IndigoBlu inspiration for Fathers Day Blog Hop!

Hello there and Welcome.  

I'm very excited to share this blog post with you today for two reasons. 

The first is that I'm taking part in a Blog Hop with some of the other fantastic IndigoBlu DT members and secondly Kay and Alfie from  IndigoBlu are offering a huge 20% discount on a range of Stamp Sets the DT have used for their Fathers Day Cards. 
Of course these stamp sets can be used for so much more than just once a year, think of all the different projects you can create with them.

Below are the stamp sets with that huge 20% discount. Just use the Code FD20 on the IndigoBlu website to claim your discount. Vaild up to 17th June 2018.

The Draughtsman

Drive Hard

Fly High

Travelling Home

Grand Tour 11 & 111

Steampunkesque

Circus Alphabet

For my Fathers Day or 'Special Man' card I decided used Drive Hard, (because my Father loved the vintage cars), Fly High and Design Alphabet as unfortunately I don't have the Circus Alphabet.

Step 1. Kraft Card Stock was cut to 12"x8" and scored at either end at 3" to make a Gate Fold Card base.

 I then used the Cogs and Gears stamp from the Fly high set to create a background on the card base

Versafine Sepia ink was then blended over the stamped images

Step 2. The Vintage car from Drive Hard was stamped out onto white card and clear embossed.

 The car was then cut out and and painted using Kingfisher Blue and Pheasant Bronze

Step 3. Chocolate card stock was cut to 4 1/2" x6 1/2" to make the first layer of the card. This was stamped with the Tyre Track stamp set Drive Hard using the Portrait Paint

 I then decided more colour was needed so used the same colours as in the car

  Step 4. I die cut a tag in Kraft card and stamped over it with the cogs and gear stamp then out came the Chocolate Box Meg Flakes to edge all of the card pieces

Step 5. Using the Sepia ink again I stamped out the word 'DAD' onto cream card from the Design Alphabet stamp set. The letters were cut out and mounted using foam pads onto Chocolate card stock which was edged with Kingfisher paint.

 Step 6. Now all the layers were put together. 
The tyre track layer had some copper wire wrapped around it towards the bottom, (you can see this better in a photo below) and then the left half only of this panel was glued onto the card base so that the card still opened. 
The letters were attached to the tag by first wrapping some wire around it then I glued the tag into place over the tyre panel.

Step 7. The car was then attached to the tag using foam pads amd I ran a grey marker around it to create a shadow. 
A piece of cream card was cut out and attached to the inside of the card base ready to write a special message.

This card was fairly easy to do so thought it would be a great way to help children make their own Fathers Day Cards. 
I know some of my crafting friends love to help their Grandchildren make cards and I think this would be a project both adults and children would enjoy doing together.

 These photo's show up some of those little details

  In this photo you can see how the wire was wrapped around the first layer

Many thanks for stopping by to take a look at my Fathers Day card, but before you go,  please hop over to my Teamies Blogs to see what they have been creating and of course, don't forget that Big 20% off deal from IndigoBlu. 

You have until 17th June to claim it using code FD20.

Now for the Hop!
Kay Molyneux- One for the boys!
Carolyn Larkin -Steampunk Fathers Day Card
Linda Simpson - Fathers Day Inspiration
Julie Atkinson - Fathers Day with IndigoBlu
Aitch - Fathers Day Blog Hop
Emma Blake - Fathers Day Card and a Special offer
Until next time
Happy Crafting x

Time to share my exciting news!

 "Hello there". 

I have some exciting but also nerve racking news to share with you. 

I'm going to be on Hochanda this bank holiday Monday at 8am! I still can't believe it. Wow!

So how has all this come about I hear you say? Well as you know I am on a couple of TV Design Teams and Lou Withers (whom I do samples for) was approached by Hochanda to see if anyone she knew would like to do some work for a company who wanted to go on Hochanda.

And so the rest is history as the saying goes and here I am learning something new, being a new guest and bringing a new company to Hochanda!

Little bit of history for you. 

Tombow, if you didn't already know is a Japanese manufacturer of office supplies. 

The company was founded in 1913 and has grown into an international business, based in Tokyo and has two overseas production facilities in Thailand and Vietnam and they have brilliant Water based pens and so much more for us crafters to create with.

And so as I have often admired other peoples handwriting, especially brush lettering I now  have the perfect opportunity to learn a new skill using the Dual Brush Pens and like anything new, it doesn't happen overnight, it takes practise, and slowly and surely I'm getting there but in the meantime I'm going to show you what else you can do with these fabulous pens, as they are so NOT  just for handwriting. 

I can't wait to show you what else I have discovered using these beautiful vibrant water based pens and of course the other items on the show, especially the Tombow glue which has been my 'Go To' glue for many years.

The first project I would like to share with you today is a framed picture with a watercoloured background, stamped images and a hand written quote. I wanted to go with a more subtle colour tone for this project so I use the Dual Brush Pens as water colours.

Items used for this project

* Dual Brush Pens

*Aquarelle Watercolour paper

*Blending Kit (Set comes with 4 pieces for mixing the Dual pen colours and creating colour gradients. Contents: 1 x blender pen, blending mister, blending palette which is laminated and blending technique instructions).

*IndigoBlu  'Take Flight" &  "Anemone and Daisy" Rubber Stamps

*Black StaZon Ink

*White Picture Frame

 

These pens have two tips - one fine tip, and one soft brush-shaped tip and its the brush tips I'm using to lay down some colour. They are water-based, soluble ink which means that different coloured pens can be blended together with water to create amazing backgrounds.

For this project I started with a piece of Aquarelle Watercolour paper which I wet down on both sides (this stops it from curling) then used Cyan (476) pen to lay down some colour on the Blending Palette which comes in the Blending kit. 

After adding some water to it I used a paint brush to add colour all over the paper.

 I then added Rhodamine Red (725) to the palette, this time spraying the colour lightly with water and laying down the blending palette on top of the paper to add the colour.

 I used my heat gun to dry off the paper then added more of the Rhodamine Red (725) as the first coat had mixed with the Cyan a little to much but that didn't matter as it had produced a beautiful purple.

 The Bird was then stamped out using StaZon ink as this is a fast drying solvent ink which wont move when adding more water colours. (As I had used water colour paper I used my stamping platform to make sure I got a good crisp image). 

 Now to colour the bird in. 

I wanted to keep to more muted tones so I didn't colour directly onto the image with the pens, I scribbled colours onto the blending palette and used the blending pen (This pen is a colourless blender pen. You use it by picking up colour from the Dual Brush Pens and add the blended colours to your image. The pen is self cleaning. When you have finished adding colour just draw on a clean piece of paper to remove excess colour. You may find some colours stain the tip but doesn't effect the pen).

 Using the blender pen produces some beautiful colouring so you don't get those harsh lines.

 To finish off the bird I created a shadow around it using a Cool Gray 3 (N75) Dual Brush pen.

To write the quote out I used pieces that come in the beginners Lettering Set, first of all writing the lettering out in pencil, then drawing over it with the Black permanent pen. When dry I used the eraser to rub out the pencil lines.

 After I wrote the quote I felt I needed to add something else to the bottom half of the page so stamped out the Anemone and coloured that in with the blender pen as well.

All that's needed now is to pop the picture in the fame and I have a completed piece.

 Thanks so much for stopping by and watch out for more from me on my Tombow Creative Journey.

Happy Crafting,

Sue xx 

IndigoBlu style Fabric Painting

Hello to you. Today I would like to share a couple of new projects I have been working on for Kay Halliwell-sutton's Hochanda show which where on today at 11am and 3pm (These links will only work for a couple of weeks from the date of this blog post)

And it's these beautiful canvas panels.

You have Elizabeth and Jane panels which measure 20cm x 20cm and the Becca panel which is 16cm x 20cm. Check here for more details

I was asked to come up with a design for two of the IndigoBlu Fabric Panels, Elizabeth and Jane and here is what I did.

 Elizabeth

Jane

Now I normally have to sit and ponder a while to have a think about what to create and was thinking about the Beautiful Elizabeth and my head took me to Pride and Prejudice. I knew I had a Embroidery Hoop somewhere in my stash so thought I could display the panel within that. Unfortunately I don't really sew let along do embroidery so out came the paints.

I started with the background first and used a sponge to dab on two colours of paint onto the dry canvas. Luscious Powders were then mixed with Fabric Slap-it-on to paint the printed images along with the skin coloured paints. More of the grasses from the 'Victorian Garden' stamp set were stamped around the outside of the panel to coordinate with the pre-printed ones. I did this to fill up the 'white' space as the printed picture was a little smaller than the hoop.

Once I had finished stamping I then mounted the fabric into the hoop and trimmed the away the excess material. I could still see lines that framed Elizabeth so I decided to add some ribbon, which I attached to the hoop frame with sticky double sided tape.

You can still see the lines a little but I felt it would be alright once I finished off with a little more paint and added more details to the border.

The details were done using Luscious Powder mixed with Fabric Stap-it-on.

With Jane I decided to mount her onto a zipped purse and instead of leaving the panel square I used my die cutting machine to cut her out into a circle.

For this sample I wanted to decorate her in a different way so used the paint and mixed up Luscious with the FSIO and used my different size scoring tools and the end of a paintbrush to create dots around the cut edge.

 I then picked out a couple of the images from the panel and extended them onto the purse with stamps from the Collectors Edition Stamps using the Porelain Paint.

 Most of this panel was painted with the Luscious Powders

I really enjoyed painting these panels. I found them less daunting than the larger ones which I must confess I have been worried about painting as I didnt want to spoil such a gorgeous Panel. 

Here are some of the images from Kay's shows today which have really helped me feel more confident about having a go with the large panel.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post as much as I had decorating the panels.

If you would like to purchase any of the above, Canvas Panels, Paints, Luscious Powders or Slap-it-on then please check out this link to the IndigoBlu web shop.

Happy Crafting xx