Couture Creations Vintage Rose Tag

      This week I've used some more gorgeous papers from Couture Creations along with some Cosmic Shimmer from Creative Expressions.
     The tag is cut using Tim Holtz Sizzix Tag and Bookplate die. I then die cut a white card Vintage Roses by Couture Creations and coloured it with alcohol markers. Using the same die I cut the large rose head in funky foam, in the photo you'll see it's purple. Die cut shapes in foam make great stamps, this way you can get everything to match on your card.
     I have used Distress Ink Victorian Velvet to colour the tag, then using the foam stamp I have water stamped to get the white roses. Water stamping with Distress Inks is when you use a damp stamp to lift the ink away from the card, stamp and mop up with a clean piece of paper towel.
     After stamping a random pattern with water I then stamped with the same Distress Ink to build up the pattern. Before it all dried I went over the whole tag with Cosmic Shimmer mica powder Pearlescent, this stuck to the background and the pink roses but not the white ones as they were dry.

     The small postcard is from Couture Creations Vintage Rose Garden paper pad, as is the word Smile. The paper roses are made with paper from the same pad that was left over from making the little gift box last week. Inside each flower is a tiny pink flower shaped gem to add a little sparkle.
     With the addition of a burgundy ribbon the tag is complete. What do you do with a tag once you've made it? Use it on a present, send it as a small note or just give it as a nice surprise.


Materials used:
Couture Creations - Vintage Rose die
CC Paper Pad - Vintage Rose Garden
Cosmic Shimmer - Mica Powder Pearlescent
Distress Ink - Victorian Velvet

I would like to enter this tag in the following challenges:

Fresh Brewed Designs - Flowers
My Time To Craft - For A Special Lady 

Come And Get It - Make Your Own Background

Got The Blues

      Valentine cards are the challenge over at The Male Room this fortnight, any Valentine themed papercraft items for a man or boy, card, gift or scrapbook page.
     My blue phase is still running, not by design, it just seems to happen. As my card is for a man then I don't think he'll mind.
     The background is coloured with Distress Inks Broken China and Iced Spruce, then while the ink was still damp I used a damp Chocolate Baroque stamp of gears, from the Steampunk Butterfly set, to lift the colour off the background in a random pattern. In the bottom right corner I used another stamp from the set to lift ink and then inked it up with Broken China and stamped slightly off line from the lighter stamp.
     The two main images are from another set by Chocolate Baroque called Punky Romance. Both are stamped and embossed with a blueish powder I got in a sale ages ago. It's amazing what you can find in your stash when you start rummaging.

     I stamped and embossed the wings two more times, then cut them out to get the different layers of feathers. The edges are all marked up with a white gel pen to highlight them slightly, they are stuck down at the edge only so that they curl upward a little.
     In the centre of the heart is a cog, I have die cut another cog from greyboard and coloured it silver, it is fixed to the heart with a tiny silver heart shaped brad, again another stash find.
     The edges of the image panel are coloured with Distress Ink Chipped Sapphire and then it was mounted on a plain white square card blank. A bit artsy with a simple colour scheme and no frills, I think this makes it OK for a man, don't you?
     Come over to The Male Room and show us what you've made for the man in your life, you have two weeks to join in the fun.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiments - Include A Heart
Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenges - Valentine's Day
Crafty Boots - Hearts and Valentines

Technique Time Tuesday - Pick a Favourite

If you are looking for the House Of Cards Blog Hop post then please click HERE

      This month at Technique Time Tuesday we would like you to choose your favourite technique from the past year. Pop over to the blog and take a look at the list, I'm sure there will be something you will like.
    I chose water stamping which has to be one of my all time favourites. I have given it a little twist for this card though, it just seemed right for Christmas.
    I began by die cutting a snowflake in double sided sticky paper, then I stuck it on to white card. Before removing the top layer I coloured my white card with Distress Inks in Broken China, Faded Jeans and Dusty Concorde. Then I used two snowflake stamps to water stamp with, but before the ink was dry I dusted over the whole card with Cosmic Shimmer Pearlescent Mica Powder to give it a shine. The powder will only stick to the inked areas and not the water stamping.

    Once the powder was dusted off the card I then lifted the top layer on the sticky snowflake and sprinkled it with Glamour Dust to make it sparkle. It didn't look quite as good as I'd hoped so I then made a Tim Holtz Snowflake Rosette in glitter paper and stuck that on top.
    I tried it on a white card blank but it didn't look right, the white made the snowflakes fade so I went for a blue card blank instead.
    To finish off I added some snowflake embellishments that I've been hoarding for years, it took some doing but I was brave and used some treasured stash!, well it is Christmas.
    Please pop over to Technique Time Tuesday and take a look at all the fabulous DT samples, there's lots of inspiration to get you going.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Pick a Previous Theme - Snowflakes

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas

Inkspirational - Anything Goes

Cards For Men - Anything goes

Here Come The Boys - Anything Goes

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes

Oriental Shimmer

     Two posts in one day...What's going on?  I really want to enter this card in a challenge that closes tomorrow while I'm demonstrating at Snetterton Park in Norfolk. We're beside the A11, next door to the race circuit, so if you're out that way please call in and say hello. There will be three of us all working away at different techniques from stamping to polymer clay.
     This card is inspired by my favourite technique, water stamping, and a little light hearted challenge between myself and Karen of Stamping In Pink to revive the Oriental theme. We both have plenty of stash in this style, which we recently shared - thanks Karen, giving us both a desire to make oriental cards again. Join us on Sunday at 5pm to see another oriental card, if you'd like to join in then please leave us a comment with a link so we can visit you. There is NO prize involved, it's just for fun.
    This card was made by colouring white card with Distress Inks Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss. Then I used a bamboo stamp that I have had for some time but never used. I spritzed the stamp with water and stamped onto the card, then I mopped up the water with a kitchen towel. This was repeated across the card almost to the right hand edge where I used an oriental script stamp.

    Before the ink dried I spread Cosmic Shimmer Mica Powder Enchanted Gold over the entire card and brushed off the excess. The powder only sticks to the wet ink and not the dried off water stamping, this is my twist for The Technique Twist challenge. There is no need to seal this as the powders have a binding agent in them activated by moisture but if you feel happier doing so I would recommend hairspray.
    Once this was completely dry I stamped and embossed in gold a small phrase in the top right hand corner, placed a delicate black paper cut of a lady given to me by Karen and finished it off with a Mizuhiki cord knot. I have layered the image up with dark green and light green before mounting on to a black card blank.

    I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Make My Monday - A Non-Inked Stamp

The Technique Twist - Water Stamping

Don't forget, if you'd like to see more oriental cards then pop back on Sunday afternoon.

Let It Snow Sketch

    After a relaxing few days away in the rain near Brighton I'm ready to get back into action with this weeks Christmas card. My starting point was a sketch from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and the use of die cuts as my Favourite Embellishments at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge.
    I began by colouring my card blank with Distress Inks Broken China, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire. Then I used some snowflake stamps to Watermark the card as well as flicking small drops of water to get little blob marks. This is my favourite technique, if you haven't tried it pop over to Technique Time Tuesday and check out the fab tutorial.
    I die cut some snowflakes using Spellbinders Create A Flake 1 and 2010 Snowflake Pendant from white pearl thick paper. The icicle border is also cut from the same paper and stuck on the back of a silver pearl strip that runs across the card. It was at this point I wish I hadn't chosen to use a card with scalloped edges!
    The centre panel is the same white pearl paper stamped with a greeting from Katy Sue Designs and embossed in a dark blue powder from Personnel Impressions. It's stuck on a very dark blue card mounted onto the card with foam pads. In each corner is a small silver peel off snowflake.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Sketch

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Favourite Embellishments

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas

Mynnettes Birthday Blog Hop

     Happy Birthday Mynnette!

Mynnette is our talented leader at Technique Time Tuesday and today is her Birthday. We all thought it would be nice to send our Birthday wishes as a big blog hop surprise. We have each chosen our favourite technique to make her a card, my choice was Water Stamping from last month. 

If you like what you see on the hop then please join us at Technique Time Tuesday and play along with the challenges.

Time for a blog hop with birthday cards for Mynnette and, of course, BLOG
CANDY for one lucky winner! In order to have a chance to win, you need to visit each blog and leave a comment on each one, including this one. One of the sites will be randomly chosen and we will randomly choose a winner from the comments on that site, using Random.org.

 To celebrate, we all chose our favourite technique of this year and made a special card for Mynnette.  To see which technique each of us chose, and to have a chance to win some BLOG CANDY, here is the blog list for you.

 *    Technique Time Tuesday

 *    Ellen In a World of Craft   

 *    Karen  Simply Frenzied  

 *    Die amelie VonPappe II 

 *    Louise Cats Cards and Cupcakes 

 *    Karen P stamping in pink 

 *    Rocky Rocky's Crafting Blog     You are HERE

 *    Hayley Hayley's Paper Garden

 *    Nancy The Trinket Collector

 *    Julz Ribbons  & Julz

 *    Tracey Serene Stamper 

 *    Katy I Like to Cut and Paste

*   Adrienne Paper Diva Scraps
 *    Want more? The Inkspirational DT is also hopping for Mynnette's birthday! 

Spring wings

     With the arrival of warmer weather comes the expectation of spring. I've seen bumble bees in the garden and lots of the flowers are growing now so hopefully it's finally here.
    This week at Make My Monday it's a colour challenge of blues and browns so that's where I started. Distress Inks Salty Ocean and Brushed Corduroy were used to blend a background, then I used Chocolate Baroque stamps Texture Fragments and a great technique featured at Technique Time Tuesday called Water Stamping, you can see a tutorial here. I also used the blue ink to stamp some colour at the bottom and Archival Coffee for the twigs at the top.
    Country View Crafts are featuring Butterflies this challenge and Creative Moments topic is Spring.  The butterflies are stamped with a Kaisercraft set in Archival Coffee and embossed in clear. They are painted with Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks which gives them a pearly look. I've found that when using Cosmic Shimmer paints it's best to emboss your image, it helps keep the colour contained in the image.

    The small butterfly has his antenae drawn on with a brown pen but the large one has flower stamens coloured with a peel off marker that is supposed to be brown, it looks a little reddish here though...sorry. Each butterfly is fixed by it's body only allowing the wings to be shaped slightly.
    The image is matted on chocolate pearl card and then blue pearl paper before going on to a white card blank. I haven't added a sentiment to the card so it can be used for any occasion.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Make My Monday - Blues and Browns

Country View Crafts - Butterflies

Creative Moments - Spring

Crafty Emblies - Anything goes

Water Stamping at Technique Time Tuesday

    This month at Technique Time Tuesday we are featuring 'Water Stamping'.  There is a tutorial on the blog to show you how to do this technique. Please pop over and see what the design team has come up with and join us with your creations.
    This card was made using Distress Inks in three shades of blue, the ink has been blended onto the card with cut and dry foam. Once the card was covered with ink I then used a rubber stamp and water to stamp onto the ink. Where the wet stamp touched the ink it has 'bleached out' the ink leaving a pale image.
    One tip I have for you on this technique is to try a test on a small piece of card first as different types of card produce different effects. Some cards are more absorbent than others so blending will be different and so will 'water stamping'. Please try different types of card until you find one that does what you want, then keep a small piece with the brand name and where you got it from written on it so when you run out you know where to get more!
 

   This card also has a sheen to it because while it was still damp I went over it with a pearl mica powder. The powder has only stuck to the damp background areas and not the image. Although the ink was damp and should hold the mica quite well I have gone over it with a light spray of fixative (cheap hairspray) just incase.
   As the swirls came out quite well I chose to decorate with just a ribbon and a small sentiment so as not to cover up my background too much.
   I hope this has encouraged you to come over to Technique Time Tuesday and show us what you've made.