Postcard from Paris

This postcard is one of a series, made as my answer to the UK Stampers Sunday Challenge run by Efemera (Gail). This weeks subject was the European capital of France - Paris !

I wanted to do a warm but slightly vintage look, so this is what I ended up with.

I used:

• Card (Cream)


• Paper (Cream)


• Adirondack Inkpads (Raisin, Cranberry, Wild Plum, Butterscotch & Latte)


• Stazon Inkpad (Jet Black & Cotton White)


• Versamark Inpad


• Embossing powder (Judi-kins Sticky Stuff, Claret)


• Craft foil (Bronze)


• Stamps ( Eiffel Tower - Paper Artsy, Ticket - Crafty Individuals, Paris Postmark - Crafty Individuals, Calligraphy - Crafty Individuals & swirl ?)


• Chalk Inkpad (Colorbox - Warm Red)


• Embellishment (homemade from leaf mould, polymer clay and mica powder)

The cream card was cut to postcard size (6 x 4 inches) and coloured using a makeup sponge with Adirondack Raisin, Cranberry & Wild Plum Inks - layering as required and setting with the heat gun. The swirl stamp was inked with the Cotton White Stazon and stamped around the edges of the card.

The calligraphy stamp was inked with Adirondack Butterscotch and stamped several times on the cream paper. Adirondack Latte was sponged to darken the cream paper. This was then torn, edged with the Red Colorbox chalk ink and adhered as shown.

Next, the ticket stamp was first stamped with Versamark and this was heat embossed with Claret embossing powder. The embossed image was trimmed and the same stamp was then stamped up with onyx black Stazon and overstamped to apply a black coat over the claret embossing. The image was allowed to dry and applied as shown.

The Eiffel Tower stamp was inked up with Versamark and stamped on cream paper and this was heat embossed with the Sticky Stuff and whilst still warm the bronze craft foil was applied and rolled over with a brayer. Once cool, the foil was peeled off to leave the metallised image behind. This was then trimmed and again edged with the red chalk ink. This was applied as shown.

The paris postmark stamp was inked with onyz black Versafine and stamped direct as shown. Finally the postcard was edhed with the red chalk ink to finish.

Hope you like it :-)

'Bird' Twinchies

Here are my 6 Twinchies for a new swap over on UK Stampers Forum. Linda is running the swap and this months theme is 'Birds'. Each participant has to do 6 x 2 inch squares in the suggested theme.

I have never done these before but quite enjoyed doing them for a change. The base cardstock was cream canvas effect card. All stamps were picked out of my collection and stamped with Versafine black onyx Ink. I have coloured the backgrounds with various Whispers dye inkpads and the rest with Marvey LePlume II pens using a waterbrush to blend. Some iridescent acrylic ink was applied to the crow image. Clear embossing powder has been added to the main images with a Versamark pen to provide a glazed effect to finish.

Hope you like them :-)

Handmade Beads

Here are 4 of the beads I made yesterday whilst having a craft day at my dear friend Lynnette's house. Boy did we make some fab stuff !! We used the Ranger Melt Pot for all our crafting during the day and had a whale of a time.

The beads are made using the technique perfected by Leandra Franich (the owner of Paper Artsy in the U.K.) which uses a paper wrapped bead centre on a head pin which is multiple dipped into molten Clear UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel). Inclusions are then trapped between the succesive coats of UTEE. Rather than go over the instructions here again click HERE to see them on her blog.

I used copper coloured head pins this time and various inclusions to add extra zing to the beads.



The bead above has its centre made with stripey paper and has gold flake inclusions.

This bead centre has a small all over flower stamped on a pale pink background with Versafine onyx black. This time some fine blue craftwire was wrapped round during dipping.

This last bead was made with a centre of red glitter paper and the craftwire this time was red also.

Hope you like them :-)

'Colours' CJ entry

Left Page

Right Page

Sign-in Tag

So another month has passed and this months CJ in the 'Colours' theme was Hannahbanana's Pink CJ. Her enclosed rubber stamps were sign language stamps spelling out ART and we were asked to complete two adjacent pages and a tag.

I decided to spell out TART instead............no not THAT sort of tart, the fruity edible kind ! I finally decided on a Cherry Tart as my theme.

I used:

• Printed background paper (green & pink stripe)
• Card (Pale green, Dark Green & Pink)
• Stickles Glitter Glue (Fruit Punch)
• Rub-ons (Alpha Making Memories)
• Stamps (Hampton Arts - Cherry Background & Cherries)
• Marvey LePlume II pens (Red 2 & Pine Green 72)
• Water Brush
• Chalk Ink (Pink)
• Versafine Ink Pad (Onyx black)

For Left side:

I took the striped background paper and trimmed to slightly less than 4 inches square (to allow for a border when adhered to the supplied background card). I trimmed another piece of the paper to apply horizontally across the page as a separator. The Pink card was trimmed and then stamped with the HA Cherries stamp which was selectively coloured with the Marvey le Plume pens. This was 'huffed' upon to keep moist and stamped three times on the pink card. The waterbrush was used to shade the cherries and leaves. The word 'CHERRY' was was applied using the rub-ons as shown at the top half of the paper. The stamped pink card was adhered to the lover half and the horizontal piece applied and finished with dots of the Stickles fruit punch gitter glue. The printed paper was then applied to the card after edging with the Chalk Ink.

For Right side:

Another piece of the striped background paper was trimmed as the base. The supplied sign language stamps were stamped using Versafine onyx black ink to spell the word 'TART'. These were trimmed and matted onto the dark green card. The HA Cherry Background stamp was selectively coloured with the Marvey pens and stamped randomly 4 times. This stamped card was then torn as two corners and these were edged with the green Marvey pen and adhered as shown. The word 'TART' was applied with adhesive as shown and the hands coloured with the Stickles fruit punch again. The piece was again edged with pink Chalk Ink and applied to the backing card to finish.

For Sign-in tag:

This was just hand completed and stamped with the HA Cherries stamp to complete.

Hope she likes it (there have been some super entries to date too) :-)

Happy Valentines Day !

Wishing all you lovers out there a Happy Valentines Day ! Here is a card I made for mine. I wanted to make a slightly different overall effect and used a couple of the Elusive Images stamps that I thought fitted the day.

What I used:

• Pearlescent Card (Pastel Pink cut to 8.25 x 3.25 inches)
• Card (Petrol Blue for mat & sentiment)
• Pearl paper (blue/pink for second mat)
• Moonglow Glitz Spritz ( Desert Moon Endless Sky, Royal Crimson Fire)
• Moonglow Embossing Powders ( Cosmic Pink Blue, Midnight Ruby Obsidian)
• Mylar stencil (flower shape)
• Stamps (Filigree Heart and 'With Love' - Elusive Images)
• Versamark Inkpad
• Brilliance Inkpad (Pearlescent Sky Blue)
• Double sided tape
• Foam pads

The card was cut and folded using a bone folder. The heart stamp was inked up with Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue ink and randomly stamped over the front of the card, this was heat set with the heat gun.

The first mat was cut out of petrol blue card and sprayed liberally with the Desert Moon Endless Sky Glitz Spritz and allowed to dry naturally. The stencil was placed over the card in two places and this was heavily sprayed with the Royal Crimson Fire Glitz Spritz. The stencil was carefully removed and the spray was allowed to dry.

The heart stamp was inked with Versamark Ink and stamped as shown on the mat then heat embossed with the Cosmic Pink Shimmer Moonglow EP. The sentiment was stamped using Versamark onto a scrap of the petrol blue card and this time heat embossed with Midnight Ruby Obsidian Moonglow EP. This was trimmed with scissors and foam pads were applied to the reverse.

A second mat was cut to allow 1/8th inch border and the first mat applied over this. The card was then assembled and finally finished with the sentiment applied as shown.

Hope you like it :-)

'Birds of a Feather' ATC's

Here are my three ATC's in a theme of 'Birds of a Feather' done as a swap with my friend Diane in the US.

I used:

• Card (cream, cut to 2.5 x 3.5 ins)
• Brass embossing stencil


• Stamp (Paper Artsy - from Squiggly Ink Egg & Nog plate 8, Bird Alpha?, Saying?)


• Alcohol Ink (Stream & Bottle)


• Versafine Inkpad (Onyx Black)


• Adirondack Inkpad (Stream, Lettuce, Bottle & Denim)


• Gold Foiled peacock sheet


• Metallic brush pen (Green)


• Printed background paper

Top Card

The card was cut from the cream cardstock and embossed using the brass stencil and a ball-tool over a light box. The stamp was stamped onto the centre of the card and again onto a post-it sheet. The post it image was trimmed closely and used as a mask to cover the original image on the card. Make-up sponge was used with Denim, Stream & Bottle Adirondack ink to apply the collour over the mask. The bottle pad was rubbed over the embossing to pick up ink and the pad itself rubbed over each corner of the card to produce an almost square inked frame. The mask was removed to reveal the plain cream bird image and the metallic brush pen used to highlight areas of the birds feathers and wing. The 'Bird' alpha was stamped as shown in Denim ink.

Middle Card

The cream base card was embossed again with a flourish left and right. The card was coloured with Lettuce and bottle Adirondacks and a make-up sponge. The bird stamp was stamped in Bottle ink onto the printed background paper and trimmed closely. The tail of the bird stamp was selectively inked with Bottle ink and stamped around the outside edges of the card as shown. The trimmed paper bird was adhered as shown and the 'Bird' alpha again stamped as shown with Denim ink.

Bottom Card

The cream base card was embossed as shown and coloured around the outside with Bottle and Lettuce Adirondacks using a make-up sponge and centrally with the denim ink. The foiled peackock image was trimmed and coloured with Alcohol inks in Stream and Bottle using a felt pad and applicator using a pouncing action until the desired coverage was achieved. Some white was left on purpose. This was then stuck in place and the 'Birds of a feather' sentiment stamped with Denim ink.

The cards are now on their way to the U.S. Hope she likes them !

Green Paper Beads

I am doing a paper bead swap over on UK Stampers Forum. Each swapper has to produce 20 hand made paper beads in a colour theme. I chose green, although the paper I have used does have some blue & purple in it.


Easy to make, I used:

• Printed paper (cut into long thin triangles approx 3/4 in x 10 in)
• Wooden Cocktail Sticks
• Glue Stick
• Versamark Inkpad
• Clear UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel)

First coat the end of the cocktail stick with Versamark (as a release agent so the bead doesn't stick). Coat the unprinted side of the paper with glue using a glue stick and carefullt roll the paper around the stick, wide end first. Roll the paper centrally around the stick ensuring the thin end is well stuck down. Allow to dry.

Roll the bead into the Versamark pad to coat and dip the bead into the UTEE. This will pick up some UTEE powder. Heat the bead with the heat gun until the UTEE melts and quickly dip the stick with the bead into the UTEE to pick up more powder and reheat. Do this once more keeping the stick rotating until the molten UTEE sets. I push the sticks into a piece of polystyrene foam until they are cool.

Carefully pull off the beads from the sticks and trim ends if necessary with a sharp craft knife to finish. If the beads don't want to come off the sticks, carefully reheat and push from the bead base upto the end of the stick to release. Take care the UTEE is very hot and can burn you easily. Allow to cool before removing the now loosened bead.

Alternatively you can use the Melt Pot to melt the UTEE and then dip each bead on its stick until coted with UTEE. This is ok if you are doing a lot or using UTEE for other projects, but for a few its probably easier to dip into the powder.

Hope you like them :-)

Postcard from Iceland

Here is my Postcard from Iceland as part of the Sunday Challenge over on UK Stampers Forum. This time I did a snowflakey? (is that a word?), effect.

I used:

• Card (Blue, trimmed to 6 x 4 in)
• Adirondack Inkpad (Stream)
• Stazon Inkpad (Jet Black)
• Brads (Small pewter & Large Black)
• Stamps (Alphas - MM Mag, Small Snowflake - Studio G, Tulip Medallion?, Create-IT - Snowflake & For Gentlemen Frank?
• Versamark InkpadEmbossing Powder ( Marcasite, Holographic Clear, Opaque White & Detail Silver)
• Krylon Pen (Silver)

The card was stamped with Versamark using the stamps and heat embossed with the embossing powders as shown. The small snowflake was stamped with jet black Stazon to fill in edges. The Adirondack stream ink was stippled onto the edges of the card to add shading and used to stamp the gentleman frank stamp also. Brads were added and the card finished along the edges with Krylon silver.

Hope you like it :-)

'Oriental' Inchies

These 9 inchies have been made as part of a swap I organised for UK Stampers. The theme is 'Oriental' for the month of February.

I used:

• Cardstock
• Japanese Book Paper
• Ribbon (Chinese print)
• Krylon pen (Gold)
• PVA Adhesive

The cardstock was first covered in the printed paper using PVA glue and this was allowed to dry. The ribbon was cut into pieces each containing a Chinese symbol and again these were adhered centrally on each inchie with the glue. Finally each inchie was edged with Krylon gold. Click photo to get larger version.

Hope you like them :-)

Oriental Altered Domino Frame

Here is an altered art project I recently completed for a Challenge over on UK Stampers. We had to use a domino or dominos in our work. I chose to go Oriental.

I used a 3 inch square glass frame I had purchased as the base which I decorated and embellished with the altered domino.

I used the following:

• Glass photo frame
• Card (metallic gold)
• Satin Ribbon (3mm Dark Blue)
• Small metal Chinese coin
• Stazon Inkpad (Jet Black, Ultramarine)
• Krylon Pen (24ct Gold)
• Rubber Stamps ( Stick Background ?, Rubber Stampede-Koi, Kadomo-Bamboo)
• Perfect Medium Inkpad
• Decorative Chalks
• Cotton Wool Buds
• Flat backed gem (Pale Blue)
• Klear Floor Polish
• Glue Dots
• Glossy Accents
  

Firstly I stamped the stick background with ultramarine Stazon onto the gold card and trimmed it to fit the aperture behind the glass of the frame. I took a small piece of the 3mm satin ribbon and threaded through the small Chinese coin before applying to the card with Glossy Accents. When dry this was then slipped into the frame where a photo would have gone.

I then used the bamboo stamp and applied Stazon gold direct to the stamp (working quickly) and stamped directly onto the front of the glass as shown, allowing to dry thoroughly. I cleaned the stamp with Stazon cleaner soon after to remove the gold from the rubber.

The domino was decorated on its reverse side as follows: The koi stamp was selectively inked with Jet black Stazon and carefully stamped directly onto the domino. This was allowed to dry and then the surface of the domino was well inked with Perfect Medium. The decorative chalks were applied using a cotton wool bud using a dabbing action and blended this way. The Perfect Medium acts as a glue to hold the chalks. When happy with the effect I placed a small amount of Klear floor polish into an spray bottle and sprayed the domino, bursting any bubbles with a fine pin. I sprayed three times allowing the surface to dry naturally between coats. This provides a shiny glazed seal over the chalk. The edges of the domino were coated with Krylon Gold to finish. The flat backed gem was applied over the eye of the fish with Glossy Accents.

The frame was finished by applying the domino to the frame front as shown with Glue Dots. I particularly like the muted watercolour effect that the chalks provide and the chalk is easy to remove with a paper tissue if you don't like what you have done (prior to glazing, of course).

Hope you like it :-)

'Let's Celebrate' Inchies

Here are my latest set of 9 Inchies for the January monthly challenge over on UK Stampers Forum whose theme was 'Let's Celebrate' . The theme for March is 'Oriental'.

For these inchies I used:

• Cardstock (Dark Blue & speckled Grey)
• Primary Elements (Rich Cobalt)
• Simple Solution No 2
• Rubber Stamp (PaperArtsy Text Mini MN 11)
• Versamark Inkpad
• Detail Embossing Powder (Silver)
• Inkjet printed words
• Small White Flower Brads
• Colorbox Chalk Inkpad (Pale Blue)

A piece of dark blue cardstock was brush coated with a wash of the Rich Cobalt primary elements mixed 1 part to 2 with the simple solution No 2. This was allowed to dry thoroughly.

The stamp was then inked with Versamark and stamped onto the painted card which was then heat embossed with the detail silver embossing powder using a heat gun. The embossed card was cut into slightly less than 1 inch squares. The white flower brads were added, one per square and these squares mounted onto the speckled grey card with glue stick and trimmed to leave a very small 1mm border of the grey card as a contrast.

Finally the words were printed onto copy paper with an inkjet printer, swiped over with the chalk inkpad and trimmed with scissors. The words were stuck onto the Inchies with glue stick to finish.

Hope you like them :-)

Postcard from Australia !

Here is my entry for this weeks Sunday Challenge over on the UK Stampers forum. This weeks theme was 'Australia'

For the postcard I used:

• Ink-jet image of Australia
• Cheap hairspray
• Moonglow Glitz Spritz (Shimmering Silver)
• White card
• Adirondack Dye Ink pad (Eggplant)
• Brayer
• Stazon Ink Pad (Royal Purple)
• Rubber Stamps (Foliage Cube Fern, Invoke Arts Alphas, See D's Alphas)
• Versamark Ink Pad
• Embossing powder (Peach, White)
• Skeleton leaves
• Satin ribbon (Maroon)
• Glossy Accents
• Micro Glue Dots
• Glue Stick

I must say I didn't have one directly related stamp so I used an ink jet printed image of Australia which I cut out and set with cheap hairspray then sprayed with the Glitz Spritz.

The card was cut to 15 x 10 cm and brayered with Adirondack eggplant then overstamped with the royal purple Stazon and the foliage cube stamp.

The Invoke words were stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with white EP. The word OZ was stamped similarly with the See D's Alphas and heat embossed with peach EP.

The ribbon was applied with glue dots as shown and three skeleton leaves tucked under the ribbon and stuck with small amounts of glossy accents as shown. Finally the map of Australia was applied with a glue stick.

Hope you like it :-)