Boats

Tuesday bought a play day with Nola (sister-in-law).
Nola's is on the left mine on the right.

The project was inspired by a Finnabair post, check out the project and video here

 My brother loves boats so it's a very apt theme and hopefully Nola will be able to display her make in full view for everyone to see.
I found a thick grey board, cut it to size approximately 8"x8" coated it a few times in white gesso to prepare it.
Texture paste was added to create a sand effect, once dry it was randomly sprayed with Lindy's ink sprays.

 

Bits of fabric were layered on and ink splatters added.

The photo was attached and shells. Die cuts, tiny beads and glass crystals were added to create interest.

 

Hope you like it.


Sue X

Cards for the Boys

What can I say, male cards are difficult.

So when a birthday pops up I'm normally thinking, men don't really pay attention to cards I'll pop to the shop and pick up one. 

However, I had a new stamp before Christmas and I'm loving it, perfect for those cards.

Here is how the card was created.

Take one 15cm x 15cm hammered card blank, add distress ink through a mask randomly (in my case an opticians eye chart) , choose another mask (random lines) and apply a slightly different shade of colour to create an initial base to work on.
 

The edges were then inked with the same colour and misted with water, the excess water was then removed with a sheet of kitchen roll to reveal a mottled effect.
 

Stamping was added just above the lower edge to create a grounding for my little character.

The character and other images were the  coloured with distress ink and glued into position. 

A closer view.

 

Ta Dah card complete.

Sue X

SDC229 - Two Much Fun

This week is a special challenge week over at Stampotique, it's a celebration of the 2nd anniversary of the ATC  swaps organised by Nikki Woodward on Facebook.

Players in the swap share their love of Stampotique images, since 2014 there have been 18 ATC trades (lots of international mail with 1272 ATC's being posted).

 Sounds like everyone has a great time. 

I've only just started to post on Facebook, I'm still new at it and don't really know what I'm doing. As part of my New Years resolutions I vowed to try harder to understand it, I'm still trying.

Anyhow back to the challenge, "Two Much Fun".

My card is entitled, "Let's get two-gether". 

I must admit I misread the title (forgot the fun bit, although you never know what fun they could have two-gether) and only realised my mistake when writing up my entry after having made it.
 

Duh! here it is anyhow.
 

I first came up with the title, it just popped in the old brain when I read two, so I went with it and being Valentine's Day pretty soon I tied the two together.
 

I knew I wanted to use the little dogs and the flowers came from  Stampotique in America, that was one very exciting bit of post.
 

I first cut down a piece of watercolour card stock to fit a 15cm x15cm card blank then stamped the flowers using a stamp positioner to get them lined up, another stamp added grounding, all done in black versamark.
 

Weathered wood distress ink was blended over the page then spritzed with water and lifted off with kitchen roll to leave a mottled start to the background.  The heart shapes were formed by cutting into a piece of paper and using it as a stencil making a solid image with the weathered wood, then stamping over the image through the mask in the same colour. Amazing the effects you can achieve with one ink pad.
 

Random stamping was added to create depth and layers, (cash analysis columns, crackle and paper pad tops stamps) again using weathered wood.
 

The title was stamped using old typewriter text stamps, blobs of black on the outside edge of the words added to the look.  The dogs were stamped, cut out, coloured and added to the card.  All bit were glued into position.
 

 I forgot to mention, distress glaze/wax was rubbed onto the background  and dogs to seal in the colour, (just in case of any stray water droplets, didn't want to ruin it).
 

Hope you like it, for more inspiration check out the Stampotique blog here.

And a  closer view.

Sue X

SDC228 - Reds and Pinks

Sue Davies has set this weeks challenge over at Stampotique the theme, "Use only hues of red and pink".

Here is what Sue said about this challenge.

 "With Valentine's Day around the corner we have all seen hues of reds and pinks, I challenge you to  create a Stampotique Valentine's Day creation inspired by reds and pinks". 

 
Here goes.
First of all I chose the stamps and a couple of colours, I started by stamping the hearts across the top of a piece of watercolour paper (heavy weight) using a stamp positioner to line up.
Colour was added to the whole of the paper making it slightly darker on the outside edge, water was then misted onto the paper and left for a moment or two then  lifted off with kitchen roll. 

 

I chose my next medium gelato's and thought I'd try out the next technique with them too, stamping.

I took several of the pinks and reds and rubbed them over stamp, I misted the stamp with water and well, stamped. Loved  this effect as you can see where you are putting the colours which creates a fab effect. Extra stamping was added in the new candied apple distress ink to add the word Love in segments of the card, red, grey and black was added to the lower section to create a grounding.

 

 

My two Stampotique characters were coloured with distress ink in shades of red, pink and a  tad of black, cut out then glued into position.

 

Hope you like it as much as I do.

 

They're soooooo cute together. 

To see more inspiration check out the Stampotique blog here.

 

Sue X


SDC227 - Colour Blobs

Over at Stampotique we had  another new challenge.

Arwen McCullen was the host and she asked for "Colour Blobs". I know I'm a little late but  here goes.
First of all I created the handle from good old coffee stirrers lined up and secured with twine then spread apart to give the initial fan shape. A 12"x12" piece of card was cut to the shape I needed x 3 and the coffee stirrers were glued onto one piece, then one of the other cut out shapes was added to the back encasing the stirrers.

The final cut out shape was reduced/cut down by approximately 2/8" then

Texture paste was put through a Mask to create lines, where the mask touched the previously placed texture it left a great squelch effect.

This was dried off with a heat tool, I finally used my new gelato's.

Be very careful as using all the colours in the rainbow create brown.  I began blending with my fingers but they became sore against the texture paste, I spritzed the gelato's with a mist of water which release the colour, sooooo cool.

The pictures do not do the colours justice, they are bold rich and georgeous. 

The edges were then dry brushed with black paint, which enhances the texture and colour even more.

Stampotique stamps were used to create the birds and branches which were fussy cut out, (the Owls were chopped off, sorry owls). 

The stirrers were painted black and a ribbon was added, everything was glued into position, that's my take on colour blobs hope you like it.

For more inspiration and the current theme pop on over to Stampotique Challenge blog here.

Sue X

Birthday Fun

Friday 15th January bought with it a touch of snow and a pre-birthday crafting day pre-booked with my crafting buddy Rebecca.

We arranged this day back in December as Rebecca has been working hard, and, as in life things kept popping up. 

Anyhow after a slightly later start than usual start due to the tiny amount of snow that seem to stop Britain in its tracks,  (slippery roads due to no gritting don't know at would happen if we more than an inch), we began.

Rebecca produced two bottles and bought up a picture on the Internet and said, "We are going to make something like this". Followed by a stipulation that I could not use flowers...... bar humbug!

Apparently I use far too many flowers in my projects.

First up we chose a picture to transfer onto fabric, this was done in the good old fashioned way by putting a medium, in our case satin glaze onto fabric then putting the image face down onto it and burnishing the area. 

While this was drying we gave our bottles a coat of gesso, this led to another quandary I painted up and down the bottle, Rebecca went from side to side. We used the gesso to stick on torn old book pages, I did my pieces going in the direction of the text across the page and Rebecca did longer lengths going down the pages, this made Rebecca laugh. What can I say, strange!

While everything was going on we also rusted a couple of radiator keys that Rebecca picked up from B&Q using Paperartsy rusting powder.

Next was colour! Now then at this point for some strange reason I asked my crafting buddy to chose the colours and she chose for me two shades of pink, brown and an off white,  me and PINK!

So I took it on board and worked with my selection. Once the image transfer was dry we remove the back layer by spraying with water and gently rubbing to reveal the image beneath.

This image was then adhered to the bottle with a gel medium along with beads and fabric mixed with texture paste, then the messy task of painting with PINK began.

 

We used a sponge to blend the colours around the image and bottle, this is the point we realised the kids would be arriving home and so I had to leave and leg it home sharpish.

Once home I decided I had to finish it and so after sorting the girls out with the usual beverages and snacks I raided my stash of ribbons and beads, no flowers and finished it off.

Birthday project complete, thank you Rebecca for making me use pink and for making the tea and cooking lunch of Bacon and Brie toasted sandwiches, yum!

I had a fab crafting day.

Sue X

Tweet, Tweet!

Tweet, Tweet!

Here are a couple of quickly cards, one for a friend and the other is a "spare" both very similar one is slightly darker colour wise than the other and one is mounted on a layer of black card.  The Background was created by using distress ink through a mask or two and black stamping added to make a grounding for the birds.
The birds were stamped, coloured with watercolour pencils and blended with water.
The birds were then cut out and glued to the the card base and a sentiment was then added.

 Tay Dah!

Sue X



New supplies on the way!

I hate to admit it but I am a sucker for new craft supplies, for example.

A new distress colour ink for each month in 2015, I had to pre-order those each month so that I didn't miss it. Very sad I know but I've built up the whole collection and well, what can I say I just had to have them.

Next up Gelato's, I had been looking at them for a while And eventually thought ooooooo I need them so on my Christmas list the full first set went. There was a bit of arm twisting and lots of hints, then a shop I use regularly on line had an offer on them. I literally put them in the basket along with the code for reduction an said, "I want this from you for Christmas". What can I say it worked and I will be testing them out pretty soon. Yeah! (Craft Obsessions).

While all that was going on I manage to get myself randomly picked for $30 gift certificate from Stampotique and after spending the $30s  plus a tiny bit (lots) extra the stamps arrived the week before Christmas another Yeah! still to be used tho, (Stampotique).

Then after a visit to Sir Stampalot sale time of course I managed to pick up a whole hog of magazines reduced from £7.99 to £2 each amazing, They will keep me going for a day or two.

To finish off I came across another shopping site on the 1st January 2016 with loads of fab embellishments which not only had a sale on but extra discount too.

So I ordered a few bits and pieces, rusty hearts, bells, snowflakes flowers and all sorts, ( Live & Love Crafts).

Any how now it's back to crafting and this is today's project.
I was asked if I produce a hanging calendar that was easy to replicate for Christmas presents next year, yeah plenty of time to organise that one so I thought I would do it before I forgot.
This one is easy, a template was made from mount board so it isn't as heavy at mdf, twelve holes were made along the lower edge to attach further hearts and two at the top to hang it by.
Cardboard was torn and stuck down randomly, and hearts to show the months were stuck on.
The mount board was painted with a neutral colour and crackle glaze applied, a top coat of chalk was applied and the magic of crackle appeared. Distress ink was applied to the edges.

 
 

 

A wire handle was created by layering several strands together and twisting around a pen to make it look appealing.

I used old faithful Dymo to make the headings on the hearts and gave two options of hanging the addition hearts.

 
 

 

The birthday words were die cut from brown and glazed with glossy accents.
 

 

 
Hope this helps.

Sue X
 

SDC226 - Trees

Happy New Year!

 

This week or should I say last weeks, was the first Stampotique Challenge of 2016 and the theme is trees. 

To be honest my mojo did a runner over Christmas and is taking its time finding its way back to me.

However I couldn't not have a go especially when my crafting buddy Rebecca has joined in the challenge with her new stamps.

Here goes a bit late but you know what they say, better late than never.

A square of  card was cut to fit a card blank, the tree was stamped half overlapping one side and then the other with archival ink. Water was lightly sprayed over the card surface and blue, green, and yellow Bistre powders were sprinkled over the surface, a little more water was added to loosen the powder to the desired colour.
The edges were distressed with a touch of black soot distress ink and a sentiment added.
 

I know its a bit simple but its the thought that counts and postage costs. LOL.

 
You can see many more inspirational tree projects by visiting the Stampotique Challenge here.

Sue X 

Watering Can Project

 

Here is the first bigger project of 2016, ok I've made a few cards but they're not really projects as such.

 

So here goes.

 

First of all I had to decide on the size and shape of the watering can. I used an A4 sheet of copy paper and sketched what I thought resembled a watering can.

Once happy with the shape I transferred it to a piece of card and cut it out.

 

 

I took a second sheet of card and drew around the template to act as a guide.

I then used several die cut rectangles to build up the background (the rectangles were distressed with dark ink prior to placement), these were stuck down onto the black  card covering the shape of the template.

 

 

The template was then placed on top of the sheet and a pencil line drew around the edge for a guide then it was cut out and attached to the thicker card. The reverse of the watering can was also covered in the same way this time using only one sheet of paper.

 

The edges were distressed again with brown distress ink.

 

Random text stamping was added for interest front and back.

Then it happened, I forgot to take photos, ooops!

Basically I took a variety of die cut  leaves and coloured them green, I rolled a few daisy type flowers coloured the edges yellow and sprayed them lightly with water to let the colour spread into the centres.

I then added a few shop bought flowers and a few dried sprays.

All of the embellishment's were stuck down.

A further top handle was created by cutting a strip of paper, the edges were inked and it was attached with a brad.

To complete the look an embossing pad was used to add gold embossing powder to corners and edges. a stand was added to the reverse to keep it upright.

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for today, hope you like it.

 

Sue X

 

Happy New Year 2016

January 1st, 2016.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today is my mums birthday and this is the card I've  made, in true spirit of being totally unprepared I got up New Years morning and put this little number together, (I was going to do it sooner but Christmas and a few sparkling beverages ummmm, got in the way). Tut, tut!

Moving swiftly on.

I began by using a 6"x6" card base then stamping square pegs in a round hole stamp by Indigoblu with embossing ink adding pale blue glitter embossing powder and heat setting.

Some of the flowers and leaves used were previously die cut in white so I added colour using good old distress ink.
 

The other rolled roses were die cut from a pre coloured paper/card in similar colours. All the elements were stuck down. A tag was made from another off cut of of paper/card and stamped with a sentiment, the edges were coloured again with distress ink, this was raised slightly with 3D tape.

 

All done, a quick card project nice and easy for the beginning of a new crafting year.

Sue X