Little Snowman

Stamped and coloured in and backed onto blue and silver card to make him stand out. 

The greeting is on the inside but there is plenty of room on the inside as well x

Robin number 2

another stamp by HobbyArt and I love the shovel handle sticking out from the snow.

 Again the robin and shovel were stuck down using sticky foam pads

and this time the snowflakes were drawn with a white pen through a snowflake stencil and a small punched snowflake stuck over the top. 

Robin number One

This jolly robin is a stamp made by HobbyArt and I admit that I am a bit partial to their stamps. 

 The kraft card background really worked well with the punched white snowflakes stuck to the background.

The robin and holly was attached to the card using sticky foam pads.

3D Card

Believe it or believe it not the tree trunks and the deer were free stamps on a magazine I bought before Christmas and this card was so easy to make.

The card was made using two card blanks and everything was coloured and cut by hand.

Time to catch up

Yes I'm a very bad blogger. Life has just got in the way but in the lull between Christmas and New Year I've made a bit of time to share some of the class projects from the last few months.

Christmas cards were simple but effective this year with this one I made for my Great Niece from a poinsettia Die

and this one I made in both white and red

 A little bit of shaping, glitter around the petals and some pearl beads in the centre made them stand out on the card and were a favourite in class.

The Sizzix Poinsettias are beautiful and I will definitely use them again next year.

3D Embossing Folders

I am absolutely loving these 3D embossing folders. Put black card through the Sizzix machine, rub on a bit of Finns Wax 

and you have a very easy and pretty card made in minutes. Always good for that last minute card and the class loved playing with the waxes.

Christmas Wishes

Nice and simple and very sparkly, just the sort of card you can make loads of in time for Christmas.

The background is stamped with a distressed snowflake stamp using Distress Oxide, the same colour is used for the sky behind the stag. My favourite is the snowflake half circle die which I bought a few weeks ago. It makes any card say Christmas. x

Christmas is coming...

and by special request I repeated a card I first made many years ago. The camera doesn't pick it up very well but the stars at the top sparkle and there is also some glitter on the background paper.

Both dies, the skates and the star border are Tim Holtz Bigz dies. I'm pretty sure they are still available if you search. I like the way you can actually lace the boots. An easy card to duplicate for family and friends.

Lots of surprises

Now this one took some doing. I loved the stamp and originally just added flowers onto the magnifying glass on the stamp. It was ok but I wanted to make it pop so i stamped and cut out the magnifying glass twice.

added acetate to the centre of the top piece raising it up on foam pads and putting 3d flowers underneath. It looks really cool.

I am going to try it again with butterflies I think. Great stamp this one and class loved it x

Oh I do Like to be beside the seaside

This months release of Creative Stamping magazine had an A4 sheet of fantastic holiday images. Everything you see is made from those stamps

I was really happy at the wording as well. These are great for card making but also for scrapbooking , mini books and mixed media.

I enjoyed using the bright colours with this set. I'm sure I will be using them again soon.xx

Thinking of you

I decided to used the raised foreground technique again after the success of the anniversary card last time. 

The background is pretty standard made using a shadow flower stamp and a green ink pad. The greetings banner is then added to the card using sticky foam pads and any main images are stuck to the banner making the card appear 3D. So simple yet so effective. The stamp is by PennyBlack and the shadow flower stamp is a free one from a magazine.x

Happy Anniversary

This is the second stamp of this couple I have bought and I think they are fantastic. Easy to colour in and very effective with just a minimal background.

I must admit that i did watch a couple of You tube videos to get this card looking like this but I did learn a lot and will definitely use this technique again.

Flowers are made using a punch and the stems are hand cut. Everyone in class liked this one.

And here are the three class samples together. x

Zebra Birthday

So easy yet so effective and this technique works with all silhouette stamps. I used three different Distress Oxide colours and then spritzed with a fine spray of water.

 When dry I chose the area I wanted for the background and cut it to size. Next I stamped the zebra in Black Versafine ink.

To finish I added two black strips of card and a stamped border. Any greeting could be used on the card. xx

Hydrangea Happy Birthday

This wonderful flower stamp is from a set by Hobby Art Ltd and because it has so much detail it takes very little shading when colouring in.

 What I particularly like are the individual petal stamps, four in total, which allow you to layer up the hydrangea head.

and the lovely small butterfly which stamps beautifully.

All colouring was done with Distress Oxides and Pro Markers with a tiny script stamp used on the background in Archival Ink Watering Can.

You can find this gorgeous stamp set HERE.

Not so popular

Whenever I get new stamps which I intend to use in my Art Journal I try to make a card from them to show the uses of each stamp and their adaptability. These are the two examples I made however as these were in a choice of 4 different cards, no one chose to make them lol

Personally I love them and the stamp makes a great quick card for a young girl. What do you think? More soon xx

Enjoy Your Special Day

A card with a surprise inside and so easy to make. From the outside it looks like a normal card

but when you open it

Surprise, a butterfly pops up. It's difficult to show on here but it is really lovely and if colouring is not your thing then do what I did and stamp onto coloured card. xx

Using Distress Oxides on cards

Couldn't resist doing these. I am a huge fan of Distress Oxides as you probably notice and I know through experience that even a complete card making beginner can get fantastic results with these inks.

I started off by doing the blue sky and green grass and then added a few white and red dots to look like flowers in a field.

Then I thought some of my more adventurous class mates would like a brighter background

and they liked them all but which one did they pick to do? Of course, the one with the mobile phone. Now this is really not an easy stamp to use unless you have a stamping platform or a really juicy ink pad so we had some fun but we all got there in the end.

I'll put in a scrapbook layout tomorrow evening as there are a couple I haven't shared. Have a great evening and please, if you can please leave a comment. xx

Little Rose Tree

Now this stamp I have had for ages. Its a free one I think but I've never used it before so it was about time I did and I am so pleased the way it turned out.

When I stamped and coloured it in I thought it looked a bit flat so I raised the pot lip and roses using silicone glue and that did the trick.

The tiny dots in the background were made using NUVU Crystal drops. Think I will make some wedding cards with it. xx

Watercolour Flowers

I'm always looking for different ways to use Dies. I have so many of them and it is such a shame to have them unused in a box so when I started to see watercolour cards on Pinterest I thought I'd have a go. Here is the result

The flowers and background were so easy to do that everyone in class got fantastic results. Here's a close up

Loved this technique so much I'm going to use it on a canvas. 

Somehow I missed these

I am trying my very best to clear the decks in my craft room so that I have more space to record videos, make up kits and get the mixed media goody bags on my Etsy site. While I was knee deep in paper I found a folder with these cards in so I thought I'd share before I posted them off.

The first one was so easy to make and my favourite of the three

The second one is made entirely from the free stamps in a past issue of Creative Stamping

I just love those shoes, glittered and ready for a party.

and the final card was made using another free set of stamps which I am using again and again. They are country flowers and really easy to colour in.

It's not a very good photo but the stamps make a refreshingly spring/summer Birthday card.

That's it till tomorrow. Off to enjoy the sunshine x