Oriental Butterfly

Hello everyone, I'm just getting ready to go to my daughter's summer fete at her school but thought I would try and squeeze a quick post in first! The butterfly has been stamped and embossed in gold and comes from Judikins at Stamp Addicts. The small butterflies are the same but have been stamped onto black shrink plastic. The corners and lace borders are from a set by Kodomo and the threads are from my stash.

Bunny Girl!

Afternoon all and what a lovely sunny one it is too. It was my friend's, daughter's 11th birthday last weekend and I made this card for her using a Stamp Addicts New Girl Stamp. The base card is a DL which I stamped around the edge with one of the little accessory flowers that come with the girl stamp. I used peeled paint distress ink and then sponged over some lavender distress ink. I use a cuttlebug embossing folder for the embossed flower panel which was used on a pale lilac cardstock. I sponged over some lavender distress ink to highlight the embossing. I attached two strips of purple gingham ribbon to the panel before attaching to the base card. The Happy Birthday is cut using a Quickutz font.
The cross-legged girl is stamped with black pigment ink and then embossed with black. I have coloured her with pro markers. I like these markers for their brilliant coverage but I really have no idea how to use them properly! The bunny is from the same set as the girl. I stamped it separately, cut it out and stuck it to the picture so that it looks like the girl is stroking her pet. The grass is a stamp that comes in a Scene It set (the church one)designed by Sheena Douglass and I have stamped it using peeled paint distress and then brushed water over the top. The flowers around the girls head have been stamped with an old Whispers flower and vase stamp I had lying around. I just inked up the flower bit with the lavender distress ink and brushed water over it to give a softer finish. I finished off with a touch of diamond stickles.

Thank You

Here are some of the cards I made for my daughter to give out as her thank you cards for all of the lovely birthday presents she received. I made a bulk lot of the two cards above to give to most people. It was a simple design using Hero Arts flourishes a woodware daisy stamp and a dab from a pearl pen. It was stamped using Distress inks.

This dancer card (stamped using Inkadinkadoo stamp set, Hero Arts Flourishes and Whispers square shadow stamp)was made to give to her dance school as they kindly gave Katie a present and it is also where we had her party. The dancer and Thank you sentiment has been stamped onto pre-cut mount board which I coloured with paint dabbers in pink and then light green. (sorry forget the official name of the colours) I punched a hole in the mount board that has the dancer stamped onto it. A jump ring was attached with a couple of head pins which I had threaded with beads. The squares have then been mounted onto silver mirri card. The base card was stamped with the small square shadow stamp using dusty concorde distress ink. Over the top of that I then stamped some more Hero Arts Flourishes with the dusty concorde ink.

Graphicus June Challenge

This is my entry into the Graphicus June Challenge. The theme is exotic and the colours hot pink and orange. All of the stamps used are from Elusive Images. I thought through a few ideas before coming up with this necklace and gift box. Even then the beads of the necklace were a bit of an experiment with different inks as I don't really use shrink plastic that the beads are made from. I started by colouring a sheet of clear shrink with an orange sunset alcohol ink. Then stamping onto the reverse side with the daisy stamp using fuchsia pink Staz-on. For the pink beads I covered the shrink in the pink staz-on watered down with alcohol blending solution before stamping on the reverse with the pink staz on. The centre bead that the paisly mandala stamp has been attached to was stamped in black staz on and the paisley medallion has been stamped onto orange alcohol inked shrink, using pink staz-on, on the reverse. Before shrinking I made holes in the plastic with a crop-o-dile so that jump rings could be attached. The necklace has been finished off with a bar and ring fastener.
The box was made from card measuring 21cm by 18cm and I used a box maker to get the dimensions right. The lid of the box has been sponged with Tim Holtz marmalade distress ink, then stamped with a smaller paisley design using the pink staz-on and then over the top of that I have dragged the edge of the marmalade distress ink pad to make the line effect. The centre of the box has been decorated with the Paisley mandala that was used as the focal point for the necklace. I have painted the layers of the mandala using inktense pencils and then sponged over worn lipstick distress ink to the pink areas and marmalade distress ink to the orange areas. Peeled paint distress ink was used on the leaves. I finished off the mandala with dots of diamond stickles and mounted the whole thing on the box lid with silicone glue.

The box in-lay was made from a piece of card measuring 21cm by 18cm and scored like the box base but I added an extra score line so that a shallower box could be made as I folded it around the back making a sort of lip so that it rested in the base easily. I made cut outs for the necklace to thread through. The in-lay was then sponged with marmalade distress ink and then dabbed with the worn lipstick. Both the box and in-lay were decorated before being glued.

Beaded Stencil Design

I came across this card that I made sometime ago but thought it was worth a look. Looking back at previous posts I have used this stencil before with snow tex paste but this time I have added embossing powder to the paste and then dried with a heat gun. The embossed panel has been glued to a square of white felt which I have stitched around each side to attach a cople of rows of beading. The corners of the card are made in the same way as the main panel but just using part of the stencil. The background of the card has been created by placing the stencil on the card and then dabbing with red a pale blue dye ink with a small sponge dauber. (The same ink was sponged onto the square panel before applying the snow tex paste and embossing powder.)Before attaching the beaded panel to the card I have glued on some sequin ribbon. Once the panel was put in place I finished the corners off with a clear, flat backed gem.

Isle of Wight Weekend

I usually use this blog just to show my crafty bits but I wanted to show some pictures of our fabulous weekend we spent on the Isle of Wight. The weather was fantastic unlike today and we managed to cram a weeks worth of holiday into the space of four days! These penguins were snapped at Flamingo World. It's really worth visiting if you're into animals especially wild fowl.

These yachts were taken at the Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival. The festival was held over 3 days from 29th to 31st May and it was great fun. I think the lovely sunny weather made it even better.

Dare To Dream

Good morning all. This is a 12.5cm square card and the stamp used is from a grab bag bought sometime ago from Wendy Stenton. I stamped the girl onto acetate using black staz-on. I then stuck this onto the front of a clear, double sided, sticky sheet. I peeled the reverse side from the back of the sticky sheet and coloured the image by dabbing Ranger Perfect Pearl Powder onto the sticky plastic. I cut away the bit between the girl's face and the outer edge of the circular frame of the stamp design and mounted it onto mirri card and then stuck this to the centre of the card. I cut some glitter board to fit the front of the card and then a circle from the middle to make a frame for the stamped image. Before fixing the glitter frame to the card with sticky fixers I went around the edge of the circle with paper leaves that a friend had given me after one of her trips to Hong Kong. The card has been finished off by the Dare to Dream sentiment being stamped using black staz-on, onto mirri card and then attached to the glitter board with little silver star brads which have been dabbed with black staz-on ink. The sentiment came out of the same grab bag as the main stamp.

Chrysanthemum

I made this card some time ago but thought it was quite a sunny card to go with the lovely weather we have been having. It is made with a cube stamp I bought at a show a few years ago and it is by a dutch company called Sirius Hobby. I think the flower I have used is a Chrysanthemum. The stamp didn't come with any details so I am using my miniscule flower knowledge! I stamped the centre flower with black staz-on and then watercoloured. The centre card has then been layered onto black card and then yellow. To make the frame I sectioned off parts of the card with post it notes and stamped the flower again using staz-on. Whilst the post-it notes were still in place I sponged the colour with a cosmetic sponge, using dye based inks.

I Won!

Wow I have just found out that I have won some wonderful
blog candy from Maria over on Create, imagine, Inspire. Why
don't you go and have a look at her blog as she has a fab flower tutorial for you to try.

Happy Birthday Katie

Today my daughter Katie is 11 and we are just sorting out the final bits for her Mamma Mia dance party this afternoon. Just thought I would show you the diamond fold card I made for her birthday. It gets more difficult each year to come up with a different type of design but I thought this fitted the bill quite well (I got the idea from watching a recent C&C pick of the day). Not expensive to make as there are no templates needed, no measuring and only 4 A4 pieces of card to make it. (plus paper for decorating) I am not going into how I made the card as I am not that good at writing the instructions but if anyone does want to know please email me and I will do my best to explain. The stamp design comes from a set by Stamp Addicts. The buttons are papermania and the flowers are papermania and Kaiser Craft. The little girl and the dog have been coloured with Pro Markers and the tiara was dotted with dries clear glue and then sprinkled with holographic glamour dust. The letters have been cut from a Quickutz alphabet and glittered with diamond Stickles but I have forgotten the name of the alphabet! The backing paper used is Papermania and the scallop frame was cut on the Cricut using Strectch your Imagination cart.

Mermaid

Hello! I can't believe it's two weeks since my last post. May has just flown for me. It has been extra busy with my daughter doing her SAT's so we can all breath a sigh of relief they are over and it is her birthday tomorrow so we have been busy sorting that out. It also happened to be my Mother-in-laws 80th birthday last week but she spent it in hospital. We took her out for a lovely meal two days before the big day, however on the way out of the restaurant she decided she wanted to get to the car a bit quicker than the rest of us, so she launched herself down the step and broke her hip!
Anyway here is a quick card for you. I don't know who the rubber stamp is by as I got it sometime ago in a grab bag at a show I went to. As far as I can remember it was on Wendy Stenton's stand and that's it. The mermaid has been stamped onto velum using blue Staz-on and coloured on the back with felt pens. I tore the velum and coloured the edges with the Staz on. The background has been coloured with alcohol inks. I have attached a velum panel to the right of the card which has been stamped with a hampton art swirl stamp using green and blue brilliance ink. The shells have been glazed with glitter glue and the card has been finished off with a few strands of white fibres which have been threaded with beads.

First Attempt with Grunge Paper

Good evening folks, I have been experimenting with Grunge Paper and Grunge Board for the past few days and have found I really love it. For those that don't know it is like no other card or paper. It almost smells like leather and with some distress ink, glimmer mists and cuttlebug embossing boards applied to it, it looks quite like leather as well! This card started off as just 4 bits of grunge paper stitched together and sort of evolved. The flowers and fern leaf are from the Tim Holtz Nature Grunge Board range and have been coloured with brick red and marmalade distress ink then tied with a piece of rafia. The rafia has also been wrapped around the panel after it had been dabbed with aged mahoganey distress ink The larger flowers at the corners of the panel have been cut from the Grunge Paper on my Cricut using the George Cartridge and then coloured with distress inks as before. All of the flowers have been decorated with candy cane stickles. The grunge paper panel has then been placed onto card that has been sprayed with a light green glimmer mist (forgotten the name again) and a gold glimmer mist. It has then been overstamped with fern stamps from a set by Royal Langnickel using distress inks in aged mahoganey, mustard seed and gamma green brilliance ink. I am not overly pleased with the card as it is a bit busy but I am pleased with the grunge paper as you can stitch it and it doesnt tear at all.