“Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."

Hello there, so sorry for not being around much lately. 

Unfortunately my Mother suddenly passed away so writing on my blog was something I couldnt do until now!

Today I have some cards to share with you. They are cards I created for a Card Swap Challenge group I am part of. 

So the criteria was:-

Autumnal Letterpress

6"x 6" (15.2 x 15.2 cm) base card.

Add your letterpress technique onto the base card!

Then on top of that, layer a 4"x4" (10.2 x 10.2 cm) white panel that is decorated in Autumn colours.

Make your own embellishments to decorate the card!

These first two cards were the ones I sent out.

The size of the card presented a small challenge as the embossing folder I used was smaller so I needed add an extra boarder around the card. I only had one folder big enough to do this which was spots so I inlaid it with an leaf  impression. The trees were stamped with VerSamark ink then I painted the trees with different coloured embossing powders. The background was done using Brusho's.

The letterpress part of this card was done the same way as the card above but using a slightly different embossing folder to inlay the base card. I stamped the image in black StaZon in them used Brusho's to colour the tress's and diluted some of the powders to 'paint' the background and boat. The leaves shown here were die cut out of stampin up papers then dipped into my melt pot using clear UTEE. The remained of the melted UTEE was poured into an acorn mold to make the embellishment for the card.


These next two cards were ones I received from my swap partners.
They are simply gorgeous!





Thank you ladies xx

Take care & Happy Crafting xx

Never ending Card

Hello there,
I'm back today to show you a card I made for my partner in last months Card Swap Challenge Group.
I love this type of card as it keeps on going (as long as you keep turning the pages lol), and its really quite easy to put the card together, depending on what you want to add to the card.
So here is a short video to share with you if you haven't seen this type of card before.
Enjoy. 

Front face of the card

First opening of the card

Next opening of the card

Final opening of the card. But of course you can keep opening, turning the card!

Thanks for checking in today, Happy Crafting xx

A little pot of 'Wow' - Brusho Crystal Paints

Hello to you and thanks for stopping by.

A few weeks ago I purchased some little pots of Brusho's and I have been having so much fun with them.

So just to remind you, this is what they look like. 

                              

For anyone who hasn't heard of these yet they are a unique, transparent, highly pigmented water-colour ink crystal powder. They react with water so they can be used in so many different ways. They are permanent so a word of warning, don't get any on your clothes and be prepared for inky fingers!

I wanted to know at a glance what each colour looked like so I punched out a small scallop circle, used double sided tape to attach one scallop to each little tub, then took a pokey tool to make 2/3 holes in each tub. (Please don't be tempted to take the tops off the tubs as the powder is so fine, one sneeze and it will go everywhere)!

One or two taps on the upturned tub will result in some of the powder coming out. I mixed this with a little water to get the colour to paint the scallop top.

Using Brusho's is so easy to make quick backgrounds for cards. Just sprinkle powder onto card (I used different types to see what the effects would be on watercolor paper, Glossy card and Stampin Up Whisper White Thick card stock), spray with water and watch the magic happen!

                                     

Once the backgrounds are dry you can stamp on them, I used StaZon Ink, and add decorations. For the card above I used Die cuts, and the card below I stamped the poppies then painted them in with the red Brusho paint slightly watered down. Once this was dry I went over the poppy heads with crystal effects and added little yellow beads into the centers of some of the heads.

                                     

                  

This was a mini Canvas frame I sprinkled Brusho's onto and sprayed with water. Once dry a flower was added along with some gems.

Another way is to add the Brusho's to embossing paste to create a new colour for your project using masks!

                         

                As I said, you can do so much with these little pots, you just need to let your                                                                                         imagination flow!

                                                                          Happy Crafting xx

IndigoBlu Blog Challenge - Frame it!

Hello and Thank you for joining me today. Crafting has gone on a bit of a go slow for me in the last month or so, so im hoping to give it a kick start with entering this months IndigoBlu Blog Challenge. If you fancy having a go and would like the chance to win one of the wonderful IndigoBlu stamps check out this link!

So this month the Challenge was "Frame it"

Well anyone who knows me, knows I like "Different", so when walking around a local shop I found some Embroidery Hoops, and they are a frame aren't they, so I scooped one up and that was going to be the style for this challenge. I rather think that it has ended up looking like a giant Christmas Bauble!

So to get this look this is what I did!

I stretched some material I had in my stash (by Stampin up) over the inner hoop, then put the outer hoop over the material and locked it in place with the outer hoop. I then turned the hoop over and cut away the extra bits of material.

I then painted over the material with white Gee-Soo Good paint to help make a good base for adding other paint and inks, then once dry went over this with some English Cottage paints in Grandma's Teacup and Snow White.

Once again I left the paint to dry then went on to stamp on my design using a few different IndigoBlu stamps including one of their New Stamp sets called Snow Globe. 

The other set used was Here comes Santa. I used StaZon Inks for this part! Because of the size and shape of the hoop I was having a few problems finding something to place under the material so I asked my husband to cut me a piece of wood to size and it has worked wonderfully. 

(Thanks Martin xx)

  

The next step was to add some colour and texture to this piece and I did this by using Mega Flakes and Embossing paste with glitter in it through a mask from!

 I then decided the hanging baubles looked to flat so I stamped them again, cut then out and applied Crackle Glaze to them, hoping to give them a more vintage look. Once dry I glued them into place.

Inside the Globe I added some falling snow with liquid pearls and cut out a larger Christmas tree to go over the top of the second reindeer (No photo of this yet), added some false snow and cut out a piece of acetate to go over the globe! Once the acetate was in place I then went around the edge of it with Diamond Ice Stickles.

I stamped out another base for the globe out of card, made a couple of paper clay embellishments, decorated these with paint and Mega Flakes.

                                  

 To finish off this creation I tied on some sheer white ribbon to make a large bow at the top of the hoop covering the tightening screw.

Thank you again for joining me today, I hope this has given you some inspiration to have a go yourself.

Happy Crafting, xx