Hot Day Blues

This one finishes off the remains of the Waitrose junkmail envelope. There were only strips left, but I wanted to use it all up, as a matter of principle! Lol ;-)

This August Bank Holiday weekend has been one of the 'bursts' of extreme hot weather that the meteorologists talked about on TV.. Far TOO hot for me! I hate it with a passion, so the bright sunshine inspired this one. Thank goodness summer is nearly over, and my annual party day.. 1st September.. is very close now! It heralds my favourite three seasons.. Winter because it has Christmas in it, and the other two because they are so beautiful, and COOLER! Hurrah! :-)

Obviously, I used the pretty printed rainbow paper from the aforementioned envelope. I stiffened it by mounting on thin card, cutting into narrower strips, edging with a Blue Iris Chalk Eyes inkpad, painting with diluted Craft Planet iridescent glitter glue. The background is a smooshed one from a previous session, using watercolour picked up from my glass mat, mounted onto white card for a frame. Then I mounted the strips on recycled cardboard for a little dimension, as I did also the computer-generated text at the bottom.

The 'sun' is the scribble circle from Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits 'Scribbles & Splats', ref: 660222, cut from gold holographic paper.

Unicorn

This is the latest card that uses up the envelope liner from my Waitrose junkmail. Still got some strips to go. I am determined to use it all!

I used Woodware's Clear Magic stamps - FRS643 Unicorn and FRS352 Fantasy Land, a strip of the Waitrose rainbow paper, embossed background using Creative Expressions 3D Embossing Folder: Bubble Burst, ref: EF3D-011, black cardstock and gold holographic glitter card, Distress Oxide inks, Stickles glitter glue, That's Crafty black gesso (for splatting), recycled cardboard to give the unicorn some dimension, and various embellishments for (even more!) bling.

Rainbow Baby

 Card #2 made with the envelope liner from my Waitrose junkmail package, which - by the way - contained some very respectable vouchers, as well as pretty paper!

I discovered the idea of 'Rainbow Babies' when a close friend of mine had her little girl following a number of miscarriages. It's such a lovely thought, and jumped to mind when I saw this paper. It can be a very sensitive subject, so I hope I am not upsetting anyone by showing this card. It is kindly meant.

The image is a digital stamp - 'Sweet Dreams' from Lili of the Valley.

Recycling Junkmail

It turns out that even junkmail from Waitrose is a cut above! This arrived a couple of days ago, and I just have to use it! Thank you, Waitrose! :-)

This is my first card using the paper, but I'll get at least another card from it.. maybe more. Rainbows had to be the theme. Obvs.

I trimmed the paper and glued it to some 220gsm card, inked the edges with a Blue Iris Chalk Eyes inkpad, and mounted it on some recycled cardboard packaging for a little dimension. I cut the sun and cloud by hand, and for some bling, I spritzed some Craft Planet iridescent glitter glue and painted it on to three of the yellow stripes. The words were computer-generated. The cloud and the words are also raised up slightly with cardboard.

Watercolour Birthday

Pretty sure that this is at least one of the simplest cards I've ever made. I was inspired by a similar design I saw online somewhere, but I don't remember who made it. I like to give credit where credit is due, so if you recognise the style, please let me know and I will make sure that happens.

Click on the images for larger pictures.

Any road up, this is perfect for batch makes.. just create a few splashy backgrounds with watercolour or ink (Distress Oxides would be best, in my opinion), trim them down to fit your card. This one is an A6 card (6" x 4"). I used recycled cardboard packaging to give it dimension, and used a computer-generated sentiment, also slightly raised.

This is perfect for just about anyone.. male, female, young or old. You could always add stamped images, flourishes or flowers, or a die-cut or two, but I think it works as it is.

Tartan Stag

This one was very simply made from the 'waste' when I cut a Marianne Design stag's head for the last card, using paper from The Paper Tree (Yuletide Memories 8" x 8" pad) as background. The  background is raised on recycled cardboard (instead of foam pads), and decorated with a single sequin.

Nature Stag

This one was inspired by a glimpse of some restaurant décor on a recent TV programme. The restaurant is 'The Kitchin' in Edinburgh (owned by top chef, Tom Kitchin).

The card is 6" x 6", and uses paper from an 8" x 8" pad - Yuletide Memories - from The Paper Tree. The stag die is from the Creatables range by Marianne Design. Don't know where the stamp is from, as it's unmounted and has been separated from its packaging over the years. The button is from Basic Grey. Other than that, I've used some silver thread and a few sequins. I've used recycled cardboard instead of foam pads for dimension.

Robot Fairy Wishes

This is the third card I made with the stamped images that I received for my birthday from my pal, Lisa, using the cute range of stamps by Doodlin's By Donna Ratcliff. I couldn't show it to you last week, as it was a birthday card for another friend, Louise. I know she's received it now, so I can show it off! 

The background was created using Indigo Blu's Artist's Matte Acrylic Paint in 'Grandma's Teacup' and That's Crafty! white gesso, brayered onto my A3 Pink Pig journal, spattered with a paintbrush and then trimmed down and mounted on black card from Hochanda.

The stamped image was coloured with Koh-I-Noor pencils, blended with paper stumps and Zest-It oil. I customised the image with wings and a wand (made by me), glittered with Stickles. The image is raised on recycled cardboard for dimension.

A silver cord wrap, white gel pen eye-shine, a pencil squiggle to ground the fairy, a few sequins and computer-generated words complete the design.

Robot Hugs

Another card (A5 linen texture, 5" x 7") made with the cute stamped images Lisa sent me from Donna Ratcliff's amazing range of robot stamps from Doodlin's by Donna Ratcliff.

The background was made using the 'smoosh' technique, mopping up spritzed white gesso from my glass mat with black card from Hochanda; the gesso is from That's Crafty!.

The robots were coloured with Koh-I-Noor pencils, blended with paper stumps and Zest-It oil. The panel was raised on recycled cardboard for dimension, I used gold bradlets for decoration and computer-generated words.

Fairy Botmother

This features a cute robot from the range of stamps by Doodlin's By Donna Ratcliff. I don't own the stamps (yet), as the prices are a bit steep for my budget, but I was blessed with a selection of stamped images for my birthday from my Bunny & The Bee's FB group mate, Lisa.

The background was created using Indigo Blu's Artist's Matte Acrylic Paint in 'Grandma's Teacup' and That's Crafty! white gesso, brayered onto my A3 Pink Pig journal and then trimmed down and mounted on black card from Hochanda.

The stamped image was coloured with Koh-I-Noor pencils, blended with paper stumps and Zest-It oil. I customised the image with wings and a wand (made by me), glittered with Stickles. The image is raised on recycled cardboard for dimension.

A pencil squiggle to ground the fairy, a few sequins and computer-generated words complete the design.

Crabby Birthday

I've had to wait to post this until it was received by the receivee! It's her birthday today. Many happies, Lisa! So that means her birthday falls under Cancer, the Crab, astrologically-speaking. Obvs. Personally, I'm not into star signs and other mystical things, but I do find that the supposed characteristics of people born under certain 'signs' seem to be spookily accurate. Any road up, back to the craft stuff...

The background was made using a 'smoosh with acetate' technique that I saw on Hochanda a few weeks ago by Julie Hickey of Craftwork Cards. (TIP: Cut your smooshing acetate into a random shape, so that you don't get straight edges on your splodges. Unless you want them, of course.) 

I used Distress Oxide inks - Salty Ocean and Fossilised Amber.

The word panel is just a mocked-up dictionary definition, slightly raised on recycled cardboard (instead of foam pads). The sentiment was computer-generated, as well. Bit of gold thread wrapped around the front, and a shell from a boxful I bought some years ago. (I know better now.)

The beautiful crab image is one from a collection of images Lisa sent me for my birthday, and this one is by Art by Marlene. I coloured it with Koh-I-Noor pencils and used Zest-It oil and paper stumps to blend. I used a little bit of Stickles to add a tiny bit o' bling, and dots of white gel pen on the eyes, then fussy-cut it out. It is also raised on recycled cardboard. (It's my thing, now.)

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.