Wall Art using Indigo Blue Stamps

Dramatic Eye Stamp 

Indigo Blue Butterfly Collector

Spray Inks

White Embossing Powder

Hi all

I was feeling a bit disappointed that I couldn't got to Ally Pally earlier this month when I saw a post showing that Indigo Blue wouldn't be there either and were offering a discount online instead.
So to console myself I ordered a few new stamps. When I got them I had to put them away for a couple of days (torture).....but then I finally found a bit of time to get messy so I made some art to go in an Ikea Frame that was sitting in the hallway ready to go back as I didn't need it (!).

I started by using spray inks by Oak House Studio in yellow, pink, blue and purple. Then I added some Dusky Concorde ink around the edge and a little black. Then I used the edge of my new eye stamp and some older stamps from the Butterfly Collector set, stamped them with Versamark and embossed with some white embossing powder.

On another piece of sprayed card I stamped the whole Dramatic Eye image with black Archival. Once dry I added some white Signo Uniball pen to make the eye come alive. I wrote some words with a black calligraphy pen on spare card then layered all onto a light cream then black card.

I played about with them and added them all onto the background layer, then added this to a 12 x 12 piece of purple card.

I popped the whole thing into the Ikea frame (only £9) and here it is....a gentle reminder when things get a bit tricky!

Hope you like it. Suz x

Journal 52, week 22 - cards

This was a tricky prompt to start with. So I just took out a box of children's foam playing cards that I bought for 75p in a sale somewhere (one of those 'oh they'll come in useful' purchases, lol). I initially looked at using the Queen of Hearts but the picture was a bit naff. I then looked at the Ace of hearts. I decided the heart in the middle could be a mouth - and I built up the rest of the page from there, trying not too think about it too much!.

I painted over the foam card with white Gesso. Once dry I used a Micron pen to form a mouth around the central heart. Then I drew in the rest of the face, coloured the eyes with a Sharpie marker and used a white Sakura pen to add highlights to the eyes and mouth.Beside it is a pic of another Ace so you get an idea of how they were before the painting.

 I drew in the neckline and highlighted the other hearts and the upside down A.

Once I was happy with the face I added it to a spare card blank....it made me think the face looked framed with hair. I added 'earrings' and some writing. 

 I roughly placed the card onto a journal page and worked out where I wanted to paint some fowers so they were beneath the card. Took off the card, completed the background and then added it back in in as the focal point. Before taking the final pic at the top I cleaned up the A and heart a little and extended the shoulder line to fully meet up with the card. I really liked the way it turned out. And I was very pleased to finally find a use for one of the foam cards.....only another 53 to go!
Suz xxx

April workshop - parchment embossing and aperture making

Hi all

Been a bit busy lately so this is a quick post to show you how we made today's workshop card.
I wanted to do a different shape this time and have an aperture that would focus on the technique of this month which was embossing velum. I knew of several ways to make aperture cards, but then I came across a wonderful simple step by step tutorial through good old Pinterest:  http://frommycraftroom.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/gate-fold-window-card-tutorial.html

This quick and simple method made it possible to combine both the shaped card making and the parchment embossing in a 2 hour class - so big thanks to Norma for sharing.

First thing we did was to have a practice of embossing parchment on some scraps to get a feel for the pressure needed to get the best results. Then the girls chose a 'sticky stencil' to work with and embossed onto a circle of parchment. You could just as easily trace and transfer a design but this was a fab quick method for the class. They we added a tiny about of Cosmic Shimmer around the entire edge of the circle and added the white scalloped frame which would hide the glue. Then these were glued onto a large circled of teal paper from Papermill Direct , I bought a batch of card from these guys recently and the colours are beautiful, price very good and it scores wonderfull with no cracks. This matches the card base which is A4 gatefold scored with the aperture cut as per the link above

 I then showed them the method Norma had used for creating the aperture but I did these while they carried on working on the rest of the project steps 

 Then we added some patterned cardstock to the inside of the card from Docrafts Papermania Capsule collection (EAu deNil). We decorated the edges of the card using a white Signo pen to frame and contrast and added punched flowers, gems and pearls to decorate. A sentiment to finish off and there you have it. Suz xxx