Monday 30 September 2013

A little Tiddly Ink digi

My next door neighbour's little girl is turning 5 this week.  She is a little cutie.... looks just like Little Orphan Annie... curly red hair.  I've made her a little card.  It was inspired by a card made by Joy (here) She used a Tiddly Ink rubber stamp and I remembered that I had the digi version. 

Tiddly Inks Birthday

I printed out Emma and coloured her with Copics and then fussy cut her.  I then found a sheet of PP that was full of Happy Birthdays.  It is just gorgeous paper made by Creativ and it made the perfect foil for my little focal image.  No need for anything else other than the filigree corner cut with a La La Land die.  

I'm entering this into Simon Says Stamps ~Anything goes challenge.  

I did manage a few more cards over the weekend... some for DT work and other's for fun.  You can see them over on my Flickr group  if you are interested.  I will hopefully show then here over the next little while.  I'll be back tomorrow with my final card for Die Cut Divas... a thank you for Dreamweavers for their fabulous sponsorship.  


 

Saturday 28 September 2013

A cute little Teddy

I am ADDICTED to buying crafting magazines... even more so when they come with free stamps, papers etc.  This past week I got 4 different magazines.  And one of them papercraft essentials came with not only a little stamp set but a Paper stack as well.  They are from Forever Friends and are super cute

http://www.papercraftmagazines.com/media/k2/items/cache/3b3e749011568df066956f2034087c10_L.jpg 

I had to ink up the stamp straight away... 

Teddy Birthday

 I printed some gingham looking paper I had on my computer ~can't remember where I got it :-(  and stamped the little butterflies from the stamp set down one side.  I coloured with a Tombow marker.  Teddy was stamped onto some watercolour paper and coloured with Tombow marker and a blender pen.   Loved the way it gave texture with out added bulk.  I trimmed Teddy out and added to the corner of the card.  The sentiment is from Stamp-It 

Well it's short and sweet today, as it's been a full on day... we got an invite to have lunch with a friend who's birthday is today.  So quickly did the groceries and then went around to her place... home just after 4pm.  Hubby went up to the local pub for the rugby prize giving and has just arrived home 7pm and informed me we are heading out to dinner and our friends Gary and Karen are arriving asap to come with us...so off I go!!!

Thursday 26 September 2013

Little Blue Button Stamps and a little Tutorial.

Today is my day to blog at Little Blue Button Stamps.  I've had such fun with the fabulous images from Olga and LBBS.  Did you know that  LBBS are available in rubber? (available from CC Designs HERE)

So first up is Sweetheart with Bag rubber stamp.


I stamped onto some white card and coloured with Copics and trimmed.  My PP background is from Hot of The Press.  I smeared it with Gesso to tone down the brightness and distressed the edges, with scissors.   I cut a Couture Creations rectangle doily and cut in half, added some blue ink and added to the PP.  The flower is from the PP pack by HOTP.  The green trim is from a swap I was recently part of.  
For my next card, I used a background from LBBS which I imported into Word.  Here is a little tutorial on how I did it. 

 and then recoloured
I then imported Jessica Wedding


 I then removed the background of Jessica 
and here's how it finally turned out
As you can see, I slightly adjusted the background colour and added a sentiment from Love Sentiments 2.  I coloured Jessica with Copic markers and added some silver stickles to her veil.  Once I trimmed and inked the edges I matted onto some silver mirror card.  A great way to combine three digital images to make a one layer card.

Thanks for visiting today.

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Stenciled Backgrounds at Die Cut Divas

Today over at Die Cut Divas,  Arlene show cased a couple of projects I did with a Dreamweaver stencil.  This month, Dreamweavers are our sponsors and they very generously provided the Design Team with some stencils to work with.  One of mine was a Damask Background.  (LJ 907 Damask)

LJ 907 Damask 
Here is the card I made

 I started with a piece of watercolour paper which I distressed with inks.  I laid the stencil on and then used some Festive Berries ink over it.  I used a long rectangle die from Spellbinders to cut it.  I tied around a ribbon and added to a blue card.  I used a Fiskars scallop edge punch and added some red card behind.   I stamped the sentiment onto some sticky back vellum cut with a Die-namics die.

My second piece is a bookmark.  This one came about as it was my first attempt at stenciling with paints.... it did not come off as well as I wanted, but I manage to selvage a piece to make this

The background was made with Gelatos and then the stencil was done with Black acrylic paint.  My sentiment is from Hero Arts and once again, I cut with a Die-Namics banner die and edged with a Copic marker to give the illusion that it is matted. 

Thanks again to Dreamweaver's for sponsoring us at Die Cut Divas.

Sunday 22 September 2013

A CASE'd card...

CASE ~ copy and selectively edit.... Well that's what I believe CASEing to be.  In my case I copied the design and used what I had on hand that looked similar to the original.

I saw a beautiful card over at the Couture Creations website and decided to go for it.


Lamp light glow
I used an embossing folder from Cuttlebug to emboss the background.  I then sponged on Stormy Sky and Pumice Stone distress ink leaving the centre clear.  My lamp post is from Cherry Lynn Designs as is the Holly flourish.  I cut it in half and used both pieces.  I used a piece of black lace I got in a recent embellishment swap.  I sponged Black Soot and Stormy Sky distress ink onto some white care and spritzed with some Perfect Pearls Vintage Gold for a shine.  I then punched out the flowers and put together with black gem brads.

I love that there is SO much inspiration out there and thanks to everyone who shares their work. 

Had a very scary night last night as a big storm passed over.  We got woken at 2.30am with an almighty crash of thunder and lightening... It really was loud and scary.  The lightening and thunder continued for over an hour...kept me awake.  And then woke to hear that the yacht race in San Francisco was abandon because of the wind going the wrong way.... at least it wasn't like yesterday when low winds meant that we didn't make it to the end within the time frame.  A couple of minutes more and we would have won the America's Cup.... but not to be yesterday as Oracle got another win under their belts in race 2 of the day.... So roll on tomorrow and maybe we can do it!!!!!  GO TEAM NZ 

Friday 20 September 2013

Fairy Rowan

I recently purchased a new Wee Stamps digital stamp called "Fairy Rowan"  It is very sweet and I decided to use it with a Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch


Fairy Rowan

After printing I coloured with Copics and added some Sukura glitter pen on the wings.  I cut with Spellbinders circle dies.  The PP is from a Grant Archival pack by Grace Taylor.  It's called Vintage.  I picked up a 100 piece 12x12 pack for $10.  As I can get up to 4 from each sheet if I'm making a card, this is very economic.  But I have to say photographing the pink and red together was a bit difficult.  My sentiment is from a Hero Arts Sparkle clear set.  I just love these little sets. Lots of great little sentiments.  The banner behind my sentiment is a Spellbinders die and the oval, a Stampin' Up! punch.

I am entering this card into the following  challenges
 Try Stampin' on Tuesdays  following the sketch
the Anything Goes (with a fairy or butterfly) at Flutterby Wednesday
Fairy Nice at Cute Card Thursday
Creative Craft Cottage ~ round like a record.  Use a circle

Thanks for visiting today.  I'm looking forward to a nice quiet weekend... maybe even spend some time in the craft room.  I've printed out Fairy Rowan in a slightly larger version and also another cute Wee Stamp I also purchased. 

Thursday 19 September 2013

Using a stencil and texture paste.

This month over at Die Cut Divas, our sponsor is Dreamweaver's Stencils.  Lynell very kindly gave us some stencils to use for our samples. 

Today Arlene is showing off some of our samples including this one that I made


I used some light texture paste through the stencil (LG678)  Once the paste dried I used watercolour paints, some distress inks and watered down Gelatos to colour the paste.  I added the sentiment with embossing powder.  I then matted the panel with some red card and added to a PP background.  To add a some movement, I used a Spellbinders edging to trim the PP.

Do hop over to the blog post and see what Paula and Arlene did.  Both used a cute little dog stencil.  And Lynell is also offering a 20% discount this month over at Stencils with Style  ~ Just use this code SWS20




Wednesday 18 September 2013

A little bit Shabby Chic

I haven't been feeling very crafting for a little while now... so today I have a card to share,  that I made a few weeks ago.

A bit Shabby Chic.

The PP is from a pack called an Edwardian Ladies Diary.  I trimmed a piece to use my background and used a Fiskars punch down one edge.  I then used some of the PP to punch some flowers.  I added them to some fawn Prima flowers and added a pearl brad.  I die cut a Spellbinders die cut and stamped a Hero Arts big sentiment. I added pearls under the sentiment and down the side.

I'm hoping that I feel like crafting soon.... I've got some DT work to do.  Yesterday I lay on my bed when I got home and one and a half hours later, woke up!  Work has been very stressful with some tight timelines.  Was feeling a bit out of my comfort zone and didn't cope with it well.... things are getting better this week thank goodness.

Thanks for visiting. 

Sunday 15 September 2013

Silhoutte challenge at CASology

Over at CASology this week, the cue word is SILHOUETTE.  I had pinned a card recently that had a cat silhouette and it gave me an idea.  I have one cat stamp that is almost a silhouette.  I thought it might just work.

CAS-ology #61 Silhouette

I stamped the cat with Archival Black ink and then added a strip of scalloped punched card and some faux stitching.  The silhouette leaves are by Sizzix.  I finished with a sentiment from Hero Arts.   A very CAS card and hopefully the car is a good enough silhouette.  

Hubby arrived home from Singapore feeling very tired so got send to bed at mid-day to have a nap.  He does not sleep well on long haul flights and this one was an overnighter.  He did get a couple of hours which was good as we had to go out to a 60th birthday.  The one I made my exploding box for.

Explosion box

Sheryl really loved it and was very surprised as she didn't know that I had got the photos from her hubby.


Thursday 12 September 2013

Happy Birthday to my Dad

Earlier this week it was my Dad's birthday.  I had made his card a while ago as I saved postage and sent his Father's Day card, this birthday card and one for my brother ( his birthday is Saturday) all at one time.  I rang and had a nice chat with Dad on his birthday .... two calls in one week!


I did some embossing and some die cutting and some distressing as well.  The photo is, of course, the birthday boy.  I used a Hero Arts sentiment cut as a banner.   The  clock is a Spellbinders die that I have had for quite some time but never used.  (It had been on a half price sale) 

I miss having my parents close by so was lovely to talk to them over the weekend and again on Tuesday evening.  Mum and I write each other a big long e-mail once a week.... just like writing a letter to her but instant postage!  Miss you guys!!!!!  ( that's 'cause I know Mum reads this!)

entering this into the challenge at Simon Says Stamp ~ embossing.  My background is a Sizzix embossing folder. 

Well I've got 5 ATC's to make for a swap so that's my night planned.  Hubby is out of the country for 3 nights ~ work trip to Singapore so I'm making the most of the ME time.

Take care

Sunday 8 September 2013

Honouring Ombre

 

 Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World is to use this inspiring photo.  The challenge is called " Honoring Ombre".

Anyone who knows me well, knows I love working with Purples of every shade and just love Butterflies.  So how could I not join in.

Tuesday Trigger

I started by smooshing three colours of distress ink onto my craft mat and spritzing with water and dragging the card stock through it.  I then spritzed it with some gold Perfect Pearls. Once it dried, I trimmed and layered onto the purple card and added the sentiment from Couture Creations and a die cut butterfly from Memory Box.

Also entering into the Anything Goes  challenge at Red Carpet Studio

Got up this morning in time to watch the America's Cup races.  Team NZ 2, Oracle 0.  Great start and after a good win for the AB's last night against Argentina.

Hope you weekend is going well


Hello Eris Blog Hop

Welcome to Little Blue Button Stamps Blog Hop.  We are here today to introduce you to the new line called "Eris"  She is a little princess from a far far away kingdom.  She has her pet dragon and her friend.

And we are introducing our new designers.  I'm pleased to say that I will be continuing as a designer for LBBS.   You can see the details of all of the designers here.  And visit their blogs during the hop.


And what's a hop without some prizes...We have three special prizes for people who leave a comment on each blog hop stop! Don’t miss any of them and you will be included in the draw! If you have problems with commenting on YouTube you may skip it. But everybody who wants to be included in the drawing must leave a comment on each blog hop stop including LBBS blog.

First prize – three rubber stamps from Little Blue Button Stamps

 Little Blue Button It's Sentimental Rubber Stamp - Click Image to Close
http://www.ccdesignsrubberstamps.com/bmz_cache/c/c101438416a068a34bef7389eb496984.image.388x550.jpg
 http://www.ccdesignsrubberstamps.com/bmz_cache/3/300e69eb0172de0faad27a01251848bb.image.388x550.jpg

Second prize – one of the new released September rubber stamps Rag Doll Sweetheart with bag (it will be released soon on C.C.Designs) plus $10 gift voucher for purchase in LBBS store
 http://lbbstamps.com/image/cache/data/Rag%20Doll/rdsbag-500x500.jpg

 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGbnQHVhfh1ilWYIhX19wlOK8BdGvrpPmzZNAt0M4b0bW6PiOFJj0SysIxlqS-6iLj19sNR1ydL48ApYrYJe9z_ZgRg5EmJ4cqqXa7XeDmedc4lmPCURis5T89X7nOdCmQnI9vSFyy8PbR/s1600/gift+certificate.jpg

Third prize – one digital stamp of your choice + 40% off coupon for one order in LBBS store!
                                              
So on to my sample for you.


Isn't Eris cute sitting on her swing with her dragon.  I've printed her onto some smooth white card and coloured with Copics.  I messed up my edging the first time, so you will notice that the image is layered on top of the printed image.  This gives it some extra depth.  



You can see the depth here.  And of course as Eris is a Princess she has her sparkly crown.  You can get your own Eris over at the Little Blue Button Stamps online store HERE

Now it's time to hop over to Marla's blog to see what gorgeous creations she has for you to view.

And in case you've join the hop at my blog, here is the full list of participants.



Leigh  
Beckie 
                               Dawn  <==== you are here
Marla  
Shana  
                                                        
Go ahead and visit each blog listed above and leave a comment to be eligible to win! Don’t forget to leave a comment on this post!
Edited: Blog Hop has now finished!

Thank you! Have fun and good luck!! 


Saturday 7 September 2013

Art Journalling

Yes, I have ventured into the area of Art Journalling.  I've seen many of my friends online doing some incredible pages.  As this is a bit outside my comfort zone, it will be a challenge.  I have already shared my front cover (here)

Today I will share my first page and a double spread I have done.

First my opening page

Grow where you're planted

This page uses Gelatos, Perfect pearls mist, crackle paint, inks, distress stains, a wax paper die of a heart, black pen and stamps from Kaisercraft and Studio G.  This is symbolic of my journey and growth in this medium.

My double page next is something entirely different.  At present at work, things are a bit stressful and I feel like I'm juggling numerous different tasks.  We are implementing Active Operations Management and having to do lots of manual counting and recording as well as learning to do new tasks within our area.  So I have this painting done by my son when he was in primary school ( about 9yrs old) and it is up on the wall of my craft room.  It is a circus scene

Kieran's Painting

I basically copied his painting

Life is a Circus.

I don't have a lot of acrylic paints so made do with what I had.  Lots of blue, some stamping and adding the tickets.  The die cut letters are a Docrafts  Xcut die.  I added white pen to the little holes in the die cuts.   Yes, my life feels like a circus at times!  I couldn't believe how therapeutic it was to make this page.  It took a couple of evenings as waiting for the paint to dry takes time.    

Now one of my online friends makes beautiful pages in her journal.  Isha has shown one here on her blog and she also has a fabulous give away, courtesy of Design Memory Craft. 

 Who wouldn't love to win this pack.  I know I would!  So hop over to her blog and see how you could have a chance too.

Enjoy your weekend all.  We have family coming to visit and watch the All Blacks versus the Pumas (Argentina) tonight. I'm supposed to be doing the vacuuming and making up the beds ~ just taking a break!!!!!  Still plenty of time till they arrive.


Friday 6 September 2013

A White Wedding

Today I'm here to share with you a card I made for my day on the Little Blue Button Stamps blog, using LBBS digi called "Miss Lilly and Sunny playing wedding"   I made this as a congratulations card for a wedding.



Aren't they an adorable couple.  I printed them and coloured with Copics.  I added some Stickles to ML's veil.  I fussy cut them out and then went to work on the card base.  Lots of use of the Cuttlebug ~ first embossing the base background with Swiss Dots.  Then I cut a white heart with my new Spellbinders Hearts dies.  These are just stunning and there are so many different combinations you can do.  The sentiment is from Simon Says and is on the matching die cut banner.  I made the flowers by punching some light weight card and used my quilling thingie to twist the petals.  I coloured some white brads with Yellow Copic to make the centres.  Tucked some flourishes cut from a Die-namics die in behind the flowers.

Saturday US time,  LBBS is having a Blog Hop to introduce the new DT members. I am pleased to announce that I will be continuing on this team.   Plus LBBS is introducing a new line called Eris.  Do come and join me.  

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Using metal stencils to Emboss

Today I'm here to tell you how you can use your metal stencil to emboss...

In fact there are a couple of ways to emboss.  You can hand emboss with a stylus or you can use your machine.  Yes... you can use a manual die machine like a Big Shot or Cuttlebug.

I used my Cuttlebug to emboss with the Hibiscus stencil from Dreamweavers



I followed the instructions I found on the Dream it Up! blog post .  Here they are.  I made a few adjustments (shown in red)

The main thing to remember while embossing by machine is the stacking method. If you follow these steps you will not ruin your stencil OR your machine.

1. Place the thickest white plate in the machine first if you own a Cuttlebug this is referred to as the A plate. If you own a Big Shot this is referred to as the thick white platform...do not use the TAB 1 or 2. Instead let those tabs follow through opened up. 

2. Place the  stencil face down on this thick white plate or platform. This means the copyright and stencil code is hidden from view. 

3. Next place the cardstock to be embossed on top of the stencil then spray this paper with rubbing alcohol. (I used a product called Paper Glide) This spritz of alcohol helps the paper fibers break and move into the stencil for a sharper embossed image without making the paper soggy like water would. And has the added advantage of not leaving water spots on the cardstock.

4. Now place the thick Stamping Details rubber mat on the paper. This mat is thicker than most but definitely worth having. Otherwise you need to use two or three plastic shims with your thinner rubber mat. But the rubber mat should be closest to the paper. (I used two of the tan mats from Spellbinders and didn't need any shim)

5. This is followed by two acrylic plates. For the Cuttlebug...these are identified as "B" plates.

Crank this stack of plates through the machine. DO NOT FORCE the machine. If it is too tight you could hurt the machine. Find the right formula for your machine by reading step #4 over again if necessary.


Once I had embossed I used Copic makers to colour the embossed area.  I trimmed out the stenciled area and edged with a gold pen.  The corners are a La La Land die, which I cut from gold card.  The sentiment is by Stamp-It

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to use stencils.    There are also lots of great techniques on the Dream it Up! blog.   I've also posted this over at Die Cut Divas as a sample for our Celebrate challenge.  We would love to have you join us.


 



Tuesday 3 September 2013

Another Christmas card plus my Art Journal cover.

I have another of my Saturday's cards to share today.  This CAS Christmas card that was inspired by a Hero Arts stamp.

Mini Christmas tree

Here is the stamp that inspired the card. 
Shari's Tree No. 2 picture 

My tree is an old Cuttlebug die from 5 years ago.  I cut it in green card and then added to the card which I had embossed with a Spellbinders square die.  I added sequins to my tree.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I can see myself making a few more of this design with some of the other sentiments in this set. 

And now for a little something different.  I've decided to start an Art Journal.  This is something a little outside my comfort zone.  I have done the front cover.

Art Journal Cover

 I tore a page out of the journal and started by scribbling some Gelatos onto my craft mat and spritzing with water and pulling my paper through it.  As it's not watercolour but cartridge paper, I had to be a bit careful.  Once it dried  I used a Dylusions stencil and some lightweight texture paste.  Once that dried coloured with Gelatos.  Outlined the flowers (Thanks for the idea Barb!) with a black pen.  Stamped some words (Kaisercraft) added the centre image (Inkadinkado) and the harlequin stamps (unknown) Finished with a Hero Arts Butterfly stamped and die cut.   At least it's a start.   I have done two more pages... one single page that is painted and textured but not yet finished and a double page that is something quite different again.... I'll share later.

Lots happening over the next week or so.  I'm posting on Die Cut Divas this week and also at Little Blue Button stamps blog as well as taking part in a blog hop with LBBS.  Keep a look out for that... so have been busy.  I've been making flowers tonight, while watching TV.  

Have a great week all

                              

Monday 2 September 2013

It's September at Die Cut Divas.... let's Celebrate


Hi there.... Arlene is our host this month at Die Cut Divas and has a great challenge.... CELEBRATE.... what ever you celebrate.  And our wonderful sponsor this month is Dreamweaver Stencils

 

 Lynell Harnell, the owner, has been very generous and there will be FOUR prize packs ~ one for each week of the month.    And she very generously send us some stencils and a die to work with.  I have to say I had never seen their stencils.  They are beautifully worked metal stencils and there are so many ways to work with them.

My first sample card uses a stencil with distress inks.


I used some Simon Says watercolour paper to stencil onto.  I used a stencil brush and daubed on the distress inks on.  I added some glossy accents to the centres.  I used Spellbinders to cut my watercolour paper and the yellow mat.  I added some trellis die cut (Spellbinder) and cut a Simon Says die and stamp set for my sentiment. 

Do go to the blog  and join us with your project.... whatever you are making a card (or other project) to celebrate and use your machine to die cut or emboss.  We would love to see what you create and you've got a chance to win one of the four prize packs.

I'll be over at the blog on Wednesday to share another way to use the stencils.