Beatrice

Hi crafter's

I finally got round to making my card for the Clarity challenge. The subject is vintage. I thought Beatrice would be the perfect stamp to use, and because there are flowers in the image there has to be some in the background! So I started with a piece of white card placed on my base plate and some flowers from my garden ( I only took a few so my husband will not notice) I used some pink cosmos. The first thing I did was to pull the petals off and arrange them on the card. You can use whole flowers but I find the centre can sometimes end up a brown mess. A bit of experimentation is needed for this technique. When I was satisfied with my arrangement I put another piece of card on top, then the cutting plate on top of that and run it through my Grand Calibur. Carefully pull the two pieces of card apart, they do stick together slightly. Using tweezers gently pull the petals off the card and see what colour  the flowers have left behind. Any little bits can be gently rubbed away. You end up with two pieces of card to use one will be darker than the other. Leave to dry. The colour I had was very similar to Milled Lavender so I used that along with Seedless Preserves. First I stamped Beatrice in place then coloured her in with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Sansador. Next I used a flower template (from Crafters Workshop) and Milled Lavender distress ink. I placed the template just around the edge and blended the ink. Turn the template around so each side is different. Then with the same ink stamp the key next to the hollyhocks. To frame the card I inked up the delicate corner in Seedless Preserves and stamped in each corner. Now ink up the rod from the Birdcage set and stamp in between the corners. Using black ink stamp the Count your Garden word stamp at the top of the card. Rub a little Inka Gold in Antique Gold around the edges with your finger. Mat the card on to some antique gold card then glue on to a white base card. For the embellishments I stamped the key and the miniature robin in Seedless Preserves. Using a water brush blend the ink to colour the robin, adding a little Vintage Photo. Blend a little Milled Lavender over the key to take away the whiteness, then rub some of the Inka Gold over the top. Cut out the key and robin and attach as shown. To make my bow I used two strips of lace then tied a piece of cream organza ribbon around the middle, the knot is underneath, glue this to the key and add a pearl in the centre to finish. That's all this time, let me know if you like it.

Happy Crafting

Sally

Dandelion Fairy

Hi crafter's

I have made this card for the Craft Stamper magazine challenge which I've never entered before, even though I've subscribed for some years. It made a change to not be restricted to a certain make of stamps, all that's needed is some acetate, somewhere. I decided to use a resist technique. First I coloured a piece of acetate with some alcohol inks, I used stream and raspberry. I randomly dabbed the ink around until I had the look I wanted. You will get a better result if the colours are quite strong. Next I inked up my fairy, which came from a set by Joanna Sheen, with Archival ink and stamped her in place. Take a piece of kitchen towel and dab off the ink. Don't rub or the ink might leave a mark. I normally put gold mirri card behind the acetate to show up the stamp but this time I used some cream coloured glitter card, this makes the whole panel glittery. Lovely! Mat the panel on to black card. The background paper was made using Adirondack ink pads in the same colour as the alcohol inks. I put ink on to my mat, spritzed them with water then placed my card on top moving it around to mix up the colours. Stamp the flowers in Archival ink, mine are from Stamp Addicts, and watercolour them in with the Adirondacks then cut out. Stamp and emboss the butterfly, this one came from Kaisercraft, with black embossing powder. I coloured it in with colouring pencils then cut out. Mat the background paper on to some black card then place on to a white base card. Stamp some flourishes in opposite corners then attach the acetate panel. Glue the flowers and butterfly in place with pinflair glue. That's it for now, hope you like it.

Sally

Shabby chic canvas

Hi crafter's

I have just finished my entry for the Indigoblu challenge which is titled shabby chic. I decided to make a mini canvas. I started with an 18"x 13" canvas board which I covered with a layer of white gesso. When this was dry I dabbed on some acrylic paint in cream, sage green and a pearl acrylic in lilac. This was done randomly with a piece of car sponge. Leave to dry. To make the topper I first cut out two different sized Spellbinders dies. The largest one I coloured with the cream and sage paints using the car sponge to dab it on. I used the die as a template by holding it down on to the canvas when applying the paint. A pattern was left behind. I made the edge cream so it would stand out from the background. I stamped the Elizabeth Bennett stamp (free from Craft Stamper magazine) on to the smaller die cut over to one side, then coloured with pencils and blended Milled Lavender distress ink around the edge. Now glue this to the larger die cut. To add more interest to the canvas board I used a variety of different stamps, the flourish from Wild Meadow, dinky Anenome Corner and the lady on the bike from Grand Tour 1. These were all stamped with London Grey Memento ink. I coloured the anenome corner in with a deep pink pencil. Die cut a buckle (I used Memory Box) and thread some cream lace through. Glue down a piece of white lace across the board, then glue the cream lace over the top leaving some white showing. Now adhere the Elizabeth Bennett topper to the canvas. Stamp the anenome corner twice with grey ink on to some scrap card and colour in. Cut out. Stamp Elizabeth Bennett on to some scrap card  focusing on the butterfly on her shoulder. Colour in with pencils. In my stash I had a very small metal frame charm  so I cut the butterfly to fit then used glossy accents to glaze. Leave to dry, try not to touch ( I'm not very good at that!). Next I die cut a flourish and a key and coloured  them with inks then swiped Brilliance ink in gold over the key. Glue these down with Pinflair. Shape the anenomes and attach as shown. Thread a piece of cream ribbon on to the charm then attach with dimensional glue. To finish rub some gold ink around the edge of the canvas.
That's about all for this time, thanks for stopping by.

Happy crafting

Sally

Honeysuckle

Hi crafter's

It's been a while since my last project, so busy making cakes and getting my daughter ready to go back to uni. I thought I had better get on with my design for the Lavinia challenge which is called add a flower. When I saw this honeysuckle stamp I had to have it, so delicate and pretty. To start take a piece of smooth white card and stamp the honeysuckle three times joining it together to make one large plant. I then placed the Moroccan mask by That Special Touch over the top and inked through with peach bellini and shell pink Adirondacks. I left the card white around the flowers. Next I coloured in the flowers with pink and orange Prismacolor pencils and blended with Sansador to give a soft finish, then coloured the leaves in green the same way. Ink up the miniature flowers stamp in peach bellini and stamp randomly around the honeysuckle.To make the flowers stand out more I covered them with glossy accents to give a lovely shine. I made the flower using Spellbinders Carnation Creations. I cut two layers from white card and coloured them with the Adirondack inks then glued them together slightly offset. The leaves are in the same die set, I used two leaves and cut them in half. I made a little tag and wrote the word flowers free hand and also out lined the tag. I found a pink button in my stash and threaded some twine through the holes then glued it in the centre of the flower. To finish attach the tag, leaves and flower in the top right hand corner. Quite a straight forward card this time hope you like it.

Bye for now.

Happy crafting

Sally   

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