Mystic Moon(light)

  Here is the second of my DT pieces for Craft a Scene’s March challenge, Moonlight.
It uses a couple of Stampscapes stamps, and a couple from Non Sequiteur.
The background is also a little different this time, created using oil pastels. If you go to this page, you will find instructions on how I did this. Its a really simple technique, but can produce some interesting results. The important thing is that you will have to stamp in Staz-on, or it will wipe off, Versafine will work, but you need to spray with a sealant to make it permanent, I use cheap hairspray.
I created the background on white pearl card, an A5 piece,leaving a white area where I was going to place the moon. The oil pastels I used were a mix of blues with a little black for the night sky, browns in the centre for the mountains, another layer of blue where the lake would be, then greens for the foreground.
     Another bonus with the oil pastels is that when you have your images stamped, if areas are too dark, or just to make  areas of light & shade, you can remove some colour using tissue/kitchen paper/cotton buds.I did this in the water area to simulate the reflected moon.
The first image I stamped was the mountains, Rocky Peaks,188F, roughly in the middle of the background. Next I added the Cloud with Crescent Moon Lge, 202G, placing the moon in the white area. A Stamp Positioner helps here.

72C, Mystic Dreams

At the base of the Rocky Peaks I stamped Lakeside Cove Lge, 049G. To finish the scene, I used a stamp of Standing Stones, from Non Sequiteur plate 72C, Mystic Dreams. These stamps are now available from De Stempelwinkel. You can see the full range of images here, at Non Sequiteur,. They have some fabulous stamps, images you won’t find anywhere else, all u/m.
 Finally, some white gel pen was added to give highlighted areas. I trimmed the image down, then matted onto black, then silver card. Before mounting onto the front of a Black base card, I stamped the words MYSTIC MOON, also from the Mystic Dreams plate, in Silver Encore pigment ink, added Silver Detail embossing powder, and Heat embossed. Then I mounted the image above it.
 So, to recap what you will need:

Stampscapes stamps

 188F, Rocky Peaks
202G Cloud with Crescent  Moon
049G Lakeside Cove

Non Sequiteur stamps
72C Mystic Dreams

Oil Pastels
White pearl card
Black card
Silver card
Black Staz-on
White gel pen
Silver pigment inkpad
Silver Detail embossing powder
Heat gun

Moonlight…..

Wow, into March already. Time is flying past, it seems.
We had some fabulous entries in last months Craft A Scene challenge, which was ‘A Winter Scene’, and I believe the winning entries will be posted up this weekend.
So now onto this months Challenge, which is ‘Moonlight’.
For the first of my two pieces this month, I have used images from Lavinia Stamps, Stampscapes, and Inkylicious.

 The Lavinia Stamps are:
Moon Fairy
Bamboo( Bottom Left)
Fairy House

The Inkylicious are:
Grasses
Willow (Bottom Right)

The Stampscapes are:
Oak Branch, 203G and
Spooky Branch 273G.

This piece sort of grew of its own accord as I worked on it, and  I wasn’t entirely sure what I would do with this when it was done, but when I got to the end, I realised I had made our Granddaughters Birthday present!
  She loves fairies, and this will go in a frame for her bedroom.
The piece of card is A5 in size, 5 3/4 x 8 1/4. I brayered the background firstly with Adirondack dye inks, starting with Cool Peri. I followed this with Shell Pink,Stonewashed,Purple Twilight and Eggplant. The ‘tunnel’ effect was achieved by keep turning the card so that I brayered all four sides, and tried to come in a little further at the corners by brayering across the corner. All the images were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black, starting with the Moon Fairy. Next came the Fairy House, then I added the grasses along the bottom edge, Willow in the right corner and Bamboo in the left. The 2 oak branches and the Spooky Branches were all positioned using the Stamp Positioner, so that I could get the orientation right.

The moon was given a little colour with Antique White Flexmarker, and I used Promarkers in browns, reds and greens to colour the Fairy House. I added a little colour to her wings with a Glitter Sakura Gelly Roll pen, and also the dots around the moon. I dotted a glue pen between the Moon Fairy & the Fairy House, then sprinkled some crystal glitter over it. That doesn’t show up too well, to be honest, and I shall add some more dots of Stickles over the top, before I frame it. Then I just trimmed the edges to neaten it, and matted it onto some black cardstock.
You can probably see that I tend to work on top of an A3 pad, the sort you can buy for children as a sketch pad. It makes it easy to take the ink off your brayer, test stamp images, stamp off onto, and sometimes you end up with a really interesting masterboard style piece, quite by accident!
   So thats my first this month, pop over to Craft A Scene tomorrow and you will see all the DT first pieces, as well as the winners from last month.

Craft a Scene- A Winters Tag

Well, this is my second post for the DT challenge this month.
 I remembered seeing an interesting piece on Kevins Stampscapes site a while ago, so I went and had another look at it, and I thought it would work well for this challenge.

You can see Kevins original tutorial here, called ‘Winter Flurry’.

What Kevin did was to use a piece of pearlescent card as his base card, and streaked on colour using a stylus tool. He used Marvy inks, which I don’t have, and I have not really got a good technique yet with the stylus  tool, so I streaked ink direct from my inkpads onto an A5 sheet of pale blue pearlescent card.
    First colour was an Ancient Page inkpad called Flannel- a mid grey colour. I dragged this across the cardstock in a few places, lightly.
 I followed this with Stonewashed & Denim Adirondack ink, and then Weathered Wood Distress ink. You can see that I haven’t bothered about completely covering the cardstock, and because its a pale blue, you get a lovely shimmer to the rocks & snow.
Next I watered down a little White Acrylic paint, and used an old toothbrush to flick this across the inked cardstock. 
 I used only one stamp, Pines & Rocks, 195G, which I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black, varying the height of the image, and also using a ‘second imprint’ sometimes, for depth.
 Once the image was dry, I used a white gel pen to add snow detail to the trees and some of the rocks.
A while ago I made myself a tag template out of acetate, and I used this to select the area of the image I wanted for my tag.
  Once it was cut out, I punched a hole in the top and threaded some fibres through, in colours to blend with the tag. Two silver star brads finished it off. As you can see from the second picture, you could get at least three tags from an A5 sheet- perfect for multiple cards!
 By the way, for my fibres I use fancy knitting wool- you can find balls of this really cheaply, in all sorts of colours and types, and one ball will probably last a lifetime! Great idea is to share with friends- they buy one colour & you buy another, then split them.
  Thanks to everyone who commented on my first piece, I am glad so many of you liked it.
   I hope this one shows that you can get really cool results with the minimum of stamps & ink, and that you can always substitute what you already have for what someone else has used, and still get a good result.
 Quick recap then:
Pale blue pearlescent card (white would work too)
Mid grey dye ink
 3 shades of blue ink.
Black Versafine, Memento or Archival ink.
White acrylic paint.
Cheap toothbrush.
Stamp (195G Rocks & Pines)
Fibres & Brads.

Valentines Card

This was the card made for my Beloved Husband this year.I used the Black & Burgundy theme from our Wedding, and the card also incorporates some of the ribbon used in the Invitations, as I have plenty left!
 The base card is white Pearlescent, from PDA Card & Craft, which is where I buy the majority of my cardstock from. Good prices, excellent quality & choice and fast order turnaround, so whats not to like?
 The ornate background was stamped in Encore Gold Pigment ink onto black pearlescent paper, and heat embossed with Gold detail powder. The stamp itself is called Large Swirl Frame Background, by Magenta, 26019-R.

This was matted onto white pearl card, then black card. Some Burgundy ribbon was tied around the left hand side, and tied in a bow. Then I mounted the panel onto the card blank, which was cut down to a square.

For the tag, I used some dark red leather effect paper. Its a roll I have had for a while, I bought it from Hobbycrafts at the NEC a couple of years ago. I used this to cover a plain white tag, and trimmed it down.

Next I added Distress Ink in Aged Mahogany to colour the white edges of the tag, and to swipe over the texture of the paper too.
I punched a hole in the top of the tag next,then used a hole re-inforcer, coloured Black with a Promarker, to finish it off. I also used the Promarker to colour inside the hole, to hide the white edge.
 I got these from Wilkinsons, by the way. I thought they’d finish off  tags I cut myself tags nicely.

Now I selected some Black & Burgundy paper flowers (Craft Creations),and cut the heads off the stems. I used the Black Promarker again to colour the green leaves black.

A dollop of silicone glue next, and some small pieces of ribbon pressed into it, then the flower heads on top of them.

The Black & White heart  is I believe, a freebie from Craft Stamper some time ago. I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black onto a scrap of the pearl white card, then added a couple of layers of UTEE. I put an acrylic block on it overnight to flatten it, after the UTEE had cooled down. I added it to the tag with some more silicone glue, so I could angle it slightly. A small length of black organza ribbon threaded through the tag, then finally I added it to the front of the card with some sticky tabs for dimension.

Lest we Forget…….

This tag came about because I was reorganising some stamps and spotted an unmounted poppy, which was a free stamp with Craft Stamper, a few years ago now, when Jane Pinder of The Stamp Bug was the editor.

This is the stamp, and I thought it would lend itself nicely to layering.

 
   I stamped two images onto a handmade paper, and then four more onto Mulberry paper.

I used one of the Handmade paper poppies for the base, then cut up the four mulberry paper ones into sections, then scrunched them up. Opened them all out again, and began to layer them onto the Poppy base with a little silicone glue.

This is the Poppy all layered up, and with a large Black brad in the centre, which also help to ruffle the petals a little.

Added a leaf, from dark green mulberry paper, embossed with clear powder, and the edges cut with a pair of fancy edged scissors.

For the tag, I used a white index card, which I just
sponged in greens, using a torn piece of paper for a mask, and added blues for the sky.The stem is part of another stamp- a Lavinia stamps dandelion head. You can see a bit of a black smudge where I caught the edge of the flower head with the inkpad, but the Poppy head will cover it,lol.
 

 
 Now I matted it onto Red then Black cardstock. I don’t have a stamp for Remember, but I do have one that says Remembering, so I just masked off the unwanted letters with lowtack tape, inked the rest, then peeled off the tape before stamping.

The Poppy head is stuck in place with some more silicone glue.

 To finish it off, I added a few dots after Remember with a Promarker, Punched a hole in the top and added some black & red fibres.

New Ceative Expressions Embossing Folders

When I visited Pink Tulip Creations last week, as well as watching the Promarker Demo, I bought a couple of Creative Expressions embossing folders,Lattice & Brick.They are a little larger than the Cuttlebug folders, I have pictured them alongside one here to show you.

They do give a nice crisp emboss, but I did find that the Brick pattern was too thick to go through my ‘Bug with the standard ‘A’, ‘B’, folder & ‘B’ sandwich. So I discarded the bottom ‘B’ plate, and tried two pieces of card instead. I used the sort you get on the back of notebooks, like chipboard. I think I could have added another thinner piece of card, and improved the emboss.I know every ‘Bug is a little different, so be careful with this one, it definitely would have needed too much force using the normal sandwich on mine.

Here are the folders, with their respective pieces.

I have also been un-mounting some Foam backed stamps, from sets I bought when I first started stamping, and from early Craft Stamper magazines.I really found that it was difficult to get a decent print from a lot of these, and as I had quite a few sentiments amongst them I was fed up with not being able to use them properly.
I also have a nice Floral alphabet, which is on the left. I am one of those who love Kling-on/U-mount cushion on their stamps, and all my u/m’s are on it. I have even, in the past, put some silicone stamps on it that did not stamp too well, and now they work fine. Its either a love it or hate it product, I think.

One final thing, I notice that the photos of my followers keep vanishing, then reappearing, then vanishing again. Really don’t know why, can’t find much of an answer on Blogger help either. I have posted on their forum, to see if anyone has an answer, so if its happening to you as well, you are not alone! 🙂

WOYWW #114

First on my desk this week is another map card.The maps are from a set available from Stamp & Go.com, SIFS65,which features 6 maps, some waves, a couple of ships, and a ship in a bottle. It was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black onto an alcohol ink background then cut into a mosaic and matted onto black card. The two tags use a stamp from Artifacts, The Stamp Bugs own stamps, Spirit of Adventure Collage. Just went to their site to get the link, and their u.m stamps are on sale at the moment, with 25% off! The Time & Tide stamp is by Paper Artsy, Clocks plate 3, which also features some of the stamps in the third picture I have posted. I sponged old Paper, Antique Linen & Walnut stain Distress inks onto some script background paper and both tags.

  The second card is again using alcohol ink backgrounds, and the Crafty Individuals stamp from a couple of posts ago. The square card base was covered in paper from Dovecrafts Aquamarine Floral Prints paper pack.

Here are some of the clock images from the Paper Artsy plate, stamped onto Distress inked card, cut out then the ‘glass’ created with Glossy Accents. The card was coloured by swiping Distress inks onto a craft mat (mine came from Poundland, a baking sheet) spritzing with water then wiping the card/tag across the ink. Here is a link to Tim Holtz showing how he does it. The clock hands have been cut out using the Silhouette, using a ‘dingbat’ font that features clocks & timepieces.Have a great Wednesday, and if you are new to this idea, visit the Amazing Julia Dunnits Stamping Ground and join the fun.

4 Birds

This one is really quick & simple. I made 4 squares of embossed card, Cuttlebug Script and  Quickutz diamonds and attached these opposite each other onto light blue card. This was matted onto mid blue then dark blue card. I attached this panel to the front of a square cream card. The 4 Birds, Crafty Individuals CI 184, were stamped in Black Staz-on onto an oil pastel background, made in blues. I mounted this on top of the matted card, then tied a dark blue ribbon around the spine.

WOYWW #102

Happy WOYWW to all, lets hope that Blogger decides to let us play this week! I shall try to get around everyone over the next few days- overtime at work, so I am up at 5.00am, not getting home till 4.30 pm, then shower, do lunches, cook dinner, collapse! Anyway, here is my offering for the weekly stalk, lol.

This is what was on my desk this week- a 75th Birthday card for a work colleagues Mom.

  This is how it came together- some gold paper overstamped with an ornate background stamp for the bottom, and some gorgeous embossed vellum by K & Co to 
go on the main panel.

 

 Harlequin Rose panel, Elusive Images, was matted onto Gold card embossed with a Cuttlebug and Forest Branches folder.I wrapped a band of gold organza ribbon round this, then knotted some cream ribbon over it.

Then mounted it onto the front panel.

I added some triple embossed hearts.

   

   

Then the numbers 75, cut from gold card on my Silhouette, and embossed with the Swiss Dots folder.

My Silhouette.

The finished card, with sentiment cut out with the Silhouette, along with a matt for it. 

Flower Tiles

Started out at a bit of a loss for what to do with these tiles I had on my desk from the WOYWW 99 post- I have done so many square cards this week, and of course, that was the first thing to mind, looking at the image. So instead I went with a vertical strip, matted first onto black. Decided I didn’t like that, so un-matted them, and went with dark green instead. Then I had trouble finding the right backing paper- everything seemed too busy for these images. Finally came across a pad of papers, Laura Ashley Traditional,and the very pale green with the white flower seemed to work, and also made me think of lace- so went digging in my box of lace pieces, and added a strip of this to the front.
I’ve enlarged & cropped the picture here, the lace is a little difficult to make out against the pale background. I used spray glue to attach the lace. I lay anything I need to spray in my bin, on top of a scrap piece of paper, then spray it. No mess anywhere else,lol.
While digging around for the lace (which prompted me to find it a box of its own), I spotted a roll of pearl string, which I bought from a discount warehouse in Birmingham, from their florists dept.
     By the way, thats a good place to visit if you have one of these places near you- you’d be amazed at what you can find, especially the floristry part- lots of Bridal stuff, which is what this pearl string was for, masses of paper flowers, petals, ribbons, all a lot cheaper than you will get  anywhere else.
Anyway, back to the card! I wrapped the pearl string round a couple of times and knotted it towards the top.

Now the top right looked empty!
This card was really starting to feel like a battle of wills- I was determined to finish it, and it was fighting me every step of the way- normally I would put a project to one side when it feels like this, but I really think that if I had, I would keep putting off going back to it- besides, I refuse to be beaten by a piece of paper, (I was in a stubborn mood). I probably needed coffee, lol.
Off on an embellishment hunt then. Didn’t want too big, or too fussy, and finally I came across these little pearl hearts. I bought these a few years ago, at one of the Hobbycrafts shows at the NEC, thinking ‘ ideal for Wedding cards’ , and I think I have only ever used a couple. So, I attached these with a little silicone glue. I also used silicone glue to attach the stamped panel to the front, because of the lace.
Final bit was a sentiment, and I used a Whispers Words stamp, by Docrafts, 49701 Birthday Wishes. The Ink I chose was a ColorBox Catseye Pigment Pad, in Verdigris and stamped this along the front edge of the card.
At Last! Finished. Yay!!!