Ella is One!

My next little granddaughter was one year old yesterday!  How time flies!  I made this name book card using my Silhouette Cameo and some coredinations card.  I sanded the card back before I cut the letters out as I was worried that the card may crease if I tried to sand after the letters were cut - you should have seen the dust (I was covered in it!)
Then I scored each piece at 20 mm for a "spine" and put 2 holes at equal distance for the ribbon. Then it was just down to embellishing!  I am going to try another few versions of this card book so watch this space!

The Inside:

Birthday Card for Someone Special

I saw a card on Pinterest in a similar design and colourway as this and decided to make one, giving it my own slant on things!  Apart from the fact that I don't own the stamps the other person used - I so like to "make it my own" ha! It is for a friend's birthday, so I hope she likes it!  The materials I used are:
Stamping Up Crumb Cake and Bashful Blue Card and Inks, Stamp sets French Foliage and Fresh Vintage, Night of Navy SU ink and a lovely freebie butterfly from the front of Craft Stamper magazine (don't you just love a freebie!!)

Thank you for looking and I hope you enjoy!

Zentangle Christmas Cards

 The start of my zentangle Christmas Cards - I must say I have had so much fun doing these, I just wish my hand was steadier! I used Ali Reeve's masks for the outline onto Centura Pearl card.  The background is SU lucky limeade stamped with SU Serene Snowflakes

 Again Using Ali Reeve's mask for the outline, this time backed onto SU Cherry Cobbler and stamped with Serene Snowflakes

 

This one is totally my own design!

I had the idea that I could mass produce cards like this
and that all my cards for posting would be simple to make and cheap to post!  I would just draw one image, then photocopy it onto coloured card, bling it up a little, job done - oh how wrong was I !!!  The drawn image did not photocopy onto the chosen card - probably because the card is textured and so I had to re-ink the whole lot - boo hoo!  Anyway, I am quite pleased with the result.

I am very happy with how this one turned out!  I used Ali Reeve's mask again, but wanted something nice to put in the middle (less drawing for me!) After various experiments, I settled on this Marianne Design Die, which I drew around for the shape, then just inked in the detail freehand. I used a Promarker to ink in the background of the design. The cardstock is SU Wisteria Wonder, Serene Snowflakes again (well it is Christmas!).  I used Tim Holtz holly die which I love and stamped the greeting onto the holly before running through an embossing folder to add a bit of texture.

I hope you enjoy looking at my efforts - if you have any questions please contact me, I will be more than happy to help if I can!

Everything Eleanor Again!

I love this stamp set - oooh! I think I must have said this before......ha!  This card is for a friend's birthday and she likes her flowers!  I used an old, but not tried for years technique for this card, inspired by Splitcoast Stampers - inking with markers.  I didn't manage to produce anything I could give away when I first tried this, but something must have gone right this time!  I used Aqua Markers for the inking, and was very pleased with the effect, especially when using a blender pen to soften the lines a little.  A few stamps around the edge with the splodge stamp from SU French Foliage set just to frame the design and job done!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed looking.

Mixed Media Mirror

I have wanted to do a mixed media piece for a long time and when I saw a very plain pine mirror at the carboot - for 50p I just had to have it!  I knew it had to have a crackle effect base, so that's where I started!  Painted the base coat a lovely dark pink, acrylic paint, then applied a coat of crackle medium specially designed for use with acrylic paint.  Waiting for this to dry sufficiently is always a problem as I am so impatient! Once dry (about 30 mins) I then applied another coat of acrylic paint, this time in cream.  This part is always great as you can see the paint crackle before your very eyes!!  I then gave the whole thing a couple of days to settle down and harden before I did a little light sanding all over just to roughen the finish a bit.  In retrospect I think I prefer the finish you get just using ordinary household emulsion paint and pva glue for the crackle as you get a smoother matt finish.  Then it was on to the exciting stuff - I used Sheena Douglass ivy stamp for the leaves, then hand painted them with Pebeo Acrylic paints.  After that it was simply a matter of applying a little extra decoration here and there, so I tore strips of some papers I already had, inked the edges with Tim Holtz Spun Sugar and the middles with Antique Linen as they were just too white!  Applied with a little watered down pva glue for a good smooth finish.  After that it was just a large flower to be added  and a few butterflies and there you have it - finished!

I had so much fun doing this, and it doesn't look too bad for a 50p bootsale mirror!

I hope you enjoy looking at this as much as I enjoyed decorating it!

Everything Eleanor Card

I was thrilled earlier this week when my new SU goodies arrived, so I decided to make this card for Julie's birthday.  I stamped the flowers in Rich Razzlebury, then cut them out and gave the stamens a bit of glitz with a Sakura glitter pen.  When they were dry, I used versamark and ultra thick embossing powder to give them a really shiny finish  The paper is from the festival of prints SU pad. The "stalk" is stamped in Lucky Limeade.Finished off with Rich Razzlebury ribbon.   I love this set and have been eying it up for a long time - now it's mine!!!
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed looking!

Zentangle Cards

I really enjoyed making this zentangle fish card and colouring it!  I like all the circles and only wish I had a circle card blank to mount it on....maybe I should get some!










This owl really makes me smile - it was easier to draw than I imagined it would be, and I even surprised myself when it was finished! Again, I think it would have been nicer on a circular card blank.

I loved drawing this one!  It just seemed to flow, when it came to mounting it, the Stamping Up pumpkin pie ink and card just seemed the obvious choice.




Thank you for stopping by, I hope you've enjoyed looking!

Wedding Card

Here is the wedding card I made for my friend's son's wedding.  I tried to keep it fairly simple, but as usual, I seem to have problems knowing when to stop!  Again, the Silhouette Cameo was used to it's full extent, cutting out the fabulous lattice hearts I used here. I kept the colours simple, cream and white, which I think gives it a crisp, clean look.
Hope you enjoy and thank you for stopping by.

Zentangle!

Zentangle...who would have thought I could actually draw!! I am having so much fun doing this and it is so relaxing! Many thanks to Suzanne McNeil for her books of inspiration!

I've done loads of small practice pieces, this art form is so relaxing.

More of the same - this time in colour! Although the original colour of Zentangle was just to be black and white, I thought a bit of colour would add a different slant!  I used Derwent Inktense water colour pencils as they give a lovely rich finish.  

Hope you enjoy, thanks for stopping by!

Painting with bleach!

This is a technique I really enjoy.  I made a square mask, this one has a 53mm aperture, but you can make it any size to suit your stamps or projects.  I have a selection of stamp freebies from magazines, as they are all 53 mm square, that's what I cut! The rest of the project is really easy, lay the mask onto your card blank and secure with low tack tape then simply ink the middle aperture in any water based colour of your choice. Stamp your design in black archival, or stayzon ink. If you don't use a permanent ink here, the bleach will take out the lines and spoil your design.  Using ordinary household bleach (I watered mine down a little as it seemed too thick to paint with) "paint" out the part of the design you want to be white. (Actually, the bleach doesn't make the area true white, it just leaves a slight tinge.)  In this case I chose her face and just picked out some highlights in the feather. The rest of the card is up to you! I mounted the smaller card and layered onto a larger background to give this card to my sister in law for her birthday.

Here are a few of the smaller cards I have made using the same technique, they are very quick to make, which is quite satisfying.  You can just do one layer, directly onto your card blank which makes it cheaper for posting! These ones are about 3.5 inch square.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these cards, thank you for looking!





  Any questions about this technique, please message me, I'll be glad to help!

Mothers Day

This one was for Chris's mum for Mother's Day.  She (and I) like the colour (SU Wisteria Wonder) and the gorgeous Centura Pearl card with it's lovely sheen.  Again, the Silhouette was put to very good use and to be honest, I can't imagine life without it now.  The lovely background is from Birds Cards.  She is a great designer of cut files and digi stamps and they are all free - bonus! The stamp is Sheena Douglass Magnolia which I painted with Twinkling H2O's.  These give a very nice shimmer.

Anyway, Chris's mum liked the card, and ended up with loads of flowers from everybody, which filled her house with a lovely scent.  Spring indoors, as we're not getting any outside at the moment.

Thank you for looking!

Valentines Day with Love

Made for the lovely man in my life!  I used the Silhouette Cameo again for this card, downloading the lattice heart from the Cameo website.  The gorgeous heart background is one of  Birds Cards  she makes such fabulous free cut files.  I wanted to put a bit of bling onto the card, so again the plumbers foil tape came in to good use!  I covered some of the hearts that were cut out when making the background, then ran them through the Big Shot in my favourite embossing folder and stuck them back into the holes!  

This little pic shows the foiled hearts more clearly!

Hope you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed creating!

Birthdays Galore!

Another new technique!  The background for this card is made using plumbers insulation tape.  It's 4 inches wide, comes on a roll and is self adhesive!  Way better than trying to glue baco foil to card!!  I saw a lady use this on tv and had to give it a try for my son's birthday card!  You can stick the tape on in random pieces, emboss it,  then take a ballpoint pen and scratch small lines across the joins to look like staples, sorry this doesn't show up too well on my picture. I used a cog and ticket Sizzix die and some paper from my stash to decorate.  The motorbike was cut using the Silhouette Cameo (love it).  I really enjoyed putting this card together and look forward to giving it to my little boy (age 33) on Sunday!!!
 

I love to paint, but don't do it very often (not sure why)!
I stamped out the ivy and flowers separately, then painted them with Twinkling H2O's.  These have a beautiful shimmer to them as they have mica mixed in - lovely!
This is for a friend's birthday, so I need to get on and finish the inside of the card so I can give it to her!

I hope you have enjoyed looking at these offerings, please leave me a comment if you like them.

Bye for now!.............

Hello February!

 Well, where did January go?  The month seems to have just flown by, with Christmas just a dim and distant celebration from only 6 weeks ago!! I don't seem to have had much time for cardmaking or blogging, but I have managed some cards and felt I would like to share them with you.  Using a new technique, painting with BLEACH!! I love it!!

I just used the ordinary household bleach, watered down just a little bit as it seemed too thick.  Lay down your colour first, you can do this anyway you like, on the flower card above I took the distress ink pad directly to the card to form the square, then stamped over it in black stayzon (or other permanent ink).  Then it was simply a matter of using a small paintbrush and the bleach to remove the colour as you like.
For the cockrell card I made a square mask and then inked through it.  Both are on ivory cardstock and are 4 x 4 inch cards, and I have covered the image with a square of Acetate, hiding the glue with Cosmic Shimmer bronze or black glue dots. You could use brads or gems as well.

I had a go at the technique again on the larger 6 x 6 inch cards, this time on white, not sure which ones I like the best!!  You decide!

I hope you enjoy looking at these cards, if you have any questions about this technique, please feel free to contact me.

Well Hello and Happy New Year to you all...it's been a very long time since my last blog!  You know how it is, time just seems to overtake you and Christmas definitely overtook me this year.  I had a wonderful time, even though it seems so long ago now!  Two gorgeous  granddaughters to brighten my day - how lovely! Back to card making now!  I have to confess to making a major purchase just before Christmas, a kind of pressie to myself lol !!!  I got the Silhouette Cameo die cutting machine - Wow!  I can honestly say its amazing!  I have had so much fun using it and making things, I have made gift envelopes, embellishments for cards, cards and other 3D projects I could only dream of making before I had the Cameo. I will put some more pics up in the next few days, can't do it before as one of them is Rachel's birthday card, and her birthday is not until Sunday! Just to tempt you, I will put up a pic of the envelope!!  This card I made today, not using the Cameo at all, and I really enjoyed just stamping and colouring!  The stamp I used was a freebie from the Craft Stamper magazine.  They always give you ideas of how to use the stamp, so I just adapted their idea into a design I am happier with.  The first layer is made lighter by using the 2nd stamping, the next layer is all first impressions and inked with darker shades of the same colours.  The top layer was stamped then embossed and inked quite heavily.  To make the colours really pop, I then used glossy accents to cover the entire image so it looks more like a tile. Inks used are all from SU:  Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Pumpkin Pie.

Rachel's card was quite an adventure - I downloaded the background square doily from the Cameo store and printed it out on SU Very Vanilla.  What a mission getting all the little bits off the cutting mat, ended up using a paint scraper - worked a treat!  After that I mounted it onto the Rose Red SU card.  I knew from the outset that I wanted to used the Apothecary Art stamp set as having got these before Christmas, the event completely took over and I hadn't had any time to use them!  I love these stamps, they are such a nice shape and the dies and paper pricking set that goes with them just finish everything off nicely. I used Rose Red SU ink to blend in with everything else.  The other thing I learned to do on the Cameo was Offset, this made a lovely backing to the leaves.  The flower and leaf decorations are from www.birdscards.com - she has a whole website of fabulous free designs both cut files and digi stamps she is a very talented lady.  I will be using quite a few more of her designs in the coming months as they are all excellent and of course ...Free!  Hope you like it, thank you for looking!