Playing with Fairies

Bit of a play with my brayer to create the backgrounds and then using some stamps and masks from Clarity Stamp I made some cards that I'm quite pleased with.

To start with I wasn't so sure about the colours, I was trying to go for a darker look but I was worried that the corners were a bit to dark.
Once I'd coloured the main flower in using distress markers I was happier with the result.

Lighter background on this one so it called for lighter fairies and a light main image. So stamped on paper first before stamping on my background. The main image was coloured using water colour pencils they don't show up so well on camera. 

I also really bodged up my first attempt so had to cut the top off, this left a nice piece that just wasn't a good size for putting on a card, but I really liked the colurs in the background So now I have a nice bit of my creativity adorning my craftroom wall. 

My cat decided to wake me up at stupid o'clock on Sunday morning, whilst cursing the wind meaning I couldn't keep my window open so she could come and go as she pleased at stupid o'clock. I hit apon an idea of using the fairy dust as a focal point and build up an image. 

Thus these were born. 

and then this one

Both these were using exactly the same spray stain colours just on different paper, one a coated card  the other just cheap and cheerful white card. I pressed the non coated onto the sprayed coated and it probably lapped up most of the colour. 

Added some stickles to the fairy dust and sentiment to the middle of the circle. 

So yup it was a weekend of playing with fairies. Really want to try and get away from pink and purple and try going a bit darker with them. Thankfully a long weekend is coming up so maybe it'll be time to have a proper play. 

Tim Holtz Inspired March 2015 tag (although it's not a tag)

It took a while to get here but finally I'm finished.

So it's not a tag, but a page from what I refer to as my playing book.

I did start out making a tag, firstly inspired by January's tag I had a bash at making my own tissue paper. This was very successful.

I coloured the tag all over and was rather happy with the result, I used my brand new  Spray stains to colour the background, I've been having lot's of fun playing with them so thought I'd use them on my tag.  Stamped my favourite of the moment stamp and was pretty happy with the result.

Maybe it's a little bit too blue, but onwards and upwards.
Luckily I had seen a demo of the texture paste and seeing as I love stencils I'd recently purchased some. I hadn't ordered a palete knife though. Still must crack on and an old bank card will work just as well. I don't like Gold and blue together so Silver Embossing powder was added instead.

Still going well, and then I did something stupid. Noticing my stamped image looked rather dull cause I'd glossed over embossing it after stamping. I thought I'd compromise and coat it with glossy accents. This didn't go so well, if I'd used my paint dabbers instead of the spray stain I might have got away with it. Instead I was left with this.

Yeah not so good. So that Tag was a gonna, not literally I haven't chucked it away it's just hanging around waiting for a home/use. 

So back to square one, I did have tissue tape so thought I'd have a bash with that, learning from the last tag I used my Paints this time. All going good and then I went shopping and found a new stamp that I absolutely had to buy. 

Yes it's a cat but it bears an uncanny likeness to my cat Gertie. Btw this is her annoyed face.

So I thought "yay I shall go forth and use this stamp for my Tag, I shall even clear emboss it and everything"

The stamp doesn't look anywhere as good, so I another Tag bit the dust.

I had a break from trying to Tag make, finally found somewhere that sold the Distress Metallic Paint Dabbers. Found somewhere ordered them and a bunch more Spray Stains and got sent the metallic stains instead (kept them and reordered the paints and got one thrown in for free, big yays). Had a play with the Metallic Stains and coloured some boxes with the metallic dabbers.

A combination of all this lead me to starting the page in my playing book. Was very happy with one back ground in the book. So I added texture paste, going through my pine cone Vanila Stencils stencils (my friend makes and sells them for cake decorating, I love them and buy them for paper crafting!) added Brass embossing powder, I do have gold but thought the Brass would work better which it did. 

Oh there was a big gap on the left, no worries added some tissue tape and a bit of washi tape to fill in the gap. Background still needed a bit of interest so using pumice stone I stamped some bits of non leafy trees. 

I'd been playing with the Metallic Spray stains and when looking at one of the back grounds I'd achieved was very happy with it and so dug out the Butterfly Urban Stamp that I'd used recently on a birthday card and stamped and then clear embossed it, on to the back ground. Cut it into a square and added some ink.

Twas at this point that I thought heck I'll turn this into my Tag that's not a tag. 

Die cut some gears/cogs and a flourish and coloured them in a way similar to what I'd used on the box above. 

Something was missing, a little "flight" added to the left hand corner and something was still missing. 

Being a book I didn't want to add anything to bulky and then bing "Shrink platic" hit. Stamped the same urban stamp again but onto Shrink plastic and cut out so I was left with just the Butterfly. Shrunk it and then coloured the back with yet more distress metallic paint. 

Glued it in place and voila I was done. 

So yep quite and adventure and a very fun one it was. 

Jan 2015 Tag

Blows off the cobwebs. So I haven't really kept this blog up to date. But I have a brand new craft room so hopefully I shall be posting more often on here.

So here's my take on the January Tag.
I might even pop a step by step at some point once I figure this whole blog thing out.

First tag of 2013 which is also my second tag ever.

So one of my New years resolutions is to play along with the Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2013. My craft stash isn't huge (it is ever growing) so I've had to make do with what I've got.
So used a Special Touch mask to embossing the background with clocks and cogs, my spellbinder dies for the cogs, coloured with metallic markers and then added gilding flakes to make them a bit more rustic. Clock stamps and a shrinkable which fit perfectly.
Quote that I found, liked and thought would fit in, handwritten as I like a touch of handwritting makes it a bit more personal.
Used some newly added to stash distress inks. Oh and almost forgot the hand is a stamp from my stash.

First post

Just getting started and finding my way around, had a livejournal for years but since the advent of facebook I've neglected it. Decided to set this blog up for my card making activities. 

To start with I thought I'd share one of my favourite cards made recently. Really chuffed with how it turned out. 

Main image was coloured in using my aquamarkers I have developed my own way of using the pens straight to paper, took lot's of practise to achieve what I wanted but was worth it, on the whole I'm happy with what I produce, although there is always room for improvement. 

Background is stamp and colour card from Stamps Away, embossed using one of their masks and then inked with distress inks. Added some gems for an extra touch.