''Distress It' with Woodware and Crafty Cardmakers

Hi All
There is a new challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and More, where Lin is our host.
She is looking for you to 'Distress It' and not just with inks, plenty of distressed edges.
One of our sponsors for this challenge is Woodware and as I am still filling in for Siobhan again this week I have a good excuse for the lateness of my post, Tuesday is Siobhan's day to share.

Now I have to admit I don't do a great deal of 'Distressing' apart from with inks, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. But then isn't that the whole point of a challenge, to take you out of your comfort zone?

The alphabet background was handmade using my Creative Palette and a stencil.
I really must learn to write on the back to tell me what inks, or paints I used when I make these little pieces of Art. As it was taken from my stash of papers I have absolutely no idea what I used now.

I have paper pieced the poinsettia stamp using papers available from Woodware, having first 'distressed' them with some water and a little brute force lol.

The berries have been coloured using a White Gelly Roll Glaze pen,

and I added a few extra tiny dots with a black micron pen.

As you can see I even managed to distress the edges of the main panels, as requested by Lin.
Please don't forget to check out what the rest of my Teamies have come up with to inspire you, and also the Woodware blog where there is a new piece of inspiration every day this week.
Thanks for stopping by, any comments are always greatly appreciated.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

Woodware wants 'Speedy Cards for Christmas'

 Hi All
I had another fabulous class last Saturday where we were playing with Pearlex, a favourite of mine with Christmas in mind.
I'm not much of a one for glitter and glitz, but I do like a bit of subtle glimmer and that is certainly what you get with mica powders in all of their various forms.
I took a selection of fabulous Magenta stamp sets so there were plenty of quiet moments in amongst the coffee and cake, while they were all busily colouring their heat embossed images using the Pearlex Watercolour Palettes.

Image stamped and embossed on to Kraft Card and then painted with a combination of dye based ink  and Watercolour Pearlex.

As luck would have it these cards are also perfect for the Woodware challenge which this week is 'Speedy Cards for Christmas'.

 Image stamped and embossed on Kraft Card and then painted with Watercolour Pearlex.

 Purple background card embossed using a folder and then highlighted with Metallic Wax.

 Stamped and embossed on blue card stock and then painted with bleach and Watercolour Pearlex. Background papers from my stash along with a button and some bakers twine.

Siobhan is currently away from her craft room, so I have stepped into the breach.
I do love filling in for Siobhan, but I really will have to get Dorothy to let me know a little sooner next time lol.
Now I know that my cards may not look like the speediest cards on the block but the hardest part was actually deciding which bits of paper and embossing from my bits box to use for each one.

Handmade background paper from my stash, image stamped and embossed on blue card stock and then painted with bleach and watercolour Pearlex. Sentiment from Hobby Art.

Image stamped and embossed on white card stock, painted with dye based ink and Watercolour Pearlex. Dry embossed panel from stash along with tiny gold brads and Hobby Art sentiment.

 Image stamped and embossed onto black card stock painted with Pearlex. Die cut frame, dry embossed and stamped panels from stash. Sentiment by Hobby Art.

Image stamped and embossed on Watercolour card stock and painted with dye based ink. Stamped and gold embossed panel from stash and sentiment from Stampin Up.

I also showed the girls how to use the Dreamweaver Mica Powders with Versamark ink to create stunning stamped backgrounds. The tiny stamped and embossed squares are painted with Watercolour Pearlex.

Don't forget to stop by the Woodware Blog tomorrow to see what else the Team have come up with to inspire your Christmas card making.

I have tried to be a good girl this year and make a few Christmas cards each month. It has certainly helped, but if I get stuck these are a great way to make several cards at one sitting. 

Always check out your bits box, it is amazing what you can find in there that will make a card without too much extra effort. 

Have a great day, happy crafting.

Hugs Kimx

Just a note.....to cheer you up.

Hi All
I have recently had the need to send a card to cheer someone up, so of course I picked some flower stamps.

 This first card was actually made a number of years ago for a Q and A in a magazine.

I stamped and embossed the bunch of flowers (I think that it is a Stampendous stamp) onto white card stock and then sponged the image with dye based inks.
After painting the leaves and flowers with thin undiluted bleach I covered the whole thing with crystal embossing powder which gives a wonderful sparkly finish. I'm not sure that it shows up very well here though.

I tore around the image to leave a nice white edge and then mounted it over some strips of torn paper. The final embellishment is some peel-off squares.

The second card has been sent to cheer up my Uncle and was made using the Embossed Resist technique and some Penny Black flowers.

I inked the floral image using assorted Cat's Eye pigment inks. After stamping and embossing this first image I stamped it again to the side of the original but without re-inking the stamp.

The final step is 'Just a Note' randomly stamped and embossed in black over the entire panel.
I trimmed and mounted the panel onto come co-ordinating card stock and then finished it off with some peel-off lines.
I hope that my cards will bring a smile to the faces of a couple of worthy people. They should last a little bit longer than a bunch of flowers.
Maybe they will brighten your day as well.
Happy Crafting.
Hugs Kimx

Happy Birthday Matthew

Hi All,
Just a quick post tonight as I have several parcels to get packed up ready to take to the Post Office tomorrow, and the time is getting away from me. Where does the evening disappear to so quickly?

I have had several cards for 'Little People' to make recently, including this one for the son of a former work colleague.

The image is a pre-coloured topper from Lili of the Valley.

I die cut it using a circular Nestie and mounted it over a scalloped circle of Kraft card.
I added some sponged ink while the image was still inside the die and also some faux stitching.

The sentiment is from Hobby Art and the number has been cut using a new Dreamweaver die set that I recently purchased.
Better get back to my packing or there will be a lot of disappointed people when the postman arrives.
Happy Crafting.
Hugs Kimx

Poppies for Remembrance

Hi All
It's my turn to post on the Hobby Art Blog, and so I thought that I would make a card using one of their fabulous poppy stamps to commemorate Remembrance Day.

Of course it also fits very nicely with the new Monthly Challenge that Jenny has just launched.
For the first challenge she is asking you to make a card/project using the theme of Poppies and/or Remembrance.

The main panel on my card has been created using one of the Poppy stamps from the Poppy Scene It set.
I have stamped and embossed the images on to a piece of handmade background paper and then coloured it using Distress Inks.

The sentiment is also from the same set although I masked off the embellishment above it when inking the stamp.

My background paper has been created using my trusty Gelli Plate, some green and gold acrylic paint and a stencil.

I sponged this panel with brown Distress Ink before dry embossed it using an embossing folder.
Once embossed I passed the same brown ink pad over the entire piece which highlighted the embossed images.

Hopefully you can see the gold acrylic paint a little better in this photograph.
I added some tiny peel-off dots around the oval die cut frame and also some hand drawn dots at the side of the stems on the stamped panel.
I hope that you will join us in our new challenge, but remember that you must use Hobby Art stamps.
There are lots of lovely ones to choose from, so I shall look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Happy stamping, and have a great weekend.
Hugs Kimx

Christmas for Kids Big and Small

Hi All
I'm filling in for Siobhan again this week over at Woodware where Dorothy has challenged us to make something Christmas - for Kids Large or Small.

I picked one of Francoise stamps FRS252 Huge Santa for my card.

It works brilliantly with Paper Piecing, and I don't care how big, or small a kid you are, who doesn't want to see Santa at Christmas?

The background has been made using my trusty Creative Palette, some dye based inks and bubble wrap.

The papers used on 'Santa' are from my stash and I will be able to finish several other similar cards using the leftover letters. That really is the beauty of Paper Piecing, you get more than one card from your stamped images.
The Faux Candi is made from small punched circles of matching card stock.

I added faux stitching and some 'Puffy Stuff' to Santa's hat along with some glitter. Even I have to have a bit of glitter at Christmas time lol.
Please pop along to the Woodware Blog and see what the rest of the team have come up with to inspire you.
Happy Crafting
Hugs Kimx

Thank You

Hi All,
I've just spent the last few days unpacking and trying to catch up with a few things after my holiday, so this is just a quick post to say thank you to Janice and Andy for letting me stay .....and play.

I am back at work now, in fact you should be reading this as I am busy serving customers with their morning coffee.

I hope that I can manage to get through the day without a 'granny nap'. It is always so difficult to get back into a routine after a few days off.
Hugs Kimx  

Add a touch of Charm at Crafty Cardmakers.

Hi All
We have a new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and More where our Host Josephine is looking for a charm to be added to your project.

I chose a piece of handmade background from my stash and stamped and embossed the fabulous  CRR175 Leaf Background by Stampendous  over it using the same colours.

Unfortunately my camera has not shown it up terribly well. Maybe I need to ask Father Christmas for a new one!!

I fussy cut a couple of separate leaves, and added a small leaf charm.

Why not stop by and see what the rest of my lovely Teamies have come up with to inspire you.
Happy Crafting.
Hugs Kimx
 

Christmas Collage at Woodware

Hi All
I'm hoping that Blogger has been kind this morning and that this post has gone through as scheduled.
I am filling in for the lovely Siobhan for a couple of weeks so that she can have some time off.
The challenge at Woodware this week is Christmas Collage so I consulted Google for a definition, and this is what I came up with.

• A composition of miscellaneous materials and objects
• An assemblage of diverse elements

 

I have been playing with some of the fabby new Embossing Folders from Dreamweaver that arrived for me while I have been at SirStampalot.
I can't believe that when you are reading this I will be on the last day of my 'holiday', boo hoo. It goes far too quickly. Still March isn't that far away I suppose, which is when I will be back.

I sponged a piece of cardstock with some dye based inks (red, brown and green) before dry embossing it with FJ922 Christmas Borders one of the Dreamweaver Embossing Folders.

Then I used the same brown dye based ink pad to go all over the image using the inkpad directly on to the cardstock.

By keeping the inkpad flat and using a swirling motion the ink hits the 'highs' of the embossed image which then highlights the nice pattern.

Some of my favourite embellishments at the moment are the Metallic Wax Pastes which I add with a 3/8 inch  stencil brush because I can get the wax out of the pot because of my finger nails!!

The gold shows up much better here.

I used one of the sentiments from JGS353  Festive Verse cut out with a circle die and lightly inked using the same colours.

The flourish, ribbon and pin are also from my new box of toys.

The Dreamweaver Embellishment pin has been coloured with an alcohol based marker and the flourish has been cut from brown card using DM2001 Petite Fern.

The Distressed Cotton Ribbon is also from Woodware and comes in several colours and widths.

I hope that you like my card, and join the rest of the Gang for their take on Collage Christmas.

Have a great day, and Happy Crafting.

Hugs Kimx