There are always flowers

Hi crafter's

Another card made using the JOFY set of stamps I bought. So many combinations! I haven't used all the stamps yet. For this card I started with the topper, first stamp the flowers then the words. I coloured the flowers with some Prismacolor pencils in violet and mulberry and the little circles in pink, you could use Coloursoft pencils instead. To blend the colours together I used Sansador, which is a mineral oil, and a paper stump. Work in little circular movements, I start from the darkest colour and work my way over to the lighter colour. If I want it really light I use the Sansador to move the colour. Using this method really gives a lovely finish. Take a green pencil, I used true green, and draw over the stems. Draw some lines around the words in the same style as the flower stems adding the zigzag lines. Colour over the lines with the green pencil. To finish the topper I took a piece of car sponge, the open texture will give a less blended look. Pick up some wild plum adirondack ink on the sponge and with a sweeping motion colour from the outside in. Add some white to the flowers to highlight. The background was made using the long stamp with diagonal lines on it. I started with a white piece of card and began by stamping repeatedly diagonally across the card in wild plum and raspberry. Taking a green fine line pen I added some dots. then as with the box around the words draw two lines and the zigzags. To assemble the card mat the topper on to some green card. Stick the background on to a white base card then put the topper in place. That's all for now hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy crafting

Sally

Reach for the stars

Hi crafter's

I made this card  two weeks ago for my sons birthday. He likes space so I used the same technique as the rowing boat in a previous post. I thought it would look like a nebula. As before I took a piece of white card, then coloured it with promarkers. I used light and dark blue, yellow and pink. Fill a pipette with isopropyl and put droplets over the card. This leaves the effect you can see above. The stamps I used for this card are a Retro space set from Banana Frog and a set that looks like fireworks. Stamp the fireworks randomly over the background using different sizes. The topper is very simple, stamp one of the retro spaceships near the bottom of a die cut shape then stamp the planet in second generation ink. I did this with an Impress dye ink in ultramarine. Now stamp the stars also in second generation ink. Right at the top stamp 'reach for the stars' in first generation ink. Blend blue ink around the edge then go over with Inka Gold in platinum, to finish draw dots around the edge. Stamp the words 'you are out of this world' on a piece of card I used a small swirly stamp I had in another stamp set to add interest to the background. Round the corners and rub Inka Gold and add dots to finish. Round the corners of the background then stamp the words from the retro set. Glue the background on to a white base card, then put the topper in place. Attach the word topper with foam pads. I then added my sons name. I was really pleased with the look of the card, I think the background worked out well. That's all for now, any comments welcome.

Happy crafting

Sally

Flower plaque

Hi crafter's

I have had the JOFY stamps on my wish list for a while and I have finally treated my self to a set, it was hard to choose one as I do like a few of them. In the end I bought JOFY 14, I love the echinacea type flowers. Last month I used the Tando Creative Rowing boat for my Clarity challenge and I still have a lot of pieces left over so I have used one of the frames to make my plaque. In my stash I have some canvas on a roll so I traced around the frame and cut this out. I then painted the canvas with pink and purple acrylic paint blending the colours where they meet. To add a little texture I used a piece of car sponge and dabbed randomly with the paint. Dry with a heat gun. Whilst I had the paint out I coloured the frame in purple making sure the edges were covered. Stamp the flowers with black Archival ink and leave to dry for a few moments. To colour the flowers I used some mica powders in pink, purple and a little orange mixed with water to make paint. The circles in the background are also in the set, I painted these with the mica paint as well. To get the white highlight I used white acrylic paint. I picked a Crafty Indivduals word and stamped a few times. To finish the canvas spritz with Sprinkys ink in Amethyst. The frame was stamped with a crackle stamp from Stamp Addicts. I wanted to use gilding flakes on the frame so I used flitter glue and burnished in the normal way. Now its a case of gluing everything together. After the canvas and frame are attached I covered the back with a piece of white card to neaten. All that is left to do is the stand which I made from some greyboard I had in my stash, I keep the card at the back of notepads for this. Paint the greyboard with white paint, when dry score down one side 1cm and glue to the back of the frame.

That's all this time hope you like it.

Happy crafting

Sally

Gaggle of geese

Hi crafter's

I thought I had better get my entry done for the Claritystamp challenge, August is going very quickly. The theme is animals so I decided to use the geese stamp which I bought in the last Clarity sale. To start I cut some Watercolour paper by Khadi into a tag shape. This paper is made partly from rag and stays soft and pliable after painting. I haven't used my Inktense blocks for a while so I decided to use these to create the background. There are different ways to use them but this time I simply rubbed the flat edge of a dry block over the paper where I wanted the colour to be, The blocks can be used wet as well as dry. What I do is break the blocks in half one for dry work and one for wet, this way you can go from wet to dry easily. I have used a light green for the grass and a combination of yellow, orange and a little bit of red for the sky. Before colouring the top of the tag I punched out a mask for the sun from a post-it note and stuck this down. When satisfied use a flat paint brush and water, brush from side to side. The colours will be bright. Take off the mask and blend the paint over the sun. I then dried the tag with a heat gun. I stamped the geese first with Archival black ink then the grasses 6 on each end, in the middle I turned the grasses stamp upside down and just used the bottom. Ink up the blossom and stamp along the top. When Inktense paint is dry it is permanent so the blossom can be painted over the top with out lifting off the background colour. I used a damp paint brush to take paint directly from the block, do check how strong the colour is before painting though. I mixed together a darker green and used this to ground the geese and grasses. Ink up the bottom two lines of the Count your Garden stamp and place over to the left hand side. Mat on to black card, make a hole and thread with some ribbon.

For the background I used acrylic paints in green and yellow to cover a piece of white card. To add texture I painted white gesso through the Delicate and Dots masks by That Special Touch in opposite corners. I really like creating my own collage backgrounds so with this in mind I got out all my Clarity stamps (quite a lot now) to see what I could use. The inks I have used for the background are Bamboo and Black Memento. First I stamped the NDC cow parsley stamp along the bottom using first and second generation images, then stamped the music score randomly filling in some of the spaces. The flourish from the birdcage set was repeat stamped in the corner, then fill in with the I Heard a Bird stamp.I used other little detail stamps I had in my Clarity collection to fill in and add something where I felt it was needed. Now take the block tile from the letterbox set and ink up in bamboo ink, stamp in the top corner over the gesso. Stamp the G in the box in black ink then stamp the lower case letters to spell geese. Blend bamboo ink around the edges, I also ran a black ink pad along the edge. Attach the background on to a white base card. The tag was then glued on to the base card with Pinflair glue gel. To finish I put two small strips of washi tape on the bottom left hand side.

That's all this time, thanks for looking.

Happy crafting

Sally

Fairy Windows

Hi crafter's

This card is going to be entered in to the Lavinia challenge, the theme is Anything Goes. I have used the Secret Garden stamp as windows. The first thing I did was to colour a piece of white card, I did this by putting ink straight on to my craft mat, then spritzed with water. Lay the card down in the ink, move around until you get the desired effect. The colours I used were caramel, butterscotch and peach bellini. I stamped the Secret Garden three times in a row in Coffee Archival ink then stamp the vines using first and second generation stamping along the top edge. Along the bottom I used a foliage stamp, this time I used Versamark ink and embossed with gold powder. I also stamped in between with second generation ink. I really like using pencils to add shade, in this case I used a brown one to shade the wall and window frame. To get a misty look at the bottom of the card I blended some Viva Inka Gold in antique gold with my finger, working from the edge in.Stamp and emboss in gold powder a butterfly by one of the windows. Blend some black ink around the edge of the whole piece to frame. Lastly glue on to a white base card. That's all for now, thanks for looking.

Happy crafting

Sally 

Peace and tranquility

Hi crafter's

Time for another challenge, this time Crafty Individuals. The challenge is an open challenge so anything goes, which took a surprising amount of thought about what to do. I have chosen to use the Abbeys and Arches stamp set because as a family we like to look around historical buildings. Apply ink, in this case peach bellini, straight on to your acrylic block I didn't cover it all just the size I wanted. Don't worry if the edges are not perfectly straight. Before stamping huff on the ink then stamp on to a piece of white card, the result will not be perfect. Ink up one of the images from the Abbeys and Arches in Coffee Archival and stamp on the bottom half of your inked square. Next ink up a flourish stamp, mask off the edge of the inked square then using second generation ink stamp the flourish as shown. Repeat this on the other side. Ink up the sentiment and stamp at the bottom. At the top I stamped the word Peace this is a Rubbadubbadoo stamp which I thought fitted the theme. To soften the design I blended some Paper Soft-Color by Viva in Rose. I put this over the peach bellini then off the edges and around the flourishes. In the windows of the Abbey I used a Sakura Souffle pen in white to look like light coming through, also put some white dots around the flourishes. To add a bit more shadow to the walls I used a brown pencil, I shaded in along the top edge of the stamp as well to darken the sky. I stamped a little design element and glued this next to the word peace. Mat the design on to brown and pink card then on to the white base card. 

That's all this time, hope you like it.

Happy crafting

Sally

Oh christmas tree

Hi crafter's

I am going to enter this card into the Indigoblu challenge, the subject is christmas in July. The background panel was made using a plain piece of white card, which was first painted with silver metallic acrylic paint. When it is dry I used some alcohol inks, stonewashed, stream and raspberry. Dot all the colours on to a blending felt with a little blending solution then dab the ink all over the silver paint. When I had achieved the colour I wanted I embossed it with an embossing folder, then glued this on to my base card. The topper is quite easy, firstly I stamped the Ickle christmas tree with denim distress ink, then coloured the baubles in pink sakura Gelly Roll pen. Underneath the tree I used a music score mask by That Special Touch and denim ink then wrote oh christmas tree by hand. Using a pair of scissors I roughed up the edges then blended ink all over leaving it lighter near the tree. Attach the topper to the card, then to finish use some glitter glue to highlight the snow. That's all for now.

Happy crafting

Sally

Happy birthday sister

Hi crafter's

I haven't been on the blog for a while because of helping my brother move house, then my daughters 19th birthday, talking of which I made the above card for my son to give her. I wanted this card to look quite modern and clean. The stamps I used are by Paper Smooches and I think they are just great for colouring in. I started with a piece of white card and stamped the moped near the bottom in black momento ink, then stamped the cloud and the words inside.The happy birthday and balloons I had in my stash, the bunting is by Crafty Individuals. I used pink, green and brown promarkers to colour in the moped, balloons, bunting and the word birthday. I run the pink promarker around the edge and used a fine liner pen to ground the moped. On to the white base card, I used two of the small stamps in the set and stamped down the sides, then coloured the little squares with my promarkers. As before I run the promarker around the edge this time in green. Lastly I stamped sister on a scrap of white card then used the stamp with three lines to frame, filling in any gaps with the heart. I also edged this with pink. Everything is glued down as shown. Quite a straight forward card but it was nice to concentrate on the colouring. That's all this time.

Happy crafting

Sally