The Resistance

Love the Muse album, but I'm not so sure about the (resist) techniques I've been playing with this week - all thanks to our Daring Cardmakers Inky Princess (Svenja) this week!

   simply ir-resistable 

- just make a card using some kind of resist technique.
Resist Technique has fascinated me ever since I first came across it. I think it’s just this magical moment when an image appears from a white background – like in the photography-lab back in school.
And there’s so many different ways to achieve the effect: you could use resist-ink like VersaMark, you could do an emboss-resist technique (ironing the embossed bits off or leaving them on, just as you like) or even use some wax to keep the colour off your paper (even a candle might do there).

The  Design Team have some great cards to share this week and you can see them all HERE

I found some interesting ideas, techniques and videos on the web when I went looking for inspiration, but I wasn't particularity happy with the results I got.  After all, when doing something that is going to be viewed on screen, you need them to show up well and some of the results are fab irl, but don't show so well on a photo.
So, with time running out, I reluctantly put those aside and resorted to a technique I've used before to make this

 Info

For this effect you apply plenty of ink to the upper section of an embossing folder, insert your card, then run it through your die cutting machine. The ink transfers to the cardstock in the "background" sections of the folder, so that the raised parts of the design stay white. 

Its not easy to get even coverage with this, but actually some variation in the depth of colour gives quite a nice effect, it might look a bit 'flat' if was too even.

I've not tried it, but I suppose you could try to use a couple of inks.  It might be tricky to get a good coverage, but maybe worth a try!

I cut a square aperture in the card blank and trimmed down the embossed panel before adhering to the inside

Then I inked up another piece of card, making the ink colour rather stronger and cut a frame to fit the front of the card and leaving a white border for the birdhouse image.  I should have used a larger square die for this - the border looked a bit too wide for my liking, but I think I drew attention away from it by using the sentiment around the corner (don't tell anyone it was a "fix", will you ;))

The flowers are made with die cuts of different sizes, which I've shaped with a ball tool and layered up

Tools and Materials

White card blank plus extra of the same card

Embossing folder (Crafters Companion)

Tumbled Glass Distress Ink 

Flower (white parts) Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions die - sorry, can't find the name

Flower Centres - from a couple of Memory Box die sets

Leafy Swirls die (Spellbinders)

Gems, Ice Stickles Glitter Glue

Sentiment - made with decal paper (Crafty Computer Paper)

That's it for this time, I shall now return to the sofa and nurse my cold!
Have a great weekend. Thanks for looking

 

High Flying Birthday

This is my Bubbly Funk project this week, using stencils from the Bubbly Funk shop, which in case you didn't know is sadly closing soon.  You'll get 50% off your order if you enter the code you’ll see on the shop’s home page.

This week I've made a card with one of the menfolk in our family in mind.

I won't go into detail here, because you can find out more about how I made this card on the Bubbly Blog

Tools and Materials

Stencils:   Planes - Carta Bella and Garden with Watering Can - Tando Creative

Various Ink Pads Including: Memento Luxe Versacraft cubes and Veramagic dewdrops

Glitter Gel applied to the clouds (Creative Imaginations)

The word "birthday" was pc generated

"HAPPY" is die cut (Memory Box)

 

That's all for this time, thank you for visiting, I hope you'll take a minute to leave a comment :)

Geometric Patterns

Zuzana's challenge to the Daring Cardmakers this week is to use some kind of geometric pattern on our cards. Zuz says:
"You can choose your pattern as a background or focal point. It's entirely up to you."
I wanted to make some sort of overlay panel of "holes" raised above a coloured pattern which would show through, like the trellis window and doors that you get in warmer countries than this one!  

This would have been fairly straightforward if I'd had a suitable die to use, but I didn't, next I checked the Silhouette Design store, but didn't see anything I liked enough to buy - so I realised I'd have to make something myself. 

Google Image Search is my best friend at times like this, but still, it took ages to find something simple enough to make into a template - there are loads of lovely designs, but often too complicated to use on something as small as a greetings card.  I came across the "Flower of Life" patterns and loved the intertwined circles, then found this really simple version which I knew I could use - if I could just figure out how to cut it as a whole card front.  I think I was having a particularly "blonde" day, as it took several attempts before I eventually realised how to do it!

The background, on the other hand took a couple of minutes - just a piece of dampened card, a few scribblings with some Gelatos, then rubbing the colours around with a wet finger until I was happy with how it looked. 
I cut the upper panel to fit over the card, added a matching ribbon and double bow then adhered over the coloured background with silicone glue.
I think this will be good for MiL's Mother's day card, so I'll be adding a sentiment to that effect later.
I couldn't decide whether to add some pearls, but I quite like it as it is - what do you think?

 Tools and Materials

White card blank, extra for upper panel

Gelatos to make water-coloured background on card blank

Matching patterned ribbon

Silhouette Cameo to cut the pattern

Collal 3D glue

It doesn't look as though it took most of the day to make, does it?  Hey ho!  At least I have the template now and I'm sure there are other ways I can use it!

Thanks for visiting, it would be fab if you'd leave a message :)
 
 

Pillow Box and Rose

By now you may heard the sad news that after more than 10 years of selling crafty goodies, Bubbly Funk is closing.  Caroline has taken the decision because she has so many things going on in her life just now - not least of which is the exciting prospect of her wedding to prepare for.  So it really is a mix of sad and happy!

So right now, you can get 50% off your order from Bubbly Funk if you enter the code you’ll see on the shop’s home page.

This is the little project I've shared on the Bubbly Funk blog this week, it's a pillow box, for which I've used various paints, a stencil and a DoCrafts die

Info:

I started by giving a sheet of white A4 card an all over coat of Silver Starlight paint using a foam brush to smoosh it around.  Next I taped the  Prima Thread Background on top and used a few different stencil paints in shades like Rose (which is more of a mulberry colour), and a blue (a sort of bluebell colour).  I've not collected many of these yet, so basically, they were the ones I had available!

With the stencil still in place I used a brush and more of the Silver Starlights paint to flick some dots and drip some blobs onto the card.

 I filled in the white space that the stencil hadn't covered with some of the same reddy-bluey-mauvey paint just in case it might be handy later when I came to make something.

Once it was dry, I looked around for something to do and realised it was big enough to make one of these little pillow boxes using a DoCrafts die.  It's quite small, you can fit it along the short side of a sheet of A4. 

 It would make me very happy if they would make this die in a larger size  :)

I used that strip of spare, coloured card to make the rose for embellishing the finished box.  As the "wrong" side of the strip was still white I just swooshed some ink in a toning colour over to conceal the white.  I cut the petals I needed with a punch and dipped the ends in silver glitter paste before forming them into the rose,  The green leaves add the contrasting colour needed to really lift the finished box

This is the Stencil I used: Thread Background (Prima)

 

 

 

That's all for this time, thank you for visiting, I hope you'll take a minute to leave a comment :)

 

Happy Crafting

Doing the Lamb-ada

As far as I know, there are no Mardi Gras carnivals here in the UK - but there are a fair few Pancake Races celebrating Shrove Tuesday, including the famous  Olney Pancake Race, which is thought to have been first run in 1445

Anyway, Miri decided it was a good time to have a little carnival of our own over on The Daring Cardmakers:

Carnival season has just finished … but we hope  that you will find many more reasons to celebrate, dress up, behave a bit crazy  and have fun with your loved ones this year.
So show us a real

PARTY ANIMAL!

Put an animal on your card … even better when it’s celebrating 

and/or in a good mood!

There are some very cute animals over on the blog - and some look very "morning-after-the-night-before" - if you know what I mean!

Well, my little woolly sheep are on their way to a party and hoping that their favourite dance - the lambada, obviously - will feature during the celebrations.

 Info

First step was to print the sentiment on to the card blank, then stencil the bunting using yellow, orang and red inks

I die cut the sheep, embossing the upper woolly layer then fixed the sections together with a bit of cereal packet between the layers

I added the facial features and a few bits of black on feet, tail and ears with a black pen.

The Party hat's are hand-cut triangles of card, decorated with "pompom" pearls, the balloons are also hand cut and have a layer of Glossy Accents.  The strings are Baker's Twine

To finish I drew in some grass with a fine pen

Stencil: Summer Flags (Echo Park)

Die: Lamb (Quickutz)

Embossing folder: top section of a Christmas folder from Crafter's Companion

Recently I've found myself revisiting my collection of small dies - the ones I bought when I first dipped my toe into the world of die-cutting - I had a pink Quickutz tool which you had to push the handles together to operate (it was always tricky to get the dies to cut!), and then I bought a little Sidekixk which had a handle (much easier) and was really a mini version of ones on sale now - it only cut small dies as the plates were around 5x10cms

Do you remember those machines?  Now I have an ebosser which is not only operates electrically, but has A4 plates!

Anyway, I'd actually gone into the box of small dies to look for the set of Cuttlebug animals, then remembered the Quickutz Lamb....and of course there are a good few sheep and lamb puns on offer, aren't there?  Hence the lambada - quite fitting as it's a Brazilian dance, and Rio has the most famous carnivals!

Enough of my ramblings!

I hope you'll take a minute to visit the DCM Blog - it really is a fun one this week!

Thanks for visiting, please leave a message - it's always good to know I'm not just talking to myself (I do enough of that as it is)

A Bunch of Balloons

My project for the Bubbly Funk Blog this week is this bunch of heart shaped balloons, made using a Memory Box stencil and lots of inks and paints.

I apologise for the photo - it was an absolute mare to photograph; the basic card has a soft pearlescent finish and I just couldn't get the lighting right 

There is a bit more info on how I made this and what I used over on the Bubbly Funk Blog - there are so many layers of ink and paint that I can't quite remember all the things I used!

This was going to be a one-layer project but I couldn't resist cutting them out and adding some dimension!

I used:

Lots of ink; Red, Rhubarb Stalk, Elderberry, Black (those are the ones I do remember!)

Acrylic paint (Claret)

Silver Starlight Paint

Glitter Gel (Red , Silver)

Fabric Weave Embossing folder (Crafters' Companion)

Silver gel Pen, Tiny gems

Stencils:

Plush Hearts (Memory Box),   Thread Background  (Prima)

  Plush Hearts - Memory Box

Prima Thread Background

The Bubbly Funk shop has a fantastic array of not only stencils and all the things you need to go with them but also now stocks some rather lovely dies..... - definitely worth popping over to.

That's all for now, thank you for visiting, I hope you'll take a minute to leave a comment :)

Bubbly Funk Shop is HERE

Bubbly Funk Blog is HERE

Hearts and Splodges

I've made another card using the February sketch over on The Sketch File blog.  It seemed right to use the sketch for something a bit "in the moment", what with Valentines day being just around the corner

Info:

The background is stencilled Prima Thread Background with Silver Starlight paint

I added a few "blobs" of the silver paint by flicking from a brush

The large black heart was embossed with Tiny Hearts (Cuttlebug)

The smaller hearts are cut with an old Quickutz die, the red one is embossed with one of the old "Goosebumps" folders also from Quickutz

I used a MS border punch along both edges of a strip of black card and woumd silver cord around the strip

The silver card strip is cut with one of the dies from is a "Creative Dies" set (Craft Stash UK) and trimmed with glittery hearts (the tiny punch came from Tesco I think)

To finish I added a silver cord bow, some small gems and pearls and a few of the "waste" hearts you get from that border punch used above.

I shrunk the LO from the sketch, and used it in the top corner

February Sketch

That's it.  I love this Thread stencil, it makes a fabulous background - a lot of white space can be a bit scary sometimes, but this just gives it a bit of a lift, even when it's actually quite subdued and pale, like with this silvery paint

Thanks for looking, it would be great if you'd leave a message

February's Elelental Inspiration

As it's the first Friday of the month,  over on the Daring Cardmakers blog today is Elemental Inspiration Picture day. 
Leo has chosen a lovely photo which is light and airy but with the romantic feel you'd probably expect with Valentines day just around the corner! 
We've also got a new Guest Designer working with us this month so I hope you'll head over and pay the blog a visit.

I'd just taken delivery of a parcel of goodies from The Craftz Boutique (soooooo sad they are closing :() - they always wrap up your goodies in pretty tissue paper, and on this occasion it was a zebra print, wasn't it? So one element just chose itself!
 
Apart from the zebra print pattern, I also chose  to incorporate the heart in a square picture frame, some text and the Orchid, with that fabulous shot of bright pink.

Here's my card:

 Info:

I cut a square frame using a nested die set (Tonic)  covered it with some of the zebra print tissue paper, and left it to dry

I couldn't find "the right" (you know how it is) sort of text print paper, so I decided to have a go at making my own, and came up with this, which I printed out onto Bazzill Diamond White card

Next I made the inner, silver frame using a die from the Heart nested set by Die'Namics and some dull silver card

Adding some scraps of chipboard for dimension I adhered the frame over the text and then fixed the zebra frame over the whole thing

The card blank is a 15cm square with a square of Bazzill Bling Black card for the mat for the frame section

As I couldn't find a suitable die or punch, I hand cut the pieces for the orchids (which is why they aren't particularly good) from scraps of card and glued in place to finish

That's all for this time, I hope you like it.
Thank you for visiting, please leave a message if you can


 

Enjoy the Ride

Result!
I've found a home for the hot air balloon I initially made last week to use on my Daring Cardmakers Balloon-themed card.  I had to make one in brighter colours because the first attempt didn't show up on the background I'd made.  I could never be accused of forward planning, eh?
Anyhoooo.  I realised the balloon would work perfectly as one of the "circle" elements on the current Sketch File LO, so here it is - and this time I stuck to the same paper collection to ensure everything went together nicely!

The Sketch
 I did away with the usual card blank and used the large circle to make a circular, rocking card.  A bit of "poetic license" taken to use the balloon as the smaller circle on the LO, and the 2 clouds as the larger one in the foreground - well, sketches are all about interpretation, I reckon! 

February Sketch

 I used:

Circular card blank made using XCut Giant Circles die set

Papers;  "Glistening" 6x6 paper pad (Authentique)

Hot Air Balloon and clouds from "Build a Scene set" (XCut)

"Enjoy" die by Sue Wilson
Striped circle embellishments (XCut Tiny Circle Punch)

Toning flat-backed pearl 

The trick with these cards is to get them to stand up straight when you want them to - so there's quite a few bits of chipboard "ballast" hiding beneath the clouds and the 3 domed circles to balance out most of the elements being towards the right side of the card.

That's it for this time, thank you so much for visiting, I hope you'll take a minute to leave a message :)