Wednesday 30 October 2013

Travel

 
Materials used:-
Stampendous stamps:-
CRP144 I Love Paris
CRW075 London
CRR138 Calligraphy Sampler
CRV138 Life Path
CRR167 Lion Crown
CRW087 Navigateur
CRP184 Grapes
Cream shrink plastic
Brilliance Graphite Black
Versafine Vintage Sepia
Sakura pencils
Pewter brads
6" x 6" ivory linen card blank
All available from:-
Your local Exmouth stockist is:-
Travel is our theme this week & as Cilla would say I've used a lorra, lorra stamps! Time to re visit some of the favourites I've used over the past year or so & all of them very suited to the theme.
So shrink plastic.....you have to use Stazon for stamping on it. Or do you?! Anyone who knows me knows that I hate Stazon with a vengeance, I did get out my pad for this but it was too dry, no re inker, blah, blah, blah oh what a shame!! So you can use Brilliance too but it will take a time to dry I usually leave it over night but if you're really careful in your handling & don't want to colour, the shrinking process will dry the ink. Sorted! I can't believe how all my pieces stamped perfectly the first time  (I was short of shrink plastic so didn't hold out much hope of this happening, you know how it goes!!) & even more amazed when they all behaved in shrinking too! Phew! I just added a little light colour to the images after with some Sakura pencils. 
I stamped the card blank all over using the Calligraphy Sampler & the rest you can see for yourselves from the picture. The use of the old map for the photography was courtesy of Mr Frosty & which I think looks pretty cool but don't tell him I said that!! Bye for now see you next time!  

Thursday 24 October 2013

Circles, circles

Materials used:-
 FRS305 Bethlehem
1" circle punch (yellow)
Versafine Onyx Black
Stampendous Detail Clear embossing powder
Brilliance inkpads
Water colour paper
Silver Card Candi
Pink mirror card & navy card
A5 cream hammer card blank
All available from:-
Your local Exmouth stockist is:-
Our theme for this week is just "Circles" which covers a variety of options but the first which will pop into many minds is the use of punches- or at least that's what popped into my cold & cough  fogged mind!
 I've chosen "Bethlehem" one of the new Christmas  Singles stamps from Francoise Read which I think is just delightful. Start by taking a piece of water colour paper & emboss the image using Versafine & clear powder. Then colour wash the whole image with a selection of the lovely pearly shades of Brilliance inkpads. Leave to thoroughly dry. Next emboss the image again onto a piece of rich cream card. I then punched circles from the painted piece (heart in mouth moment!!) & then mounted this on top of the cream piece with some DS foam pads, making sure that the art work lines up.
To finish, layer onto first the navy card adding the punched out pieces & then onto the pink mirror card before attaching to the card blank. Add the silver Card Candi for a starry twinkle & a small s/a gem to the star on the cream circle.

Friday 18 October 2013

October Sketch Challenge

 
Materials used:-
Dreamweaver stencil Scarecrow (LG686)
FRS254 Curly Leaves
Dreamweaver matt white embossing paste
Tombow pens
Detail clear embossing powder
Kaleidacolor Autumn Leaves
Card Candis
1" oak leaf punch
A5 card blank
All available from:-
Your local Exmouth stockist is:-
 

Time to get the Dreamweaver stencils out this week for the October sketch challenge. I've been looking for an excuse to use this cute scarecrow & with the season of harvest/autumn/Halloween upon us I thought he fitted very well. I pasted him onto brown card (pop over to the Dream team at Dreamweaver http://www.dreamweaverstencils.com/  if you aren't familiar with  embossing with pastes &  stencils or have a look at my Blog hop week a while ago). When completely dry I coloured with Tombow pens, however  these do not dry on the embossing paste so to over come this simply cover the image with clear embossing powder & heat to seal in the colours.
For the card background I have stamped with some of the lovely leaves from the "Curly Leaves" set from Francoise Read. I've used a Kaleidacolor pad (Autumn Leaves) which suits the design very well & the sentiment also comes from the stamp set as do the acorns on the strip behind it. To finish I've layered our little scarecrow onto orange & dark red card & added some orange Card Candis with some punched oak leaves for that real pumpkin feel. Happy Halloween.  
 Here's a closer look at the scarecrow

 
The original sketch


Saturday 12 October 2013

October Retailer Challenge- Monotone Christmas

 
Materials used:-
FRS Twig Tree
Stampendous Detail White embossing powder
Brilliance Graphite Black
A5 white linen card blank
black & white card for layering
All available from:-
Your local Woodware stockist is:-
 
Time for a challenge I think & we have one this week from another of the Woodware Retailers, Janet from craftrange. Monochromatic designs are one of my favourite themes especially for Christmas - well I'm a Pisces I don't make decisions too well!!
 
I've chosen to use one of the new Christmas designs from Francoise Read "Twig Tree" which lends itself very well to the white embossing technique. The most important thing to remember is to give the black card a good wipe with an anti-stat bag to remove any marks which will cause the white powder to cling where you don't want it to i.e speckling. Now simply ink up your stamp with clear embossing ink & off you go- simples!!
I have embossed some hearts (just one of the cute little buttons & icons which come with the stamp set) & cut them & mounted them onto the tree with 3D foam pads.
I have used one of the sentiments from the set to produce a very simple background on the card blank. To complete the design matt & layer the image onto the black & white card before attaching to card blank.
 
Now pop over to Janet's blog at http://craftrangedotcom.wordpress.com/  to see her monotone design.