Carved jade!

No I haven't branched out into semi precious stones - I've been playing with polymer clay!

This pendant resulted from stewing ideas from several sources. I've been reading Donna Kato's beautiful book The Art of Polymer Clay - Creative Surface Effects. The shape of the clay piece is influenced by some of Donna's pieces.

Desiree McCrorey makes beautiful faux ivory pieces and I wondered whether it would be possible to use the technique with other colours of clay to create different effects.

Finally, Julie Picarello does amazing things to turn polymer clay into gorgeous jewellery. I was particularly taken with her curved brass tube bails and wanted to try something similar.

I used green, translucent and a pinch of pearl clay to mimic a jade or malachite look. I think it worked although I'd probably use a higher proportion of translucent clay next time. I found that placing a piece of conditioned clay onto my stamp and rolling across the back firmly with an acrylic rod gave me a deeper impression than just stamping down onto the clay would have done.

Buffing the clay piece once baked gives you more textural contrast between the high spots which take on a sheen with the buffing and the low spots that are out of reach.

The copper tubing came from a model shop that sells supplies to miniature railway enthusiasts and special thanks go to my dad for hints and tips on tube bending!

Supplies:
Sculpey Premo polymer clay (green, translucent, pearl)
Tiled Scallops backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Copper tube
Copper Wire
Copper findings
Rubber cord

Thanks for stopping by, hope you get your week off to a great start!

Winged beauty

It's a while since I played along at either Something Completely Different or the Crafty Secrets challenge in the SCS member company forum so it was nice to have the chance to combine the two and play a little catch up.

The item at SCD this month is ATCs. The Crafty Secrets challenge this week is "anything but a card" so an ATC fits nicely! The SCD theme for the week is "wings" so I pulled out the Altered Art set and used the wings to make a vintage butterfly with assorted gems for the body. Accents from the French Mail stamp set and a little lace finished it off.

Penny saver: look out in charity shops (goodwill stores if you're in the US, op shops if you're joining me from down under!) for old sheet music. I got a book for 75p that will last about as long as me, I reckon! You even get to choose a section where the spacing and shape of the notes fits your project!

Stamps:
Altered Art and French Mail (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)
Weathered Wood backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms - retired)

Paper:
Vintage sheet music
Simply smooth vanilla (CHF)

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Copic markers (Eggshell, Brick Beige, Chamois)
Gems
Krylon Leafing pen (Copper)
Corner Chomper
Vintage lace

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great weekend!

Keep moving!

Remember learning to ride a bike? How many people had their dad running behind them with a broom handle lashed to the back? And who resisted the temptation to look behind and make sure he was still holding on?!

I wanted to capture that wobble with one of the vintage style bikes in the "Bicycle life" stamp set and pair it up with the great quote from Albert Einstein (also in the set) - Life is like a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. I stamped on a copper plant label for an authentic metal look. The wobble comes courtesy of a spring - this is the sort know as an "expansion spring" and it's quite stable until you give it a little push!

I thought it would be a shame not to demonstrate the full daft potential of this (I confess to being easily amused but I could play with this for hours!) so I challenged myself to learn how to use the video function on hubby's phone and here is my very first movie. OK, so I'm not about to win any Oscars for direction or cinematography but I hope it makes you smile!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Bicycle Life (All Things Considered line - releasing Tuesday 15 Feb)
Textured Harlequin backgrounder

Paper:
Simply Kraft and Simply Heavy Black (CHF)

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Stazon by Tsukineko (Jet Black)

Other:
Fiskars circle cutter
Copper plant label
Heavy cardboard tube (mine was the inner from a ball of fancy yarn)
Spring



Thanks for stopping by - hope your day is not too wobbly!

Spring Song

Perhaps it's because I have always been an avid reader but as soon as I saw this stamp I thought "Perfect bookmark!". I guess it's just the proportions of the image.

I decided to go with the delicacy of the image by using inks as watercolours to give a soft and subtle look to the colouring. I'm a great reader of fiction, I really don't get on with biographies etc, and what is fiction but dreams, really?

This really doesn't take a lot of time or materials so I think it would make a nice little gift for things like teacher thank yous. You could even slip one inside a book you were giving as a gift to make it even more personal.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Spring Song (February Stamp of the Month)
Motivational Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
140lb hot press watercolor paper
Simply Heavy Black (CHF)

Ink:
Stazon by Tsukineko (Timber Brown)
Various Tim Holtz Distress inks by Ranger (as watercolors)

Other:
Sewing machine and thread

Thanks for stopping by!

Say it with...

...goofy looking aliens? I'm not sure that's going to catch on as a marketing slogan.

Some of you know that I really struggle with cards for kids. I've decided the best approach is get a kick start of some sort so today I went to Kathy's Waffle Sketch file and her Say it with Flowers sketch. I wasn't sure that a little boy celebrating his fourth birthday would necessarily appreciate all things floral so I went for stars and an alien instead.

The little stars are punched, the big one and the arrow are cut freehand. The alien is stamped on the same DCWV as the top of the card with just a little shading added with a Copic and his eyes filled in with the Inkssentials white pen.

I'm still not quite sure about this - although I quite like the card, I think it came out a bit "old" for its recipient. Ah well, I guess it's as much about the parents at that age, eh?!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Little Guy (Kim Hughes Collection)
Birthday Centers (Mona Lisa Moments)

Paper:
Simply Heavy Chocolate (CHF)
DCWV

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Stazon by Tsukineko (Timber Brown)

Other:
Fiskars squeeze punch (medium star)
Sewing machine and thread
Fineline marker pen
Inkssentials white gel pen by Ranger
Copic markers (Putty and Tender Pink)
Sandpaper

Thanks for the sketch Kathy and thank you for stopping by, hope your weekend is star-studded!

Hugs and kisses!

The lovely and very talented Di is running a competition over on Tando Creative at the moment. The prize is something a little bit special as it's completely unique and brings together the work of 11 papercrafters. Di invited us to decorate a piece each for a "Hugs & Kisses" game board. It's a larger version of the board available from Tando and having settled on a brown and cream colour scheme, we each decorated either a hug (heart) or a kiss (X) without seeing each other's work.

Everything is now finished and all together so I can show you my piece. I must confess to finding the shape a bit of a challenge but once I got going it came together fine!

I gessoed my piece and then sponged Antique Linen Distress ink over it before stamping a script stamp in Latte and the little key in Espresso. I did the same on the back of the piece, too.

The little tab is stamped with the sentiment and sponged a little. I tinted an acrylic nail teeny-tiny gem with a Copic so it matched the peach tone of the rose better and finished off with a key charm and a bit of gold acrylic paint around the cut edge of the piece.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Key Elements (All Things Considered line)
Key Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Tando chipbaord game piece
Simply smooth vanilla (CHF)

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso, Latte)

Other:
Gesso
Paper rose
Key charm
Linen thread
Acrylic nail art gem
Gold acrylic paint

If you'd like to see the finished board and all the pieces and find out how you could be in with a chance to win it for yourself, check out the details here on the Tando blog. You'll find details of Tando stockists too if you follow the "shop" link from the blog and then click on the "stockists" link under the "Articles" heading on the left.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope your weekend is filled with hugs and kisses!

Shabby chic chintz

One of the very first things that drew me to Cornish Heritage Farms was the range of background stamps. I may have a phobia of patterned paper but give me a background stamp and I'm happy. Nope, makes no sense to me either! I've gone shabby chic with this latest release, Vintage Chintz. I decided to play up the fabric connection by using the faux linen technique. This is an easy way to add texture and variation to a stamped piece - just stamp on glossy cardstock and then use sandpaper first vertically and then horizontally to create the linen "weave". Sponge on a lighter ink colour to provide extra variation and interest. Of course the fashionista ladies seemed like a perfect choice for a fabric-inspired piece! I love this sophisticated pair. Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms): Vintage Chintz Backgrounder (releasing Friday 29th January) Haute Couture (All Things Considered line) Paper: Glossy cardstock by Ranger Simply Smooth Vanilla (CHF) Ink: Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso, Latte) Other: Copic markers Nestabilities by Spellbinder (Labels Four) Paper flowers Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels (Coffee Shop) Glitter and velvet brads (Making Memories) Vintage lace Hope you're having a great weekend, thanks for taking the time to stop by!

Double challenge!

Sorry - look away now if you don't want to see a Christmas card just yet! Over on the Bubbly Funk forum we decided to do our "25th Club" again. The idea is to spread out the card making over the year rather than leave it all to November/December by making a certain number by the 25th of each month. I'm aiming for two cards per month.

To try to keep us motivated, we're having a theme or challenge each month. I set January's and it was to use turquoise/silver, something shiny or sparkly and a swirl of some sort. Despite the fact I set the recipe, I have in fact forgotten the swirl on this one! I was concentrating so hard on trying to combine with Kathy's sketch challenge that I clean forgot to get swirly. Can I just claim those snowflakes are creating swirls as they fall, do you think?!

Kathy set a sketch challenge on the Bubbly Scrumptious blog {here}. I've turned it through 180 degrees and "dangled" the snowflake from some stitched silver lines for the vertical lines on the sketch.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Night Before Christmas (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Simply Smooth
Black
Vellum

Ink:
Versamagic by Tsukineko (Turquoise Gem)

Other:
Snowflake Wonder dies by Spellbinder
DekoIce glitter (Efco)
Sewing machine and metallic silver thread
Crystal brad

Right, only one more Christmas card this month! I'll try to remember all the ingredients next time ;o)

Thanks for stopping by!

Oriental influence

Have you noticed how Oriental influences seem to be ever-present? While many trends come and go, it seems that Asian-inspired art is never very far away. Continuing that long tradition, the Saturady Evening Post release at CHF today is Asian Portraits. Pulling together cover art from the 1920s and 30s, the set has plenty of variety.

I thought this lovely woman had a dreamy look about her so I found a web site with Japanese (kanji) characters here and printed off "dream" to make the charm here - it's hanging from a fishing swivel to give it some movement.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Asian Portraits (Saturday Evening Post line)

Paper:
Simply Smooth
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Cuttlebug corner embossing folder
Silver metallic thread and sewing machine
Nestabilities by Spellbinder (Labels 9)
Medium circle squeeze punch by Fiskars
Fishing swivel
Glossy Accents by Ranger

I blogged another couple of projects over on the CHF Be Creative blog if you'd like to see what happens when a ginger jar is not a ginger jar!

Thanks for stopping by today!

About time I chicked in

Happy New Year everybody! Sorry I'm a bit slow off the mark - blogging seems to have fallen a bit by the wayside over the festive season. The horrible cold and cough probably didn't help much. So, I thought it was about time to "chick in" ;o)

Tom Allen has been around at Cornish Heritage Farms for a while now - he's the illustrator behind the Friendly Kritters line of stamps. Tom's just launched a new line at CHF called Tom Fun and hard on the heels of some adorable bears comes the Spring Chicks and More set so I thought I'd share a couple of cards I created with that.

The first is a clean and simple, one layer card created for a little boy's birthday - no frills and doo-dads for him to pull off! A little bit of masking and reverse masking and a dab of Glossy Accents for the balloon means there's still plenty of interest though, I love it when you manage to pull off a card with impact using minimal supplies!

Then I had a little fun teaming up the chick in overalls with a truck from one of the General Motors sets. Maybe I was in a masking kind of mood since I did it here too! I think simple masking was the first stamping technique I saw that made me say "oh, oh, oh!" and jump up and down with excitement! I still get a fantastic childish kick when I peel the mask off and reveal a scene! You know the kind of thing: "It worked, it worked - look! The chick is standing right in front of the truck! Yay!" lol!

I added some denim from an old pair of jeans for interest and to play up his overalls. Denim just needs orange stitching though, doesn't it?

There are more cute stamps in this set - you'd never guess it from these two cards but it's actually the perfect set for Easter (bunnies, chicks and eggs galore!).

Stamps for both cards (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Spring Chicks and More (Tom Fun Collection - releasing Friday 15th January)

Birthday card:
Birthday Centers tamp set (Mona Lisa Moments line)
Smooth white cardstock
Adirondack dye inkby Ranger (Espresso, Stonewashed)
Tim Holtz dye ink by Ranger (Shabby Shutters)
Number rub on
Copic markers
Glossy Accents by Ranger

Truckin' Chickie card:
Keep on Truckin' stamp set (General Motors line)
Simply Smooth cardstock
Copic markers
Denim (old jeans)
Sewing machine and thread
Antique copper mini brads (Making Memories)

Thanks for stopping by!