Faux Patina Designer Gift Bag

     This little gift bag is from a template by Papermania, I've included a fifty pence piece so you can gauge the finished size.
     This week at The Technique Twist the challenge is Faux Patina, there is a link to a tutorial which I found very helpful. I have opted for an old leather look rather than metal for my bag.
     I started with white card from which I cut the template. To emboss the sides I did one side at a time as my folder is only a 6x4 . I inked my folder with Old Paper Distress Ink on the embossing side of the folder before embossing my card. Once out of the folder I then Inked with Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs and a dash of Aged Mahogany to get the various shades of brown.
     The shine comes from Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Wax Autumn Bronze which I rubbed on to the card with my finger. Let the wax dry off then buff it up to a nice shine. The tag is Grunge Paper with an eyelet through it, hung on some old gold ball chain. The clasp is a gold button stuck on with ultra sticky tape, I have used a foam pad underneath the flap to lift it up a little.
     I had a very messy time making this but it was fun, I shall definitely be making some more.

I would like to enter my bag in the following challenges:

The Technique Twist - Faux Patina

Anything Goes Challenge Blog - Out With The Girls

The Male Room flock

This time at The Male Room our challenge is animal, bird or fish. We would like to see anything masculine with this theme, card, scrapbook page or gift creation. Please pop over and take a look at the DT samples, they're all quite different so you may see something to spark your imagination, we'd love to see what you create.

This stamp is by Sheena Douglass, I bought it a while back but this is it's first outing, shame on me! It appealed to my sense of humour as my parents live in Wales and my friends surname is Ramsbottom, it was a 'must have' stamp for me.

This image has been stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black so that I could use my new markers to colour it. As you can probably tell I'm in need of practise with them so this was a nice easy start. I look at some of your gorgeous cards and wish I could get my colouring to look that good, I hope I shall improve with time.

I have coloured with greys and a little green, then outlined with a cool grey which looks more blue than grey but works well all the same. I found some green card that looked great as a mat but needed some texture, so it has been embossed with a Darice folder that looks like chicken wire.

Quite a basic card to make that could be used for any occasion. You have two weeks to make your creation so please come and join us at The Male Room.

Technique Time Tuesday CASE

      This is a CASE card from Technique Time Tuesday's current challenge. I'm hostess this month with the Faux Silk technique, there is a video tutorial on TTT to show you how we've done it.
     I have chosen a card by a very talented lady named Kimbo to CASE. There are some really great cards entered this month but Kimbo's caught my eye because of the oriental theme and the fact that she had heat embossed tissue paper.
     I chose green tissue to emboss with bamboo leaves, then I crumpled it up and opened it out again. To my surprise non of the embossing cracked at all, maybe it's the Cosmic Shimmer powder that's the secret, I'll have to experiment further. Once opened out the tissue is stuck on to white card but not smoothed out completely, some of the wrinkles must stay to imitate silk.
     The image panel is stamped in Archival Olive Green on cream card, it's an old PSX stamp of my Mum's. Both image and background panels have been mounted on black before being put on a pale green water stamped card.
     The coin is a gift from a fellow DT member, thanks Karen, with a few Mizuhiki cords knotted through it. There is also a Mizuhiki knot at the bottom. Karen of Stamping In Pink has been campaigning to bring back the oriental style, I've been trying to help because I love it's simplicity and style. I think with the launch of some new oriental stamps by Sheena Douglass that we may be on to a winner!

     Please pop over to TTT and take a look at the DT cards and challenge entries, there is still one week left to join us.

Shabby and Vintage at HOC

     Welcome to my DT contribution for month three at House Of Cards. Each month we have a theme but each week we have a different style within that theme. This week it's Shabby and Vintage with a gorgeous colour palette of lilacs, purples and a splash of coral.
     For my card I've chosen to omit the coral and stay with shades of mauve. The background is a white piece of card inked with a mixture of Distress Inks Seedless Preserve and Milled Lavender, then water stamped with a Hydrangea flower.

     The doily is cut from mauve card with an X-Cut die, inked over with Adirondack Eggplant ink and decorated with Cosmic Shimmer Pearl PVA in purple. The silhouette is also an X-Cut die and coloured with Eggplant to match the doily, card edge and leaves, it is mounted on foam pads over a cream circle because it looked too dark over just the doily.
     The flowers are Hydrangea paper flowers I got at a craft show a couple of years ago, coloured with the same distress inks as the background and then dabbed over with a little mauve mica powder. The gems have been coloured with an alcohol marker so they tone in as well.
     Please pop over to the challenge site and have a look at the lovely creations from the other girls on the DT, I'm sure you'll find something to inspire you to join us at House Of Cards.

Recycled Poinsettia

     This seasonal brooch has been made from drink cans. It's quite a good way of recycling something and turning it into a hand crafted gift for Christmas.
     To begin with cut open the drink can carefully, I would suggest wearing gardening gloves when you do this to protect your hands and use an old pair of scissors. At this stage the edges are sharp but once die cut they are rounded over slightly and much safer to handle.

     I have used a Sizzix Bigz die, Tattered poinsettia. These dies have a blade embedded in the foam so they are sharp enough to cut metal, unfortunately Spellbinders and similar rely on pressure on the ridge to cut and metal is just to thick.
     My flower has been coloured using Alcohol Inks but alcohol markers will also work well. The metal can be passed through an embossing folder to get texture on the petals but this time I have just used a nylon tool to score veins on them. I remembered I had a metal craft tool set in the cupboard so I have been making great use of that again, it has some really useful nylon tool heads as well as a selection of fancy pattern wheels.
     There are two large petal sets, one coloured with greens, one coloured with green and red, then one middle size petal set and one small both coloured with red only. The centre is coloured yellow as is the paper fastener that holds it all together. There are lots of really nice brads available that would look great as flower centres but paper fasteners work just as well and they can be coloured too.
     I have stitched a brooch back to a felt flower shape that has double sided sticky sheet on it, once the brooch back is on I have peeled off the sticky cover and placed it on the back of the brooch. This saves trying to glue the brooch back on ( I tried that and it didn't go well!) and it covers the brad back making it all look tidy.
     I hope you have a go at this, it's much easier than it looks and you have a valid reason to drink something fizzy now!

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

Try It On Tuesday - Make your own flowers

Country View Crafts - Layers

Our Creative Corner - Forgotten things

Red, White and Kraft

      Here is this weeks Christmas card.
This one was inspired by the colour choice at 52 CCT and CraftyHazelnut's  request to 'cut it out'.
     I was recently lucky enough to find this Papermania 6x6 stamp in a sale bin for £1, now who could resist that!
     I chose to stamp and clear emboss on white card, then ink over with Distress Ink Festive Berries.
     I didn't want to put cut outs on top, that would be too easy, so I used some Sizzix Movers and Shapers to cut holes in my background instead.

      When I held this over my Kraft layer it looked a little dull, so I used some double sided sticky sheet under where my holes would be and covered them with Glamour Dust Crystal, this kept the Kraft look but added some sparkle.
     All that was left then was to cover the back of my die cut background with foam tape and stick it to my Kraft layer. I suppose you could say it's a bit of a back to front card but it was something I just had to try.
    

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

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Red, White and Kraft

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Cut It Out

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas

Christmas Box Snowman and Angel

     Last week I showed a Christmas Collection Box and promised further details of the snowman and angel, well here they are.
     The snowman is two small polystyrene balls stuck together with a cocktail stick spike between body and head. The balls were then covered with PVA glue and sprinkled with white flock.
     Once the flock was dry the tiny black gems were stuck on for his eyes and a really tiny nail art gem for his nose. His mouth is a series of small dots made with a permanent marker.
     His hat is made using the top from a lip balm stuck on to a small black card disc and coloured with a permanent marker. His scarf is a small length of blue fancy knitting yarn.
     He is stuck to a card base that has been covered with flock and clear glitter and he is backed by a small piece of snowflake scrapbook paper.

      The baubles are cut with the smallest Spellbinder bauble dies, four for each bauble. Each shape has been folded and stuck to the corresponding side of the next shape with black thread running down the middle. To get the baubles to hang properly I made a false ceiling with card and taped each thread securely to it before gluing it in place.
     The angel is made using two beads, two finding and a post. The dress is a flower trumpet and the head is a pink bead, the wings are one little finding and the tiny cap at the top is another.
     They have all been threaded on to the post, once threaded the end has been turned over to make a loop so it can be hung ( would make good seasonal earrings) or it can be bent over to look like a halo.
     This little box has been fun to make, if time allows I would like to make some more for Christmas to have dotted about the house as this one is now travelling the show circuit with J&C Creations.

Blue Christmas

      It's a few weeks since I managed to get a Christmas card made, but now the routine is returning to near normal (not sure what normal is really) here is this weeks offering.
     It began with a sketch from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and gathered a few other challenge pointers along the way.
     The bauble was the first thing I made because I wanted to try an experiment, part of it worked and part didn't, so I'm only showing you the bit that did! I stamped and embossed with Wow Clear Sparkle on to white card, then used a Brilliance Dewdrop pearl ink pad to colour over the embossing. The sparkle doesn't show well in the photo but it is an amazing powder for Christmas things.

     I have also used the same ink to colour the outer edge of a white card blank, it's much cheaper than buying pearl card and I get a perfect colour match to my bauble. The bauble shape is cut with a Spellbinder die, topped with a tiny bit of aluminium tape and hung on a silver thread.
     The panel the bauble is mounted on has been embossed with a folder called Snowflakes from Cuttlebug. The dark blue strip is cut from the same card as the mat layer then covered with a snowflake border peel off in white. To finish it off I have used some glitter foam letters in blue for a greeting.

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

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Sketch

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Layer it up

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas

Here Come The Boys - Blue Christmas In September

The Glory Of Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes

Challenge #4 at The Male Room

     Can you believe we are launching challenge number 4 at The Male Room?! This time we are looking for 'Sport or Hobbies'. Any hand crafted item with a masculine feel to it, card, scrapbook page or gift.
     This card has been made using a picture cut from a 12x12 scrapbook page from Dovecraft. The rosette is a die cut from a friend, I believe it's a Sizzix die, with a peel off sentiment coloured with a permanent marker pen. The number is die cut using a Sizzix alphabet - Round Table. Both the rosette and the number are mounted using foam pads.
     The small football at the bottom is a button with the shank cut off, this can be done quite easily with side cutters. There are lots of nice buttons available in haberdashery shops and if you can cut off the shank you can have lots of nice embellishments too.
     A simple card to make to show you don't have to be a stamper to join in with The Male Room, we really would like to see whatever you choose to make for our theme.

Christmas Collection Box

     This Christmas Collection Box was a kit from J&C Creations. It comes flat packed for you to decorate and assemble. The pieces are made from MDF which glue together very well, there are assembly instructions with it.
     I began by painting all the pieces white using acrylic paint. The front surround has also been sprayed with Crafters Companion Spray & Sparkle Iridescent which gives it a thin coat of glittery varnish, it doesn't show up very well in the photo but does when you see it in the wood, so to speak. If you are coming to Thetford show on Sunday then please come over and have a closer look.

      The little houses at the top have had their windows and door covered from behind with acetate coloured with Promarkers.
     In the main section there is a Christmas Tree made using the rosette dies from Tim Holtz, you can review a previous post on their construction here.
     There is also a turkey made using the same dies that can be reviewed here on a previous post.

        The present is a small box that once contained a car relay covered with some paper from a Christmas paper pad and tied up with curling ribbon. In the background there is some more paper with stockings hanging up along it.
     The snowman has been made using lots of bits and bobs that I will be telling you about on next weeks J&C Creations Sunday blog post, along with the details about the baubles and angel.

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

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Anything NOT a card

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas

Goodwood Tags

    It was my Dad's Birthday yesterday and this is the card I made for him. The whole thing was inspired by the race car stamp, the other elements all seemed to fall into place.
    When my Dad was younger he used to go to Goodwood race track to watch the motor racing. When I was young I remember the little card tags that he got at those races used to hang up in the family vehicle, they were slightly different shapes and colours but all had a cord to hang by. Race winners used to get a Laurel garland hung around their neck too, so this Sizzix Bigz die came in very handy as it had the garland and the tag on it.
    The stamp is done with Stazon black on to copper sheet metal from Walnut Hollow, the picture in then worked with nylon tools to produce the outlining and the stippling. It's mounted on a layer of black card before being stuck on to a piece of card that has been embossed with a Sizzix folder and inked over in black to give the chequered flag look to it.
    Motor racing has changed a lot since my Dad's era, I can remember quite a few changes too, but we both still enjoy watching it and playing with the Scalextric too!

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

Make My Monday - Childhood Memories

Cards For Men - Tag it

Creative Moments - Birthday/Anything goes

Faux Silk with Technique Time Tuesday

     This month at Technique Time Tuesday we are trying our hand at Faux Silk. There is a great tutorial that can be seen here by Mynnette, to show you how we did it.
     I began by stamping a Crafty Individuals picture with a mix of Distress Inks in Forest Moss and Brushed Corduroy on to a piece of white tissue paper. As you are going to crumple the tissue you could recycle some that you may already have. Once the image is dry you crumple it up, then smooth it out a little to leave some creases. Stick this to a piece of white card with a glue stick, don't smooth it out completely as the wrinkles are what gives the impression of silk fabric.
     The edges are bound with a DIY version of washi tape, I use microporous surgical tape found in the medicine isle of my local supermarket.
     Once I had made my main image I then began to stamp on Kraft card with Archival Ink Coffee using Wild Meadow stamps from Chocolate Baroque.

     There is a little sparkle added to the dragonfly wings and Cow Parsley but it doesn't show very well in the photos, this was done with a Sakura Stardust pen in clear.
     The image panel is stuck on to the Kraft card and then finished off with some paper flowers that have been in my stash for a couple of years. I'm trying to stop keeping things for 'something else' and use them up. My desk is groaning under the weight of embellishments and papers that are 'too nice to use!'
     The flowers are finished with some tiny gems to add a little more sparkle.
     I hope you will try this technique and join us with your creations, we'd love to see what you've made. Have a look at the DT cards for more inspiration, they're all quite different with lots of ideas to start you off.

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

Our Creative Corner - Forgotten Things (Paper Flowers)

Beach Mobile

     This is another creation made from my beach finds. Everything except the cord and fishing line was found on the beach. One beach in Wales near my parents house and one beach here in Norfolk.
     The drift wood all came from Wales, as did the small shells and the crab claw. The stones and the large shell came from a local beach. I love beach combing, especially in rough weather or just after. On holiday this year we found five different kinds of seaweed washed up on the beach as well as lots of shells and some fossils.
     All the stones and shells have holes in them already so I didn't have to drill anything. The fishing line is tied around the driftwood so that's not drilled either.
     It really is very easy to put together as long as you work with it hanging. I began by tying two long pieces of drift wood together with cord, to be used for hanging the whole thing, to form a cross.

     After making the cross I began to tie small shells and stones to smaller bits of wood with fishing line and then began to hang them from the cross. It's all a case of balance which is why it's easier to make it hanging up than lying on a table. On a nice sunny day you can work from the washing line.
     All of the items have been washed, the crab claw was soaked in an antibacterial solution for a few days to make sure it didn't smell bad, I wouldn't suggest bleach as this may take the colour out of the shells and the claw.
     I have made several of these for friends, I have one in my bathroom. For me this one is special as it brings Wales and Norfolk together, a trip west is never complete without a few hours on the beach.
     Next time you go to the beach have a look and see what you can find, use a stick to poke through the rubbish washed up, be careful what you pick up but have fun finding little treasures.