Thank You

With the festive season upon us once more we shall all have a reason to say "Thank you" to our nearest & dearest soon. It was quite nice to step away from the Christmas stamps after the Christmas crafting fest & create something a little more spring-like. I've used 3 stamps for this one which is based on a 5 x 7 cream card blank. I've taken a piece of flat cream card & used FRS627 "Wood Panel" from Francoise Read with Versafine Vintage Sepia for the background of the design. I've then stamped JGS480 "Bubble Bloom- Lilly" from Jane Gill over the top with Onyx Black. I've stamped again on papers from the Perfect Prints range  & used these to paper piece the petals & leaves. Then came the fun part! I filled in the "bubbles" with Card Candi, Liquid Pearls & Stickles. To finish, the sentiment comes from JGS483 "Butterflies" & I've added some brown & white dotty organza ribbon. 

All materials available from;-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

Liberty Craft

33 Exeter Road

Exmouth EX8 1PT

01395 273238

libertycraft33@yahoo.co.uk

Non Traditional Christmas

 We come to our last Crafty Cardmakers challenge for the year & this time they are asking us for a non traditional Christmas card. So what does that mean to you? I've gone for a different card blank & unusual colours for Christmas for our cute little elf. The stamp I've used is FRS338 "Little Elf" by Francoise Read which I've stamped with black ink onto cream card & coloured with Sakura Bruynzeel coloured pencils. The card blank itself is a DL measurement but stands upright as you can see in the photo below. The card has been made with Hairy Manilla craft card & I've used a mid blue card for layering. The sentiment comes from the stamp set but I've tinkered with it a little by masking to make it fit the punched label (blue punch). I've also pricked some stitching all around the edges of the card blank with a pricking tool & then added some Card Candi to finish. 

All materials are available from :-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

Liberty Craft

33 Exeter Road

Exmouth EX8 1PT

01395 273238

libertycraft33@yahoo.co.uk

Why not pop over to see what the ladies at Crafty Cardmakers have come up with.

Jesus is the Reason for the Season!!

I recently got out some of my older stamps from Woodware, Stampendous & Inkadinkadoo to create some cards for my friends at my Alpha group. It's lovely to re visit some stamps which you haven't used for a while & get creative with them all over again. Hope you enjoy them too.

Sketch challenge 57

 

All materials used available from:-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

Liberty Craft

33 Exeter Road

Exmouth EX8 1PT

01395 273238

libertycraft33@yahoo.co.uk

Here we are at last sketch challenge of 2016 & one more Christmas design. The stamp I've chosen is JGS110 "Music Notes" by Jane Gill which I have embossed onto a piece of bronze pearl card using Stampendous Detail Gold powder. The background to the cream A5 card blank comes from Craftwork Cards paper pad "Christmas Cheer" & I've layered the paper onto the bronze pearl card. The strip across the centre comes from a piece of Natural Burlap Trim & I've added some punched foliage which has been created with the yellow holly punch & the blue fern punch. I punched some cork berries to add to the rustic look of this design & to finish I added some strips of gold "Nailheads" & some gold "Metals" both from Mark Richards.The peel off message is from the "Francoise" Collection. 

Here's a closer look at the foliage    

The original sketch

Stix2 calendar 2016- December

So we come to the last Stix2 calendar page for 2016 - where did the year go!? For this page I've taken a piece of white pearl card embossed the Jumbo Stampendous Snowflake using silver powder & sponged with some pearly Brilliance inks.  I've made the centres of the snowflakes by stamping into hot glue  & then dusting with Dreamweaver Metallic FX powders.

Christmas Tags

It's nice to make your own tags for Christmas gifts sometimes especially for the special people in your life.  I've designed a selection using Woodware stamps but in keeping with the theme for last week , quick Christmas cards, they could just as easily be mounted onto a card blank for a speedy card. Here's what I came up with.  

 All the tags I've used I have made myself & they measure approx 6" x 3.5" with the bottom corners rounded with a corner rounder punch. For the above design I've  sponged some red & green ink onto the tag & the stamp I've used is FRS029 Holly & Ivy Tag. I've added some punched holly leaves using the yellow holly punch & paper from perfect Prints pad "Dark Spots". The "ivy" leaves at the bottom come from the peach maple punch. To finish add some Card Candi & tartan ribbon.

 Here we have a craft card tag & the stamp set is FRS025 " Snow Post". I stamped the main image onto white card & coloured with pencils. I cut this out & mounted into the image which I had stamped onto the tag. To finish I  added some strips from Perfect Prints pad "Tis the Season" & some green rik rak braid.

Lastly I took a plain black tag & stamped the sentiment  from the stamp set JGS457 Hand drawn Greetings using Brilliance Moonlight White inkpad. I highlighted the letters using a white gel pen & the stars come from FRS345 "Seeing Stars".To add a little sparkle I've  added some Mark Richards s/a Crystal Stars & white spotty organza ribbon for the tie.

All products available from:-

www.woodware.co.uk

Your local Exmouth stockist is:-

Liberty Craft

33 Exeter Road

Exmouth EX8 1PT

01395 273238

libertycraft33@yahoo.co.uk

The Canvas of Curiosities

Here's something I've had buzzing around in my mind for quite some time now if only I could find some "me" time. Sound familiar? At last I got to rummage in the darkest corners of my craft room (& jewellery box) & let my imagination run riot. As you can see, minimalist it ain't! Planned  & carefully executed....nope!! But isn't that what "mixed media" is all about?  It's about gathering around your crafting cauldron & seeing what your crazed (in my case!) mind will produce. Sometimes it goes wrong & after much chest beating it goes in the bin but in this case.. well I'm quite proud of my result. May I present my "Canvas of Curiosities" !

 

 OK so I started by taking a A4 box canvas which had been lurking at the back of one of my cupboards for a while. Using a stencil & Dreamweaver white embossing paste I pasted  the textured flourishes in the corners then when dry I painted the whole thing with black gesso. So I could have used black paste after I'd applied gesso but guess what? Only had glossy not matt. So next came the fun bits. I took some Cosmic Shimmer Metallic Gilding Polish to added some gorgeous blue sheen to the canvas & pasted bits. I also sprayed with Tattered Angels Glimmer mists in Antique Brass & Pink Ice.

 Now it was time to go mad with the glue gun & use all those jewellery pieces  which you know you'll never wear again but which you're loath to put in the bin. The heart you see in the above pic I made with my Melt Pot when I first had it (had to have one, ask me how many times I've used it!!) . I used a silicone mould UTEE & embossing powders but to age it a bit I've given it a coat of metallic acrylic paint & the gilding polish. You can also see some skeleton leaves (used to love those!) 

So the keys to life on the tree of life? A bit cryptic perhaps. You never know what you're going to find when you have a rummage do you? I unearthed the little tree which I found in a pound shop intending to enamel it in said Melt Pot but I'm glad I didn't now. Now you may notice the "trails" of hot glue left from my glue which I didn't notice until I'd done my photos (muttered curses!) however the more I looked I kind of liked the cobwebby effect which seemed in keeping with the general look I'm going for so I decided to leave them. 

 At one side I added some old paint brushes with some chains, shells old earrings.

 More jewels, buttons & charms.

 Lastly I went over the whole thing with the gilding polish & sprays & left over night to dry. 

Here it is on the wall & as you can see I've allowed the chunky chain to trail off the canvas a bit. I'm really pleased with the end product but the only trouble is... I can feel another one coming on!! Now where did I put all those other treasures??