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.