A Sparkly Wreath for Christmas

Good morning all! Martina here with a sparkly take on the Christmas Wreath Stamp by Nellie Snellen. How many Christmas cards have you made already? My daughter has already made her 'special ones', written them and put them in envelopes (this was actually all done by August!). If only I was a bit more prepared...

This week I have gone all sparkly with embossing powders for my card. I hadn't really 'twigged' that using this stamp and its layers would be perfect for creating an embossed design!! Coupled with the use of a stamp press and you are 'cooking on gas'...

Now my excuse for the lack of photos here is simply that, well, I kind of forgot. It is such a simple card to do, it really doesn't need them anyway, you'll see what I mean...

Using some black card, I cut a topper and put in my stamp press. I placed the first wreath layer (greenery) into position and then stamped onto the card with Versamark. Removing the card, I applied some green Embossing Powder. The next layer was the cones/twigs layer, so I repeated the same process again with brown powder. The final layer is the red berries, bow and flowers. Now at this point I had a slight 'poo' moment, (!) as when I added the powder and heat embossed, you could hardly see the detail. The reason for this was that I had used some very old (12 years) red embossing powder that I bought very cheaply... The solution here was to simply put the card back in the press and repeat the stamping over the top and add more powder. This effectively meant that I was 'double embossing'. Still not happy, I then 'triple embossed' and then, well, what ever the next one would be...(quadruple embossed? Is that a thing?) Eventually I got there folks! (I then chucked my powder away...)

 The sentiment from the Hobby Art Christmas Frosting Set was added in the same way, this time with Wow White Powder. 

All layered onto a card blank, some white dashes and all done. I think it would have taken half the time if I had had some decent powder...lesson learnt!

The next Grove Green workshop is on Sunday, October 15 and it's all about Imagination Crafts' fabulous Rusty Patina. Click for info and booking details.

See you soon,

Martina

xxx

   

Alcohol Inks, Mishaps and a Daydreaming Lavinia Fairy!

Good morning ladies and gents! Did you manage to catch any of the Imagination shows on Hochanda? There were some fabulous demonstrations from Kerri-Ann and Sue; I feel very inspired at the moment!

As some of you will know, I am a touch mad for anything fairy, mystical etc., so when Lisa told me the theme for this month's makes I was very excited (with knobs on)!!!

Alcohol Inks were new to me, I had seen them used, but never dipped my toe in the water. I decided to try using them on Gloss Card first and have a little play to see what I would get. At this point it is perhaps wise to advise you that there are no definite instructions for applying the inks - you just aim and FIRE!!! (well, I did anyway!)

To start with I applied a new Applicator Felt to my Blending Tool and dotted on some drops of the ink. I chose to use Amethyst, Cool Peri and Mermaid, making sure I did not go too mad with the darker tones.

Once the ink was on the felt, I added some Blending Solution around the ink dots (I didn't want the dots to be too 'definite'). Once ready to go, I pounced onto my card stock until I was happy.

Once the inks were dry (almost instantly on the Gloss Card), I picked out a definition stamp from the Artistic Stamper Encyclopaedia Botanica Set (which is on sale with Lisa at 46% OFF!!!) I stamped this twice to the side of my topper with Black Archival Ink.

My next step was to add some foliage to the background. I chose the Lavinia Stamps Dandelions 2, Willow and Field Grasses for this, stamping randomly all over the bottom. Once I was happy with the layout I stamped the beautiful Lavinia Briar Rose with Versamark before heat embossing with Wow White Powder. Thinking the main part of my card was done, I added some Stickles and then went to bed...

 The next morning, I realised I had made a big 'mistake' -  I used somecoloured Memento Inks when I stamped the foliage and the colour 'sunk' into my card overnight! AHHH!! I loved the colours I used and was not a happy bunny, but there are always ways round things... 

 Not owning lots of coloured Archival Inks, I decided to re-stamp the foliage again, roughly in the same sort of composition as before, with the same original inks and colours...THIS TIME to make sure the ink did as it was told, I quickly heat embossed with Clear Wow Powder.

My last steps were to add the Lavinia Dreams and Delights Sentiment and some matts and layers. All done. Phew!  

Thinking about it, I could have said that I let the first lot of foliage sink into the card to add depth etc. before adding the top layer...

Nah, I was 'on a learning curve'!!

I hope you like the final card after all my blundering! I love to imagine what she's thinking...

See you next week for some more crafty mishaps tutorials!

Love

Martina

xxx

  

"Daryl the Quirky Turkey?" He said, "Not me; I'm no Turkey, I'm a Christmas Tree!"

Good morning all! Autumn has snuck in around us and we have no excuse not to be thinking about Christmas cards now! I know, time flies and all that, but I do love autumn don't you?

I have been crafting with my friend Daryl again from the Hobby Art Daryl the Quirky Turkey Set. There are lots of different sizes and poses with Daryl, so there is plenty of choice for you to play with. Usually when I start with a new stamp set, I have some ideas with which to work with, but these don't always turn out the way I envisage! Often I find it helpful to make some 'mock-up' designs on some copier paper so that I can practise positioning etc. before I take the plunge. Not all the designs make 'the cut' but sometimes new ones come from the playing! (excuse the mess on my desk!)

For my post this week, I have chosen to use a card I made using the Daryl that I think looks totally stunned!  I started by stamping the image onto the correct size of topper I needed (after allowing for the matts and layers I was going to use). I used Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and then coloured the image with my Promarkers. Once I was happy with my colouring, I cut away the top section of the card from the image. I cut freehand along a wavy line which created a snowy hill. I could have just cut Daryl out and stuck him in front I suppose, but I am not a fan of fiddly cutting...

Again measuring the topper size I needed, I used the snowflake stamp from the Daryl set to randomly stamp snowflakes in Versamark Ink all over the 'sky' area. I embossed them with Bright White WOW Embossing Powder.

My next step was to create some decorations to 'hang' on Daryl; bear with me, there is a method in the madness! I stamped lots of baubles from the set onto some card and stamped the snowflake from the same set inside them. The smaller baubles came from another Hobby Art set (with the grumpy sheep on!) Once I had coloured the baubles and added some Glossy Accents to the plain ones, I cut them out.

To make the baubles look as though they were hanging on Daryl, I decided not to just stick them on top of him, but to thread them through his feathers (painful, bless him!)

To do this, I pierced a tiny hole using a Crafts Too Pokey Tool through the hanging loop at the top of the baubles. I then threaded some fine thread through a beading needle, up through the back and secured it with some tape. I added a Crafts Too Foam Pad so that the bauble looked 3D.

Once I had threaded as many baubles as I wanted onto Daryl, the back of my card was a bit of a mess (a bit like when I have tried cross stitch before: never to be repeated!) As no one was going to see it though, I  could pretend was orderly and perfect...

Still looking too much like a turkey, I thought Daryl should have a paper bag over his head (again from the set). Typical really, as I had coloured his head in carefully! I also added his sign, some glitter snow and stamped some of the little grasses onto the front snowy section.

Within the set, there are some 'comedy' type phrases that you can play with. I chose two for my card and added a question mark, so that the card read as I wanted. These were then matted and layered onto some Black Card to make them pop from the main topper.

Once all my elements were complete, I was ready to stick them together using Cosmic Shimmer Glue. I added some white faux stitching around the edges to bring it all together.

Poor Daryl, I think his feathers give the game away; there's an idea for another card - a multi-coloured psychedelic tail! If you make one, let me know!

That's it from me, happy making and I will share another 'Daryl' card with you next week.

Love

Martina

xx