Hi Everyone - hope you're having a great weekend despite the weather cooling down. As part of their wedding present I wanted to make Ian and Gill a collage box frame with some of their wedding photos.
I did all the main layout in CraftArtist. I deliberately didn't put digital embellishments on the bottom left hand side of the page as I wanted to put "real" ones on before I framed the entire piece. This is what it looked like when I printed it out.
And here's the finished gift after the addition of flowers, gems and pearl pins (luckily I actually had some the right colour to match Gill's dress). I added ribbon and some self adhesive "studs" which are a real pain to put on straight as they stick to everything!!! lol
Hi Everyone - hope for those in the UK you are making the most of this long awaited summer weather!!! Well, it's that time of the week for the next challenge over at Addicted to Stamps which is a Sketch challenge.
For my take on the sketch I've made up an A5 base card from black ribbed cardstock and all the mats and layers are on the black and white card. The main image is from a Creative Expressions stamp set and I've stamped once on the white card and once on patterned paper and then paper pieced the image. The two smaller images are from Hampton Art called Vintage Ladies and I've used the same method to paper piece them. I've then used my Fleximarkers to colour the skin etc. The main image and the mat have been punched using a Martha Stewart punch. On the centre panel I have die cut the border using my Memory Box Bubble Daisy Border ...... isn't it pretty? I've added quite a few pearls to finish off the design.
Please pop over to the Addicted to Stamps blog to look at all the inspiration the Design Team have for you.
Morning everyone. Well, it's another glorious day.... blue skies and sunshine - fingers crossed it lasts! The latest challenge over at Less is More is:
Week 77
Theme week once more and this time it's
SEWING
For this it could be machine or hand sewing.. faux or stamped... you could even use sewing related images... just let your imagination roam!
Ahha I thought - this is right up my street..... yippee! I'll start on the easiest bits first - a white textured 6x6 card blank and a piece of black ribbed card. I have done a zigzag stitch in silver thread around the black mat. For the topper I have cut out a leaf shape from Art Emboss pewter metal and placed it on a piece of soluble fabric and free machined over the metal and all around the outside area. When it was "done" I washed out the soluble fabric and was left with the topper you can see. I've added a close-up photo of the leaf on the main photograph.
Hi again fellow bloggers and blogettes!!! Just had to make another quick card for the Less is More challenge - one layer - 3 of anything..........
Just bought a clear stamp set from Habico which is called Wedding Images 2........ it just caught my eye as it struck me a very Art Deco and I immediately saw what I could do with it. I've used an A5 blank, measured the three different sized stamps, scored some lines, stamped the images and added a sentiment which is from SU Wonderful Words - all stamped in black VersaFine ink. Simples innit!!!!
Thanks for popping in - I'm off to an Indian Kantha workshop tomorrow so hope to be back on Sunday. Have a great weekend...... looks like the weather's perking up (got everything crossed here!!! lol).
Hello Everyone - well today signals a new challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and this week it's CAS (Clean and Simple). For my card I have stamped out my Penny Black Reverie stamp using black Versafine ink. I've then used three colours of Liquid Pearls (my new best friends!) to fill in the dots on the tree. I've cut it out using a nestie and edged in silver. The sentiment is Hobby Arts and it's been embossed in Silver detail e/p. I die cut a Spellbinders fancy tag and added the sentiment and used the Liquid Pearls to add a bit extra.
Please pop over to ATS to see the wonderful cards the rest of the DT have made and come join the fun!
Hi Gang - well this week sees the challenge over at Less is More:
Everyone's favourite... the
One Layer Challenge
and this week it's really simple
Three of anything that is, three colours, three images, three stamps, three words, the number three.... it's up to you, but don't forget the white space, a simple design and just one layer!
Okay....... so that seems pretty simple eh? Well I had several ideas and disliked all of them!!! Then I came up with this:
I've used an A5 blank white card and stamped the outline from my Stampin Up Fast & Fabulous set three times using Versafine Sepia ink. I then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to position the second step which was inked up with SU Oh! Orange. It looked a little unfinished so I added a tiny dragonfly stamp - again 3 times - and added Glamour Dust to their wings and as trails. The sentiment is SU Wonderful Words.
So, all finished I took a photograph and connected my camera to the computer and............... nothing - HELP!!! So I then use my OH's camera and connect to the computer and..... again...... nothing (*******.......*****!!!!!). Deep breath, then the mouse won't work; so thinking outside the box and panicing at the same time think "right, I'll scan it" - Oh no I won't - computer won't recognise the scanner...... so no photo, no scanned image, no mouse - what do I do - oh yes, shout for the OH! Anyway with a lot of fiddling, turning off, turning on, taking everything out of the ports etc etc - won't bore you but it took ages ........ and we're now back to normal. What happened? Well, we have no idea but I'm typing this very quickly before it happens again..... lol
Thanks for dropping by - I love reading your comments.
It's our friends Gill and Ian's wedding today and I've just got back from the church - wonderful ceremony. You may remember I made all their wedding invitations etc a while ago so thought you might like to see the wedding card I made for them;
The first photograph is of the box and then there is the closed card, the open card, a close up of the individual "pearls" and another of the accordion mechanism that goes into making one of these boxed card.
I had been trying to get Couture Creations "Tied Together" embossing folder for this but no-one has any stocks of it. Seemingly it was supposed to be a limited edition (?) but there has been such a call for more stock that they are trying to get more made. In it's place I have used Couture Creations "Wicker Weave" e/f and at each join I have (painstakingly.......)used Liquid Pearls to add a faux pearl - on the card it was all around the outside - and took me ages!!! lol Still if a job's worth doing well....... etc.
For the main image I borrowed my friend Anne's stamp "At the Altar" by Stampendous which is lovely. Stamped and embossed with silver detail e/p and then the detail of the dress was decoupaged to add some interest and some Liquid Pearl used in the bouquet. Die cut using nesties and mounted on silver mirri card. The sentiment was printed on my laser printer and put through my foiling machine, die cut and mounted on silver mirri. Some diamond gems were added.
The main book card was an A4 sheet of pearl card with the spine marked 1cm either side of the centre point (giving a 2cm spine).
For the actual accordion part of the card I measured the height and width of the back half of the outer card and cut two pieces of card the height of the back and two the width of the back and it depends on how high you want your book to be as to the length of card you cut. When you've decided you score each piece at 2cm measurements to get mountain and valley folds. When you've got crisp folds then all the edges fit into each other a bit like interlocking fingers.
The fancy edges are a Martha Stewart punch and I've added some silver mirri die cuts to each corner. Before I put it together I added a piece of acetate for the window.
The wording that you can see through the window was a lovely wedding verse I found on the internet. Again I've added some die cuts before adding the actual book mechanism.
Close up of the embossing & Pearls
On the inside of the cover I have embossed and cut a piece of card for a pocket and again put a fancy edge on it. I've then added a silver embossed and die cut heart.
Right, we're off to the reception. Thanks for dropping by and hope you all have a great weekend....... at least it's not raining (at the moment!!!).
Hello fellow bloggers it's time for the next challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and this week the theme is Addicted to BLUE. My card is definitely blue!!! I've started off by making up a base card of 6"x6" and the stamp set I've used is Stampin Up Bordering on Romance which is such a useful stamp set. I've gone a bit mad with SU goodies on this card as I've also used the Framelits Labels Collection, Edgelits Adorning Accents and Textured Impressions Embossing Folders Adorning Accents. - inks used are Whisper White and Pacific Point. I started off using the dotty border stamp in Whisper White and then die cut and embossed the edge of the card. The flower border was stamped in the same ink. On matching blue card I've also stamped the main flower stamp in Whisper White. I've die cut this using the Framelits Labels and matted onto blue mirri and then a piece of white which has been stamped in Pacific Point using the smaller flower elements. I've used the VersaShadow Technique to make everything "pop". It's very easy to do - all you need is a VersaMark pen and, using the smaller end, outline your images. This will stay darker than your base card. It works well on most dark cards except for black but it's worth experimenting with some cardstock before you start. I've added some gems and a piece of dotty ribbon from my stash. Sorry for the reflection on the bottom part of the mirri card - it's almost impossible to photograph without this happening!
Thanks for dropping by - hopefully you will all have a go at this challenge and I look forward to visiting your blogs.
Hi there everyone - are you all as wet as we are down here in rural Somerset???? We're expecting to get the dingy out later to go shopping!!! lol Not quite that bad but getting near. We were going to the Seafood Festival in Weymouth today but didn't fancy soggy prawns! Anyway, on to more pressing matters........ this week's Less is More challenge is 'Gold' and they say "It can be shiny or matt, but we'd like it to be unmistakably gold!"
I decided to use my Memory Box dies - Debutante Frame, Orchard Tree Frame and Spring Border. I die cut the backing frame out of white card, the Orchard Tree out of gold mirri and the Spring border also out of gold mirri. I then put the border through my machine again with the Orchard Tree frame so I could shape the bottom of the border so it fitted neatly. The sentiments are Stampin Up Congrats and gold embossed. I've used an A5 card blank and used my Cuttlebug Wicker Weave border embossing folder. I've added some metal trim and some gems to finish off.
Thanks for stopping by - hope everyone is safe and dry.
Hi Everyone - well this week's challenge over at Less is More is:
For our challenge we have decided to take our
"Less is More"
header as the inspirationfor this challenge.
Hmmmm - well I had a thunk about this and here is what I came up with.............
I decided to CASE the blog header and started off with a Cuttlebug music embossing folder as I didn't have a stamp to do the job - instead of embossing it all I did was inked it up, put some card in and pressed down with my fingers and got the music impression. The next layer was similar - I used a Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder Fancy Frame - I inked it up but then put a piece of vellum in it and ran it through my Joy machine. I then cut around the embossed frame. The kraft card and topper were cut out with my new Stampin Up dies and the sentiment is from Stampin Up Love and Laughter set. Now, I felt the background lacked something or other so dug out an old flourish stamp (unknown origin) and stamped that just off to the side of the music notes. I then used the same SU die (largest one) to shape both the ends of this piece of card - I'm sure you all know how to do this now but if not then please email and I will try to explain! I then inked the edges with DI's. All this was layered up and put on a 5x7 card base which had it's corners rounded. I then used some lovely SU pleated ribbon and some matching pearls.
Thanks for stopping by. I love to read all your comments and will try to pop by to repay the favour.
A huge thank you to all those fantastic bloggers who have been entering our challenges over at Addicted to Stamps - the entries have been amazing.
The latest challenge is Christmas in July and basically it does what it says on the tin!!! lol
For my card I have used a new stamp which I absolutely fell in love with (nothing new there then......). It's called Kissy Time from Cuddly Buddly and I just thought this little robin was so cute. I've stamped using Memento ink and coloured with Flexmarkers. I added Stickles to his hat and the mistletoe berry. I've die cut the image using my new Stampin Up Framelits dies and I've used these for the mat. The bp is from my stash and the white snowflake border is a Martha Stewart punch. The sentiment was stamped in red and I've used SU Word Window and Modern Label to punch it out. Ribbon and poinsettias also from my stash.
Thanks for popping by. I love to hear your comments and will pop over to your blog and return the favour.
I would also like to enter into the Winter Wonderland challenge Monochromatic and the Secret Crafter challenge which is Christmas
We've got a lovely friend called Don who is absolutely addicted to all things Disney, especially the pins (of which he's got hundreds). He and his partner Debbi visit Disney World in the States and also the European one. He is also a fantastic artist who works in various mediums. A couple of weeks ago Debbi gave me a ring and asked me to make an 18th birthday card for Don - now I've made a few 18th cards for them in the past months, so just asked which relative this one was for........then I was astounded when Debbi said no, not an 18th, I said an 80th!!!!! Hence the question is 80 the new 60? Cause we had no idea Don was anywhere near that age - he doesn't look it or act it - mind you with his fascination for Disney perhaps he's in his second childhood!!!
So, what to do for this special card..... well it had to be Disney incorporating Mickey Mouse and his favourite baddie Maleficent - who I can hear you say???? Well I didn't know her either but she was the baddie in Snow White. Now although Disney have approved rubber stamps, toppers etc there is nothing out there in the digital world that has been licensed. However, I managed to download some images that I could play with in CraftArtist. In the main card for Debbi I have put a background of the fairy castle. I found a free clip art of an artist painting and used cut-out studio to get a photo of Don's head which I then merged onto the clip-art and added the image of Maleficent so it looks like he's painting her.
I also did a similar thing so he's arm in arm with Mickey. I decided to turn it into a type of penny slider card but rather than a straight roll for the pennies I did nearly a full circle - and I didn't use pennies for this. I was given a great tip which is to use the type of plastic bobbins you use for your sewing machine which can be bought in a certain low cost store for £1 for a pack of 20!!! It really does work well as there's no sticky pads inbetween to catch on anything and the image on the bobbin spins round as it's going round the circle. I also made a badge of some of the Disney characters which was topped with Diamond Glaze and decoupaged his name.
The card which I made for him from Tony and I was a digi image from Just Inklined which I've had for ages (Don loves steam trains and it seemed to go along with him being a big kid!!!). The backing paper was created in CraftArtist from a couple of free digi images of old trains. The embossing folder I've used is called Work Shop by Couture Creations; the cogs have been die cut using Spellbinders Sprockets set and I've used nesties for the main image and mat.
I actually bumped into Don this morning in Tesco's of all places and he had been absolutely delighted with both cards - not sure what he was doing there as it's his special day today!!!
Morning everyone - well we've come to the second weekly card challenge over at Addicted to Stamps. This week's challenge is Bingo Addict and we're asking you to follow the bingo card choosing three elements either diagonally, horizontally or vertically on the bingo card.
For my DT card I have chosen the first line of RIBBON, RED and STAMP. I've used the new Wild Rose Studio Celebrate in Style stamp set and the matching papers from the Man about Town paper pack. I've used an 8x8" scalloped card blank. The red backing card is from my stash and scored diagonally on my new Stampin Up Simply Scored Scoreboard (stroke, stroke!!! lol) - it really makes life easy, it was always a bit of a hit and miss before trying diagonal scoring but it's easy peasy with this. I've matted a piece of the Man about town paper with a piece of black card and put it on the base card at an angle. My fab James Bond lookalike was stamped in DI Black Soot and clear embossed and then cut out with a set of dies that I got at a recent show - there is no makers name but quite a few of these are now popping up in the market. This was matted onto a piece of red die cut card. The sentiment is from the same set, die cut using nesties labels 20 and mounted onto a Spellbinders Fancy Tag. The ribbon is SU pleated that Jenny gave us at our SU Extravaganza last week and I've popped the martini glass with cherries (of course....) onto SU oval and scalloped oval punched card. I've added some gems to finish off.
Thanks for dropping by - don't forget to pop over to Addicted to Stamps to check out the fab designs that the DT have come up with.
Hello everyone - the new challenge over at Less is More is:
Our recipe this week will give you the opportunity to dig out some of those scraps of Designer paper that have been lurking around in your craft space, as our challenge is
'Paper Piecing'
I gave a quiet hip hip hooray as I love doing this with stamps and it's a great method if you're not the best at colouring in!!! lol The stamp I've used is from a Creative Expressions set with loads of glam ladies. I've stamped her using Versafine black ink onto white card, light green bazzil card and also onto two different patterned cards. The hat, coat and shoes are from one patterned paper, the skirt and top from another patterned paper and the lining of the coat from the bazzil card. As I had stamped her onto a fairly small piece of white card I didn't have enough room to die cut the image but what I did use was my new Stampin Up Edgelits Adorning Accents die on the left hand side of the image and then straight cut the other three sides - I then mirrored this with a piece of patterned paper and a piece of bazzil card. I took a 6" card blank and used the same die to cut the edge and then used the matching embossing folder to emboss the edge. The sentiment is Stampin Up Vintage Labels.
This week Chrissie and Mandi at Less is More have tasked us with the following challenge:
Third week of the month and Theme Week We want to see
Something Shiny
It's been a bit rushed this week as we got our first challenges up and running at Addicted to Stamps so I'm running late for this challenge. Anyway, hopefully this comes under the less is more ethos.......... I started off by stamping 3 different sized butterflies (from the Wedding Butterfly set by Wild Rose Studio) using Staz-On ink onto Clearly for Art Modeling Film, cutting them out and then heating with a heat gun til soft and you can mold them. The sentiment, again from Wild Rose Studio, was stamped in Staz-On, punched with the scalloped square Stampin Up punch and then triple glazed with clear embossing powder. I took a square card blank and added a piece of matching ribbon and used silicone glue to attach my butterflies. I've popped the sentiment up, added some matching pearls on the top right and a single diamond gem to each of the butterflies. Apologies for the quality of the photos but this was a bit difficult to capture!
