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