Shooting Stars

This 6 x 4 inch postcard is my entry into the UK Stampers Forum monthly postcard swap.  This months theme requires you to use a star or stars somewhere on it.

I used a plain white card covered in a printed green paper with criss-cross navy lines.  I have used rubber stamps and dye inks to stamp the base leaves, starry flowers & arrows.  The stems and leaves have been added by hand with pens. A little bit of bling was added with Stickles in the centre of each flower.

The top line of images is actually a piece of clear glossy printed tape.

Finishing touches were to add the words and a little embellishment with Posca pens in white and gold with a spray of matt acrylic lacquer to seal.

These are sent as they are to the recipient ........... why not join us and have a go, it's very popular !

Sid xx

Pin It

Birdy Postcard

 

Over on UK Stampers Forum this months 'Naked Postcard' swap is an open theme so I have made a birdy themed card using stencils and dye inks. Why not join the forum........ it's free and you can then enter this very popular swap?

I have stamped some numbers and 'going cheap' which I couldn't resist altering to 'cheep' !  Other embellishments are rub-ons.  I have sprayed the card with an acrylic spray sealant to protect it in transit through the post.

Sid xx

Pin It

Just Because .....

Here is another square CAS card made for a birthday !

Simply stamped with a PaperArtsy vine stamp selectively inked with a rainbow of dye inks.

A printed sentiment plate was added on foam pads to complete.

Sid xx

Pin It

On Your Birthday Card

Yet another clean & simple card made using a 12 x 12 cm square card as a base.  I have used a Hero Arts stamp a number of times inked in different colours of dye ink across the card.

I have joined these with a black Micron pen to form a fence (of sorts !).

The round 'On Your Birthday' sentiment has been edged in black alcohol ink with a marker and mounted on foam pads and stuck in place as shown.

Imagining this as a balloon I have then added a gold string freehand with a Posca pen and tied it around the fence to finish the card.

Sid xx

Pin It

Happy Halloween Card

Here is a Halloween card featuring a cuttlebug embossing folder spiders web.

The card started off as a piece of light blue whitecore card which was folded and passed through the embossing folder to emboss. the raised embossing was sanded back to white with some fine sandpaper and a block. The web was rubbed over with a yellow Whispers dye ink pad to colour the revealed white then the front of the card was sprayed lightly with purple mica powder spray and dried with the heat gun.

The base of the card was stamped a number of times with a circular swirl stamp from PaperArtsy inked with pale blue Versamagic ink.

Next the pumpkin was diecut using a sizzix die and purple paper, and the crow diecut similarly with black card. The pumpkin was overstamped down one side with the same swirl stamp and chalk ink, backed with yellow mulberry paper and the eyes, nose and mouth glittered with Stickles glitter glue. The crow was stamped similarly and the eye highlighted in Signo white pigment ink pen.

Next the 'Happy Halloween' greeting was stamped using a clear stamp from Sizzix and onyx black Versafine ink onto purple mottled paper and this was matted onto plain purple paper.

All elements were then assembled with liquid glue as shown in the example. HAPPY HALLOWEEN everybody !

Sid xx

Pin It

Foliage Inchies

Here are my inchies for this months swap whose theme is 'Foliage'. I have used part of a fern image from PaperArtsy. I stamped in Versmark and heat embossed with three different shades of green embossing powder.

The background colours are whispers dye inks applied with cut'n'dry foam. I have also infilled with See D's morsels leaf stamps in the same dye inks.

The inchies have been edged with Krylon gold pen.

Sid xx

Pin It

Upcycled Packaging - Cottonwool Bud Container !!

Everyday we dispose of endless amounts of waste packaging. Everything from food cans, cereal boxes, plastic meat containers to clothing tags. Why not just look in the bin for inspiration. I challenged members of UK Stampers forum to alter a piece /or pieces of packaging of any type and turn it/them into a piece of art.

I chose a Johnson & Johnson cottonwool bud container which had a cardboard base and a polythene lid as my piece of art, and here it is.



The body of the container was first gessoed (I applied a couple of coats), and allowed to dry. I used Whispers dye inks in orange and red applied with cut'n'dry foam to the bottom half of the container. I masked this with a Tim Holtz mask of a fence and applied more red ink over this until it looked ok. I used green dye ink to colour the top half of the container by the same method. When happy I sprayed the base with cheap hair laquer to seal the dye inks onto the gesso.

A striped self adhesive ribbon (DCWV) was applied to cover the join between the two colourways. Next a very small dragonfly stamp was inked in black Stazon and stamped along the sides above and below the ribbon in a random fashion. When the ink was dry some pink Stickles glitter glue was applied over each dragonfly image and allowed to dry.

Next I made the flower embellishments. I used die-cut flowers from mulberry paper in green, blue, ecru & pink. I laid these down on a non-stick craft mat and sprayed liberally with mica spray with silver mica. Once dry the flowers were stamped with vintage sepia Versafine ink using a small flourish stamp from Elusive Images (Graphicus). Each flower was then assembled with a pastel brad and shiny sequin, the legs of the brad folded back to hold the flower together. The flowers were then adhered to the box as shown in groups of three with sticky dots to secure.

Finally I had the lid to decorate. I took various alcohol inks and dropped them onto the lid top and sides, quickly blowing the ink around with a drinking straw ( the ink can fly, so if you do this protect yourself and the area around you). Once happy with the effect the whole lid was coated on the outside with matt acrylic varnish and allowed to dry. The inside of the lid was given two coats of cream acrylic paint acting as a backdrop to the colours and allowing some of the uninked areas to be highlighted. I think the lid reminds me of Moocroft pottery actually !

Finally the lid lacked something, I thought of adding a metal knob of some type but ended up making another flower (as described before but with more layers) this time with some sequin leaves and a pastel flower brad.

The last pic shows a top down view of the embellishment on the lid. Very interesting to alter something that would have definately been binned.

Why not try it?

Hope the one receiving it is pleased !

Sid xxx

Pin It

Summer Inchies

These are a set of 9 'Summer' inchies done for a monthly swap I run on UK Stampers Forum.

Very simple to do this set but I thought the colours were quite Summery. I first coloured the background with cut'n'dry foam and Whispers dye inkpads in green and yellow and overstamped with Adirondack lettuce ink and a PaperArtsy squiggle stamp. These were then punched out using my trusty 1 inch square punch. Each was then stamped with a small sun stamp in Versamark from a set of mini wooden stamps and heat embossed with orange sorbet EP (Ranger). The centres of the suns were embellished with a gold brad and each inchie edged with tangerine chalk ink.

There we have it. Hope you like them :-)

Pin It

Butterfly Twinchies

Here are a set of 'Twinchies' done for the May swap over on UK Stampers Forum

All were done using Elusive Images stamps from Graphicus. I used a variety of inks, dye, chalk, Brilliance & Versafine. Some were heat embossed and I used a waterbrush and Marvey pens on others. Hope you like them :-)

Pin It

Altered Playing Card

Here is an altered playing card.......err well 3 really, that I have done as a swap run by Hazel over on UK Stampers Forum.

I have entitled my piece 'You're A Diamond in Disguise' because I suppose that is just what it is the main playing card is the Ace of Diamonds. The main piece consists of two cards sandwiched together with foam pads and the third card is used as a tag with details on it. The back card is a Joker and the card tag is the 4 of Diamonds.

This is what I used:

• 3 ordinary playing cards (Joker, Ace & 4 of Diamonds)


• Stazon Inkpads (Eden Green, Imperial Purple)


• Whispers Dye inkpad (Crimson)


• Versamark Inkpad
• Lumiere Paint (Purple Halo Gold)


• Embossing Powder (Moonglow - Midnight Teal Obsidian, Midnight Ruby Obsidian & Holly Berry Red/Gold)


• Stamps (Diamond, Stone - Texture Cube, Crown & Fleur de lys - Paper Artsy, Tag - Crafty Individuals)


• Wire coil (Red)


• Mountboard
• Krylon Pen (Gold)


• Gelly Roll Pen (Stardust Purple)


• Eyelet (Red)


• Decorative Fibres


• Foam Pads


• Glossy Accents


• Square PunchMetallic


• Spray (copper - Sticky Fingers)

The Ace of Diamonds card was taken and a hole punched with a square punched twice from opposite sides to produce an oblong window in the centre of the card. The crimson Whispers inkpad was applied straight to the card to ink in a random square effect and this was dried with a heat gun. The Tag stamp was inked with the Imperial Purple Stazon and stamped over the card as show leaving an edge left and bottom. The stone texture stamp was inked with Eden Green Stazon and this was applied to these edges. The Crown and Fleur de Lys stamps were stamped as shown with Versamark and heat embossed with the Moonglow powders. All edges were inked in Purple Stazon.

Next the Joker was taken and stamped randomly with the stone texture stamp and Eden Green Stazon. The card was allowed to dry and then sprayed with the Copper spray and dried with the heat gun to give a metallic effect. The edges were again edged with Purple Stazon.

The other side of the Joker card was giver two coats of Lumiere Purple Halo Gold Paint. When dry the diamond stamp was inked with Versafine and this was stamped centrally (to show through the window in the top card) and heat embossed with The Holly Berry Moonglow EP and finished by assembling one card over the other with six 3mm foam pads.

Next the diamond stamp was stamped twice with Versafine on the mountboard and heat embossed with the Holly Berry Moonglow EP. These two diamonds were trimmed out to make the dangly embellishment.

A length of the red wire spring was taken and the two halves of the diamond stuck together back to back with Glossy accents after trapping the wire between the two. A small nick was cut into the top left hand corner of the top card and the wire passed through this nick to allow the embellishment to dangle on the front of the card. The remaining wire was laid against the foam pads inside the card sandwich and passed round all four sides before finishing at the same left hand corner nick. Two small sticky pads were then used to adhere a square flat backed gem over the edge at this top corner to attach and seal the wire to the card. The diamond embellishment was edged with Krylon Gold pen.

I then took the Four of Diamonds and again added ink to card directly with the Stazon Purple card on both sides. I puched a hole with the crop-o-dile and applied a red eyelet as shown through which some decorative fibres were added. I hand wrote in Gelly Roll stardust pen (horrible writing !!!) the details of the swap and the title on the front of this card to act as a tag.

Pin It

'Vintage' Inchies

Here are a set of 'Vintage' inchies I have made for a UK Stampers swap I am hosting.

I used:

• Mountboard
• Printed Papers (K & Co)
• Gelly Roll Souffle pens (assorted colours)
• Gold Artists Ink
• Stamps (SeeD's Vintage set)
• Versamark Inkpad (Onyx black)
• Punch (1 inch square, Woodware)
• Whispers Dye Inkpad (Dark Brown)

I punched out some suitable K & Co printed papers into nine 1 inch squares. These were then stamped with the stamps and Onyx Black Versafine. Dried with a heatgun and decorated with the Souffle Pens and allowed to airdry (about 5 mins). The gold ink was applied by fine brush selectively and allowed to dry.

The mountboard was cut on the rotary cutter into nine squares and the decorated squares adhered with glue stick. After a little trimming all edges were inked with the dark brown dye ink direct from the pad.

That's it. Hope you like them :-)

Pin It

Postcard from Japan

This is another postcard in the series for a challenge over on UK Stampers Forum. This weeks challenge was to make a postcard from Japan. I wanted to achieve a sort of 'Floaty' feel for the background with the soft pinks of the Japanese Sakura.

I used:

• Card (light moss green cut to 6 x 4 inches)
• Whispers Dye Inkpad (Grand Cranberry, Port Wine)
• Stamps (Kodomo - Learning from Bamboo & Plum, SeeD's Morsels - little flower)
• Versafine Inkpad (Vintage Sepia)
• Gelly Roll Glaze Pen (Sakura - Plum)
• Paper Flower (Hand Crafted)
• Flower Mask (made from cardstock)
• Cream Paper
• Pink Pearl embellishment

The card was cut to size and the flower mask moved randomly over the whole card with ink applied by a piece of cut'n'dry foam to produce the flowery background. The Whispers Ink was used for this.

The Kodomo Plum stamp was inked with Versfine vintage sepia and stamped 3 times as shown. The flowers were coloured with the Gelly Roll Glaze pen and allowed to dry. The learning from bamboo stamp was inked similarly and stamped as shown along with the work from the plum stamp.

The home made paper flower was applied with sticky pads and the pearl applied with glossy accents. The word banner was printed on the computer on cream paper, stamped with the SeeD's morsels stamp, coloured with the Whispers Ink and applied as shown with double sided tape.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

'Mickey' ATC

This is my entry for the TMTA challenge for this week. The challenge was to craft an ATC in the theme of 'Comic'. It's the first I have done for a while but I enjoyed making it. I can't think of anyone who hasn't seen Mickey Mouse so I chose this character as my subject.

I used:

• Card (white cut to 2.5 x 3.5 inches)
• Whispers Dye Inks (Yellow & Orange)
• Versamark Inkpad
• Versafine Inkpad (Onyx black)
• Embossing Powder (Glitter Gold)
• Rubber Stamp (small outline star, Making Memories alphas)
• Brads (metallic red)Inkjet Transparency

The image of Mickey (from the sorcerers apprentice in Fantasia by Disney) was first printed onto Inkjet transparency film. The background of the card was coloured with cut'n'dry foam and Whispers dye inks in yellow & orange, applied in a sort of starburst effect. This was heat set.

The star stamp was inked with Versamark, stamped four times as shown and heat embossed with the gold sparkle embossing powder. Finally the acetate with the image was positioned over the background and affixed with four brads as shown. The acetate was then trimmed to size.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

'Art' ATC's

Here are the three ATC's done for the March swap over on UK Stampers Forum. Subject area this time was 'Art'. I chose stamps which had the word art in them and used a variety of materials including:

• Whispers Dye Inks
• Versafine onyx black Ink
• Moonglow moonshadow mists
• Gold Krylon
• Jo Sonja's opal dust
• Card

Hope you like them ! :-)

Pin It

'Friends' ATC's

Here are my 3 ATC's for the UK Stampers Forum monthly swap. February's swap was entitled 'Friends' and these are my three entries.

I used a variety of stamps, Inks, sprays and embellishments to achieve the effects. Hope you like them !

Pin 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 :-)

Pin It

Da Vinci ATC's

Here are my set of 3 ATC's, done for the UK Stampers November theme of 'Da Vinci'. I have used some numbers on each as I wanted to link these also to 'The Da Vinci Code' idea.

All three use either/all of Versamark resists, heat embossing, Distress Inks and Whispers dye inks. The main stamp is one from the ISC Da Vinci Pears plate bought via Scrapz. The numbers are from a plate I can't remember the origin of, sorry.

Hope you like them :-)

Pin It

Newest Stamps ATC's

Here are my three ATC's for the UK Stampers monthly swap for October. We were asked to used three of our newest stamps. I used various colours of Whispers dye inks to colour plain white cardstock using cut'n'dry foam. I then used three stamps from a set of 4 Dovecraft 'Laura Ashley' stamps to stamp centrally wirh Versamark ink. I then heat embossed with metallic powders. I then used three swirl stamps to embellish and again heat embossed with metallic and Moonglow EP's. I edged all three with Krylon gold pen.

Hope you like them :-)

Pin It

Halloween ATC

This is my entry into this weeks TMTA challenge (think Monday Think ATC), which was centred around Halloween. Simple plain orange card background coloured with Whispers dye inks in purple and blue and cut'n'dry foam. Overstamped with spiders webs, spiders, a swirl and the word 'B00.....00' in Versafine onyx black. The bodies of the spiders have been coloured with green pearlescent Lumiere acrylic paint and the whole card splashed with blue interference ink from Sticky Fingers. Edged with Colorbox chalk ink in purple.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

Buildings/Architecture 6x6 page

This weeks Sunday Challenge by Efemera on UK Stampers Forum is 'Architecture/Buildings' so I decided to make a 6inch x 6inch page using one main stamp from Zettiology (29-143-J).

I stamped this onto plain white cardstock with Versafine onyx black ink. I then trimmed to size and applied layers of Distress Inks with cut'n'dry foam in broken china, milled lavender and tattered rose, graduating to form a sky effect. I then used Marvey LaPlume 2 pens in rose pink and mauve to highlight various sections of the buildings. I then applied a Versamark pen (fine end) and picked out sections of the buildings and heat embossed these with fine detail clear embossing powder. The plaque was finished with a Klimt swirl corner stamp from Tanda Stamps stamped twice in the blue area of the sky to give the impression of clouds using Whispers azure seas dye ink.

The completed plate was matted onto pink and then blue cardstock and edged with blue iris Colorbox chalk ink.

Plain and quite simple, but I liked the way it turned out.........hope you do too! :-)

Pin It