Inky Thistle

This is an A5 size card (5" x 7"), fresh today for the June Challenge on The Bunny & The Bee's Crafty Hive, to produce a single layer card with lots of white space. Not sure this qualifies as 'lots', but fingers crossed! 

This is the larger of the two thistle stamps I have from Fred Mullett. This one's just called 'Thistle' (as opposed to Lil' Thistle in my last post!) On this one, I tried layering ink pads for a layered colour effect, but the flower head wasn't distinct enough, so I went over it with Marvy Brush Markers. 

The background was made with a combination of three different shades of green Distress Oxide inks, applied with the smoosh technique, but with a twist. I saw Julie Hickey on Hochanda recently picking up inks from her glass mat with a piece of acetate to apply it to the card. Thought I'd give it a try. Looks alright, I think, although it's probably no better than the other way. The cross-hatch texture is just because the card is linen effect. Quite pleased with that result, too.

Before I stamped the thistle, I stamped some script in Cool Grey ink by VersaCraft. The stamp is from A Stamp In The Hand, just called 'Background', ref. Q1771. The little round stamp is 'It's Your Day' by Hero Arts, and the 'Celebrate' stamp is from Stampin' Up.

Thank You Thistle

I'm trying to come up with simple, single layer cards with lots of white space for a challenge on The Bunny & The Bee's Crafty Hive (Facebook group). This was put together very quickly on a small card (10½ cms square), and would be ideal for a batch run of notecards.

The square dots stamp is by Denami Design (purchased from Stamp Addicts' Ebay shop (stampingsisters), and the thistle stamp is one of a pair I have in different sizes from Fred Mullett. This one is Lil' Thistle. I used Marvy Brush Markers to apply layers of colour directly to the stamp, instead of using inkpads. The 'thank you' is one of those random tiny little stamps you collect along the way. No idea where it came from!

Turtle-y Awesome

This is a 6" square card, fresh today. First outing for part of my birthday present from Ms Cleo in Washington state, USA. She knows I have a thing for sea turtles, and treated me to this fab die. I cut my lovely turtle from a watercolour background I made a while ago. I made two cuts, so his shell could have a little extra dimension, and mounted him on kraft card, trimmed around the image and set it on a white panel, raised on recycled grey board from the back of a stiffened business envelope to give it just a little lift. The bottom two layers are watercoloured and inked card, using a tortoiseshell stencil, and a navy blue paper. I added gold Stickles, some computer-generated words and some gold sequins.

Hope you approve, Cleo! :-) xx

The Tide Recedes

This is one of those cards that brings mixed feelings; it's the kind you dread having to make, but enjoy the challenge of trying to convey depth of meaning, the sadness at the passing of the person and beauty without ostentation to respect the dignity of the receiver. But you're never sure if you achieved all that.

I created the wording on my computer, using two text boxes so I could have the large letter at the beginning, and used a black fine-tip pen to fill in the parts of the 'T' that were missing because of the overlap of the other text box.

The poem is 'The Tide Recedes', as follows:

The tide recedes, but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand.

The sun goes down, but gentle warmth still lingers on the land.

The music stops, yet echoes on in sweet refrains.

For every joy that's lost, something beautiful remains.

~ Author unknown

The shells stamp was a lucky find. It's a cheap, foam-backed stamp that was part of a set of wildlife stamps from many years ago. I stamped it in black Versafine, then coloured it with diluted grey from a combination of inks and added some fine Glamour Dust from Decoart for just a touch of bling to echo the 'bright sunshells' line. I blended some 'Cool Grey' ink from Versacraft around the edges, and added some silver/grey sequins.

The rest of the poem is printed on the inside fly-leaf of the insert.

 

Inchies & Twinchies

I have long been a fan of Stamp Addicts and watched their show on Hochanda today, and I'm thrilled to see they are bringing back Inchies and Twinchies, and I suspect there will be more to come by way of Thrinchies and Moos! I wrote a little poem on the subject just over a decade ago when these were popular the first time around. It's not brilliant, but I hope they like it..

Here it is:

INCHIES AND TWINCHIES

Inchies, and twinchies, and thrinchies and moos
All of them crafty, and so many to choose,
Scrapping and stamping, distressing and such
RAKs and blog candies to keep us in touch,
Trading cards for artists to swap,
Sketches and challenges for our weekly hop.
How would we cope without our card craft?
We’ve papers to stroke, and some think us daft,
But with others to share in our sweet obsession,
We spend and we spend to increase our possession
Of stamps and ribbons, brads and gems,
Pencils, paints and lots of pens.
When will it end? Hopefully, never..
But one things for sure, we’ll have friends forever!

© Christine Fraser 2008

Final Giftcards Close-Ups (21-24)

This selection completes all the close-ups of the garden-themed giftcards I made last week.. or was it the week before? Time flies! Again, these all use papers by Stamperia from their 'Garden' pad.

The one above has been given a narrow strip of bling around the top panel by matting it onto some sparkly gold holographic paper, as I've done with previous examples. I don't often use holographic paper or card, but sometimes it's useful for adding something to catch the light.

Below, I have very simply inked the edges of a couple of panels, raising the top one slightly with recycled cardboard to add some dimension and some shadow.

The photography on the one above and the one below is not very good.. a bit blurry, so sorry for that. Hopefully, it is clear enough for you to get the gist of what's going on.

Yayyy! This one is a bit clearer, which is as it should be to close out the series. The 'Fly away with me' words have been deckled using fancy-cut scissors, inked and attached on the recycled cardboard for a bit of a lift.

I hope you have enjoyed these, and that it was worth showing the close-ups. New work following soon! xx

Giftcards Close-Ups (17-20)

OK.. I confess.. this top one is made from floral scraps, edges inked and matted onto silver mirror card. Not Stamperia at all. Back to Stamperia's Garden papers below, though, deckled with fancy-edge scissors, layered onto white linen card and then matted onto mirror card and raised very slightly on recycled cardboard for a touch of shadow.

The card below was collaged out of background scraps, and the bird was fussy-cut and mounted on top, looking very proud of himself.

This one, below, was already printed as a collage, so it was very simply cut to size, the edges inked and then attached to the giftcard.

Giftcards Close-ups (13-16)

More close-ups from my run of garden-themed giftcards from last week. The deckled edges on the top two layers were achieved with fancy-edge scissors, given a slight lift with a layer of recycled cardboard.

 
Very simple matting and layering above, inked around the edges and using both white linen-effect and kraft card.

Again, simple matting and layering above, with ink around the edges and a narrow tease of bling with sparkly gold holographic paper and a contrast of kraft card.

A wreath of succulents, fussy-cut and inked around the outer edge, and a slight lift again, with the usual recycled cardboard.

Giftcards Close-Ups (9-12)

The first three today are simply inked on the edges and then matted and layered, using mirror card on the first two for some bling.

The bottom one is a bit more interesting, with mini-elements cut out, inked and collaged onto a panel of kraft card. One of the elements is set on silver mirror card for some extra dazzle.

Giftcards Close-Ups (5-8)

Continuing the parade of closer images from the array of giftcards I made earlier in the week. Parade springing straight to mind as a word choice as I have 'The Trooping of the Colour' on the TV in the background.. the Grenadier Guards looking spectacular. I was raised in a military family (Royal Air Force), so feel tremendous pride whenever I see any branch of the military services showing themselves off. For those who don't know, the ceremonies are in honour of the Queen's official birthday. Happy birthday, Your Majesty.

Back to the cards, In all of these, again, I used the Stamperia 'Garden' papers. In the one above, the edges are inked in dark brown Chalk Eyes, with kraft card in the background, and the front panel raised on recycled cardboard from a used card-backed business envelope.

These two panels (above) are similarly inked and the front panel slightly raised, again using recycled cardboard.

This one has a more masculine appeal, I thought. I inked the edges, then matted and layered it onto yellow card and kraft. Very simple.

This one is layered onto sparkly holographic gold paper, providing just a glimmer of a bling border to catch the light, and then matted onto kraft card.

Free Spirit card

This is a card I made for a dear friend's birthday across the water.. and then some! She lives in Washington state and is also a very keen crafter, from the quirkier side, but I love her work because of that. She's very different.. definitely a 'Boho Soul'.

I love AALL & Create stamps with a passion, and this (#7) is one of my favourites, by Bipasha BK. It was made initially as an ATC, hence being cropped a little on one side, but I think it still works. The background is a rough watercolour rainbow panel, with pencil lines for extra definition, and a stamped 'With love' at the bottom. The focal image is stamped in Onyx Black Versafine and heat-embossed in clear. For once, it is just straight cut for a clean look, and raised up slightly for extra dimension and a little shadow.

Giftcards Close-Ups (1 to 4)

There are 24 of these to go through, so this will keep the blog busy for a week, almost. Some of the pages from the Stamperia 'Garden' pad are very collagey, with lots of grungy images and script, birds, flowers and ephemera. Perfect for breaking up into smaller images for smaller cards, such as the gingko petal and script panel above, just cut from the page and inked edges.

The white card I used for all the giftcards is 300gsm with a linen effect texture.

This one is inked around the edges (they all are), and layered onto a piece of very sparkly gold holographic paper, just to provide a very narrow border that catches the light.

A nice grungy piece, with a script panel on silver mirror card peeping around the edge, raised slightly on a piece of recycled cardboard from one of those card-backed envelopes.

This is just one piece of paper, mounted onto kraft card. Very simple, but looks so effective, I think.

More tomorrow.

Garden Giftcards

I was busy yesterday, making giftcards for a charity I support.. the Friends of Rushcliffe & Gedling Voluntary Transport. This is a vital service for people who are unable to access public transport and don't have alternative means of getting about.

They are having a stall at an event next week, and will be selling plants, so I thought some garden-themed cards would be good. I found a pile of tiny envelopes (just a bit bigger than an ATC), so thought I'd start with giftcards. I made 24 (so far!)

They are all individual and unique, some have a hint of bling around the edges, some are collaged, some are slightly 3D'd by using recycled packaging.

All the papers I've used are from Stamperia's lovely Garden 12" x 12" paper pad, and I've used the occasional piece of silver mirror card, gold holographic paper or kraft card to add tiny borders.

Over the next few days, I'll post some closer views of the cards. (If you click on the photos on this post, you'll see a bigger pic.)

Minty Madness

A nice simple card from about a decade ago, made using digi-papers from a Funky Hand download called 'Minty Madness'. (Sadly, Funky Hand products are no longer available.) The paper is layered onto black, and then mounted on pink Bazzill cardstock. The sentiments are computer-generated using a font from a Lisa Bearnson scrapbooking CD-rom, and set on black cardstock. Apart from brads and gems, the main decoration is fabric flowers, satin ribbon bows and a fabric-covered button from an old jacket in the centre.

Mum & Dad's Golden Wedding

Card for my parents' Golden wedding anniversary, 2006. Sadly, my dad didn't make it; he died the year before, but I still felt it appropriate to mark the occasion. You can't see it very well, but it's an acetate card base. I stamped the script onto some paper that I thought would compliment the golden theme, doodled around the edge with a gold pen, tore some vellum strips and mounted them across the card. The photo was printed and mounted onto white card. The deckle edge was achieved with fancy-edge scissors. The gold bead sprays look more like some kind of exotic spider, so I would do that differently now! Also, I was still using peel-offs back then. Unlikely I would do that now. The satin ribbon bow and matting the top layer onto gold mirri card complete the design.