Rose Script Anniversary

Hi there.  Forgive me for not posting sooner, but I have been quite busy recently, and I don't know if it's the time of year or what, and my mojo has been sorely lacking, but hope to make up for lost time this week.  Well, we are nearly into March and although there still seems to be plenty of wet weather to cope with which is still making life difficult for a lot of people, it is in fact only about four weeks to the official start of Spring.

Anyway today's card is an anniversary card as there will be some family anniversaries coming up in April, so thought I would get ahead.  I decided to us a Chocolate Baroque stamp called Rose Stem Script.                                                                                                                                                    

 Here is what I have used to make this card:                     

                                                                                    

White square card
White stamping card
Black card
S/B Labels Thirty Two
Freebie Butterfly die
Promarkers -  Ruby, Lime Green,
Forest Green, Henna and Blender
Memento dye ink - Tuxedo Black
Adirondack dye ink - Pink Sherbert
Pink Parchment




                                                                                                                                                       
I stamped the Rose on to a scrap/snippet of white card cut just a bit smaller than the base card, and coloured with Promarkers in colours as above.  I heard Sue Wilson talking about the under the edge die cutting technique  when she was on the tv, so thought I would give it a try.  Her blog is here if you want to take a look. You have to lay your die where you think you want it, and mark with a pencil.  You then cut around anything on the image  that lies within the pencil marks and just a little beyond so you can tuck the die underneath.  I die cut with the Labels Thirty Two second largest die, and used the Adirondack Pink Sherbet ink around the edges on the side stamped with the rose, and also laid the die back over the card and inked though on to the base card, having made sure everything was positioned correctly.  I removed the die and lightly inked around this inked shape so the centre was darker than the edge.   I decided to layer this on to some black card having cut around the die cut and inked shape.  I stamped one of the sentiments which comes with the set using Memento Tuxedo Black.  I finished the card with a freebie butterfly die cut twice with some scraps/snippets of pink parchment.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 113 where we have to use scraps/snippets of card or paper, and I used snippets of pink parchment, and white card.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Wedding or Anniversary
Butterfly Challenge - Butterflies and Flowers

Brown Owl

Hi everyone.  We had a lovely surprise today.  Our son came to stay unexpectedly, and as he isn't able to get over here that often we really love it when he does.  I hope you all enjoy the upcoming weekend as much as we will.

Anyway, on to today's card.  This is a card for a friend's husband whose birthday was on Wednesday.  It is a stamp by Indigoblu called T'wit T'woo, and is a lovely large and beautifully etched stamp.

 

I started by stamping the owl on to a scrap/snippet of cream card using Versamark ink and then heat embossed with WOW Bronze EP.  To add a little extra definition I took a black micro pen and went round the edge of the image and used a little on his eyes, as when using EP the detail can get a little lost .  I cut the topper back a bit and mounted on to Gold Mirri card which unfortunately isn't that easy to see here.

 I decided to us a piece of Kraft card just a little smaller than the base card for the background, and using a That Special Touch Mask - Acorn Leaves and some DI in Walnut stain, I inked through the mask to make a frame round the edge of this.  As the mask is 6" x 6" I inked either end and then added a bit in the middle to join it up.  I then used a couple of the stamps from a set by Chocolate Baroque - Autumn Hedgerow and stamped along the bottom, and then one from another CB set called Lily which has a silhouette stamp with leaves which when used upside down along the top looks fine for foliage.  These were all stamped using DI Walnut Stain.

This was mounted on to black card, and the to finish I stamped the sentiment on to a scrap/snippet of cream card using Archival Jet Black ink, and then mounted this on to a snippet of black card giving  it first a 'V' shape.  I then stamped the teasel silhouette from the CB Autumn Hedgerow set of stamps on to a scrap/snippet of white card again using Versamark and WOW Bronze EP.  I cut this out and when the topper was mounted on to the base card I placed this just overlapping it.  I have to say that when it was finished I was a bit unsure about the colour of the background, as the overall effect is a bit dark, but I do quite like the monochrome look to it.

I would like to thank everyone who takes an interest in what I do, it really means a lot to me.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop Week 111  where we have to use scraps/snippets of card, and I used snippets of white, cream and black card.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - We Love Stamps
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Get Krafty by using Kraft card.

Sung from the Heart

When thinking about a challenge which calls for a rainbow, as in the challenge over at Less is More this week, the song which goes.... red, and yellow, and pink, and green, purple and, orange and blue, I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too.... springs to mind.  There are also a few challenges at the moment with hearts, it being nearly Valentine's Day, and after thinking about it for a while I came up with the idea of weaving the colours of the rainbow together to make a border and then adding, guess what?  Hearts of course.

As the light has been appalling lately I tried the trick of using a plastic box lined with paper as a light box, lit with my daylight lamp.  It has worked well I think, and thanks go to Mary H whose blog I saw it on when she tried it out herself.  The only problem is that the light I used was so bright that it showed up every little bit of the photo glue that was still stuck to the card after the weaving process, which my feeble eyes had not noticed until after I had photographed and put everything away, but never mind, it will have to do as they say.  I use the photo glue a lot because it is very forgiving and will rub off  if it goes where you don't want it to go.

I found some scraps/snippets of thinnish card cut into strips about 7mm wide by 15cm long.  I chose the red, blue and purple as the warp, and the green, orange, pink and yellow as the weft, as the shorter lengths are easier to weave in and out, and just continued with green, orange, pink and yellow to the end.  I mounted this on to scraps/snippets of  the blue and then the purple.  I mounted this on my usual white square card.

Next  I used my Nellie Snellen Multi Frame Heart Dies.  I cut out the largest heart in white, and made an inner heart in red with the next size die, which has a plain edge, and then embossed this with the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Kimmy Luvs.  To give it a nice clean edge I embossed it with the die still in place, although in the photo the clean edge is difficult to see.  You have to lay the EF open on the base plate with the die on top, and the flat side against the EF.  The side that cuts must be face up otherwise the pressure can ruin your folder.  You then use the tan mat and some shims, or a second silicone mat for extra thickness, and if using the Grand Calibur the raspberry plate.  I did try using the pink plate as the folder is laid open, but it was too difficult to send through so the shims and the raspberry plate are the way to go.  With other machines you will need to experiment to see what works best. 

I then cut and embossed the next size fancy heart from the same set of dies using red card, and the next smallest plain edged die cut and embossed in white, with a sentiment from Chocolate Baroque - Rose Stem Script  stamped with  Archival Ink in Jet Black.  I used the Archival because the stamp is quite fine and this tends to pick up the finer lines better.  This is a quote by Albert Einstein, but I covered the name over before inking in order to fit it into the space.

I would like to say thank you to Barbara Daines - glitterati1.blogspot.com, and Karen Petitt  - stampinginpink.blogspot.com for becoming followers.  I'm sure they would appreciate you popping over for a visit to see their lovely work. 

As today is Friday another weekend is looming and I hope it will be an enjoyable one.  That saying, the weather at the moment seems to be bad for a lot of people.  I know there are places fairly near here that have had some flooding, but let's hope there will be some improvement soon!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Less is More - Happy 3rd Birthday, with a rainbow colour challenge.
Simon Says Monday Challenge = Love Notes
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Have a Heart
Addicted to CAS - Love
Cuttlebug Mania = A Touch of Red

Evening Elegance

Hi Everyone.  Well, another weekend over and another week gone since I posted anything on here.  I don't really know where the time has gone to, down a large black hole I think.  I wonder if it's the time of year or the rather horrid weather which seems to have sapped my energy, and made me slow.  Anyway this week I must try to be more productive.

This is a card which I made for a friend several weeks ago.  I took pictures of it intending to post it on here, but the pictures were dreadful because of the bad light, and I decided to leave it.  My friend loved the card, and so I very cheekily asked if I could borrow it back to retake the pictures, and so here we are.  

This was made using a white square card.  The background has been stamped on white card with Versamark ink using a little flower stamp from a set made by Hunkydory, and then heat embossed with WOW White EP.  I then embossed it using a Crafts Too - Tropical Flowers which I inked up using several colours of DI, namely, Victorian Velvet, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves and Spiced Marmalade.

The main image was taken from a set of stamps by Creative Expressions - Belle of the Ball.  I stamped using Versamark ink and heat embossed with WOW Silver EP.  I then coloured in the image with DI in Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserves using a fine brush and a little water.   Using S/B Decorative Elements - Labels 8,  I die cut the image using the second largest die, and then inked the edges using DI in Seedless Preserves.  I mounted this and the background on to snippets of lilac pearlescent cardstock.

Lastly I stamped a sentiment from the same set of stamps with a snippet of white card and die cut it with the smallest die from the Labels 8 set and inked the edges very slightly.   I tied a bow from a length of grosgrain lilac ribbon and wrapped it round the middle of the background layer before attaching to the white base card, and then layered up the rest of the card.

I am entering this card over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop as I used snippets of white and lilac cardstock.