Tree of Life

Morning, Great too have you join me this morning. I am sharing one of the cards I made for the launch of 'A Little Bird' stamps and stencils from Clarity, Barbara launched them last weekend. If you would like to watch the shows for inspiration, they should still be available on "Rewind' via the Hochanda website.

You Will Need:

Clarity 'A Little Bird' Stencil

Clarity 'Life' From the Stamp Club

Clear Embossing Powder

White Stamping Card

Centura Pearl White/Silver Base Card

Black Card

Distress Oxide Blueprint Sketch

Distress Oxide Seedless Preserves

Distress Oxide Wilted Violet

Versamark Ink Pad

Black Soot Distress Ink

Step 1: Ink up the reverse of your stencil, using the Distress Oxide Inks. Then run through your machine, this will give a wonderful emboss to the finished image. Coat this with clear embossing powder and heat. Next stamp 'Life' using Versamark and again heat emboss with the clear powder.

Step 2: Use Black Soot to completely cover the whole area. You want to get a really dark solid black. Trim around the full stencil, including the rounded corners.

Step 3: Mount onto black card, leaving a very narrow border, ten mount onto your white base card.

This technique gives the illusion of a coloured die cut which has been mounted onto the black card.

Thank you so much for joining me today, I do hope you have enjoyed the tutorial along with the finished card. I hope you will join me again very soon to see what I have to share with you. For now, Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Twilight & Sunset

Hi Everyone, So glad to be here with you again this morning, Here is a really atmospheric card I made for the launch of 'A Little Bird' from Clarity. It's a wonderful collection of Stencils and Stamps. I have made this card and mounted it so it looks like a faux Die cut.

You will Need:

Clarity 'A Little Bird' Stencil

Versamark Ink

Clear Embossing Powder

Water Spray

White Card Base

Watercolour Card

Black Liner Pen

Infusions Royal Blood

Infusions Rusty Car

Step 1: Ink up the reverse of your stencil with Versamark Ink. Run through you machine to get a nice, deep emboss. Coat with embossing powder and Heat.

Step 2: On a separate sheet of watercolour card, totally wet the side you are using and lightly spritz on the back to stop it curling. Sprinkle the surface with the infusions, keeping them separate, (See Photo). When dry mount it onto your base card.

Step 3: Repeat this with your embossed watercolour card, keeping the same colours in the same halves. When dry add shadow to one side of the image, this gives a 3D look. Trim this to leave a narrow border of the edge.

Step 4: Layer this on to your background with Tacky glue.

Here is the finished card:

It's been lovely of you to visit today. I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial along with the finished card. Another thing, here is a 30% off voucher to use on your first order (anything) from Hochanda, use code FEY5JBP7.

I do hope you will join me again very soon, to see what else I have to share with you. For now Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Poinsettia Wreath

Morning everyone, I have such a lot to share with you as I have fallen so far behind. I am sure you all know what it's like there just aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week come to that. Today I am sharing a card I made for the launch of the stunning Christmas 3D Embossing Folders. The designs are so beautiful, so I like to keep them simple to show off as much detail as possible. These really are perfect for batch card making at Christmas and give a striking effect.

You will need:

Poinsettia Frame 3D Embossing Folder

Gemini Festive Words 2

Gemini Festive Foliage Set 1

White Stamping Card 5 x 7''

Black Card 8 x 6''

Centura Pearl Card Base 8 1/2 x 6 1/2

Anti Static Bag

Versamark Ink Pad

Red Satin Card

Red and Green Foamiran

Red Ribbon

3D Glue Gel

Tacky Glue

Step 1:Run over your card with an anti static bag. Then coat your folder with Versamark and emboss your card.

Step 2: Coat the card with Black Embossing Powder and heat to set.

Step 3: Cut the 'Merry & Bright' from the centre of the red card that you will use for the mat. Secure with Tacky glue and then mount your card onto the red.

Step 4: Take your black card and wrap the ribbon around both corners, secure with tape then mount onto your card base.

Step 5: From Foamiran cut some of the poinsettias & leaves, screw them up gently and set aside for a few minutes. Unravel and layer.

Step 6: Add the flowers and leaves to you card too finish the project.

Thank you so much for joining me today, It's been great to have your company. I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial and the finished card. See you soon, For now Take care and Happy Crafting.xxx

Cracker Box

Morning, Here is the Cracker Box for the cracker I made yesterday. Leonie's stamp and die collection made it so easy to create little extra's for Christmas, that all coordinated. If you missed any shows, they are still available on Catch Up via Hochanda's website.

Laid side by side the crackers I made measured approximately 6 x 7'', so the box needed to be this size when finished, I also wanted it to be 2'' deep. Therefore I took two identical pieces of white Centura Pearl card measuring 10 x 11''. Using my Big Score, I scored at 2'' on all sides, one box lid and one box base. On the base piece, I  cut the corners to form tabs, I did not score and fold at this point. I was also going to use the pearlescent side for the inside of my box.

Taking the box lid, I cut 1 1/4'' from all sides to make the lip shorter, I then cut a square aperture in the centre using a basic square die. I also cut a square of acetate that would form the window.

I calculated where the lid would sit and just below this mark I stamped one of the line sentiments on each of the four sides. I used an anti static bag, versamark and fine detailed embossing powder in silver.

I decorated the box lid and base using a selection of the snowflakes, The inks I used were the same as the other coordinating items: Shaded Lilac, Blueprint Sketch Distress inks and Summer Sky Memento.

From white Centura Pearl, I cut the Entwined Snowflake Base, twice.

I assembled the box base and lid using Cosmic Shimmer glue. I secured the acetate inside the box lid using red liner tape and then arranged the snowflakes inside using 3D glue gel.

Thank you so much for your visit today, I hope you have enjoyed this project and the step by step I have shared. Hope to see you again tomorrow. Take care and Happy Crafting xx

Christmas in June with My Own Stamps

Morning, I just wanted to remind you all that tonight is the Brand New Launch of Leonie Pujol's Stamps and Die collections on Hochanda at 8pm. The collections are stunning and really not to be missed, I will be sharing some of my designs this evening on my blog. This is the card I am sharing today and there is a story behind it which I will explain.

Every year I say that I am going to make a few Christmas cards each month so when I get to December, I have a head start and every year I don't. This year was no exception until I spoke to Dawn a little while ago.

Dawn makes a few cards each month and has a nice little stash by the time it arrives.I answered her saying, well I will definitely do it next year. To which she replied why not now. Well it got me thinking and she was right why not now, so here we go.

Don't worry this is a one off Christmas post for now. I decided that I would make some Christmas stamps to help me get ahead. With the exception of the Sentiment on the tag I drew and made the stamps that made this card.

I designed and drew the topper which is one stamp and 4 different snowflakes and proceeded to make the stamps, with my stampmaker.

For the background I stamped my snowflakes with versamark ink and embossed them with white and 2 different blue fine detail embossing powders. I did each colour individually. Then taking Summer Sky Adirondack and Weathered Wood Distress ink I blended the colour onto the background keeping it darker around the edges.

I cut my tag from white card with a tag die and then cut the next size up in Dark Blue for my mat. I stamped the sentiment using Paris Dusk Memento ink. I then added my snowflakes and embossed them as before.

I stamped my main image stamp with Tuxedo Black Memento, then masked it off with some copier paper and Crafters Companions Stick n Spray (Temporary Adhesive) I then die cut this leaving a nice border around it and also cut the mat for this in Dark Blue card.I added the snowflakes around my masked image and embossed as for the background. The using the same inks I blended from the edges keeping it darker at the edge. I then coloured my image with a selection of alcohol markers and mounted my design onto the mat.

To finish off my design, I added some Metallic Gold Flowersoft for the tinsel on the Christmas Tree and some Glossy Accents on the baubles. I used 3D glue gel to attach the topper to my background card. I then punched a hole in my tag, threaded some red cord through it and secured it to the background using 3D glue gel.

Obviously this first one took a bit of time as I was making drawings and stamps for a lot of the afternoon. But now this stamp should help me get ahead with my simple Christmas cards at least.

I really hope you have enjoyed this post. Don't forget to come back later to see the samples I have made with Leonie's new collections.Take care and bye for now.xx

Life's Rainbow

Morning, Since I very first saw the Bee Crafty stamps I have loved them. I especially like the sentiments, sometimes even using them as a starting point for my finished project. I make a lot of Artist Trading Cards and the smaller sized sentiments are superb for that.

The project I am sharing today is actually a completely different card to what I set out making. I started off using the Quill,Nibs and antique accounts stamps. It was when I chose the sentiment that I was sidetracked and started a different design entirely.

I stamped the 'Life' Sentiment onto my Super Smooth card, then used one of the Backdrop Borders to create a frame around the sentiment. Then taking a selection of Distress Inks I coloured the piece. I started off at the top right hand corner with Blueprint Sketch to about half way across the card, then blended through Chipped Sapphire approximately quarter way down. Then from the bottom left I repeated the process using in order: Mustard Seed, overlapping slightly to give green, then Spiced Marmalade and finally Candied Apple.

For the main card, I started by stamping the large and medium curled feathers with versamark to give a watermark to the background. Then drew a rough idea of my rainbow and placed this over the background, then using the Distress Inks, stippled the colours through in turn. Keep an eye out for the paper getting saturated, All I did then was cut out the next segment from the mask and move down. I used the following colours for the rainbow: Candied Apple, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Dusty Concorde and Blueprint Sketch.

When I had completed the rainbow, I made the decision to make the feathers more prominent in the main background, The versamark was still sticky so just added the ultra fine clear embossing powder and used the heat gun. Then for the top of the card I blended out from the edge using Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire and for the bottom I used Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade.

Finally I used a black fine liner pen to create a border about 5 mm from the edge. Added my sentiment with 5 mm foam tape to raise it from the card and added a black mat.

I really hope you have enjoyed my Step by Step today, along with the finished card. I hope you will join me again very soon. Tomorrow I will be sharing a project that was made for the launch of Leonies new collection of stamps, I really hope you will come back for that. Thank you so much for all of your lovely comments, I do like to read them all and it certainly makes my blog worthwhile knowing that you are enjoying what I share. Take care xx

Fly Free Crystal Acetate Card

Morning, Hope you are well and are still enjoying the projects I am sharing from Leonie Pujol's New Collection. I have enjoyed sharing with you. 

To make the background for the aperture of my card, I took a sheet of Acetate along with a selection of alcohol inks in yellow, orange and red. I also used some blending solution, 3D Crystal Lacquer and a sheet of tissue paper.

On my sheet of Acetate I added drops of my alcohol inks all over, using more yellow and orange with just a few drops here and there of the red. I then added some blending solution to allow the colour to move, sprinkled some gold mica in at the same time with a generous amount of 3D Lacquer. I then place the tissue paper over the top (I had previously scrunched this) and manipulated the colours and mica until I was happy with the result. I left this to dry over night. 

I made an 8 x 8'' square card from Black Pearl card and cut an aperture using a  Grand spellbinder shape from the centre. I then cut a square of the coloured acetate and secured behind the aperture with red liner tape. I also cut a rectangle of the acetate to go behind my sentiment and set aside.

On a sheet of heat resistant acetate I stamped 3 butterflies from Leonie's Flight To Freedom Set, using versamark, I embossed them with black fine detail embossing powder. I also stamped a sentiment from the collection using the same method.

I folded the acetate with the sentiment around the coloured acetate and secured it behind so nothing showed. Then I layered this onto black pearl card. I shaped this so it was tunnel shaped and attached it to my card using 3D glue gel.

I cut out the butterflies and shaped them before securing them to my card using 3D glue gel, flying free. 

I have tried to capture the look of the card with the light shining through but it didn't work, even with a torch it didn't look good on camera.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit today, hopefully you have enjoyed it and will stop by again soon.Take care xx

Hydrangea Easel Card

This Easel card is made with JustRite Stamps. I really like the JustRite stamps and thought I would share this card with you today.

I used versamark to stamp the background on the blue foundation cardstock from Creative Expressions, then used fine detail embossing powder and heated with my heat gun. I used the labels 7 coordinating die to cut out the centre and a ruler and craft knife to cut around the background.

 

On 300gsm Supersmooth card, I stamped the hydrangea twice (the second is for decoupage) and the label with a Memento Black Tuxedo. I used the best wishes sentiment from the set within the label, stamped in blue. Then I coloured all my design with a selection of blue and green alcohol markers. I only coloured the flowers I was going to use for the decoupage from the second hydrangea. I then completed my decoupage with 3D glue gel.

For the stopper, I used the inside of the label along with the beautiful thought from Rabindranath Tagore. This was stamped and embossed onto white card with versamark and white fine detail powder. Then I used Salty Ocean Distress ink to colour the stopper blending from darker around the edges to lighter in the centre.I did this because I wanted a similar colour to the base but not the same to allow it to stand out ore than if I had have used the same foundation cardstock.

On white card, I stamped 2 butterflies with Memento black and coloured using alcohol markers and stuck to the background. I created my easel base card using white 300gsm card and matted using the blue Foundation cardstock. Th top image was matted onto white cardstock using Foam tape to lift it from the white and the best wishes topper was glued inside this, onto the white card using cosmic shimmer glue. To the base I added my stopper and finally finished off with a large Navy bow made with double sided satin ribbon.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today and really hope that you will come back again soon.