Making s Striped Wax Seal

Making s Striped Wax Seal  

I wanted to have another try at pouring different colours to make stripes of wax for the background.  Using two colours isn't too tricky if you've got 2 little ovens, 3 is harder.  There are actually 3 shades behind the leaves, but the third one turned out to be quite similar to the first one once it had set so my juggling feat of keeping three spoons of wax melted enough to pour may not have had much point in the end

You do need to have all your colours hot and fluid enough for pouring at the same time, so its a case of warming and rewarming, moving the spoons off and on again in succession until all 3 are hot and ready. 

So, I decided to have another go at this kind of seal and try to take photos while I did! 

Load your spoons with 3 or 4 beads and keep moving them as they melt, I lie one on the metal of the oven when its not actually taking it's turn over the candle, it'll stay a bit warmer than if you take it off completely.  You can see on the photo that the lilac wax is almost ready and I've moved it onto the metal rim while the green wax takes a turn. After a few minutes like this I swap the pink and lilac over to get the lilac warm again

Take you time and make sure all three are ready at the same time, then

take the first colour off and replace with the one thats resting on the metal 

Quickly pour the first colour in a narrow(ish) stripe

Immediately pour a strip from your 2nd colour (which should be the one that's been longest on the oven) either above or below the first

Now pour the final strip of the 3rd colour, again either above or below the others

5. Stamp the seal into the wax as quickly as you can

You're aiming for something like in the picture below. 

Taking a photo took far too long for this to work well and the wax was setting before I stamped the seal into it - hence the messy edges and imperfect image,  I can still use this one though - I'll put it back in the seal and cut round the edge then melt more wax and push the cut-back seal into the new wax

 

Anyway, I added more wax and repeated the procedure without stopping for a photo and this is the result.

 

 Your need to work quickly, but it's not too difficult once you get everything lined up and the process sorted out.

 Here's another seal made bu pouring the colours in three blobs and then stamping with a mandala seal - it shows up better once highlighted with a silver pen

It's good to do a few in a sitting - your wax won't take as long to melt after the first one and you can add other beads in to change the colours or make more of the same.  I like the way the striped have workd out on the heart one in the middle!

The first and second seals are by Spellbinders, the mandala seal is by Craspier

 

Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate Link to the Spellbinders store
-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you c use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by.

 

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

Kathy xx

Mostly Pink and Green

Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

This week on the Daring Cardmakers there's a volour combo challenge 

Mostly Pink and Green 

We would love to see your creations featuring mainly these two colours, 

be they soft pastels or deep and vibrant! 

Create anything you like cards, tags, or 3D project. Its up to you!
Click Here for inspiration to get you thinking.

 I've used a lot of darker colours lately, so I was feeling like a change and went with lighter shades of the colourway, and I'm really pleased at how they worked.

I was playing around with wax seals last weekend - and my success rate was poor!  Its like that sometimes when you create, isn't it? Sometimes it just doesn't pan out as you'd hoped.  I managed to make 2 decent seals and even then one isn't so great.  The one I've used for this card was the only one I was really happy with.

It's the February Wax seal of the Month from Spellbinders and it has a lovely leafy design how I made it pn a separate post

 The green panel was made just by using lots of small ink pads and swooshing them around on smooth white cardstock.  It's my favourite technique for backgrounds, I like the variations in colours and how the depth of the colours changes.  Sometimes I give the inked piece a spray of water and/or move the ink around with a wet wipe.  

I've been using the Spellbinders Glimmer of the Month for February a lot (its so pretty!) and felt that its beautiful leafy sprigs design would look lovely on my green base, I chose to keep the 'lightness' going by using silver foil.  There's a die in this set that cuts the fancy edge, but OH was on a work call so rather than use my noisy die cutting machine I just cut around the leafy pattern with scissors.

I very nearly used yellow flowers for this, but with the DCM challenge in mind I went with quite a bright pink instead and I like the contrast,

The tiny flowers were made with a 'forget me not' flower die set, it's an old Spellbnders one so I can't add a link.

 I used:

  February Glimmer of the Month 

 leafy design plate and sentiment

Silver and Pink foils

February Wax seal of the Month

various shades of green and aqua ink pads

pink Nuvo mousse on thin (80gsm) white card for flowers

Forget-me-not die set

 a few pink gems

 

Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate Link to the Spellbinders store
-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you c use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by.

 

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

Kathy xx

  

 

A Purple Patch (Feb GOM)

   Hello

and welcome  to my little crafting place! 

 There are little shoots of daffodils and tulips and beautiful hellebores in flowerin the garden which is very brave, because so far February  has been wet, cold and pretty miserable! I've even wrapped a pashmina around my shoulders this morning for extra warmth

Still, getting busy with some craft projects is a good way to take one's mind off the dreariness, and I enjoyed making this two layered flapped card with the Spellbinders Glimmer of the Month for February and the lovely Lavender foil that comes too

  

 As seeing pots of winter pansies braving the weather always cheers the spirits,  I made some to add to this card as I thoughrt they'd work well with the sentiment I'd chosen

 

I used:

  February Glimmer of the Month 

2x leafy design plate and sentiment

Pansies cut using dies from

 Vivid Blooms Etched Dies 

Deep Purple card blank and extra for the upper flap

Scraps of white card inked in shades of lilac and yellow for the flowers and green for the leaves

Purple and yellow twine 

 

 Sentiment from  February Glimmer of the Month 

 

Pansies in the making:

   Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

 

 Kathy xx

Thanks for being a friend

 

Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

This time I've another little card for the Daring Cardmakers Monthly Sentimental Challenge

 

Be My VALENTINE

 (or celebrate enduring friendship with a GALENTINE)

I've used another of the seals I made using the December 2024 Wax Seal of the Month club kit from Spellbinders. 

 

 

This one is just for sending a hug  to a lovely friend!
The seal has an indented heart shape in the centre of a scalloped oval and is really pretty - especially when filled with tiny beads in pretty colours!

The sentiment is from a Glimmer set of useful sentiments, but unfortunatley doesn't seem to be available any longer

To make the the frame I used a scalloped rectangle die and a plain square one, and cut 3 layers.  These were glued together and adhered over my card, on which I'd first applied pale blue mousse to show in the aperture.

Lastly I strung a few small beads on silver thread and tied the ends of the thread on the reverse

 

If you are interested in any of the past monthly kits I've used, use my link to Spellbinders below and look in the Clubs section for 'Past Clubs' and you may be lucky enough to find them still available.

 I'll let you in on a secret - this section is a real treasure trove, and definitely worth hunting through for past gems!

 

Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate Link to the Spellbinders store
-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you c use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by.

 

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

Kathy xx

  

For My Valentine

Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

This week the Daring Cardmakers are back with a new kind of monthly challenge in the First Friday spot.

This year, on the first Friday of each month 
there will be a
Monthly Sentimental Challenge
We all find ourselves needing a card for a particular 
or special reason, don't we? And sometimes it would 
be good to have just the thing ready to send. 
So once a month we'll concentrate on a specific sentiment.

With it being the first friday oif February there was only 
one sentiment to choose, don't you think?

 

Be My VALENTINE

 (or celebrate enduring friendship with a GALENTINE)

As usual, we'll share our ideas and we'd love you
to join in and keep the inspiration going. 

 

Back in November I was sent what would be the December Wax Seal iof the Month club kit from Spellbinders.  I made a bunch of seals using it but didn't get round to using many of them on projects, It was the run up to Christmas and life was hectic!

But I knew I'd revisit this fab seal as it was going to be really useful for all those romantic occasions and even just for sending a hug  

 

The seal has an indented heart shape in the centre of a scalloped oval and is sooo pretty! 

I remembered that an earlier Glimmer of the Month Club had a 'cross stitch' plate and thought I could put these two things together and make a Valentine for my hubby

 

I made a tassel from gold thread and used an alphabet set from Sweet Dixie that he'd added to my Christmas Stocking.  Its such a lovely font, but oh my, is it fiddly!

 I matted the red fancy panel onto gold card, then onto a card blank of the same red card.

If you are interested in the monthly kits I've used, use my link to Spellbinders below and look in the Clubs section for 'Past Clubs' and you may be lucky enough to find them still available.

 I'll let you in on a secret - this section is a real treasure trove, and definitely worth hunting through for past gems!

 

Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate Link to the Spellbinders store
-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you c use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by.

 

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

Kathy xx

  

 

Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

This week the Daring Cardmakers are back with a new kind of monthly challenge in the First Friday spot.

This year, on the first Friday of each month 
there will be a
Monthly Sentimental Challenge
We all find ourselves needing a card for a particular 
or special reason, don't we? And sometimes it would 
be good to have just the thing ready to send. 
So once a month we'll concentrate on a specific sentiment.

With it being the first friday oif February there was only 
one sentiment to choose, don't you think?

 

Be My VALENTINE

 (or celebrate enduring friendship with a GALENTINE)

As usual, we'll share our ideas and we'd love you
to join in and keep the inspiration going. 

 

Back in November I was sent what would be the December Wax Seal iof the Month club kit from Spellbinders.  I made a bunch of seals using itbut didn't get round to using many of them on projects, It was the run up to Christmas and life was hectic!

But I knew I'd revisit this fab seal as it was going to be really useful for all those romantic occasions and even just for sending a hug 
The seal has an indented heart shape in the centre of a scalloped oval and is sooo pretty! 

I remembered that an earlier Glimmer of the Month Club had a 'cross stitch' plate and thought I could put these two things together and make a Valentine for my hubby

I made a tassel from gold thread and used an alphabet set from Sweet Dixie that he'd added to my Christmas Stocking.  Its such a lovely font, but oh my, is it fiddly!

 

I matted the red fancy panel onto gold card, then onto a card blank of the same red card.

If you are interested in the monthly kits I've used, use my link to Spellbinders below and look in the Clubs section for 'Past Clubs' and you may be lucky enough to find them still available.

 I'll let you in on a secret - this section is a real treasure trove, and definitely worth hunting through for past gems!

 

Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate Link to the Spellbinders store
-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you c use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by.

 

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

Kathy xx

  

 

Flight of Fancy

 Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

This week the Daring Cardmakers are back after our break with this challenge:

IN FLIGHT

We would love to see your IN FLIGHT creations;
Flying things, Flights of Fancy, Time Flies... Birds,
Planes, Balloons, Magic carpets....
Create anything you like cards, tags,
or 3D project. Its up to you!
Here’s some inspiration to get you thinking.
Get in touch if you are interested in seeing your work on
our blog - we are always looking for guest designers
and new teamies who would love to...
Create - Inspire - Share!

So today I'm sharing the card I've made - and its my first project using something from the Spellbinders 2024Advent Calendar I picked up in the sale!

I think I managed to get it at an even lower price in the sale just before Christmas than it is now.  I thought it would be the perfect little helper for getting me through these nasty depressing winter months. The very first door opened to reveal a sweet little hot air balloon die set - perfect for this challenge!

  

I made up two of the balloons, then decided to make an aperture card with them.  The sunset or maybe sunris background is just made with various shades of ink, but I added some hand cut vellum 'clouds' before adding the balloons. The frame was cut from a piece of dark teal card and raised from the main card lauer using some offcuts of thick card'

 For the bunting I hand cut triangles of leftovers from when I cut the background down to size and some blue twine

Die set used:

Spellbinders 2024 Advent Calendar

 

Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate Link to the Spellbinders store
-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you c use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by.

 

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

Kathy xx

 

Glimmering Sprigs of Spring (Feb GOM, WSOM)

   Hello

and welcome  to my little crafting place! 

Having just about survived January month, I'm trying hard to look forward, beyond the cold drary days of February towards my favourite time of the year - Spring

 

I've been using the Spellbinders Glimmer of the Month for February and it really lifts the spirits with its beautiful leafy sprigs design

For my first project with this set I decided to go for a dark green card blank and gold foil.  I simply used the beautiful glimmer plate for this card, but in the  set you also get a cutting die to cut round the tops of the leaves and some lovely sentiments - one of which I used on this card

The February Wax seal of the Month from Spellbinderslso has a Springtime feel, and decided to make one to use on this card.  

I poured gold wax into the warmed seal and used a heated scraping tool to scrape oiff the excess. Step 2 was to stamp the motif into a mid green mix of wax and step 3 was to highlight with shiny gold leafing pen

 I used:

  February Glimmer of the Month 

 leafy design plate and sentiment

February Wax seal of the Month

Dark Green card blank

Green and Gold twine and light green pearl

 

More examples of this seal

 

  Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

 

 Kathy xx