Monday 31 March 2014

Mother's Day Rose

Hello!
Here in the UK, we celebrated Mother's Day yesterday, so I thought I'd share the card I created for my mum and mother-in-law. Both love roses, so I chose to use THIS Silhoutte cut file, along with Simon Says Stamp's Clustered Leaf die.
I die cut my flower from yellow cardstock, and my leaves from glitter card (from THIS pad) and vellum. The sentiment is from THIS Simon stamp set stamped in Hero Arts Silver Shadow Ink.
Once I'd assembled my flower, I spritzed it with Calico Shine Mister Huey's then filled it with Glossy Accentstiny sequins and chunky glitter. It's so sparkly. :)
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Glitter cardstock, glitter spray and actual glitter… yes, I am definitely addicted. :)
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I made the same card with a pink rose for my mother (but forgot to take a photo before I sent it!).
Have a happy day.
x
Supplies

Friday 28 March 2014

Use It! with Lucy's Cards - Class 1: Lesson 5 (Distress Inks)

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Hello, and welcome to the final lesson of my first ever Use It! class.
I am thrilled with all the kind words I have received about this series, and will definitely aim for Use It! Class 2 in the very near future. If you have any suggestions of particular products you would like me to feature, please let me know. :) I have recently purchased a lovely set of Distress Markers, so that may be an option...
 Anyway, a quick recap on Class 1's featured products:
Hello Sunshine and Into the Woods 6 x 6 pads
And now,

Lesson 5 - Distress Inks

OK, let me state immediately that I am afraid of Distress Inks.
Well, not afraid as such, not in the same way as I am afraid of Copics, but wary. I watch the wonderful Jennifer McGuire use Distress Inks with such AMAZING results and I think "no. I cannot do that."
So, I have a lovely collection of Distress Inks sitting in my attic craft room, while I do all my crafting in the kitchen now. They have been abandoned. And I feel bad about that… I mean, I spent a lot of money on those inks, right. They MUST be used.
So, I dug them out, was thrilled to see that they were all still inky even after a few years of neglect, and forced myself to take the plunge. :)
And I am so glad I did. I think I might even have missed them a little bit. :)

Creation
Adhere the Confetti stencil to a piece of Surf Blue cardstock with washi tape.
Apply Translucent Embossing Paste with a palette knife
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While it is wet, the paste looks white. It dries clear though and looks FAB. And you can barely see the bit I messed up right in the middle on the final card. ;)
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Allow the paste to dry (it doesn't take long) then adhere the stencil to the other side of the paper and repeat the process.
I trimmed this blue panel down to 3 1/2 x 5", then inked it with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and an Ink Bleding Tool. (Stupid me, I forgot to take a photo of this stage… sorry!) But this inking makes the clear dots stand out even more.
Next, stamp two bunnies on kraft cardstock.
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Using an Ink Blending Tool and Walnut Stain Distress Ink, add ink to the edges, trying to create a shadowy effect with the ink darker at the top and right. Hope this makes sense.
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Trim the bunnies out - the body of one and the head of the other - then add more ink to the edges of each piece. Adhere them together. 
TIP: having the head and body separate means you can add ink all around the head of the bunny, around his chin too, giving extra dimension.
Add a dot of white to his tail with a white gel pen.
Stamp the umbrella four times on white card stock. (Ignore the tag in this picture… originally I planned to put the bunny on a tag but I changed my mind as I worked)
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Apply Tumbled GlassBroken China and Shabby Shutters inks to each umbrella.
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Cut the white umbrella out and use it as a base. Cut the others apart to create a three colour striped umbrella. Adhere the bits onto the white base umbrella.
Stamp the sentiment onto the blue panel then adhere the bunny and umbrella.
Trim a piece of black card to 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" and splatter with Calico Shine Mister Huey's
Adhere the blue panel to the black panel and adhere to a folded card.
And you're done.
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My aim was for the translucent embossed dots to look like rain. I think it worked. :)
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So maybe Distress Inks are not that scary after all.
I have definitely inspired myself to use them again… in fact, I have put my collection in a box and brought it downstairs!!! 
And that's it!
Thank you for visiting. I hope I have inspired you to get more from your supplies, to revisit old things and remember to play with new ones! It's something I need to make myself do more often too. :)
Have a lovely weekend. I'm off to start planning Use It! Class 2. Yay!
Bye
xx
Supplies


Thursday 27 March 2014

Use It! with Lucy's Cards - Class 1: Lesson 4 (Watercolour Pencils)

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Welcome to Day 4 of my Use It! class. I am so enjoying this week...
A recap on my key supplies for this class:
Hello Sunshine and Into the Woods 6 x 6 pads
Let Lesson 4 begin…

Lesson 4: Watercolour Pencils

Creation
Stamp the balloon image five times onto watercolour paper with black ink and Versamark. Apply Clear Embossing Powder and heat set.
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Roughly colour the balloons with Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils, following a rainbow type pattern.
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Using Calico Shine Mister Huey's in place of water, wash over the colour to reveal the intense brightness of these water-colour pencils. They really are fabulous pencils. (I received my first set of Derwent pencils when I was 8 years old… mum and dad bought them from the factory! I have always loved colouring and Derwent are the BEST. Seriously. And not just because they are British, or because their web address is www.pencils.co.uk… awesome!!!)
Cut out all the bunches of balloons.
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Stamp the balloon image several times on white card stock. (It doesn't matter that I messed up the right hand side as I will be covering over this.)
Add some pen lines at the bottom of the bunch.
Stamp the sentiment.
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Adhere the coloured balloons to the card to create a fabulous multi layered bunch.
Adhere the white panel to a piece of black card stock and then to a folded card.
And it's done!
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Here you can see the shimmery goodness of the Calico Shine.DSC_0078w

Variations
If you don't have any shiny mist like Calico Shine, try mixing Perfect Pearls with water and using that on your paintbrush instead.
Any other celebratory sentiment would be perfect for this card. You could colour the balloons in silver and gold for a pretty wedding card too.

Tomorrow is Lesson 5: Distress Inks. The final lesson…
See you then.
Supplies