Thursday 4 September 2014

Card for my wonderful Dad

I have the best Dad anyone could ever ask for. We went to England in June and I had the chance to do a class as Blade Rubber. I bought the stamp I have used on this card there. I used this week's Mojo Monday contest sketch as the inspiration for the card layout.

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 The papers are from Fab Scraps and Kaisercraft. I have lightened the panel for the wording with Distress Marker - Picket Fence. The phone stamp is Crafter's Companion and the wording from Kaisercraft.


Wednesday 27 August 2014

Feeling Dylusional

I'm loving Dylusions Ink Sprays at the moment - so bright and cheerful. I decided to have a go at Mojo Monday's challenge for this week - Mojo360.

I've used Bubblegum Pink, Lemon Zest, Squeezed Orange and Calypso Teal ink sprays. The stamps are rhonna farrer Second Nature for flowers and butterfly, and a Stamp-It set for 'Birthday'. I stencilled in the HAPPY from a Dylusions stencil. I also used Spellbinders Ovals LG.


This was a fun way to brighten up a fairly gloomy day, spent at home with a sick 12-yr old.

Tuesday 15 July 2014

What hill?

I've had fun making this card for my brother's birthday.




I used the Darkroom Door Vintage Automobile stamp set for all the wording plus a free pocket watch stamp that came with a  Craft Stamper magazine ages ago. The Darkroom Door set is fabulous for men's cards.









I used Chipped Saphire and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks plus paper from Fab Scraps 'Gentlemen's Club' range (Man on Time)

The border punch is a Fiskars one called 'Upper Crest'. I also used a Spellbinders Circle die set.

Happy Birthday, Geoff!!

Edited to add :
Talk about uncanny - Splitcoast Stampers just emailed this tutorial (16/7/14) -
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/diecutswingcard/?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=

I made my swing panel up, but this describes the process perfectly!

Tuesday 1 April 2014

Distressed? Me?



I’ve been working today on designing next month’s class cards - hopefully a technique class involving Distress Inks. Does anyone else have days when the craft room should be out of bounds?

My students joke about the way I find all the ways NOT to do things – today was one of those days. Here are today’s lessons:

·         - When cleaning stamps which are going to be used with a variety of colours on them, do not work above your project. (Guess who got cleaner splats on one of the intended class samples?)
·         - Clean Distress Inks off your craft sheet as soon as you have finished with each colour. (No you can’t look at the back of the class sample card.)
·        -  Double check the colour of the ink pad you are about to use – better still put the colour you DON’T WANT out of reach. Also check which corner of the sponging block has the grey ink and which has the blue. (No there were not supposed to be patches of Weathered Wood in the sky.)
·        -  Ranger Archival ink doesn’t wash off acrylic stamps with soap and water – it needs stamp cleaner. (I think I’ve hidden most of the black bits from this problem!)

I’m looking forward to our next class now that I’ve ironed out all the bumps!! I'll post photos of the cards once the class has been run.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

And you thought I was obsessive!

 My students tease me about being OCD in regard to having things straight. The following was in this week's Splitcoaststampers email link:

"When I make a card I try to get all elements straight, but when I am done they are a little off. I mostly see it when I take a picture for my files. Is there a way to get it straight every time? I want to someday sell my cards and I can't if they continue to be off."
A: For me, rather than using adhesive that's stuck and done, I use Tacky Glue to assemble my cards - the glue gives me just a little bit of wiggle room if my initial placement isn't just right. It might also help to work on a gridded surface, or use a laser level to help you keep things aligned. 

Surely the woman giving this advice is taking the mickey?? 

5 minutes later - after searching the forum:

They actually do make laser levels for cardmaking and scrapbooking - I am gobsmacked!! NO I DO NOT WANT ONE!!

Sunday 2 March 2014

It's Autumn - hooray!

Hopefully this means some cooler weather ahead (I know - probably not until Easter, but I can dream...).


Inspired by Simply Cards - Issue 65 I spent some 'me' time playing with my new favourite die - the Spellbinders A5 Filligree Delight.
The featured image is from Graphic 45.
I made my own flowers from paper towel, coloured with Distress Ink (Dried Marigold) and Distress Marker (Dried Marigold, Festive Berries). The flowers are done in the same way as any of the spiral flower dies - cut a circle then cut a spiral into the circle.
The leaves are an old Carl punch (momji leaf?) (looks suspiciously like another leaf that starts with 'm'!).
I stamped the BoBunny Autumn paper first with a crackle image stamp (and Distress Ink - Aged Mahogany) and edged the punched leaves with Aged Mahogany Marker  then crumpled the leaves.
This is a standard rectangular card - my camera just wants to make it square!!