Wow, it's a whole 2 months since I last posted that's just way too long ago so I'm truly sorry & will try to behave better. I've been crafting but I seem to have started a lot of things and not finished very much but here are a couple of things I've done.

The first is a card I made at a workshop with Barbara Gray at the Harrogate Show in early October. It uses the gelliplate which I'd never used before but following Barbaras excellent instruction I was amazed at how good the result was for a first attempt.

The second item I've got to show you is a different direction completely for me & it's the first thing I've ever done with my sewing machine that I bought recently. I've really only been practising & getting used to it so I've got all sorts of bits of material lying around now but this is the one thing  I've finished. It get quite addictive cutting things out with a rotary cutter. I must just add that I didn't make the bag just the patchwork element. I'm also amazed at how far 6 x fat quarters go when you cut them up to make stuff.

Thank-you for looking.

Karen

Hello Again,

Wow, I've managed two posts in a week. This one contains the two cards that I made for my husband one from me & the other from the kids.

The first uses a Tonic Studios Verso Die in the background to add a little extra dimension & put some interest behind the main part of the card. Using the beautiful Tattered Lace Dies I cut 3 owls (2 of one owl & 1 of the other). I then drew round each of them using the cut out as a template in the opposite colour & then glued them together so you could see the one colour through the other.

I then added the branches & leaves, these are made from Martha Stewarts Air Dry Clay. It was the first time I'd used this & found it really easy to use & the results are so light. I need to get more moulds now (any excuse to add to my crafty stash).

 The card from the kids I again used Tattered Lace Dies for the frame & used the same technique as the owls to line the die with a different colour. The lettering is also die-cut using Tattered Lace Alphabet Dies.
The tiger is stencilled using a Sand coloured glitter paste, both from Glitzcraft which I then cut round.

The wording on both cards are again Tattered Lace using the Sentiment dies.

Tangling

Sorry I've been a bit tardy in adding to my blog over the last couple of months. I've been crafting but just not taking photos & loading them up here so I'm now on a bit of a catch up.

This card was inspired by watching Mel Heaton on Create and Craft & also doing one of her Make & Takes at the Summer Crafting Show in Doncaster. I've made it for my brother-in-law who is an artist himself so I'm hoping he appreciates it more that most.

It started out as 3 fans scored using one of the Keepsake Crafts boards. I then did the tangles on each section before attaching together & creating the consertinas to give some depth. I then cut the corners out of black card using a Marianne die (I think) & the centre using elements from a Tattered Lace Die (the black bit) & also a Spellbinders with the sentiments again from Tatter Lace. I did find the tangling part very relaxing and will definitely be doing more.

Enjoy!

Fathers Day

I know it's a little while since Fathers Day in the UK but I've only just got round to uploading this photo. 

I created the base using an idea I saw on Create & Craft by Carly Duff. I don't know the name but it's a bit like a shadow box style & folds flat. I then added panels of crimson card down the sides to hide some of the joins.

The dies used were from the Tattered Lace range. The front are two circle ones that have been offset. The rectangle one I stuck to crimson card & cut round it just under the edge so you don't need to be very accurate & it doesn't take long.

The images were from the Tattered Lace, Click Print & Go CDs which I inked in the Antique Linen Distress Ink to tone down the white of the paper and make them looked slightly aged.

Hope you like it.

Mums Birthday

These two cards I made for my Mums Birthday. The first uses the Crafters Companion Frou Frou Collection. I used the CD for the circular pictures. The large design was stamped & coloured with my Promarkers. 

The second card uses a Just Inklined Digital Stamp called Hattie Bowler which was printed & coloured with my Promarkers. The backing paper was a material from a Serif Kit called Playground that I sized to fit the card. The patterned paper was from my stash and was punched & die cut using the Daisy design from Tonic Studios.The greeting is a Lili of the Valley stamp.

Enjoy!

Masking & Inking

This card has been made for a friend of mine who's not too well at the moment. 

The blue background was made using Core-ordinations card stock and Embossalicious Regency Swirls Folder with some light sanding. 

The main design I made using techniques I learnt from watching Ali Reeves Marvellous Masks 2 DVD. The colours are Distress Inks (Scattered Straw, Picked Raspberry & Broken China). The sentiment I stamped and then cut using spellbinders dies & finished by attaching the ribbon & gems.

Hope you like this one.

Looking In

Another lot of Tonic Studios Pick of the Bunch Stamps & the Domed Window die. Here's the finished card minus the sentiment as I've not yet decided who to send it to.

I started with a 19cm square piece of card which I die cut the window from. I then inked the card using the Antique Linen Distress Ink. I stamped everything using the Walnut Stain Distress Ink and used a mask to create the roof tiles also using the Walnut Stain. All the other colours are Promarkers but I left the window white for contrast & dimension.

A close up of the window. I did think afterwards that I could have used some acetate to create the window panes so one for next time I think.

When I use this again I'll also decoupage the tree to add more dimension although when I put this together I was thinking of posting it so the flatter the better. I did you a bit of masking on this area though to show the wall behind the tree.

A closer look at the mask & top of the window:

The bottom right hand area of the card, note the mouse at the bottom:

Marvellous Masks

Hello again,

This one was made for my brother in laws birthday; the post is a bit of a long one & very wordy, sorry!!

Background
I created the background after watching parts of Marvellous Masks 2 by Ali Reeve.
I inked two lots of card using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I then placed the Disco mask onto one of the pieces of card and spritzed through it. I lifted the mask & still wet placed it onto the other piece of card. I then left both pieces of card to dry. 

Taking the first piece of card I then replaced the mask & inked through it using Versamark ink but I also made sure I covered all the mask in ink. After removing the mask I turned it over & placed it onto the 2nd piece of card this I then ran through my Grand Calibur which transferred the ink from the mask to the card.

I then brushed blue mica powder over both pieces of card which created pearlescent sheen to the backgrounds I then fixed them with a fixative spray.

The 2nd background is the one I used for the card but here's the 1st one, as you can see it's like a negative of the other - I need to practice getting the ink smoother so you don't see the lines. It may have turned out better if I'd used a bit of cut & dry foam but I'll use it when I create a card with a more distressed look. I've included the card again to make it easier for comparison.

 


Tiger
The tiger was another mask on which I used glitter paste from Glitz Craft and then left it to dry. I then cut it out and affixed to the card using foam pads.

Sentiment
This can't be seen very well in the photo but the card was inked in the Tumbled Glass and then the design from Lili of the Valley was used and stamped with Versamark and brushed over with silver mica powder.

The whole card is brought together with some matting & layering and a couple of spellbinders dies. I also lightly inked around the edge of the card to soften the white card.

A real Tonic

Hi Everyone,

I'm still trying to catch up with photos and things after going back to work which I'm finding very tiring at the moment so when I get home I'm struggling to do much.

This set of 5x5 notelets were made a little while ago. I gave them to my Mum for part of her mothers day present. They use the Tonic Studios Pick of the Bunch (POTB) Stamps (Chrysanthemums, Fushias, Lilies, Roses, Peonies, Rudbekias) & also the Simplicity Daisy Circle and Square Dies.

I also the background using Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Peeled Paint & Seedless Preserve. On the background I used one of the POTB butterfly stamps but used the Indigo Blue Flitterglu & Winter Dawn Leaf Foiling.

I used white vellum for the die cutting & the stamps were coloured with Promarkers and then cut out.

 

 

    

I made the box & again used the stamps & foiling on it. For a first go I was pretty pleased with the result. 

Hope you like them.

Sweetest Swirls

Here's another Hunkydory kit that I've used up. It's the free kit that came with Compendium 2. In addition to the cards there is a desk calendar but I'll have to post a photo of that later as I took it to work and didn't photograph it. The only things I used that were additional to the kit was the card blanks & embellishments everything else was in the kit. 

These cards are 8x8 in size:

These cards are A5 in size:

These cards are DL in size:

These cards are 6x6 in size:

 

These cards are 5x5 in size:

These cards are 4x4 in size and I've put them together in a box I made to make a set of notelets:

 

Mothers Day

Well Mothers Day is virtually upon us, where has the last couple of months gone? I've used a number of techniques on this card some of which either not had much success with previously or it's the first time I've had a go at it. So here's the completed card:

and here's a more detailed description of what I've done:

I started off stamping the Tonic Pick of the Bunch Peony stamp onto white pearlescent vellum using a clear pigment ink. I then added the sea foam embossing powder & heat embossed it. This I did 4 times. I then coloured each one on the back with my Promarkers and cut them out using them as decoupage elements. I assembled using Pinflair glue. I did the same with the strands of ivy.

I inked the corners of the 8x8 card using part of a mask/stencil that I got free with the latest issue of Simply Cards & Papercraft using the Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I then matted onto silver mirror card the card I embossed using the Die'sire 6x6 Regal Frame Embossing Folder from Crafters Companion and inking again with the same colour as before. 

The centre of the card was created using Spellbinders Labels 4 (largest & 3rd largest dies). The largest one was covered with the pigment ink & heat embossed with a sparkly embossing powder & then inked around the edges with the Picked Raspberry. The smaller die cut I used after putting the card through the printer to print the sentiment and then leaving it in the die I inked the edge using the same ink.

The card was finished off with a pink bow. I'm really pleased with the result & hope my Mum likes the finished product.


I'm entering my card into these challenges:

Crafty Sentiments - Pretty in Pink
Creative Inspirations - Challenge 204
Simon Says - A bit of Green
Totally Papercrafts - Challenge 157
Crafters Companion

Dads Birthday

Wow, I hadn't realised it was so long since I had posted on my blog. You can tell I started back at work after 5 months off because of my hip replacement. I've got a load of things I've made which I've now taken photos for & will hopefully post over the next few days.

I'm starting with my Dads birthday card. He was 65 this year so officially became an OAP and is getting his state pension. We all went out and had a lovely meal.

I wanted a card that was lovely looking but also had a bit of fun so I created the front of the card using elements from the Hunkydory Vintage Journey kit, with lettering from the Timeless Elegance kit. It's 8x8 in size.

Then inside the card I put added a Just Inklined digital stamp that I coloured using my Promarkers. It made for some amusement for my Dad, my step-mum & the rest of the family.

Hope you like it.