Rocky's Crafting Blog: January 2021

Monday 25 January 2021

Mandala Florals

These are the flowers and leaves from John Next Door that go with the mandala die set, something a little different, one set has a solid petal and another has an open petal and it's the same with the leaves.

For the centre panel I cut the purple card with the second solid die from the mandala set and cut the green card layer with a solid die from the Woodford set, they match very well.

Using the stencil words I cut the sentiment in the purple layer and backed it with some silver paper before putting it on foam tape over the green card.

I also cut two corners from the purple card and glued them on opposite corners, leaving the bottom left for the flower spray.

I had a piece of card left over from playing around with Brusho Purple, there was enough to cut some flowers and a couple of corners.

The corners were trimmed a little, stuck on silver paper and then cut out by hand. Once cut out I glued them together at the square tip to form a butterfly to fill the empty corner at the top of the card.

For the leaves I used two shades of green card, keeping the lighter for the open leaves and the dark for the solid. Using a ball tool and a soft mat the leaves were given a little shape.

The spray was built up on the card by tucking the leaves under the flowers and sticking them down. Each flower has a small silver pearl in the centre to tie in with the silver greeting and butterfly wings.

The Mandal die set may have been an exclusive to Hochanda but you will be able to get the flowers and leaves from your local craft shop.

Materials List (available from your local craft shop)
JND204 - Mandala Flowers die

JND205 - Mandala Leaves die set

JND172 - Woodford die set

Mandala die set was limited edition to Hochanda only

JND206 - Mayfield Corner die set

S57262 - 3D PVA Glue from Stix2

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Crazy 4 Challenges - Green and Purple

A Bit More Time To Craft - Anything Goes

Creative Fingers - Anything Goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies - Anything Goes Winner

Saturday 23 January 2021

Mandala Quatrefoil Card

Another card made using the new limited edition Mandal die set from John Next Door. I like to play around with my dies to see what else I can do with them other than the expected basic cut. For a mandala it's usually cut and stack, which looks amazing, but there must be other things you can do with it. That's why I cut from inexpensive card and fold, snip and mess around to see what it will do, we all want value for money from our products don't we?, I know I do.

The card used was the same brand in two different shades, that way I knew it was the same thickness. Each piece of card measured 4 5/8inches wide by 9 1/2 long, the width is most important although this can be trimmed if it's a little too wide once you have the mandala cut at both ends.

The hardest part of this card was remembering to use to 'far' side of the die on the edges of the card, this meant having my cutting plates staggered so it only cut the top half.

Once the edges were cut I scored along each inner edge and folded the patterned cut inwards.

After both pieces of card were cut at the ends I cut the outer patterned part of the mandala and the inner full cut in the darker card. I cut a gold mirri outer pattern with both full cut inner and outer dies and glued this over the aperture to frame it.

Before gluing the two pieces of card together I placed them over each other and made sure they formed a perfect square so all points would meet, I had to trim a tiny bit here and there to achieve this but if I hadn't the card wouldn't have folded correctly.

I stamped through the aperture to make sure my sentiment would be in exactly the right place, then I glued the two pieces of card together. I added some of the leftovers from the mirri mandala frame to the corners of the inside and a mirri centre to one point on the outside, this disc acts as a 'seal' to hold the card shut when all points are folded in.

This would look amazing in white or cream for a save the date card or wedding invitation, cut a plain disc for the outside to hold the couples initials, there are so many possibilities with this die set.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

C.R.A.F.T. - New

Daring Cardmakers - You're So Square

Moving Along With The Times - #126 New

The Crafter's Cafe - #258 New

Happy Little Stampers Dies - Anything Using A Die

Little Red Wagon - #585 Dies

Thursday 21 January 2021

Mandala Media Mashup

Three cards from one use of the media plate makes best use of time and ink. John Next Door has some new dies coming out this week, I have used the mandala die, a media plate and some Craft Artist inks for these.

To start I die cut a mandala from thin card to use as a stencil, you can cut out the layers of this mandala but I chose to skip the inner solid dies for a 'doily' effect.

Using the circular media plate I placed the stencil on the plate and added ink using a hard brayer. I closed the stamp press upside down so the stencil didn't fall off, then turned it over and pressed gently over the plate. The first impression was patchy but once stamped again without the stencil in place it fills in the missing areas and looks much better.

I used the media plate twice to make two images, one for this post and one for John to use on Hochanda.

So then I had two circular images, an inked mandala and a brayer clean off scrap. This is something I probably wouldn't have thought of without both John and Eileen mentioning how useful your run off scraps can be.

For this one I used the same inks and a blending brush to add colour to the edge of the image panel. I then stamped an old Woodware seed head in black, along with a simple birthday greeting.

To pick out the black and ground the seed heads I matted with a thin black layer before going on a white 6x6 card blank.

This one was a small piece of white card that I pressed the stencil on to to get the ink off, then I cut up the stencil and glued it on to the corners of the white square.

Just the word 'smile' in black was enough for this one, a thin black mat to frame it and then on to a 4x4 card blank.

The run off card I used was from a small stash of scraps, I cut a 3inch square from it. It looked like a snow scene so I stamped it with some trees and a few deer in black, then flicked a white Posca pen over it for light snowfall.

Again I have used a black mat layer to frame the image before gluing it to another 4x4 card blank.

Now I have a birthday card, a general use card and a Christmas card all from one session with the media plate. I also have a whole bundle of run off scraps from the printing plate comparisons made in the previous post, so there will be lots of small cards in my stash this year.

I would like to enter these cards in the following challenges:

AAA Birthday - Use A Stencil

Simon Says Stamp Weds - Make Your Own Background

Happy Little Stampers Stencil - Anything Using A Stencil

Love To Craft - Anything Goes

Sweet Stampers -#52 Snow / Winter

Addicted To Stamps and More - Christmas

The Holly and Ivy - Anything Christmas Top 5

A Bit More Time To Craft - Anything Goes

Saturday 16 January 2021

Printing Plate Comparisons

This comparison is purely my findings, it is not a definitive guide, my skill level is very much 'still learning' so please try these for yourselves. It was inspired by watching some very talented people using a Gel Plate, I wondered if I could use what I already had to get a similar effect.

I have used four different printing plates, there are many other brands available. Three of these will fit in my stamp platform, making them very easy to use and build multiple layers, without re-aligning, if desired. Thickness ranges from 2.5mm to 3.25mm. The Gel Press is too thick for my press at 8.5mm, so this was used on a craft mat, laying the card on top to get an image making multiple layers more difficult, but not impossible.

All these samples have been stamped on to the same type of card - Limetree 250sgm Silky Smooth. I've also used similar colours to make comparison easier.