Gone Fishing

Evening Everyone,

I think that's enough of the Christmas cards for a few days. I've spent the whole weekend making them and then this afternoon we had snow flurries just to cap it all off, so here instead are a couple of cards made using a fabulous Designer Boutique stamp called Gone Fishing.

I used a long acrylic block to create the watercoloured background.

I used a different sized block for the background on this card along with an embossing folder fo the background.

You can generally get a second generation stamping for the background with the addition of a little more water.

I like to chop sentiment stamps up for a different look to a card. It is also useful to cover up a smudge, as is the case here lol.

This card uses a mop up background which is a favourite technique of mine.

Thankfully the snow flurries haven't come to anything. Let's hope that I don't wake up to a very nasty surprise.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Motorcycle Club

Evening Everyone,
One thing you wouldn't want to have been out on this afternoon is a motor bike. Not near us at least, since we finally got some of that torrential rain and thunder that the weathermen have been promising for the last couple of days.

This was made a couple of years ago for a Woodware catalogue,  but I also made one to give to my Sin-in-law for his birthday in the April.

I painted it specifically to match the colour of the bike that he had at the time,

and used an embossing folder with silver cardstock for the background along with the tyre marks stamp to create the pattern down the right hand side.
We may have had quite a bit of rain, but it doesn't seem to have cooled things down for very long, let's hope that it is better tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs Kimx

How could I Resist

Hi All,
I thought that I had better post early today, before I get carried away with playtime.
So I had a look back over some of my photos from a while ago and decided on these cards made with another couple of Jane's fabulous stamp sets Solid Florals and Mini Background Greetings.

I did a bit of embossed 'resist with a twist' here.

I stamped the sentiment panel all over a piece of white card stock and left it to dry completely.

Once it was completely dry I stamped and clear embossed the leafy image several times over the sentiments and then sponged colour all over the panel. I wiped over with a soft cloth and then an anti static cloth before stamping and embossing around the edges with versamark ink and gold embossing powder.

For this card I just did one stamped image in the centre of my sentiment stamped panel.

This last card has a much more masculine feel to it and I fussy cut a gold stamped image to go over the top of my vellum sentiment strip.
Back to playing for me now.
I have a commission to finish for an old friend, and then a birthday card for a very special young lady as well as a goody box from Creative Expressions to play with. It's a hard life isn't it lol.
Stay safe and Happy Crafting.
Hugs Kimx 

Easy Peasy

Evening,
I seem to be doing quite a lot of quick posts just recently. The trouble is I get carried away with doing something and then suddenly realize how late it is.

So here is a quick card that would be suitable to give to a man

Some heat embossed leaves down the edge of the card and then a dry embossed bubble panel highlighted with gilding wax.
Very easy.
Night, night.
Kimx

Falling Leaves

Afternoon All,
How sad to hear that Dame Vera Lynn has died aged 103, but what an incredibly long life.
I wouldn't mind living that long if I had all my faculties, and were still able to see all my family.
My Mum, at 90, is certainly struggling with not seeing all her Great Grandchildren, not that she would admit it mind you. The generation of the stiff upper lip her worries are for the younger generation. Typical Mum, bless her.
We have visited a couple of times to talk to her through the window, and more recently with her inside the house, and us in the garden, but it just isn't the same when she can't sit the little ones on her knee and read stories with them.
It would definitely not have been the time for a similar type of visit today given that it has poured with rain for most of the morning.

Whilst doing some housekeeping on my photos recently, I came across this card that I made for family on the death of a very dear friend, so I thought it an appropriate card to post today.

It is made using a fabulous old stamp from Imagination Crafts and a piece of handmade background paper. Although I have added a 'Thinking of You' sentiment, I think it could just as easily be used as a birthday card.

The stamp set comes with the main square image along with a couple of extras that coordinate with it, in this case some matching leaves.

I stamped, embossed and fussy cut them and added them to the corners as a pile of falling leaves.
I also used them to stamp around the edge of the dotty background paper.
But for the sentiment, I think that this would fit rather well in to our latest masculine challenge over at CCM.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope that you have a great evening and manage to dodge the downpours.
Stay Safe, Happy Crafting and hugs.
Kimx

Masculine Challenge at CCM

Evening Everyone,
We have a brand new 'Masculine' challenge starting today at CCM.

Now I don't know about you guys, but I find cards for men the hardest to make.

Cute or floral always works well for the ladies, but not so much for the men lol.

I always think trees or leaves are a good choice for a masculine card, so here is one I made a while ago using a 'Resist with a twist' technique.

I went through my bits box and found quite a few different bits and pieces which all worked together quite well on this card.

It's amazing the little bits of treasure that you find. A couple of embossed panels, some die cut leaves and a  stamped and embossed sentiment all woven together into this card.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope that you will find the time to join us over the next fortnight HERE at CCM.
Stay safe.
Hugs Kimx

A Masculine card for CCM

Hi All,
It's Monday again, and time for a new challenge over at CCM where Marg is looking for anything Masculine.
Now I don't know about you, but I find that cards for men are always so much more difficult to make.

 A safe bet is always leaves, so this fabulous Imagination stamp fitted the bill perfectly.

An all time favourite technique of mine is painting with bleach.

Not all card stock will change colour when you bleach it, so you need to test it,

but you can get some amazing colours as you can see with this selection of cards that I am sharing with you.

Not only can you paint with bleach, but you can also stamp with it

as you can see in the background of several of the cards.

Painting with bleach and then heating it with a heat gun will also add more intense colour changes.

I keep an old waterbrush especially for the painting as I love the brush nib on it. I used to keep bleach in the brush itself,

until I realised that it had eaten away at the valve which made the bleach flood out.

I always stamp and emboss my image before I paint with the bleach as this acts as a resist and keeps the bleach contained within the image.

In order to use bleach to stamp with, the easiest thing is to create an ink pad using a piece of cut and dry felt,

or several pieces of kitchen paper folded together and then soaked in bleach.

I hope that you will find the time to join us at CCM with your masculine creations.
Have a great week.
Crafty hugs
Kimx

Cogs and Wheels

Evening Everyone,
I obviously had a lot more cards suitable for men than I thought.

I have an elderly friend, who every few months asks me for a box of assorted cards that he can send to his friends and family.

So while I was sorting out a new box full for him last night, I came across several more cards that would be suitable to give to a man.

The first two cards were made using a panel of card covered with aluminium tape from a car accessory shop - very masculine.

I coloured the tape covered panels with alcohol inks,

and then embossed them using a cogs embossing folder.

The embellishments are cut from metallic card using a die.

This final card uses a piece of handmade background from my stash.
I think it was made using my Gelli Plate, but I wouldn't want to swear to it. That's part of the problem with using up left over bits, it isn't always possible to remember how you created them in the first place.

I do know that the tree stamp is an old one from Imagination, but other than that please don't ask lol.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a great evening.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

For the Men in Your Life

Hi All
I have had need of a few cards for men just recently and I don't know about you, but I never seem to have enough of them.
Whilst I have literally hundreds of floral and 'pretty' cards to suit my female acquaintances, I have very few that I would consider appropriate for a man. I know that they are often gardeners and like flowers but pink and flowery just doesn't seem right to send somehow.

I found various pieces of artwork created during a class involving 'Bleedin Art Tissue', so I decided to finish them all off.

As its name suggests the colours bleed when the tissue is wet so I scrunched some sheets together in a bag which led to the most amazing pieces of background paper.

 When the sheets are dry screw them up tight and then flatten one out on to a sheet of DSST.

It doesn't look like there is very much texture left, until you apply gilding wax.

Before adding the wax I stamped and embossed onto the prepared sheet of tissue paper and then painted the images with undiluted thin bleach.

Once the gilding wax is added it picks up the texture of the tissue and also the embossing.

The last card has also used torn pieces of tissue paper to create the background on which the tree is stamped.

Place the torn pieces of tissue paper randomly onto watercolour or mixed media card stock, and then spritz with plenty of water. The colour bleeds into the card to create amazing backgrounds which can then be stamped onto once dry.

I used some more of the scrumpled tissue paper background to mount the trimmed tree panel on to.

Leaves and trees create a much more masculine feel to a card I think you will agree.

I'm off to try and cross a few more things off my 'To Do' list before its bed time, if I can manage it that is.

Have a great evening, and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Crafting and Hugs

Kimx