I wanted to make a quick and economical wedding gift for a friend who's getting married as our main gift was vouchers. So there I was in Ikea and saw this lovely little flower pot, but a bit too plain! I rubbed a little Archival Cobolt Blue ink around the edges then quickly, before it dried, I rubbed it all around with a bit of kitchen towel that had a splash of alcohol handwash on it to smudge the colour all around the base. I then just stamped randomly using the beautiful heart from Oak House Studios o a stamp block, rolling it across the surface. It worked a treat so will enter it into the Oak House Studio Challenge which is wedding themed. ! You could do this for the table centre pieces too, co-ordinating the colours and stamp to the wedding theme! Suz xxx

Simple fella's card

Not that the fella getting the card is simple, that'd just be rude, but it was a simple card to make.  It's for my bike made uncle who is currently restoring some old two wheeled thing he treasures!

I stamped and embossed the Clarity Stamp motorbike image with a Cobalt Blue Archival ink pad. Printed out the sentiment on my PC, layered the bike image & sentiment onto blue card (which had been white but I coloured it using Chipped Sapphire distress ink, did the same for the background mat). Then I layered some patterned paper and a bit of ribbon, which was a lighter blue but I ran a deep blue alcohol marker over it to darken it. Popped it all together, added a few blue gems and voilà!

Think I'll enter this into the Clarity Challenge - my first one ever I think! Suz xxx

Journal Pages - Nostalgia/ Technology and Courage

So here are the latest two pages I made for the Journal 52 FB group. Tehnology and nostalgia were two separate themes but I couldn't help feeling nostalgic when I thought about 'old' technology and how much things have changed so that was a fab excuse to combine the two....I wonder how we will network and blog in the future??? Acrylic paints, home made gelatine plate, die cuts, stamping and hand lettering in this one.

 

Courage is a funny thing. So whatever the change you would like to make in your life, I wish you the courage and love to do it.... Suz xxx

Resist technique with Lynne Perella Stamps

Too much??? This stamp set is soooo detailed and it just MADE me want to add stacks of colour.  I had to reign in on the embellies and forced myself to add white flowers though I was so tempted to colour then too - but wanted a balance with the pale colour embossing powder I used for the resist.....and if next week I still fancy seeing how bright flowers look then I might just pull em off and do it!
So the start was to paint the cardboard tag with white gesso. This gave a better base for the spray inks I used and helped show the bright colours. Then I embossed the main image from the set onto the tag using a pale pink powder. I then stamped the image three more times with Archival black, coloured them using sharpie fineliners and watercolours and cut various sections adding them to the tag. The border was created with another of the stamps from the set, and I used the beautiful scrip too but it's a bit hidden in all the layers. I hand made mini carnations (love these) under which I added a bit of crocheted wire.  I dripped alcohol inks onto some metal flower shapes to colour them blue/ green and added a selection of sequins around the main image. A pearl in the corner and pearls/ beads in the metal flowers.  A metal heart charm (filled with glue gun glitter) at the top is almost hidden really! And of course those vibrant feathers all made this a lot of fun. Subtle I think!!! Suz xx
Will enter this into the Craft Stamper Challenge.

Oak House Studio One Stamp Project

Such a great idea by Lynnda of Oak House Studio to take one stamp (the Walesby Heart) and see how many different ways you can use it in her One Stamp Challenge. I can tell you I was reluctant to stop but after an internal crafty war I disciplined myself to finish a few things off at 4pm, take pics, upload on blogger & FB then see how much time I have left!
So here goes.

traditional heat embossing

 

Stamped with twinkling H20's

 

 

More embossing this is a gift card made to hold a cheque as a wedding/ engagement pressy 

the back is where the cheque is slipped into a pocket and a message written on the die cut.

 

Friendly plastic jewellery stamped with the heart

Offcuts shaped into a heart and put on a mini card blank (above)  and the rest added to a mini canvass (left) which I'd painted and embossed. Added some jewellery bits too, and the

hanging heart is made from the UTEE heated in a melt pot & stamped into.

 

 

In this journal page the heart it used in the background made with a gelatine plate, then held over the heart and brayered to give a rubbing effect and also stamped around the edges. 

The stone on the right is from the beach, stamped onto then writing added around the edge (ahhhhh).

 

Card one was made with a heart made from a Modge Podge glue gun stick, treasure gold added. 

Same for the second card but a MP butterfly added which was also highlighted with treasure gold

This was my absolute favourite so I'm going to get it framed! Mono print using a home made gelatine plate (following instructions from the Frugal Crafter on YouTube). Leave a comment if you'd like a tutorial.

Same technique but made into a card.

Print 3 also a card.

 Had great fun with this challenge. Still a few more I might add but wanted to get post done while it's quiet! Hope you like them. Suz xx

Alcohol Ink Mini Masterclass

Fab workshop today using alcohol inks on acetate and silk art card from Clarity Stamps. A little out of the usual as it was mainly technique focused, trying 3 ways of applying the ink on both acetate and the silk card.  Then during the second part of the workshop the girls chose the artwork they liked best and made a card from it with some stunning results. One hour of alcohol inks & blending solution was definitely enough with a room full of people, even with all the doors and windows open!

Here are some of the samples I made with a brief description alongside.

 The butterfly and flower cards were made using drops of ink then a straw to blow the ink around before die cutting.

These two vibrant cards were made using the same technique but then adding a few drops of blending solution. Magical watching the inks react and move around!  

  

 The last card was done on acetate. I loved this background and simply stamped a phrase on the opposite side (difficult to see with the light reflecting on the acetate) and filled in the letters with a white paint pen. If it wasn't for the impending headaches I would have gone on for another hour!
Suz
xxx

Andy Skinner Workshop weekend day 1

Had such an amazing weekend in Stockton-on Tees with Sue Tucker and the gang. Shared a room with a lovely person I've never met before. Made more new friends both days. Here are the wonderful creations Andy took us through.