Boxing Clever

Boxing Clever

Hi There!

Beautiful sunshine here today!

Woohoo!

Hope you have sunshine too

wherever you are

Helen Chilton dropped by with

a clever idea that would work

with any small box - might

be one to try in the Easter Holidays

if the weather turns inclement ...

"Here's my box. I actually used a domino box

 and took the lid off so I could make

 a diorama:

Painted the box in PaperArtsy Fresco,

 Pixie Dust and Starlights Rich Gold on the edge.

Covered the box inside and out 

with some rice paper 

Used this Crafty Individuals stamp on some card

watercoloured the image and then cut out the bits I wanted.

Gathered together some twiddly bits and added them all on"

This is delightful Helen, thank you very much

I have a small stash of rice paper.

Of course, I have watercolour and

I'm sure I can find a suitable box....

Guess what I shall be doing

 this afternoon..............?!!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

At Random

At Random

Happy Friday to you!

Are you back to work yet?

Seems like most people are.

Hope the commute isn't too

bad.  It is cold, wet and

windy here. No change then

you might say..........!

So why not spend the evening

crafting with Helen Chilton?

Stamp on glossy card.

Colour with die inks.

Stamp stars with background stamp.

Add white highlights.

Plus a scattering of paper stars and

 that's all there is to making a lovely card!"

Thank you Helen, another nice and

simple card to keep us on track

Interesting isn't it to see how easy

it is to make a lovely card using just the

one stamp, three colours and a gel pen?

The whole look can be changed just by

choosing different colours........

This is a Crafty Individuals stamp.

They have a few stamps that lend

themselves to this treatment as do

other stamp companies so do

check them out in our big SALE!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Hallo everyone

Hope you are all on top of your

festive preparations and can take

a moment to put your feet up 

with a nice cuppa and........relax

We have another card 

for you today from Jane Castle

For my project on the theme ‘Merry Christmas’ 

I decided to go half traditional and half contemporary

(This card design was one that I felt would be easy to make 

several of so there are multiple   stampings in each photo).

I started with a 15cm square card blank which was coloured 

with a blending tool and Distress Inks in 

Stormy Skies, Faded Jeans, Wild Honey and Vintage Photo.

Next I stamped the 3 Kings from Crafty Individuals 270 

in Black Archival and heat embossed using clear EP. 

Then bearing gifts ........ was stamped and heat embossed also

The camels and Kings heads were coloured in using water colour pencils.

The 3 Kings were then stamped onto scrap pieces of coloured card 

and heat embossed.

Then just the cloaks were cut out, slightly curled with a bone folder 

and glued onto the card.

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh was stamped onto kraft card, 

heat embossed, cut into strips and the edges defined 

with some Treasure Gold in Renaissance.

The stars were then stamped in VersaMark ink onto kraft card 

and heat embossed with white EP.

These were then cut out and also given some touches

of Treasure Gold.

The elegant swirls were cut from some christmassy card stock

using Crafty Individuals Die.

The star was threaded through the swirl before attaching to the card.
The final touch was to add some darker patches of ink 

to the sand to give the impression of depth. 

For this I used my little finger!

As I didn’t use any foam pads to attach the stars etc 

I was pleased that these cards were still thin enough 

not to need a ‘Large Letter’ stamp when posting 

------ My Oh My that can be Sooo annoying!

Materials Used

Distress Inks
Archival Inks
Crafty Individuals stamps & dies

Jofy stamps
Treasure Gold
Kraft Card
Embossing Powders
Ranger Blending Tool 

Finally, I just want to wish you all

Merry Christmas

 Thank you Jane and we all wish you

Merry Christmas

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Collage

Collage

Hallo Everyone

Here we are and it is Friday again!

Woohoo!

Crafty Field is with us today

to share her lovely project

with us, so sit back, relax

and enjoy

 I like Collage, so very arty don't you think? 

But rather than spend lots of time gluing beautiful papers on top of each other, 

I selected one of the many Collage stamps available to do the work for me.

This is a quick and easy way to get the look of collage... 

Of course I couldn't leave it at that 

and introduced one variable that made the process more messy 

but SO rewarding!

I used a stiff brush (hog hair/oil brush) to apply the powder to the stamp. 

Since there is no water or ink to hold the Brushos I press hard with the brush.

Now I spray water on the stamp, the finer the mist the better. 

Also to minimise the powders being blown away I try to let the 
water fall on the stamp and not spray directly on it.

This is the stamp after the first impression.

 It looks like there isn't enough powder doesn't it?

 And yet...

... see how many prints I did!

I first used watercolour paper and the prints in the photo are numbered

 in order of stamping. 

I did add a bit of powder each time 

but only on the areas that were a bit faint.

This is cold press paper and the grain is slightly too pronounced 

to render the beautiful detail of the stamp. 

I had to try with standard cardstock...
I cleaned the stamp completely 

before applying the powders as before.

 Those are the result on the cardstock. 

Note that I have not added any powder at all between impressions, 

just water, and obtained 4 decent prints

 (the central motif on the fifth one below is hardly visible).

I am now considering packaging the prints into a cards & envelope gift. 

Same design and yet each individual!

I finished one card with twine and a simple die cut with a sentiment

also by Crafty Individuals.

 


And it would be a lot more difficult to create the vivid look of the inks with inkpads... Yes, I tried!

I hope you like this project and if so, have a go, it is great fun!

Materials used:

Crafty Individuals Stamps

Watercolour Card

Card stock

Card Blanks 

Brushos

Archival Ink

Thank you Crafty Field

A different take on Collage 
but one that works very well
as a card


Catch you all tomorrow

Mickie xx

Wax, Paper & Acetate

Wax, Paper & Acetate

Hi there!

A new week and a new theme.  

We're going to explore Wax, Paper and Acetate

and to start us off on our journey here is

Louise: 

I love this stamp from Carabelle Studios, 

it reminds me of the Devon hedgerows around where I live 

with so many beautiful, wild plants all jostling for a space. 

I wanted to create a feeling of depth and so chose to use 

acetate to give the project several visible layers.

Ink up your background using distress inks in different greens. 

I used lucky clover, evergreen bough and twisted citrus. 

You’ll notice in the photos I also snuck in some 

tumbled glass blue at a later stage!

Stamp the Carabelle Studio Wild Nature stamp twice, 

once in bundled sage distress ink, and then again, 

slightly below, in evergreen bough.

Spritz with Color Bloom in sultry shimmer sorbet 

to give it a beautiful sheen.

Work in to the picture using Sakura Gelly Roll pens 

to add highlights and detailing to the stamping.

Gild the edges in Inca Gold Alchemy Wax. 

This is easiest done by blobbing a little of the wax

 on to a non-stick craft mat first and then

dipping a dry, clean cloth into it and dabbing it on.

At this stage I also stamped in some little butterflies 

from Crafty individuals using wilted violet distress ink.

Stamp Carabelle’s Wild Nature stamp twice more, 

this time on to acetate. 

Stamp it once using jet black Staz-On 

and a second time using Versacolor evergreen. 

Sprinkle the green image with clear embossing powder, 

tap off the excess and heat it to emboss

Use a guillotine to cut the black print in to a thin strip. 

Do the same with the green print but 

leave about 5cm of clear acetate underneath it 

so that when the two bottom edges are lined up 

the green print sits higher than the black one

Fold one end of the acetates and stick in place 

behind the printed card panel using double sided tape 

Place a strip of double sided tape along the edge 

of the acetate with the green stamping and 

stick the front piece of acetate to it, 

leaving an overlap of about 1cm. 

(Trust me, that sounds more complicated than it is!)

Finally, tape both pieces of the acetate to 

the back of your printed card panel, 

causing the card to form a curve. 

This will enable it to stand easily as a 3D picture.

Materials used:

White smooth finish card

Carabelle Wild Nature stamp 

Crafty individuals – Build a spring flower garden

Staz on ink – Jet Black

Blending tool

Color bloom spray – Sorbet

Alchemy wax – Inca gold

Double sided tape

Acetate

Distress inks– in bundled sage, twisted citrus, evergreen bough, lucky clover, tumbled glass, wilted violet

Versa colour ink pad – Evergreen

Embossing powder - clear

Sakura gelly roll pen

Thank you for your lovely project Louise

 Starts the week off beautifully

See you all again tomorrow

Mickie xx