Birds in Circular Frame Anniversary

Hi everybody.  I did this anniverary card quite a while ago but for some reason I have never shown it.  I used a Chocolate Baroque set for the birds called Fluttering Hearts and a Sue Wilson Orange Blossom Leaves die for the foliage.

I started with a background for which I think I used Brushos and which had been sitting on my desk awaiting an opportunity to be used.  I then embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder which I have had for a long time and sadly is not available any longer.

I cut a circle with a set of dies from The Works using a snippet of white card to frame the background, and before adhering I tucked the white die cut leaves cut from snippets under the edge of the circle.

I then stamped and embossed the birds, again using a snippet of white card and Versamark Ink, and heat set them with WOW Gold Metallic Embossing Powder.  After gluing the leaves to the background I added the fussy cut birds letting them overlap the edges of the circular frame.

I finished by adding the sentiment again using the Gold Metallic EP.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 328 where we use our snippets of paper and card etc.
Uniko Challenge - No. 47 using a photo inspiration ( I have got green and gold in the background and there is some white on the suitcase which is my other main colour so I hope this works for the challenge)
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anniversary/Wedding.
Happy Little Stampers June Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.

Vintage Bicycle

Hi everybody.  This is a card I made for one of our good friends, a few weeks ago now, and just haven't got around to showing it before.  We went for a visit to the Isle of Wight  and whilst out and about passed this craft shop, well, who can resisist going in for a quick look round, and I found this Memory Box Vintage Bicycle die which had to come home with me, but have found it on line with the link above, much cheaper too so should have waited, but was too tempted at the time.

I decided to do a technique which I have done a few times which is to cover the raised parts of the die with Versamark Ink, lay this on to your piece of white card inked side down, place your embossing mat, then the card with the die on top, and use your usual sandwich of plates, though sometimes it does require shimming, and run it through your machine. Then add your embossing powder and heat emboss.  This should give a debossed image with your chosen finish, in this case WOW Metallic Silver.   I die cut this using a Crealies Pierced Rectangle Die and used Distress Oxide in Salty Ocean having left the centre lighter, and then used Squeezed Lemonade which mixed with the blue to make a bit of green too.  I added several layers of the yellow as it is quite a pale yellow.  I then finished with a bit of Blueprint Sketch DI around the edges.  When dry I mounted this on to a piece of white card a little larger.

Unfortunately after adding the colour the silver embossing was very faint so I decided to add in a die cut bicycle over the top of the outline and die cut it in white card and then using Versamark Ink heat embossed with the WOW Silver EP.  I did this two or three times to get good coverage.  I did question myself afterward as to why I didn't just cut it from Silver Mirri.  I think I had it in my mind that it would match in better if it was embossed but really it made no difference and would certainly have been a whole lot easier..lol.

I then used the die as a stamp in the background on to a piece of blue card which I had cut with the largest Crealies Pierced Rectangle.  Instead of running it through my machine I inked the die with the Versamark Ink and just pressed it on to the card with my hands quite firmly.  I did this randomly over the blue card and then heat embossed again with the Silver EP.  It just left a nice random pattern on the background, not a strong outline but enough to see the bicycle shape, although it doesn't show up well here.

I finished by die cutting a sentiment using some Silver Mirri card and added it after layering the other elements on to a 7" x 5" card. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Monday Challenge - All Things Bright and Beautiful.

May Rudolph Days Challenge

Hi, I'm here again with a quick offering for this month's Rudolph Days Challenge using three items which have not been used for a very long time, a Cuttlebug Holly Ribbons Embossing Folder, a Chocolate Baroque Snowflake Shadow stamp from their bold backgrounds range,  and a Sue Wilson Vintage Bauble die which unfortunately doesn't seem to be available now.  The challenge is run by Mo of Scraps of Life by Scrappymo and runs from the 25th to the end of each month.  I am late posting as usual so this has had to be a quick card in order to make the challenge.

I used a piece of white card about 5" square and die cut the aperture in the card and embossed it using the Holly Ribbons EF.

I then cut the gold mirri bauble frame using this die and the other slightly larger one.  I ran a gold pen round the edge of this white layer using it up against a ruler to keep it straight and this highlighted the edges nicely.  I matted this on to the white card.

I cut another of the small baubles from white card and stamped the Chocolate Baroque Snowflake and Versamark Ink and heat embossed using WOW Gold Glitter Embossing Powder.  I then blended some Festive Berries Distress Ink on it before setting it into the aperture.

I finished by adding the gold mirri bauble frame over the top and also a gold sentiment.

Thank you for taking a look today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenge:

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge - No. 387 Anything Christmas Goes (no optional twist).
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Music Speaks

Hi there.  This is a birthday card that I made for our DS in Australia and which he has received luckily in time for his birthday today, so I can show it here.  The postal service in Australia can be a bit random, and even when you allow lots of time things still sometimes arrives late, luckily not so this time.  I used a Visible Image stamp called Music Speaks and one of their stencils called Strobes.

I found a snippet of white card and coloured it with Salty Ocean and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide inks and some Blueprint Sketch DI around the edges, using my gelli plate to mix the colours on and then spritzed with water before laying the card over to transfer the colour.  I wanted there to be a circular shape of lighter colour where I knew the guitar would be placed.  I then stamped the music stamp twice using Hickory Smoke DI as I didn't want it to stand out too much.  I then placed the Strobes stencil over the top and ran it through my machine to emboss it and added some silver gilding wax to the embossing.  I'm afraid that catching the shine is really difficult, but in real life it certainly glints in the light. 

I found another snippet of white card and stamped the guitar using Blueprint Sketch DI and then using a silver glitter pen I highlighted the words and the pegs, and then fussy cut it out.

I then stamped the words with the Blueprint Sketch DI on to a further snippet of white card stamping each work individually by masking the other words off when inking, and blended a little more of the same colour just to take the whiteness off the card.  I then added the die cut Happy Birthday and the matted layer using some mor snippets of dark blue before sticking it on to the white 6" square card.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 327 where we use our snippets of card, paper etc.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Masculine.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge  - Anything Goes.

Chocolate Baroque Tulips

Hi everybody.  I'm back again with my third and last card for now as part of the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog, and I have opted for a more CAS card this time featuring some lovely tulips from the Spring Bird Tulip set of stamps.  There are some pretty tulips still blooming at the moment which prompted me to use them for this card.

   

I started by cutting the pierced rectangle with a Crealies die using the grey card, and then cut the Spellbinders Floral Oval from that.  Unfortunately the Crealies die does not seem to be available any longer.

I stamped the flowers on to a piece of white stamping card using Versafine Smokey Gray ink, and coloured them with pencils, using three pinks and a purple for the flowers, and then two greens plus some yellow and brown for the leaves and stems.  I then fussy cut and shaped them a little before adhering them using glue gel to give some dimension.

I stamped the sentiment, again using the Versafine Smokey Gray ink, and then heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder which gives it a darker finish.

After placing the rectangle on to the white 7" x 5" card I inset the oval back within it.

I will be back on Chocolate Baroque later in the year, but for now a big thank you for stopping by today and I'll be back soon.

Twofer Challenge - Butterflies

Hi there all.  I am last minute again for a couple of my favourite challenges.  I say every month I am going to get ahead but things keep getting in the way.  I nearly missed the last Twofer Challenge, and have made it through the door with about a day to spare.  It is run by Darnell and the theme this time is butterflies.  We have to make two cards for two different occasions using the same stamp or die.  The stamp used on both cards is from Chocolate Baroque's Fluttering Hearts set.  Here are the cards:

I am entering these cards into the Twofer Challenge - No. 5 Butterflies.


The first card is an anniversary card using the CB stamp, a square stitched die from The Works, a heart from a set by Sweet Dixie, and a Cuttlebug embossing folder called Kimmy-Luvs, which is so old they don't make it any more, but it remains a favourite of mine.

I started with a piece of white card which I die cut with the stitched square and using Candied Apple Distress Ink I inked up the inside front piece of the embossing folder, spritzed it and then pressed the card on to it to give this loose watercolour look for the background, and I stamped the sentiment using Versafine Smokey Gray ink.  I then stamped the image twice on to a piece of white card and fussy cut the butterfly on one and the heart on the other.  I decided to do it in two pieces to give it more dimension when layered up.  I coloured both using a combination of Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Mermaid Lagoon and Twisted Citron Distress Inks using a Wink of Stella pen instead of a waterbrush which gives it all a lovely glittery finish.  I decided to layer the heart and butterfly on to another heart cut with the Sweet Dixie die, and blended Mermaid Lagoon ink on to it again using blending foam.  I finished by layering it on to a 6" square white card. 

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Use More Than One Stamp.
Happy Little Stampers May Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes/Optional Twist CAS.


The second card  has just the  butterfly part of the CB stamp plus a stamp from their Texture Fragments set, a Tonic Scalloped square die, and a Sheena Douglass embossing folder from her Textures range, but which again doesn't seem to be available now.

I found a snippet of white card, die cut it with the scalloped die and dry embossed it using the Sheena Douglas EF, then mounted it on to my 6" square white card.  I then die cut the stitched square from a smaller scalloped die using another snippet of white card and stamped the Texture Fragment stamp on to it several times to cover it using Versamark Ink and heat embossed using WOW Clear Gloss EP.  I then inked in stripes using Candied Apple, Fossilised Amber and Mermaid Lagoon, and the orange, green and purple are a mixture of these primary colours, together with a stripe of Picked Raspberry DI.  I stamped just the butterfly part of the CB stamp on to another snippet of white card using the Versafine grey ink  and heat embossed with WOW Silver Embossing Powder, and fussy cut it.  I coloured in just part of the butterfly with a mixture of Blueprint Sketch and Mermaid Lagoon DI and coloured with the WOS pen which I also brushed over the whole of the butterfly to give a sparkle to the white bits too.  I finished by  die cutting the sentiment using WOW silver foil instead of mirri card, just as an experiment to see what the finish was like in comparison.  I glued the foil to a snippet of white card using Stick It adhesive and then die cut.  It worked well and I think the foil has a brighter look than the mirri, but it was a rather fiddly procedure so not sure that I will be doing it that way again.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

CAS Watercolour May Challenge - Rainbow.  I hope this is CAS enough with the background embossed layer, but it is white so hopefully will be OK.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 326 where we use our snippets of card, paper etc.
Allsorts Challenge - Happy 9th Birthday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

Chocolate Baroque Spring Bird and Leafy Scene

Hi everyone.  This is my second card this month as one of the Guest Design Team over at Chocolate Baroque, and as Spring is definitely here now I used one of the Spring Bird Sets Spring Bird Crocus, which has this sweet little bird surrounded by fresh green leaves and with eggs in the nest, which just sums up this time of year.   I also used two different leaves from the Autumn Poppy set of stamps.

I cut a piece of white card and using my gelli plate covered it with Distress Inks, Blueprint Sketch and Mermaid Lagoon at the top and then some Fossilised Amber and Twisted Citron towards the middle, and Cracked Pistacio and Lucky Clover at the bottom, and then spritzed with water and laid the card over and the colours mixed together to make this loose and colourful background.

I then added the bird and the two different leaves to frame the scene making sure I stamped them well within the piece of card as I knew I would be cutting it back a little, and coloured with the same inks using a waterbrush, with the exception of the bird's head on which I used some Carved Pumpkin and Abandoned Coral Distress Inks.

I cut the piece down and matted on to a piece of white card, and then on to a piece of cobalt blue, and added it to a 6" square white base card.

I finished by stamping the sentiment using Mermaid Lagoon, and then darkened it a bit with Stormy Sky, and couldn't have done this if I hadn't used my Misti.

Thank you for looking at the blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Penny Black and More May Challenge - Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations May Challenge - Close to Nature.