Mixed Media Backgrounds - Part 1

Hello again ...

... two posts in one day - I'm excelling myself! Actually, it's been lovely finding time to mess about in the craft room. It feels like an indulgence to be able to experiment with paints and inks again, and the Stampendous Creative Palette I mentioned in an earlier post. Here's the results of my playtime.

As you can see I dug out the brayer ... I can't remember when that was last used too ... and for these background pieces I used a selection of ink refills - from Colorbox, Ranger's, Vivid and Rollagraph - all almost as old as Methuselah but still very usable! I tried placing a stencil (Clarity) over the wet inks with mixed success but scoring the inks with the Vicki Boutin Art Wedge, comb and bottle top was more successful.

Next, I tried out acrylic paints, Vicki Boutin (Blue Hawaiian), Maggie Holmes (mint and blue) and Heidi Swapp metallic texture paste (Hot Pink).Love this combination of colours.

For these backgrounds I added a base of some cheap white acrylic, Wilkinson's, which worked very well. As did the more pricey Daler & Rowney cream Simply acrylic. Vicki Boutin's Juicy Pear provided a great pop of bright citrus against the blues and pinks already mentioned.

Finally, the disaster! This is what happens when the phone rings and the card is left down on the painted surface too long. Patches of the card softened and stuck to the drying paint. It's quite textured and looks rather like flock wallpaper. I'm still debating with myself on whether it's at all usable or only fit for the bin.

Next, I plan to use the backgrounds for cards. Immediately!! Well, at least within the next few days. So much better than stashing them away in a box to be forgotten. So, part 2 should follow soon.

Hope you found this resurrection of old crafty tools of interest. It's my shame that they've been languishing in a drawer forgotten and neglected. They deserve better treatment!

Thanks for visiting.

Snow Scene Cards + Altered Countdown To Christmas

Afternoon Everyone

Thought I'd post these cards while I'm waiting for the storm to really hit town. It's already gye (Scots for very but more so) windy but that, apparently, is just a taster of what is to follow later today. Anyway, just in case I have to shut down here's a very quick share of some cards I made recently for the January UKPC swap - the theme for which was 'snow'.

If you think this design is familiar, and those of you who have been following me for eons may well do, it is because I made one almost identical to one I made back in November 2011 ... and for details of supplies and how it was made here's the link.

I had to familiarise myself with my brayer again ... I don't think I have had it out in months, or longer. My hands are not what they used to be and I struggle with my grip so I didn't make as good a job this time but I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet. I did make a few practice pieces though and here's another two cards made with the rescued pieces.

This last one is matted on to a snippet of blue cardstock so I shall be submitting it to Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 214.

I'm also submitting the first card to CHNC Challenge - 266: where the theme this week is 'anything goes as long as it's Christmas' and CHNC Challenge Extra for February 2016

I should add that there is just two little differences in the supplies used this time around. Instead of using Archival ink to stamp the row of houses, and therefore having to colour them in with AquaMarkers, I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink and a selection of ProMarkers to colour the houses.

If you caught my Rudolph Day Countdown To Christmas card you would have noticed that I reflected that it would have looked better if I had rounded the corners on the card blank to match the PL Topper, as I did with the patterned papers. Well, Kath, of Plain  & Simple, suggested I quite simply pull a couple of star gems off and round the corners, so I did. And I was right, it looks much better with all the corners rounded.

And just in case you are wondering, that is a bit of winter sunshine you see in the photo. When I took the photo this morning it was raining, howling a gale and the sun was sunshine ... only in Scotland!!!

Apologies to those of you who look forward to the In A Vase On Monday ... it's much too wild out in the garden to go flower picking, always supposing there's any blooms to pick!

Well, that's me done rambling for now ... I'm off to fit in a bit of bloghopping now before having to take The Boss for her monthly visit to the vet. She's overdue her injections and so a bit poorly today but tomorrow she will be as sprightly as a kitten again ... well almost :)

Take care and stay safe,

December Anything Goes Challenge - country style birthday card and bookmark

Afternoon Everyone,

Well, we had our first snowfall yesterday - it didn't last long and the snow melted away in no time at all, but it was enough to bring home the fact that autumn is over and winter has definitely set in. When the weather is cold it's great to be indoors, crafting away and here's what I've been working on today. It's another project for the December challenge, Anything Goes, on the Scrap our Stash Challenge Blog ...  a birthday card with a matching bookmark again - this time for my brother, Douglas, who is 63 years old tomorrow.

Following Sue Althouse's example - see here - I'm sharing a photo of the design paper I used for this project.

It's a Simple Stories 6x6 paper pad called Generations and I chose it because the patterns and embellishments are vintage country-style in earthy tones suitable for a male card.

The card measure 8" x 8" so I've treated the card as I would a scrapbook page, cutting out and piecing together the papers to create a background. There's also a snippet of DP from Papermania Birdsong I've added because I thought the textured pattern coordinated well with the Generations DP.  I created the topper using the brayer and blue and green inks pads for the background, together with a combination of Clarity stamps ... the birds are an exception - they are from a Tim Holtz set - on silk art card matted on to gold pearlescent card.

The bookmark consists of gold pearlescent card decorated with strips and embellishments cut from the Generations paper and finished off with a bronze brown tassel - an eBay purchase.

There's a pocket inside the card for the bookmark.

The design for the pocket is the result of a suggestion from the EM ... is there no end to this man's talents :) You can see from this shot that there is a little pleat on the side giving plenty of room to neatly hold the bookmark.

And just in case Douglas hasn't got the message to 'live, laugh and love' it's on the back as well as the the front and inside - some things are worth repeating :))

Douglas loves our beautiful Scottish countryside, having been a farmer for much of his adult life, hence the topper. Unfortunately, due to ill health, he's now retired and so doesn't get out into the hills as much as he would like. I'm hoping he will enjoy this little reminder as much as I enjoyed making it for him.

I spent an hour or so on writing out cards to post whilst watching Hels demonstrating with Dawn Bibby on Create and Craft this afternoon - she did a great job and I love those Wendy Vecchi stamps.

The EM is raking through his wardrobe looking for something suitable for the funeral tomorrow ... why is it we always get caught out clothes-wise for this sort of thing ... could it be we hope we will never have to attend another one, ever again :( 

Right, I'm off to have a cuppa and watch Pointless before I think about dinner.

Take care all, and happy crafting,

Christmas Alphabet - L for Let It Snow

Afternoon Folks

Here's the finished card that, if you participate in WOYWW, you would have spotted partially done on my desk yesterday.  The topper is my second attempt - messed up the stamping on the first - and I'd say this was my first really successful attempt at brayering - I do believe I've got the hang of it now :)

I used what I think is termed a resist technique on the background. To do this I started by stamping the Let It Snow stamp with VersaMark, then dotted the fine tip of a VersaMark randomly over the card to form the snowflakes. I then used blue ink and the brayer, as per Barbara Gray, over about two-thirds of the card for the sky and just a swipe or two over the bottom right hand corner which gives a hint of blue and no more. Topper is matted on to holographic card and two shades of blue, dark and medium, and the base is the palest shade of blue.

I did make the mistake of stamping the row of houses with Archival Ink so had to use AquaMarkers to colour them. It was serendipity, because I actually like the effect of the pastel colours and the houses now look like those on the waterfront at Tobermory, Isle of Mull - also known as Balamory! The snow is made using the very fine iridescent glitter I found at the craft show in Glasgow last week.

Just a simple insert - the edges are stamped using a favourite Hero Arts stamp.

I rescued the stamped area from the first attempt, trimmed it down and adhered it to the back.

Materials List:

• Cardstock: Papermania Textured Cardstock in three shades of blue; Claritystamp white matt-coated A6 postcard; silver holographic card 
• Stamps: Docrafts, Penelope & Percy Christmas Greetings; Claritystamp, Street, No.55 & Tree, No. 59; Hero Arts, Wavy Stars
• Inks & Pens: Adirondack, Stonewashed; Archival Ink, Jet Black; AquaMarkers, Aquamarine, Straw Yellow; Rose Carmine, Sepia
• Insert: White copy paper 
• Embellishments: Very fine iridescent glitter; blue card candy

It's just 4.30pm and it's already dusk - I really don't like it when the clocks are altered. For me, I'd be perfectly happy if they, whoever they are, just left time alone. We, DH and myself, have been to the gym this morning and had a workout - yes, worked up a sweat and feel good after it.  I can't believe I've just said that! Disaster struck later when I discovered that my mobile phone had stopped lighting up - couldn't see the screen. Alan hot-footed it down to the 3 shop to see if they could do anything. But, no, it's been sent off for repair. Now, I don't use any phone often, well, for talking on, but I do rely on my mobile to keep me on track - directory, calendar, notebook, all on my phone. Help! All my appointments are logged in the calendar with reminders all set up. Oh, well, I'll be winging it until my phone comes home - so if I forget next WOYWW, you'll know why :)

 

Happy Crafting,

 

WOYWW - Week 126 - and glad to be back

Morning WOYWWers, Followers and All,

I'm back and I hope this finds you all well and raring to show all :) For those of you who are not so well or otherwise troubled for whatever reason, I sincerely hope things improve for you over the coming week.

Yes, it's good to be back after my non-appearance last week. I was feeling a tad fraught last week, seemed to be chasing my tail, and decided to take time out in the hope of catching up. Did I? NO!!! Still chasing my tail, or, as Julia puts it, 'running a big behind' :) And if you, dear reader, are wondering what I'm chuntering on about, it's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday ... the day I, along with about 130 other crafters,  reveal all ... on our desk, of course :) This is a global phenomenon hosted weekly by the redoubtable Julia over on Stamping Ground ... the place to go to join in the fun. So, today I plan to catch up with you all and return to the backlog tomorrow :)

So what is on my desk ... well, just the card I'm working on at the moment and all the attendant fall-out, card, stamps, ink pads, glue tape runner, pencil, bone thingy ... and, oh yes .... ta da, ta da ... the brayer. It's not often the brayer is seen on my desk, but I got it out and brushed the dust off for this card. Under the brayer is my collection of Big and Juicy ink pads ... thought I should release them from captivity too ... the theory being, if I can see them, I'll make more use of them!!! Well, it's a theory :)

Propped up at the back is a print-out of a digital stamp I have lined up for one of the cards in the Alphabet series ... can you guess the letter this will fit? Beside it is my first attempt at the card topper ... messed up the stamping so had to start again ... sigh!

So that's the state of my desk this morning.  But not for long ... I'll be finishing off that card and clearing up the mess before starting on the next. Truth is, I'm almost all Christmassed out now, with about 60 cards in stock, and with a few more in the pipeline, which should be enough for this year and maybe even next!  So, I've already made a New Year's resolution to leave off making Christmas cards, when I've completed the Alphabet series, till July 2012 and hopefully make time for more scrapbooking instead ... well, that's the plan :)

Okay, that's enough of me blethering on ... time to make a cuppa and settle down to blog-hopping so see you soon :)

Happy crafting,

Two New Baby Easel Cards + Yesterday's Haul

Morning All,

And it is a lovely morning too - well, in Ayr it is and I hope it is wherever you are.

Recently my lovely niece, Louise, let us know that she is pregnant, and to say we are delighted is putting it mildly. You see, Louise has had diabetes since she was a wee girl and this has caused her no end of medical problems over the years - so having a family seemed to be just a dream to her. However, despite all this, she has remained a cheerful and happy girl who has taken the blows life has brought her on the chin and has even happily become the primary carer for her mother, my sister Margaret, who has MS.  All in all, a great girl, so you can see why I am so pleased I couldn't wait to make a card for the event even though the baby is not due until the new year! As you can see, I've made two - well, boy or girl? -  we don't know yet.

I was able to use a single sheet of 12"x12" scrapbook paper from Daisy Bucket Designs, appropriately entitled 'Perfect Harmony', because as you can see the colours cover both blue and pink shades.

I liked the combination of the singing birds with the sleeping babies. I also found a use for the card I  brayered and bleached recently, using pieces for the matting of the images.

Materials used for the boy card:
Stampin' Up smooth card, blue; smooth white card; Glossy white card; Big & Juicy, Hydrangea, Household bleach, Spritzer; Daisy Bucket 12"x12" design paper, Perfect Harmony; Stamps: Magnolia Sleeping Baby coloured with Promarkers, Pastel Blue, Blush, Ivory & Soft Peach; A Baby Boy stamped with VersaMark & embossed in white; Ribbon, pale green; Prima flower in turquoise; button, blue tied with cream twine

Materials used for the girl card:
Stampin' Up smooth card, pink; smooth white card; Glossy white card; Big & Juicy, Hydrangea, Household bleach, Spritzer; Daisy Bucket 12"x12" design paper, Perfect Harmony; Stamps: Magnolia Sleeping Baby coloured with Promarkers, Blossom, Pale Pink, Blush, Ivory & Soft Peach; A Baby Girl stamped with VersaMark & embossed in pink; Velvet ribbon, pink; Paper string, pink; Wild Orchid Crafts, rose & cherry blossoms, white (petals tipped with ProMarkers)

These cards are being submitted to Passion for Promarkers - Week 106 - babies

Friday was a bad day - I had to go to the dentist because I'd lost an old filling - oh, the pain! So as consolation we took a trip to Glasgow yesterday, to IKEA and to Craft World - the biggest craft shop I have ever been in - it was heaven :)  Of course, there was so much I wanted needed and quite a lot that I simply wanted. Here's the reason for the latest hole in my bank account.

Can't wait to play!

Happy crafting to you all,

More Bleaching - using different card + two completed cards

Good Evening Everyone,

Sample 1

Wet and blustery weather over the last couple of days has forced me into the craft room - yes, I know, not exactly a tragedy :) So, I wasted quite a few enjoyable hours trying out bleaching, with a dilute solution of bleach & water, on off-cuts of different types/quality/colours of card to see how it reacted.  And I had varying degrees of success. In the Sample 1 above all the card used is from Stampin' Up. This was the best result I got from all my experimenting as, after several applications, the bleach stripped a goodly percentage of colour out leaving pink on the red, lilac on the blue and green on the black.

Sample 2

The cards in Sample 2 were totally unsuccessful after the same number of applications of the solution. The green card (top) is from HOTP and the turquoise card is a pearlescent from Create & Craft TV. The HOTP card is textured and, unlike the SU card, the colour is only on one side, as it is on the pearlescent too. I suspect that it is the method of producing the colour and how it is applied, it is coated on top, to the cardstock that has stopped the bleach from stripping colour from it.

Sample 3

For Sample 3 I spritzed the card with the dilute bleach solution and again with varying success. The problem with spritzing is that you can't repeat the application in exactly the same place - it's all a bit hit and miss really. The solution had a very subtle effect on the red and green card, and that is after repeating the spritzing. However, the brayered sample on the left took only one application to get quite a good result.

Brayered Sample

You might recognise this sample as one of the pieces of Claritystamp card I brayered with a Big and Juicy ink pad earlier this week - for those who missed it and are interested you can find the post is here. And here's a close up of the card.

Brayered Sample close-up

 I think it makes a very passable snow scene so will probably use it on a Christmas card.

I have been card making this last week, well, I've made two cards to be precise but, as I was just not pleased with them when completed, I'm only posting them as a record for myself as to how I'm doing - not so good : (  The proportions are all wrong and I'm not sure about the ribbon embellishment in the birthday card, although it is there to hide the edges of the punched lace trim, it looks a bit odd. And the dark blue design paper, from the same pack as the pink one, on the Christmas card strikes me as somewhat discordant - hearken to me, like I know what I'm talking about! I've clearly still got a lot to learn about card composition - but, what the heck, I'm enjoying the challenge : )

So here's the Christmas card for Week 21.

The fairy and presents are Anita's Decorative Toppers, the white scalloped die-cut is sponged with Memento Angel Pink, as is the greeting stamp from Lily of the Valley (done in VersaMark and Heat it Up silver embossing powder). The matting is Claritystamp Matt-coated postcard brayered with Big and Juicy Hydrangea - one of the other samples seen in a previous post. The design papers are from Penelope & Percy A5 paper pack. Flower hand made. The binding is Paradise Aqua from The Ribbon Girl. The blue base card is recycled and the edges distressed with scissor and adhered to white card base.  

And here's the birthday card made for my granddaughter.

The stamp is from House Mouse Spring Dip and coloured with the following Promarkers:Ice Grey 1, Warm Grey 2 & 3, Putty, Satin, Blush, Pastel Beige, Caramel, Blossom, Pale Pink, Rose Pink, Pastel Yellow, Lilac, Powder Blue, Cobalt Blue.

Other materials used: Yellow card base; white cardstock; House Mouse Inserts CD Rom; Letters and Numbers computer generated; Whispers Ink Pad, Rio Purple; Anita's 3D Gloss (for jar & eyes); punched lace trim, polka dot card candy and yellow ribbon from stash.

Fortunately, Jolene was a lot more pleased with her card than I was - it had her name on it!

That's me for this evening - I'm off to play for a while with more paper and inks. I've discovered over the last year or so that one of the things I most enjoy doing is trying out different techniques. I can spend hours in the craft space happily pottering around but not actually making anything, just accumulating lots of samples which may, or more likely not, get used some day. Is it a disease, I wonder?

Hope you are all enjoying the holiday weekend and perhaps even getting better weather than we've had here.

Take care all,

WOYWW - Week 92 + An Autumn Scene Card

Good Afternoon,

I'm really late today but here's what's on my desk today - it was like this last night and it's still like this now. You could say I'm out of sorts at the moment and much as I'd like to be getting creative I'm just not able to. On the plus side the days are getting longer and the light it getting better so when I am indeed feeling better I'll have great light to play in.

As you can see I'm in the middle of a project. I'm stamping all my stamps on to plain copy paper (actually the unprinted side of wasted paper) so that I can keep a sort of catalogue of them. I realised that, with my growing collection, if I didn't do something I'd forget some stamps and they would never see the light of day. So what you see on my desk is everything I need to do the job; ink pad, scissors, rock a block, nail varnish remover, baby wipes, stick & spray, etc.

To add to my general feeling of malaise I've lost my favourite scissors. I've search high and low and just cannot find them - o woe is me :(

For those of you who visited my desk last week (and I apologise if I didn't get to yours) you will recall that I had some unfinished projects biting at my conscience. Two pieces got used early to make a card and here's is another - leaving only one piece to use - not bad really considering I've not been doing much.

I was trying to learn how to use the brayer to create a scene here. Not, by any means, perfect but I did learn what not to do. Although the card used is described as matt-coated it's actually quite smooth, shiny and slippy - the devil to work with for the first time. I found the stamps slipping on the surface and had to develop a way of stamping that was really steady.

Materials used:

Cardstock: matt-coated A5 postcard from Claritystamp; dark brown (C29) card from Papermill Direct
Stamps: a selection of stamps from Lavinia Stamps, including the leaves, bare tree, bird on fence, tiny fences, spider web, flock of birds, toadstools, grasses; the fir trees are from Claritystamp
Inks: Adirondack, eggplant, sunshine yellow, cranberry, citrus; Tim Holtz, weathered wood, brushed corduroy; Versafine, Olympia green, vintage sepia, imperial purple, crimson red.

Want to see more desks, then pop along to Julia's place, The Stamping Ground, click on the WOYWW box on the left, where you will find links to desks from all over the world.

Right folks I'm off to pop another pill or two and will be back when I'm feeling more myself.

Happy crafting,