Gorjuss Girls Are Going Fast!!

Hi everyone.  Thought I ought to let you know that the Gorjuss Girl stamps over at The Craft Barn are fast selling out as they are currently offering them with a 50% discount if you use the code 'GORJUSS50' at the checkout. Once they are gone they are gone!!

So I thought today I would share this card with you using Pretend Friend. (As I'm writing this post they still have some stock of this one!!)

Products used:
Artemio - Arabesque clear stamp set (100001037)
Paper Editions 6x6 paper pad - Spring Feast
Nestabilities - Grand Labels One
Memory Box dies - Petal Party, Madera Corner, Twirling Vine Frame
Black Memento inkpad
Pumice Stone Distress inkpad
MS punch - Monarch Butterfly
Glitter glue - Tiara and Rhinestone

Coloured using Copics:
Skin - E000, E00, E11, R20
Hair - C1, C3, C5
Fox - E50, E53, E08, E57, W3
Clothes - R000, R30, R32, R35, C1, C7, C9, BG90, BG93, W1, W3, W5
Background - W1, W3, W5, R000, R30, 0 blender
Shading - W1, W3, W5

All products available from The Craft Barn.

I'd like to enter this card into the Layers challenge over at Allsorts.

After being consistently asked at recent demos if I teach classes I have decided to take the plunge and offer one-to-one tuition or small group classes during October and November from my home at Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex.  These will be Christmas Card based and will be priced according to which card/cards you want to make. Click here for more details!!

A Card For A Special Friend

Hi everyone.  A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to win one of the Belles 'n' Whistles challenges and my prize for winning is to guest design for the next couple of challenges.  Luckily for me I had already got some of their beautiful images already coloured and just waiting to be made up into cards so I grabbed my Tea Time girl (from The Craft Barn) and assembled this card following Anki's sketch. (Click here to see the sketch and to see how to enter this challenge.)  The background paper is from one of the Basic Grey 6x6 paper pads - can't remember which one!!)

I used my circle nestabilities die to cut a circle from the dp - embossed it using the Daisy Pattern embossing folder and coloured the embossed daisies with light coloured Copic markers.  I then handwrote the Happy Birthday and added the faux stitching using a 0.3mm Copic black multi-liner.

I used my Labels Twelve Nestabilities die to cut out the Tea Time girl. Once I'd stuck these components to the main card I stamped the Leafy Swirls with Walnut Stain Distress ink.

The flowers are by Prima from their E Line collection, the butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch and I used an assortment of self-adhesive pearls for decoration.

The girl was stamped onto The Craft Barn's smooth white Copic card and coloured using Copic markers but as I did this last year I'm afraid I can't remember the colours I used!!  Still - I hope you like it anyway!!

All the products used came from The Craft Barn apart from the Prima flowers which are from The Glitter Pot.

Allsorts Free and Easy Challenge

Morning everyone.  Bet you can't believe this can you - two posts in two days!!  Well today is  my last stint as guest designer for Allsorts and I'm sure you are all going to love this challenge as it is called Free and Easy!  As always to find out how to enter and what prizes are up for grabs simply click here to go to the Allsorts Challenge blog.  Whilst you are there you'll see the fabulous artwork that the Allsorts DT have created for you.

Without further ado here is the card that I've created for this one.  I couldn't believe how long it took me to colour this so I definitely wouldn't recommend creating this as a last minute thing!  The backing papers came from The Glitter Pot but I don't have any of them left now and can't recall whose they were!  All the stamps used on the card are by Penny Black (Gift of Giving, Winter Whites and Greens and Snow Scroll) and again came from The Glitter Pot.  I started by sticking the papers together and then stamping Snow Scroll along the top and bottom using Moonlight White Brilliance.

For the main panel, I stamped Gift of Giving with black Memento ink and coloured using Copic markers.  Then I created a background around the girl and sleigh using my Watercolour Resist technique with Copic markers. (See the December issue of Craft Stamper on how to do this.)

The snowflake embellishments are a mixture of Martha Stewart Glacial Snowflake and Woodware's Snowflake with a 5mm self-adhesive pearl coloured  with a red Copic to match the red in the image.

Here's a closer look at the colouring for you.  The white detail on the coat, hat and ribbons was done using a Ranger Inkssentials White Opaque pen - just love this pen as it is great for adding detail such as this over dark colours.

You won't believe this but I actually thought it would be lovely to recreate this card to send out as my Christmas cards this year - however once I realised how long it took me to do this card I soon re-thought that idea!!

Winter Fields

Hi guys. So have any of you (in the UK) had snow yet?  We have had a few flakes falling but nothing of any substance yet!!  However for our region they are forecasting blizzards for Tuesday and Wednesday so we have been out and bought snow shovels and rock salt in preparation!!  Which of course will mean that we won't see a single snowflake now that we are all prepared!  Even without any snow it is absolutely freezing here as the current temperature is -1c - thank goodness for our log burner!

So with snow (and cold temperatures) in mind I thought I'd show you one of the cards we made at The Craft Barn last Saturday using one of the new Christmas releases by Sarah Kay.  Isn't she sweet?  This one is called Francesca in the Winter Field and being that she is so lovely I had to have her!  The background papers are by Prima and Bo Bunny and the ivy and snowflake stamps are from the Snowflakes and Candies clear stamp set by Personal Impressions and the wording is from Woodwares Must Have Xmas Words.

The image was stamped using black Memento ink and coloured using Copic markers. (Sorry can't give you the colours as this was a class card!)  The brown snowflakes were punched using a Martha Sewart edging punch from the Snowfall set.

All products used on this card including the ribbon and the self-adhesive pearls came from The Craft Barn.

Here's a closer look at the colouring for you.  As you can see I opted to create a snowy ground by adding touches of blue here and there with the grass tufts peeking up through the snow.

Hope you like it!

What A Great Weekend!

Hi everyone.  Sorry that I've been missing for a bit but I'm currently having to limit my time on the computer!  I won't bore you with all the details as to why!!

Anyway I've found a bit of time to pop on here and I must say I had a lovely weekend (just gone).  No, it wasn't because I was at The Glitter Pot on Saturday - although of course that was VERY nice.  It was actually because Take That were on the TV on both Saturday and Sunday and I got to see all my boys back together again!  (I know I'm VERY sad!!)

Talking of The Glitter Pot...............I was there on Saturday taking a couple of classes and my thanks go to all the ladies who joined me for them.  At the end of the day I didn't leave empty handed and came away with a new crafting toy which I just had to have!!  Can you guess what it is???  Can you??  Can you????  CAN YOU??  Unfortunately I haven't had time to play with it yet though :(

Onto my card for today and I thought I'd enter this into the It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas challenge over on the Penny Black at Allsorts Challenge Blog.  As you can see I used that same Watercolour Resist technique for the pine needles!!  Just love this technique and it really is so easy to do. (Still not going to tell you how to do it though - you'll just have to look in the Dec issue of Craft Stamper!!)

All the stamps used on this card are by Penny Black - the main image is called Gift Of Giving, the pine needles and wording come from the Winter Whites and Greens clear set and the flourish is called Snow Scroll - all came from The Glitter Pot.

The paper came from The Glitter Pot as well but can't remember whose it is now and the snowflakes are a Martha Stewart punch called Glacial Snowflake.

I stamped Gift of Giving in black Memento and then coloured her using the Copic markers.  I used Copics for the pine needles too. (I think this makes such a lovely wintery scene!)

Copics used -
Skin - E11, E00, E000, R20
Hair - E99, E35, E50
Clothes and holly- E49, E47, E43, E41, YG67, YG63, G40, R59, R37, R32
Gifts - YG67, YG63, G40, YG95, YG91, R59, R37, R35, R32
Sleigh - E47, E43, E41, R37
Background - E47, E43, YG67, YG63, G40, BG11, BG10, W3, W1, 0

Hope you like it!!  Don't forget to let me know if any of you give the Watercolour Resist background a go!!

Frosty

Hi guys.  Thought I'd share a card with you that I made using the 'Resist Watercolour' technique with Copic markers.  The snowman is coloured in the traditional way using Copics but the branches have been coloured using the new technique that I came across using Copics.

Some of you I know have already seen my article in the December issue of Craft Stamper showing you how to do this technique but for those of you who haven't you'll just have to buy the mag to find out how it's done!!
 
The snowman is called Happy Soul, the stamped snowflakes (on the green background), the pine branches and wording are all from the Winter Whites and Greens clear stamp set and the scroll is called Snow Scroll - all of which are by Penny Black and available from The Glitter Pot.

The white card was embossed using the Snowflakes folder by Crafts Too which came from The Craft Barn.

The large punched out snowflakes are a Martha Stewart punch (Glacial Snowflake) and the smaller ones are a Woodware punch.

Here's a closer look at the main panel.  You'll find that I have used these same stamps in my magazine article too!  Hope you like it!

(By the way I'm also teaching how to do this technique this Saturday at The Glitter Pot. Click here for more details.)

So Sweet!

Hi guys.  I thought I'd stick with my Christmas theme for today and show you a card I made for The Glitter Pots Xmas Spectacular Weekend. As you can see I had a go at doing an easel card!

The stamps are all by Penny Black and the main image is called Snow Kiss.  Aren't they sweet? I used a Crafts Too Christmas Greetings embossing folder for the sentiment and a Crafts Too Snowflake embossing folder to emboss the bluey/green card - both of which I got from The Craft Barn.

The snowflakes that you can see on the base of the easel card came from the Penny Black Winter Whites and Greens clear stamp set and the scroll on the main panel is called Snow Scroll.

I stamped the main image onto smooth white cardstock using Tuxedo Black Memento inkpad and coloured the image using Copics. (Digital Smooth card by Craftwork Cards is ideal to use to stamp and colour onto as too is the smooth white card by Personal Impressions that The Glitter Pot sells.)  The snowflake embellishments were done using the Glacial Snowflake Martha Stewart punch and a Woodware snowflake punch and decorated with self-adhesive pearls.

Here's a better look at the main panel.

Copics used:
Skin - E11, E00, E000 and R20 for blush
Hair - E99, E35 and E50
Clothes - E49, E47, E43, E41, BG09, BG34, BG10, R59, R37 and R32
Holly - YG67, YG63, G40 and R29
Bear - W3, G00 and G000
Background - W3, W1, B60, G00 and BG000

In my December class at The Glitter Pot I'll be showing you how to achieve just this sort of background behind Mimi and the Polar Bear using the Copic markers.  Meanwhile I hope you like the card!

A Christmas Bumble Bee!

Hi guys!  This is one of the cards I had on display at The Craft Barn's Christmas Extravaganza Weekend using the Bumble Bee Gorjuss Girl!  I decided that if I coloured her in non Bumble Bee colours she could then double up as a fairy for Christmas which I think works quite well!!

For the card itself I used a white Pearlescent Bazzill panel which I embossed using a Papermania Snowflake embossing folder through my Cuttlebug, tore some Nitwit Christmas background paper and then stamped and embossed the Katzelcraft Flourish stamp around the edges of the card using a silver inkpad and silver detail embossing powder. Then I edged the panel using a red Copic marker.

For the Gorjuss Girl panel - I stamped her with Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto smooth white card (that The Craft Barn sell for Copics) and used my Deckle Edge Nestabilities Rectangles to die-cut her. I stamped and embossed snowflakes around her using Versamark and Crystal embossing powder and coloured her with Copic markers.  The words (from Woodware's Must Have Christmas Words clear stamp set) were stamped using Tuxedo Black Memento.  The snowflakes were done using the Martha Stewart Glacial Snowflake punch and the self-adhesive 5mm pearls were coloured using a red Copic marker.

Here's a closer look at the Gorjuss Girl so you can see the colouring a bit better.

Copics used were -
Skin - E11, E00, E000 and R20 for blush
Hair - 100, C9, C7 and C1
Dress and socks - R59, R37, R35, R32, YG95 and YG91
Wings - B00 and B000
Ground and background - W3, W1, BG10 and B000

All materials used are available from The Craft Barn. By the way some of the Copic colours I've listed are only available in the Copic Sketch markers which The Craft Barn now sell but haven't yet put online.

At Last - A Card!!

Hi guys.  I thought it was about time that I actually posted up a card!!  I've had a busy few weeks making them, followed by a busy few days loading them onto the computer so I think it is about time you saw just what I have been up to recently!

I'm afraid that Christmas is now here as all I've been making for the last couple of months are Christmas cards!!  However I promise that I won't overload you with Christmas cards over the next few weeks as I still have loads of other cards to show you too that I just haven't gotten around to posting up as yet!

So here is one of the cuties that I made for The Glitter Pot's Spectacular Weekend using the latest Christmas release of Penny Black stamps.  The little girl is from the Mimi range by Penny Black and is called The Gift of Giving. I also used the Starlit Christmas Tree to create my background on the main card which I simply stamped with Bundled Sage Distress Ink.  (Really like this stamp.)  The red snowflake paper is by Imaginisce and is called Swirly Snowflakes. The punched out snowflakes were done using the Martha Stewart Glacial Snowflake punch and a Woodware snowflake punch and the self-adhesive pearls were coloured with a Copic marker.

For the main panel I stamped the girl with Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto Craftwork Cards Digital Smooth cardstock and coloured her using Copic markers, then used my Ranger Inkssentials White Opaque pen to add the white stitched detail. Next I stamped and embossed Penny Black Snow Scroll around the image using Versamark and Crystal embossing powder. Lastly I used Frosted Lace glitter glue for the fur trim.

COPIC COLOURS
Skin - E11, E00 and E000
Hair - E99, E35 and E50
Clothes - R59, R29, R27, R20, YG67, YG63 and G40
Sleigh and presents - R85, R83, R81, YG67, YG63, G40, R59, R29, R20, YR68 and YR61

All materials mentioned came from The Glitter Pot apart from the Digital Smooth card which came from Craftwork Cards.

Scarlett In Pink

Morning everyone. First of all my thanks to all the ladies that were on my classes on Saturday - you all made it such a lovely day and each of you did a splendid job with your cards!  I do hope that you were pleased with them!  I am back at The Craft Barn again teaching on the 24th July incase anyone fancies it - more details for this can be found in My Event Diary on my sidebar.

Today I wanted to share with you a card I've made for the Stamping Bella In Pink theme that is being shown over on The Craft Barn's blog.  The rest of the DT have also made some beautiful cards for this. Click here to go and see!

Do you remember those Bo Bunny Double Dots background papers that I had to have a little while ago from The Craft Barn?  Well as you can see I used one of these sheets for my background along with a paper out of the 6x6 Porcelain Basic Grey paper pad which I bought at the same time!  They really work well together don't they?  I punched the Basic Grey paper with my favourite Martha Stewart punch (Floral Lace) - I just had to use this one as it went so well with the image!  I then used my mini daisy punch to punch out some extra flowers to go along the base of my card and added a self-adhesive pearl to the centre of each one. The wording came from my Fancy Flourish stamp sheet and I was delighted to find that the pink ribbon (from The Craft Barn) was an absolute perfect match for the paper!!

I used my Labels Twelve Nestabilities dies for the main image which I cut out using my Cuttlebug. Scarlett The Teacup Girl was then stamped centrally using Tuxedo Black Memento ink and then coloured using Copic markers. The background was also created using the Copic markers. As you can see I used those self-adhesive pearls again for the centres of the daisies in her hair.

Once I had finished all my colouring I used some Smooch Illuminate on the daisies,  (I've angled the card in this photo so that you can see the shine that this gives - fab isn't it!) and then used Stardust glitter glue around the edge of the die cut.  I hope you like it! 

Don't forget to head on over to The Craft Barn's blog too to check out the rest of the cards that the DT made. While you're there, if you scroll down a bit to one of the Extravaganza posts you can also see a really bad photo of me!! (And yes I was talking at the time - but then again when aren't I?? Lol!)

Butterfly Bear

Morning guys.  Today (before the time runs away with me!) I thought I'd share my other bear card with you that we made at The Glitter Pot a little while ago now!  He is of course by Penny Black and was coloured using Copics - can't get enough of colouring with these pens at the moment!  Just wish I had more time to experiment with them.  The flourish stamp is also by Penny Black and is called Scrolling Along.

I tried to keep the background quite muted for this card as I wanted all the focus to be on the bear but I couldn't resist using my Martha Stewart Floral Lace punch on the Dotted Swiss Bazzill cardstock!

Here's a closer look at the bear panel so that you can see I also did some subtle stamping around him using the Champagne Versamark inkpad along with a flower stamp that I took from a clear Penny Black stamp set before stamping the Scrolling Along stamp with a Brushed Corduroy Distress inkpad.

I hope you like him!!

All materials and products came from The Glitter Pot.