Stencil card

Helloooo :). Today I thought I'd share a stencil card that I made last year for one of the classes that I took at The Glitter Pot last year.

This is made using Imagination Crafts Sparkle Gel along with a couple of their stencils namely Wild Flowers and Apple Blossom.

I also embellished with some stamping using a Hobby Art stamp set called Just For You. The background was achieved with Distress inkpads.

 I also coloured the Sparkle Gel using a combination of Copics and mica powders.

In due course I will be offering to make this card as an all day class from my home. If anyone is interested please email me.

Toodles for now.................

One colour of Brusho

Helloooooooo again!!  Today I thought I'd share three really simple cards that were created just with one colour of Brusho (Grey) and a black inkpad.

I am SO proud that I can now do quick cards -lol!!  And it's all thanks to Brusho paints as they honestly do all the work and effects for you. These cards were all created onto The Craft Barn's plain smooth card - I wanted to show that you don't always need to use watercolour card with them - different types of card will actually give you different effects making the paints even more versatile :).

First up is a closer look at the tall card -

The stamps used here are from a Stampendous stamp set called Bold Sprigs. You can see from the closer photo below that I also added some stamping with a grey inkpad as well as the black one and added some white dots to the black stamping using a Sakura white pen.

Next up is the square card with only very simple stamping on it using that same Bold Sprigs stamp set.

 And as you can see from the close up photo below I chose to outline the black imagery this time with the white pen.

 Lastly this card shows how you can achieve a really quick wintery looking card - this time using a Woodware stamp set called Winter Trees.

With this card I added some Shabby White embossing enamel to the 'snow area'.

Well that's all for today. If anyone wants to see the fabulous Brusho powders in action I'll be back demoing at The Craft Barn on Saturday March 7th.

Laters!!.......................

More Buzzy Bees

As promised I'm back again with part two of the bee cards that I made using the new bee stamp collection set by Jo Firth Young.

This time I stamped, coloured and cut out lots of the little bees and incorporated the bee hive!  The backgrounds were made using the same techniques as in the previous post. All the stamps used are from this one stamp set.

 A closer look.

And here's the second card this time using one of the new mini wording stamps which of course goes perfectly with the stamp set.

 A closer look at the wording.

Toodles.............................

The Buzzing of the Bees

Hi everyone. As promised I am back to show you a couple of the  cards that I made using one of the new stamp collections by Jo Firth Young.

First up is a 6x6" square card using the big and little bees from the bee stamp set all of which I cut out and shaped the bodies a bit before gluing them to the card. The background was achieved using a yellow and orange distress ink and some of the background stamps from the same set.

 A closer look at the bees that I coloured with Copics.

And here's a smaller version - this time I added some background stamping in black and added some cut out hexagons as well as the bees.

I'll be back again soon to show another couple of bee cards made with this fabulous set by Jo - you can check out the stamp set here which is already available at The Craft Barn.

Toodles......................................

Brusho and a DT Call

Oh my goodness!!!!  I really cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted!!  Personally I blame my laptop - I was just getting into the swing of things of posting again and it conked out!!

I've now got a replacement but I've been really busy creating stuff - for the last couple of  months I've been busy with designing some stuff back for Craft Stamper - actually I have an article in this months magazine using a JOFY stamp set and the fabulous Spectrum Noir blendable pencils from Crafter's Companion. Personally I haven't seen the magazine yet but I've heard that it is in there!!

Last Saturday I was at The Craft Barn demonstrating with the fantastic Brusho paints.  They are a watercolour powder like no other - the effects you can get with these with no effort at all are just amazing!!  Love, love, LOVE them - I'll be back at The Craft Barn in March demoing them again and then I have a class there using them later on in the month.

Here's a taster of one of the most simple things you can do with them -

Literally just sprinkle the Emerald Green paint down one side of the panel - spritz the watercolour powder with water and then stamp some imagery. Easy!!

The stamps are from the Bold Sprigs stamp set by Stampendous.  Quick cards here I come!!

I've loads more card samples to show you using these amazing paints but I'll save them for some more blog posts!!

Meanwhile I must tell you that Crafter's Companion have just issued a Design Team Call - you can find out all about it here.

I'll be back again very soon to show you some card samples that I've created with one of Jofy's latest stamp releases!!  I was SO excited to be asked - you can find her latest stamp designs over on Jo's blog.

Toodles...............................!!!

Party Paws

Are you impressed with me being back again SO soon - lol!!  Thought I would pop on and post another card before my laptop dies on me!! So without further ado here it is.......

This was created using one of the Party Paws rubber stamps along with some papers printed out from the Party Paws Christmas CD Rom and coloured with both Spectrum Noir pens and pencils.  The trees are a Die'sire die. All from Crafter's Companion.

Here's a different view of it so that you can see that it slots behind the small fir tree to create the 3D front. Once again I liberally sprinkled Shabby White embossing enamel (Stampendous) and used Stormy Sky distress ink to add some shadowing to the trees.

 

And here's the other 'side view' of the card.

Cute Christmas!!

Hi peeps!!  Well I've got to be very quick with my post as my laptop is very poorly and only lasts about 10 minutes before it shuts down for the day!!

So here goes with my card for today.

As some of you know I joined Crafter's Companion DT earlier this year and have now got into CD crafting which was totally new to me!!  I always thought that it wasn't that 'creative' but it is quite surprising just what you can do once you start adding lots of different elements from the CD Roms.

This card was created using quite a few different elements from the Christmas Moonbeam Meadows CD Rom along with the Fir Trees Die'sire die - both from Crafter's Companion.  I added some Shabby White embossing enamel to the imagery and some Stormy Sky Distress ink.

Whereas the card below (also from the Moonbeam Meadows CD) is just simply one of the images stuck to a card blank with some Stickles added to it and a couple of gems.

I honestly loved working with this CD Rom as all the images were just fab!!

I hope to be back again very soon with some more cards to show you if my laptop will allow!!  Meanwhile I have a new one on order as I can't live without one!!

A Frosty Morning

So today my computer has got to go to the 'doctors' as it's not very well!!!!  So just incase it doesn't come back I thought I'd quickly post up a card that I created last year using the fabulous Lavinia Stamps.  Just LOVE this range of stamps and I ended up doing a 'happy dance' when The Craft Barn began stocking them!!

Anyway without further ado here is the extra long card that I created which is A4 folded in half lengthways.

The background was created just by tearing bits of paper and sponged with Distress inkpads.

 As you can see when the card catches the light it really shimmers - this was down to using an Encore Silver metallic inkpad and Stardust embossing powder.

As you can see I chose to stamp the 'outer' trees with the silver inkpad too in order to make them shimmer and give the impression of 'frost'.

Here's a closer look at the middle of the card where you can see I added a touch of shadowing under the horses which was just done with a water brush.

The finishing touch was sprinkling just a little of Stampendous' Shabby White embossing enamel over the whole thing.

Hope you like it!!

All products used are available from The Craft Barn.

The Snow Cards

Helloooooooo!!  As promised here are the Snow cards with those Distress Ink backgrounds.

 

 I think out of all the cards that I did this is my favourite colour scheme which was Tumbled Glass and Weathered Wood. Once again the huge Snow word was painted with FlitterGlu and Crystal glitter was then popped over the top. For the snowflake I just added Silver Stickles.

 

Then as you can see I had once again stamped IndigoBlu's Frosted Baubles with FlitterGlu and gilded it - just love this effect!!

And here is the other Snow card this time with Dusty Concord added to the Tumbled Glass.

And of course those Frosted Baubles again gilded with leafing flakes.

I'm really hoping that I might get chance to make some of these as my Christmas Cards for this year!!

Oh and just a bit of news to share.........................I am now proud to announce that I am an Accredited Spectrum Noir Colourist!!

More Snow and Santa cards!

Here are some more Christmas cards using the huge Santa stamp again by Francoise - this time with Distress Inkpad backgrounds for a totally different look to the last posting.

Background for the above card was achieved using Victorian Velvet and Seedless Preserves Distress inks. The Santa wording was stamped onto one of the  Silent Night First Edition papers and then coloured with Copics. Dies are Memory Box.

As you can see when the card catches the light I have used IndigoBlu's Frosted Baubles stamp with FlitterGlu and gilding flakes.

This time Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord were used for the background. Santa was painted with FlitterGlu and Crystal glitter sprinkled over the top and then coloured with Copics.

Then as you can see when the card catches the light Frosted Baubles has been stamped with FlitterGlu again and gilded.

I'll be back in a few days time to show you the Snow ones with Distress ink backgrounds.

The time has come!!

Well I can't put it off any longer and I have now got to think about what design I am going to do for this years Christmas cards so with that thought in mind I thought I'd share some Christmas cards that I have made in previous years for demos/classes etc....

So to start it off I thought I'd share this one that I made last year for The Glitter Pot's Christmas Spectacular using one of Francoise's huge wording stamps along with some Memory Box dies and some pretty patterned paper that came from an 8x8 First Edition paper pad called Silent Night.

I edged the card with some leafing flakes using FlitterGlu as the adhesive which when it catched the light really sparkles.

 And here's another card using the same patterned paper but another of Francoise's huge words.

I painted the wording with FlitterGlu and then sprinkled over crystal glitter then coloured with Copics.

I also used IndigoBlu's bauble stamp which was stamped with FlitterGlu and gilded with leafing flakes.

I just love these huge wording stamps - they make such great statement Christmas cards!!
All materials used on these cards can be bought from The Glitter Pot.
I'll be back with some more cards showing these stamps very soon!!!

Last minute class added!!

Hi everyone.  Just popping on to let you know that I've just agreed to do a class at The Craft Barn on Sunday 2nd November which will be a re-run of the class that wasn't able to go ahead in September.

In this class we'll be playing around with Distress inkpads, stencils, Sparkle Medium along with some Lavinia Stamps.

This will be my last class at The Craft Barn before I hibernate for winter - lol!!!

If anyone is interested please click here to be taken to The Craft Barn's website for more details :).

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Chameleon pens

Today I thought I'd share my thoughts with you about the new innovative Chameleon pens that launched on C&C a couple of weeks ago.

As I think we all know I absolutely love my Copic markers and more recently have become a fan of the Spectrum Noir range too. When I saw the Chameleon pens (being that they are alcohol based) I was definitely interested in trying them out especially as you can get SO many tones just from one pen!!!

Below is my VERY first go with them.

The background was done with Distress inkpads but all the actual colouring of the snowmen was achieved with the Chameleon pens and nothing else. For anyone that struggles with the normal blending process using three or four corresponding markers then these pens are most definitely for you as they really do provide a seamless blend. Plus they will work along side other alcohol based markers and of course you can use pencils over the top of these too.

To be fair there is a bit of a learning curve with them, learning how long to fuse them for and getting the hang of colouring in either a side to side movement or little circles as opposed to flicking or feathering (which was always my preferred method) but it really doesn't take long to adapt to this way of colouring. Also I am not a 'great' colourist - there are people out there who are just amazing at colouring and I'm not one of them!!  I would say that I am a 'middle of the road' sort of colourer so if I can do it from following the demos on telly anyone can!!!

So far I have only had a very quick go with the complete set that I bought but I am really looking forward to trying out different images with them and having a good play!!

I am thinking about running some classes (from my home) using these pens for anyone that is interested in having a go with them so if anyone is interested in this please do email me.

Spectrum Noir pencils

I have had the priviledge of being able to play around with Spectrum Noir pencils since they were released earlier this year and I can honestly say that I absolutely love them!!! The pigment within the pencils is really rich and you are able to achieve a wonderful smooth blend with these gorgeous wax based pencils.  My current favourite way of colouring is to colour with my Spectrum Noir pens first and then add more depth and dimension to the image with the pencils.

However the pencils create great results on their own too.  This is one of the cards that I created for a class that I taught at The Craft Barn last month using the pencils onto textured Core-dinations cardstock. Even though I was colouring onto green textured card you are still able to achieve a rich vibrant result with them - this was created just using the pencils on their own without blending solution.  The white accents on the flowers are from a white gel pen.

Currently there is a fantastic Four Day Deal on Create and Craft where you can buy the whole set of these pencils (all 5 sets) at a ridiculous price. Do tune is as Leann has been showing some different techniques with them and I for one am definitely going to try the technique with the gesso as I just loved that!!

Below is a photo showing the difference the pencils can make when using them over alcohol markers.  The panda's hat on the right was coloured very roughly with my pink Spectrum Noir markers and the panda's hat on the left shows not only how you can smooth out your colouring by adding pink pencils over the top but also how much depth you can achieve to your colouring.  And yes you can use these pencils over the top of any alcohol marker :).

 

So if any of you have been thinking about giving the Spectrum Noir pencils a go and haven't dipped your toe into the water this deal is most definitely worth checking out!!  I honestly and truly absolutely LOVE mine :).

New classes just added

Oh goodness I cannot believe it has been so long since I last posted anything!!  The days just keep whipping by and nowadays I find it quicker just to pop something on Facebook so my poor blog has become a bit neglected!!  I'll try to do better!!

This morning I have been busy updating my Classes/Demos page both with classes at stores as well as a couple of Christmas based classes that I will be running from home until December 10th.

Here's some pics of them -

This first one is a class that I'll be doing this Saturday at The Glitter Pot where we will be combining Sparkle Medium and stencils with stamping and colouring.

Then in November I am back again at The Glitter Pot with A Traditional Copic Christmas.  Below is one of the cards we will be creating in this class.

And lastly from now until December 10th 2014 I'll be running a couple of Christmas card classes from home concentrating on how to colour combining Spectrum Noir pens and pencils.

 

 

If you click on my Classes/Demos tab you can find out more about all of them.

Father's Day

Hi everyone. A super quick post from me today showing the couple of cards that I made for Dad for this Father's Day.

 This one is a photo that I took on our recent holiday to the Norway Fjords.

And this one is made using an image from Crafter's Companion's Halcyon Days CD Rom. Love the imagery on this!!!!