Today’s Cards

Made three cards today & all for different reasons.  The first one is to say Thank You for a job a very kind person did for me:-)

The second is to send my good friend a get well soon card:-)

The last card is to wish a neighbour good luck in their new home:-)

The first two cards have been made using Paper Artsy stamps and Distress Inks. The last card has a Letterpress background; Dawn Bibby Design stamps and a ribbon recycled from a pair of pyjamas i got as a xmas pressie.

Thanks for stopping by:-)

A Late Fathers Day Card

Used up old foil  instead of throwing it away on this card.  Inked up a white background card with Distress Ink Chipped Sapphire and the covered it with the used up foil.  I like the way the shapes of the rub ons have kept the piece interesting.

The Nestie shape is one i got from Paddys Stamping Place a few months ago.  Much cheaper than the original Nesties and  work really well with the Big Shot.  Put the die cut shape through a Cuttlebug Folder to get the flower design and inked over the top again with DI Chipped Sapphire.

Used Cosmic Shimmer mica sprays to make my own background papers which were then used to make the shapes for the card embellishment.

Thanks for dropping by:-)

It’s A Cinch

First saw the WRMK Cinch binding machine on QVC last week. I was quite taken with it but with already having a Zutter Bind it All i wasn’t too sure whether the Cinch was required.  I listened as Andrew from WRMK informed us about all the machine could do…

There were a number of advantages over the Zutter the main one being ease of use. I have joint problems and find working the Zutter quite difficult on occasions. I liked the horizontal working area, the fact that you can get more papers prepared at once  plus the biggest seller was that the Cinch has been designed around the Cropodile and i know how many surfaces this can go through. 

QVC had a special price introductory price and 3 easy pay option.  Mulled it over for 24 hours and decided to go ahead and get it, the Cinch arrived yesterday! The delivery man couldn’t get an answer so dropped the box over my back gate, when i opened the box up it was so well packed that the machine sustained no injuries, thank goodness. Loving the instructions that come with the machine, very simple and easy to understand.

The other thing that i liked about the Cinch is the ability to punch out holes where you want them. I’ve never worked out how to do that with the Zutter.

The above picture shows the two thickest pieces of mount board i could find and a sheet of acetate which have all gone through the Cinch.  All these pages went through without any problem and i love the clean cut.  The only thing i miss are the square holes that the Zutter cuts.  The collection tray is huge and so doesn’t need constant emptying.

Storing the Cinch is great as it stands upright and is lightweight enough for me to move around. 

This machine has been thought out really well, is lovely to use and i’m glad i took the plunge.  My Zutter is staying as there is a place in my craft room for both of these binding machines.

Thanks for dropping by:-)

Art Journaling Workshop

Managed to attend an Art Journaling Workshop at Paddys Stamping Place late last week.  I have been trying to get on this workshop since last year but due to one thing or another hadn’t managed to do so.

I received an email from Paddy with details of upcoming workshops and rang to see if there were any spaces when i was told yes i booked immediately!!!

Sarah Anderson was doing a repeat of her Art Journaling 1 and 2 courses. Perhaps i was lucky as got a crash course in journaling as i only expected to complete Part 1. 

Chose an 8x8 size book to use. Thought this might give more space to practice for techniques and writing practice.  Sarah gave an overview of what Art Journaling is all about; my understanding ‘be in the moment, use colour and words as they reveal themselves and have fun’. 

Above is Sarah explaining how to use paint without thought, just get it onto the page and be as messy as you like… Below my very first blank journal pages…

Just to get the idea of sploshing (a technical term…) i chose colours i really like and went to town.

To get my page looking like this i used Stewart Gill Colourise paints and stencils from various companies. Carried on building the page; stamped out a couple of images then placed onto the pages in a random manner and left room for writing if i wanted to do that at a later stage.

Our next task was to colour a few more pages, this time using colours i wouldn’t normally use or want to experiment with. I chose to use more Stewart Gill paints and Mica Sprays.

This next page is one of my favourites so far, used torn up book pages some of which i’d stamped on by mistake earlier in the day. Painted over using different coloured paints and finally overstamped the page with True Colour white paint over a Paper Artsy stamp and added a couple of embellishments.

  

Got to finally have a go at a technique i’d heard about but never had the time to try using shaving foam and re-inkers.  Sarah got really messy and showed us how to mix, apply and remove the shaving foam from the page. I thought it was going to be quite damp and was surprised when the page was completely dry.

Had to go over it immediately as not a huge fan of yellow, used stencils and paints as before. Doesn’t look too bad when it’s photographed…  The last pages were coloured using Tim Holtz Distress Inks. 

Sarah brought out her vast array of alternative tools to bring texture and shape to your journaling.  Some of these included plastic cooking utensils, doilies, cleaning cloths, rubber mats, felt mats for spraying through, the list was quite extensive.  She also showed us how to take a small marble, cover it in paint and roll over the pages to get a really different look.  The message was look around and see what you can re-use…  Tried to give a fancy edge and used a very large flower on the left hand page, i do have plans to show it off better but that’s for another day.

The afternoon session was more about how to use fonts when you are journaling. Consistency is the keyword, stick to the same font for the page you are working on; unless you don’t want to of course as it is down to how you feel in that moment :-)

I would like to mention something that many people overlook; when you have got to a stage where you are happy with your page take a picture; this can by used as a background for you to print out for some other project.  There are so many programmes available where you can manipulate your own backgrounds to create something very unique.  Here are a couple of mine…

Thanks for dropping by and i hope you are having fun with your crafting projects too:-) 

Charity Cards

Been making some cards for a local  charity, decided to use up some very girlie stickers i’ve had for ages but using some lovely techniques to enhance them.

Used a free stamp from Craft Stamper magazine; kept to black and white theme for this set.

Stopped when i’d made nine boxes of six notecards with decorated envelopes as needed to deliver them. 

Delivered the boxes last  Friday  and was asked to make some condolence cards.  Here are a few sample cards…

 

All are going to have blank inners and decorated envelopes.  Off to chose the final three designs and then make 10 of each; or i might design some more butterfly themed cards…

 

Got an email today telling me that there is a workshop tomorrow in Prestwich that i have been wanting to attend for quite a while; an Art Journaling Workshop with Sarah Anderson at Paddys Stamping Place in Prestwich Manchester. Been wanting to attend one of Sarah’s workshops for ages but not been well enough to do so. Going to be a long day but worth the effort…

Thanks for dropping by:-)

A While…

Not been too well so not posted for a while.  I have been playing lots more with Paper Artsy stamps and Tim Holtz Distress Inks.
Can you see faces in the above picture?  How many can you make out?

The one hundred A4 card  was to celebrate 100 journal entries on a photography social networking site.
The above cards are for birthdays coming up in June and July. Used Distress Inks for the backgrounds, my hand made papers for the centre decoration, ‘be’ adhesive rub-ons and Dufex sentiments.
Used Distress Inks for the backgrounds (tone on tone colours) and some girlie stickers i found. A fresh look, not as decorated as i usually make.
Wanted to try something again a little different so this time i used one of the Tim Holtz border dies to make a fancy edge; Cosmic Shimmer mica sprays to make the background paper behind the edge; Distress Inked the card in Faded Jeans and Broken China, took a Paper Artsy stamp from plate 1004, misted the stamp with water stamped the image and blotted the excess ink straight after to create the shadow effect.  Decided not to stamp over the shadow with the same stamp so used another image from one of the Paper Artsy Hot Pick plates; this time using an Adirondack Ink Pad called Rainbow.  Finally used some of the ‘be’ adhesive rub-ons to add foiling to the card.

Fathers Day card made using Tim Holtz Cogs Alterations Die, Tim Holtz Alterations Edge Die and Tim Holtz Mini Alphabet from Sizzix. Background made from paper i use to catch all the excess images and paints i use when creating masterboards.  I like to make these as they are a pleasant change; you never know how they are going to turn out.
Thanks for Dropping By :-)