You can’t cross the Sea….

Both main images are from The Stamp Man, the Antique Map, and the Ship Collage  are here.The map is stamped on an Alcohol ink background, the ship on a brayered one in similar shades. Both matted onto black card, the map is mounted with DST, the Ship image is raised with foam pads. The sentiment is from Butterfly Kisses, from a set called Nautical Collage. This is stamped onto a scrap of the Alcohol ink background and matted onto black card. I set it in place with silicone glue, so I could angle it slightly- it is raised from the card base at the top. Two dolphin charms were added, also with silicone glue. The dark blue card base was cut to 15cm square. I have entered this in the Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge for this week- using your newest stamp.

‘Mappy’ Birthday?

This map stamp I have had for so long, I have no idea where I got it from, only that it came on a sheet with half a dozen maps and some sea/sailing -related stamps.The ship & compass collage stamp design is from The Stamp Man, and was stamped onto inkjet film that had the Crystal technique applied to it,and I cut the two parts of the image out and layered them separately, with a few dabs of silicone glue. The map was stamped onto a brayered green/blue background, then cut into three panels and matted onto blue/grey cardstock, then white. The sentiment was treated the same way. Black Staz-on was used for all the stamping. A small piece of white netting was smudged with Adirondack Latte & Espresso then scrumpled up. Held down with some silicone glue, which was also used to attach the Lighthouse charm and the sea shell. I filled the back of the seashell with the silicone to help protect it.

Birthday in blue

                                                                   The first card of the year.
A simple brayered background (Adirondack Cloudy Blue, Stonewashed & Sailboat Blue), overstamped 3 times at various heights with Penny Blacks ‘Aspire’,3381K. Stamped in Archival black, then just the flower spikes sprinkled with a sparkly embossing powder and heat set. The panel was then cut to 15cm wide, so I could trim it into 3 equal panels, which were matted onto dark blue card with a narrow gap between, then onto pale blue card, then mounted onto a blue marble card base. Happy Birthday stamped onto pale blue card in black and embossed, then cut out with the smallest oval from Nestbilities petite scalloped ovals set, then dark blue card cut out with the next size up. I punched a small hole in the dark blue oval & threaded a piece of ribbon through then mounted with a couple of blobs of silicone glue.

Christmas 2010

These are the cards I have been working on lately. My mass produced batch for friends, workmates & my Beloved Husbands forum friends.The Stamp used is Santa Collage, by Rubber Stampede,3408F, and the vellums were stamped with a large u/m snowflakes stamp,origin unknown, sorry.It was stamped in clear embossing ink then embossed with Stampendous ‘Stardust’ powder.I used a mix of inks to stamp with: Encore silver, gold & metallic blue and Distress Cracked Sapphire, Aged Mahogany and Forest Moss.Each image was matted onto a matching foil paper, then onto white card embossed with the Snowflake Cuttlebug folder, then onto foil paper again. A matching narrow ribbon was wrapped around this, then a bow added.The sentiment was stamped in matching colours and matted onto foil.  All elements were stuck down with silicone glue, due to the glittery vellum. Normal tabs don’t always hold very well on this surface, but silicone glue will.

  I trimmed the card front with a fancy edged blade, then stuck a matching strip of foil onto the rear of the card with DST.       

                     The insert is from a CD, called Thomas Kinkade, from Joanna Sheen  

 

                                                                                    

       I will be posting some pictures on how to batch-produce cards on my Tips & Techniques page during the Christmas break.     

Illuminata

Illuminata (1003, Inkadinkado) is stamped in Versafine Black onto white linen effect card, to give a canvas feel. A mixture of blues and purple dye ink was sponged onto the image, then cut into three equal pieces. This was matted onto black card with space between them then trimmed. A piece of calligraphy vellum was torn and stuck to the right side of the card front. A piece of calligraphy paper was punched with a fleur di lis corner punch (with the guides removed) then cut to length and added to the left side of the image. The image was then mounted using foam pads.
NOTE: make sure you punch down the LEFT side of the paper, or your text will be upside down when you add it. Yes, that is the voice of experience,lol.
An offcut of linen card was again sponged with blue & purple ink, then the letters ART from Anna Griffin’s Flourish Alphabet were stamped in black and cut out into tags. Eyelets were added and some fibre threaded through before mounting with silicone glue below the main image.

Whispers in the Wind.

Two more cards made using the crafty Individuals Treeline stamp, again on oil pastel backgrounds.I love this technique, as you never get the same effect twice, and the streakiness gives wonderful ‘Evening sky’ backgrounds.

Lakeside nightscape

The background was made using oil pastels in shades of blue top & bottom, and browns for the middle area where the rocks would be.Star Birth (217G) was stamped first, then Tall Peak (182G) then Lakeside cove (049G) all from Stampscapes, in Black Versafine, using a stamp positioner for lining up.Then sprayed with sealer. The image was cropped down and matted onto black then white card, then mounted centrally onto card front. The sentiment panel was cut using a Nestabilities Petite scalloped ovals large die, and the words stamped in black versafine. The words are taken from Non Sequiteur Winter Holidays plate (064). Two slots were punched in the oval and a short length of dark blue ribbon threaded through and the ends trimmed and mounted with foam pads.

Triple embossed birds

The 4 Birds stamp from Crafty Individuals stamped onto an oil pastel background then trimmed down. Mounted onto thick card and dabbed with a clear embossing pad then triple embossed. Dark blue card used in landscape format and a strip of dark blue angel hair paper stuck across the middle, with a slightly narrower strip of embroidered handmade paper placed across this. The bird squares are mounted with silicone glue. 3 Square brads added to the top left corner, and sentiment ( Stick & Stamp magnetic stamps, Rubbadubbado) stamped in silver in lower right.
By the way, if you stamp onto an oil pastel background, either use Staz-on ink, or spray with sealer (or hairspray) to prevent the image being smudged.

Serenity.

Japanese lady with Ravens, this time stamped in blue, with a blue washi paper and a small mizhuiki knot. Fibres tied around the spine, and a couple of oriental coins added.The square card was made from an A4 piece of card cut down, the fold creased & scored, then creased again 1”either side of the fold. An insert was added at this point, and the fibres wrapped around the spine. Then I closed the card and made 4 holes between the fold and the crease and inserted eyelets.The word Serenity was stamped onto a scrap of marbled card and mounted onto a scrap of blue card then washi paper.

Japanese Lady with Ravens

The title is also the name of the stamp, from Stamp Francisco. I stamped it using a Cracked Sapphire Distress ink-pad, then wiped the blue ink off the Ravens with cotton buds. I then coloured them using a black Marvy marker.Stamped onto a grey marbled card, then matted onto black, then blue/gold card.The two strips are Washi paper( Hobbycrafts, among others).For the Kanji strip, I used the Cracked Sapphire inkpad again, tapping it onto white card.This gave me a nice mottled look. The distress pads are also wet enough to take the UTEE, and I used 3 layers. The Kanji letters stamp is just called OASIS( I think this may be the maker) 212E. It has 9 characters in a vertical line, I just taped off the bottom 4 while I inked it up ( Encore Gold Metallic), then took off the tape before stamping.Added a tassel and mounted with silicone glue.Lastly I printed the title in black onto white paper, and used a label die cut from my Silhouette, to give a ‘Gallery’ feel.