The Birds - Part One

I've had a set of the Tim Holtz designed Bird Crazy for a wee while now and often stamp  them out and colour them in with my Promarkers just because I can - they do say colouring in is good for unwinding!

Last night I decided that I really needed to do something more with them so had a look through my Dyan Reaveley words stamp sets (I think they work really well with these expressive looking birds) and came up with a few ideas.

I love these weird & wonderful birds, and am already working on some more ideas for using them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm entering the above design in the http://cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ July Challenge Use a stamp or digi ANYWHERE on your project

 

 

 

Monochrome Birthday

If anyone was watching the Open Golf from St Andrews last weekend you will have a good idea as to the kind of dreich* weather we've been having in this neck of the woods for the last week. On the weather report last night they were talking of temperatures of being more like October than July - I can believe it too as my arthritis has been playing up.

*Dreich (pronounciation here)

 (dre·ech) Dialect, chiefly Scot -adj.
1. miserable, cold and wet (weather).
2. (tr.) dreary (referring to weather or a sermon).


For this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge  I decided to try something I've been meaning to do for ages - make a filigree panel using a frame and some flourishes.

For the frame & back panel I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 1 and for the flourishes I used the larger one from the Spellbinders Jewel Flowers & Flourishes set. Once the pieces were cut out all I needed to do with the pieces was to work out the best way to fit them together to make the panel.

 



The background panel is Couture Creations Exotic Embossing folder and the card is finished off with a black panel wrapped in a white chiffon ribbon. Some hot pink bling dots were added for a pop of colour.

 

Cardstock:

All Payper Box

Dies & Embossing Folders:

Spellbinders - Labels 1

Spellbinders - Jewel Flowers & Flourishes

Spellbinders - D-Lites Sentiments 1 Happy Birthday

Couture Creations - Exotic

New Dies

I've been eyeing up some of Sue Wilson's Creative Expressions dies for a wee while now and earlier this week finally decided on two to treat myself to a couple.  After a lot of consideration I chose the "Tethered Hearts" Die Set from her Striplet Collection and an Ursa Die Set from her Gemini Collection.
 

I used both sets to create inset designs, they are so lovely I decided to keep the cards really simple and embellishments to a bare minimum.

The first has the "Tethered Hearts" set into the centre of the card and backed with a lovely light blue embossed foiled cardstock. The same blue card was used to create the sentiment and was finished by the addition of two small love birds and a bit of bling coloured to match the cardstock.
 

 

 

 

 

The Ursa Die was used twice (well it is from the Gemini Collection) to create a larger design which was then backed with a lilac pearlised cardstock and finished off with a small "Love" charm and some ribbon and bling which were coloured to match.

 

 

Cardstock:

All from Payper Box

 

Dies:

Creative Expressions - Striplet Collection "Tethered Hearts"

Creative Expressions - Gemini Collection "Ursa"

Spellbinders - "Congratulations" 

 

Embellishments:

Club Green - White & Silver Ribbon

Love Charm & Bling from own craft stash

Letraset Promarkers

 

Love Flies

The Open Golf starts in St Andrews tomorrow and over the last few days or so the traffic has been building up as people head along the coast for the practice rounds. No doubt I shall be awoken in the morning by the sounds of helicopters flying overhead ferrying those who can afford such things to and from the golf. I had originally planned not to travel along that way between now and Monday but I was reminded tonight that I have to go and deliver some craft stuff to my friend for a project she's working on and needs as soon as possible.

 

This week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge is probably the one that I have found easiest to decide on what to do.

 

Over the last wee while I have begun accumulating more & more stamps and one of the ones that arrived earlier this week was a small Hot Air Balloon by Dovecraft. Yesterday I had stamped out a few to practice on and as soon as I saw this sketch I decided that they would be the shape I would use. I decided to go with the ones that I had coloured using various neutral & brown tone Promarkers to try and give a vintage feel to them.

 

 

 

 



I created a background on some ivory coloured cardstock by swirling some Tim Holtz Faded Denim Distress Ink to give it the appearance of  a slightly cloudy sky. 

 

 Cardstock:

PayPer Box - Kraft

PayPer Box - Ivory

Image SuperSmooth - White

 

Stamps:

Dovecraft - Balloon

Debbie Moore - Love

Debbie Moore - (Time) Flies

 

Inks:

Versacolour - Sepia

Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Faded Denim

Letraset Promarkers

 

 

 

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The Letter

I have had my eye on "Frou Frou" Art Deco-esque stamps from Crafter's Companion for a while and been having "do I, don't I" moments where they made it to the basket only to be taken out again. Last week I finally gave in and got some - the special offer and Club discount helped!

The main stamp I've used for this weeks Freshly Made Sketches Challenge is the Frou Frou 

"Love Letters" which I coloured using Promarkers. I thought that because of the sentiment I had in mind for her, "I'm leaving now to go and find myself. If I return before I get back please ask me to wait.", suggested that she perhaps ought to be blonde (no offence to any other blondes out there intended!). The sentiment is something I saw a while ago, thought it was a bit of fun, so made a note of for use later.

The other stamps, the floral corner and the lips, come from a couple of small packs of Royal Langnickel stamps I picked up at my local "Home Bargains" for the princely sum of 29p per set!

 

I have also entered the http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/ "Anything Goes" challenge and http://cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ July "Use a stamp" Challenge.

Cardstock:

Image Supersmooth White

Create & Craft Single Sided Pearlised Pastels

 

Stamps:

Crafter's Companion - Frou Frou Love Letters

Royal Langnickel  - Hugs & Kisses

Royal Langnickel - Floral Touches

 

Inks:

Memento - Tuxedo Black

Letraset Promarkers - Various

Club Green DS Satin Ribbon - Black

Naughty or Nice

I've had the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamps for a wee while now but earlier today I took delivery of some Dyan Reaveley Dylusions stamps that I thought would go quite nicely with them. I'd been looking at these stamps for a while but finally bought some from "Art from the Heart".  I discovered them on their website at half price so managed to get two of her sets for the price of one! When I opened the package this afternoon I got a lovely surprise, the stamp sets were gift wrapped in red tissue paper and tied with twine which had a double heart charm attached to it - a lovely touch - I should have taken a photo!


This particular word stamp is from Dyan Reaveley's Christmas range but thought it was quite appropriate for this particular avian. I think the quiff looks like a question mark which, to me at least, makes it a rather thoughtful, yet quizzical looking bird !

 

 

 

 

 

I thought that the saying I had in mind for this bird, "Naughty or Nice", was one more suited to a feminine bird  than a masculine one.   So to turn the bird a bit more girly I added eyelids and some long lashes with a fine liner pen and finished her off with some blue eye shadow to complete the look. 

Personally, I think this flirtatious little bird has already made up her mind . . . naughty it is then!!!

Cardstock:
Image Supersmooth White

American Craft Summer Collection - Green

Crelando - Purple

Stamps:

Tim Holtz - Bird Crazy

Dyan Reaveley Dylusions - Christmas Words

Inks:

Memento Tuxedo Black

Letraset Promarkers

 

Hello My Friend - FMS 193

The temperature's rising! Wednesday was the hottest July day since records began and to celebrate that fact it was followed by a rather spectacular thunderstorm in the evening that lasted for several hours!

Out in the garden my "Deep Secret" rose is in bloom. This rose was one of my garden centre rescues a few years ago and I have to admit it's my favourite. Whilst in the photo it looks dark pink it is, in fact, deep red with the most beautiful velvety petals.  It is also rather large with this bloom being the diameter of a large saucer - pity they haven't invented scratch'n'sniff monitors as it's scent is absolutely heavenly. 

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I was working on how to put together my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge but after I had put it together I had gone out in the garden and on smelling the roses I decided to change the embellishment from a yellow daisy to a red (sort of) rose. The "sort of" is because I don't have a rose die so I just used some Sizzix ones from a stamp set that were sort of, roughly, that kind of shape!

 

 

I started off with a scrap of red card and a piece of white ribbon with some yellow daisies on it that gave me one of those "I wondered where that went" moments. As the background card is an ivory colour and the ribbon was white I decided to get my Promarkers out and originally thought to colour it red to match the red card but then thought to I could tie in the other colours I was planning to use by colouring it in bands - I think it has helped to bring out the ribbon's yellow daisies.

 

 

 

Here is the original version I made of the card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cardstock:

Assorted PayPer Box

 

Dies & Stamps:

Sizzix "Hello Friend"  from Hello by Jillibean Soup Stamp & Die Set

Sizzix - Flowers No.6 Framelits Die Set 

Spellbinders - Jewel Flowers & Flourishes

 

Inks:

Memento Tuxedo Black

Letraset Promarkers

 

Embellishments:

Card Candy

Ribbon from my stash

 

 

 

 

 

Embossed Ribbon

Someone asking a question on Facebook earlier about inking onto ribbon left me thinking about how to do that without the ink sinking into the weave. The only thing I could think of was to use a PVA solution (like Modge Podge) to seal and stiffen it first.

I've not tried it but it reminded me of this technique I use to emboss ribbon:Make up a 50/50 solution of PVA/Water or Mod Podge or other liquid glue that dries clear (I used my Amos clear for this one) put the ribbon in the glue solution till wet through, remove excess and allow to dry and stiffen up (thinking about it now, it  may also be possible that a starch solution/spray starch would also work).

 

I  thought I had a photo of a previous effort but couldn't find "one I did earlier" so I decided to make some up using some single sided satin ribbon. 

Once the ribbon was ready I used a Darice border embossing folder (piece of thin card in first with the ribbon  on top of it to give the folder something to "bite" into) and ran it through my Spellbinders Sapphire. I only used the Sapphire because it was sitting out and I couldn't be bothered hauling out my GC for a small piece of ribbon. As Spellbinders don't have a Sapphire equivalent of the "Raspberry" Embossing Plate, the "sandwich" I used for the Sapphire was Cutting Plate C, Embossing (Tan) Mat, Darice folder & topped off with a thin card shim for good measure).

Once I had the piece of embossed ribbon I decided I'd better make something to show it off so here it is on a finished card:

 

 

I used PayPer Box Kraft card which I top folded as an A6 base. The embossed ribbon was wrapped across a piece of trimmed ivory coloured textured cardstock which was used as a layer on top of the Kraft card.

I coloured some pearlised cardstock with a "Sandstone" Promarker to match the ribbon, and used it to make some floral die cuts to create an embellishment.  I also colour matched the Card Candy.

 

 

 

Cardstock:

PayPer Box - Kraft

PayPer Box - Ivory Textured
PayPer Box - White Pearlised

Dies:

Spellbinders - Flowers & Flourishes

Spellbinders - Poppy

Accessories:

Ribbon - Club Green Gold Single Sided Satin

Card Candy - White

Embossing Folder - Darice Border Flourishes

Letraset Promarkers

 

 

 

 

Time Flies - FMS 192



During the week when I was looking out some floristry bits a pieces I kept having "I wondered where that went" moments as I found things that I had thought long lost. The same thing happened today as I delved into a couple of boxes of crafty stuff and came across some nice pearlised linen effect cardstock I knew I had but just couldn't remember where I'd put it. Now it has been re-discovered I have put it in my A4 drawer unit with my other pearlised stock for future use.

For this weeks Freshly Made Sketches Challenge 

 

I had originally been going to use a star as my starting point but as the instructions are "any shape" I decided to use a rather nice Debbie Moore dragonfly stamp that had been a freebie with a craft magazine a couple of weeks or so ago.As I'd rediscovered it, I decided to use some of the nice pearlised linen effect cardstock for this card. However, as I don't have a lot of it I decided to be a frugal crafter and just use a piece as a panel on a supersmooth base.

The card was top folded and some gold washi tape with small white polka dots was run down the sides of the card to create the borders.

I stamped the dragonflies and the "Time Flies" sentiment using Versasmark clear embossing ink so I could add some gold embossing powder. I also inked and embossed a small strip of card to create a background for the sentiment. I coloured the dragonfly and small flowers in the main circular design element with Promarkers to add a little colour

Cardstock:

Image Supersmooth - White
Payperbox - White Pearlised Linen Effect
Papermania Capsule Collection Spots & Stripes Jewels Patterned Craft Tape - Gold & White Spotted Washi Tape

Stamps:

Debbie Moore - Flutterbys - Dragonflies Summer Fun Clear Stamps

Inks etc:

Tsukineko Versamark Clear
Letraset Promarkers
Create & Craft Embossing Powder - Mirror Gold



An Emotional Week

Last Friday the oldest of my late Dad's sisters, my Aunt Nan, passed away a few weeks before her 87th Birthday so it's been quite an emotional week. Whilst I didn't take part in last weeks FMS challenge I did use the sketch to make Sympathy Cards for my cousins and her surviving sister.

 

This was one of the versions the others had the same sentiment but just had a different die cut.

 

As well as the Birthday cards I mentioned in my last post and Father's Day cards to be finished on Saturday I needed to started sort out what I required to create a floral tribute from myself & my boys - then when I mentioned what my plans were my sister asked if I'd also do one on her behalf as well. Fortunately I was able to source the foam frames I needed locally and still had some florists ribbon in my floristry stash box to make the edging pleats - just needed to remember how to do it as it's been years since I last did any.  After a YouTube refresher course I eventually managed to get the hang of it again! 

 

I went out to see what flowers were available and started planning what to use, with strict instructions from my sister that she didn't want any red flowers. I must admit I'm not keen on using red in tributes either. I bought the flowers on Monday, I went for white and green chrysanthemums with some Sea Thistle. I wanted to make sure I could get as many opened as possible for putting them together on Tuesday. I also had a look at what foliage I had in the garden would work best with the flowers I had - I decided on the Euonymus Fortunei "Emerald Gaitey" and some of the small clusters of berries from our Vibirnum Davidii.

 

I have to admit I got quite emotional whilst I was making these up and kept having to stop but got there in the end. I'm happy to say my sister was pleased with my efforts on her behalf.