Shepherd silhouette

This is my entry for this weeks 52(Christmas) Card Throwdown Sketch #2. The centre picture is a Dufex sticker that I've had for some time, it's a silhouette with a hint of blue. I've used that hinted colour to lift the card a little. The background is a gorgeous pearlised card I found in the draw. I then used black card, which isn't as easy as it sounds is it? Black is not just black, I didn't think you could get shades of black but Oh Boy do you have to shop around for something that should be so basic!

That job done I chose to use a satin silver card and emboss it with stars. Both layers were matted flat then the picture was put on top using foam pads. The greeting is a silver peeloff coloured with a black permanent marker and mounted on satin silver card.

It's a very quick and easy card because this week I'm claiming 'nasty cold' dispensation. Although after a few menthol tissues and a chocolate muffin I feel much better! I'll try harder next week, promise!

I would just like to thank Veronica and Jacqueline for their technical assistance, much appreciated ladies.

Rhinestone berries

Maybe not my best photographic effort but it's not easy getting the angle right sometimes when you want to show all the details.

This is my entry for this weeks 52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown . We had to use Rhinestone Embellishments, at least three....seventeen should qualify! The stamp is from Creative Expressions - Stylish Christmas 2 . I have used the separate swirl in the set to make a patterned background which doesn't really show up well here, sorry. I stamped and embossed with clear ink and clear powder to keep it subtle. The main image is embossed in gold. I then stamped and embossed another image from which I then cut out the leaves, candle and flame. The leaves are painted with Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints and all the berries have been covered with red rhinestones. The candle is curved gently over some silicone glue to give it dimension.

I'm enjoying playing along with this challenge, there are some beautiful cards being posted, lots of inspiration.

52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown

This is my challenge entry for the 52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown . This is a great way of building a stock pile of christmas cards, thus making the festive season a little less stressfull. I love making christmas cards so this is a handy excuse to continue playing, though it does mean the festive stash cannot be put away until August as it once was.

This weeks theme is 'Christmas Flowers'. The stamp set 'Ivy' from Creative Expressions . The background has been made using Distress Inks spritzed with water and also Enchanted Gold Cosmic Shimmer. The Ivy has been embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Bright Gold and coloured in with Cosmic watercolours. The rose was stamped on white card and gold embossed four times, I then built the flower to give it dimension. Instructions for this can be found on Creative Expressions website.

The sentiment is on the same stamp plate. It was stamped and embossed before being cut out with a Spellbinders die, I left the die in place while I used Distress Ink to colour the cut out so that I got the white border. It was then mounted on foam pads to give it a little lift.

Matting and layering were done to pick out the Distress colours. Maybe not the colours you would expect on a christmas card but I think a challenge is all about leaving your comfort zone and playing.

Rosette Peacocks

This little Peacock was inspired by Tim Holtz and his 'Quirky Turkeys' . You can find out how he made them by looking in November 2011 on his blog. I'm sorry there's no link, I tried to set it up but I couldn't get it to work.

All I did was to make the rosettes in peacock type colours. The biggest rosette was cut from an offcut of card that had been sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer misters in dark blues and purples. The second rosette was cut from a gorgeous pearlised card that I got at a craft fayre and the smallest rosette was cut from Bazill card.

The head had to be drawn differently from the turkey, so I used Tim's turkey head as a base shape and changed the neck and added a tuft on top of his head. He is assembled in the same way as the turkeys but gives a taste of summer. The eyes have been made using Cosmic Shimmer PVA pearlised glue in Black. I also stuck the whole thing together using Cosmic PVA dries clear glue and not a glue gun, it works very well. I have to say that for what appears to be just a PVA glue Cosmic Shimmer PVA really sticks !!

Once I've demolished my chocolate muffin I'm going to try some other variations.

Happy crafting, let me know if you've tried these birds, turkeys or peacocks, I'd love to hear about it.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you. Some of my friends were a little downhearted when they didn't receive the usual crafted Christmas card this year, so to make amends I've made them a little easel style calendar.

I used an A6 card to make the easel and then had fun making the 'artwork' to stand up and celebrate a new year. This one was for someone who loves steampunk...who am I to disappoint!

The little calendars are available from most stationers at only a few pence each. If you wanted to make a mini monthly page calendar you could take each sheet off and mount it in amongst your artwork to make something truly original.

I hope you got some crafting goodies for Christmas, so have fun creating and see you next year.

Seasons Greetings

This little fellow is from the 'Christmas Post' stamp set by Creative Expressions. Basic stamping with distress inks but what makes it a little better is using the pearl PVA glues for the berries and the robins eye.

I hope you have a happy christmas and craft filled new year.

Marbling with shaving foam

This tag was made using the 'Butterfly Kiss' stamp plate from Creative Expressions. The main image was stamped in Archival Coffee, clear embossed and then painted with Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks. The verse was also stamped in Archival Coffee. The little butterfly at the top was stamped on a scrap piece of card in Coffee and clear embossed, he was then coloured with drawing inks and cut out. For the butterfly body I used a stick on embellishment from the same pack as used in the previous post, they are just the right size for this stamp.
The background for the tag was made using the following technique, shaving foam marbling with Cosmic Shimmer misters. A little messy but great fun!

Fill a plastic container with about an inch of shaving foam. I used the lid from an A5 storage box and the cheapest shaving foam I could find. Don't worry about the fragrance as it doesn't last very long but it is nice to work with something that smells good!
Smooth the foam out a little with the end of a ruler or something similar to give you a flatish work surface.




Agitate your misters to get them ready, then spray at random on to the foam. This on it's own will produce a nice effect but I have always loved the swirly patterns you get inside old books so I mix mine up a little.






Make your swirls with the end of a paintbrush, a skewer or anything else that can be wiped clean easily. Fingers tend to be a little too big for this, though that has never stopped my son from trying it!
The beauty of using shaving foam is that unlike water (used with oil based paints) your swirls will not continue to move while you turn around to reach for your cardstock.


Place your cardstock on top of the foam, press down gently to make sure you have contact with all the paint. Cardstock is best for this technique as paper tends to be a little too weak.
Lift your cardstock out of the foam.

The excess foam can be removed by running your ruler gently along the card. Return the excess foam to the container. You can get several images from the foam, each one will be a little paler than the last. The mica will show clearly on the first copy but may not be apparent after that. This can always be rectified afterwards by spritzing a little clear 'Pearl Mist' over the card.

This colour choice was quite light but produced a spring like colouring which was ideal for my tag.

Experiment with different colours and see the wonderful patterns you can get.
I often do this at home with my seven year old son, he's very creative of his own free will, which means we get to craft together quite a lot. He often has some very good suggestions, I guess it's because he still sees everything as possible.

Bold colours are great. This tag was made with Purple Haze and Aqua Lagoon. I try to keep a little tag book (made using scraps of card) to remind me of favourite colour combinations, write the colours used on the back, punch a hole in the corner and hang them on a big clip ring. I always think I will remember....but I don't!

I hope this has explained it well enough, if not then please drop me a comment and tell me. This is for Pat, Wendy, Mona, Angie and Linda who I met at Capture The Magic...have fun girls!!