Snuggly Pixies

This is a card I made recently for a friend to show I was thinking of her. It uses a lovely new stamp called Star Gazing from Lavinia, plus an old favourite sentiment from a Kaisercraft clear set.

I bought the stamp at Ally Pally and kept it on my craft desk until I actually used it for once! I love those little hats, they are like something from the 1950s best dressed toddler wear catalogue! If they weren't silhouettes I reckon these little ones would be clothed in hand knitted garments! I expect my Mum still has a suitable pattern in her Woman's Weekly archives!! So cute and nostalgic.  

The image and sentiment are stamped in black Versamark. The stamps around the edge are a mixture of Lavinia and Inkylicious grasses. The butterflies are Lavinia again. The background is inked with some Tumbled Glass DI, definitely some Denim Adirondack dye ink, plus something I can't remember! The wings have a little stickles on them.

I am currently being serenaded by a late black bird as the day draws to a close, it is competing with Katie Melua . It is a rather lovely combination!


Hope you are all planning something nice this weekend. Let's hope for a little sunshine. My heart needs a little lift I think, although our apple blossom is just starting to burst through which always makes me feel brighter, it is so beautiful.
 
Elaine x

Catching up!

Well it's been a busy old week for me. I managed to post my latest overdue project for our Craft Stamping Quartet blog, while the other girls were off galivanting at the Graphicus Retreat. Please pop over and see what we have been up to here.

While the lucky Retreaters were away, some of the other Graphicus Guild members decided to do some green projects because we were green with envy - here is my effort!! I used the Arboretum Stamps from Elusive Images to make another overdue birthday card for my friend, I used Adirondack dye inks in Citrus, lettuce and Pesto for the background, Olive Archival ink for the tree itself and all sorts of green inks for the leaves. I edged the stamped panel with different stamps from the Wild Meadow set from Elusive Images - another of my favourites. I used my leafy technique in the background and finished off with some ribbon and paper leaves. Even my OH was postive about this card - wonders will never cease!!

I managed to finally finish the project we started at the brilliant workshop we did with Linda Elbourne at LB Crafts during our mini-Retreat break in Bedford in June - I loved the workshop and the colours of this hanging are just gorgeous. My OH noticed this one too and said the roses looked like chocolate. Maybe he was feeling a little peckish! This project is based on three little canvases, covered with stamped tissue paper and decorated with various Tim Holtz die cuts from Grungepaper, some lovely TH metal embellishments and some Grungepaper roses coloured with Distress Ink and sprayed with Glimmer Mist. I must admit I didn't enjoy the assembling of the project with all the jump rings. Judith did a sterling job of teaching us how to do it properly on our break, but knowing what a fan Linda is of songs, I think I just want to sing I don't like jump rings to the tune of I don't like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats!!!!

I also taught my first ever craft workshop at a another retreat, a weekend for carers, to give them a break from their caring responsibilities at home. We made flag books and it went really well, I can't believe what they managed as they were all non-crafters, the big smiles at the end made it all worthwhile - even the ink up the wall, but I'll make a post about that on another day!


Thanks for popping over

Elaine xx

I'm still here!

It's been quite a while since I blogged, both because I have been really busy, but also because I haven't been satsified enough with anything I made to share it! Finally last weekend I did manage to get some quality crafting time and tried out my new set of Inkadinkadoo Utopiary stamps.

My first effort is a card - my favourite 8 x 8 size.

The background is Basic Grey Marrakech Green Tea paper with leaves added in Adirondack Pesto dye ink, sponged through a stencil. The tree image and flourishes on the tag are from different stamps In the Utopiary set, stamped in Olympian Green Versafine, shaded with Citrus, Lettuce and Pesto Adirondack dye inks using a stipple brush and Cut n' Dry foam. The sentiment is from a Paper Artsy mini stamp using the same colours and cut out with a Nestabilities label set in the Cuttlebug. The design is finished off with some paper leaves and some stick on dots in the corners.

Next I tried some ATCs to practice my inking, which I think is gradually improving - inking backgrounds is something I have really struggled with for some reason - other people make it look so effortless. These also use the Utopiary set.

I added some pale Adirondack dye inking  in the background with the stipple brush and then I stamped the images in my favourite ink for a good clean image - Versafine. More ink was added with Cut n' Dry foam to add shading in toning colours. I think the pinky ones are my favourites, these used Sunshine Yellow, Sunset Orange, Watermelon, Cranberry and Eggplant inks.

I hope now I have got back into the swing of crafting, I might have more projects worth sharing.

Tags and butterflies

I have never really got into making tags before, but decided to have a few experiments.

First of all I wanted to use some of my leafy backgrounds. Actually I have mostly ended up covering them up, but never mind! The first two are part of a set of seasonal themed tags, inspired by the Debbie Moore set of seasonal defintion stamps which I have had a while, but used here for the first time. This one is autumn and the main feature is a lovely stamp of a wren from Crafty Individuals. Wrens are my favourite bird and they often visit my window box.

The other materials include a gold embossed and stamped chipboard dragonfly, Paper Artsy and Artylicious papers, Prima leaves and a jewelled beaded edging.  

This is my winter tag.

This one is a bit more sparkly! The main stamp is another lovely Crafty Individuals stamp that I heat embossed in a Moonshadow Turquoise Angel Wings interference powder that I love. Plus various brads, dewdrops, bling, Artylicious paper and snowflakes cut with a Papermania punch and backed with glitter paper and a beaded edging again. I have spring and summer tags underway and will post if they work out.

The next tag was one I quickly put together this morning. This one uses a Prima clear stamp I bought at Ally Pally last weekend. These stamps are very reasonably priced, so I was delighted with the quality of the image. The stamp is the frame and word, the butterfly image is another Crafty Individuals image.

This was a blue card tag which I inked with white pigment ink and then added blue disress ink around the edge and overstamped with flourishes in a blue Versamagic ink. The main image is stamped in teal Versafine and left paler to try and make it stand out. Leaves added have been cut out of Artylicious paper with a Woodware punch, plus a dragonfly button and a lovely paper flower I bought on the LB crafts stand at Ally Pally too.

Lastly, this lovely butterfly stamp is from Imagination Stamps- better know for their Rollagraph range (this was another Ally Pally purchase and a special offer bargain too).

This image is embossed in black and then I used Cut 'n Dry foam and a stippling brush to add several diiferent Adirondack dye inks to the background. This isn't a finished card yet, but I couldn't resist sharing this lovely stamp.  

Leafy backgrounds

For some time I have been looking at the leaves of my plume poppy (macleaya cordata) thinking they would be good for a craft project, so when I saw the Branching Out article by Jo Capper Sandon about using real leaves to create backgrounds in the October issue of Craft Stamper magazine, I was reminded to have a go. As well as trying to spray over fir tree branches as Jo did, I picked some macleaya leaves to use as masks. The leaves of this plant can grow quite big. Here is a picture of one leaf with my hand to give you some idea of scale. This is a dramatic plant for its foliage, the underside of the the leaves is beautiful too, being soft and downy white like velvet.

I picked some smaller leaves and used them as masks with mostly adirondack dye inks to make some interesting backgrounds. Firstly I sponged two colours onto white card, before stippling with a darker colour to repeat masking with the frilly leaf edge all over the card. I am usually hopeless at doing backgrounds, so I was really pleased with the results. Each sheet took no more than 15 minutes. The first I did was on a Willow and Lake Mist background, stippled with a Colorbox pigment ink. This is greener in real life!

Next I did a bluey version, using Juniper and Pool for the sponged background and Stream for the stippling.

Last I did a red and orange version, with a Sunset Orange and Watermelon sponged background and Cranberry stippled leaf pattern.       

           

                                            

Now I just need to incorporate these designs into some interesting projects!