'What you do speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you say.'
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saturday 20 November 2010

Staying with the ‘one colour plus white’ theme because it’s easy and quick.  I feel guilty for making such simple cards and ATCs – I like to put a bit more work into them, rather than simply stamping and layering, but hey ho!  Needs must when time is precious…  These have all been clear embossed, then most of them have been cuttlebugged, lol ;)

atcs1
atcs2
atcs 4
atcs 3
These are some of my favourite images, so it’s very self indulgent :D

Friday 19 November 2010

It’s a nice, easy way of making Christmas cards and especially if you have a lot to make!  I love this stamp.
18 November 2010 (3)

Thursday 18 November 2010

18 November 2010 (4)
I know it looks red, but it isn’t – it’s rust coloured ;)
More white and one colour Christmas for KCUK.
18 November 2010 (2)

Wednesday 10 November 2010

irises

Monday 8 November 2010

Ooh!  Two cards in one day – actually, three, but I’ll post the other one tomorrow, lol.  I’m hoping to do more later in the week.  AND I made a quick wedding invitation mock up for Phil, lol.  That was FOUR in one day after weeks and weeks of none at all, lol.  Quick and easy but I stamped!
Mr Right

Sunday 7 November 2010

This month’s KCUK challenge is Christmas in white, with one colour.  Here’s mine, using Brilliance Sky Blue.

white and one colour

Sunday 10 October 2010

Really should be working and have an essay open here and books all over the kitchen table but couldn’t resist a quick play with a couple of my new stamps.
Had a great day at Port Sunny, meeting up with lots of old friends and some lovely bloggers I’d only ever ‘seen’ online, but never met before, which was brilliant.  Good to meet you, girls!

This one’s an early Christmas present from a special friend and is a pretty, pretty stamp :D  I flicked water on the background after I’d inked it up over the embossed flowers.
10 October 2010 (2)
This one’s a set of stamps I’ve been wanting for a while and it’s a page, not a card.
10 October 2010 (3)
I made the background at a Stamp Club with Jo, ages ago – lots of lovely colour spraying with lots of glitz and colour over stencils.  Unfortunately, the gold has interfered with one of the crow’s beaks, but it looks better in real life.  I’ve added a touch of leafy stamping but it isn’t very clear or defined.  I’m really looking forward to a proper play with these when I get the chance.

Monday 4 October 2010

04 October 2010
I’m really missing stamping and blogging but not a lot I can do about that for now – hopefully, I’ll soon get into more of a routine and MAKE time to stamp!
I needed a quick card for someone, so I used one of my Twinkler watercolour backgrounds (made by just adding random Twinklers to the paper) to make this, using one of my favourite word stamps.

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Here’s my K page for the Chunky Alphabet swap, which also happens to fit into the PDCC 46, which is a Colour Splash (Black and white with a splash of Gold, Pink or Copper).  I’m not over pleased with it because it didn’t work out exactly as planned but I really don’t have time to play around with it right now. ( I managed to sneak an hour yesterday to make this, lol – hope to get to the next two letters later in the week!)

<KENOX S1050  / Samsung S1050>

And K for knots, he, he!

k for knot

Monday 13 September 2010

This week's Spotlight challenge on Crafty Cardmaker's Challenge Blog is to use Alcohol inks.

I was still thinking Clean and Simple when I made this and so I tried to keep it pretty simple - something I simply couldn't envisage when I first started to think about using Alcohol inks, which I LOVE for their messiness.  Then I had a bit of a brainwave and this is what I did.


I added two colours of Ranger Alcohol inks (Citrus and Pool) to the felt on an applicator, keeping them far enough apart that they didn't bleed into each other, then dragged the applicator across a piece of glossy card to create a duo coloured stripe.  Okay, I know it's NOT a straight stripe, but I still like it, lol.  It's what's known as freedom of expression and is, at least, unique, he, he.

Stamped the Greeting (SU) and the butterfly (one of my all time favourite images from ISC) with Memories Black ink, then embossed them with clear powder while still wet. 

Coloured another piece of glossy card with the same alcohol inks, then stamped and embossed the butterfly again but with the stripes in reverse order, to add some contrast.  I then cut it out and attached over the top of the original one, using double sided foam tape, revealing the antennae underneath it. 

Added three citrus brads under stripe to balance the design, then layered onto turquoise card and white card.

Friday 10 September 2010

Back to J again for my 4x4 pages and although I stayed with the J for Jigsaw theme, I added a Japanese slant this time.

J
I gessoed the jigsaw piece first – hence the bloom, I think – added the colour (Tombow felt tip) then stamped and embossed the Windy Geisha, bleached the colour from her skin, the kimono and the ‘brolly’, colouring them with a sparkly gold gel pen and edging with black felt tip.  (Phew!  That was a LONG sentence, lol).  Embellishments coloured with Krylon Gold pen.

What I had in mind for my 'K' postcard was going to be pretty complicated but then I remembered my playing card stamps and woohoo, I had an idea which was MUCH easier, lol.


Everything is stamped in Versafine ink, then clear embossed.

Thursday 9 September 2010

Found the latest GPP Street Crusade yesterday and just had to have a go – especially cos my mind was in turmoil over something at the time.  The brief is to use acrylics in journal pages but using only a scraper – or old Credit card/store card – and maybe some stencils of some kind.

I gessoed my altered book pages first, using an old credit card, then applied the paints in layers, spritzing with water now and again, followed by stencilling using a fern stencil I love but haven’t used very often.  It’s a metal stencil so I couldn’t move it around enough to get random ‘off the page’ imprints, which I would have liked.

paint scraping a3   paint scraping 1a 
Had to wait for the paints to dry overnight because I’d applied them pretty thickly through the stencil.  I wanted to add some more but didn’t want too much because I liked the pages as they were.  I decided on using some letter stencils and some sequin waste – which I was hoping wouldn’t ruin the ‘negative/positive’ effect which I liked so much and here are the results so far.
paint scraping 1  paint scraping 2
I really like these pages and they look a lot better in real life but I’m sure I’ll like them much more when I’ve journalled on them, lol.

Monday 6 September 2010

This week’s Challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers is Clean and Simple.
I don’t do a lot of CAS because I love to play with inks, but I do really enjoy simple card designs now and again. I’ll be making a DT card for the ‘Spotlight’ part of this challenge, but couldn’t resist making a couple of very clean and simple cards for fun.

CAS 2  CAS 1
I used the same flower stamp (Unity Stamps) with the same colours of Tombow felt tips on both of them, but different words (Unity Stamps and Stampin Up).
The first one is stamped directly onto a folded white card, while the second one is stamped on white card, layered with a very narrow border onto green card to match the green pen I used, then onto a larger white card.  Very clean and very simple but I like them.
Don’t forget to visit the Challenge blog to see the beauties my teamies have created for you this week!

Sunday 5 September 2010

Here’s my J postcard but I haven’t yet managed to finish the 4x4 – hope to get that done in the next few days.

J for Jigsaw pc

The background is resist – Versamark ink stamped on glossy card, then inked over with Distress inks – Pine Needles, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass and Broken China, with a little overstamping in Broken China and Pine Needles.  The jigsaw pieces are stamped with various stamps and embossed, then inked.  The words are from a Simple Expressions plate, stamped and cut up.

Sorry I’ve not been able to visit your blogs as much as I usually do – life’s a bit chaotic here at the moment.  Hope to manage a bit more free time after this week.

Friday 3 September 2010

Here are  my letter I’s for both Alphabet swaps – first the Postcard swap for Lots to Do and the 4x4 for the KCUK Chunky book.

I for ink PC
On this one there are no real nibs – just lots of Glossy Accents.  Love the colours, though – Wild Honey, Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Stormy Sky Distress Inks.  Coloured with Tombow pens, my favourites.

I for ink 4x4

This is the one I’m entering into Theme Thursday’s ‘Square’ theme.  It’s VERY chunky cos there are 8 REAL nibs on it!!  Just hope they don’t drop off, lol.  There were nine but I lost one, so I used Glossy Accents on the 9th nib.  Wish I’d coloured the bottle a bit more on the 4x4 because I like the way it turned out on the 6x4, but I’ve embossed it now, so too late :(  Distress and Adirondack inks used on the background and yes, it was deliberately distressed around the edges and corners.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Been busy getting ahead with these two Alphabet swaps the last couple of days, so I don’t have to worry too much in the next couple of weeks – best laid plans of mice and men?  I’m rushing and it shows, but these are my swaps for G & H

G for Garden postcard
G for Green, Gold and for Garden
G for Grasses 4x4
G for Green, Gold and Grasses. 
(Might have to add an ‘es’ onto the end, lol)
H for horses postcard
H for Horses and for Heart
H for heart 4x4
H for Hearts
I’ve also done both I’s and one of the J’s but I’ll post those tomorrow. Off to do the second J now – I hope!

Wednesday 1 September 2010

… and Frame and Flutterby (well, that’s what I call ‘em, lol)

F for Friends
This is for the KCUK Chunky Alphabet swap and what was in my WOYWW easel..

This is an Art Journey stamp, which I’ve stamped and embossed, then cut out from its background to make a totally new stamp, something I often do.  I love the fact that I can then use it on any background I like.    For some reason, I’ve attached the embossed frame the wrong way around, so it’s DEbossed, but never mind.  Still looks okay, lol.  The Flutterby is from one of my favourite Innovative Stamp Creations plates and has to be my all time favourite flutterby.  Inks are Ecoline and Colorbox Pigment inks.

The Bank Holiday this week has made the days seem to come way too soon.  Can’t believe it’s Wednesday already!!  It’s time to SNOOP - WOOHOO!!!    If you don’t know yet what What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday is all about (and you really, really SHOULD DO) then pop over to Julia’s blog to spy on what everyone’s revealed this week.  It really is a lot of fun!!   (Oops, I've put the wrong number up there, so my link is taking people to the wrong entry - duh!  My apologies - this is WOYWW 65, lol!

Anyway, here’s a snippet of my desk this week, which actually contains a WIP (Work in Progress), lol.  NOT showing my whole desk this week cos very little has changed, apart from the fact that it’s probably worse than it was!!!!! 


woyww 1 sep
Stazon inks and Paperartsy stamps are out – I don’t use them too often but this time I wanted lots of greens for grasses and was stamping on glossy paper, so I needed the Stazon.  Trouble is, I think I’ve changed my mind about what I’m doing, so this may have been in vain – or probably not.  I’ll make a card from it ;)

You can just see my WOYWW easel peeping from the right hand side and here it is in all its glory, containing my most recent Alphabet 4x4 for KCUK’s Chunky Alphabet swap.  I’ll be blogging it after I’ve posted this.

woyww easel

That stamp of grasses you can see to the left hand side is one of my favourites, although I don’t use it too often because it’s pretty limiting.  Mum sent it from New Zealand, so I treasure it and I may now have the perfect excuse to use it again. 

This may well be my last WOYWW for a while now – not sure yet of the date but I’ll be starting a Full time Course this month and I suspect it will be next week or the week after but I have LOADS of stuff to sort out and to deal with before then, especially after 4 weeks of my OH being home, therefore doing absolutely NAFF all in the house!!!  I’ll miss you all. 

Thanks to everyone who’s left comments in the last few weeks – I really appreciate your kind words and your sense of fun.  I’ll try to get round to you all this week!

Tuesday 31 August 2010

Simple alphabet ATCs for the August KCUK ATC swap .
cath alphabet atcs
Skin colour pigment inks applied to ATCs, then image stamped in Versafine and clear embossed.  Little girl’s face and neck masked, then inks added to rest of ATC and the whole ATC embossed with clear EP.  Little ribbon tied through hair.  Super simple and quick, but I may well had a word or two before I think they’re complete.

Sunday 29 August 2010

Had to make a card for my youngest son – always difficult to do, as I usually buy a humorous card - and this is what I came up with.  I thought the time theme was appropriate.
to phil 2
I sponged the background with Distress inks – Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky and Broken China.  Looking at it now, I wish I’d added some white highlights – hindsight is a wonderful thing, lol.

Since this also fits the Challenge for Rosie D’s Challenge Blog (78 and sadly, the last ever challenge) it will also be my entry for them.  Thanks for the info, Sally.

Saturday 28 August 2010

F for flowers flourish and faux batik
I used Vivid inks this time, for a change, lol - yes, I have a LOT of different inks and while each is usually suitable for a particular purpose, there are lots of water based dye inks, which are interchangeable, and I usually end up using Ranger inks, so now and again, I like a change.  Besides which, there are some shades made by other companies which I love and which simply aren't available from Ranger.

Couldn't resist using lots of things beginning with 'F' this time but at least I was a good girl and not used BAD words, lol.  There's Faux Batik, Flicked water, a Flourish and Flowers.

If you don’t know how to do Faux Batik, here’s how…
  1. Stamp image(s) in Versamark or clear Embossing ink, then emboss in clear powder. 
  2. Apply colour, using your favourite method but be sure not to use permanent or pigment inks, which will cover the embossed images and spoil the effect.  Water based inks, such as Vivid, Distress, Adirondack, Big 'n' Juicy, Kaleidacolor, Memento, Marvy, etc etc are ideal.  If there’s ink on your embossing, wipe off with a piece of kitchen towel or a baby wipe..
  3. Cover the embossed card with a piece of kitchen towel (newsprint or brown paper work just as well).  Set an iron to HOT (no steam) and IRON over the material covering the embossed bits, leaving it over them for 15 seconds or so.  You know your own iron, so you’ll know how hot it’s getting.  If you need to, lift up the paper/kitchen towel to see if the embossing powder has lifted up.
  4. When embossing powder is removed, overstamp with more images (or the same – works particularly well with flowers and people, creating a sort of shadow effect).
  5. Clear emboss new stamping if you like, to create dimension.
There was a craze about 6 or 7 years ago for using this technique on manila files – it’s a nice change.  Follow the instructions above but when adding colour, just wash over the embossed image with reinkers (Adirondack reinkers work well), using a wide, flat brush.  Brush over with water if you think it’s a little too heavy.

Iron off the embossing powder, leaving a ‘Faux Bleach’ effect.  Nice technique.

Someone asked me what the Flicked water technique is and it's just what it says.  Spray (or pour) a bit of water into the palm of your hand, slightly cupped, then randomly flick drops of water onto your inked background.  Heat with a heat tool and you have another great little effect.

Thursday 26 August 2010

Embossed, with eyelets.

This is a scan.

E for embossed Eiffel Tower with Eyelets
This is a photo
 
E for Eiffel
 
My scanner really does make colours way too vivid, so I took a photo, to see the difference and here you have it.
 
The background is made with a Kaleidacolor Ocean Breeze inkpad, scribbled onto a non stick craft mat, then mopped up with the postcard.  I stamped the French text while it was still wet, so it ran a little but I liked the effect.

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Just had the heads up from the lovely Dawn that I've given this week's WOYWW posting the WRONG number, so my link is going here instead of to HERE!!!  My apologies, peeps.

Wow – Wednesday already!!  How did that happen and where’ve the last few days gone to????


woyww 25 august

On my desk today you can see the remains of what I was working on yesterday, with said card proudly sitting in my WOYWW easel.
Nothing much changed since last week except that I’ve added even more mess to my piles because I’ve hardly been here – lots going on behind the scenes in other parts of my life this week.

Off to snoop  er peek er snoop on a few other desks but only for a short while because I’m going out again, today.  If you’d like to join us, courtesy of the lovely Ms Dunnit, then hop on over to Julia’s blog!

Thank you to all for your lovely comments last week – I’ll do my best to visit you some time this week, even if not today!

Tuesday 24 August 2010

The first challenge on Let’s Ink it Up is ‘Anything goes – with a twist’, the twist being to use yellow somewhere on the piece.

I’m not a yellow fan, though I think it’s so lovely and fresh on other people’s cards – but I do love to use shades of yellow with other colours.  It seems somehow that the yellow pulls everything else together, blending it, so I do use it a lot.

This time, however, I decided to challenge myself and to use lots of yellow – ie Adirondack Sunshine Yellow, Butterscotch and Caramel, but with Oregano and Mushroom as accents and I really fancied making a Grid card cos I hadn’t made one for years, so here’s my VERY Yellow creation – on glossy card.  It’s a BIG card, btw – almost A5 size (A4 folded width, with a bit cut off the bottom).

24 August 2010

For those of you who asked about the stamps I used, they are from (in clockwise order) Non Sequitur (top two), Paperartsy (middle right) and centre bottom, Simple Expressions (bottom right and bottom left),  Raindrops on Roses (centre left) and the central image is a Judikins stamp (not a cube, lol) although I’ve seen the same image from lots of different stamp companies, so I’m presuming it’s royalty free clip art.
Oh, and for those who said they’d never done (or heard of) grid cards, I did take step by step photos, so will blog them as soon as I can get to it.  It’s a great technique – easy but just a bit time consuming.  You may have heard it called the Retiform technique.

Just had a lovely surprise when I visited the Gingersnap Wrap up for Red, orange and yellow.  I’ve made Ginger Gem again, so this time I’m proudly displaying it, not having done so last time!   This is the card I entered.

Thank you so much.

gingergem

The Gingersnap challenges are so much fun.

Monday 23 August 2010

The theme for this week’s Crafty Cardmakers is a Lady Gaga Video. 

 

See stills on the Crafty Cardmakers website if you prefer not to watch the video – definitely not my cup of tea, lol!

gaga challenge

From the video, I focused on silver, white, diamonds and bling but also on the part where she looks in a mirror, which is why the frame is there.

 

I stamped the image (Time to Stamp Glamour Girls) in Brilliance Starlite Silver on Glossy card, then cut to fit the frame (Life’s Journey from K&Co).  The background is stamped with a Kars’ Harlequin Background, then heat embossed with a Silver/White sparkle Embossing powder.

 

The silver mesh (from my stash) was attached with a bit of double sided carpet tape (Wilko special, lol) behind the frame, then with 6 silver square brads – 3 at top left, 3 at bottom right – turned to look like diamonds.  I didn’t want it to be firmly attached.

 

The word ‘Divine’ was from the same stamp plate and was stamped and embossed with Fine silver Embossing powder, then layered onto silver mirror card.

 

Wire embellishment (Woodware) was attached with Glossy Accents and after attaching the stamped layer to a piece of silver mirror card, then to a folded white card, I attached the frame to the front – again with super strong Double sided carpet tape, to keep it secure.

 

The prize for this week is approx £10 worth of Die cuts from

Susie Sugar of Die Cut Dreams

We’d love to see you take part this week. 

Thanks for looking.

Saturday 21 August 2010

After struggling with a DT project which was way outside of my comfort zone, I decided to play for a little while this afternoon – just because!!  Happily, the colours I used (which are some of my favourites) just happened to fit into this week’s Playdate Café Challenge, which is this colour scheme.

PDCC43

21 August 2010 enjoy

It doesn’t look quite straight, but it is – it looks that way because I mounted the top layer onto thick foam tape for a change – the scanner has obviously struggled with the 3D effect.

All Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous) stamps, with Distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage and Stormy Skies, then some Adirondack Pool added.

This is another scrapling I made quickly, yesterday.

scrapling 5

Thursday 19 August 2010

Just had a couple of hours to play, so I made some backgrounds with Ecoline inks – watercolour paints.  I just used a pipette to put a few drops of red and yellow on a non-stick craft mat, then spritzed with water and picked up the colour with some white card.

red orange yellow children

Then stamped the Paperartsy image (and clear embossed) and the Hero Arts Friends stamp (using Wild Honey Distress ink).  The words are from various stamp sets and are all clear embossed.

Theme Thursday challenge for this week is Children.

Gingersnap have a red, yellow and orange challenge but they also have a Paint challenge, so this fits both.

Rainbow Lady’s Challenge for this week is ‘Paint it’

Don’t think I’ve ever entered a card for so many challenges in one go – quite coincidental, lol.

(I’ve changed the image to a photo because the scan made it look more ochre than orange and it was WAY too bright!)

Wednesday 18 August 2010

It’s been one of those weeks and here’s the proof in all its glory.  NOT a very tidy desk this week at all – in fact, it’s as it very often is, lol. 


I made a few things really quickly, one after the other, and have been out nearly every day with John, so I left it as it was when I finished, without moving a thing or cleaning a stamp and haven’t touched it since. 


Now you see the chaos I really work in, he, he.  I did proudly display my latest creations in my beautiful WOYWW easel, though – you can see it, honestly, if you look VERY closely – he, he.   You can also see a card front I got from Vix yesterday – lovely colours – and I like those stamps – ooh, disaster!


I should probably be ashamed, but guess what?  I’m not, really.  I nearly always end up working this way, hunting for bits to use beforehand so that I have things to choose from and I rarely have more than this amount of space to work in – unless it’s something bigger, lol.  Even if I start with a totally tidy and clear desk (which is rare) it ends up looking like this.  It’s probably going to get worse before it gets better cos I won’t have time to tidy it but NEED to stamp soon or I’ll go nuts!  It won’t take me long to tidy that lot up when I’m ready.  Every item has its own home to go to.  If only you could see the floor…



woyww 63 

woyww close up

Missing my desk at the moment cos I’m out and about a lot more than usual. In fact, I won’t be here on Wednesday morning, so I’m posting this early and hope to get to add it to the Blogroll before leaving in the morning!  Hope I’m forgiven..

If YOU’d like to see how other people work, then why not head on over to Julia’s Blog – Stamping Ground – to see the other entries.  In fact, why not join the merry throng, lol?  You’ll be amazed – and/or jealous – one of the two – AND it’s lots of fun!!

Probably won’t have chance to get to visit you all this week – sorry!!  I’ll try but it’s unlikely until John goes back to work.  Only 13 more days to go…

Tuesday 17 August 2010

For those of you who were asking about the Red Kites, you can see my far from perfect attempts at photography here.  It will give you some idea of the size and majesty of them.  (I keep anything non art related off this blog, so as not to bore people, lol)  I just saw some of John’s photos and although he’s complaining about the few he hasn’t deleted, I think they’re great.  I’ll upload them when I get hold of them.

Monday 16 August 2010

Here’s my DT sample for this week’s Crafty Cardmakers’ Challenge Spotlight, which this week is the Spotlight Technique.

I used a jigsaw piece for my spotlight and here’s how it was made.

First, stamp the image (Stampendous) and the Greeting (SU) in Versafine Onyx black, then clear emboss. 

Ink up stamp again and place a jigsaw piece (primed with gesso if it’s patterned) on the inked stamp in the part of the image you want to spotlight (or highlight) – I chose the heart.

Clear emboss, then colour the parts of the image on the jigsaw piece (I painted with Distress inks in Spun Sugar, Victorian Rose, Dried Marigold, Barn Door), outline with black marker, then attach to the image where it fits. 

You could always highlight your spotlight piece with Glossy Accents, clear Embossing powder or UTEE and you can use any shape you like for your spotlight. 
 
Add three toning brads in bottom right hand corner, then mount first onto toning pink card, then onto a folded brown card. Easy peasy.

There are some FAB samples from my teamies on the Design Team, so head on over to Crafty Cardmakers’ Challenge to check them out!  We’d love you to join us this week!