New from Stampendous - Victrola

Back to the new Stampendous stamps today.  I love these 2 cards made by Kristine Reynolds, a Stampendous design team member.  Kristine has used the new Silver Encrusted Jewel kit on the card below and I really like the combination of using burgundy and silver/grey together.  The background stamps go so well with the main image.  The music background is an older design but the jingle music wave stamp is also new.

Stampendous - Victorla - Cling Rubber - CRW108

Stampendous Clings Magical 2011 - CRR103 - Music Score

Stampendous - Jingle Music - Cling Rubber - CRY027

Stampendous Frantage Encrusted Jewel Kit in Silver (EJK10)

I wish that the true sparkle of this kit showed in this photo!!

Hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Jill x

By the Sea with Stampendous Fran-tage

Today's card features a bit more Fran-tage.  I really had fun making this, it is an adaptation of a frame that I am currently working on that some saw me working on at the Harrogate show recently.

I loved these stamps when they first came out and the mermaid is particularly suitable for Fran-tage.

I coloured the mermaid first then cut her out.  I laid on the Fran-tage embossing enamel, crushed glass glitter and the fragments onto the textured part of her tale then heated from below.  Once it had a bit of a hold I then heated it from above carefully to avoid the particles flying everywhere.  I didn't use any ink initially so it simply stayed where I had sprinkled it.  I added a little more embossing powder over the top while it was still hot.  It was just a pinch or 2 randomly sprinkled to make it a little more random and to ensure any loose glitter glass or fragments were held in place.

I then put clear embossing enamel over the tail fin, I did apply Versamark ink as I wanted to create a smooth finish and  heated it until I got a smooth shiny wet look.  I did the same for the rest of her, including her hair.

I wanted to give the shell a mother of pearl effect and as I needed to keep the powder only on the shell I used a Versamark pen to colour over the top of the chalk colouring.  I added a couple of layers of pearl embossing powder and while it was hot I sprinkled in some gold halo and champagne glass glitter.

I needed to use a translucent powder as the stamp is very detailed and the design was lost when I used the opaque chunky embossing enamels.

I also embossed the mesh ribbon.  The ribbon is 100% cotton so it wouldn't melt.  I pulled at it and roughed it up so it resembled well used fishing net before applying glue.  This helped keep some of the powder in place while I heated it.  I managed to add the Aged Gold embossing powder and the gold champagne glitter glass and it happily stayed in place.  The glue worked to stick the ribbon to the card as well.  I used USArtQuest PPA matte so any stray bits of glue don't show on the card when dry and it is well stuck to the card.  The ribbon element was a  successful experiment all in all :)

I coloured this part of the ribbon with chalks once it was stuck to the card.

I used chalks on the background and also at the bottom of the card after I had stamped and embossed a border stamp across the bottom with Versamark.

I made up my own mix and used ultra thick clear enamel and aged gold embossing enamel and a mix of fresh green and steel blue fragments and some of the glitter glass.  I put them into an empty embossing jar (I keep everything, just in case!)  I then shook it up to mix it up and sprinkled on.

I wanted it to represent a sea bed and was pleased how well it turned out on the textured card as once I had gone over it with the chalks the clear enamel and Versamark took the chalk colour too. I finished it off with some pale blue self adhesive mosaics.

If you fancy having a go at this, here's what I used:

Stampendous CRP151-R Cling Mermaid
Stampendous CRW068-R Cling By The Sea
Mark Richards Self Adhesive 5mm Mosaics - Light Blue (MR5547)
Stampendous Frantage Shabby White Emboss Enamel (FREG027)
Stampendous Frantage Treasures Frantage Glitter Kit (FRGK01)
Stampendous FRG06C-R Fresh Green Glass Glitter
Stampendous FRG07C-R Steel Blue Glass Glitter
Stampendous Deep Impressions Emb. Powder (EG020)
Stampendous Frantage Aged Gold Emboss Enamel (FREG024)
Woodware Blending Chalks (2887)
Sakura - XONB11 - Gelly Roll Quickie Glue Pen

If you fancy having a try before buying all the individual larger pots then the kits are a really good way to start, there are 3 kits, the embossing powders, glass glitter and mica fragments.  All the Fran-tage products can be found HERE.

Here's a little peek at a bit of the frame I am working on that shows the larger mica flakes.

I hope you manage to catch some of Fran's shows on Create and Craft today and tomorrow.

I have more to show another time, thanks for visiting and have a great week.

Jill x

Fran from Stampendous on Create and Craft Tomorrow!!

I have just noticed that Fran from Stampendous is going to be on Create and Craft TV tomorrow and Tuesday showing her Fran-tage technique!

So I thought I'd make a start on showing you the cards I made recently using these products/techniques.  I absolutely love it, it really is my thing!

The first card is my late entry for our Distress/Shabby Chic challenge

I used the following products that you will find on our website

Stampendous Cling Frantage 2011 - CRP144 I Love Paris
Stampendous Frantage Aged Gold Emboss Enamel (FREG024)
Woodware Crafty Edger - CP43-SET - Starter Set
Woodware Cassette Border - CP43-01 - Antique Floral
Woodware Blending Chalks (2887)
Woodware 80 Gold,80 Silver - Mini Heart Brads (JL104)
Woodware Dragonfly Brads (50) Bright (JL122)
Sakura - XONB11 - Gelly Roll Quickie Glue Pen
Sakura - XPFKC51 - Pen Touch Calligraphy Marker Gold - Medium
12" x 12" Vellum Pack - Pastel Colours - pk 12 sheets

Although with true Fran-tage I should not perhaps have used the Quickie glue pen around the edge of the card, just dipped the card into the powder and heated from underneath but I found I got a better random edge squiggling the glue along the torn edge, the kraft card underneath is edged with the Pen Touch gold pen. The chunkiness of the Fran-tage powder really adds texture.

I have enjoyed revisiting blending chalks, I recently demonstrated with them at the Harrogate show and although I already have chalks, I was using the Woodware chalks which I love and they are very reasonably priced too.

I made a little tag to hide the springtime wording on the stamp design to make it more usable image all year round.

Please visit our Challenge blog if you'd like to join us this fortnight

The second card uses most of the same products as above but I have used the border design from the Stampendous CRS5031-R Cling Jumbo Hollyhock set.

I have used the Aged Gold Fran-tage chunky embossing powder with the border stamp.  I think this is my favourite colour (at the moment!).

Sorry for making you have to tilt your head to see the cards, I was trying to get a good angle in the light as it has been dark and gloomy today, I didn't realise until afterwards how wonky they are!!

I'll show more cards tomorrow that have a lot more Fran-tage technique on them.

Thanks for visiting!

Jill x

Colours of Spring / Easter Challenge

Well, we are one week into our latest Stamp Man challenge, there is still time for you to join in as the challenge ends on Thursday at 9pm.

I'm only just getting round to adding my entry and chose a deep almost mustard yellow which is a favourite shade.

I have wanted to play with the Stampendous Frantage embossing powders so chose the aged gold.  The picture above shows this combined with a scrunch Starburst Stain background paper I made a while ago.

Normally when I emboss these background papers I gently swipe my embossing pad over the peaks then add the embossing powder to highlight and make texture.  This time I poured the embossing powder onto the dry paper and moved it about with my hand until it fell into the recesses.  I then carefully heated it from underneath.

I wanted to add more texture to the border, so used the same card  that was an offcut from the main image.  I frayed some white mesh ribbon and coloured it with alcohol inks.  I used alcohol inks rather than normal ink as the ribbon has a coating.

The products I used are

Stampendous CRP152-R Cling Botanical Daffodil
Stampendous Aged Gold Fran-tage Embossing Enamel
Starburst Stains
Mark Richards Self Adhesive 5mm Mosaics - Gold (MR5537)
Mark Richards Self Adhesive - Metals - Gold 3mm (MR1983)
Buttons
Mesh ribbon
Copier paper for scrunch technique

I love the randomness of Fran's Fran-tage embossing technique, you can see it on the border strip below.

I added a bit of bling too, the gold button was nicely textured and I added some gold mosaics, I really must use them more often!

So, I hope you will join in with our latest challenge too!

As I'm going on about the challenges, I would like to welcome our newest DT member, Kim Reygate.

I've know Kim for many many years, she is a very talented card maker and a very lovely lady too.  Kim has written a couple of books, one on tea bag folding and the other rubber stamping and is frequently featured in magazines as well as producing artwork for a number of other paper crafting companies.  We are proud and honoured to have her on our team.

Here's the link to Kim's blog Kim x, you'll find amazing artwork there and I believe Kim is on a mission to blog every day if she can so it's well worth you bookmarking or following her too.

We have a new challenge starting on Friday so I'd better get this current challenge card posted and get on with the next one!

Thanks for visiting

Jill x