Many Happy Anniversaries

Morning Everyone,
I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted on the blog apart from the occasional card for Woodware that is. Time just seems to have run away from me lately.
I have been having a bit of a sort out, necessitated by the installation of a new boiler which

is housed in the corner of my room. Who knew how much stuff you could get into such a small space lol.
Of course one of the good things about having a bit of a tidy up, is finding all the treasures that you have tucked away and forgotten about.
These cards were made with one such find, a sheet of Penny Black Stickeroos - Wherever they Grow.

 

I have had several anniversary cards to make this month, November is obviously a good month to get married, so I decided to use up my sheet of stickers to create several fairly similar cards.
This first one uses a sheet of background paper from a paper pad that I bought at a show in Doncaster earlier in the year.

The background paper to this card has been stamped using a fabulous old Unity stamp set, Insightful Meadow, that I uncovered recently.

As well as white Stazon, I also stamped with a gold Encore inkpad on the background to this one.

The same stamp was used here on a piece of coordinating blue cardstock.
The sentiment on all of the cards is from a very recent purchase made during my whistle stop visit to Sirstampalot for their grand sale that started last weekend.
Now I wonder how long I can keep up the blog posts this time. Two in a row is a bit of a record for me just lately.
Have a great day with plenty of crafty playtime if you are lucky.
Hugs Kimx
 

A Woodware Sketch

Hello All,
My turn to play with the Sketch today at WoodwareWitterings.

I love sketches, they are always a great place to start if you are stuck for a bit of inspiration.

I used a piece of handmade background paper from my stash and a lovely floral image designed by Jane Gill JGS446 Whimsical Flower - Sally Anne.

The background paper was made using 'Bleeding Art Tissue' and water, and the floral image was stamped and embossed onto it using Black Versafine ink and clear embossing powder.

I painted the leaves and stem with water blotted with kitchen paper to 'bleach' out some of the colour.

Parts of the image were actually painted with diluted thin bleach which gives a much whiter image. I also added a touch of sparkle by painting with the ink from a Gelli Roll Sparkle pen.

 The letters were cut using DD005 Dreamweaver Dual Alphabet and Number dies.

I created a second card using another piece of handmade background from my stash.

This time I painted the flowers with coordinating dye based inks,

and cut the letters from white and kraft card.
I also added some faux stitching using a black micron pen the same as on the first card.

I hope that you have fun with our sketch, and that you have enjoyed the cards that the rest of the team have made this week.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

Christmas Greetings for the Men in our Lives

Morning Everyone,
This week we are looking at cards for the Men in Our Lives at WoodwareWitterings.
I have made a couple of cards with a Snowman on them. All the men in our house like nothing better than building a snowman when the weather is right.

I have used ADS516 Mr Frosty stamped and embossed on white card using Vintage Sepia Versafine ink and clear embossing powder.

I stamped the snowman onto a piece of Mask It sheet, cut it out and then placed it over the original stamped image before stamping over the top of that with JGS261 Carol Background.

Once the mask is removed it looks like the Snowman is standing in front of the background. 

I used some scraps of colored paper to stamp and emboss the hat and scarf and then fussy cut and paper pieced them onto Mr Frosty.

The small cards have been made using the same paper pieced snowman image this time fussy cut and layered over some stamped cardstock.

The background stamp used this time is from JGS319 The Christmas Rush. 

I hope that you have a great week, and that the men don't get the chance to build a snowman just yet.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

From Our House to Yours at Christmas

Morning All
My turn at WoodwareWitterings again today, and this week we are showcasing Christmas cards.
The theme is actually 'From Our House to Yours', but I guess that pretty much anything Christmassy would count for that. Well I hope it will anyway lol.

My card was made using a Jane Gill stamp set JGS199 The House on the Hill.

I stamped and embossed the image onto watercolour cardstock, and coloured it using dye based inks.

I fussy cut around the image and layered it on to a piece of background from my stash using silicon.
The dots on the background were created using a Dutch Doobadoo stencil, a blending tool, some dye based ink and a little Star Dust Glitter Glue.

I also added some Puffy Stuff, which when heated looks like snow, and a Christmas sentiment.
I hope that you get plenty of Christmas inspiration from the Girls this week.
Have a great day.
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

Falling Leaves at WoodwareWitterings

Morning Everyone,
I do love the Autumn with all the beautiful colours and falling leaves - not so keen on sweeping them up mind you lol.
The Girls at WoodwareWitterings have been making projects with falling leaves on them this week, so it was the perfect opportunity to dig out an old favourite Stampendous stamp CRR175 Leaf Background.

My card was actually inspired by something that my friend Gill made when a few of us got together for a bit of crafty playtime the other evening.

I stamped the image on to a piece of handmade coffee background from my stash and then added dye based inks with the Woodware Blending Tool.

I created a frame from Kraft card which I layered over the stamped and embossed panel and then some co-ordinating card stock. I also added a sentiment and some faux stitching.

The square Kraft coloured card was stamped using the leafy background and Versamark ink

I stamped and embossed the image again onto the background paper and fussy cut two of the complete leaves which I then added to the card using silicon.
Thank you for my inspiration Gill.
Have a wonderful crafty day one and all, and Birthday wishes to Jane Gill one of our talented DT.
Hugs Kimx

A new Sketch at WoodwareWitterings

Morning Everyone,
Time to play with another sketch over at WoodwareWitterings.
One day I will think about how well my card will photograph before I make it. As you can see I didn't do a very good job of that here lol.

I love working with a sketch. It is an easy starting point for a card, making the hard part deciding on what technique or stamp set to use.

I recently revisited decorating chalks in a class and had such fun with them that I decided to use them again here.

In fact I had so much fun making my card that I created another masterboard using the same stamp set and colours of Decorating chalks which I then chopped up to add three more Christmas cards to my stash.

The poinsettias were stamped with Versamark ink and then a cotton wool ball was used to add the shades of red chalks.

I stamped the leaves and flower centers afterwards and added the colours with a clean cotton wool ball.

The final step to creating the masterboard is to add the stamped and embossed sentiment from the same stamp set before chopping it up into pieces.

I couldn't bare to throw any of it away, so I even managed a small card.
Some glossy accents on the flower centers and the central vellum circle on the first card.
I hope that you will have fun with our sketch, and check out what the rest of the DT came up with.
Happy Crafting and hugs,
Kimx

Birthday challenge at CCM

Hi All,
There I was doing so well.
I have a new gym buddy and we have been managing to make it there three times a week, often with the added bonus of me walking the 3 miles home rather than going on the treadmill.
Well all of that seems to have gone out of the window over the last fortnight. Still at least it is the start of a new week so lets hope that I can get back into a routine. I did manage to get there today, so I suppose that is a start.

It is also the start of a new challenge over at CCM where our host Pam is looking for Birthdays, a nice simple challenge.

I love this time of the year, all the beautiful colours, and the cooler temperatures, and of course my birthday in a weeks time.

I have used the fabulous shattered glass stencil by Tim Holtz along with blue and brown Distress Inks to create the background to my card.

The stamped and embossed floral images are from a Hero Arts stamp set that I have had for years.

I added the peel-off sentiment on a strip of vellum so as not to hide the background.

I hope that you will find the time to join us HERE.
Have a great week.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

Make Christmas Special with Metallic Fx

Morning Everyone,
We have been playing with Dreamweaver Metallic F/x this week at WoodwareWitterings. This is a very high quality Mica powder in a stunning range of colours.
I love Mica Powders, especially at Christmas, and these ones are particularly sparkly. The only problem is that they are very dificult to photograph to show off that 'sparklyness' to full advantage, so you will just have to take my word for it I'm afraid.

This card was actually created for the cover of the latest Christmas edition of the Woodware catalogue.
I stamped and embossed a piece of Mixed Media card with Jane's JGS458 Yew and Holly using Versamrk ink and white embossing powder.

I mixed up a couple of colours of Metallic FX (Moonstone and Pewter) with a little Gum Arabic to create a Watercolour Paint and then used it to create a wash of colour across the stamped images.

I used the paint to colour in the holly and berries to give them a little more definition.
The panel in the centre has been created by die cutting some pieces of card and then embossing them with several layers of powder before stamping into them with the same Yew and Holly stamp.

As usual I created a couple of extra cards with some of the leftover pieces,

or using the same technique.

I hope that you have had a fun week, and that you have managed to add a few more Christmas cards to your stash.
Have a great weekend.
Happy Crafting and Hugs
Kimx