Grand Sunset Sails

Hi there everyone.  I needed to make a masculine card very quickly for a family member and so I went with my Couture Creations Grand Sunset Sails Embossing Folder which I have had for quite a long time but haven't used all that much.  Unfortunately as with other CC folders they come and go and so not easy to source now.  This card also gets my vote for the longest time to make an easy card.  Everything that could go wrong did go wrong...lol.  I will explain later.

For the card I used:

Square White Base Card.
Snippet of Blue Card.
Snippet of Silver Mirri Card.
Snippet of Dark Blue Card.
The Couture Creations Embossing Folder.
Versamark Ink.
WOW Metallic Silver Embossing Powder.
Distress Ink Faded Jeans.
XCut Best Wishes Die.

The technique I used here was the inking up of the folder with Versamark before embossing it and then adding the Embossing Powder and heat embossing it.  This particular folder has a lot of positive and negative on both sides of the folder so wasn't easy to choose but in the end I inked up the inside of the front using a brayer which helps to keep it on just the areas where you want it.  After embossing I added the powder and heat set it.  I have to say it wasn't totally covered but I decided it just had a slight random look, but after thinking about it for a bit I decided to brayer the Faded Jeans Ink on to the other parts of the scene which brought out more of the detail and seemed to finish it better.  I did cut it down a bit and mounted it on to some dark blue card before mounting that on to my white  base card.

I finished by adding the silver die cut sentiment which I had backed with Stick It adhesive.

If you are short of time or just plain bored please feel free to miss this bit......

Well, I thought I had finished but then realised after it had been sitting whilst I ran an insert off the computer, that I had mounted the scene upside down on the card.  At this point I had about 15 minutes to make the post which luckily is just a short walk away.  I tried to pull it apart but wrecked the base card, partially wrecked the backing card and slightly tore the scene itself.  Well as you can imagine the air was blue and I thought well how am I going to get this in any state to send at all, having by this time missed the post.  I ended up by starting with a new white card, stuck back the bit that had ripped from the topper, and I managed to stick back the bits that had torn from the back of the card it was mounted on to, and at this point I used some extra bits of tape on the back of the topper to help flatten it a bit, before remounting it, although it was looking a trifle bedaggled by this time.  I decided to stick it to the new card and see what it looked like, and readded the sentiment which luckily came away from the old card base without any damage.

I hate to throw anything away and after it had sat a while, it began to settle and as you can see from the picture above it looks OK.  I just wanted to make the point that it is possible to save something even when you think it is beyond repair!  On reflection it would have been better to just cut the whole thing round the edge and leave it on the piece of white base card, especially as I had used double sided tape which when you want it to stick doesn't, and when you'd rather it hadn't stuck so well proves to be a tough customer...lol.  It went in to the next day's post so was probably received late but better late than not at all.

Before I go I want to introduce who I believe to be a new follower called Sue whose blog you will find here.  Without a photo they don't join the front of the queue of faces and it was only when I realised my number had risen that I did some investigating and came up with this lady so please do go and visit her wonderful blog as there are lots of lovely things to look at.   If this isn't the correct blog then perhaps Sue you can let me know and I will give you a shout out.

Thank you for visiting today, and I promise my next post will not be so long winded.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 257 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
WOW Embossing Powder November Challenge.
The Male Room - No 49 ???Scapes - This is a seascape of sorts so hope this fits the brief.  (Honourable Mention)

November Rudolph Days Challenge

H there everybody.  This is the last Rudolph Days Challenge for this year which is run by Mo over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo and I have enjoyed being on the Design Team so thank you Mo for asking me.  I found a technique on Jennifer McGuire's blog which I thought I would try.  It is a technique for using versamark on your dies and dry embossing them and then heat embossing to bring out the thin lines of the die.  See how to do it here.

Used on the Card:

A freebie Marianne Creatables Bauble die, I think it came with a magazine last year.
An embossing folder from Crafters Companion called A Little Bit Nordic, this is its first outing.
Versamark Pad and Pen.
WOW Opaque White Embossing Powder.
Distress Inks - Festive Berries, Fired Brick, Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles.
A spray of Silver Mica Powder and some water.
Snippets of White and Dark Green Card.
Stick It Adhesive. 
Britannia Sentiment Die.

I started with the Distress Inks smooshed on to a snippet of white card using the water/silver mica spray which gave the finished piece a lovely shimmer, which probably doesn't show up terribly well in the photo.  I did darken the edges with extra Pine Needles using some blending foam. 

After drying with a heat tool I used some talc to dust my die and also the background before using the Versamark on the die and dry embossing it.  I then heat embossed using the white embossing powder.  I then used a Versamark pen for the thread and also heat embossed with the white powder.  I did give the whole piece a final spritz with the mica spray.  I then layered this on to a snippet of green card.

I found another snippet of white card and embossed it with the CC folder and coloured with the Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles Distress Inks.  I did have to cut it down a bit as I wanted to have a nice band of white base card showing round the edge.  I then layered this on to a snippet of green card.

I finished by layering up on to the white base card and die cutting a sentiment from a snippet of dark green card which I first covered with Stick It adhesive.

I did have one or two dry runs at the technique which takes a bit of practice but Jennifer does explain it very well and I think the result looks quite pretty.

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

I am entering the following challenge:

Uniko Challenge No 38 - Christmas.

Twelve Tags of Christmas

Hi everyone.  Loll Thompson has been running her Twelve Tags of Christmas event, and this is the third year she has hosted it.  I'm afraid I have missed the twelve days but she keeps it open for a week longer to allow the stragglers like me to enter.  It was a little hurried and flurried but I got there in the end.

For the tag:

Snippets of White Card.
Snippet of Dark Green Card.
Penny Black Jolly Chant Stamp. (doesn't seem to be available anywhere in the UK at the moment)
Little Bird image from Penny Black Stamp Set Jolly Friends.  (also difficult to find in the UK)
Adirondack Sunshine Yellow Ink.
Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers.
Versamark Ink.
WOW Metallic Gold Embossing Powder.
Lyra Aqua Markers.
Sweet Dixie Die - Leafy Scroll 2.                                           
Piece of Sheer Lemon  Ribbon.

I started with a snippet of white card cut to shape.  I then stamped the background script using Versamark Ink and WOW Gold Embossing Powder, and then smooshed with the yellow and turquoise inks.

Using another snippet of white card I stamped the little bird using the Versamark and the gold embossing powder.  I then coloured it using my Lyra Aqua Markers.  It could be any bird but I made it a robin as they are what I always think of for Christmas.   I then fussy cut the image.  I used a micron pen to add the eye and darkened the beak and accentuated the wing, and I also took the pen round the edges to define it so that it would show up better against the background.

I cut the Leafy Scroll from a snippet of dark green card, and I decided to cut it into two pieces so it fitted on the tag better to place the little bird.

I adhered the bird and the leafy scroll using some Pinflair Glue Gel.

Well that is all for now, but do go and take a look at all the fabulous tags that Loll and her friends have made for this wonderful twelve day event, and there is still time to make and enter a tag yourself.

Thanks for visiting today and see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenge:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 256 where we use our snippets of card and paper.
Uniko Challenge No 38 - Christmas.

Musical Birthday

Hi all.  I needed a quick birthday card for a friend's birthday.  I thought it might be fun to use this old fashioned gramophone, although as he was born in the same year as myself, and I don't remember seeing any horn gramophones,  I'm sure he won't remember them either, but I thought it was fun with the music coming out of the horn.

For the Card I Used:

The player, music score and individual notes are from the set of freebie stamps.
Distress Inks - Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Stormy Sky and Memento Sweet Plum.
Versafine Smokey Gray Ink.
WOW Clear Embossing powder.
Spectrum Noir Dark Grey and Brown Pencils.
A mixture of Silver Mica Powder and water in a spray.
Sakura Silver Gel Pen.
XCut Numbers dies.
Britannia sentiment die.
Stick It Adhesive.
Snippet of white card.
Snippets of Silver Mirri Card.
An 8" x 8" card cut down the middle horizontally.

I started by smooshing with Peacock Feathers and Sweet Plum ink on to a snippet of white card.  When this was dry I stamped the music score stamp twice using Smokey Gray ink.  Whilst it was still wet I used the Clear EP and heat set it.  I then made a mask using a post it note and stamped the horn gramophone making the music appear to come out of it.  I then stamped the random notes and  I shaded the gramophone using the grey and brown pencils.

I decided to add some more colours into the background using the Mowed Lawn and the Stormy Sky inks and some blending foam.   I used the grey pencil to shade and ground the gramophone, and I also blended some of the Stormy Sky ink underneath it too and round the edges of the piece to draw the eye in more.  I used a mica powder spray to add some more sparkle and it also added texture where it lifted the ink.

I then die cut the numbers and the sentiment using snippets of silver mirri backed with Stick It Adhesive and stuck them in place.  As a finishing touch I used the silver pen to highlight the notes, and then stuck this finished piece to the white card base.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I will be back again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 255 where we use our snippets of paper and card.
The Male Room - No. 48 Science.  (Emile Berliner invented the Gramophone in the 1890s.
Cuttlebug Mania - Music.  (I use a Grand Calibur) (Runner Up)

Poppies For Remembrance

Hi there everybody.  As today is Armistice Day here in the UK I decided to make this poppy card.   I adore poppies because they are so bright and pretty, and there is nothing so beautiful as a field full of them, but also they are a symbol of remembrance. 

For this card I used:

An 8" x 8" white card cut in half horizontally.
A Memory Box Row of Poppies die.
A Sue Wilson Petite Striplet Tiled Squares die. 
Crafters Companion Textures Embossing Folder - Distress.
Pieces of White, Black, Green and Red Card.
Sentiment.

I started by embossing the white card base with the Distress EF.  I cut the solid background striplet die from a piece of black card and then cut the open die from a piece of white.  As I wanted to have a black edge I cut round the open die by hand leaving a narrow band around the pattern.  If I had used the outside edge with it none of the black would have showed round the edge.

I then cut the poppy die twice, green for the stems and buds, and red for the flowers.  I also fiddled with one of the buds and inserted a little red so it looks as though it is just beginning to open.  When placing on the card I decided to bring the stems together instead of having them in a row.

To finish I added a silver sentiment.

Thank you for visiting today.

I am entering the following challenges:

CAS on Sunday Challenge - No. 95 Flowers.
Happy Little Stampers November Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
The Flower Challenge - No 2 Occasion.

Purple and Gold Chess

Hi there.  I was determined to enter the Less is More Challenge this week which is a colour theme using Purple and Gold.  I also had a male birthday card to make, so hey presto, I managed to combine the two.

Used on the Card:

Chocolate Baroque Art of Chess stamp.
Die-Namics Basic Stitch Lines Die. (doesn't seem to be available in the UK at the moment)
Memento Grape Jelly Ink.
Gold Mica Powder.
Britannia Sentiment Die.

I found a snippet of white card and cut it to just a little smaller than my white square base card and stamped the background chess board using the Grape Jelly ink.  I masked a bit of the stamp as I didn't want it to be too large on the card, and after stamping I used the same ink to shade the pieces on the board, and bits of the background, as you can see.  I wasn't quite sure about the colour which is rather a pinky purple, but the only other colour I had was an Adirondack Egg Plant ink and that I felt was rather dark.  I did add a bit more of the Grape Jelly using my waterbrush which darkened and shaded.

I then decided to use some gold mica on selected bits of it to incorporate the gold, and I mixed some of the mica powder on my glass mat with my waterbrush and applied it to the stamped image.  I tried taking photos from other angles to see if the gold would show up better but couldn't seem to catch it,  and the fact the light is not so good this time of year doesn't help.  In real life it is quite nice and sparkly.

I felt that it lacked something so I used the double stitched line die from the Die-Namics set round the edges of the stamped layer and adhered this to the card.  I then found a snippet of gold card on which I used Stick It adhesive, die cut the sentiment and adhered it to the finished card.

Thank you for taking a look at my blog today.  See you soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixies Crafty Workshop - Week 254 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Happy Little Stampers November CAS Challenge - Metal/Faux Metal.
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes.



*Shown in the December Reader's Gallery over at Chocolate Baroque.

IndigoBlu October Challenge Reminder - Monochrome

Hi all.  I was so excited to have been chosen as one of the Top 3 over at IndigoBlu and as a consequence they asked if I would be a Guest for the October Mid Challenge Reminder.  The challenge for October is Monochrome, so I chose to use reds and oranges, and their Peony Dinkie stamp which is beautiful. 

I started by stamping the flowers three times on to a piece of white card using Versafine Smokey Gray ink.  I then coloured the three flowers using a waterbrush and Distress Inks in Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade and Adirondack Peach Bellini.  I started with the palest colour which is the peach which I used all over, then the spiced marmalade for lighter shading,  and finished with fired brick to deepen the shading.  I then fussy cut the flowers out.  I decided to heat emboss the flowers with Versamark and WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I did this twice to build a nice shine which probably doesn't show that much in the photo but in real life gives the colours more intensity.

For the background I shaded with the three colours using blending foam and darkened round the edges with a bit more of the Fired Brick DI at the end.  I then did some ghosting.  This is a fairly new to me technique which I tried on a recent card.  I sprayed the Peony stamp with some water and pressed down on to the background for a few seconds to allow the water to lift the ink.  I then used a piece of tissue to soak up the loosened ink.  As the stamp is quite detailed it only lifted it quite lightly but then I stamped over the top with Fired Brick DI to give the flowers definition.  I did lift a little more of the ink with a waterbrush to add a few extra highlights, and also spritzed some water lightly over the background too.

I found a piece of white lace which I coloured with the Fired Brick DI and after it had dried I adhered it to the centre of the background before gluing this to the front of the square white base card.  I then placed the flowers using Pinflair Glue Gel for dimension and decided that I would die cut the tag from a piece of vellum using the smallest die from a Spellbinder set called Labels 8 Decorative Elements.  I stamped the sentiment using the Fired Brick again.  I then adhered it by one corner just under the flowers using the Pinflair Glue Gel.  I decided to finish with a few sequins which were white and so I coloured them with a red Promarker.

I kept to just the three colours so the tones would all work together for this monochromatic theme, and although this colour combination is not one I use often the fiery brightness of these tones seems apt for this time of year.

Thank you for dropping by and do go and take a look at this latest IndigoBlu Challenge as there is always lots of inspiration from their wonderful Design Team, and a great prize each month for the winner, as well as a Guest Designer spot at the start of a new challenge, or a guest spot mid month if you make the Top 3.  So get out your IndigoBlu stamps and be lucky! 

See you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Take It Make It Challenge: November - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Shine Bright Like A Diamond.  (The flowers are shiny and also the added sequins)
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Thinking of You.
The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge.
The Flower Challenge - No 2 - Occasion.

Multi Heart Anniversary

Hi everybody.  I made this anniversary card for family members a while ago but have only just got round to showing it here.  For this one I have used a couple of dies by Sue Wilson Die from Creative Expressions called Heart of Hearts and Congratulations.   The scalloped edges were cut with the largest square die from a set by Tonic.  The last thing I used was a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder called Divine Swirls, which doesn't seem to be available anywhere at the moment, although the swirls don't show up very well in the photo.

I started by cutting the black layer with the Tonic scalloped square die using a snippet of black card.  I laid it down on the card approximately where I wanted it to be and cut it roughly to shape.  I then placed the heart die, the smaller of the two outside edge dies and cut the heart out of the black card.  I then embossed using the Divine Swirls and ran it through a second time to extend the pattern.

I then cut two hearts using the same die, one from a snippet of red card and one from a snippet of white.  Using the multi heart die I cut out the little hearts from the white heart.  I then layered up the white on top of the red.

To finish I cut the sentiment from another snippet of red card which I backed with the Stick It adhesive.

After layering it all up I cut a few more hearts of various sizes using the leftover adhesive backed red card and placed these randomly as you can see.

Thank you for looking at my blog today.  See you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 253 where we use up our snippets of paper and card etc.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Thinking of You. 
Inkspirational Challenge - Black + One Colour.