Anniversary leaves

Gosh, I can almost hear the echoes here in my poor neglected blog! I've not done as much crafting recently and I've also managed to make several things without photographing them before sending them on their merry way.

Here's a clean and simple anniversary card that I did remember to photograph! Unusually for me there's almost no stamping (just the sentiment) with die cuts providing the focal element.

I've had this ginko leaf die for ages and have kept failing to use it. It's such a pretty die though that I'm sure it will get used again now that I've broken the duck.

I used some green metallic rub-on to highlight the embossed "veining" on the leaves - hard to see so I've added a detail shot that might show it up better. It's a subtle detail but gives a pretty shimmer.

The dots are "waste" circles from various tag dies, domed out with an embossing stylus so they're like matt versions of enamel dots.

Supplies:
Ginko leaf die by Impression Obsession
"waste" circles from various tag dies
Cressida stencil by Memory Box
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass and Shabby Shutters)
Versafine ink by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Sentiment from Putting on the Ritz set by Waltingmouse Stamps (retired)
Gilding Wax by Creative Expressions (Spring Green)
Corner Chomper
Pinflair glue gel

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday bubbles

I haven't used this bubble border in a while and as I started to make this card it made me think that stampers may have been ahead of the wave - this is definitely something that's relaxing to colour in and most stampers were doing that long before the popularity of "adult" colouring books!

This is very simple - just stamped on white and coloured with blue/green Copics with the corner cut off along the line of the wave and mounted on a black card base. I did add some clear Wink of Stella over some of the bubbles for a touch of glitz.

I chose the sentiment stamp as I think the crisp, straight lines of the font are a great complement to the fluid lines of the border image.

Although I made this for a female friend's birthday, I think you could easily use this sort of design for a masculine card, too.

Stamps:
Bubble Border by Lost Coast Designs
Sentiment from Big Day Today by Waltzingmouse Stamps (retired, although worth keeping an eye on Gina K for re-releases these days!)


Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Paper: smooth white and black

Other:
Copic markers
Wink of Stella pen (clear)

Thanks for stopping by!

Pretty Peony

My usual fallback position for a feminine card when I'm feeling at a loss for inspiration is a big flower! Sadly this peony seems to have fallen off the catalogue at Paperbabe but there are others around that would make an equally bold and pretty statement.

I stamped the image twice, once in grey for the leaf layer and again in pink for the flower, coloured them separately, cut the flower out and stuck it on with glue gel for a bit of dimension. I used a combination of Copic base layer colouring and pencil detailing with gold gel pen and fineline marker in the centre.

The card base had a central square masked off and sponged, with just a tiny bit of subtle stenciling up the right hand side for interest. A simple sentiment and a few iridescent sequins finish it off.


Stamps: 
Peony and Bud by Paperbabe Stamps (retired, I think)
Say It All by Hero Arts

Paper: Smooth white

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Picked  Raspberry and Tumbled Glass)

Shadow ink by Hero Arts (Soft Granite)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Cressida Stencil by Memory Box
Copic Markers
Gold gel pen
Fineline marker
Coloursoft and Prismacolor pencils
Pinflair glue gel
Sequins

Thanks for stopping by!

Glorious gardens

I've just managed to sneak in under the wire for this month's postcard swap on UKStampers where Jilly set the theme flowers/gardens.

We have a couple of patches of glorious poppies in our front garden which inspired my choice of stamp. They're just past their best now but we've had a couple of days where the sun has shone through the petals and really set them ablaze.

Things got a bit out of hand with my first attempt but I'd spent time colouring the poppy and liked the way it came out so I cut it out and used it, even though my original intention was to do my usual one layer job.

I found a masterboard sheet of A4 (using resist techniques) while looking for something else so I decided to use that as a base and go mixed media style. I added the stamped poppy, some rub ons, a bit of stencilling and some charcoal pencil.

I made the masterboard long enough ago that my list of supplies might involve a bit of guesswork this time but here it is in case anyone's interested in any of the elements.

Stamps:
Poppycock by Indigo Blu
Numbers border by Kaisercraft

Paper: Smooth white 

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Barn Door, Mowed Lawn)
Versamark
Brilliance By Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
White Posca pen 
Fineline marker
Charcoal pencil
Sequin Waste stencil by Tando Creative
White embossing powder
Gesso
Microglaze by Judikins
Dylusions (Fresh Lime, Vibrant Turquoise)
Rubons by Tim Holtz (Apothecary and Words) 
Brick stencil by Dutch Doobadoo


Thanks for stopping by - if you're in the UK, please remember to be especially kind to each other (actually, that applies wherever you are - kindness costs nothing - but it seems particularly important that the UK should remember it at the moment).

Masculine Mechanical

Father's Day seems to be the same date on both sides of the Atlantic (unlike Mother's Day) so I'm guessing quite a few of us were making masculine cards last week!

 I was reminded by Sabrina's sample for the "Make It Masculine" challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers on Thursday that I haven't played with foil tape in an age so that's what I did for my dad's card.

I stuck die cut lettering and dry wall tape to a rectangular base and covered in a patchwork of foil tape pieces. I burnished it all with a paper stump to stretch the tape over the textured bits and added more surface texture with a ball point pen (for "rivets"), a stylus and a pin for fine scratches in one area. The whole lot then got a coat of black acrylic paint that was wiped back when almost dry. I added a tiny hint of colour with some Teal gilding wax on the lettering.

Perhaps because of all the texture on the foil panel, the cogs looked a bit "flat" stamped on the card base so I used a fine line marker and did some crosshatch shading on the cogs themselves and used a charcoal pencil and lots of smudging to shade around them.

Stamp: Mechanics by Indigo Blu
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black
Other:
Font One dies by Spellbinder
Dry wall tape
Foil tape
Black acrylic paint
Fineline marker
Charcoal pencil
Creative Expressions gilding wax (Teal)

Thanks for stopping by!

Simple butterfly

I think a card for airmailing needs to be light and flat (unless you want to get into sending it as a parcel!) so this is a one layer card. The recipient teaches maths so I went for a numbers border to tie in with that, stamped with grey ink over a masked butterfly.

As I wanted to use Copic colouring I added a sheet of paper stuck inside the front the card to disguise any bleed-through but still keep the one-layer aesthetic.

A charcoal pencil shadow adds a bit of depth to help the image pop off the surface and there's a wee bit of shimmer on the butterfly's spots courtesy of a Wink of Stella pen.

Stamps:
Antique Engravings and Say It All by Hero Arts
Numbers Border by Kaisercraft

Paper: Smooth white

Ink:
Brilliance Graphite Black by Tsukineko
Soft Granite by Hero Arts

Other:
Corner Chomper
Wink of Stella clear pen
Charcoal pencil

Thanks for stopping by!

Figure it out

My dad celebrated a "round number" birthday recently but didn't want to make a big thing of it. So I decided to use number punches rather than featuring BIG numbers on the card!

I started with a loose explosion of turquoise courtesy of some Brusho and stenciled brickwork over the top with white pigment ink. The script is stamped with Distress (which kind of disappears over the pigment ink - nice effect if unexpected!).

The big cog is a couple of die cuts stuck together for a bit of body (I didn't have a chipboard shape of the right size and I don't have a suitable steel rule die to cut my own - if you own the die that cut this cog, you'd be OK to cut your own from something like mountboard).

I used metal stamps and a hammer to emboss dates around the edge of the cog, added a little sand texture paste in some areas and dots between the dates with glue. Once those hardened, I painted the whole thing black and then dry brushed acrylics over that base layer (metallic Espresso and then Bronze) to bring out the textures. The texture paste gives a corroded or rusty texture under the paint which you might be able to see better on the close-up view.

I brushed out excess paint on a bit of scrap card before dry-brushing the cog and that got used to make the matching dots - I just punched/die cut circles and domed them out with a stylus tool. A few tiny turquoise nail art gems, a stamped sentiment and wonky stitching finish it off.
 
I thought this would still fit the current That's Crafty challenge which is to use numbers/figures on your project, even though the numbers are fairly subtle rather than in your face. Lots of the supplies I used are available from That's Crafty, too!

Stamps:
19th Century French Script and Essential Messages by Hero Arts

Paper: Bristol Board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Blueprint Sketch)
Adirondack pigment ink by Ranger (Snowcap)
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Tuxedo Black)

Other:
Brusho (Turquoise)
Dutch Dubadoo stencil (Bricks)
Cog die cuts
Metal punches
Decoart acrylic paints (Black,  Metallic Espresso, Bronze)
Decoart Texturizing paste (the sand ones in the current Media range would be perfect)
Nail art gems
Sewing machine and thread 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karate hybrid!

I got it into my head that a karate theme would be ideal for a friend's son celebrating his 7th birthday since he's just done his grading for his purple belt. Do I have any karate-themed stamps or other supplies? Well now you mention it, no I don't :o/

Time for a hybrid approach, methinks...

I turned to a good old Google search and happened on the ideal image at craftsUprint. OK, the bargain price of 64p was a little less bargainous when you factor in that I had to get other stuff to make the minimum checkout amount but it got me out of a hole and hopefully I've chosen other images that will come in handy for the peskier members of the family!

As usual, I went my own way - the image is on a decoupage sheet and although I did a bit of minimal layering on the karate dude (main image, layer that's jacket and head, separate belt) I ignored the main backdrop and cut my own circle from red card, inked the edge for depth and added a big, hand cut number to tailor the card for the recipient.

The image is pre-coloured (although I did add a bit extra shading with Copics, particularly on the belt) so it's just the cutting out that's time-consuming here.

It's always harder to impress a seven-year-old than his parents I reckon - the card was declared "cool" so I think making it hard on myself paid off!

Supplies:
6x6" card base
Karate Dude printable decoupage sheet from craftsUprint (there's a Karate Girl, too - hooray!)
Sentiment from Essential Messages by Hero Arts
Red and black card
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Fired Brick)
Memento Luxe ink by Tsukineko (Tuxedo Black)
Pinflair glue gel
Fineline marker
Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by -  if you're in the UK I hope you enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend!

Easy watercolouring!

I needed to make a birthday card for my mum and having recently been on holiday (leading to the inevitable creative slump arising from being separated from your crafting supplies!) I needed something that wasn't too challenging!

I've had this stamp set for ages and not got round to using it. I thought a bit of watercolour painting with it might be just the thing.

I kept it simple with just a single panel of watercolur paper, stitched to the card base for a touch of textural interest once it was painted.

The jug, flowers, leaves and grounding are all Distress ink and I used a couple of watercolour pencils for the blue background wash. This is a really easy way to do a watercolour - just stamp with Distress ink and spread the colour with a damp brush.

I added some clear Wink of Stella to the tops of the blooms and a few extra highlights with a white paint pen.

Stamps:
Sweet Havana by Mama Elephant
Sentiment from Big Day Today by Waltzingmouse Stamps (no longer in business but watch the Gina K site in case it's a set that comes back via that route at some point!)

Paper: Ranger Watercolor

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antqiue Linen, Vintage Photo, Pumice Stone, Seedless Perserves, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Derwent watercolour pencils
Clear Wink of Stella pen
Posca white paint pen
Sewing machine and thread 

Thanks for stopping by!

Wax fish?

The topic over at PaperArtsy for the next couple of weeks is "wax". I'm trying to join in with a few more challenges this year and thought this one might be fun to play with.

I don't have any wax art supplies and for a first experiment I decided to just go with stuff around the house so a plain old tealight came into play! It's translucent enough to work as long as the layers don't get too thick.

I used an ATC cut from mountboard - I like to go with something small when I'm just experimenting with materials and techniques, it feels more manageable than a full card or canvas. I stamped the fish skeleton on the ATC and coloured the edges with wax crayons (just cheap kids' ones from the £1 shop). Then I tipped some melted wax on there and used a heat tool to spread it out, let it set and repeated.

Once the wax layer was thick enough, I used a pokey tool to draw round the shapes in the stencil and get incised lines. I brushed the wax crumbs off, replaced the stencil and added a little colour with a couple of Copic markers (just dabbing so the nibs shouldn't have come to any harm!). That left the surface sticky enough to hold some Perfect Pearls. In real life it looks much more layered and inscribed but wax and mica combined to make a bit of a photography nightmare, I'm afraid!

Having made the ATC, I decided to mount it onto a card blank with just a little inky stenciling and a stamped sentiment. I think it will make a useful masculine card to have in my stash.

Stamps:
PaperArtsy Mini 100
Sentiment from Essential Messages by Hero Arts

Paper: 
mountboard
Bamboo mixed media paper by Hanemuhl
black cardstock

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass) 

Other:
Cell Theory stencil by Crafters Workshop
Tea light
Wax crayons
Perfect Pearls (Turquoise and Blue Raspberry)
Copic markers 
ATC and Corners die by Tim Holtz/Sizzix

Thanks for stopping by!