Leafy Lady

I had to make a very quick card this week for a friend who is about to go off on an exciting trekking holiday on the Inca Trail to celebrate a special birthday. I decided to use one of my favourite stamps Mollie from Beeswax again - a variation on a card I posted a while ago.

Sadly I couldn't get a great picture of the card because it had to be delivered the next day and the light wasn't great.

I stamped Mollie in purple Versafine and then covered her with Eclipse masking tape. I obvously didn't cut it accurately enough, because she ended up with a bit of a halo that I had to try and ink afterwards - very tricky and not entirely successful - still you live and learn!! I masked a sun with a round post it note and then stippled various colours of Adirondack dye ink to try and give the impression of a sunset. In real life, you could see the blends of orange, yellow, pink and a little purple so much better. I overstamped with a loose cloud stamp from Beeswax in Malted Mauve Versamagic and then oversprayed with a very light coat of irridescent gold Glimmer Mist.  I added a sentiment, I think it from Serendipity Stamps, mounted the design onto a 8 x 8 card and finished off with some thin copper peel off border and Prima russet coloured ivy leaves - I love these!!

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.  

Ally Pally and Just Rite Stamps

Yesterday, after a sudden change of mind during last week, I made a very early start (the sun was just rising) and headed up to London for the Big Stamping and Scapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace,  a place of pilgimage for thousands of avid crafters twice a year!! As always I really enjoyed my day, including meeting up with my crafty friend Jo. As it was such a beautiful day, we were able to sit outside in the sunshine with our lunch and catch up, looking at the fantastic view out across London.

There is always so much to see at the show, including some great demonstrations and importantly far too many lovely things to buy! I managed to find a very nice selection of new stamps and other useful and gorgeous additions to my stash.

Just when I thought I had finished I had another look at the Just Rite Stamps on sale from Once Upon a Stamp. These are not my usual style of stamp. These are very unusual stamps in that they have round and oval wooden mounts with a ridged grid onto which central panels, edge rings and separate letters of the alphabet can be mounted to make customised stamps. For anyone who can remember the old fashioned John Bull printing sets of childhood, these are very similar.

I am a keen baker and love to give home-cooked items as gifts. so seeing a set of designs made for presenting home cooked goodies, I couldn't resist the temptation to add it to my stamp collection! I have had a very quick play with these today. I think there is a definite knack to using these stamps and my first efforts had letters flying across the room, but once I had some practice I was able to get going and this is the first set of results, together with the stamp block in the centre. Once the stamp is set up it takes no time at all to make a batch of labels. I stamped the design in Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto cream card and sponged on some sunshine yellow Adirondack dye ink to add depth. I punched holes with my Crop-a-Dile and threaded them with paper string.

I have several cakes to make this week and think these will add a nice little extra touch to these foodie gifts and I am looking forward to playing with them some more very soon.  

A dusky tree card

Today I played with all sorts of projects, I have various things drying and half-baked, but the thing I actually finished was this card. I have been trying to think of things to do with some of my leafy background papers. This one was done on pink card, sponged with Watermelon and then stippled with Currant Adirondack dye ink. I wanted a design that still showed the background and also reflected the nature theme.

The design uses the Elusive Images Arboretum tree set. I sponged and stippled the background in Watermelon and Cranberry Adirondack dye inks, stamped the bare tree in Rhubarb Stalk Memento dye ink and added the blossoms in white and pink chalk and brilliance inks and added a little heat embossing in pink pearl. The Summertime sentiment is from the EI Poppy Tile plate cut out with Nestabilities ovals. The flowers are cut from a Graphicus Guild Artylicious paper with a Woodware punch, with purple pearls added in the centres.

I love the Arboretum stamps, with the mix and match options of tree shapes, leaves and blossoms, it really feels like playing when you work with this set! I was pleased with the dusky, slightly moody feeling of the finished card.

Yet another Crafty Individuals Project!

I can't take much credit for this project because it was very closely inspired by a brooch designed by Jean Hardy in Craft Stamper magazine, I think it was the November 2008 issue.

My version has some adaptations from the original as I decided to make a little hanging, rather than a brooch. The image is stamped onto Crafty Individuals backing paper and the paper beads are made from the same design, then wrapped with wire and with small beads added. The panel is mounted onto foam mountboard.

The beads hang from a strip of thick purple mirri card cut out using the Fiskar's sunburst punch. I also made a small panel at the top from Ten Seconds Studio purple metal, this was a piece my crafty friend Jo sent me to try and this is the first time I have ever done any metal work. Thank you Jo! I stamped the back of the metal with one of the Elusive Images Delightful Damask stamp set and then embossed the design on the reverse, before sticking it onto card and rubbing a little Viva lilac precious metal paint to highlight the design. I added a couple of pink metallic flower eyelets and pink wire so I could hang it up.

Another Crafty Individuals Project

On Saturday I had a very pleasant day at the Craft Barn Extravaganza. As always there were some excellent demonstrators, but one of the real highlights for me was meeting Jean Hardy and Malcom Noble of Crafty Individuals, who I have mentioned before as one of my favourite stamp companies. They were as lovely as their stamps are and the samples of work they bought along were really fabulous and very inspiring - see the link to their website on the right and their gallery - to see some of their brilliant projects. 

I bought two more CI stamps, one of their new door designs, I just love doors and gates, and also a set of ferns and plant designs that I thought would work well with some of my leafy backgrounds as posted earlier. Here is my first effort. It could do with some refinement, but its not too bad for my first effort with this very nice set of stamps, which has so much potential.

I have a week off work now, so hope to be posting plenty of craft projects over the next few days.