Apertures

At our last local Stamp Club get together the theme was 'apertures'. Finding stamps that could be used for apertures was suggested by our illustrious leader, Clare. I have just finished this card which I began making at club and I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out.....

The printed image is from  Crafty Individuals 'People and Places 2' miniatures book in which there are loads of absolutely gorgeous coloured images. I made the aperture from two Invoke Arts stamps from the Nicho Frames set.

I added some little 'gold' mosaic tiles and a punched star made from book text.
The sentiment comes from a new set I recently was given by my crafting friend in America. It's made by Crescendoh, designed by Christine Mason Miller and called 'Ordinary Sparkling Sentiments'. I have long had this set of stamps on my wishlist and I'm so pleased to have it in my grubby little mitts at last.....thank you Steph!
For this card I cut the words up so as to fit them into the space I had. They were stamped onto some Basic Grey cardstock and edged with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.

Finally, here is a photo of the inside of the card which I left simple and just added a little detail around the aperture using more stamps from the same Invoke Arts set.

I have another part-finished aperture card from the same club session. I hope to get that made soon - watch this space but don't hold your breath - LOL !!!

Eastertime!!!

Two little cards made with the IndigoBlu freebie stamp from April's Craft Stamper magazine - I love this little stamp!
I was just given some tiny Bazzill shaped card blanks as a present by a dear crafting friend in the U.S. and, by complete coincidence, they matched the shape of the only Spellbinders Nestabilities die set I have.
Couldn't wait to put the two together and here is the result...some little Easter cards.

My friend also sent me some Tsukinecko Goosebumps spray which I hadn't tried before. I have to say I rather like the effect of this, sprayed on randomly then inked over and polished up. I also tried stamping with it to use as a resist but found that it went rather splodgy. Also don't see the need to use it for that as we have clear embossing powder which does the job much better. But this technique gives a really great look to background paper. Click on the photos to see a larger version....

Another 'Paradise' template!

I had to make a card for a boy's 11th birthday this week so over I went to Sara's Cardmaking Paradise mag to look for a number template....she did not let me down and I found this great funky 11 shaped card.

I embossed the whole thing using one of Tim Holtz's embossing folders then printed and cut out another single number 1 which I embossed using another of Tim's folders. Though you can't see it here, I then highlighted some of the circles with Glossy Accents and some of the speckles with Distress Stickles in Firde Brick.
The sentiment circle was made from a Tim Holtz stamp, heat embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Lava Black Aurora and topped with a Hero Arts stamped sentiment. I tried to get as close to Westham footbal club's colours as I could using Adirondack Cloud Blue and Archival Plum inks.
Because my printer can't handle thick card, I found a great way to transfer Sara's templates onto card. I printed the template onto tracing paper then turned it face down on the thick card and ran my embossing stylus around the lines....to my surprise and delight, they transferred onto the card beautifully!
Thanks, Sara, for another great template!!!

Mothers Day Project

Over on Cardmaking Paradise online magazine, there is a great template - amongst many! - for a Mothers Day card in its own little box. It even has alternative wording of Mom and Mor. I made one for my mum and also as a member of the Design Team at Cardmaking Paradise and here it is.........

I used Bazzill and a gorgeous 12x12 double-sided scrapbooking paper by Prima called 'Parsley Place' from the Madeline Collection.
Sara, at Gardmaking Paradise, gives great step-by-step instructions on how to assemble all her shaped cards etc and you simply download the PDF template or whichever version you need.
So, we also made a little box into which this card fits beautifully and, on opening the box, the card pops up out of the box.

What I loved about this patterned cardstock was that it has that layered look without having to cut up any bits and layer them up!

Here's the outside of my box all done up with ribbon and a tiny tag I also made from the same card...

I didn't have a diecut label for the top of the box so I simply cut this from a rectangle using the old-fashioned scissors we used to use!!! I edged this with Distress Stickles Rock Candy which I also used on details of the floral bits on the actual card. I added some stick on min pearls to complete the look.

Salt, Twinkling H2Os and water

I recently made a card, playing with art journalling style a bit but also using a technique featured in the April issue of Craft Stamper magazine by Sheena Douglas. It involves spodging Twinkling H2Os onto spritzed card then spritzing again to make them run together and while this is wet, adding some sea salt which you brush off when all is dry.
I haven't used my H2Os much lately so it was nice to get those lovely colours out again. I also used them to paint in my outline leaves - which are hand drawn somewhat in the style of Dyan Reaveley. I covet almost ALL of her stamp sets and they are firmly on my wishlist.
So, here's the card - using an Artemio flower stamp which I embossed in detail white....

The rows of circles are a Claudine Hellmuth stamp from the 'Dwellings' Creative Layers polymer set which I then highlighted with a white pen.

I shaded around the embossed flower with a Derwent pencil - I think it was an Inktense one but could have been a Coloursoft.
I'm really enjoying drawing a few things onto my work these days and also did the wording freehand....as you could probably guess, LOL! Yes, need to do some more work on my lettering!!!
You can see here the effect of the salt on the paint.

Mint Tin Swap

At our last local Stamp Club meet-up, we swapped altered mint tins - tiny tins they were so it was quite a challenge.
The theme to follow was 'Wings'.....a great excuse for my favourite subject for art which is angels.
I used a test pot of housepaint which more or less matched the base of the tin - a turquoise colour and also used Distress Crackle in Weathered Wood.

The shrink plastic wings are made using  Invoke Arts wing stamps and the cherub stamp is by Just For Fun. I also used a Paper Artsy mini of medieval calligraphy and the 'believe' word comes from an Inkadinkado polymer Inchies set.

Around the edge of the tin I stamped a Kelly Panacci border stamp....

Yes, it's mis-stamped in places but I actually like a bit of inaccurate stamping for this sort of thing. Helps to give it an aged look!

I even painted the base of the tin, first with gesso and then roughly went over this with a brushful of Pearl Dabber paint. This I stamped on with an Invoke Arts ATC background stamp and picked out some detail with a  Sakura Stardust pen.

....and, on the inside, I used a bit of Paper Artsy Christmas paper ( I love this set of papers so much!) on which I handwrote the angel sentiment, adding some accent beads around the edges and three pearl dots made with a Pearl Pen by Viva Decor.








My swap was this fabulous ticket tin - which even had some tickets inside for me to use, made by Jacqui.....

I love the way Jacqui has layered all the ticket stamps over each other and the whole thing has a heavily lacquered look, like an old suitcase. Beautiful !
I photographed it in my hand to show just how small these mint tins were.
This is the base of her tin....

Here are the little tickets I found inside...

I've been looking at some wonderful art journaling pages and blogs for some time now and am really intching to have a go myself. So I'm on the lookout for a good blank book to get me started. I hope it won't be too long before you can see my frst attempts on here. Bye for now!

Cardmaking Paradise domino swap

I recently joined in an altered domino swap on Cardmaking Paradise craft forum. I haven't  altered a domino in years and really enjoyed making mine. I chose a big chunky one from my stash and made it into a pendant, also decorating a box for it to go in and making a card for whoever was the recipient.

The stamp I used is one of my absolute favourites that I've had for some years now. It stamps with such minute detail and is from Third Coast Stamps. I stamped her in Stazon and then coloured bits in using mini Sharpie markers that I bought in a stationery store.

I used some French text from a paperback book for part of my background and painted over with a test pot of Craig & Rose 'Opulence' paint in Sapphire. It has a gorgeous lustre. I also added a sentiment stamp around one side saying 'Reach For The Stars' which I got from Crafty Individuals and adhered some odd little scraps of leafing foil randomly. 
Then it was time to sit back and wait for the deadline and then for my swap to arrive in the mail.
I was thrilled to open my domino - or two dominos actually! - which were the covers of a gorgeous mini book. Most beautifully made by Maggie - thanks so much for it, Maggie...I really LOVE it!!!

Bear in mind that these dominos that make the front and back cover of the book measure a mere inch and a half by three quarters of an inch! I love the sky background and it has gorgeous gold edges which you can just about see in my photo. A real work of art!

Maggie couldn't have chosen a better subject matter for me as I really love birds. Coincidentally Maggie recently sent me a beautiful birthday card which goes perfectly with this little book. Which reminds me....I haven't yet posted photos of my lovely cards from all my crafting friends. Watch this space....