Be Unique, Be Creative

Hello my crafting friends, hope today finds you all safe and well. Well down here in the South East its another beautiful day, full of sunshine, a bit chili but very little wind so quite nice.

I had a bit of play time yesterday so put this together, was not sure how it was going to turn out as I just went along adding things on as I went, I don't think it turned out too bad lol! At least it gives you all a break from Skeletons & Skulls eh Ang? lol! At least for a little while...!!!

I started with a piece of paper stained with a tea bag, yes I did say a tea bag, these old tricks still work lol! I stamped all over with Sheena's Script stamp using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Ground Espresso then ran it through one of the Crafter's Companion Textures Embossing Folders Wind, the embossed areas I inked with Chipped Sapphire.

With a piece of White card and Sheena's Decorative Stencil Sackcloth I spread Galleria Modelling Paste over the top and left to dry. Do wash your stencil straight away to remove all residue of the paste, I just rinsed it under warm water. Once dry I painted over the top with Aquatints Bright & Beautiful Blue then when that was dry painted over the top again with Aquatints landscape Light Brown.

Using some stamps from Crafter's Companion Textures Words To Inspire Set 1 I stamped 'Be Unique' and 'Be Creative' onto White card using Stazon Black Ink then painted over the top with Aquatints Bright & Beautiful Blue, I put these to one side.

In my stash I found some die cuts that I had cut out of White card with Creative Expressions Sue Wilson dies Italian Collection Calabria and French Collection Corner Boarder & Tag, I placed the boarder along the bottom third of the sackcloth card, wrapped it round the back and stuck this down with Foam tape onto the 'wind & script' background. I die cut some Leafy Flourish from Crafter's Companion Sara Davies Signature Collection, I placed these along the bottom of the card and in the top left corner, in my stash I found some flowers that had been cut using Spellbinders Delicate Asters so I placed these on top of the leafy flourishes. I cut the Calabria die cut in half so I could place half on top of the Boarder strip but I did not like it being White so as the center of the flowers had gems from Queen & Co Twinkle Goosebumps Self Adhesive Orange stones on them and one of the flowers was Orange I decided to keep the colour and painted the half circle with Aquatints Bright & Beautiful Orange.

Out of Gold Miri card and Kraft card I die cut the little bird from Crafter's Companion Sara Davies Signature Collection 'Wing of Love'. With this you can use the legs as legs for the bird or as I have done as a little branch for the bird to sit on, I cut the wings out of the Kraft card so they stood out on the miri card. I added a little Black stone on for his eye then placed him as seen on the card.

I inked the edge of the word with Aquatint Essentials Black and placed them on the card as seen. To finish the card I added a little Butterfly that had been painted Orange & Blue with Pebeo Iridescent paints.

I would like to enter this into http://anythingbutcutechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/challenge-11-crazy-for-colour.html

I hope you like this little creation and thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

Amor

Hello my crafting friends, I hope you all had a very happy Easter break with not too much Chocolate! Can there be too much Chocolate? lol! Maybe I can get on and try and lose some weight now lol!

Now today's post is still from Sheena's DOTD Range (sorry to those who do not like it) but this is one of the extra stamp sets of a beautiful Senorita. The set is called 'Forever Yours'.

I got a piece of Sheena's White Stamping Card and painted over it with Tim Holtz Distress Inks Antique Linen and Brushed Cordroy, I then sponged Pebeo Iridescent Paint GreenBlue through Sheena's Distress Stencil in the top left and bottom right corners before rubbing over a little Silver & Gold Gilding Wax across the card, then I stamped the AMOR stamp randomly over the background using Ground Expresso Distress Ink then painted over the whole card with the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen Clear to add a bit of sparkle.

On a piece of White card I stamped the Senorita using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pumice Stone  to which I spread the ink a little with water to add some depth then using other Distress Inks Ground Expresso, Crushed Olive and Victoria Velvet I coloured the image in. When I had finished I painted Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle over her hair and choker to make them shine.

Out of more White card I die cut the Top Hat from Sheena's DOTD Union of Souls set, coloured it with Aqua Marker Blossom from the Floral set then painted Clear Sparkle over that too.

There you have the finished card.

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

30th Skull card

Hello there my crafting friends, good to have you with me today. May I wish you all a Very Happy Easter, sorry no Easter card but as I mentioned the other day I had made a card for a friends 30th Birthday who likes skulls so I thought I would show you this one today. My apologies for those of you who do not like these kind of cards, especially Ang lol! I shall post something different soon. It will soon be safe Ang, not a lot but soon...!!!

To begin with I wanted a colourful background but not too bright it would take the focus away from the skull so I chose three colours from the Aquatints Bright & Beautiful set and put to one side.

I cut a piece of Sheena's White Stamping card to size then using my Paisley Blockwallah  stamp block with my Versamark Ink pad I randomly stamped over the card then heat embossed with Creative Expressions White Embossing Powder.

Now with my three Aquatints, I chose the Green, Blue & Purple, using a natural sponge I sponged each colour over the card a little at a time going over each colour with a different one until I was happy with the result, now less is more is the way with this as you cannot take it off once it has been put on.

Once it was dry I wiped over with a dry piece of kitchen towel to take any excess ink from the White embossed pattern. I then wrapped a piece of Green Craft ribbon around the middle of the card, matted it onto some Sheena Black card then attached it to my base card.

Out of White card I die cut and stamped Sheena's day of the Dead Sugar Skull, with the added extra stamps that comes with the set. I stamped the flowers and leaves round the skull, then the circles round the eyes and finally the heart above the eyes. I coloured these in with Aqua Markers Floral & Nature.

I cut a piece of Black card to size so it fitted on the back of the skull giving a base to the eye sockets, using one of the smaller stamps in Sheena's Day of the Dead Floral Fantasy Stamps and Pebeo Iridescent Paint Red Blue I stamped the small flower in each of the eye sockets.

In the center of each painted eye I placed a little Red gem, this showed the eyes up more. I attached this on the ribbon in the center of the card.

I made some larger flowers by die cutting out of copier paper using Sheena's Day of the Dead Floral Fantasy and colouring them with Aquatints Bright & Beautiful, I die cut and stamped the DOTD Dancing Skeleton twice and cut of the heads and placed them in the center of the flowers and placed these in the bottom left corner. I then die cut the top hat from the DOTD Union of Souls set and coloured it Red with Aqua Marker Begonia then went over with a Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen. I attached this to the head of the skull as seen.

To finish the card I die cut the guitar from DOTD Dance Macabre set out of some oriental Brown paper and placed this in the bottom right corner. There you have the finished card.

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

Spook-tacular Birthday!

Hello my crafting friends, good to have you come an visit me today, I hope this finds you all safe and well?

As most of you know I am a member of Sheena's Design Team and we all really loved her Day of the Dead designs, now we know these are not to everyone's taste but they were great fun to work with and make excellent Male cards. They are not to be taken seriously and I do apologize to anyone who may find them morbid. Skulls have been around for ages in several designs, possibly mainly with Rock Music fans or Bikers so I am sure these would suit those perfectly. I have a friend who recently turned 30 and she loves skulls and the like so I will post the card I made for her soon.

Now when I started this one I wanted the ghostly look in the arched church background but was not quite sure what to make the card for, I eventually decided on a Birthday card! Though looking at it if you knew a  couple who were getting married who loved skulls and skeletons you only had to add a skeleton Bride on the other side and it would make an original Wedding card lol! Or, of course, an Halloween card.

To start with I cut a piece of Sheena's Black Card to size then with Sheena's Day of the Dead Dancing Skeleton I stamped just the head three times randomly toward the top of the card using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antique Linen, now this did not show up on the Black card but it did leave an outline for me to colour in. Putting some Antique Linen ink on my Glass mat I mixed it with a tiny bit of White Gesso and painted in the skulls, this made them look a bit chalky but not white! 

I placed this into Sheena's Embossing Folder Ancient Arches and ran it through my embossing machine, I then rubbed Gold Gilding Wax over the embossed areas to show up the arches. I found this made the skulls disappear in the background slightly giving the ghostly effect I wanted. I matted this onto some Gold Textured Miri card and then cut to size a bigger piece of Black card. 

I die cut and stamped the skeleton, coloured in his boot with Brown Aqua Markers then placed him behind the card as seen but on top of the larger Black card, this was then attached to my base card.

I made a sentiment by stamping onto Black card with Versamark Ink, this came from Sheena's Little Bit Magical Phanthom Ship, then heat embossed with Papermania Gold Embossing powder. using a Gold Ink Pen I wrote 'Birthday' underneath then matted it onto some more Gold Miri card. This was placed at the bottom of the card.

At the top of the Larger Black card I wrote 'Have a...' with the Gold Ink Pen. There you have the finished card which I am quite pleased with, quite a quirky card but different.

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

Thinking of You Floral

Hello my fellow crafters, hope today finds you all well, thank you for visiting me today I do appreciate it very much and I love reading any comments which you may wish to leave.

Today's post is a card I made for a friend who is not well just to let her know I am thinking of her, so I wanted it bright and cheerful.

I started by die cutting a piece of Sheena's White Stamping Card with the Creative Expressions Striplets Die Rococo three times and attached this over the top of some Dark Blue Miri card, I then attached this to my base card.

Out of Sheena's Black card I made a frame using Square Nesting Dies from Presscut and placed this over the top of the card.

To brighten the card up I die cut some flowers from Sheena Douglass Day of the Dead Floral Fantasy using copy paper and painted them with Aquatints Bright and Beautiful, these are such vibrant colours that stay true and do not fade. I stamped them using darker Distress Inks Dried Marmalade & Fired Brick to match the colours. To finish the flowers I shaped them with a embossing tool and added a Kaisercraft Sparlet Gem in the center of each one.

I also die cut some Ivy using Creative Expressions Sue Wilson Finishing Touches Trailing Ivy and coloured this with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Crushed Olive then painted over the top with Green Aquatint from the Landscape set leaving the edge to show the colour underneath. I attached this on the card as seen.

Using more White card I stamped my sentiment with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Crushed Olive and Justrite Large Fancy Sentiments then die cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Decorative Curved Square, whilst still in the die I inked through the die with more  Crushed Olive Distress Ink. I then placed this on the card.

There you have the finished card. I am glad to say the recipient loved it.

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

Hubby's Birthday Card

Hello my crafting friends, I do apologize for my absence over the last 10 days but I have not been well, two horrible viruses all at once, thankfully it looks like I am now on the mend. So I do apologize for not visiting any blogs or for those I have managed to get to look at but not commented.

Now it was my hubby's birthday last week and this was the card I made for him, still using those wonderful skeletons and I was so pleased when I realised they were just the right size to fit into Sheena's chair stencil. So I started by stenciling the chair onto some Sheena's White Stamping Card, coloured the flowers in with Tim Holtz Distress Inks Stormy Sky, Forest Moss and Dried Marmalade.

I coloured in the background with Tim Holtz Distress Inks Squeezed Lemonade and Crushed Olive then using Sheena's Distress Stencil I inked through with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

To colour the chair itself I used Spectrum Noir Floral Pencil Set using the yellow and going over part of the flowers with Purple, I blended all the colour in using Creative Expressions Blending Solution for Gilding Wax and a Blending Tool. 

Out of White card I die cut and stamped the skeleton and cat from Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Day of the Dead Range. I coloured the boots in Brown Aqua Markers and made a tin can out of card and coloured it Green (Aqua Markers)to look like a can of lager!!! I placed the skeleton in the position as though he was sitting in the chair drinking his beer lol! I had also placed a piece of Black card behind the skeletons and cats heads to show the eye sockets.

I coloured the legs of the chair with a Black Sharpie Pen, made a sentiment to match the card and there it was finished.

I was quite pleased with the end result and I think it makes for a good 'mans' card.

I am entering this into http://anythingbutcutechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/challenge-11-crazy-for-colour.html

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

Skeleton Band

Hello my crafting friends, what ever must you think of me, so sorry for putting this up with no information!!!

I know it is pretty obvious what the card is of lol!!! Briefly the background was made by coating the card in Aquatints then shaking a layer of salt over the top and leaving it to dry. This give the card a lovely texture but also a unique pattern made by the salt so every one will be different.

I stamped the corner stamps and edging stamps using Stazon Black ink then inked round the edge with Black Soot distress ink.

I added each skeleton doing the different pose with their arms and heads on each one depending on what instrument they were playing.

Each instrument I stamped with the flower stamps in the collection and coloured them in, I then gave them a couple of coats of Spray & Shine as this gave a glossy look to the instruments.

I made each skeleton a hat out of Black card and drew the design on each with a White Gel pen, placing each skeleton on the card where I wanted them and the card was finished.

I hope those of you who have watched any of the shows have enjoyed Sheena's demos.

I will in future put up the image an description on future posts at the same time lol!

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

Butterfly Bubbles

Hello my crafting friends, a second helping of something different for you today, its a card I made last year but have kept it until now, I was walking through Colchester one day and spotted in the window of an Art Gallery these beautiful paintings, or mixed media art that had been done, they were actually out of glass among other medias, believe me they were stunning to see. So I decided to have a go at making something similar but in a form of a card and not the large frame size as in the Gallery lol! At the bottom of this post I shall show a picture of the actual picture.  The artist is Kevin Bandee, his latest ones in the Art Gallery are stunning, he has incorporated leaves into these now, amazing! Do take a look of his work online.

I am sorry for the picture overload on this but I wanted to show step by step how I made it.

 

I started with a piece of White card and inked it up with several different colours of Tim Holtz Distress Inks blending them together

as much as possible then left to dry.

I then sorted out my Oil Pastels and began to draw the wavy lines down the card blending the colours as I went then adding the White lines.

To make the glass bubbles all I could do was draw in White circles to represent them, light ones in the background and stronger ones within the lines.

For the Butterflies I decided the best likeness would be the Shaving Foam technique, so I sprayed some Shaving Foam in a container and added several colours of Aquatints, I made a pattern then added the card, this was quite effective but not quite what I wanted as I did not want all the Butterflies the same, so I repeated the Shaving foam process three times for different colourways until I was happy I had something to work with.

On the back of each coloured sheet I drew some Butterflies and cut out one of each colour, I then coloured the body of the Butterflies with Black ink pen and went round the edge of each one to hide the White card. I then gave each one three coats of Pinflair Laquar leaving each coat to dry before applying the next. The finished Butterflies looked just as I wanted with the glossy look. 

I matted my work onto a a white Background then onto a White base card before adding the Butterflies in position.

I am entering this card into http://anythingbutcutechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/challenge-11-crazy-for-colour.html

                                                       Actual Art by Kevin Bandee

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

All Aboard

Hello crafters, hope this finds you all safe and well. Today is my Nephews 21st Birthday and as he is training to become a train driver I thought this card may be quite apt for him.

I started with a piece of 6X6 White Stamping card and inked it up with Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass Distress Ink at the top half and Antique Linen on the bottom half, I then stamped Sheena's Little Bit Scenic 'All Aboard' using Black Stazon ink, I stamped it about half way up the card and extended the tracks down to the bottom of the card, I then coloured it in with Aquatints, using the landscape and Bright & Beautiful sets and the Black from the Essentials. I faux bleached the smoke form the train funnel so they looked a little whiter rather than Blue lol!

Once I was happy with the colouring (I am not great at this or drawing!) I stamped the couple and sentiment using Black Stazon ink, these stamps are also in the set of 'All Aboard'.

I rubbed Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress Ink around the edges of the card then rubbed on Gold Gilding Wax to bring the colours out. I matted this onto my base card, of White & Black card, placing it at an angle for interest.

There you have the finished card and flat for posting!

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

Jacquie Skeleton

Hello my crafting friends, so good of you to join me today, I am a little late today but better late than never!!!

As most of you know by now Sheena Douglass has moved to the HOCHANDA channel and has her first shows on Monday morning at 10 am showcasing her new designs for her Perfect partners  'Day of the Dead'

These have been an absolute joy to work with, so much fun, you can position the skeleton any way you want, so if you want to have a great, humorous card for men then these are just the ticket. Its not just skeletons, there is a lovely skull, skeleton cat and dog, guitar, trumpet, top hat and cane, bridal veil and bouquet, flowers and there are two stamps on their own, one of a Senorita and the other a couple dressed for the Festival. So lots of scope to work with. 

For my Jacquie Skeleton, as I have called him/her I cut some Sheena's White Stamping Card to size then stamped Sheena's Little Bit Sketchy 'Castle Ruins' to the right hand side and coloured it in with Tim Holtz Distress Inks Brushed Cordroy, Crushed Olives and Forest Moss. I then inked up the top of the card with Chipped Sapphire and the bottom half with Seedless Preserve before going round the edge with Black Soot. I added a large moon in the top left corner and faux bleached this to make it brighter. For those of you who do not know what faux bleaching is its just adding water with a paintbrush and blotting with kitchen towel, this takes the ink off the card again, not completely but enough to give it some effect.

For my Jacquie Skeleton I die cut the skeleton body out twice, once with Sheena's White Stamping card and once with Sheena's Black card. The reason for this was I wanted my skeleton to be based on 'Jack Skeleton' from the films by Tim Burton, his skeleton is very tall and has thin arms and legs so I felt it pointless to make my skeleton some trousers or arms for the Jacket when it looked better cutting the limbs out of Black card and painting the White stripes on with a White Gel Pen. So this is what I did, I position the limbs as I wanted then I made the Jacket out of Black card, trimmed the ends so they looked jagged and drawed on the stripes with the White Gel Pen. I made a little collar the same way and added the skull of a little plastic skeleton I had in the center. For the inside of the Jacket to make it look like it was lined I used a piece of Red ribbon and cut the ends as before. I cut off the Black hands and used the hands from the skeleton cut from White card so this made it look more like a suit. The boots are already on the die cut of the skeleton so I glazed these with PinFlair Glaze Laquar to add a shine. 

Now at this point my skeleton still had his head on so I snipped it off and decorated it with  one of the tiny flower stamps from Sheena's Floral Fiesta set and coloured it with Aquamarkers. I then positioned this in my skeletons hand so it looked like he was holding his own head running down the hill.

Before placing my skeleton on my card I made a frame using Black card, I cut this in half at the diagonal corners, this was so it fitted perfectly in Sheena's Taste of India Lattice Embossing Folder so the pattern went straight down the sides of the card if angled in the folder. I rubbed Silver Gilding Wax over this then stuck it in position on my base card.

I made a sentiment using Creative Expressions Foundation Card Plum and stamped the sentiment from Sheena's Dancing Skeleton set using Black Stazon, I cut it into a ribbon and placed it across the bottom left corner of my card. I then placed my Skeleton where I wanted him to be with his one foot coming out over the frame.

There you have the finished card. Please don't forget to tune in to HOCHANDA on Monday morning at 10 am where not only will you be able to view all the other fabulous creations from the design team, believe me they are stunning, you will also see Sheena's wonderful demos too.

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

Butterfly Skulls

Hello my crafting friends, so glad to be back with you, sorry for my absence but now you can see why lol! We have had new designs from our lovely Sheena of Day of the Dead. Sheena has now moved, along with Crafter's Companion, over to HONCHANDA  channel, you can watch the shows from 10 am on Monday 7th March.

These have been an absolute joy to work with, so many ideas, I know skeletons and skulls are not everyone's cup of tea but they can be suitable for many occasions,  but obviously not sympathy! 

This card is one of my favourites, the background was painted using Aquatints Bright and Beautiful set using just the Pink & Purple, though it does look Blue in this photo! I painted the middle Purple and top and bottom Pink, then quickly brushed some excess Purple paint over the Pink, I then slashed drops of water over to add some interest.

I stamped one of the corner stamps, using Black Stazon,  in each of the four corners for decoration.

For the skulls I die cut them out of Sheenas White stamping card and inked them up with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. Using Sheenas All a Flutter die I placed this over the skulls and embossed the skulls with the Butterfly die, this gave the skulls a lovely effect. I stamped just one of the skulls with the matching stamp and left the other un-stamped. I placed these on the card as seen.

I stamped some butterflies on White card and painted them with Pebeo Iridescent Paints then placed them on the card around the skulls.

There you have the finished card.

I hope you can look in on our Sheena, 10am Monday 7th March on 

HONCHANDA to watch all the demonstrations and view all the fabulous designs from the rest of the design team.

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx