Life is Better with Friends

Evening,

Today would definitely have been worthy of sharing a Christmas card. I have been frozen all day.

They are completing some refurbishments at work and we have had to spend much of the morning serving through the night pay hatch. What a day to pick, given the degree of frost this morning, it has been bloody cold all day. There have been barriers everywhere and men in high viz jackets, but still people act like absolute idiots and ask the most stupid and obvious questions.  Oh well rant over, and as you can see I seem to have sorted out my computer issues. Or at least my wonderful friend Joe has.

So instead of Christmas, here are a couple of cards to celebrate good friends, and to say Thank You to Joe.

One of my all time favourite techniques to play with has got to be Alcohol inks and the Alcohol Ink Lift Pad.

These two cards were made using this technique, and another favourite of mine Penny Black Spontaneous Joy.

I love the amazing backgrounds that you can create with a few alcohol inks,

some stamps and an Alcohol Lift Inkpad.

I also added a little foil to the backgrounds. 

Thanks for stopping by. Life is definitely better with friends like you.

Hugs Kimx

Floral Thanks

Evening Everyone,

What on earth has happened to the summer? I can't believe how chilly it has felt today. Much more like October than August in my humble opinion lol.

While prepping for my Chalk class on Saturday, I came across several cards that I had already stamped with a large Thank You text stamp.

I obviously had something in mind when I stamped them, but I can't for the life of me remember what, so they seemed perfect as a backdrop for some chalked floral images.

I do love all the fabulous colours that you can achieve with chalks, and they work particularly well with this solid type of image. I added a bold die cut sentiment to stand out from the background.

As I told you I make a tag for the class, and this was what I created as my visual reminder of what to do with chalks.

I need an early night tonight as I start my week of babysitting and school runs tomorrow. I can see that I will probably need a week off to recover lol.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

The last of the Maker Mania samples

Evening All,

Another gloriously sunny day, way too hot for me I'm afraid.

I thought that I would share the last of the cards that I made for Janice and Andy using the embossing folder and stamp set from the Maker Mania weekend.

This is a gorgeous 3D embossing folder used with Distress Oxide inks.

I inked the folder with Distress Oxide inks and spritzed with water before adding a piece of white card and pressing the folder closed with my hands to transfer the ink to the card stock.

This was actually one of the first pieces I created using the embossing folder and inks. I used too many colours so they went rather muddy and it was going to be binned until I decided to sponge on some extra ink.

I used some Altenew inks with these stamps in true layering fashion. I also added some extra fussy cut flowers to the stamped panel.

This panel again used the Distress Oxide inks and the 'Smack Down' technique. 

A little multiple stamping along with some clear embossed images. I also used mica powders on the images on the base card.

I know that there is a particular name for this type of card, but I can't for the life of me remember it. 

I created the panel with the multiple resist technique on glossy card stock and then used stitched rectangle dies to cut the panels which were matt and layered onto white before putting the panel back together.

I had such fun playing with this set, and was thrilled to be involved in such a fabulous weekend. Let's hope it happens again next year. I'm looking forward to it already!!

Thanks for stopping by.

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

Some Edger Dies

Evening All,

I hope that you have all had a good Sunday. Mine has been very productive. I have finished my DT samples and they are now safely packaged waiting to go in the post tomorrow when I finish work.

I have been working on some new Edger Dies, but since I can't share until they are launched,

here are a couple of cards made using some older designs.

They are perfect cut from background paper or over the top of some handmade background papers. Some of them are also perfect for a bit of paper piecing.

And I think they are also perfect for a spot of black and white which is always a favourite of mine.

Better get to bed now before it gets too much later.

Hugs Kimx

Do You Have a Favourite?

 Evening All,

Do you ever make a card that you like so much that you just don't want to give it away? Well this is one of those.

I just love the background,

which was created using Distress Inks and a stencil.

I added Sparkle Medium to the background using a stencil, having first removed some of the colour with a damp baby wipe.

I completed the panel by stamping and black embossing some leaves from an old abstract stamp set. I think it was from Inkadinkadoo.

This card was created using the same stencil along with some black embossed images.

Once again the same stencil and sparkle medium and some die cut floral images.

It's a good job I love my Granddaughter isn't it, or she wouldn't have been allowed to choose the first card from the large supply that they all have access to when they need something.

Apparently it is her friends favourite colours.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx

A Highlight from 2019 - Alcohol Ink Blending

Evening Everyone,

One of the things that I have been working on during my enforced sit down, is trying to sort through a mountain of card photos so that I can blog some of them.

A favourite highlight from 2019 was being introduced to the Alcohol Ink Lift pad and Yupo paper which resulted in a wonderful reacquaintance with all things alcohol ink.

Just one of the techniques that I explored was the use of the Alcohol blending pen.

Ink from a prepared piece of alcohol ink background can be lifted from the stamped image, and then another image can be coloured in using this ink.

This is a wonderfully relaxing technique, although one of the things that I did learn about Yupo/Graffixart Craft Plastic is that it is not always the easiest thing to heat emboss.

In my previous post from September a friend asked what I did with the shrivelled plastic. The answer is that I covered it up with another stamped and coloured image and a bit of fussy cutting.
It was just too pretty to throw away.

The beauty of this technique is that you don't need a huge piece of alcohol inked background to colour with. Even a narrow strip trimmed from an image will give you enough usable ink.
Off to bed now, I need to rest my numb bum lol.
Hugs Kimx

Pixie Powder Masterboard

Afternoon Everyone,
What beautiful sunshine we had today. Cold but bright.

Thought it was about time that I blogged again, so here are a couple of cards that I made using some gold embossed images and pixie powders.

I love the shimmer that you get when you use these.

And the best thing is that they work perfectly on both dark (previous card) and light card.

I created a masterboard which I used to make the last two cards.

I added some white Gelli Roll Glaze Pen,

and Glossy Accents as well as various sentiments.

I need to get one of these in the post to a friend who is not feeling too well, so I had better get a wiggle on.

Have a great evening.

Happy Crafting and Hugs

Kimx

Sending Love

Afternoon All,
Well at least we haven't got snow anymore, although I'm not sure that I'm particularly impressed by the current alternative...…..pouring rain. We're never satisfied are we lol.

Today would have been my Dads 95th birthday.

I always send a card to Mum to let her know that we are thinking of him, and her of course.

We had a fabulous time playing with the Decorating Chalks in class on Saturday. So much so in fact that we have decided to visit Pearlex on another occasion.

I love the soft and subtle colouring that you get with the chalks.

This card uses my absolute favourite stamp at the moment from Penny Black,

and has been made for my Boss to give to his daughter for her birthday next week.

This card shows off the beauty of the Tim Holtz Stamping Platform to perfection.

I stamped the image using the platform and versamark ink and then added the chalks in the usual way using a cotton wool ball.

Place the card back into the platform and stamp again using the versamark inkpad.
Provided that your card is in the same place the image will stamp in exactly the same place. It is a fantastic piece of kit for rectifying those stamping mishaps when you have missed part of the image.
In this case I have coated this second inking with Crystal Embossing powder and heated it to give a wonderful sparkly finish but retaining the soft colouring of the chalks.

I try very hard to prepare a tag for the ladies to add to their ring.
They will point out that I have failed miserably over the last few months, so I am trying to make amends :O)

The idea for the tag ring came from a class that I did several years ago at Sirstampalot. One side is a little bit of inspiration to remind them of what they did, and the other is a basic instruction sheet on the particular technique that we have covered.
I thought that I would share a few more of the samples that I took to class. As you can see this technique is a particular favourite of mine.

I need an early night tonight as I have to be at work at stupid o'clock tomorrow. 4am to be precise!!!! Still the upside is that I finish at midday so I will have plenty of time to play, if I can keep my eyes open that is.

Have a great evening.

Happy Crafting and Hugs.

Kimx