Tranquil Birthday Card

I’m really into ink effects at the moment and there are hundreds of tutorials on You-tube which demonstrate how you can do this. Here’s a beautiful sunset scene which is not difficult to achieve. If you don’t have the right colours then use slightly different ones. Remember no two sunsets are exactly the same. Just have fun and create.

Todays card is what I would call clean and elegant. Simple to make, yet effective. The wording and flowers are all stamped using Brilliance Archival ink in Lightning Black. I love the effect of this colour because it’s a subtle shade of black but gives an almost dark gold shimmery look and in the light it’s fabulous.

I’ve then randomly inked over the top of my stamped writing using Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass (blue) distress ink.

Using a blank piece of white card I block coloured with Tim Holtz Fired brick and stamped a beautiful butterfly over the top and cut out and glued just the body to the card so that the wings flap freely. 

Embossing Folders & Die Cuts

Sorry it’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted, been a bit busy with things like work!! But here I am. Have you ever taken the time to play around with your embossing folders/die cuts? I made 2 cards recently which both use the same x-cut die but look completely different. The first one uses all the various sizes of the die and they are just layered on top of each other to make a flower and for the second card I cut the outside flower out of the card base itself and then cut out a few different sizes but turned them on a different angle and raised a few different layers on foam. 

Spring Time

Spring is in the air with this card. I decided after making it that I would do a sunset version with lovely oranges and pinks. 
I've just embossed the flower scene with white embossing powder and then distress inked around it and finished the top and bottom of the card by adding a flower embossed edge to cover the uneven inked edges. Draw on a few birds flying with a fine black ink and et voila.

Having fun with distress inks

I don’t know about you but I do enjoy getting messy with inks. Just make sure you haven’t got a cat hovering about like mine leaving inky paw prints everywhere!!

What I like about distressing is that no two cards look the same, I like unique.

This first one is using the Elizabeth Bennett stamp by Indigoblu. I used a blank Kraft card which is a natural texture that I love and then cut a piece of white card just 1/2cm smaller for the front (I find this easier when inking otherwise you can end up with ink over the whole base card. I heat embossed the Elizabeth stamp with a clear embossing powder first and then I ran the top part of the card through a Tim Holtz embossing folder on my Bigshot. Then came the fun part using Tim Holtz Distress Inks, (the colours I used were Dried Marigold and Tumbled Glass) I blended these randomly over the whole card. To embellish I cut a strip of Tim Holtz Idiology paper and edged in Walnut stain and glued this to the right bottom corner of the card. Then I embossed two flowers (different sizes) from Indigoblu’s ‘Live Laugh love’ stamp set, and coloured these with the Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, then cut out. I made a bow with ordinary thin garden string and mounted the flowers over the top using my heat gun. The outside edge was distressed using my scissors and inked with Walnut Stain. 

For this one I had a script stamp but I didn't want to use the whole script so I masked part of it with a sticky note and inked the part that was left and then randomly stamped this over the card masking different parts of the stamp as I went, I think this turned out really well. The flower stamp I used was quite fine so I used a white embossing powder to make it stand out more. Then I blended Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Shabby Shutters and Brushed Corduroy over the whole card. The butterfly border was made by stamping a small butterfly repeatedly on a narrow piece of blank card and this I inked with Shabby Shutters. Distress the outside edges of the whole card as above. 

Handmade Embellishment

How about this embellishment idea using Polymer clay. Just stamp on it without using ink to get an impression. You could even roll out the clay between one of your embossing folders and close and then roller over the top to get the same effect as your embossing machine. 

Catching Up !

Sorry I haven’t posted anything in the last week but I popped over to the UK for my Mum’s birthday. It was great to have a look around the old card haunts at the new products currently on sale and techniques being used. You kind of fall behind the wayside living out here in the country in France and sometimes it’s a must to get back into the centre of it all.  

Needless to say I came back with a few ideas to get stuck into, so it was all go when I got back to prepare for this week’s lesson. 

I decided on making a flip card but kept it fairly easy by just heat embossing the design as there is a fair bit of cutting out to do on the Bigshot. Here's what I made. 

The Gorjuss stamp I couldn't resist whilst shopping in the UK and had to make a quick card to see what it would look like in all it's glory. 

For those who want something visual to go by to remember dimensions and all that, here's a video.

Its All About Recycling

Ever thought of re-using pages from old books to make beautiful tags. Not only can you use these on gifts but they could also be your main embellishment on that special card. Here are a few I found on Pinterest and I've added a link if you want to take a look at my board 'Hang That Tag'. See what things you have just lying around the home, about to be put in the bin that could be re-used. Think of the money you'll save and the enjoyment of making something new out of nothing.
  

http://www.pinterest.com/etvoila/hang-that-tag/

Thanks

Morning Bloggers, I just wanted to say thank you for yesterdays lesson. We had fun looking at each others works of art that we had all been busy with last week. It’s nice to see different ideas and techniques and learn from them. We were embossing a piece of card and I decided to run it through the Big Shot again after it was embossed but not using any embossing folders. The pattern did flatten but not completely but it left a really nice effect which I’m sure I’ll be using frequently this week. Try it and see what effects you get. 

I've added a couple of my creations from last week to 'my cards' and I think I'll be playing a lot with paint effects and embossing this weekend so don't forget to take a look. 

Enjoy being crafty. 

Busy Week

Well I did say that you would be seeing a lot more of these centre step cards !!! 
Mothers Day is coming up so here’s an idea. 

Also I know most of us struggle with ideas for the men so this is what we’ll be making at our next lesson this week.  

Watch this video for how to........

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Major Changes

Hi all my bloggers, you'll notice a few changes to my site today as I've been busy on PicMonkey changing the way my front header looks.  For those of you who’ve never heard of this before, it’s a photo editing programme and the best thing about it is that it’s FREE to use. It allows you to change the way your photo’s look and also you can group them together into a collage, add text, frames, overlays, textures, themes, the possibilities are endless. Try it out and have some fun. You'll find the site under the new link 'Sites to See',  if you scroll down a bit it's on the right side of this page.

I’ve also added some cards to the viewers gallery and EtVoila’s cards.

Happy viewing. 

Centre Step Card

I’ve been a busy girl these last few days, what with Valentine’s Day looming and a birthday card to make.  I was quite proud I managed to try something new and was surprised at how quick this design is to make. You’ll be seeing this design a lot on my site as all my family have birthdays in March and April so I need to start churning them out!!  For those who come to my classes, you’ll be pleased to know this will be our next project, which is why I haven't posted how to make it yet..... all will be revealed.

Have you seen......

Check out the new scrapbook pages and cards in the Gallery's above both by Julie Penman. A lot of work has gone into those over the last year, your family will be so proud. 

Brayer Sunset Technique

Thanks to all my stampers for a great lesson yesterday. 
We achieved lots of lovely affects with our distress inks. 
I hope you all continue to play with this technique at home.

Here’s something for you to get some ideas from but
it takes a bit of practice to get a nice smooth even colour.
Better spend all day in our craft rooms !!!!