You're a Star

This was quite a labour intensive card and a bit different from any I've done before but it gave me the chance to try something new  - weld together two different digi stamps to get a similar result as masking a stamped image and stamping  a second image to look as if it's behind it.

These are the two stamps I used.

I read how to do it a little while ago but haven't tried it before.

I  used the photo programme, 'Gimp' that I downloaded when I bought my recent watermark as that allows me to work with layers and after a few attempts I managed to sit the little 'Ride em Cowboy' stamp from Digi Doodles on to a dinosoar stamp from Digi Sparkle. I had to do a lot of resizing because the stamps were differently proportioned but I finally managed it and I thought it would suit this week's Promarker challenge which is 'Prehistoric.'

Once I had printed my efforts out I realised I had to draw over the cowboy as the lines were lighter than those of the dinosaur which loked a little odd!  When I had done that, with a very fine black marker,  I scanned the image into my computer  so that I could print it out and then wait for the ink to dry so I could use my Promarkers.  I said it was labour intensive!

I enjoyed colouring the dinosaur to match the striped and spotty papers from my stash. I used Marsh green, Olive green and Light Lime green to colour him. I then used Ivory, Vanilla, Blush, Ice Grey1 and Sienna to colour in the little boy. His star badge was cut from a piece of star patterned card.

The speech bubble was cut using my Cricut and SCAL and was backed with a slightly larger version in the spotty green paper. The sentiment was from the new LOTV selection of  sentiment stamps.

The mat was also cut with SCAL and shaded with a pesto ink pad and a shaving brush over a moon shaped mask. It was edged with a bronze Kraylon pen.   I then cut the image out and shaped it before mounting it onto the  mat  with silicone glue to give it a bit of movement,  placing  the little boy just in front of the moon.

I finished off the card with three little card candy circles to match the dinosaur's lighter colouring.

Phew!!!

I am entering this into the Promarker Challenge - 'Prehistoric'
and Here Come the Boys' first challenge - Anything Goes.

Precious Baby

I was making this card when I saw Pink Gem's challenge for 'Pearls and Swirls' so I thought it might fit the description.

The stamp is a digi stamp that I have had for some time and I can't remember where it came from I'm afraid.

The flowers around the card are made with a Clarity Stamp and coloured with Promarkers, as is the main image, with tiny pearls in the centre of each flower.
The pearls are from my stash and the swirls cut with my Cricut and a swirl cut with SCAL from mirriboard to match the image and sentiments' backing.  The mirriboard does not scan very well but does look nice in reality. The sentiment was computer generated.

I'm late in posting this because I have been watching that wedding!

Wasn't it lovely?

Lattice Card

Hi again everyone

Well- we  didn't get to go on our  balloon ride again today as it was too windy again! I think it's going to be a long time before we actually find a day that's suitable at this rate. So - I decided to do a bit of crafting instead.

This card was made from an SGV file and cut with SCAL on my Cricut. I
bought the file from Sue Playing with Paper's webpage. The file cuts a card with a latticed front and leaves  a square mat in the centre. It's alovely file and I think I'm going to use it a lot - I have already thought of several different ways  I can use this particular card front.

For this particular card I backed the latticed front with a piece of blue and white  shaded vellum that I have had in my stash for a long time. I then made a flower using the same method that I used in my tutorial further down  this blog, although this one is a bit bigger than the little ones I made before and it's very three dimensional.

I edged the petals with  pale blue stickles to give them a frosted appearance and to pick up the blue of the backing paper and I also edged the sentiment with the same colour.

My computer seems to be on a go slow today and it has taken me ages to upload this card so, although it hasn't reproduced as well as I would have liked in the picture, I think I'm going to leave it as it is  and hope you can use your imagination a bit. lol

This is also the first time I have used the  new Watermark that I bought from Whimsy stamps to go with the signature below that came with it.

Hope you like my efforts of today and that you have all had a lovely Bank Holiday Monday.

Happy Easter Everyone

Hope everyone has had as nice a day as I have. My husband and I shared a lovely long lunch with my daughter and her family and her very best friend (she calls me her surrogate mum) who is staying here with her husband and little boy from their home in Rhodes.

I got home to find the signature that I bought last week from Whimsy stamps had arrived by e-mail  and I couldn't wait to try out how it looked. So - no card today, just a new signature! It was really large so I followed the information given on the DC forum by Kathleen Mc. last Thursday on how to make it a bit smaller - hope this size doesn't look too ostentatious!

I also bought a watermark to use on my cards - that will have to wait until I've caught up on my zzzzzzzzzzs and made some more cards,  as I am very tired after all the talking I have done today.
Let's hope the sun shines again tomorrow.

Poppies - White on White

This card was inspired by the Promarkers Challenge, 'White on White.'

Ingredients:

Poppy stamps by Sheena Douglass

Sentiment Stamp LOTV

Promarkers used:

Poppy and Magenta for the petals

Apricot for the petal edges

Black and Moss Green for flower centres

Moss and Olive Green for the leaves

Pesto Adirondack stamp pad for the swirls
The white Poppy mat was edged with a black Promarker

The backing mat was made with a Martha Stewart Punch, the sentiment was mounted on a white  paper flower and it was all mounted on a white 6x6 card.

Adding a script in Paint for watermarks

I saw a question on the DC Forum today about how to add a font for use in Paint when making a watermark for a card - which made me want to know the answer. I have seen lots of lovely fonts used to watermark other people's cards but didn'thave anything like them in my fonts folder - neither did I know how to add them.

I had a look on UTube and found the following tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLReYRkVG1s

I followed what it said and managed to download a script from the site they suggest. The font I chose is called Precious. I also learned how to add other fonts that I have saved at various times but not managed to add to my computer font folder!!

I am uploading an old card of mine which I used to try out my new font so you can see what I have managed to do today - thanks to JustAng who asked a question that I didn't even know I wanted to know the answer to. lol

I have used  black which shows up against the background  but of course it can be any colour you choose from the colour box.

Time to Celebrate

Happy Weekend Everyone.

This is a card that I made today which I think would be lovely for a little football fan.  I have more than one in mind!

I would like to enter this card into the latest

 'I love Promarker  - make your own embelleshments' challenge.

The main embelleshment was made using a Flowersoft stamp from the Moments in Time range called 'Man of the Match.'

The image was stamped and  coloured with Promarkers  with the boys  standing on  a patch of grass  green flowersoft.

It was then cut out and shaped to make my embellishment before being fixed in relief with silicone glue onto  a shield shape embellishment  which was made by cutting two shapes with my  Cricut, one from gold paper and another slightly larger from white card and finished with gold adhesive stones.

The papers used were from my stash and the sentiment was made by stamping in black on to a plain matching blue paper which was then cut out and mounted onto another circular shape cut with my cricut, in white, and in turn layered onto a mat with vertical stripes to compliment the horizontal stripes of the backing paper. I finished it off with some card candy in a toning blue.

I hope you like it!



From Balloons to Blackberries

Yesterday my husband and I were booked to go on a hot air balloon ride which was a Christmas present from his son. Well - despite the lovely weather apparently the wind was too high so it was cancelled and we have had to re-book. So I decided to do a little crafting instead - no surprise there then!

I had another go at one of Sheena Douglass's Paint Fusion projects. I actually had two attempts but  I haven't decided how to use them yet so it they aren't mounted on cards but must admit to being quite pleased with my  blackberries so wanted to post them to see what you all thought.

 Sheena encourages you to go over the line of the stamps as the paint covers up all the lines but I am afraid that they still seem to show when the image is enlarged online. You will have to take my word for the fact that in 'real life' you can't see any blurred edges!

I'd love to know what you think - should I keep trying? lol

First attempt:

This has been worked straigh on to a piece of acrylic suitable paper without a background.  This is actually edged all the way round with a bronze pen but for some reason the scanner won't show all four sides and has made them look unequally edged!

Second attempt:

I stamped the leaves onto a piece of acrylic suitable paper after having shaded the background with a denim ink pad and a 'shaving brush' and painted them following the instructions on Sheena's DVD. (well sort of!)

The blackberries are made with a thumb print of shocking pink ink which is then covered with little circles made in dark blue ink and using a pencil with an eraser on the end! The highlights and other bits are then added with a normal paint brush.

First Attempts at Sheena Douglass's Paint Fusion Technique!

I've been wanting to have a go at this technique for ages and have had some Sheena Douglass stamps in my stash waiting for the day to come - but until today didn't have the time to spend.  I have really enjoyed the afternoon.

I can't pretend it's not a messy affair - at least for me it has been today but I hope as I get better at it I might make a little less mess.

I have made two cards - the first one I did, the Poppy card, I painted on a piece of Acrylic suitable paper and I think it worked quite well. I think it would have been better with a background but I was in too much of a hurry to get started. Then I realised I didn't have the right colour paints for the second card I wanted to make so went to my local craft shop and - Oh dear! There were lots of the Pebeo  Acrylics there that Sheena Douglass recommends so of course I had to buy some more pots  and then some mount board just fell into the basket too...............

So - for the second attempt, the Sweet Peas, I made a background on a piece of mount board using the method I saw in a Sheena Douglass demonstration.

I've posted them both below with some information about how they were made. I do hope you like them as I am feeling quite pleased with myself that I have managed to create something that looks a little like they are supposed to look. lol


Poppies

I used some scarlet acrylic paint that I have had for ages mixed with some red Pebeo acrylic for one of the colours. I also used a yellow for the outer side of the brush to get the dual colours for the petels. I found it quite difficult to get the right technique but hope I'll get better with practice!

The leaves are done in Forest Green and Yellow Pebeo acrylic and the centres were made with a stencil brush using Forest Green, Yellow and Black.

I edged the paper with a black felt tip pen and mounted it straight on to a cream card.


Sweet Peas

This time I made a background on the mount board by first painting it with a dark blue acrylic paint.  When it was dry I made some vertical marks on it using a cotton bud and petroleum jelly. Then I painted it again with  Antique White acrylic paint and left it to dry again. As it dries the jelly acts as a resist and when it's completely dry I rubbed it with a tissue to make the distressed background. I thought it looked a bit like an old garden shed!

I didn't have a pink paint so tried painting the flowers a lilac blue with a soft yellow edge but when they dried I didn't like the effect at all, That's when I realised I could just paint over them again using different colours.

This time I made a pink by mixing the red and antique white and also used a white edge. Because this was painted over the blue and yellow  it ended up  a really interesting shade!

Sometimes mistakes are good. lol