Faux Frame

This is just one layer of white card, I used masking to give the effect of a frame border on it, which I highlighted with a white pen.  I'm still loving stencilling :)  - the circles you can see, but there are also some stars peeping out above the boys head.

I coloured the whole card with blended red and yellow distress ink, stencilled the stars and then stamped the image in black.  I masked off the image and stencilled, stamped and coloured the frame.  I used a white pen to create the sketchy border around the edge and then finally I stamped the image again on printer paper, cut out the boy and fixed him to the background.  Job done! :)

Stamp it and Tag it!

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "A Tag".  I won't say to much about my piece for the design team this week, all of the details are over on the Challenge blog.  I will say though, that I definiely took a look backwards with this tag, returning to some techniques and methods I used a lot back in the day, but haven't revisited in a little while. :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week, just make something for the challenge and you could the winner! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Who? - Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge (Masking)

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamps and Show Challenge blog this week is "Something Masked". I use masking techniques in most of my projects, so I was always looking forward to this topic coming up! :)

I stamped the central figure, then stamped him again on a post-it-note and cut him out. I placed the post-it copy over the figure stamped on the tag to protect or "mask" it while I stamped the backgrounds.

The letters of the word "WHO?" were printed on the computer and then placed behind memo pins which were then filled with glossy accents and left overnight to dry.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $25 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try?

Gingersnap Creations Challenge: Pencils

A new challenge has started on the Gingersnap Creations Blog today and the theme is Pencils.

Immediately I thought of that expression "I've seen more fat on a butcher's pencil" (I know, I know! Let's not get started on how my mind works!). Lost Coast Designs came up trumps for this piece, as both the pencils and the 3 waiters (who I turned into butchers) came from their collection. The text was computer printed, the brad was not :)

The pencils were stamped first, then masked off while I stamped the 3 butchers. The aprons were cut from white card, coloured and glued onto the tag. The pencils and background were coloured with promarkers and the tag was lightly edged with Fired Brick distress ink.

Check out the Gingersnap Creations blog to see the fun ways in which the other Design Team members have interpreted the theme! :)

The Raven King Was Not Amused

The theme on 3 Muses today is "blackbirds", so I took the opportunity to make another page for the book I've (slowly) been working on! I'm not quite sure what his beef is, but he's clearly not impressed! LOL

The rulers were stamped first, then masked off while the bubble wrap was stamped at the left and right edges. Everything was then masked again and the suit and tie was stamped, then also masked while bubble wrap was stamped in the background then "knocked back" with white acrylic paint. Finally the head and crown were stamped, cut out and applied, then the row of smaller ravens was stamped.

A combination of promarkers and distress inks were used for colouring, and the text was computer printed. As ever, click on the image for a larger view :)

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I thought I'd make a "just because" card today. I love "just because" cards, it's so much more freeing not to have to fit in with a particular theme or celebration, and you can just let your imagination run wild! :)

I practically threw the kitchen sink at this one - most of the elements have either been soaked, sanded or crumpled and ironed! Fun to do though :)

Most of the colouring was done with Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge distress ink pads, two of the newer recently-added colours. The calendar table at the bottom was stamped first, coloured, spritzed with water drops then dried. I then masked it off with a scrap of paper while I worked on the rest of the card. I thought it would be fun to mark it with today's date, as a reminder of when I made it. The photo is another from a sheet by Darkroom Door (not stamps, it's a sheet of vintage photos on cardstock that you cut out and use), which was crumpled, sanded and tinted. The vintage family portrait is a Tim Holtz stamp by Stampers Anonymous.

The upper section of the card was inked with the two colours of distress ink, crumpled, brushed lightly with the darker DI pad, spritzed with water and then ironed dry to flatten it out. The background was then stamped and the iron fence detail was enhanced with a white pen. After assembling the finished piece, I matted it onto a cocoa coloured panel and stuck it on the card.

As ever, click on the image if you want to see a larger view! :)

Bits'n'Pieces

... is the theme over on the Sunday Stamper's Challenge this week, so I chose this PaperArtsy stamp that I've had for a while but not used yet. I thought that the way the wording was cut into bits and pieces was perfect for this challenge! I added some "manly" bits and pieces floating around in the background too for good measure :) The photo is a bit washed out in places, I'll try and do better next time! lol

Click on the image for a larger view :)

[Edit to add - The stamps used in the background were: bike chain and cogs from a set by Technique Tuesday, screw by clevercut.co.uk]

David Card 3

Another day, another David card... I LOVE this stamp! lol For that reason, I'm taking a leaf out of my friend Linda's book and entering it in this weeks Sunday Stamper Challenge, which is themed "Love".

The head was stamped in black Versafine and coloured with Antique Linen distress ink. It was then masked off and the background was coloured with Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade distress inks and stamped with the Wendy Vecchi alphabet background stamp.

I made a mask for the shading areas on the nose, eye and cheek and stamped a Wendy Vecchi text background stamp with Brushed Corduroy distress ink. Finally I painted out the white of the eye with acrylic paint. Click on the image for a larger view! :o)

Tag Memories

I found this image on my phone today, taken at the end of a holiday last year. I'd taken basic craft supplies with me as I knew the friend I was staying with would be at work a lot of the time. These were all the 6"x3" tags I'd made for a tag book during the trip. They've been seen on my blog individually before, but never all together like this. I thought it was a fun pic, with a different feel to it when they're all seen as a big group, so I thought I'd share it with you! :)

Video Tutorial - Santa Ornament Card!

I've had a few email requests asking questions about exactly how I made the card I posted here yesterday, so I've made a video tutorial for it. It's a bit rough and ready, 'cos I did it in a hurry, but hopefully you'll get the general idea!

What you need:

Distress Ink pads in Fired Brick, Broken China and Faded Jeans
Versamark ink pad
Black waterproof ink pad (Archival, Staz-on or Versafine)
Santa rubber stamp (I used the "A letter to Santa" set by Stampers Anonymous)
Paint-splatter stamp (or you could use a snowflakes stamp)
An ink blending tool and foam pads
An ornament-shaped or round card blank
Post-it notes
Scrap paper
Water brush (or regular artist's brush and water)
Green watercolour pens
Red Stickles glitter glue
White embossing powder
Heat tool
Non-stick craft mat
A dry artist's paintbrush

Santa Card

I'm lucky enough to have a friend in the US who will get things for me and ship them over, so a couple of days ago I received some of the new Christmas stamp sets that were launched by Stampers Anonymous at a stamping convention in California last weekend. This is their first outing... I love the Santa image!

The card blank was a design I created and cut on the Cricut using the Sure Cuts a Lot progam. The main image was stamped in Archival Black ink and then masked with a second copy stamped onto scrap paper and cut out. The snow was stamped and embossed with white powder and then Broken China and Faded Jeans inks were applied to the rest of the card. Finally the main image was coloured with distress inks/water brush and Marvy pens and Stickles glitter glue. I hope you like it! Click on the image for a larger view.

Butterflies 5 and 6

2 more butterflies for The Butterfly Project. The one on the left has quite a lot of tattered angel glimmer spray on it, so it's scanned a little oddly! Still, hopefully you get the general idea!

The one on the right uses a couple of masks from yesterday's freebies. I hope you like 'em! :)

Saturday Freebie #23!

Identity Crisis!! Lattice Borders or Inking/Stamping Masks?

[Edit - These files are no longer available from this site. Email me for details on how to access my previous files].

Of course, they're both! Or either. I'm not sure, but you get my drift, no? :)

Earlier in the week, when I was trying Tim Holtz's November Technique Challenge, I had a play with some of the new acetate masks he's released as part of his idea-ology range. As ever, it set my mind a-whirring, and I thought "I could make some of these, in my own designs!", thinking I could cut them in card or paper and use them a few times and then throw them away..

I spent some time creating some designs, and then thought I'd try to cut a sheet of acetate on my Cricut. Turns out that acetate cuts like a dream in the cricut, like a hot knife through butter!

I put some repositionable adhesive on the back of the masks and I was ready to go! Take a look at the video below to get an idea of how to use them.

Of course, if you don't want to use them as masks, cut them out of your favorite cardstock and use them as wonderful latticed borders for a scrapbook page or card!!



Again, these templates will be "live" for 1 week. Next Saturday, they will be taken down, and new ones will replace them. Don't forget, if you have any requests, pass them on! I can't promise, but I will take suggestions into account when planning future templates.

These files may not be uploaded to a group, forum or website for sale or redistribution, or shared among individuals. They are expressly for the personal use of each person that downloads them from this blog.

There are 4 files this week, so I have put it into a zip file to make downloading easier. After saving it, open in the usual way, and drag the template out onto your desktop or wherever you wish to save them.

There are 3 versions of each template:

• A printable version (PNG files) that you can import into a program like Word, then resize, print, cut out and use like any other paper template (these are NOT Word files, so don't use File/Open in Word! Use Insert/Picture to bring them into a Word document).
• An SVG version which can be imported into the Sure Cuts a Lot program and then cut out on your Cricut.
• A DXF version which is Craft Robo friendly, and ready to be imported into your Robomaster software (I'm not a Robo user, so if there are any problems with this, please let me know!)

Simply right click on the appropriate button below, and choose "save link..." or "save target..." and save your template!

Any feedback on the templates is more than welcome, and if you have any suggestions for possible future templates you'd like to see, please let me know! If you make anything using one of the templates, please post a link to it here so that others can be inspired by how you've used them!

I hope you like the templates - let me know how you get on! :)

Templates © dan99crafter@gmail.com 2008

TH November Technique Challenge

I thought I'd take a crack at Tim Holtz's November technique challenge, seeing as I already had most of the elements needed to complete it! I had to use regular red stickles instead of the distress one, and a text stamp I've always liked by the Artistic Stamper rather than the one he used, but apart from that it's pretty much the same!

I really enjoyed using his mask, and I think I might try and make a few of my own using the Cricut. Watch this space! :)

Video Tutorial - Blurred Focus and Water Stamping Techniques

In this 2-part tutorial, I will be showing you how to make cool wire-bound notepads like the ones shown above - perfect as stocking stuffers or teacher gifts!

In part 1, we'll look at 2 interesting stamping techniques, one using water instead of ink, and one using a single inkpad for a tone-on-tone effect (you can use different colours too, like I did with the image of the two girls above).

In part 2 (tomorrow) we'll focus on the basics of binding projects with the Bind-it-all machine, including a fool-proof method of easily positioning your holes on projects longer than 3 inches! I know from the emails I've received in the past that many of you are intimidated by binding with more than 6 holes, as you're concerned about knowing where to punch the holes correctly. Hopefully that problem will be a thing of the past! There will also be a chance to win one of the samples I made during the video!!

If you're not familiar with techniques of blending distress inks, start by checking out my earlier tutorial here!

Video Tutorial - Distress Inks 101

A few weeks ago a few people asked me to create a tutorial on how I blend Ranger's Distress Ink pads when I use them on a project. It has taken me longer than I'd hoped, but here is the result, my first ever video tutorial!! Many thanks to Jane3865 for the loan of the camera and to Jayne from Puffin Crafts for operating the camera and allowing me to film in their store!

Win a tag! (NOW CLOSED)
During the tutorial, I create the tag on the right (actually, I made 5, what with fluffing my lines and having to start over again, LOL). If you leave a comment on this post, 5 names will be picked at random and a tag will be sent to each of those people! Click the tag for a larger view.

To attempt this tutorial, you will need:

• Rubber stamps
• Acrylic block (if necessary)
• A black water-resistant ink pad, such as Versafine or Staz-on
• Distress ink pads in 4 or so colours
• A Ranger alcohol ink applicator or ink blending tool (they're the same thing!) - If you don't have one, you can apply the ink without it, but you may not get such a graduated result
• Squares of cut'n'dry foam, with adhesive velcro on the grey side, or squares of ink blending foam, which already have velcro on the back when you buy them
• A non-stick craft mat
• A water brush or an artist's paintbrush and a pot of water
• Some post-it notes
• Scissors or a craft knife

Note: If you're using an alcohol ink tool for this (as I do) you can NOT use the felt pads that come with it for this technique - they are for applying alcohol inks, which I do not use in this tutorial. You need to use Ranger's Ink Blending Foam, or foam pads you cut from a sheet of Cut'n'Dry foam!

Good luck, and let me know how you get on!

A bit of a dog's breakfast!

... as we say in the UK, or in other words, a mess!

As those of you who read my blog regularly will know, I don't always upload the successful pieces here, from time to time I also show the failures, as I feel there is some value to be gained in sharing those too. This counts as one of them :o)

I was making a tag for a book I have in mind, and found a piece of white card lying on my desk that had a slight sheen to it, so thought I'd cut that down to size and use that.

The first thing I did was stamp the house (actually it's an old fashioned store) with black versafine. It stamped absolutely beautifully! The black was very dark and the detail was amazing. And that's when the trouble started - it just wouldn't dry, despite ironing it, and heat tooling it, as soon as I rubbed it with a piece of kitchen paper, the whole thing just came off. Add to this that distress ink just sank straight into the card and could hardly be moved around at all, things just went from bad to worse, lol

This cardstock is actually posterboard from Staples. We don't have it here in the UK (as far as I know), but I got it in a branch near Vancouver last year and used it for the Christmas fat pages I made while I was there. The technique I used on the background of those pages was perfect for this cardstock (you can see examples here and here).

Anyway, I guess you live and learn :) I guess I hope you like it, lol Click on the tag for a larger view.

20 & 21 Dan Street

... and that's the last of them! All houses now sent to the swap orgainiser, and receipt has been acknowledged (yay!). Now all I have to do is wait patiently for some of the wonderful creations I've seen in the swap gallery to start winging their way to me! Many thanks to Sarah (aka Flo) for organising this swap so well, the addition of a gallery and dedicated chat site really made the whole thing a pleasurable experience!!

What will I do now, with no new houses to build? I have several ideas bubbling on the stove, so watch this space! :)

3 More Ticky-Tackies

3 more of the houses that I've sent off to the Little House swap. I had some fun with these, using some images I've not used before, and a LOT of mask making!! :) Some ink blending, some hand-painting, yada yada yada, you know the drill by now :) Oh, and the shapes were cut out from SCAL, on the Cricut.

I hope you like em, click on the image for a larger view! :o)

Theme Thursday Challenge

After being late with yesterday's challenge, I've made sure to get in good and early with this one!

The Theme Thursday Challenge this week is "hats". I decided to make a tag, and here it is!

All stamping was done with versafine ink. Distress inks in a range of colours were used for colouring and blending.

The man and flourish border were stamped first, then masked at different times to produce the blended ink effects. The ruler and man background were coloured with a paintbrush and inks. The plasters and hat were stamped and coloured separately, then fixed into place, to give a slight dimensional effect. Finally, the tag was edged with walnut stain distress ink, to give a distressed effect.

I hope you like it! Click on the image to see a larger version :)