A Birthday Shaker

Evening All,

Way back in April I made a bunch of Easter cards using a set of layering dies from Memory Box. See Original Post 

As I said at the time, there were loads of 'bits' that seemed too good to throw away, so I turned them into a few shaker cards, one of which I sent to my little sister for her Birthday today.

I used a couple of large floral dies from Dawn Bibby for the central image on my cards.

Unfortunately as with any shaker card, the acetate makes getting a decent photograph rather difficult.

I filled the black and white version with all of the white die cut pieces along with plenty of glittery bits and pieces from Creative Expressions Cosmic Shimmer range.

I also created a kraft version for the pink and green 'bits'.

I added a bit of gilding wax to the die cut panel for a little added colour.

I hope that my Sister had a nice day, although she seemed to think that it would be spent inside due to the weather. I do hope that we don't get too much rain this weekend as the kids have plenty of plans for me which seem to involve being outside lol.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Before Alcohol Lift Inkpads

Evening All,

One of my favourite new products from 2019 was the Alcohol Lift ink pad. A fabulous product which not not only lifts an image from a piece of alcohol inked background, but also enables you to stamp the image onto another piece of card stock. A twofer.

Long before it came on to the market it was possible to create and lift an impression from a piece of alcohol inked background using an archival ink pad.

Unfortunately this technique does not result in a twofer, but it does give you some fabulous results.

These cards were made using alcohol inked acetate. The floral images were stamped onto the inked side of the acetate using Archival ink which is then removed with a piece of  kitchen paper or a cloth. This removes the alcohol ink, although the images can sometime look a little grey from the archival ink.

This final card was made using a piece of photographic paper stamped with images that were then cut out and layered onto a card over a fancy die cut.

We will definitely have to play with Alcohol inks again, they are such fun, in the mean time its stencils tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great crafty weekend.

Hugs Kimx

I'm Thinking of You.

 Evening Everyone

What a gloriously sunny afternoon it turned out to be. Despite torrential rain this morning I even finally managed a walk this afternoon, and best of all it wasn't too muddy.

Unfortunately I have another sympathy card to send. I have sent far too many of these just lately. And this is yet another card for the same family, which is so sad.

This first card is made using an alcohol inked background and some acetate, which makes decent pictures almost impossible.

I really must play with my alcohol inks again, they make the most amazing backgrounds which is one of my favourite things to do. The only trouble is that you can get quite carried away and end up with a stack of bits and pieces just waiting to be used. Perhaps I should use up some of my stash before I start making more, but that's not nearly so much fun.

One problem with alcohol ink backgrounds is that they are quite busy and so stamped images can get 'lost'. I have also dry embossed this particular panel with a dotty folder which makes stamping on it impossible so I have added my stamped image on a piece of acetate fixed in place with tiny brads.

This next card was made using good old Cats Eye pigment ink pads to ink up the stamp with multiple colours.

Pigment inks stay wet for a lot longer which means that I was able to clear emboss the stamped image. I die cut the image and added some pale ink to the background with the die still in place which creates a thin white frame.

This final card uses a piece of mop up background and a white embossed image. 

I used the same die cutting and blending technique here to darken the mop up background.

I added some black gems to the flower centers and a chopped up sentiment edged in black.

I would love to think that these will be the last of these type of cards that I will send this year, but I fear that that would be wishful thinking.

Thank you for stopping by, and have a great evening.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx

Creative Expressions 30 Day Challenge - Day 27 Recycled

Evening Everyone,
A late one for me today, some how the day seems to have got away with me.
Todays the challenge over at Creative Expressions 30 Day challenge, is to recycle. Now we are very good with recycling as a whole in this house, but I am not so good in my card making.

The one exception to that is the acetate packaging that dies come in. I do reuse that, and believe me I have a rather large pile of it.

The central panel on this card is made using a piece of acetate from said packaging along with alcohol inks, a stencil and Alcohol Lift Ink.

I added plenty of die cuts and some extra stamping on the base card.

This card also uses a piece of packaging acetate, alcohol inks, and the wonderful Alcohol Lift Inkpad.

This was probably one of my favourite new techniques that I picked up last year......or was it the year before that. Everything seems to be blurring in to one lol. We really will have to play with it again in a class...…..as soon as we can have one that is.
Off to bed now.
Stay Safe.
Hugs Kimx

Things that Go Bump in the Night at WoodwareWitterings and CCM

Morning Everyone
I'm first up today with my post for WoodwareWitterings who are sponsoring the new challenge over at CCM, Things that Go Bump in the Night.

I have gone for a rather cute image from an old Woodware stamp set FRCL203 Spooky Tots.

The background was created using Alcohol inks, acetate and a resist technique using Archival ink that I was teaching in class on Saturday.

Add alcohol inks to a piece of acetate using a felt applicator and leave to dry for a few moments.

Stamp your chosen image (CRR149 Autumn Words) on to the inked side of the acetate using Archival ink. Using a piece of clean cloth, or kitchen paper wipe away the ink. Don't wait too long to do this as once Archival ink dries it is permanent. It MUST be an archival ink for this technique to work. 

I stamped a few bats onto my background panel and the row of pumpkins from SSC1023 Damask Fall along the bottom of a square white card before adding my acetate panel.
The easiest way to stick this down is with a little glossy accents around the edge of the panel, as I did here, or by attaching it to a piece of double sided stick sheet.
I coloured my cute witch with dye based inks, fussy cut her out and then added her using silicon.
I hope that you will join us this week at WoodwareWitterings to see what the rest of the team come up with, and at CCM where our challenge runs for the next two weeks.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

Happy Birthday Jenni

Evening Everyone,
Today is my eldest baby's birthday. Well they are always your babies no matter how old they are, just ask my Mum lol.
I can still remember being driven to Greenwich Hospital in the back of a car in the middle of a snow storm 37 years ago.
It was so bad that after she was born her Dad couldn't get home so the nurses pushed a couple of chairs together in a side room so that he could get some sleep. I can't imagine that happening today can you, it would be against some 'elf and safety' rule?

I made this card for her using papers from my stash and my favourite patchwork background.

I love this technique and it is a great way to use up loads of different paper scraps, or as in this case some co-ordinating sheets from a paper pad.

I have used a double sided sticky sheet to stick them to and then die cut them using one of my large Go Create dies.

The sentiment is by Lili of the Valley,

and then I have used a variety of Magnolia

and Sue Wilson dies to create the flowers and foliage.

I have also added some pale gold swirls heat embossed on to acetate and then cut out.
I haven't had the chance to give the card to Jenni yet as she has been whisked off to a surprise dinner by the rest of the family so I will have to do that on her return.
Have a good evening, and lets hope that we don't get a repeat of the weather from all those years ago.
Hugs Kimx

Scallops, Curves and Curls at Woodware and a new blog address

Hi All
I think that I may have given Dorothy a bit of a problem with my card for the latest Woodware challenge, which this week is Scallops, Curves and Curls.
I had terrible trouble sending her the photos, and it seems my picture of all the products used never arrived at all which means that she has had to do a bit of educated guessing.
She did a very good job of that by the way lol.

I have used the Crafty Edger cassette Japanese Fan on the white panel.

I sponged the edges of this panel with some Stardust Stickles using a piece of Cut and Dry Felt, it's very subtle and hard to photograph.

The flowers have been made using 3 different sizes of Flower Punch. Nearly right Dorothy :O)
I fastened 3 or 4 punched flowers together with a brad  and then spritzed them with some water and screwed up each layer.
After they have dried out a bit you can move the petals to create fabulous realistic looking flowers.

The 'curls' have been created using an old Artemio stamp set which I stamped and embossed onto acetate using Versamark and Shabby White Frantage Powder.
I picked this idea up off one of the crafting shows on the TV that I saw recently.

I fussy cut, which really doesn't take very long at all, but does make them look like leaves.

Of course, because of the flowers, the card will need a box, so I rustled up one of those. Also very easy to do, even if my friend Gill hates making them lol.

This is just to give you a reminder of some of the products used even if it didn't make it to Dorothy.
I thought that I had broken the Woodware blog, it always seems to breakdown when ever I am due to post on it,  but they have just moved it after it was hacked again before Christmas.
So HERE is the new site where we will be sharing weekly challenges with you.
I am honoured to say that I have been asked to help out on the DT for a while longer, so please stop by and show your support.
Why not FOLLOW them and continue to be inspired by a very talented team.
Hugs and happy crafting.
Kimx

Make it Sparkle for CCM&More

Hi All
It's time for a new challenge over at CCM&More  where our host Sally is asking for you to 'Make it Sparkle'. Any type of sparkle is allowed so its time to break out the glitter, gems, pearls or shimmer sprays etc.

Now I'm not really a glitter girl by any means, but Christmas just wouldn't be the same without plenty of sparkle so it seemed the perfect opportunity to add to my stash of Christmas cards.

I created a piece of background paper using a selection of Woodware Christmas stamps, versamark, white embossing powder and dye based inks.
This is often referred to as a masterboard which is then chopped up to create a series of cards.

I chopped my masterboard into four pieces to create my cards. I dry embossed each piece with a different Christmassy embossing folder and then wiped a dye based ink pad across the embossed image before adding Crystal embossing powder for my hint of sparkle.

The resulting panels screamed out for a sentiment to be added, which had to be done using a piece of torn acetate since it is almost impossible to stamp onto a dry embossed image.

I added faux stitching around the edges and attached the acetate with brads.
Of course I stupidly forgot how difficult it is to photograph acetate when I made the cards, but they do sparkle - honest.
Don't forget to drop in and see what the rest of the team have been up to. We have some lovely new team members as well who would love you to stop by and say hi.
Have a great Monday. I'm off to cuddle the littlest Granddaughter who is currently staying with us.
Oh the hardship of being a Grandparent, and I can give her back if she starts to cry lol.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

With Fondest Love

Evening Everyone,
Well it is official.....I hate Mondays.
Not only does it herald the end of the weekend and the start of yet another week, but it also means that I am playing catch up with all of the tasks that the weekend and night staff seem incapable of doing Aaaaaarrgggh.
Oh dear, moan over, for today at least lol.

 My card tonight is another using my favourite Alcohol and Acetate technique.

I chose some nice bright colours this time and added some stamped weeds to the acetate panel in black Stazon.

I also added a sentiment and some peel-off squares.
I really shouldn't moan as there are always people who are having a far worse time of things and this card is being sent to one such friend.
Have a great week.
Bye for now.
Hugs Kimx

Awesome Agapanthus

Hi All
I'm absolutely shattered, and I must have washed my hands several hundred times over the course of the day.
Our Cafe Lass arrived with her finger heavily bandaged this morning, so it made far more sense for her to work on the main till and me to make the coffee etc since she wasn't allowed to get her bandage wet!!!!
I suppose at least it meant that I wasn't stuck in the same place all day, and it looks like I am in for a repeat performance on Friday.

This card was made for my friend Jenny who celebrated her birthday last week.

 The panel across the card was created using acetate, alcohol inks and a lovely Agapanthus stamp.

I have 'lifted' some of the Alcohol ink using an Archival ink pad and some kitchen paper.
I do love this technique.
Off to bed, back tomorrow.
Hugs Kimx