The 2nd Spring Flowers card

So here is the other card made with the same Spring Flowers stamp but this time it was stamped repeatedly in order to get multiple flowers. This is another stamp that I really like mostly because it is so quick to colour so it is great when you need a card in a hurry! I am a great fan anyway of the whole Denami range as I really like the clean simple lines of their stamp range.

You'll see that the backgrounds for this card are entirely different to the other one and were achieved using 2 slightly different 'resist' techniques using a Judikins background stamp and Marvy Blending Blox. The blue/purple background was done on glossy cardstock (Kromekote) and the green/olive background was on textured card. For the blue/purple background the flowery image was stamped repeatedly onto Kromekote with Versamark and left to dry - approx 15 minutes. Both the blue and purple inkpads were tapped onto a brown craft mat several times, spritzed with water and applied to the card with a sponge. Providing your imagery is properly dry the Versamark will resist the dye-based ink. The other background is achieved by applying green and olive inks in the same way but this time the image is stamped with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.

Again all these materials are available from Stamp Addicts.

Spring Flowers

With spring (hopefully) just around the corner I thought I would post this card up that I made a little while ago for a workshop that I took at Stamp Addicts in 2007. I can't believe that it was that long ago!!

I believe that I am right (although don't count on it!) that the flower stamp is actually called Spring Flowers. This stamp, the bee and the wording are all by Denami and the flourish stamp that you can just make out on the strip of vellum and the blue background is by Judikins. The little bee is just so sweet and is just the right size to add to a card with flowers on it as added interest. The imagery is coloured with Zig Brushables which are a double-ended pen in that you have a lighter colour on one end and a corresponding darker colour on the other which comes in really handy for adding shading. I use these pens a great deal because of this.

I tend to use vellum on a lot of my cards as I love the translucency of it, so you will no doubt see this cropping up now and again (!) in future posts along with acetate. I do love to use layers for my cards and because both vellum and acetate are see-through it allows me to add another layer without hiding what is behind it. All the products used on this card are of course available from Stamp Addicts.

Tomorrow I will post up the other card that we did using the same Spring Flower stamp but this time with no vellum!

The 2nd Magenta card

For this card I only chose to use one of the flower panels from the stamp so that I could make a smaller card. (By the way because this is such a nice large stamp this would be a great one to use with shrink plastic.) The background was achieved in exactly the same way using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and vellum.

I've been asked if I have got any hints or tips when using the Cuttlebug and to be honest I really can't think of any as it is so straight forward to use and the leaflet that comes with the Cuttlebug tells you all you need to know to get started. If anyone else has any great tips let me know and I will post them up.

Glitter Pot Afternoon card

Here is one of the cards that we made in the afternoon at The Glitter Pot on Saturday. The stamp is by Magenta and was coloured with Tombows/Marvys and a water brush. The background was done with a cuttlebug embossing folder. I'll post up the second card tomorrow.

Your Comments

I would just like to thank everyone for all your kind comments that you have left so far. They have been so nice to read and I really appreciate them so much. The funny thing is if it hadn't been for my friend Sarah, from Stamp Addicts, I wouldn't have been able to read your comments as for some strange reason when I set up this blog the comment part wasn't working even though I had enabled them! Thankfully Sarah kindly helped me out with this and got it all up and running for me - so thanks Sarah!

I would also like to thank those of you who have signed up to be 'followers' too. (Ooohh it sounds as if I am making some sort of acceptance speech at the Oscars doesn't it?? I would just like to thank....................blah de blah de blah.....!!!) Seriously though when I started doing this blog just over a week ago I wasn't too sure if anyone would actually read it let alone leave comments and sign up to follow it regularly - so a big thank you to you all.

To be honest I very nearly gave up on this blog before I got it up and running! I had hopped about on other people's blogs to see how they were set up and some of them are SO pretty and professional looking that I thought 'I'd like mine to look like that!' However when it came to trying to upload pretty templates to my blog they just wouldn't upload for whatever reason so after goodness knows how many attempts I finally gave up and decided to just go with a plain boring one instead.

I did want a different header though and to be honest this took me several attempts to get right too! So all in all it is a wonder that this ever happened! So if anyone out there would like to design me a pretty blog and install it all for me please feel free!

The 2nd Quick Card

Hi everyone. Here is the 2nd of the Quick and Easy cards that we did at The Glitter Pot yesterday morning using the same Penny Black flower stamp as before. This really is such a quick stamp to colour in. I used Tombows/Marvys to colour in along with a water brush. The background for the card has been done using pieces of background papers and Bazzil card. Next time I will post up the cards that we did in the afternoon using the Cuttlebug and vellum.

My next day of classes at The Glitter Pot is just under 2 weeks time on the 6th March where we will be making cards using both vellum and acetate in the morning and 2 looks with 1 stamp in the afternoon. If anyone fancies booking on either of these classes it would be lovely to see you. Simply click on the Glitter Pot link at the side of my blog under Favourite Crafty Shopping Sites and this will take you to their website.

A Sneaky Peek

A few days ago I mentioned pre-viewing one of the cards that I will be doing for one of my classes at The Glitter Pot tomorrow so here it is. The flower stamp is Penny Black and the wording is from a Hero Arts clear stamp set called Heartfelt Messages. Although there is a little bit of layering it is actually a very quick card to make as the colouring is really easy (done with Tombows and a water brush) and background papers have been used for the rest of the card.

As already mentioned I will be at The Glitter Pot all day tomorrow. By the time I get home I am normally shattered and will most probably collapse in the nearest armchair(!), so I will continue my blog on Sunday and post up another of the cards from the classes.

Clingfilm background

This is another technique that was done using the Starburst Stains. Originally many years ago I learned of using clingfilm to make backgrounds when using dye-based ink and a brayer so all I did was update it and use the same technique but this time with the Starburst Stains.



Because you want your card quite wet I actually give the card a wash with plain water first before adding any of the stains. Then as in the crumpled background simply load your paintbrush with the stain and add pools of colour here and there. Keep repeating with different colours until you have covered the entire piece of card, making sure you stir the stains thoroughly first in order to get the maximum amount of shimmer.

Once your card is covered with the stain, place a piece of clingfilm (cut larger than your card) onto the wet stains and gently move the clingfilm around slightly to create ridges in the clingfilm then leave to dry. Depending on the time of year and the temperature, drying time can vary dramatically but on average it probably takes around 30-45 minutes. Once dry simply remove the clingfilm and you will get the pretty textured look that you see here.

The stains used for this particular background are from the Mayday Meadow Starburst Stains set. This technique can also be seen on The Stamp Man's Starburst Stain show on Create and Craft, channel 671. Starburst Stains can be purchased from The Stamp Man.

More cards from Stevenage

As promised here are a couple more cards that I made for my demo at Stevenage using the Stamps By Judith flowers this time. I have really fallen in love with these stamps as they are just so versatile. The puffball flowers that have been added to the sprigs on the bottom card are actually done with a small snowflake stamp that is stamped lightly several times while moving the stamp around ever so slightly. The milkcan is actually another of my favourite stamps in this range. What is nice about this particular stamp is that once you have stamped the entire image, you can then just ink the flowers in the milkcan and have them around the base of the can or put them into pots. I didn't do that for this card as I wanted to use some different imagery - instead I used the 3 weed flowers, 2 sizes of grass stamps and a little flower head stamp to add to some of the grass stalks. The images again were all coloured with Zig Brushable pens.

To see the rest of the cards that I did at Stevenage visit Stamp Addicts blog. (Listed on the left-hand side.)

Stevenage

I thought you might like to see a couple of cards that I was demoing at Stevenage at the beginning of this month. All of the stamps used here are by Stamps By Judith apart from the Dotted Swirl which is a Printworks stamp. These stamps are absolutely great as they have been designed to interact with one another so well. I absolutely love the bees and the turtle as they are just so cute. I have also used these stamps along with some other critters in the March issue of Craft Stamper which is currently on sale.

The images have all been stamped with Stone Grey StazOn and then watercoloured with Zig Brushable pens. All the products used on these cards are available from Stamp Addicts. I'll post a couple more of these cards tomorrow.

Blog header background

A piece from this background paper is what I added to my blog header to create the background for it. Creating background paper like this is very easy to do. Although you can't tell from the image it is actually very shimmery.

The paints used for this background are called Starburst Stains which are mica based - hence the shimmer you get with them. They are sold in sets by The Stamp Man.

This particular background was made using all the colours from the MayDay Meadow set. To get the maximum amount of shimmer you need to stir the pots of mica very thoroughly each time before you use them.

To achieve a background like this simply paint a piece of copier paper with one of the lightest colours, then add patches (or blobs) of all of the other colours until you cover the entire sheet with colour. Then while the paint is still wet crumple the paper up tightly in your hand - this is the messy bit!! Carefully un-crumple the paper whilst it is still wet, roughly smooth it out and leave to dry. That's it, job done. All the colours merge together and create different hues. This technique was shown to me by Jill (from The Stamp Man) as she does like to get messy but the results are well worth it! You can see Jill doing this technique on her Starburst Stain show on Create and Craft - channel 671.

Finally....

So after making a New Years resolution to do a blog I have finally gotten around to doing it. I had been asked in the past why I didn't have one and the main reason was because I wasn't too sure if anyone would be interested in visiting it so we shall see......

Shortly once I have got the hang of this blogging malarky I will start to upload some cards and pictures. I am currently working on my prep for my classes at The Glitter Pot (in West Sussex) on 21st Feb so I may well show a sneaky peek of one of the cards we will be doing in a few days time. Meanwhile there are a couple of spaces left for the morning class which is entitled Quick and Easy so if anyone fancies a morning of stamping using one of the latest Penny Black flower stamps along with pretty background papers then you know where to come!