Black and White

Evening All,

It's a good job that I have been taking Creative Expressions parcels to the local Post Office for years. I got there with my samples this afternoon, and when I went to pay I discovered that I had left my money at home. How nice to be trusted enough to go home and return with payment. He even told me to take my receipts with me!!

Having put the samples in the post, I am now on a mission to use up all the left over bits and pieces before I move on to anything else. The cards made with these pieces will be helpful when Jane takes these designs on to the TV. It means that I will actually be ahead of the game for once. That hasn't happened in a really long time :O)

One of my all time favourite classes is 'Black and White, so here are some cards that I made a while ago during one such class.

I love this old Magenta stamp, definitely one that I kept during my recent sort out.

These stamps were released by Magenta at the same time and create a very dramatic look. They stayed too lol.

This card uses a Tim Holtz die to create this lovely lacy corner.

I used the same die here, and added a fussy cut butterfly and sentiment.

White on white can look stunning. Another butterfly, this time with a hint of colour added to it.

I found various strips of embossed card stock for this card, and added a strip of black and some faux pearls.

I finally managed to download my photos from the weekend, so I have updated Sundays post (We've been Busy Bunnies)

I might even manage to finish something off tonight if I'm lucky. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Christmas Stockings to get me in the mood for samples

Afternoon All,

Time for a few Christmas cards.

As you know I babysit the littlest Grandchildren every other weekend so that Mum can go to work. I love spending time with them, but manage very little in the way of crafting, so this time I decided that I would take some watercolouring with me. I had a few more of these Christmas stockings to colour.

The Girls love to join in, as does Jack to be fair, so I let them colour a couple of the images each.

They loved using the Irridescent paint palettes that I had taken with me, and then they chose a couple of embossing folders for their backgrounds.

I am turning them in to cards, which I would have done already had I not stupidly left them behind when I came home on Sunday. Never mind, now they will be able to finish them off with me when I go there next weekend.

Here are my efforts,

complete with embossed background panels.

I added kraft foam behind the stamped panels to give added dimension.

As always a bit of gilding wax helps to highlight the embossing on the black panel.

I'm hoping that Jane will be pleased with what the Girls and I have done with her Stockings in a Row stamp set. It is definitely lovely to colour.

While we are on the subject of Christmas stockings here are another couple of cards that I made from bits and pieces I found in my Christmas box.

This one combines another of Jane's stamps, foliage this time, with a Magenta Christmas stocking.

I have to get into Christmas mode this weekend since I have Christmas samples to make so this is to get me in the mood.

Have a great weekend.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx

They call it Black Magic

 Afternoon,

One of the advantages to travelling on the train at the weekend, apart from my Costa Coffee treat that is, is that I get to catch up on some crafty Youtube clips.

This time I was reminded of the Black Magic Technique by another crafty favourite of mine Gina K Designs. It is something that I first did many years ago at the Craft Barn with the lovely ladies from Magenta stamps and of course, you guessed it, I still have some pieces in my bits box that need finishing off lol.

You need a nice solid image for this technique,

and Magenta have some real beauties.

You need to stamp the image on to dark cardstock using a white ink pad. Any dark colour will do, but black is certainly very striking.

The idea is then to colour over the stamped image using colouring pencils.

A waxy type of pencil seems to work best, but give it a try with whatever you have. What have you got to lose?

These little square stamps are perfect for this technique

as they are not very big so they don't take too long to achieve a beautifully coloured panel.

Any solid stamped image will work as with this lovely Woodware image designed by Jane Gill.

As you can see it is possible to get some quite nice shading to your colouring, and of course the black card shows the images off beautifully.

This is a lovely big background stamp that I found in my stash. I think that I might add a die cut 

sentiment to this before I send it to anyone.

I wonder what technique I will be reminded of next time I delve in to Youtube. There are so many fabulous clips available, and the best bit is that the little ones love to watch them with me, in fact they often ask to watch Jennifer when I am there for my babysitting weekend.

It rather made her Mum and I laugh as Emma uttered WOW when she saw some heat embossing being done on the screen. That is exactly what we both said the first time we saw it done, and it is still WOW after 25 years of playing.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx

Poinsettias........and lots of them

Evening,
I don't know about where you are, but it has turned bloody cold in my neck of the woods.
I know that lots of you will probably think that I'm being pathetic cause you are already wading your way through thick snow, but I really hope that we don't get any of that here.

Now I may not have gotten any Christmas cards sent out this year, time just seemed to get away from me, but I certainly have lots to share, so I will try and blog a few each week.

Maybe if I try and enter a few of the Christmas challenges that run throughout the year it will help to keep me on track.

I love poinsettias, although I am never very successful at keeping them alive, so stamps are definitely a much better option.

I do love this old Magenta stamp, as you may have guessed. It is part of a fabulous set, and works really well with these handmade background papers.

 This is another fabulous poinsettia stamp,

which I stamped and white embossed onto kraft card and then sponged and coloured with Distress inks.

This Penny Black stamp has been used

with an old favourite Kaleidacolor inkpad.

And one final card for tonight, this time with a bit of fussy cutting and some lovely 3d flowers.
I would like to enter my cards into the following challenges..
Crafty Calendar challenge - Make it Flowery - lots of Poinsettias
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes Christmas optional Something Old - Magenta/Penny Black Stamps and Kaleidacolor ink pad.
Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Crafting and Hugs
Kimx

Anything but a Card at CCM

Well as I predicted, my toothache really has got the better of me.
The antibiotics took nearly a week to kick in and I have been popping painkillers like they were going out of fashion, all of which left me feeling sick all the time. How my daughter Becki put up with it for the entire 9 months of her pregnancy I will never know. I could barely manage a week!!
I think part of the problem is that I don't usually take any pills at all so my system is struggling to cope.
I started to feel a whole lot better at the end of last week after another emergency appointment to drain the infection, and my bank balance can look forward to a huge hit when I start treatment for a root canal filling.........oh joy!
On a much happier note Chloe is gorgeous, and Emma is being a very helpful 'Big Sister' despite co-incidentally hitting the terrible twos.
I have been working on Thank you cards for all the wonderful prezzies that the Girls have been given, but as I can't share them yet I though that instead I would show you the picture frames that I made for a recent class.

We have a new challenge starting today over at CCM where our host Angela is looking for Anything But a Card so these fitted the bill perfectly.

I recently held a class where we made picture frames using some old wood mounted stamps.

This frame uses a Magenta stamp which has been coloured in using Watercolour Pearlex.
The floral embellishment is from Stampin Up

This frame uses the same Magenta stamp

and some Hero Art floral stamps.

This frame uses a very old Penny Black frame stamp. It was actually made many years ago but will make a fabulous Christmas gift.

It is the perfect image for some decoupage, although now I would prefer to use silicon glue to attach the cut out images.
I hope that you will find the time to join in with our challenge which runs for the next two weeks, just remember that we are only looking for Anything but a card.
Have a great week.
Happy Crafting and Hugs
Kimx

Christmas comes early.

I know that Christmas seems to get earlier each year, but seriously.........May?
Of course there was  a very special reason for it's rather early arrival in my house, sample making for the new release of Woodware stamps due very soon.

Of course I can't share them with you yet, so here are some that I made a while ago using stuff from my Christmas 'bits box'.

I remember doing a demo for Janice and Andy at SirStampalot, many years ago, using a Speedball Brayer, Kaleidacolor ink pad and Magenta Christmas stamp set.

I adore demoing at shows, but you always seem to end up with hundreds of pieces all very similar.

I never like to throw anything away, so these have lain unused in my Christmas Bits Box for quite a while.

Some of the pieces of background have been spritzed with water and then covered with screwed up cling film to achieve this wonderful 'frosted' look.

Others were spritzed with thin bleach to give a wonderful mottled effect.

I managed to find some co-ordinating card stock to mount the trimmed panels onto and added some background stamps and sentiments along with a bit of Glossy Accents.

I spent a very successful weekend finishing off more Christmas cards, so I will have plenty more cards to share with you soon.

Enjoy your evening.

Hugs Kimx