February ATC’s

I forgot to show you the ATC’s i made for the swap that the lovely Sarah Dunkley arranges each month.

This month Jacqui Hall got to choose the theme, she chose ‘Inspired By The Beatles. Thought i was going to find this difficult but in the end the inspiration just kept coming.

Money Can’t Buy Me Love.

Ticket To Ride.

Here Comes the Sun.

All three together front and rear views.

Sorry there are no instructions this month but i used Pan Pastels and Kaiserfusion Pens and some fabulous Willowing whimsy Stencils.

Thanks for dropping by, looking forward to your comments.

A quick ‘HELLO’ to my new followers, thank your for following.

xxx

SDC 136 Monochromatic

The Challenge over at the Stampotique Designers Blog is to use only monochromatic colours.  This is a hard challenge and my first mono, hope i have done it justice.

List of materials:

Pan Pastels

Memento Ink Pad

Versacolour Ink Pad

Hairspray

3 In A round Stampotique Stamp

Get Stamping Sentiment

Freebie Stamp set

Liquitex White Pen

Dylusion Spray After Midnight

Used an ATC for this challenge, wanted to keep it small in case it all went horribly wrong…

 

Used Pan Pastels for the base, stamped 3 In a Round using Memento ink pad Paris Night.

The bunting is from the freebie stamp set as is the small heart in the middle. Coloured the hearts in using a Liquitex White Paint Marker. The bunting background is a mop up of Dylusions Spray After Midnight.

The sentiment is from the Get Stamping set. The bunting and the sentiment are stamped onto card stock and then adhered onto the ATC.

Stamped the ATC information onto the rear using Blue Danube Memento Ink.

Am happy with my first attempt, hope you like it to.

Thanks for dropping by. Looking forward to your comments.

xxx

The Craft Barn Challenge Number Four - Marriage or Age.

Over at The Craft Barn the latest Quotes and Lyrics challenge is to use either of the words Marriage or Age.

I was searching for a quote and found this one, i think it is so true. The quote is from Friedrich Nietzsche and reads:

When marrying ask yourself this question. Do you believe that you will be able to converse with this person into your old AGE? Everything else in MARRIAGE is transitory.

  

Used an ICard and decorated both sides.

List of materials used:

Versamark Ink Pad

Versafine Ink Pad

Pan Pastels

Hairspray

Posca Pen

Leafy Stencil

Jilly Bean Soup Stamps

7Gypsies Date Style stamps

Acetate

Collall Tacky Glue

Sakura Glaze Pen

Clear Embossing Powder

Applied the Versamark through the Leafy Stencil by hand then covered with clear EP.

Once the EP was cool added Pan Pastels to the background, sealed with hairspray.

Stamped one of the Jilly Bean Soup stamps onto the card using Versamark and coloured with Copper pan Pastel. Sealed with hairspray.

Stamped three words using the 7 Gypsies date style stamp and added a heart border using another of the Jilly Bean Soup stamps.

Used a white fine nib Posca Pen to write the quote onto acetate, let this dry.

While this was drying added the white border to the heart stamps.

When the writing was dry added the Collall glue to the reverse side and attached to the ICard, set aside to dry.

Last thing was to add the doodled border, used a fine tip pen and coloured with Sakura Glaze Pens.

The reverse of the card has been similarly stamped and sealed and has all the details of the Challenge. Edged the card using a gold Posca Pen.

Hope you like the ICard, thanks for dropping by and looking forward to your comments.

xxx

16th Birthday Card

A difficult age to make for isn’t it especially for a young girl. Had so many ideas which when i really looked were all too twee or girlie. Wanted something a little more elegant without it being too grown up.

Used Memento Dew Drop ink pads for the petal shapes. Used a Liquitex White Marker and ‘smooshed’ over the top of the petal colours. After they were dry stamped over them with a swirl stamp from stash and with a Darcy Wilkinson stamps from her new release set EDY07 using Cocoa Memento Ink.

Drew around the edges of the petal shapes with a black fine liner pen, then with a Sakura Glaze Pen and finally doodled around the shapes with the Black Liner Pen to add a little interest.

Cut out the sun shape from the EDY07 set, coloured with Kaiserfusion Pens, added Colall glue into the centres to adhere a small bead, then added the Glamour Dust. Added a doodled circle with the Liquitex White Pen. Raised the centres by using a 1mm pad.

The sentiment is from a Get Stamping freebie set, mounted onto black card and adhered into place.

Hope you think this is grown up enough for a 16 year old, looking forward to your comments.

xxx

Christmas Fun challenge–Babies First Christmas

Over at the Christmas Fun Challenge Blog their theme this week has been ‘Babies First Christmas’. I have been stumped for ideas as i don’t make baby cards, unless asked, so have very few images.

Managed two cards and a tag for their present. Went with twins on one of the cards and a general image on the other.

I apologise for the numerous mistakes on this ‘twins’ card. I had to cut the images out and then place them on the card where appropriate. Drew around the shapes to try and add a little depth but my pen slipped onto the bunny, covered it up using glitter. The sentiment is hand written.

This card has been digitally created using CAP2. Printed out the topper, adhered it to a piece of cream cardstock and went round the edge with Archival Cornflower Blue ink.

The background stripe is Pan Pastel Pthalo Blue and Silver Metallic over the top. Added some ribbon and then decided to make a matching tag.

The tag was created in the same way as above except i printed this onto Crafters Companion Centura Pearl card stock, the snowflake inner was also created digitally.

Hope you like my ‘Babies First Christmas’ cards.

Looking forward to your comments.

xxx

Fleather Birthday Card

After playing with the glycerine and water technique over the last couple of weeks i now have a few ‘fleather’ note book covers just waiting to have the signatures added.

I enjoy playing with Kraft card in other ways too, i have made an ATC Block using the WRMK Box Board and will blog this when it is completed.

The reason for this post is because i have some Kraft Card that is very heavy and fantastic for using in my die cutting machines but when you add water or paint to it you can see the card curl badly and it never goes back into a proper flat shape again.

Thought i would apply a little of the glycerine and water mix to the card and see if it helps it to go back into shape and the answer is yes it does. The card doesn’t have the soft faux leather feel but it is a softer card which handles much better.

 

So much so that when i ran this through an A4 embossing folder the embossing/debossing was much deeper and even.  I Coloured the butterflies with Imagination Crafts Silkies Paints.

After i had painted the butterflies i went over the card with Peacock Feathers DI which highlighted the embossed areas and added another layer of colour onto the background.

The inside of the Kraft card is the embossed side and again added a light coating of Peacock Feathers DI to show the beautiful shapes.

Added an inner using copy paper and a stamp from House of Zandra, attached the inner using twine as i didn’t know if the paper would adhere easily to the embossing and also i thought it looked nicer as you are able to see the inside of the Kraft card.

Love this stamp and have coloured it with the new Kaiserfusion Pens. I copied the colours exactly as i am still getting used to the colours and wanted to see if i could get the same finish as on the cover.

Before i added the stamped topper to the Kraft card i sprayed it with Crafters Companion Spray and Shine as i was eager to see how a card like this would look and feel instead of normal Kraft Card or card stock.

Loving how this card looks and feels, stands really well, no buckling or going out of shape. I will use this technique again for naughty Kraft card that won’t lay flat!

Matching envelope for the card, this time used Portfolio Pastels and the Kaiserfusion Pens for the colouring, Darcy’s butterfly border stamp look great with the toadstool.

Thanks for dropping by. Looking forward to reading your comments.

xxx

SDC135: Use Acetate

Over at the Stampotique Designers Blog this weeks challenge is to use Acetate in your work.

At the moment i am taking part in the Documented Life Project and am posting about my journal on my Wordpress Blog. Am posting weeks 6 and 7 on here as i am entering my week seven page into the Stampotique challenge and i need to have the correct Title or my entry will be invalid.

Week 6 Prompt: Open your Pinterest board and be inspired.

Week 7 Prompt: Draw one shape – repeat – add colour.

These two pages are really the same thing for me as i love getting inspiration from Pinterest and then trying to use this in my crafting.

I was inspired by seeing Kraft card turned into ‘Fleather’, a term i heard from Sheena Douglass and then found the term here. Searched Pinterest and found this link, and then this link to Sheena’s video.

I wanted to try my own version so gathered the relevant materials (glycerine, water, spray bottle, card or paper, craft mat) and got to work. My first attempt can be seen here, where i used 350gsm card and lots of other snippets of card and paper which i then sewed together to create a small book cover. I added the glycerine mix after the whole piece had been sewn as it wasn’t pliable enough to make into a cover. It worked a treat and the page is now soft and malleable.

This time i wanted to try on 80gsm, to see how well the solution would work on very thin paper.

I forgot to take pictures of the original copy paper but forgot, sorry. I added the glycerine mix after the copy paper had been used as a mop up from Dylusions Ink sprays and before i added the shapes and the sewing. This is the closest i can show you.the glycerine mix makes the paper very soft and delicate but not so delicate that it will rip, seems to strengthen it a tad.

 

Week Seven was to draw a shape, repeat and colour.  I did this but cheated and used a die cut shape, one which i had used to cut the same shape out of different materials while testing out the X-Cut Expression Die cutting machine.

I figure you can colour using sewing thread and doodling so that’s how weeks 6 and 7 became one double spread.

Weeks 6’s page was all about the Fleather technique, added the journalling on the flowers and used Kaiserfusion Pens to add the details to the other flowers and doodling.

Week 7 is all about using a shape, repeating and colouring. Used some of the sewn card from week 6 and before adding it to the journal i burnt out a couple of areas, added Portfolio Pastels to inject a little colour behind the main page. Now for the Acetate.

Used heat resistant acetate, stamped Little Hoo-Hoo using Memento Ink. Coloured on the reverse with the Kaiserfusion Alcohol Pens and then sewed the image onto calico. Used a cooker lighter to seal the material so it won’t fray, also gives that lovely edge to the embellishment.

Here is Little Hoo-Hoo on his page, added a paper flower which has been embossed, coloured with DI and then glued together using a small button for the centre. Throughout this whole process i have used Colall Tacky Glue, it is really fantastic and will be using it from now on.

I hope you like my use of acetate, i think Little Hoo-Hoo looks fab amongst the flowers and doodles.

Thanks for dropping by and looking forward to your comments.

xxx 

Q&L challenge:Strong and Miss

Over at the Craft Barn their third challenge in Quotes and Lyrics is to use the words Strong or Miss. There is still time to enter this fab challenge, hope to see you there.

I chose to use the word Strong.

Chose to use some of Darcy Wilkinson’s new stamps for Paper Artsy as i think they are loads of fun and very versatile. Used EDY07 swirls and Minis EM06 and EM08. You can see the other materials i used in the above images.

Continuing to use iCard size base i brayered the above three Fresco Paint colours over it, firstly the Autumn Fire, then Zesty Zing followed by a small amount of Blood orange. I like to colour both sides of my iCard so repeated on the reverse.

Took a piece of masking tape and removed a little bit of the paint, after it was dry, as wanted the base to look a little distressed. Didn’t work too well, don’t think the masking tape was sticky enough.

Enjoyed layering up the stamps, colouring the border with the Kaiserfusion Pens and adding the little white touches with a small tip Posca Pen. Used Copper Pan Pastel to highlight the Mini stamp 08, love this image it is very versatile. The macro shot shows some of the detail.

The quote is from a lady called Mary Astell:

“Truth is STRONG, and sometime or other  will prevail”.

There is nothing in my mind truer than a sunrise or sunset and Mother Nature, which is why i chose these colours.

Thanks for dropping by, looking forward to reading your comments.

xxx

X-Cut Xpress Review

A couple of people have asked what this new machine is like so here is my review; all views are my own.

By the way this is a long post, so you might like to get a cuppa and some chocolate to help you through.

There are more good than bad points about this machine. I think the one that i wasn’t expecting was the thickness of card you can use when both embossing and cutting, it is only 216gsm, which isn’t that thick and less than the card stock i would use for a main card base.

Throughout this review i have followed the recommended settings that came with the machine instructions. I was advised that every machine is different and that you need to play with the settings on your own machine to achieve a perfect cut or emboss.

Saw this machine demonstrated by Crafty Devils at Event city on 6th February. I asked the demonstrator lots of questions but didn’t think to ask about the maximum card stock weight the X-cut would take.  I am so used to my Bigkick, which will take practically anything you throw at it, including 350gsm Kraft card stock and leather, it didn’t cross my mind that another metal cog driven machine couldn’t cope with the same.

I primarily wanted a machine that could use the A4 embossing folders and take all of my other dies, including my Sizzix Bigz dies, the following is what i tested on the X-cut.

The thing i do love about this machine is that it folds up and doesn’t have a huge footprint. It is a tad heavy but that’s because the insides of this machine are all metal, no plastic parts so it should last a long time.

In the box you get the machine and three platforms, 12mm is the base plate, 3mm is the cutting plate and a metal plate. You only need these three plates as there is a dial on top of the roller area which you can move to increase or decrease pressure when cutting different thicknesses of materials.

You also get a sheet of instructions called the matrix which advises you on how to use your machine safely and what settings to use for each different die and material.

 

DIE CUTTING

Firstly i tested a long strip Tim Holtz Alphabet die. You can see that i wasn’t able to place the strip lengthways so cut it diagonally. The results are not good as i wasn’t able to get a clean cut, even though i ran it through twice. Used a medium weight paper for this, around 160gsm. I have used the same paper for most of the cuts as i wanted to be consistent with materials.

It might be because it was the first cut with the machine or because i haven’t seen anyone cut a strip die yet and haven’t done it correctly. The rest of the thin die cuts, using different makes of die, all cut exceptionally well.

Vintaj metal embossing folder, which will cut paper bottom left didn’t do too well but the rest cut beautifully. All are Sizzix or Provocraft thin dies with foam.

Used a Marianne, Nellie Sneddon,Paper Artsy, Spellbinder and Memory Box die all together on the same mat using the same pressure. You can see the results above. Both the small cog and the delicate vine border didn’t fare very well.

I cut the Memory Box die on it’s own and got a superb cut, so crisp and the paper fell right out of the die,very impressed. Not too sure why i didn’t get the same results when cutting all on the mat.

Acrylic Felt.

Organza

Thin cotton fabric.

Corrugated cardboard.

Jute and Hessian.

Mirror card.

 

Mulberry paper.

Used a Paper Artsy thin die to cut all these fabrics out, used two passes on each one, all came out very well.  This is something i struggle to achieve with my Bigkick (not the mirror card).

 

EMBOSSING FOLDERS

Sizzix set of die and embossing folders, great impression.

The two folders above are from Sheena Douglass called Distress Splat and Ancient Arches, used 160gsm medium weight paper to get these results.

Lightweight card 185gsm was used for the above debossing look. Used the Ornate Butterflies A4 folder, love how it has brought out the colour of the background card.

The above images show an eBosser A4 embossing folder called Swirltangle on four different types of card and paper.

Black card 300gsm,the next two are Kraft card 300gsm (this card is far too fibrous for embossing and it doesn’t look even across the folder, won’t use this again for embossing with these folders),Centura Pearl 300gsm card and finally copy paper 80gsm.

The eBosser folders give a better impression than the Embossalicious folders do so upon reflection i think i would go for a deeper etched folder next time i buy one.

Forgot to include Bigz dies, ooops! This machine cuts them really well including cutting lightweight fabric. Haven’t tested leather or Grungeboard yet as didn’t have time!  

I have enjoyed testing out this machine but i will not be getting rid of my Bigkick as it is capable of getting a great impression with Kraft card and other thicker materials.

Hope you have enjoyed this review, apologies for the bad photography, some of the images were taken at night.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts and comments.

xxx