Unicorn Thoughts

I just love this cheeky unicorn from Gerda Steiner Designs. 

For this card I teamed him up with Lawn Fawn's cloud borders and a great rainbow die from Elizabeth Crafts.

For the sky I blended Tumble Glass and Mermaid Lagoon, a light mist of water to add texture.

I layered all 3 cloud borders along the bottom.

The rainbow was cut in white and coloured with Copics, with added sparkle using a Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen.

The unicorn and balloons were also coloured with Copics, (stamped with Memento) and fussy cut them out.

I added some thread to the balloons, glossy accents to the eyes and sparkle to the unicorn's horn to finish.

So adorable!

Happy Crafting!

You're a Star!

Hi Crafters,

Today I have been inspired to use my alcohol markers to colour these cute jelly fish from Lawn Fawn, "So Jelly" mini set. I loved how it turned out!

My Crazy Bird

Hello Crafters,

There has been a lot of examples of the Bird Crazy stamp set from Stamper's Anonymous, so here is my first creation using this popular set.

I started by creating the background on a piece of white cardstock measuring 4-3/4 by 6-3/4 inches. 

From the top, I used Antique Linen, Old Paper, Pumice Stone and Hickory Smoke distress inks. I finished the edges with a hint of Walnut Stain, which I also used to create the "ground" for the bird.

Once I decided where the bird was going to sit, I positioned a sunburst mask and inked through it with Walnut Stain ink.

The bird itself was stamped onto smooth white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo black ink. The image was coloured using Promarkers. I coloured the wing and beak of a second image to then die cut using the co-ordinating dies and layer over the main image. I used some glossy accents over the eyes and beak for some extra detail and allowed to dry.

I selected some green cardstock from my stash to complement the bird image and cut to give a 1/16 inch border. The layers were adhered to a 5 by 7 inch kraft card base.

The greeting was selected from the "One Big Meaning" stamp set from Stampin' Up. This was stamped onto a strip of white cardstock which was then cut into a pennant. I added Antique Linen to the greeting.

Additional pennants were cut from scraps of green card, which were positioned at the top of the card, using foam adhesive.

Finally, I adhered the bird in to position.

Hope you like it, can't wait to use the other birds too.

Happy Crafting!

Grunge Thank You

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick card for today's post. Working full time means I don't get much time to craft or share my creations very often.

This card is small, only 3 inch square.

I don't often stamp directly onto card blanks - in case I mess it up. 

I have used the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set from Stampin' Up, with a range of distress ink colours. Each colour slightly overlapping the last for a continuous background. 

I added  to "splats" with neutral colours - I wanted a masculine look to the finished card.

The sentiment is from the Another Thank You stamp set, also from Stampin' Up, and cut out with a 1 inch circle punch. I added some ink to the edges. I adhered it to the base with foam dots, and finished it with some glaze over the top.

Really simple.

All for now,

Happy Crafting

Bee Happy

Hi there Crafters,

It's been a hectic few weeks, so not been able to get in the craft room. But finally managed to get something together for you.

Hexagons seem to be the thing of he moment for me, so when I saw this stencil I had to have it.

I inked through the stencil with various shades of green distress inks. I used Cracked Pistachio, Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles.

I trimmed down the cardstock and then went round the edge with a blending tool using Antique Linen distress ink. this was layered on to some kraft card and cut down to give a 1/16 inch border.

I used the same green inks to colour the base card, (8x8 inch) and layered the kraft card on top.

The bee was created using a Taylored Expressions die and went over it with glossy accents. The "bee happy" sentiments is from Stampin' Up Sweet Stuff stamp set. I stamped this in Tuxedo Black Memento ink. This was cut with the smallest from Sue Wilson's French Collection and inked through with Cracked Pistachio ink. I finished it with glossy accents.

I cut a piece of green cardstock with the smallest die from Sue Wilson's California collections and layered the sentiment on top.

I positioned the bee and sentiment on the card and then used Cosmic Shimmer black PVA glue to create the "trail" of the bee.

Hope you like this offering,

Happy crafting everyone!

Butterfly Rainbow

Hello everyone,

Time for a new blog post.

Quick and simple and very colourful. I love how it turned out.

This a DL sized card blank in landscape orientation.

I have used two stamp sets from Stampin' Up, Butterfly Basics, (with matching framelits), and the gorgeous Gorgeous Grunge.

I stamped out the butterfly in a series of Distress Inks to create a rainbow. I used:

Festive Berries,
Spiced Marmalade,
Mustard Seed,
Mowed Lawn,
Salty Ocean,
Picked Raspberry,
Dusty Concord.

Next I die cut the butterflies with the matching framelit, (you could of course fussy cut this).

On the background, I used a combination of Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Walnut stain to stamp out the sketchy lines from the Gorgeous Grunge set.  I added the splotches from the same set using Black Soot.

Using a bone folder, I curled the wings of the butterflies and then stuck them down at the body so the wings remained free. I added PVA glue pearls from Cosmic Shimmer - three pearls seemed to work well.

I thought he background needed a bit more bling so I added added some Silver Lustre PVA glue pearls here  too.

Finally, I used Tuxedo Black Memento ink to stamp the greeting also from the Butterfly Basics stamp set.

Very simple - but I really liked how it looked.

That's all for now,

Happy Crafting!

Texture Butterfly

Hi there Everyone, it's been a while but here's a new post for you all.

I finally got round to trying out some embossing paste. This is  the Dreamweaver Translucent paste, which I used with a Sweet Poppy stencil I purchased at the Hobbycrafts show at Birmingham NEC in March.

As it was my first go, I just used some regular white cardstock that I had in my stash - nothing fancy. It was actually really easy to get a nice covering using the Sweet Poppy metal spreading tool to get even pressure and most of it goes back into the tub. I left it overnight to make sure it was dry, but it only really needs a couple of hours.
A "top tip" I got from the demonstrator was to use a magnetic sheet under the stencil to stop paste going underneath - and keep it still!

So I ended up with a shiny clear butterfly - very nice, but I wanted it to pop from the page. I applied some Distress Ink, not really knowing what would happen. As it turned out, the paste resisted the ink. I used a combination of Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers which made a purple colour where they met. I went round the edges with a bit of Dusty Concord to pull the colours together.
I matted the piece onto some black and then some white. These were both cut to give a 1/16 inch border with the Perfect Layers ruler, (love those rulers!).

I really wanted to use a 6x6 card base, but the topper seemed too small. I decided to create a mat using the same Distress colours. I didn't plan where the colours went, I just went for it. Once again, I matted this onto black cardstock and then onto the card base.

As a finishing touch, I added some white dots with Picket Fence Distress Marker. I also added some Bokeh-style white circles using Stampin' Up white kraft ink, and sponging it lightly through a paper stencil. These are just about visible on the photo above - it is much clearer in real life.

I didn't want to put a sentiment on this card. I liked how it turned out and thought it would be good for a number of occasions.

So now I have done this card, I am thinking about trying different colour combinations for alternative looks.

Hope you like this card and that you visit this blog again soon.

Happy Crafting.