Foreign travel is still a dream for most of us, but at least we crafters can travel the world without leaving our craft tables!
I've printed, cut, distressed and layered lots and LOTS of elements from Debbi Moore's "Shabby Chic - Paris" CD for this card. I didn't really start with a layout in mind - just kept shuffling pieces around until I was happy, then took a photo to enable me to remember where to stick them.
I am sharing this with CD Sunday Plus - anything goes
As many of you read in my post the other day, my 95 year old Mum is poorly at the moment and has just been transferred to a rehab centre, where she is likely to be staying for a while so won't be at home on her birthday next month. Here's the card I've made to send to her.
She's mad about cats, and missing her own cat, so these will be a substitute! The cats are die cut, and I cut 9 squares of white card and embossed them with the Swiss Dots folder before matting them with red card. I arranged them on a square card, rotating the centre one for extra interest, and added the cats to the top and bottom rows. The sentiment is stamped and heat embossed. I chose "best wishes" instead of "Happy Birthday" because last year when I wished her a happy birthday, her reply was "What have I got to be happy about?"
I am sharing this with Time Out Challenges where the theme is Pets.
It's lovely to see the trees starting to look green again (although my eyes rather wish the nearby birch trees weren't producing so much pollen) so I've made a card that celebrates all the shades of green we see in nature.
A total snippet-fest using scraps of several shades of green and a snippet of leaf-patterned paper. The leaves were cut and embossed and the background finished with the last pieces of the scraps of card. I know the leaves are more "deep dark jungle" than "English country lane" but the colours are very reminiscent of the spring leaves, the conifers and the evergreen shrubs along the roadside.
I am sharing this with
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 401
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - M is for Monochromatic (apologies for the total lack of snark, sistahs, but my 95 year old Mum is in hospital at the moment and my mind just refuses to get into a snarky groove, I'm feeling to stressed to laugh!)
A few weeks ago, I used a very large butterfly stamp from the latest Indigo Blu magazine kit, and speculated at the time about how it would look used with shrink plastic.
Well I've had a play now and am delighted with it.
I stamped it onto clear shrink plastic and coloured it with pencils before shrinking. Then I used a new-to-me card fold called Mini Miura, following instructions over on Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge blog. I used coordinating patterned papers on the end panels and a green core-dinations card, embossed and sanded, for the centre panel. The back of the last panel has a white space for writing, and the sentiment attached to the belly band is a very old Polkadoodles stamp, coloured with pencils.
I an sharing this with
Butterfly challenge - I've used the fold and all the colours and of course a butterfly. I'd planned to add some metal brads but the ones I was going to use clashed horribly with the papers, being *exactly* the wrong shades of green and maroon, so I can't claim a full house this time.
Sweet Stampin - no squares allowed
I've not made an easel card for absolutely AGES and thought it was about time I put that right.
I used stamps from a recent issue of Creative Stamping magazine and papers printed from the La Pashe CD "Something for Everybody" . I coloured the images and made the chequered flag strip using Promarkers.
I am sharing this with
Addicted to Stamps and More - Birthdays
Cardz 4 Guyz - Wheels
CD Sunday Plus - Anything goes
Make my Monday - checks or plaids
Watercooler Wednesday - All about Occasions
Today I've used one of my oldest unmounted stamps - when I first started stamping, I bought a few grab bags of unmounted stamps, mostly from the USA, and this was in one of them so must be 20-25 years old.
I stamped, coloured and glittered the image then cut it out. The background is a selection of shades of yellow, orange and brown card scraps, all cut with hexagon nesting dies and arranged to give a recessed effect. It looks as if there should be another layer between the darkest yellow and the orange, doesn't it? Yet I definitely used the whole set and haven't lost a die!
I am sharing this with
Daring Cardmakers - Let's Hear it for the Bees!
Allsorts Challenge - Butterflies, Birds and Bees
Country View Challenge - The Birds and The Bees
Another make using the gorgeous flower stamp from the Indigo Blu #3 magazine kit. I love this stamp for slimline cards.
This time I've used all my palest pastel coloured promarkers to colour it and matted it with a layer of pink vellum to keep the delicate look.
I am sharing this with
Cardz 4 Galz - Slimline card
Passion for Markers - Feminine
The Flower Challenge - Pretty Pastels
But first - happy 9th birthday to Onions and Paper. Actually it would probably have slipped beneath my radar if today's Facebook memory post hadn't been my post from 9 years ago today announcing the opening of the blog. If I thought that by starting a craft blog I would knuckle down and use up some of my mountains of stash, I was about as wrong as I could be - the mountains have expanded!
This card is made using some of the stamps from the current issue of Creative Stamping. I stamped the floral border twice to go across the front of the card, and added the sentiment, watering can and butterfly. I doodled in some sprinkles of water then coloured the can and butterfly, leaving the border uncoloured so the pots would stand out against them.
I used the three potted plant images from the stamp set and coloured and cut them, then attached them with 3D adhesive, adding a slightly thicker layer to the central image to raise it a little abolve the other two.
I am sharing this at Inkspirational where the word prompt is GROW.
I've been playing with a fun NBUS stamp set that I won in last year's Cat Lovers Blog Hop.
Sorry about the grey looking background, I'm having a lot of trouble with the white balance on my camera at the moment and although I've done what I can to edit it to a true white, it's refusing to play ball.
I used the stamps to construct the scene - all the elements are separate so it's a very versatile set. Then I coloured it using Promarkers. The colours I chose for the cat are based on a lovely little cat ornament my grandma bought me when I was a little girl, about 5 years old. We went shopping in the Burlington Arcade on Lord Street in Southport and I fell in love with it. I suspect my Mum still has it in her loft somewhere.
The sentiment, also from the set, is perfect for an anniversary card for cat lovers. You don't often see a cat and a bird in love, but the card would be great for a "chalk and cheese" couple.
I am sharing this with
Alphabet Challenge - A for Anniversary
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes
Passion for Markers - Animal Antics
Show Us Your Pussycats - Furrything Goes
I'm delighted to be this month's Guest Elf at Christmas Kickstart - can you hear the bells jingling on my hat?
This month's theme is You Sleigh Me, so it's all about sleighs and sledges.
I've gone with an NBUS sleigh stamp from an old Raymond Briggs set, and one of my favourite festive colour combos, pale blue and kraft.
I stamped it and coloured with alcohol markers then cut and embossed it using a label die and blended blue ink around the edges while the die cut was still in the die. I did the same with the words only blended the blue over the whole open area.
The kraft background is embossed with a holly leaf folder and I finished it off with wooden snowflakes, bows and pearls.
I'm sharing this with
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything goes
Jingle Belles - To Die For
I saw this card fold in a recent craft mag and just had to try it right away.
I need to start by hanging my head in shame. This card was intended for the last Snippets Challenge, but with a lot of real-life distractions claiming my attention, the snippets I was planning to use were still in a heap on my craft table when the Playground gates clanged shut on Saturday, and didn't even get cut until a day later.
I selected a mixture of pink and green scraps and dies, cut them all and arranged to form a bouquet, with the butterfly replacing a more traditional bow. The background is made with one of my favourite embossing folders, it came from Crafter's Companion a few years ago.
I am sharing this with
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 400
Little Red Wagon - Happy Birthday
Watercooler Wednesday - All About Occasions
I'm delighted to have been invited to be guest designer this month at Stamping Sensations. The theme is Fantasy Worlds and/or Magical Scenes, and they want us to be creative.
I decided the most magical world I can create is one using my encaustic waxes, so I dusted them off - it's a couple of years since I used them - for this card.
First of all I stamped the silhouette fairy using Stazon ink on glossy encaustic paining card. The ink needs to be Stazon in order to dry properly on the card, not smudge when the wax is applied and to show through the wax. I used the same ink to stamp a border of flowers and grasses, but you can't really see them because I added so much other detail!
To make the encaustic design, I used clear wax in the centre of the iron and then purple and blue out towards the sides, then swooped the iron up the card at a slight angle to make it look as if the fairy is spotlighted by a moonbeam. Then I used a deep turquoise ink to create suction patterns along the bottom of the card. Finally I used the edge of the iron to pull up tapering lines of wax to look like ethereal plants.
I polished the finished wax painting with a tissue then added glitter glue in purple and turquoise to be magical fairy dust.
If you would like to know more about encaustic painting, there are lots of videos on You Tube. I learned what I know, many years ago, from videos I found at Arts Encaustic - now called Encaustic.com where I buy my papers and waxes. They have lots of tips, videos and a gallery full of inspiration on the site.
I am sharing this with A Bit More Time to Craft Extra - Anything Goes
They say we could have snow on Monday - perfect Christmas card making weather!
I've been playing with the Indigo Blu magazine kit again. This time the huge and very beautiful butterfly stamp is the star of the show.
I cut a piece of white paper with green speckles from the papers that came with the kit, and stamped the butterfly on it. Then I masked the butterfly and added extra interest to the background by stamping the large floral background all over it. I coloured the butterfly with Promarkers and added a stamped sentiment.
Next I took a piece of embossable acetate and stamped and embossed the butterfly on it. It really MUST be heat embossable or you'll end up with a poor imitation of shrink plastic when you heat it. (Now there's a thought, such a big butterfly would lend itself beautifully to shrink plastic... watch this space.) When I emboss on acetate, I like to use clear powder because however thoroughly you use an anti static pad, some powder WILL stick to the acetate. It means the image isn't quite as bold as it would be using black powder, but as it's going over another stamped image that isn't a problem.
I cut out my acetate butterfly, scored each side of the body to bend the wings outwards a little and attached the body section firmly to that of the coloured image.
I am sharing this with
Alphabet Challenge - Z for Zoology
Passion for Markers - Something beginning with B
Pearly Sparkles - Animals, birds and/or insects
