Heart atcs

I was lucky enough to win the One Stop Craft Challenge back in august and i won a lovely umount floral rubber stamp die set which i have used to make these atcs.

I must admit that it is not one that i would probably have brought for myself as i am not that good at colouring in lol.

I have surprised myself by really enjoying using these.

The backgrounds are my usual style of layering my stamps and blending inks but i accidently dropped one of my ink pads (distress ink - antique linen) on my work but i liked the effect so i dropped it a few more times all over the piece of card, i used an A5 sheet and cut it into atcs after.

The hearts i stamped with distress ink in vintage photo and covered with clear embossing powder. To colour them in i used the works pearly watercolours, i got some good brushes so getting much better results with fine detail. Really pleased at how these turned out.

Afraid i resorted to my 5 points when assembling these couldn't help myself lol, so its main focus in the centre and something in each corner.

I must send big appologies to all those that i usually visit and leave comments on their blogs, sorry but with these stupid migraines i can't spend long on pc and i am such a slow typer so it takes me twice as long to do things as everyone else lol.

As soon as they ease off i can hopefully get back to joining in challenges and blog hopping.

Collage atcs

Firstly big appologies for not blogging for a while, between migraines and a bug not had much time for blogging although i have been crafting it has been very last minute with no time to scan things :(

These are 3 collage style atcs i have done for drayton lady's swap on Trimcraft.

I am trying to use up some of my bits that i have left over from other projects, somehow i have a ccumulated a box of these lol.

Vintage Card using a sketch

I used a vintage theme for this card so it fits in with Allsorts Challenge this week.

I foolowed the sketch on Carol's Sketch Fun but not sure if my card is allowed as i moved the star over and down slightly as it didn't look right overlapping the circle. Carol if i've altered it too much please remove my card from your draw.

Lots of stamping on this card but just 2 stamps used both paper artsy.

Sorry for brief description, got bad migraine, amazed card turned out so well as migraine affecting my vision today.

Drayton Lady atcs

The lovely Liz who runs the Drayoton Lady ATC Swap will be please to here my atc mojo has returned althogh the credit for that goes to Creative Inspirations and Tuesday Taggers (see post below).

These atcs are the same format as below in that the tag can come out of it's nest holder.

Used up some of my scraps and offcuts with these.

Bird and Bees Tag ATC

This atc i am entering into 2 Challenges and i owe both challenge blogs a big thank you as i had an atc block and combining the 2 challenges has got me over my atc block.

First challenge is Creative Inspirations which is tags this week, i have made the atc into a nest pocket for the bird tag.

Second challenge is Tuesday Taggers which this week is a theme of birds and bees, i did a bee background on the atc and a patchwork style bird on the tag.

Background on atc is stamped with saddle brown stazon and stamps are from the Whimsical Garden See Ds Morsels set. Coloured in the bees and added a strip of basket weave paper to form a "nest" to hold the bird tag.

The bird template i got from a past crafts beautiful mag luckily for me as my printer is poorly it was just the right size i needed. I took a bit of inky card (i always use scaps of card and paper to mop up the excess ink after projects and keep these in a box for other projects.

I used the same swirl stamp as i did in background and stamped on the card with pearlescent brilliance ink.

I made 4 of these atcs but this is my fav and the one i'm entering in the challenges will put the other 3 in a seperate post.

One Stop Craft Challenge

The theme on one stop craft challenge this week is roses and i have had these rose stickers in my craft stash for a while and this was just the incentive i needed to do something with them.

There was only one corner sticker in the pack (bottom right) so i placed the one top right with bits hanging off and trimmed to fit so i had roses over both corners. I used my xcut shape cutters (ovals) to cut out the 2 oval and mounted them on foam pads, the bottom one i stamped with a background stamp in versamagic chalk in pink grapefruit. I matted them up then added the rose sticker and a chiffon ribbon bow (it looks yellow in pic but is pink).

I added a strip of wide silver mesh mounted topper on top. Wrapped a pink/purple fibre round card and tied a charm to it.

I took 2 metal flowers and coloured with pink metallic pen then roughly stamped with pink grapefruit chalk ink to give a 2 tone effect, used white flower brads to fix them to my card.

I usually find pink to be my hardest colour to work with but i found this card easy to do.

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at my work.

Plane Card

I'm really getting the hang of both watercolouring and masking now.

Cut out a cirlcle on post-it-notes as a moon and stuck it on off-white pearlescent paper, used distress ink in broken china and faded jeans as well as versamagic chalk ink in perfect plumeria and pink grapefuit whith a thick water pen/brush to make the sky. I then stamped plane in black stazon and coloured with distress ink in walnut stain. Background is same plain roughly stamped with distress ink in vintage photo, to get the rough stamped look i sit my card on the board i use for my paint and glazes as it is a bit uneven and gives a distressed look to the stamped images.

Added a strip of patterned paper to finish.

Not bad for a first attempt.

Rescued Card

Thank you very much to Rita, liz and Cheryl for their advice.

You were right ladies it was the uneven panels i didn't like and no it wasn't the sketch i don't have a working printer just now and my craft corner is upstairs and pc downstairs and i tried to remember the sketch and of course i got confused (it really doesn't take much to confuse me lol), so i now do a rough copy of sketch on paper lol.

I made some more faux ribbon to cover the uneven panels and added more stamped leaves as there was too much blank space on panels. Added 2 flower gems to finish.

Still not a great card but it definately looks in proportion and presentable.

I am so very greatful to Rita, Liz and Cheryl for their advice, it was very helpful.

What's wrong with this card?

This was my first attempt at using a sketch and there is something wrong with it, it looks out of proportion. I'm not sure if i just need to add some more stamped leaves to the background panels or if i should add something else. It is very well stuck down so i can't pull it apart.

Been staring at it for days so asking for your help, please.

Tia

First multi Challenge Card

Thanks to the lovely Liz who runs the blogging section on the Crafty Salon, i can now do links (next to conquer will be the sidebar lol).

So to celebrate being able to do links i decided to do a multi challenge card.

The image i made using just 3 stamps, a flower, butterly and leaf frond and stazon ink in black, brown and green. I made some masks using stick-it-notes and built up my picture. I find i get best results watercolouring using a waterbrush and inkpads which i squidge onto a plastic lid to make a pallette. I then highlighted the flowers with some stickles (think you will need to enlarge pic to see this. I stamped,glittered and cut out another butterfly then stuck it on with a foam pad. The butterfly on the matted layer i stamped with a pink chalk inkpad. The swirly flowers i stamped with brown stazon. Used liquid pearls in platinum and some diecut flowers to finish.

Challenges this cards fits (well i hope so lol) are

Tuesday taggers which this week is flowers, lots of flowers on this card.

A Spoon Full of Sugar which is floral fantasy this week, the stamped pic does have a bit of a surreal feel and plenty of flowers.

Pile It On which is at least 3 flowers plus another challenge, more than 3 flowers on this card and hopefully i've filled the briefs of the other challenges i have chosen.

Creative Inspirations which is bling, lots of bling (glitter and liquid pearls but you may need to enlarge pic to see all the glitter)

One Stop Craft Challenge which is swirls and pearls, this is the one i am not sure if my card qualifies as i have used liquid pearls and i'm not sure if the swirly flower background is swirly enough appologies to the DT if i have it wrong (i'm very new to challenges).

My first sketch entry

This card is made using this weeks sketch on Carol's Sketch Fun.

The sketch is also the other chosen blog challenge on the Crafty Salon.

This card is my second attempt at using this sketch i didn't like the first one, this one is better.

This is my first properly watercoloured image that i haven't ruined, i used a mix of watercolour pencils and distress inks. Papers are from hotp dog stack. Although it is hard to see i have a co-ordinating strip of paper going across the middle it has smaller paw prints. The matts are cut from sizzix adhesive pads. Went round the edge with a paw print stamp in antique linen to soften the edges and bring all the elements together.

Hope that i have followed the sketch correctly.

C.R.A.F.T Challenge Card

This week on C.R.A.F.T Challenge is Pink and Green, i joined in on their first week but haven't had the time since lol.

It is also one of the chosen blog challenges on Crafty Salon, a new small but friendly craft message board with a live chat room and lots of swaps to join in, do pop over and have a peek we are very friendly.

My inner card maker escaped again as you can see by the use of peel offs but they do make nice borders in this instance lol. Using up my offcuts of papers here along with some border stickers. The image is coloured with my fav pearl glitter glue. Some offcuts of sticky ribbons camplete the card.

Hope it fits the brief.

Making a dent in my stash, well trying to.

I am struggling to shoehorn any more craft stuff in my corner so i am trying to use some of it lol.

I have come to the conclusion that i am not a natural scrapper so used some of my 12x12 and 8x8 for these cards. The card bases are thick papers cut to size. The flowers are cut from very bright retro style 12x12 and layered up. The floral sqare and rectangle on bottom card are from a 12x12 sheet of die cut tags. I cut off the tag end, water coloured the top one to show up the detail more as it was very faint and added glitter glue (stickles) to highlight.

I'm not sure if i really like them, worryingly i seem to be liking bright colours just now, what happened to my neutrals and metallics lol.

Chess Card

A simple card using same stamp for background as main image distress inks again antique linen for background and walnut stain for main image and stamped letters. Used clear embossing powder on both main image and letters. Used walnut stain and vintage photo on white card to tone in the matted and layered bit. Used a small sqare punch to cut out letters and foam pads to raise it all.

A simple but hopefully effective card.

Butterfly Napkin Cards

The butterflies on these cards are actually napkins.

I know most people use spray adhesive with napkins but with my asthma i am very carefull about using sprays so i used an acid free glue stick instead. You only need one layer of napkin and card or paper to back it onto. I used different colours of pearlescent paper and card as i have loads of offcuts to use up. With the napkin being so sheer the colour it is backed onto does change the shades of colours. I roughly cut out the butterflies and thoroughly covered my card/paper with glue stick then carefully smoothed the napkin on top and left to dry.

Once i had cut out the butterflies i made some antennae from wire. I used double depth foam pads on the wings to raise them above the body and give more depth to the card.

Not sure i like all the finished cards, finding card making a bit hit and miss just now would rather be altering something.

Stamping with pearly watercolours

Inspied by a post on Trimcraft asking if you could apply watercolours to stamps for stamping, i decided to try the tinfoil method i used below with the Works cheap version of H2Os.
I made the paints quite thick but only applied a little of each colour to the tinfoil so didn't use a lot. I then pressed my stamp into the paint and cos i only had a small amount of each colour i turned the stamp round several times to make sure image was all covered. After i had stamped the image i took a piece of card and put that on the tinfoil and used it to make the border.
Top pic shows the card in its true colours, the bottom one i darkened so you can see how the fine detail has been picked up by the paint.
Think i will be using this method again.

More stamping experiments

I have been experimenting with my inks on tinfoil, i know that you can use distress inks this way and it works great but i don't yet have all the colours i would like of this range i only have 7 distress inkpads so far so i decided to see if i could use other brands in this way. I chose versamagic chalk inkpads and brilliance as the colours i have complement my distress pads. I applied a variety of ink to the tinfoil and sprayed with water (sometimes too much water oooooooops). Then pressed my stamp into the inks sometimes just once othertimes i moved it about. Got a wide variety of results from the disasterous to the good. When i had finished stamping i added more water then rubbed card over the top to get some interesting backgrounds.
These atcs use up some of these experiments the one with vellum over half the image hides the fact that there was too much water on that part of the stamp and the image smudged but i liked the mix of colours on the rest of image so found a way round it.
Some of these work better than others and one or 2 may end up in the bin. I need more practice using this technique.

Stamping experiments

3 atcs using up some of my stamping experiments.
Top one is stamped background and i put crackle glaze finely over lady and wings to give a very fine crackle effect and to age the image.
Middle and bottom one are a mix of cut up pieces of stamping experiments, i think they look ok bearing in mind they were not specifically stamped to match.

Cardboard Box to Display Case

I needed somewhere to display the stunning altered jigsaw pieces and bottle caps i recieved from Trudy's Swaps on Do Crafts. So i took a plain shallow cardboard box and made 2 shelves from corrugated card. I then used tissue paper, pva and gesso to create texture and a base for painting. I then took more bits of card and part of a polystyrene pizza base that i covered in metal, to create the shape of the unit. I took some aluminium tape and opened up my scroll cuttlebug folder and used an embossing tool to emboss the pattern the i kept moving the tape till i had enough embossed tape to cover both sides and top of my little unit. I did this instead of using my bug as i wanted a continuous line and i couldn't do that with my bug.Once i was happy with the shape of the unit, i used my cropadile to punch holes under the shelves. I then painted the unit black. Then and i lots of messy fun here, i squeezed 7 different colours of paints metallics and enamel onto a pallette then took some make up sponges and splodged the paint all over the unit.

When it was dry. I threaded wire through the holes and threaded the lovely jigsaw pieces and bottle caps onto the wires.

The wires are tied at the back, i did it this way so that if i swap any more i can add them to the display.

I might not have succeeded in keeping this neutral but i hope it shows of the pieces well and that those that made them like what i have done with them, they are way toooooooooo gorgeous to be kept in an envelope.

Black and white exploding box

This is an exploding box i made in a black and white theme.

Amazingly for me it is mostly using docraft products, i mix and match things but this is mostly docrafts lol. The punches, papers as well as the frilly flower stamp the flower stamp on lid (foam stamp) are docraft products. The daisy flower stamp is hampton arts and the small flower is a foam stamp from a pack from poundlad, it has a silly foot shape in the middle but i just double embossed over it. Embossing powder is a mix of black, white and sparkly clear.

The flowers in the centre i made by punching out lots of funky hearts (another do craft product lol) Then i joined the edges together so i had layers from 2 hearts joined together up to 7 for the main flower and just 2, 3 and 4 hearts for the bottom flowers. Quite fiddly joining them all and curving them but i do like the effect.

Wire flowers card

This card looks naff in the scan (i really need to learn to take a good pic lol).

It is so much better in real life so to speak.

This took me nearly 3 hrs to do.

Yes there are some peel offs on this card, the outside borders and flowers on vase but rest is all handmade.

It is a gatefold A5 card. I used pearlescent white and i did the embossed grid pattern by turning my card on my eazi score board and embossing the lines, really like the effect. Added a heat embossed strip down the centre (made my own mix of black , white and clear sparkle embossing powders and silver enamel magic).

I made the vase from acetate and folded back the sides to give a 3D effect vase i then filled it with silicon gel and put in wire flowers and twirly grass like wires. Mounted it onto black hammered card and matted that onto pearlescent silver. Finished it off by adding silver flower outline peel offs to vase then i filled the petals with platinum liquid pearls and added clear gems, added gold gems to wire flowers to add another colour, felt clear gems wouldn't have worked.

I'm really pleased with this card it is an idea i have had for a while but never had a chance to use, i have always but my wire flowers behind card vases before but i prefer the clear acetate and the silicon really looks like water in the vase, might have to see if i can tint the glue a light blue as that would look better. Need to work on placing the vase on card as a little silicon escaped and marked the card, hence the white glitter round the vase lol.

Thank you for reading and hopefully liking my card.

Waterfall card

I'm really pleased with the look of this card.

The waterfall images are from a papermainia pack and were just perfect for this card.

This card is A5 size on white pearlescent paper.

I started by stamping a vintage flower stamp in distress ink (old linen) i then carefully smudged the ink just enough to soften the edges be careful not to distort your image.

I then took my a rose stamp again distress ink this time vintage photo and stamped it all over my card. I then stamped the long bit on the front of the waterfall as before with vintage flower and old linen ink, this time i used a small rose stamp from SeeDs springtime swirls. I also did my background stamping on the pull down bit (oh i am so technical NOT lol) and then stamped the vintage flower in darker colour at botttom. The colouring in just a glitter gel pen in a reddy/pink shade (a cheap set from lidl) and a cotton bud, you just scribble on some colour and carefully blend and spread it with the cotton bud staying within the lines. I also scribbled on the waterfall images on the roses to give them some sparkle.

I then added my waterfall and some fibres to finish.

My first shabby chic card.

Cantilever Card

When doing cantilever cards i don't use a template as i base my aperture round my main focus.

In this case a floral pyramage.

I took the gold piece of card i have matted under the pyramage and placed it where i wanted it on the wrong side of the card. I do this while i have my piece of card sitting on my eazi scoreboard as i use the lines as a guide at this point i score my card along the centrefold line (in this case A4 as finished card is A5 size). This helps me to line up where i want the aperture i work better by sight than by measuring well most of the time haha. Once you have decided where you want your centerpiece draw round half of it the half nearest the outside edge of your card then draw a fourth side down the gatefold line so you have a shape half the size of your main focal point. I then cut out this shape and place this card on top of another sheet of card the same size , lining them up exactly or your card won't work properly. Then draw carefully round 3 sides of your aperture the edge nearest the edge of your card the top and bottom only. You need to make sure your drawn lines are as close to the aperture as possible so both pieces of card match up.

You then cut along the 3 sides and score this card 3 times along both gatefold lines and half fold but you should only score above and below where you cut so that your cut bit sticks out and has no score on it. This is where your focus will go.

Then join both cards together back to back especially important if you ar using textured or patterned card.

This is the one occassion that i like the eazi score board the rest of the time it drives me mad with its continental edge lol. As you can see in the pic the folded inside of the card pokes out over the edge of the front, so i make a feature out of it and ink it in a co-ordinating colour i mirror this on both sides so when it is opened each long edge and both sides of the mountain fold are inked i also find it helps to break up an expanse of plain colour.

The front of the card i inked with distress ink in old linen then i used a little cats eye shaped chalk ink pad in amber clay and dabbed that lightly over the card. Added my pyramage and matt to centre and added some paper flowers and flower gems to finish. The gem flowers were clear ones which i used permanent pens in orange and gold on.

Midnight atcs

The only thing these atcs have in common is that they were made last week in the early hours of the morning hence the midnight in the title lol. They are not that good but they took my mind off Lucy's specialist vet app which raised more questions than it answered trust Lucy lol.

Back to the atcs they are a mix of techniques, i tidy when i get stressed so my desk made a rare appearance (i have a very shy desk it likes to hide under a mountain of craft materials lol) and i found lots of little bits left over from other things and i used them on these atcs.

To get the effect of light and dark ink on the embossed card i sanded them after they had been through my cuttlebug. I then wiped them with a dry cloth to remove dust then swiped them with distress inkpad trying to just get ink on the raised bits. I then rubbed the whole atc with a makeup sponge giving the 2 tone colour.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog. It is very much appreciated.

Mum's Birthday Card

This card is for my mums Birthday.

Having to be organised this yr and not leave it to the last minute as i usually do lol. My mum's birthday is the 3rd July and as Lucy goes to the orthapedic specialist vet on the 29th June to see about her sore leg i am half expecting to have a poorly Lucy by mum's bd as Lucy might need an op bless her.

Anyway back to the card.

Yes there are peel offs on this card, i have a hidden inner cardmaker and she has some shocking things hidden in my craft supplies haha.

I used a keepsake green board (i think it's the romance one) for the card. I used 2 sheets of silver mirri A4 card to make the card. I used the oval template. I embossed the D2 line the two C fancy lines and the two ovals on to both the sheets of card. I then sanded them both to distress the card and to emphasise the embossed lines. Do this before cutting to size especially if using mirri or other coated card as sanding can peel of bits of the coated top layer and that could spoil your card if you do it after cutting to size.

I then cut the fancy edge using the second embossed line as my guide.

I folded both sheets of card along the D2 line i scored. I then joined them together as they overlap on the back to line them up on the front i positioned them so that the top and bottom edges of the fancy lines touch. Once the glue had dried i cut about an inch off the top and bottom of the card so that i could make a box out of a 4 card to put it in. i then carefully sanded the edges of the card to complete the distressed look.

I then cut a strip of card to fit behind the fancy edges i used an irridescent material to cover the card and glued it behind the lefthand edge. I then embossed and cut out 2 of the smaller ovals in pearlescent white card and used foam tape to put them on the card.

Poppies and sunflowers are my mum's favourite flowers so i cheated and used die cut decoupage with lots of foam tape for the centrepieces. The sparkle is DecoArt's SoSoft glittering topcoat (it is a fabric product and it does take a week to fully dry on card but i love the effect and haven't found a paper product to match it yet so i put up with the drying time).

I coloured 4 metal flower embellishments to match and used a gold metallic marker to give an aged feel to the offending corner peel offs.

Really pleased with the finished card.

Whoops forgot to add that i cut an A4 sheet of card to fit inside to cover the join. Will probably matt and layer a poem on the inside to distract from the fact it doesn't have an insert as i don't have any A3 paper.

Vintage atcs

2 pretty vintage style atcs.

The top one is script cuttlebug folder inked with distress ink in walnut stain, over it put a stamped image which you can just see peeking through under a paper napkin which i inked with distress ink in vintage photo. Vintage mini postcard, fabric flowers with pearl brads and a chipboard topper complete the look.

The bottom one is paisley cuttlebug folder inked with a old make up sponge that i had used on other things and had a mix of blue and green inks on it, i then swiped over it with a blue brilliance inkpad. Vintage mini postcard and a cardboard saying plus an ugly bug complete the atc.

I'm not sure if i like the top atc or not, a bit girly for me no idea where the idea came from lol.

The bottom one i am much happier with.

Thank you all for looking.

Music Birthday Card

Finally found some inspiration to do this card.

Couldn't find a template for piano keys i liked so i made this up as i went along using white and black glossy card, and lots of foam tape. Not technically correct but recognizable as a keyboard/piano.

Die cut no18 after putting card through music cuttlebug folder. Treble clef is stamped in stazon. Stick on stars and music backing paper finish the card.

Card is A5 size.

Quite pleased with the result but then i do like the black/white theme.