July Rudolph Day Card 1

Hi everybody.  Phew, I just made this month's deadline by the skin of my teeth!  I have to admit I am struggling a bit with producing Christmas cards and not feeling terribly inspired, but I have done my best.  I decided to have a bit of a play with inks and an Indigoblu - Large Snowflake stamp and also a small snowflake from a set by Claritystamp - Winter Wonderland.  You can buy just the tree, deer and snowflake on their own too, but I bought the set with the background as well.

This first card was made using a hexagon die as the starting point.  I used a set of Xcut Nesting Hexagons dies, and using the largest die I cut one out of a snippet of white card, and then stamped and heat embossed the Large Snowflake stamp using WOW Sparkling Snow EP.  I used several colours of Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers and Picked Raspberry, and blended them together randomly.  Obviously the picked raspberry becomes more purple when covered with the blue.

I needed a slightly bigger hexagon frame, so I made a template by drawing lines up and through each of the six points of the hexagon and then joined them up.  I think this was approximately 1/2" bigger.  I then stuck the hexagon die in the middle and drew round the inside, and cut away the middle to leave the frame which was just wide enough to cover the outside edges of the snowflake.  I did find enlarging the hexagon rather time consuming and fiddly but luckily it worked ok.  I cut the frame from the template using a nice bright blue cardstock.  I covered this frame with the Claritystamp snowflake using Peacock Feathers ink and heat embossed with Clear EP.  This has to be done very quickly before the distress ink dries.  I then mounted the frame over the Indigoblu snowflake.

I made the final layer from a dark navy cardstock by holding the shape already made over the top very firmly and cutting.  I made sure that the final shape was the right size to fit my card.  I decorated this with the small snowflake again stamping and heat embossing using the WOW Sparkling Snow EP.

I mounted the framed snowflake on to this layer and offset it..  Finally I blended Peacock Feathers and  Memento - Nautical Blue round the edge of the card, and stamped the snowflake using Peacock Feathers, second generation ink to add a little extra texture, but unfortunately it doesn't show up very well in the photo.  I finished by adding some dots of Perfect Pearls to the snowflake for added interest.  I don't think this would be a good card to batch make as I would probably still be making them this time next year ...lol

The details of the second card are on a separate post below.

I am entering the two cards in the following challenge:

Rudolph Day Challenge July 2014 -  enter two Christmas cards.
 

July Rudolph Day Card 2

Hi there.  Here is the second card.  I used the same Indigoblu Large Snowflake stamped on a snippet of  white card using Memento Grape Jelly ink.  I inked it using the same distress inks as on the last card.  This was backed with a snippet of the bright blue used on the last card.

I had a go at a technique I have seen used by Barbara Gray which uses coated cardstock covered randomly in ink, and then a piece of cling film which has been sprayed with water laid on top and scrumpled a bit.  When it is dry you lift off the cling film and the water should have created nice  random wavy patterns on the card.  Well, I tried doing this with inkjet shiny paper of a reasonably heavy weight which I happened to have, and using the same three distress inks as the last card, namely Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers and Picked Raspberry.   Perhaps I wasn't patient enough but it didn't seem to be doing anything so I lifted it off and dried it with my heat tool.  It did leave one or two slight marks but nothing like it should have.  Also I found that little bits of the surface had come off.  Anyway I decided to carry on to see how it would look when finished.  I stamped over this piece with Memento Grape Jelly, first and second generation ink, using the Claritystamp small snowflake used on the last card and decided that it looked ok.  I backed this piece with a snippet of the bright blue and then the navy card.

To finish I stamped with the small snowflake stamp on to the base card using Grape Jelly second generation ink.  I then used some Perfect Pearls on the large snowflake  Neither of the cards have sentiments as I decided to leave them off for the time being.

I think if I try this technique again I will leave it overnight to see if it works any better, but it could be that the coating on this paper is not tough enough so I will need to buy the correct card.  I do like the shiny finish this piece has which is nice for a change.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I really appreciate your interest.

Pat x

I am entering the following challenge:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 135.  Must use snippets of paper or card.  I have decided to use this second card as it contains more snippets.  This is my second entry this week. 

Elegant Frame and Flowers

Hello everyone.  Hope you had a good weekend.  I can't believe it is nearly the end of another month and the weather has cooled somewhat making me feel a little more human!  Here is a card I made for a recent family birthday using an Embossalicious - Elegant Frame  6" x 6" Embossing Folder which was a small part of a prize I was lucky enough to share with another lady in a monthly competition run by Craftasmic, my local craft shop,  and you will find their Facebook page here.  It is a family run business, and in my opinion is the best run and best stocked, considering it's size, local craft shop that I have ever been in, and I have sampled very many in my time.  I also used a set of stamps by Sheena Douglass called A Little Bit Floral - Floral Corners.

I took my usual square white card and then embossed a large snippet of pastel pink card using the Elegant Frame EF.  There was an outer frame line which I cut off to leave an edge of white card when mounted.  I stamped the Lily floral corner twice on a snippet of white card using Black Archival ink, and using my Spectrum Noir Pencils - Primaries to colour them in, I then cut them out.

I decided to use these two corners to edge a central sentiment so I die cut a mat using Spellbinders - Captivating Squares, the second largest die, using a snippet of white card.  I then stamped a sentiment in the centre of this.  I wouldn't say the style and size of the sentiment is eye catching but it is the best I have.

I put it all together using my usual Collall photo glue, apart from the flowers on which I used Pinflair Glue Gel to give them more dimension.  I do use the photo glue most of the time because it will lift away relatively easy without wrecking the whole card, but sticks firm enough under normal circumstances to stay put.

This is quite a simple style of card but the embossing folder frames the flowers nicely, and I was pleased with the finished result.  Thank you for stopping by today.

Pat x

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafters Companion Challenge - Show Off Your Sentiments.  Although the sentiment isn't large I have made it the central feature.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 135.  Must have snippets of paper or card.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Emboss It.

Butterfly Birthday

Hi there.  Guess what, I have found two more inspiration challenges.  The first is Sketchbook Saturday Challenge where the sketch design had a butterfly on it and I instantly thought of Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge which I have not entered recently.  To be honest I love butterflies, and love to look at cards with them on, but I don't seem to have a great deal of variety when it comes to butterfly stamps or dies.  This means I don't make many butterfly based cards.  I  also found another called Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge where the colours in the photo are nice pastel pinks and blues and creamy colours.

 I started with my usual square card but in a cream colour and more or less the same colour as the dotty cream layer, which for some reason looks a totally different colour in the photo.  I found a nice snippet of blue spotted paper, which was a freebie way back, and backed it with a snippet of dark blue and cut it in to the tab shape.  The easiest way to get the shape right is to cut them both together and then cut an extra bit off the top one.

 I used a Crafts Too - Dots embossing folder for the cream layer, another snippet, and then stamped the sentiment in place using Memento Nautical Blue ink.  The check paper, also a snippet, is from LOTV, and the butterfly is a freebie die I got with a magazine.  I mounted it all up sandwiching a piece of grosgrain pink ribbon between the tab and the cream rounded rectangle.

This card is a change for me as it has no stamping or inking apart from the sentiment, and I hope this will be acceptable to Mrs. A as her challenge asks for spots and stripes, but the check paper was the nearest I could find.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Pat x

I am also entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 134.  This is my second card this week as there is a special challenge to submit three cards over two weeks as well as the normal weekly challenge.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Emboss It.

CAS Sunflower Anniversary

Hi there all.  Hope everyone is enjoying nice weather like we are, although the southern hemisphere have winter at the moment, so it will not be so good.  I mention this because most of the UK has been having some really good summer weather, but with this tends to come high humidity which personally I find quite hard to deal with, and it makes doing anything quite energy sapping.  Consequently I have been finding my creativity has been zapped as well!  This has led me to search out a few sketch and colour challenges to give me a bit of a creative boost.  The first one is CASE(E) this Sketch, then I noticed that Fusion Card Challenge was one that I could combine with too.


                                                                 

So here is how I did my card.  I started with a Papermania - Build a Sunflower stamp which I have had for a long time and must admit have hardly used.  I stamped it out twice using Archival Black ink on to a snippet of white card, and coloured using my Spectrum Noir Colouring Pencils - Primaries set.  I then cut them out and glued them together to make a fuller Sunflower.  Obviously I only coloured the edges of the underneath flower.  I used some Glossy Accents on the centre of the Sunflower to add interest.  I decided to add a flourish so I die cut one from another snippet of Kraft card using a Spellbinder 'D' Lite Fantastic Flourish One.  I then split this into two pieces so that it could be placed either side of the flower.

To finish I mounted the flower and flourish on to a snippet of dotty paper backed with another snippet of Kraft card which I had pierced a line of holes along the top and bottom of.  Unfortunately this doesn't show up terribly well in the photo.  I stamped two hearts in Adirondack Butterscotch ink using a set from Hunkydory - Celebrations, which I cut out and mounted at the bottom of the card.  I then stamped the sentiment on the base card underneath the flower and flourish, using Adirondack Espresso ink, and  finished with a few gems.

Thank you for looking today.

Pat x

I am also linking this to a few other challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - using snippets of card or paper, and I have used Kraft and white card snippets.
Addicted to CAS - Celebrate.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Spots and Dots.  Spotty paper and the dots are the gems.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - A Midsummer's Challenge.  The Sunflower is the essence of summer.

Lighthouse Across The Water

Hello there.  I made this card for my DH whose birthday was last week.  It is never easy making cards for the men in our lives, but I thought he would probably like this lighthouse which is part of a set by Sheena Douglas called A Little Bit Scenic - Sea Scapes.

For the background I used a selection of blues including Adirondack Stonewashed, DI Tumbled Glass and Peacock Feathers, and Memento Teal Zeal and Nautical Blue, plus some DI Seedless Preserves.   Using the Gelli Plate I made the background scene by laying the colours so that you could see where the sky ended and the sea began.  I used a piece of crumpled cling film and made some texture for the sea and darkened the sky at the top and outer edges but kept the sky much smoother.  After pulling the print I decided that the sky was not quite what I wanted so cut off the piece above the horizon line, and started again with another print, and this print I liked much more so then combined the two pieces together.  I added some extra detail to the sea by darkening some of the colours and giving it some movement by adding white horses using some white acrylic paint, and then telling myself to stop before going too far and ruining it!

I stamped the lighthouse using Black Archival ink on a snippet of white card, and using my inks in various colours including Memento Bamboo Leaves and London Fog, Adirondack Sunshine Yellow, and Distress Inks Barn Door, Walnut Stain and Spiced Marmalade, I painted the scene using a water brush.  I cut this out added it to the background minus the bit of sea which is also part of the stamp,  using some Pinflair Glue Gel, and then on the horizon line and round the front I added a tiny bit more acrylic too.  By rights I should probably have darkened these areas not lightened but quite liked the effect.

Lastly with another snippet of white card I stamped the sentiment again using Black Archival ink and then die cut the shape using a Spellbinder Labels Thirty Three, the middle sized die, and leaving it in place inked it using Memento Teal Zeal.

To finish I made three little birds with a Black Micron Pen.

Now I would like to introduce my latest two followers:

Asha Martins - Sunny Summer Crafts
Marja de Visser -  Marja's Stamp Addiction and also Marja's Creativity

Please visit these ladies and see the their lovely creations, you won't be disappointed!  I would like to say a big thank to Asha, Marja, and all my other followers, and also everyone else who stops by as I really do appreciate your interest.                                       

Pat x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 133 where we have to use snippets of paper or card.
The Artistic Stamper - By the Seaside.
Creative Card Crew - Sea/Beach

Happy Belated Birthday to Darnell

I can't believe that two weeks have passed by since Darnell's Birthday, and Ardyth and Bev have been hosting a party for her.  I now am so short of time as the link closes this evening, and I did want to join in the link up to celebrate her birthday, that I am sending her best wishes with this card I made for my last post, which isn't totally a Darnell card but I hope she will like it anyway.

Those of you who know Darnell will realise that she is a complete 'one off'.  She is funny, very thoughtful and kind and makes wonderfully inventive and creative cards, and she was also one of my first followers and has always been full of encouragement, so 'Happy Birthday Darnell', and I am sorry it is so late!

Pat x

Poppies for a Birthday

Hi all.  I wanted to make a birthday card using the lovely Papermania black and white papers which I was lucky enough to win about three weeks' ago over at Pixie's Playground.  I decided to use a set of stamps from Chocolate Baroque called Poppy Meadow, and also the current sketch over at Mojo Monday.

                                                                                           
I changed the shape to a square card as that is my shape of choice as you will probably have guessed, and I found two of the Papermania papers which I thought would work together and backed with snippets of black card,  on one of which I used a Nellie Snellen Multi Frame Borders - Three die down the side.  I stamped the poppy on to a snippet of white card using Archival Black ink, and coloured using the new Spectrum Noir Polychromos Pencils.  In fact this is the first time I have used them, but have to say I really like them.  They are are quite soft and waxy and impart a lovely sheen on to the image, and blend together extremely well.  I then die cut the shape using Spellbinders Nestibilities - Rounded Squares using the second largest die. 

 

I finished the card by adding a Papermania sentiment, a packet of which was also part of the candy.  The only part of the sketch I omitted was the flower embellishment, but then I used the sentiment albeit in a slightly different place, so hope this is ok for the challenge.

Thank you for taking a look today, and see you again soon.

Pat x

I am entering the following challenges:

Mojo Monday - 353 - Contest
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - using snippets/scraps of card or paper, and I have used some snippets of black and white card.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Start from Scratch.  My flower topper was plain white card stamped and then coloured and die cut.

Gelli Plate Anniversary Card (1)

Hi all.  I have recently acquired a 6" x 6" Gelli Plate from Claritystamp.  Barbara Gray has been a big influence on my decision to buy one as she has been using them for a good few months now, and I have become so intrigued that I finally decided to give it a go.  I am certainly no expert yet as I have only had one session with it, but I did manage to make a few prints which I was reasonably happy with.  For those of you who have no idea what it is, it is made of a plastic material which contains some mineral oil and can be used with water based inks and acrylic paints which sit on the surface very evenly, and once inked patterns can be made in it with your finger, soft tipped implements, stencils laid on it, and even opened out embossing folders providing there are no sharp edges which might damage the surface and leave permanent marks or impressions on it.  As the name implies it is flexible and jelly like, and I have seen on the net that some people have been making their own, but it needs to be perfectly smooth and I can't imagine that making it yourself can be that easy, and I'm sure it would be much more easily  damaged than the bought one.

Anyway, here is my first attempt.

I started by laying the plate on a piece of card on top of a craft sheet.  The card you are going to use for the prints should be cut to the same size so that if you make a print then decide to add another layer you can line up with the underneath piece of card.  As I have not got any acrylic paints yet I used my Adirondack Pink Sherbet pad pressed on to the plate randomly and brayered it to cover.  I then took my Cuttlebug Folder Kimmy-Luvs and inked up the raised side of the folder with Seedless Preserves ink and laid it on to the plate then pressed down to leave an inky impression and lifted it away, and then repeated the process to extend the pattern.  I took a piece of the card and laid it over the plate, rubbed it firmly on the back with the brayer and peeled it away from the plate.  You never quite know what you will get but the pattern from the embossing folder came out quite clearly.  When the print was dry I blended some more Seedless Preserves round the edges and added a very little more Adirondack Stonewashed which made a nice lilac blue when it mixed with the pink already on the print.

It was made up using a  Nellie Snellen Multi Frame Heart,  the largest die.  After die cutting the heart from a snippet of white card I used a That Special Touch Mask - Funky and ran it through my embossing machine and then inked it with Pink Sherbet and then Stonewashed over the top to give that same lilac colour, leaving the die in place to keep a white edge.  I die cut the heart out of the print and adhered it to a square card, and  then embedded the new heart into the negative shape left behind.  I have seen this done by various people but have never tried it myself before.  I put a personal sentiment on the card so I could give it to DH for our Anniversary.  I thought perhaps it might be a bit girlie but luckily the overall colour was more purple than pink and he did say he liked it (I don't think he was just being polite).

I hope this has been of interest to those of you who perhaps have never come across the Gelli Plate before, and that those of you who already have one or have seen one used will not have been too bored by my long winded explanation.  I will in time buy some acrylic paints which I think on the whole will work better with it than the inks.  The plate can be cleaned with water and dried with a piece of kitchen towel, and also baby wipes will work too.

Thank you for looking and see the next blog for a further card using the Gelli Plate.
 

Gelli Plate Anniversary Card (2)

Here is another card using the same technique with the inks and embossing folder but by placing a piece of copy paper over the  middle of the plate before pulling the print it leaves a nice white space.  I used Distress Inks in Peacock Feathers and Mustard Seed, and randomly applied them both this time and very gently mixed the colours together using my fingers, and then lightly brayered to smooth out.  I then applied Peacock Feathers to the embossing folder using the same technique as before.

I tore a shape from a piece of copy paper and placed it over the plate before pulling the print.  Using a snippet of white card and Black Archival ink and a freebie heart stamp which I got with Craft Stamper Magazine I stamped and then using the same two inks coloured the heart using a water brush, and then I stamped another heart with the Black Archival but left it uncoloured.   I inked round the hearts with a Black Micron Pen and then cut them out and glued them inside the white area which I also edged with the pen.  There were a few white spaces round the central space and some of the edges and I blended some Memento Nautical blue in to cover.   I  then used a Papermania Sentiment to finish.

I wasn't totally pleased with this as I think I was a bit heavy handed with the darker ink towards the middle of the card, as it has left rather a dark line above and below the white space, and also I could have been a bit more accurate on the first card with the embedding of the heart as I didn't line it up quite accurately enough.  Fatal mistake, I wasn't wearing my glasses, so mental note to self to always put on my specs as it is obvious I cannot see well enough without them!  I decided to go with it anyway as my less critical side decided that it was not bad enough for me not to show the card.

Well that's it for now.  Thank you for stopping by and hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Pat x