January Sketch Challenge

 

Materials used:-
Clearsnap Rollagraph Jumbo wheel-
Define It (26176)
Clearsnap Moulding mat- Deco Nautilus
Rollagraph cassettes-
Ancient Page Coal Black, Mandarin & watermark
Stampendous extra thick  embossing powder & detail gold
1.5" plum punch
2" label punch
Frantage Tea Stain mica flakes
Textura Cardstock pad (Tropical)
Hairy Manilla card
7mm pale gold organza ribbon
Copper mirror card
All available from:-
www.woodware.co.uk
Your local Exmouth stockist is:-
japonica

Time to get back to Woodware's  monthly sketch challenge & I really felt the need to "step outside the box" & do something completely different this week. So....... I got out my Utee (ulta thick embossing enamel), my moulding mats & my Rollagraphs all of which tend to get a bit neglected for a lot of the time.

I started by creating a background on a Hairy Manilla DL sized card blank using the Rollagraph, the watermark & Mandarin ink cassettes just randomly rolling over the entire surface. I rolled the background orange panel using the mandarin ink & the sentiment panel using black. 

The fun part comes with the moulding mat! Lay it onto a heat mat face up & apply some Versamark over the entire surface (this stops the enamel sticking& makes it easy to remove). After melting some clear UTEE (I used a Melt Pot) I added some jade ink & a little detail gold to give a slight  marbled effect. Pour your molten enamel onto the mat & spread quickly & thinly. Wait until the enamel has cooled & carefully peel away from the mat. This is your "Ooooh!" moment when you reveal what you have created! Of course if you're not happy you can always re- melt.  

The flower was made with the plum punch & given a coating of clear enamel (you might want to think ahead before you add any colour)& the tag was dipped into the green enamel.

I finished by adding some Mica flakes to the card design & to the centre of the flower. 

 Here's the sketch!
 



Here's My Heart!

I'd been meaning to update this wicker heart for some time now so when I took it down in favour of my Christmas wreath it wasn't going back up until it had it's make over (I could do with one of those!).
Back last September I treated myself to a Melt Pot but hadn't really had time to play with it what with holidays, blogging, Christmas etc, etc. So when we were having yet another wet windy weekend it was a perfect time to get out all my Met Art stuff & go mad.
You'll see hearts - these were made from UTEE, moulding mats & cookie cutters. The butterflies were made from pouring melted enamel into a silicon mould. The large black & red flowers came from  a set of Nestabilities flower dies. I cut several sizes from plain red card, stamped with a leafy flourish stamp, sculpted & layered before assembling &  dipping into clear UTEE. The leaves you can see are made with Fimo & Martha Stewart sillicon moulds & I baked them in the Melt Pot which was handy. I painted them with Mica paints which did take a while to dry but worth it. The tiny birds were chip board shapes just coated with the black & gold enamel. Now just some random beads & a couple of touches of black ribbon & voila!! A new look to an old favourite.



Here's a closer look

 





Here's how it looked originally



Retirement

Materials used:-

JGCL556 Hours Fly By

FRS244 Country Fields

12 x 12  scrapbook paper Oslo 7

Versafine Vintage Sepia

Card Candis Westminster

6" x 6" card blank

All available from:-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

japonica

Happy New year to you all hope you had a good Christmas too. Isn't it great to get back to normal? Hope you had some good crafting goodies in your stocking!

Don't know about you but I always find it hard to get going again after all the Christmas cards for months beforehand. We're starting off gently with this first blog of the year with the theme of retirement (is Dorothy trying to tell me something??). I've just stamped the lovely "Country Fields" single stamp from Francoise Read onto some direct to paper treated card using Vintage Sepia. I wanted to keep a monochromatic feel to the design  so I've just highlighted with a coloured pencil. I've cut up the image into equal squares & re assembled it onto dark brown card which gives the impression of looking out of a window.

Now simply mount onto the Oslo paper & add the sentiment from Jane Gills set "Hours Fly By" which I thought very suitable for the occasion. To finish just add some Candis.  Retirement? I wish!!

 

 





Good Luck!!

Materials used:-

Magenta peel off "Cats"
Peel off "Words"
Sakura Stardust pens
12 x 12 silver pearl scrapbook card
6" x 6"  white linen card blank
Black card for layering
All available from:-
www.woodware.co.uk
your local Exmouth stockist is:-
www.japonicadevon.blogspot.com

As the year draws to a close the theme this week is "Good Luck" & let's hope that we'll all have lots of it in 2014. It's all done with peel offs this time & featuring the cute black cats from Magenta. Simply placed onto some white card & coloured with shimmery Sakura Stardust pens with the help of a little water colouring. Cut out the cats (mind their whiskers!!) & mount onto a square of silver card with some foam pads. Now add the Good Luck words & finish with some love in the shape of the Magenta hearts. Happy New Year!

The design team is taking a break for the next 2 weeks but don't worry they will still be loads of great inspiration on the Woodware blog www.woodware.co.uk/blog So may I wish you all a very happy, healthy  & peaceful Christmas. See you all in 2014!



 



December Sketch Challenge

Materials used:-

Craftworks Cards "Christmas Post" paper pad

JGCL 532 Christmas Greetings

1" holly punch

Liquid Pearls

Red & white twine

Buttons

Mark Richards Elements- red

All available from:-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

www.japonicadevon.blogspot.com

 

One last Christmas card & although it's our usual sketch challenge it's a quick card too. It's all made from the lovely vintage papers of Christmas Post & every panel is a different sheet so they all work well together. I've simply layered onto Christmas green card & embellished with twine, buttons & elements. The robin has been decoupaged, sculpted & attached with some silicone glue. The greeting comes from Jane's Christmas Greetings & is stamped with Versafine Crimson Red & given a touch of sparkle with some Stickles. 

 

Here's the original sketch  

Coffee & Cream

 Materials used:-

Stampendous CRS5053 Jumbo Forest Friends

JGCL 562 Christmas Greetings

Versafine Vintage Sepia

Detail Clear & Copper embossing powders

Tombow pens

Stickles
Mark Richards "Clusters"

Crafty Edger + Scalloped Flower cassette

12 x 12 Oslo 7 (25661)
Inverted corner punch
A5 cream hammer card blank

Copper mirror card
All available from:-
www.woodware.co.uk
Your local Exmouth stockist is:-
www.japonicadevon.blogspot.com

Just time for one more Christmas card this week, the days are really galloping by now aren't they? Got the sprouts on yet?

Our theme this week (chosen by me I think back in the mists of time) is "Coffee & Cream" & I think it lends itself very well to this gorgeous Forest Friends set which I have been itching to use. The set has some cute animals as well as useful stuff like the stand of trees which I used in last weeks quick cards ( scroll down & take a look) & the very useful pine bough. The set also comes with a mask & stencil which comes in handy for building up a scene. It's not just a Christmas set either as all the pieces could just as well be used for spring or autumn so watch this space for future outings.

I started by embossing the deer & then used the mask to protect him while I stamped the trees in the background. I then coloured with some Tombow pens added some Stickles for a wintry sparkle. Mount onto some copper card & add some gems from the Clusters set- you'll notice I've clipped the corners with an inverted corner punch.

The card blank background has been created from the pine bough stamp & embossed with the copper powder. To finish add a border from the Oslo paper & Crafty Edger & stamp a greeting from Jane's Christmas Greetings set. Happy Christmas!

Here's a closer look at our fawn.

Quick Christmas



Materials used:-

Woodware Base-Its card blanks & envelopes

Card no 1.

Stampendous CRM276 Merriest Wish

Versafine Crimson Red

5 mm Glitterdomes

Zig glue pen & Crystal glitter

 

Card no 2.

Stampendous CRV186 Sacred Silhouette

JGCL562 Christmas Greetings

Detail gold embossing powder

Burgundy organza ribbon

Peel off stars

 

Card no 3

Stampendous CRS5053 Jumbo Forest Friends

JGCL562 Christmas Greetings

Detail gold embossing powder

Crystal glitter

All available from:-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:

www.japonicadevon.blogspot.com

 

We all know how it is, you think you have made enough cards when up pop half a dozen more people you haven't sent one to. So our mission this week is some quick & easy cards which look like they have taken hours to make by the untrained eye- right?!

 

I have used the new "Base-Its" for my card blanks as most of the work it already done for you. They are a 6" x 6" 300gsm card & they come in a variety of colours & designs from flourishes, polka dots & vintage swirls but all with an aperture at the centre just waiting for a message or little piece of art.

 

I have chosen an ivory & pink design with some subtle & delicate flourishes at the corners.

 The stand of trees from the Stampendous "Forest Friends" set& Jane's Christmas greetings embossed with gold powder. Add a little sparkle with the crystal glitter

Simply stamp the greeting directly onto the aperture, apply some glitter to frame it & to highlight the flourishes. Add some Glitterdomes.
  

Lastly emboss the  "Sacred Silhouette" onto the aperture using gold powder & add Jane's Christmas Greeting. Finish with some burgundy organza ribbon & some peel off stars.

Each card took around 10 minutes to complete. The whole range of Base- Its is available at Japonica or take a look at the Woodware website to see them all.