked it, neither Katie or myself were up when he opened it as he got up at stupid o'clock to go and watch paint dry, sorry, cricket at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. The stamped image has been coloured with the usual promarkers and distress inks.

Thank Ewe

2011-06-11T16:29:00.003+01:00

This is one of the cards that I made for Katie to send as a thank you for the birthday presents that she was given. I have never used this Papermania stamp before, so as I have had it for ages I thought I had better get some use out of it!
The card has been coloured with distress ink and promarkers and the "Thank Ewe" was added with the Xyron design runner.

2011-06-07T12:31:00.002+01:00

Hi crafty people. The quick little card I have to share today was made in 20 minutes with no mistakes so quite a miracle really. The outside edges have been stamped with Teeny Weeny Meadow stamps from Chocolate Baroque and the wheelbarrow and sentiment are from PaperMania. The flowers and grass have been coloured with Promarkers and the whole card has been sponged with sage and old paper distress ink. Card is now sealed and in the post within the hour.

Heart Hanger

2011-06-06T11:24:00.002+01:00

Good day to you all. This heart hanger that I have to share with you today was made for my daughter's recent birthday. I have had the chipboard hearts for eons and done nothing with them other than inked or painted them and then they were left discarded in my cupboard. So I decided to take pity on them and use them for what they were intended! I had already coloured this in lilac ink and paint and stamped the background swirl stamp all over it, but I then added the faux pen stitching and glued the gold and white cord around the edge. Once the glue was dry I added the beads using a beading needle and nymo thread. The letters, heart, crown and flower have all been cut on my trusty Cricut and the hanging ribbon was found buried in my ribbon box. I finished off the hanger by gluing a blank chipboard heart to the back. I have to admit that I was quite pleased with the finished product.
Thanks for looking and will be back soon.............

Gift Card Bag

2011-06-04T21:16:00.005+01:00

Evening peeps. I have something slightly different to share this evening, not a card, but a gift card holder. As part of my daughter's birthday present we gave her some gift cards which on their own are completely boring so I made this little holder to try and cheer them up a bit. I started off with two blank chipboard bag shapes which I got from Craftwork Cards and then covered them with patterned paper. I smoothed the edges with sand paper and then went over them with a silver marker pen. The flower embellishments were cut on the Cricut and a few beads added for interest. I then cut down some small envelopes and stuck them back to back to form the little card holders and then attached either side to the inside part of the "handbag"

I have to be honest and say that I completely stole this idea from Julie Hickey, when I saw her at last years Newbury show, but until now had not had the need to make one.

Thanks for looking, will be back soon with another birthday make.

13th Birthday Card

2011-06-02T20:04:00.003+01:00

Evening, the card I have to show is my daughter's birthday card. I really didn't know where to start with this. I had a pair of old jeans that have been left on the side of my craft room for ages just waiting to be used for "something creative" so I decided that time had come! I cut a small piece of the denim and attached it to some floral paper with some double sided tape. I then made the lace holes with a crop o dile and set the eyelets before adding the cord. The elements of the card have been cut on the Cricut and attached to the card using Pinflair Gel.
I have a couple more crafty bits that I made for Katie's birthday so will be back very soon.....

teen card

2011-05-24T12:23:00.003+01:00

Hello blogger peeps, can't believe where May has gone. No posts for nearly 3 weeks......oh dear standards have definitely crashed to the ground. Anyway the card I have today was made for a birthday at the beginning of May. The background was made with little individual stamps from Hero Arts. The flowers were cut using my fantastic Mother's day bouquet Cricut cartridge along with the number 14 and the birthday centrepiece was stamped using a Creative Expressions stamp set. Short and sweet, but hope to be back sooner rather than later..........

With Men in Mind......

2011-05-06T11:56:00.005+01:00

Hello blogland people, I have something a bit different to show you today. It's a gift box that I made from the Slider Template which Creative Craft Cabin sell. It comes with full instructions on how to use it and basically you can use it as a slider on a card or make it into a stand alone box, or if you want your cake and eat it, mount the box on the card lol.

I used a background stamp from the Stamp Man for the grapevine and coloured it in using Promarkers and the glass and bottle is a stamp from Stamps Happen and again coloured with Promarkers. The sentiment inside the box is from Hobby Art.

I have titled this with men in mind as I think it would make a good Father's Day idea but of course most of us are partial to a drop of grape juice so would be suitable for anyone that likes a drink or three.....

2011-05-03T14:29:00.003+01:00

Hello, hope you are all well. The card I have today is something for the fellas. My husband needed a card for a friend in his office and asked me to make something with cricket and rugby on it. After having a bit of a look in my crafty stash I found some suitable stamps. The background, rugby player and cricketer are all from the Stamp Man. They have been stamped with Memento ink and then coloured with Promarkers. I have also added some distress ink around the edges just to add interest. The rugby and football balls were just lurking in my cupboard and i have no idea where I got them from and the sentiment is from Hobby Art.

Thanks for looking and will be back soon............

Happy Anniversary

2011-05-01T14:41:00.004+01:00

Afternoon all, I knew it wouldn't last very long with a post every day but I will do my best to post more often........
Anyway the card I have today was for a friend's 50th wedding anniversary. The stamps for this card are all from Chocolate Baroque. The frame was cut using a Sizzix oval and then embossed with a plaid Cuttlebug embossing folder. I then went over the embossing with gold rub on. The 50 was cut using the Cricut and finished off with organza ribbon.

2011-04-27T21:47:00.002+01:00

Good evening reader, the card I have to show is made with all unmounted stamps from Stamp Addicts. The script stamp has to be one of my favourites as it is so versatile. I have gold embossed it onto black card, for the background to this card and the "tiles" have been created from grungeboard that has been painted with acrylic paint before being stamped with the 3 ladies. I have then overstamped the tiles with the background stamp that makes it looked like a piece of cracked crockery. I love this effect but it is so easy to do. I punched the holes before clear embossing. The butterflies have been gold embossed onto pale lilac card before being cut out and mounted using pinflair gel. The card was finished off with a few beads strung on gold cord and threaded through the tiles and wound around the flower brads that are at either side of the tiles.
There you have it, my fourth post in four days, not sure how long I can keep this up.....

Vintage Music

2011-04-26T22:18:00.002+01:00

Evening bloggers, yes I have just managed to scrape in with a 3rd post in 3 days, really unheard of, must have had too much sun.
The stamps used are all from the same unmounted music set from Stamp Addicts. The base card was stamped with the violins which I coloured with promarkers and then masked before the sheet music was stamped using a black memento ink pad and then aged with distress ink. The top panel has also been created using the masking technique but instead of stamping the sheet music in black I have used a pale blue instead. Not sure who the musical gent is meant to be as I am not into music from this era, perhaps someone could let me know.......

2011-04-25T17:52:00.003+01:00

Wow two posts in two days, I think I need a sit down! This card was made using a set of unmounted stamps from Stamp Addicts. They have now started to produce a whole host of unmounted stamp designs which I love so more expense.....oh dear!
I began by stamping the base card with the sketchy ladies face design then I stamped the main image on separate card using a memento ink pad and coloured with watercolour before I cut out using an oval Sizzix die. I left the cut card in place whilst I stamped the flower stamp around the edge of the oval using a blue memento ink pad. The panel was then then mounted onto the base card using pinflair gel and the surrounding card was cut to size before attaching to the card with double sided tape . The flowers were cut on the Cricut using the Mother's day cartridge and then glued into place using the pinflair gel. To finish off, the centres of all the flowers have been given some sparkle from stickles and there you have the finished card.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T15:56:00.002+01:00

Happy Easter everyone, hope you are all enjoying the lovely weekend. I have neglected my blog for a couple of weeks as I have been decorating the dining room and then it was the school holidays so no time for crafting!
I made this card for my mother in law using the HobbyArt stamps and thencoloured with promarkers. The eggs were from an Elusive Image set. I stamped the base egg in a pale blue and then overstamped it with the speckled egg using a brown dye ink. I had a spare 15 minutes this afternoon and that is how long this card took to make so simple pimple!

Woodland Canvas

2011-04-05T13:50:00.002+01:00

Hello, hope everyone is ok. I made this canvas at the weekend using a mixture of stamps from Chocolate Baroque and Inkadinkadoo. I started off by painting the canvas with a green acrylic paint and then toned it down with a pale pink. I stamped the images on white tissue paper with various colours of Staz on ink and then applied it to the canvas with modge podge glue. Once it was dry I lightly brushed some black and brown acrylic paint around the edges to create an aged look and there you have it, one mini canvas

90th Birthday

2011-03-31T21:16:00.002+01:00

Hello crafters, the card I have for you this evening is one I made for my Aunt who lives in Canada. I cut the 90 on the Cricut and stamped the scroll corner and the birthday sentiment before setting about stamping the wisteria using a selection of green and pink dye ink pads. The card was then mounted onto black card before being attached to the base card. Sorry the post is even shorter than usual but I am really tired and can't think of anything intelligent to write........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Relax It's Your Birthday

2011-03-21T22:58:00.004Z

This card I have to show this evening was made for a friends birthday last week. I used a Joanna Sheen stamp and coloured it with Promarkers. The sentiment stamped on the flower die and under the image are also from Joanna Sheen. The background was created by applying thin strips of masking tape to the base card and then light green ink was added using a big dusting brush. The bubbles, which you can just see in the photo were added before removing the masking tape and then mounting the design and flower sentiment. The little brown paper flowers were attached using sticky fixers and the centres were glittered with Glamour Dust.

Va va voom

2011-03-15T13:26:00.002Z

This card was made a couple of weeks ago for a friend's, sons birthday. I found the car stamp in my stash and think it was a freebie from a magazine. I coloured it with promarkers and mounted it onto black card. The backing paper was created by masking off sections with stickynotes and then stamping the car and colouring with Distress ink. The sentiment and backing paper was then mounted onto black card before being attached to the base card.
That's all folks

Foliage Design

2011-03-14T14:17:00.002Z

Hello folks, the card I have for you today was made for the current stamping course that I am doing. All the stamps used are from Elusive Images. I started this scene by making masks from torn paper for the hills and then sponging green and brown ink to make the hills. The foliage was stamped next using a selection of green and brown inks and then the tree. I thought the whole scene looked a little bland so I decided to add in the red and yellow flowers to the tree and foliage to give it a lift which I think has worked quite well.
Thanks for looking and will be back soon.

Stampbord Keyring

2011-03-10T14:02:00.003Z

This is another project from my stamping course. I wasn't sure if I would have time to do the "homework" this week but this keyring took 10 miniutes so I haven't been given a detention lol. I coloured the 21inch square stampbord with purple memento ink and then stamped the design using teal Staz on. Scratched out some high-lights and edged the piece by sanding it back with a nail file. The hole was made with a crop o dile and then the keyring was attached. Voila!

Door Hanger

2011-02-26T18:48:00.002Z

Here is the first project I have made whilst following my stamping online course. The subject this week was Resistance so this was the main technique used to create this hanger. The chipboard hanger blank was painted with gesso and then clear embossed with the Elusive Images flower design. I then painted the green tinkabilla ink all over the embossed images which created a resist so they show through the ink. I then edged the hanger with purple tinkabilla ink. The butterflies were clear embossed onto green card and then purple tinkabilla ink was painted over the entire surface. When it was dry I placed some copier paper over the images and then went over them with a hot iron. This removes the embossing to leave a smooth opaque image with no raised lines. This technique is known as faux batik. The wish sentiment was cut on the cricut and a cropodile was used to make the holes for the beading. The entire project was then sprayed with clear varnish and there you have it.

2011-02-20T20:14:00.003Z

This is the beginings of Glenda Waterworth's new company that replaces Graphicus. Hopefully Chocolate Baroque it will launch on 1st March but click on the link and go and take a look at the design team blog to find out more info.

With Sympathy

2011-02-18T16:31:00.004Z

Sadly the first card I had to make in my new craft room was a sympathy card for the family of my hubby's uncle who sadly passed away yesterday. I used all Crafty Individual stamps and did a simple design to show off the stamps.

I have just enrolled on an online stamping course so hope to have some happier projects to show very soon.

My New Craft Room

2011-02-14T14:04:00.002Z

Well it is finally done yay! It has taken ages to get all my stash back into the cupboards but it is now all complete and I am now gradually getting the house back to some sort of order as all my stash has been spread around for us all to trip over. Can't wait to actually use my lovely room now.

OMG

2011-02-07T13:54:00.003Z

The title says it all really. What a mess! This room is supposed to be my craft room and have been trying to decorate it over the past few days. It has proved to be quite a struggle as I have so much "stuff" that it is impossible to clear the room completely and get a clear run at the decorating. Everywhere we turn in our house at the moment we are either tripping over my stash or boxes from clearing my Mum's house aaaarrrrrrgh! Still, hopefully all will be well again in the next few days as I have a little man working very hard at fixing cupboards and worktops and turning my tip into a crafting oasis. Well that's the general idea anyway. Will post some pics soon to show how it turns out. Well it can't be any worse than these pics can it?

Happy Birthday

2011-02-04T13:30:00.002Z

Hi folks, not started the year as I intended with my posts. Still, hope to improve very soon as I am currently decorating my craft room so that is will be ready to be fitted out with cupboards and worktops. Hopefully the man is coming on Monday so can't wait.
I made this card a couple of weeks ago for my daughter's friend. The main image is a Wild Rose Studio stamp that I coloured with Promarkers. The backing paper was made by masking squares off and sponging ink onto the paper and then stamping with a cake, present and happy birthday stamps that I found lurking at the bottom of a draw lol. The flower and 13 were cut using the Slice and there you have it, one birthday card. Will be back to show pictures of my new craft room (fingers crossed!)

Stamp Addicts Happy Birthday

2011-01-13T16:04:00.005Z

Hi folks, I have just received my new set of stamps from Stamp Addicts and have to say they are fab. I needed a card for a friend with a birthday on Saturday so thought it was the perfect opportunity to try them out. All the images on the above card are from the Stamp Addicts sets except the Happy Birthday. A mixture of ink has been used but the ones I can remember are dusty concorde distress ink and Imperial Purple Versa Fine.
Thanks for looking

A New Baby

2011-01-11T20:33:00.003Z

Evening all. I bumped into a friend today who told me that her 5th grandchild had been born the day before and it was a girl! She was so pleased so I thought I would make her a card to celebrate. The set of stamps I used were designed by Michelle Marsden and were in the Hobby Craft sale that I picked up for £2.99! Love a bargain. I used a mix of promarkers and distress ink to colour and for speed, made sure I just used double sided tape and sticky fixers to attach everything to the card so I didn't have to wait for any glue to dry before putting it in the post.

Happy New Year

2011-01-05T22:00:00.004Z

Happy New Year all be it a few days late, lets hope I can blog more this year than last. Last year was a very difficult year for me as my Mum sadly passed away, so a fresh start for this year is very much needed. One thing I am looking forward to is my new craft room. I have arranged for cupboards and worktops to be added to the room I use to craft in and it should be ready by mid February. In the meantime I have to clear the room out, strip the wallpaper and then repaint!

The card I have for you today is just one of the cards I made to say thank you for our Christmas presents. I used a new stamp set by American Crafts, that I picked up for a bargain price of £1.99 in the Hobby Craft sale. On the base card I used green Memento ink and one of the border stamps from the set.I used a square post-it note to mitre the corners so I could get a more clean look. Mat and layered some light green and mid green card and topped the card with a flower cut with the Slice. The light green card and the cream flower have been sponged with Dusty Concorde distress ink and the flower was stamped with the Thank you stamp set using the green Memento pad. The card was finished off with four little purple flower beads that I found lurking in my stash.

Hope to be back soon, thanks for looking.

One more day to go!

2010-12-24T17:21:00.002Z

Merry Christmas, hope you all have a fabulous time.
Here are the cards that I made for my husband and daughter. I always struggle to make a card for my husband, but the Cricut came to my rescue and some old Christmas papermania papers I found in my stash were very welcome. The stamp used for my daughter's card was designed by Wild Rose Studio and coloured with Promarkers. The background was courtesy of Jak Heath's Blog

I will be spending Christmas at home with my family this year so whatever you are doing have a good one!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T16:22:00.002Z

Hi all hope you are all ready to put your feet up with a large glass of wine this Christmas, I know I am.

Here are a couple of Christmas cards that I made. The base card was coloured with red and green distress inks,then I cut some mirri card with a Spellbinders die and then embossed it with a cuttlebug embossing folder. I then rubbed a red and brown staz-on ink pad over the embossed mirri card and then mounted it onto the main card. The baubles and sentiment cards were cut using the Cricut and then stamped and coloured with distress ink. The card was then finished off with red and green ribbon and there you have it.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and best wishes for the new year.

Autumn Birthday Card

2010-12-01T12:09:00.003Z

Hi there, hope you are all well. It's my husband's birthday today so I thought I would celebrate by making a late Autumn card, however I think I should have added a bit of snow and ice as it seems Autumn has come to an abrupt end judging by the ice and snow scattered around the country.
I was really looking forward to using these new stamps which have been designed by Sheena Douglas. The leaf plate is my favourite. I loved creating the colours for the leaves. I used yellow, green and brown Glimmer Mists before stamping onto the dried sheet of paper. I then sponged on some red distress ink to finish off the autumnal leaf look. The main image was stamped using Vintage Photo distress ink, then I brushed water over the image to create a water colour look. I also added some blue and green distress ink to the design to create a bit of depth.

The sentiments were cut using a Quickutz alphabet and then a silver rub on was added to highlight the ridges in the paper. A spellbinders nesting die was used for the centre design.

Hope to be back soon with some more designs. Ta ra...........

Birthday Girl

2010-11-09T19:54:00.002Z

This flower girl stamp has been well used for all the girly birthday cards that I have had to make this year. It is a Wild Rose Studio stamp which I coloured with ProMarkers. The background has been stamped with lilac Brilliance ink, then highlighted with a white gel pen. The gel pen acts as a resist so doesn't take on the distress ink colour that I have added using a dry bristle brush.
The sentiment has been cut using a Quickutz alphabet and the hole card has been finished off with a Fiskars punch along the edge of the design which has then been threaded with ribbon. I always try and buy different widths of plain white ribbon and then dye it with Staz-On ink to match my colour scheme, which is what I have done for this card.

So there you have it - two posts in a week, oooh I have come over all faint, think I need a lay down. :-)

Belle Dame - Elusive Images

2010-11-08T12:00:00.002Z

Hello all, just thought I would show the card I made using my blog candy win from Elusive Images.
I coloured the design with Distress Ink, but instead of applying the ink with a pad I used a large dry bristle brush. I found this to be so much easier as you can build the colour more evenly than using the cut and dry foam. I masked off the lady and then stamped the chandelier so it looks like it is in the background and the stylised flower that is around the edges is also from the same stamp plate.
Really pleased that my comment was randomly picked as the stamp plate is fab. Thanks once again to Glenda and her team at Graphicus.

Bird Canvas

2010-10-11T10:02:00.004+01:00

Hello folks. The begining of another week and I am up to my eyes in decorating. I have stripped the wallpaper in our front room with the help of my husband and daughter and then it is down to me to paint and paper the room again this week. Need to get my act together as the house is upside down with the contents of the front room distributed randomly in each room.

Realised I haven't posted for a while so thought I would show this canvas. The backfround has been stamped using a waterfall big and juicy inkpad and then a couple of inkadinkadoo stamp sets have been used to create the main features of the canvas and there you have it. Just off now for more decorating .......

Rose Birthday Card

2010-09-23T11:33:00.004+01:00

Hello hope you are well. Things are a bit grey and wet here so I think summer has finally gone. Just as a little reminder for the passing season I thought I would post a cheery rose birthday card that I made for a friend. The main stamp was a do craft stamp and the background was a Tea Rose stamp from Joanna Sheen.

I now have my craft room in some sort of order so am able to find things again. You would not believe the state it had got into. Have no idea how it happened it just sort of evolved until it was impossible to find anything lol. So now there is no excuse to get creative..........

Be back soon xxx.

Happy Anniversary To Me!

2010-09-11T18:00:00.001+01:00

Today is mine and my husband's 17th wedding anniversary. We all seem to struggle over men cards and this was no exception. I started with a DL base card and created the backing paper using some light blue card to which I stamped the Hero Arts script stamp. I then stamped the stop watch and key designs (all hero arts and picked up super cheaply in our local Home Sense store)over the script and then sponged distress ink over the top. The glasses, frame and border are all from a clear stamp set from Personal Impressions and the sentiment was created using the computer. The card was finished off with little photo clips. I think my husband appreciated it......!

Hydrangea Tag Card Mk2

2010-08-30T10:11:00.002+01:00

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that my previous post was a hydrangea themed card as well. This was made with Elusive Images stamps but from a different set.
The base card has been stamped with just the top of the main image so as to just include the script. Then I stamped the main image twice using brown and then blue ink. The two images were cut into strips and then woven together. Where necessary I have trimmed the strips with a craft knife so the images fit together better. Once woven into place I mounted the design onto brown and then blue card before gluing to the base card. The small tag is from the same stamp set and has been attached using silicone glue. As you can see Distress Ink has been liberally applied to most edges and a small brown piece of ric rac has been added as a finishing touch. There you have it - hope you all have a great bank holiday, byee!

Hydrangea Tag Card

2010-08-22T12:12:00.005+01:00

Hello folks, hope you are all doing ok. This card I have for you today was made with a stamp plate from Elusive Images. The background was created using a brayer and then embossed with the silver butterfly design from the stamp set. The main hydrangea design was stamped onto acetate and then the reverse side was covered with double sided sticky plastic. Once in place I peeled the back off to reveal the sticky side and then dabbed Ranger Perfect Pearl powders to colour the image from the reverse. I then cut around the image using a sizzix tag die. The small butterflies were also stamped onto the acetate and coloured in the same manner as the hydrangea tag. The background tag was put through a cuttlebug embossing folder that had been inked with a brayer before putting the paper in. When you run it through the cuttlebug machine the ink transfers to the debossed side. I love this technique as it gives your embossing folders another use. A Martha Stewart punch was used along the decorative panel and it was stamped using the corner stamp from the same Elusive Images stamp plate. The sentiment is from the stamp plate and the card was finished off with silver ribbon and the odd dab of crystal Stickles glue.

Hope you like......until the next time, tatty bye.

Ball Boy

2010-08-13T14:32:00.004+01:00

Hi all - hope you are all managing to dodge the downpours we have been having this week - what a pain for the school holidays. Still lets get on with the blurb eh?

The footballer is from Wild Rose Studio and I think it is great for boys of all ages from little ones to ones that still like to act as though they are little! I coloured the image with Promarkers and mounted on the card with silicone glue. The background football pitch is from Joanna Sheen's Messy Rabbit cd and the sentiment was added on the computer before I printed off the football pitch. 10 today was die cut from a Quickutz alphabet and there you have it another super quick card.

Girly Card

2010-08-07T12:55:00.003+01:00

This was a quick card I had to make for my daughter as it was one of her friends birthdays. The stamp used was Wild Rose Studio and water coloured with Inktense Pencils. The paper is Dove Craft and the sentiment was Craftwork Cards. The flower was two plain cream Kaiser Craft paper flowers which I have water coloured with the Inktense Pencils and finished off with a flat back gem in the middle.
Have just got back from a very enjoyable if not tiring 4 days at Butlins, which is where my new header has come from courtesy of Bognor beach - good time was had by all - hope you are all well and will be back soon with another post.

Fuchsia

2010-08-02T07:46:00.003+01:00

This fuchsia card has been made with a set of stamps from Elusive Images. The centre image was stamped using Memento ink and coloured with Inktense pencils. The flower frame was stamped with versamark and then dabbed over with chalks. The centre of the card has been cut out and the Fuchsia mounted on the reverse of the front of the card with foam pads so it is inset slightly and then the purple frame was mounted on the front of the card with foam fixers just to add more depth. Thanks for looking - will be back soon.....

Heart Plaque

2010-07-31T12:08:00.004+01:00

I have used this technique on numerous occasions as I love the effect this Elusive Images stamps gives when it is stamped into Hearty Clay.

The base used is a plain wooden panel bought from Hobby Craft, which I have coloured using distress and alcohol inks. I then placed a stencil in opposite corners and applied sno tex paste over the top. Holes were punched using a Crop O dile and the dangley hearts are shrink plastic versions of the large heart on the plaque.

Hope you all have a good weekend. Bye for now

Under the Sea Necklace

2010-07-27T21:01:00.004+01:00

Hi - I'm really not sure where July has gone, I have just checked back and realised nothing has been published on here since the begining of July :( Well I have a few things to add now as I entered the Elusive Images Design Team Challenge but alas I was not picked. Still at least I can now publish the projects I created to apply for the team. Obviously all stamps used are Elusive Images and a mixture of inks have been used. Mainly distress inks and inktense pencils to add colour - Staz-on for the shrink plastic and a dab of cream acrylic paint to try and create the aged look to the display box.
I am disappointed I didn't get chosen for the team but not surprised, however I do wish the lucky "chosen ones" good luck and I look forward to seeing their work.

Melt Pot Creation

2010-07-02T18:52:00.004+01:00

I had a play with my Melt Pot for the first time yesterday and found I really loved it. I thought I would try something fairly basic to start with so I found a clay cutter and poured the melted utee into it to see how it would look. I made the colour by mixing clear and silver utee and adding a few drops of blue and yellow melt art dye with a bit of Melt Art Flex. The swirly pattern came about completely by accident as I found that if you poured the melted utee in a swirl action it seemed to hold the pattern once the utee was set.I managed to add a hole by using a crop o dile and the piece did not shatter as the flex stops this from happening. I just added a couple of jump rings, some cord and clasp attachments and there you have a necklace! I also had ago at pouring the melted utee into some sugar paste moulds I had lying around and was quite pleased with the outcome. Will show these another day.
Bye for now, be back soon.......

Mum

2010-06-21T09:46:00.004+01:00

Sorry, nothing crafty to share as I have been rather preoccupied over the last few weeks. Sadly Mum lost her battle with cancer and passed away on June 13th. It goes without saying that I will miss her so much. So I thought I would post these pictures of the wild flowers I walked past on my regular morning walks, in my attempt to try and get fit and also use the time to think through all that Mum and me were going through and having to deal with.
I am not very good with flower names apart from the obvious so if anyone knows what these are please let me know. I would be most grateful.
Once Mum's funeral has taken place I hope to fully immerse myself back into crafting so normal posting will at long last be resumed!

Oooh another bangle

2010-05-31T13:26:00.000+01:00

This should have been posted yesterday in the same post as my previous bangle but blogger had other ideas.......still it's here now. Not sure I like them as they are different to what I do normally, but maybe I'll give them another go when I next go and visit my local craft shop and stock up on more supplies.

Bangle

2010-05-30T14:25:00.008+01:00

I haven't posted for a while, but have a wooden bangle to show, nothing too exciting I know, but I have been doing some actual crafting the past couple of weeks. Shock horror! Yes it has been great! I decided to go for the design team call over at Elusive Images. The deadline is 15th June so I have been busy. I am glad I did as the request has kick started my non existent mojo, so even if I don't get chosen at least I can thank Glenda for helping to get my stamps and inks out again, hoo flaming hooray!
My mum is in hospital at the moment but with a bit of luck we may be able to get her back to her nursing home this week. I have shown her my design pieces and she said they were lovely so that pleased me (I know she is biased lol). So if anyone is interested in entering the challenge of being on Elusive Images Design team go along here and find out more.

Teenage Birthday

2010-05-06T12:09:00.002+01:00

Today I have a teenager's birthday card to show you as it was my daughter's, cousin's birthday yesterday. The handbag has been cut using a Sizzix die and the background was created using a Cricut embossing folder. The dotty paper was found in my stash so not sure who designed it but it could have been HOTP. The 13 was cut using a Quickutz set of dies and it has been mounted onto a flower cut from a Cuttlebug die. I'm sure you will agree it is a simple design but does the job splendidly!

Artylicious Stamp Giveaway

2010-04-24T13:23:00.004+01:00

Glenda is giving away some fab new stamps over on her Artylicious blog, this set is just one that happens to be my favourite, but go over and take a look, they are all fab

60th Birthday, Cricut Style

2010-04-16T15:37:00.002+01:00

Hi all, hope you are ok, sorry haven't posted very much lately, it has been very hard coming up with creative ideas and then putting them into action over the last four months as my Mum has been ill. This card was made for a friend's 60th birthday that was just the other day. Again, not feeling very creative so didn't like to play around with the inks, so I settled on using my Cricut and tried to be a bit creative with the Cricut Design Studio instead. I used the Jasmine Cricut Cartridge and some patterned paper that I found in my stash, but have no idea who the paper is by.
Bye for now.......

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T12:41:00.004+01:00

This is the card I made for my Mum. As she is in hospital I didn't put Happy Easter as it wont be that fantastic for Mum. We are going to visit this afternoon with some of my hubby's home made pineapple meringue pie, so hopefully that will cheer her up.

The card was made using a selection of Cricut Carts including Stretch Your Imagination and George and Basic Shapes. I hand wrote At Easter Time as time was of the essence and didn't have an appropriate stamp! The flowers have been finished off with a blob of crystal stickles and I found a shiny butterfly in my stash to add to the handle of the basket.

Mother's Day Card

2010-03-15T16:51:00.003Z

Here is the card that i made for my Mum, a bit late showing it I know but here it is never the less! The heart in the middle was created by stamping into green hearty clay. I have used this technique before with this stamp and really love the result so here it is again. The stamp used was from Elusive Images. The same stamp was used in the background on the pink paper and the rose paper is from HOTP, the sentiment was printed from the computer and the little paper roses were coloured with pink rub on to tie in with the rest of the pinkness (if that is such a term!)
Hopefully be back soon.........ttfn

Autumn Tree ......in Spring!

2010-03-12T17:16:00.002Z

I was playing around with my brayer the other day and came up with this simple card. I clear embossed the tree panel in the middle of the card, masked around the edges with masking tape and then ran the brayer over the top. The card was finished off with a piece of rafia threaded through some punched holes. I like this effect as it looks like there are three layers but there is just one.

Bring on the weekend.....yay.....hope you all have a good one.

Where did February go?

2010-03-02T12:25:00.002Z

I can't believe I didn't post for the whole of February. I have been busy with visiting my Mum and a suppose life just became a bit more hectic as I haven't crafted at all. I have only made this card because a friend of mine's son is 9 tomorrow. The base card has been stamped with an Inkadinkadoo set in a blue dye ink. Happy Birthday was stamped with some Anita's alphabet stamps, the denim background was stamped using an Elusive Images stamp and the rest was cut on the Cricut using the Jasminie cartridge. I hope it wont be so long before I post again - ho hum!

Wooden Bangle

2010-01-30T19:07:00.004Z

It's the end of January and my blog posting has been almost non existent! I will try and make up for it with this wooden bangle that I have customised. Nothing flashy as I am still experimenting, but I painted the whole bangle with a sage green acrylic paint and then stamped the design with black staz-on. The rubber stamp is from a set designed by Elusive Images. I found a black ProMarker was perfect to edge the bangle, much easier than fiddling around with a paint brush. I then added two coats of Glossy Accents to add a slight sheen and to protect the paint. I have a couple more of these to play with so I hope I can come up with something a little more adventurous for next time.

Dancing Queen

2010-01-16T16:46:00.004Z

Hello everyone, here is a card that is similar to a couple I have done before but this style comes in very handy when I need to make a card for one of my daughter's friends. She is off for a birthday party sleepover tonight and needed a card and pressie to take along. The stamps used are from a set by Inkadinkadoo. I also made a matching box to make a box of sweets and a £10.00 note look a bit more special than just a thrown together box of sweets and some cash! The letters and numbers have been cut on the Cricut machine using the Jasmine cartridge, a dab of Dusty Concode Distress ink and embossed stars and hey presto a super quick card.

Thank You Cards

2010-01-09T12:45:00.003Z

The free stamp from Craft Stamper magazine this month came in very handy to make my thank you cards for our Christmas presents. I stamped the lilac card with a script stamp from hero arts and the main swirl stamp which I think came from Galaxy stamps or something like that! I stamped the free stamp designed by Elusive Images into purple paper clay and cut around the image. When it was dry I went over the image with silver rub on to high-light the raised area. The sentiment has been printed from my computer and mounted onto a piece of silver mirri card which has had the corners rounded. To finish off I justed added some purple ink to the edges of the base card.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T10:48:00.002Z

Happy New Year everyone. I tried to add this message last night using my new mobile phone, but I managed to delete the message before I published it. It either had something to do with me still getting to grips with my new phone or having one too many glasses of wine, or maybe a bit of both!
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has left a message over the past year, I really appreciate your comments - ooh just realised my blog is one year old today as well, happy birthday blog.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-22T12:30:00.004Z

Wow we have had alot of snow! Reading ground to a halt last night and my poor husband had to walk home as there were no buses - it took him 2 hours!
Never made it to the hospital to visit my mum so we are hoping there will be some sort of bus service later today as it's way to dodgy to drive the car.
After taking the photos the other day of Katie in the snow, I decided to turn one of them into a Christmas card for my mum. Hope it helps to cheer her up as she will be in hospital over Christmas.

Christmas Snow?

2009-12-18T12:07:00.005Z

Christmas is just around the corner and the snow has arrived, are we in for a white Christmas? I took these pics this morning when my daughter, Katie dragged me out into the garden to make Frosty. First day of the Christmas holidays as well so can't be bad.
Sorry I do not have anything crafty to share with you. My Mum has not been well and is now in hospital so I have really not felt in the mood to create anything. I am afraid to say that everyone has got shop brought cards this year :(

Katie and Frosty.

The making of Frosty!

How Old?

2009-12-01T10:18:00.006Z

It's a big happy birthday for my husband today, he has reached the grand age of 50. I feel I am still in a position to poke fun at his age as I am still quite a way off this ripe old age. Dam I was trying not to use the word "old" but it just slipped in.Lol.
Back to the card - this was quite a quick card for me to make, I often agonise over men's cards, but I had the beer stamp from Personal Impressions and knew I was going to use it so the rest just followed. The ink used is Vintage photo distress ink, the background stamp is a Judikins cube from Stamp Addicts, the letters and numbers have been cut on the Cricut using the Jasmine cartridge, the tags were cut from a Sizzix die and the stripy paper is by Junkitz.

Encaustic Art Part 2

2009-11-30T12:04:00.003Z

Here are some more of my encaustic designs, I really love playing with melted wax, it creates some wonderful pictures that would take you forever to achieve if you were using paint.

Encaustic Art

2009-11-28T16:19:00.003Z

Hi everyone, hope you are having a great weekend. My mojo has well and truly upped and left so nothing new to show you as such, so I thought I would go for a bit of a change. After having a house sort out I came across some encaustic art designs that I had created a while back. For those of you that do not know, encaustic art is just coloured wax melted onto an iron and then smeared across a glossy card. The way you move the iron across the page determines the marks made on the card, cool eh? It is so easy although I am never sure how the picture is going to turn out. I just stop when I like what I see.

Hope I can get into my creative flow again soon as I need to make some Christmas cards, I may have to commit the sin of buying some! I know shocking isn't it? Bye for now, will be back soon to show some more encaustic pics.

More Inky Bits

2009-11-12T14:42:00.003Z

Hi all, hope you are ok, just thought I would squeeze a quick post in this afternoon. Have been messing around with my Whisper Dye inks. I did have the intention of brayering with them, but as I didn't know what the hell I was doing I went back to what I know and just used the ink straight from the pad, onto the glossy card, much easier........... I started with pink and then red in the middle of the card and then went around the outside with a light and then a dark green. I decided the middle of the card was too red, so I toned it down by rubbing over some yellow dye ink which seems to have worked. The swirl border has been stamped in green staz-on and the Inkadinkadoo humming bird and flower have been stamped in black Memento ink. Very simple and very quick. I really need to attack my craft room so that I can do something a bit more involved as it is such a mess, quick and easy is all I can muster at the mo!

Happy Birthday Mum

2009-11-06T15:07:00.002Z

Tomorrow is my Mum's birthday and we are all going out for a meal to celebrate, which I am really looking forward to. I made this card for her using a download courtesy of Jak Heath from Crafters Kitchen for the flower and and the card used for the swirl and letters. The rest is from my craft box. The base card has been embossed with holographic after being stamped with a Laura Ashley flower stamp with a clear embossing pad. The letters and swirl have been cut on the Cricut, the leaves are a sizzlit die which has been coloured with ink and then sprayed with a clear varnish and the scallop was punched from a Woodware hand punch. The little lilac flower that has been stamped in the background has come from my new Kanban tree stamp set and finished off with little purple flat backed gems.
Hope you all have a great weekend. See you soon.

Inky Experiment!

2009-11-03T16:08:00.002Z

Hi all, hope you are well, I was meant to be tidying my craft room, but when I unearthed some dye inks that I had completely forgotten about I couldn't resist a play. I tore a rough edge on some scrap paper and placed it against this glossy card and just swiped the dye inkpads across. I then stamped a hero arts script stamp all over the card using a beige Brilliance ink and then stamped the row of trees three times using brown Memento ink. The trees come from a brilliant clear stamp set from Kanban. I love all the images on the spring and autumn kanban stamp sets and intend to play a lot more with them. Short and sweet but hope to be back again soon.

Autumn Leaves

2009-10-23T15:18:00.002+01:00

I couldn't let Autumn pass by without making a single card to celebrate the season. My craft room is still packed full of my daughters rubbish, sorry that should have been treasured possessions from when I decorated her room. The bedroom has now been completed and Katie has moved back in but she, sorry that should have been I have the task of sorting it all out and hopefully getting rid of some of the rubbish, sorry, treasured possessions.

So with all that taken into account , I don't have access to much of my craft things or space come to that so this card is not very technical at all..... Just a glimmer misted background which has been stamped on with leaves and swirls. The right hand edges have been decorated using a Martha Stewart punch, the three main leaves were stamped onto the glimmer misted paper, cut out and then sprayed with clear varnish and the base card along with the decorative strip of paper has been coloured using orange and brown distress ink and there you have it.

I Give Up!

2009-10-19T11:22:00.004+01:00

Not me but my daughter trying to do her art homework yesterday. She was set the task of recreating a MC Escher piece of art. She had created a masterpiece last week but apparently her mean art teacher said it wasn't a patterned MC Escher piece, so she was set the task again! Katie finds drawing hard and after struggling for what seemed like ages she finally gave up and slid under the table to escape! Lol.

Sorry I haven't got any craft to share just yet as I have been decorating Katie's bedroom and it is finally finished, hoo flaming hooray, so hopefully we can get the house straight and normal service will be resumed pronto!

Flower Canvas

2009-10-10T13:21:00.007+01:00

Hi all, hope your weekend is going well. This week I have been experimenting with canvas painting. This is my second attempt as the first fell by the wayside. I am reasonabley pleased with my efforts and appart from drying time it was quite quick to do. I started off painting the canvas with a cream emulsion paint as I had it lying around in one of those little tester pots. Whilst the paint was still wet I worked in the green acrylic paint. When dry I glued the script backing paper to the canvas using a mixture of water and PVA glue. When this was dry I added the light brown acrylic paint and then created the swirls with a pearl bronze pen.

The flowers have been punched from Grunge Paper, then sprayed with glimmer mists before being over stamped using a Tim Holtz background stamp. The flowers were then assembled and glued to the canvas using silicone.

The bird is a Tim Holtz, Grunge Board die cut which I have inked using glimmer mists and various ink pads. It has then been overstamped using a Tim Holtz dotty background stamp along with a Kars swirl stamp. I then partly embossed the bird using a Cuttlebug swirl embossing folder. The bird has been glued to the canvas using silicone.

Thats all folks, bye for now.

Birthday Girl

2009-10-06T20:46:00.003+01:00

This card was made with minutes to spare. My daughter came home yesterday and said she needed a card by Tuesday (today) for her friend.....aaahhh! Didn't have time to do anything yesterday so earlier today I headed straight for my Stamp Addict's Girls stamps and trusty Cricut machine and came up with this. The green frame, sentiment, circle, flower and numbers have all been cut using George and Stretch Your Imagination cartridges. The stamped image has been coloured using Promarkers, the background has been made by dragging dusty concorde and peeled paint distress ink pads across the base card in opposite directions to each other to create a kind of wild tartan pattern. As you can see distress ink has been applied to most bits of the card. I can't seem to make a card without applying even just the smallest bit of distress ink in some way:)

Magenta Flower

2009-10-03T15:56:00.003+01:00

Hi all, the card I have for you today is made using a Magenta Rubber stamp that I have had for a couple of years. I was trawling through the box where most of my wood mounted stamps are kept, came across this and decided to give it another whirl using Pro-Markers to colour it in. This was a really speedy card to make. The base card has been stamped in green Brilliance, using a flourish stamp from Kars, then an aubergine coloured card was added before mounting the white square card that has again been stamped like the base card. The flower has been split into three layers although it could easily have been more and glued using silicone.

Chocolate Swirls

2009-09-30T10:49:00.003+01:00

Good morning. Today I have a card in chocolate brown with orange and yellow tones, sounds delicious doesn't it especially with chocolate swirls, but this folks is completely calorie free, yay!
I have used a Inkadinkadoo clear stamp set for the inch wide mountboard tiles, the swirl background is a Tim Holtz stamp and the sentiment and large flourishes have been cut on the Cricut using a Home Accent Solutions cartridge.
The tiles were spritzed with yellow and orange Glimmer mists and then the images were stamped on after they were allowed to dry using brown Versafine Ink. I then clear embossed them so they look like mini ceramic tiles. The flourishes and dream sentiment have been spritzed with gold glimmer mist and the base card has had a bit of distress ink added to it for good measure and there you have it.

More Cakes

2009-09-28T12:52:00.002+01:00

Like I said in my previous post I love these cupcakes from Creative Expressions. The centre panel cake has been triple embossed onto a piece of mountboard. I used clear embossing powder but mixed in some pink perfect pearl powder. I think it almost looks like icing, really yummy! The cakes along the edge have been painted using the Ranger Perfect Pearl powders mixed with water. The background has been created using a piece of tissue that has been dipped in the paint mixture and dabbed across the card.

Kitchen Towel!!........what?

2009-09-26T12:22:00.004+01:00

Odd title I'm sure you will agree, but if you are stuck for a background paper then it needn't cost much, just nip into the kitchen, grab yourself some preferably plain white kitchen towel and you're away. I dabbed the distress ink that I had used for the card across the kitchen towel and then sprinkled with sparkly gold embossing powder, then heated with the heat gun. If you think the towel may absorb the ink too quickly then go over it with some clear embossing ink such as Versamark. I'm sure if you experimented you could create some other fantastic effects.
The flower and the girl's dress which is a Creative Expressions stamp, has been created from a home made paper sheet as well. I swiped a grey and an orange distress inkpad across some heavyweight card and then spritzed with water so the colours merged together. When dry I stamped the image and just cut out the dress. I then cut the flower from the same sheet using a spellbinders die.

Yum yum.........

2009-09-25T16:40:00.005+01:00

I love this cup cake set of stamps from Creative Expressions, really versatile. The base card has been sponged with mustard seed and dusty concorde distress inks and the cakes and fruit have been stamped and embossed in black before being coloured with Crystal Lacquers.
The centre cake has been layered onto a label shape cut from yellow card that has been edged with dusty concorde using a spellbinder die. The main cake has been painted with H2o's. The top of the cake has been decoupaged and the sprinkles have been added with a creamy lilac crystal lacquer pen. The card has been finished off with the little yum yum circular stamp that comes from the set.
That's it for now folks, enjoy your weekend.

Tree Landscape

2009-09-23T13:51:00.004+01:00

Hope you are all ok on this rather dull Wednesday afternoon.
I created this tree card with one of Sheena Douglass' stamp sets which have been produced by creative expressions. The base card has been stamped with the little foliage stamps from the set which have been stamped using greens and browns from the Distress Ink range. The tree panel was painted with water and then a selection of Ranger Perfect Pearl powders were applied to the wet background. Once dry the tree was stamped with brown versa fine ink and then decorated with the foliage stamps which come with the set. I tried to make the ground look like the ground by swishing a brown distress ink pad across the page and there you have it - one simple tree card.

Happy Anniversary

2009-09-20T09:10:00.003+01:00

Hope your weekend is going well, we are off to the Newbury Show today so I thought I would sneak a quick post in before we go as another week has sailed by and no post to show for it.
My husband asked me to make this card for his friends who have been married for 25 years. Wow that seems such a long time, we have just celebrated being married for 16 years, 25 seems way off! This card was made with no frills as you can tell. Simple stamped background using a heart stamp from Elusive Images and silver galaxy ink. The hearts, letters and numbers have all been cut on the Cricut using George and Basic shapes cartridge and the congratulations sentiment was stamped onto plain white card and embossed with silver. 3 little flat back gems have been added for decoration. The silver mirri card on the hearts and the congratulations matt has been embossed with the swirl cuttlebug embossing folder.
I used some fab sticky backed glitter paper for the inside bit of the letters, this worked really well as there was no messy glueing for those pesky little letters.
I now only have two days left of my little temping job so hopefully normal crafting will resume real soon, but then again I do have my daughters bedroom to decorate so maybe not........!!!

Following the Orange & Yellow Theme

2009-09-12T16:48:00.002+01:00

Apologises for the lack of blogging. I thought I would pick it up when my daughter went back to school, but I am now temping for two weeks in the office where my husband works! Yay for the extra cash poo to the lack of crafting time ho hum! Anyway I have made this card following along the yellow and orange theme that seems to have taken hold. I think it can only be because I never put the card away from the last crafting session tut tut:)
The flower is made from a spellbinders die along with the leaves. The background has been stamped onto the yellow and orange card using a Tim Holtz background stamp and then put through a cuttlebug embossing folder with a similar design. The ink used comes from the Distress Range as usual and the thank you stamp is an Anita's (I think).

Retro Flowers

2009-09-06T17:33:00.003+01:00

Afternoon all. The card I have today has been made using the Retro Flower stamp plate from Elusive Images. There are some fantastic images in this set so I will definitely be dipping into these again. I have used a mixture of chalk and distress inks to stamp the vase and flowers.
I made the flower in the top left corner from three punched flowers that have been cut up and glued together. It is something similar to Maria's rose design that can be found here, but I have changed the centre. The leaves have been cut from a Quickutz die and coloured with green distress inks. That's it for now folks, short and sweet I know but we're just dashing out for some scrummy tea :)