stampendous poinsettia and kraft card

Hello my crafty friends. Today's offering was a bit of an experiment. And i think it worked. See what you think. I was quite pleased with the result. (Sorry for the rubbish photo). 

I started with a piece of kraft card which i painted with gesso. Once dry I stamped the stampendous poinsettia in versamark and embossed in black. I repeated this process twice more so I could have layers.

Then i painted the flower with distress paints. I used barn door, forest moss, mustard seed. I added brushed corduroy to red to darken it slightly and another bit with black soot for the darker contrast. Then i cut the layers out and shaped the petals. I then ripped the base sheet for a more shabby look and went round it with renaissance gold gilding wax. Then I added the extra layers to give more dimension to image.

I matted on white linen card which i had gilded all around edges. 

The base card is 8x8 kraft card. The poinsettia came with a lovely flourish which i used to stamp around the borders and in the corners just using versamark.

So I think that my experiment worked. What do you say? Theresa xx

i would like to enter the card in the following challenges:

Simon says stamp Monday challenge - witch kraft (kraft card)

Sunday stamper - deeply dippy

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - anything goes

Through the craft room door - anything goes

Winter wonderland - anything goes for Christmas

world war II

Hello my friends. Today's topic is not an easy one. However the occasion is.

I was asked to make a card for my friend's aunt's partner who will be 80 in a few days. She told me that his interest was WWII as he was in the regiment during the war.

At first I was at a loss as to what to do. Then I remembered that I had an aeroplane set of stamps from Hobby Art and this started me off. 

I stamped the fields first in potting soil archival ink and extended it to fit A5 card. Next i stamped planes in first, second and third generation ink using potting soil archival ink.

Then I inked the whole sheet with the 'brown' distress inks going darker and darker towards edges. Then using a paintbrush and water I bleached colour off from the fields.

I covered the lower part of card and flicked some water on card. It can look like snow but in my head it was representing bombs being dropped from planes.......

I dried it well and stamped the corners with a Tim Holtz stamp in versamark and embossed in rich gold detail powder.

Then I stamped the sentiment using Clarity stamps in potting soil archival and clear embossed. I cut it out with a spellbinders die. Leaving die in place i stamped swirl from Tim Holtz twice and inked the die with a few brown DI.

I matted and layered the topper on complimentary card but it still lacked something. 

So I made a poppy that I die cut partly with spellbinders and partly punched. Then I thought about medals and decided to make one for the card.

So I stuck navy, white and red ribbon as shown. I made the medal by cutting out a circle and triple embossing it with a mixture of antique and rich gold embossing powder. While it was molten I stamped the crown from Tim Holtz into it. I had inked it with watering can archival ink.

The metal attachment I made from a d-lite spellbinders die which i chopped and reconstructed out of antique gold card.

Finally I made a box for the card to go into as the flower would have been squashed in an envelope.

My friend loved it when she saw it. I don't know about the recipient yet. My husband said I ruined it with the embellishments. He just liked the topper on it's own. So now the jury is up to you........ Theresa xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges :

Simon says stamp Monday challenge - anything goes

Through the craft room door- anything goes

Sweet stamps blog challenge - anything goes

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - anything goes

Sunday Stamper - all about the background

Creative card crew - embossing (wet and dry)

Madeline

Hello my friends. Today's offering is created totally from stencils. They are really versatile and depending on what medium you use you can get some stunning effects.

I started with a gelli print that was lurking in my stash. it was one of those that didn't look like much and it was dark as i had made it with brown, black an gold. So I thought that if I added something on it it might make image pop.

So I got out the Madeline stencil and grunge paste and masked off the area around her face contour and spread the paste. I then left it to dry. It had already improved but it still lacked something.

When it was completely dry, I put the stencil back down and masked off areas as i was working. I decide to add some colour to the flowers in her hair by sponging distress inks through stencil. For the pearly areas on the stalks I used champagne bisque liquid pearls. Now it looked a bit lopsided. And I was starting to despair. I had an idea but wasn't sure. So I consulted my 2 boys and lo and behold they said what I was thinking....

This was going to be my final attempt to retrieve this. So I added ruby liquid pearls to her lips and the champagne bisque to her eyelid. Bingo! It worked. It wasn't lopsided any more!

So now I was happy with it. I matted it on dark brown card and then onto gold to compliment background print.

As always I hope you like my offering, Theresa xx

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:

Clarity stamp challenge - feminine

Fantastic Tuesday - anything goes 

season's greetings

Well over at the Fussy and Fancy challenge blog, the current challenge is a bingo board. I kind of tried to incorporate everything..... but did not manage the stitching.....

I used Justrite stamps for this and the paper is DCWV texture pad. The poinsettias are spellbinders dies.

I stamped holly background in versamark on lavender paper and embossed in white detail powder. This stamp has swirls in it. I matted and layered and attached to A5 base card.

I added another strip of paper to bottom of card after attaching some ribbon and lace to it. I cut several layers of lavender felt and made 3 flowers. I added some frantage to the centres and a pearl in the centre. I sat flowers on some ribbon. I added some flourishes or swirls either end.

For the sentiment (message) I stamped in versamark on lavender card and embossed in white. I cut it banner style and matted on white and tucked it under the poinsttias. i added a gem (strass) at one end.

And voila' the finished card. 

As always I hope you like my offering, Theresa xx

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Fussy and fancy Challenge - bingo board

Crafts for eternity - something old (lace, frantage)

Penny's paper-crafty challenge - anything goes

Crafting from the heart - anything goes

Crafting at the weekend - anything goes

As you like it challenge - favourite 2 embellishments ( has to be pearls and ribbon; they finish off projects beautifully without being too intrusive or ott) 

brushos and visible image

Well as you all know, brushos are all the craze at the moment. And yes i am getting slowly but surely addicted to them. Today I was playing with them along with my little boy who thought they were great fun.

This is the finished card. i will show you how I got here. Yes today i have remembered to take pics along the way......yay!

So this is how i started. Background on watercolour paper and 2 brushos - leaf green and yellow - both summery colours.

All the stamping has been done with the Revolution set by Visible Image. So I started by adding script to background using mustard seed, peeled paint and bundled sage to distress background.

I noticed turquise specks in there so next I used tumbled glass DI and stamped the small fleur-de-lys in all 4 corners and added swirls to edges.

Next came the horses. The first is stamped in black archival ink and masked off. The next one is done in second generation black archival ink and then masked off. The third is stamped in second generation watering can archival ink.

Then I added the splodges from the other horse in first, second and third generation black archival, distressing background further.

The word was stamped in black archival and clear embossed. I masked off the other words before inking. The large fleur-de-lys was stamped in versamark and embossed with wow superfine rich gold embossing powder.

Then i felt that the edges looked a bit bare so I used crackled embosing folder by Tim Holtz and embossed them manually using an embossing tool. I went over them with treasured gold gilding wax. This gave the picture a more aged look and the embossed areas looked like creases.

The edges were still lacking something so I went round it with chipped sapphire to darken it. At this point I was happy with the result.

So all that was left was to mat and layer and attach to base card.

I do hope you like my make for today, Theresa xx

I would like to enter the card in the following challenges:

Visible Image - anything goes

Fan-tastic Tuesday - anything goes challenge 48

TTCRD - anything goes

Simon says stamp Monday challenge - scratched up (distressed)

Simon says stamp Wednesday challenge - summer (summer colours)

farewell sweet lilac flowers

Hello my friends. Today's offering is the last card i will be making as part of the Sweetlilac DT. In fact this is my 'farewell' project. The new team will be taking over from the 15th August. I'm sure they will continue to inspire you with their creations. 

I must say that i have enjoyed being part of this team and working with Sweetlilac flowers has been great as they are really good quality.

Getting back to the card, it is made with graphic 45 papers and Sweetlilac flowers. I got the inspiration when reading simply Cards and Papercrafts.

I started with a 6x6 base card that I covered with paper from the botanical tea party. I inked all edges with walnut stain prior to sticking it down. I layered the stripey blue paper on top. 

Then I cut several layers with spellbinders borders from the same set of papers. I used a mixture of 6x6 and 12x12 papers. I inked every layer with walnut stain and layered as shown. 

I tied a double bow from pink twine and attached with a button from my stash.

Next it was time to add the flowers. I chose several different ones that matched papers. I also added some leaves, tucked here and there. These are all from Sweetlilac flowers. The gold bead sprays are from my stash.

Finally i stamped the sentiment in potting soil archival ink and cut it banner shaped. I inked again with walnut stain and matted on blue g45 which i also inked. I tucked it between flowers.

There is still time to enter the current Sweetlilac challenge which is birds of a feather. Don't forget the winner gets a hamper of gorgeous flowers.

As always I hope you like my make. I wish the best of luck to the new DT members, Theresa xx

brushos and lavinia stamps

Hello there. Well if you remember my first brusho post from a few days ago you might remember that i said that i had put card on top of wet one and pulled off a print from it. This background is the other of those 2 pieces and is mirror image of the other.

This time I felt it looked more like a landscape and felt it was very ethereal so yes i did use a magical being. All the stamps used here are from Lavinia. The majority come from a qvc set and the other is the hanging vine.

I used archival inks for stamping; black, plum, cobalt. I went over the pixie's wings with versamark and embossed with stardust from stampendous.

I then added white opal liquid pearls around some areas and sprinkled with glitter.

I matted on complimentary colours. 

finished card is 6x6.

I do hope you have recovered from the shock of seeing a pixie on my blog and that you like my latest creation, Theresa xx

I would like to enter the card in the following challenges:

Lavinia challenge - add some glitter

Simon says stamp Wednesday challenge - make it sparkle

merry christmas

Well today I have a Christmas offering for you. I can hear some of you groan, but if i don't start early I will never get them finished. I barely manage anyway andIi always start early.

This Christmas sentiment from IndigoBlu is one of my all time favourite sentiments. I always feel it doesn't need much doing to it as it makes quite a statement all by itself.

For this card i decided to use Kraft card and ivory for contrast. So I stamped sentiment in versamark and embossed in ivory. I cut it out with a spellbinders die. I coloured the berries on holly, the ribbon, tiny leaves and the flowers on 'M' and 'C' with gold wink of Stella for some subtle bling.

I matted outer piece on ivory card, leaving a border all around, and stuck the middle layer on foam pads to add dimension. I matted it all again on craft card and attached to A5 sized ivory base card.

I then cut several layers fro the poinsettia die (spellbinders) in ivory and one large one in antique gold card. I layered them down and stuck to corner as shown. The centre part is achieved by dropping gold seed beads onto glossy accents. I embellished it further with some pearl swirls from Creative expressions. 

In the opposite corner I added a small holly accent again spellbinders die which i inked with gold wink of Stella. The card was finished by adding some pearls to the corners.

I hope you like my creation, Theresa xx

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

IndigoBlu - Christmas in July

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - anything goes

TTCRD - anything goes

Simon says stamp Wednesday challenge - make it sparkle

playing with brushos

Ever since that Eileen Godwin has introduced us to brushos I had to get some. i have been playing trying to replicate some sort of effect that comes remotely close to what she does.

So far my efforts have been in vain. A couple of days ago I was playing again and got 2 backgrounds that i really liked.

Actually while the piece I was working on was still very wet i covered it with another piece of watercolour paper and burnished it. When i pulled them apart I had 2 backgrounds. At first I wasn't sure but then as I looked at them some more I started to see a landscape in one a and bottom of the ocean in another.

I'm sure it is very obvious which background this is. In my head I could see Ryn's stamps on it and so i got them out and started to build the picture.

I stamped kelp first in fern and olive green archival ink. Then i stamped fish in Cobalt archival ink. The coral was stamped in plum archival. 

Finally i stamped the rising bubbles in black archival.

I decided to bleach some colour out of the foremost bubbles to add depth. This i simply did by adding water to bubbles and blotting with kitchen towel. Then i added highlights with a white pen. Lastly i added glossy accents to make bubbles more realistic.

Once I'd finished it i thought i didn't really like the end piece so i cut it off. However it later grew on me so i decided to use it. 

Some matting and layering and voila.

As usual I hope you like my offering, Theresa xx