Purple Salt

Copic Style Watercolours

2012-02-13T17:56:00.001+10:00

I was playing with a stamped watercolour technique using my Distress inks recently and thought I would try the technique out using my Copics. It created a lovely soft image.

Firstly I coloured my image (Hero Arts) with a selection of Copics, it didn’t matter if I was quick or the ink dried, the next step reactivates it. I spritzed my X-Press It cardstock with some rubbing alcohol and then quickly stamped the image.

As you will see from the close-up, the image isn’t quite distinct, more watercolour like. I find the technique can be a bit hit and miss, sometimes it is more ‘watery’ and sometimes the image is too indistinct to use but mostly it works well.

A solid image works best and this one is perfect as it is just about impossible to ink so many colours using a stamp pad.

Guest Designer Challenge at My Favorite Things

2012-01-03T13:35:00.001+10:00

One of my plans for last year was to get published more often and participate in some design teams. I achieved that wish so I wanted to aim a bit higher this year and participate in a few more challenges and design team calls, I figured I have nothing to lose but a bit of time.

Here is an entry I finished yesterday for a guest designer call for My Favorite Things. I love these cute images, they are so easy to colour with my Copics and with a bit of cutting they become really versatile to use on cards. The company also makes a wonderful range of dies.

The theme of the guest designer call was to use the technique of paper piecing. If you have never tried the technique it might seem a little daunting but the finished result is well worth the effort. Essentially you replace parts of your stamped image with paper instead of colouring. This is done by selecting the papers to be used and stamp each ‘part’ onto the paper and cut out. Then each part is layered over the corresponding spot of the stamped, coloured image.

Like this:

I then cut out each piece, including the girl (I coloured her first):

The finished result:

The stamp used was Pure Innocence – Calendula from My Favorite Things. You can buy them from Stamp Art Studio if you have to have them!

Inkurable Holly Challenge

2011-12-23T10:14:00.001+10:00

I couldn’t finish my week of intense blogging without sharing the cards I did for the December Inkurable Stampers challenge. This month we were to create something using holly as a theme. I thought it the perfect opportunity to use another of the Tim Holtz 12 tags techniques – embossing metal. You can see his tag and instructions here.

I created two cards on the theme but will only enter the second one into the challenge.

I love how well the technique worked to give a glass-like effect!

The holly leaves were cut from alcohol inked glassine paper. Tim demos the technique in the post here, relating to tag 7. If you haven’t tried this stuff – buy some! It is so easy to use.

I did a third card as well so have a look on my Flickr site for it.

Some more Darkroom Door Christmas

2011-12-20T17:19:00.001+10:00

Here is some more inspiration using Darkroom Door stamps. Please also have a look at my Flickr site as I have uploaded a number of other Christmas cards there as well.

Back to a couple of simple ones now to give your mind a rest. You can probably work this one out without me telling you but I embossed some cardstock with a Sizzix folder, sponged with distress inks to bring out the pattern and layered over a embossed relief from a Spellbinders die. The effect creates a useful ‘frame’ for your focal image. A few words cut from the Christmas background stamp finishes the card.

The card front for this one was stamped with a word from the Christmas Sentiments set as well as the group of icons from the same set. I left mine in a strip to make it easier to stamp them like this. I then punched out a few circles and layered behind or on top with circles cut from cardstock stamped with the Flourish background. The one on the left was raised up with foam tape.

The Santa image is from the Dear Santa Vol 1 set and was coloured with distress inks. The word is cut from the Christmas word block and coated with a bit of Glossy Accents.

I really liked this card as it came together really quickly but looks like I spent ages on it. The background is the Star background, stamped with white Brilliance. One of the flower layers was stamped with the words from the Noel plate, the ticket stamp comes from the same plate. A frame cut with Spellbinders dies and a strip of embossed cardstock and it was done.

The ornament image was cut from a piece which had been stamped & clear embossed with the Christmas word block. I sponged the image with some Distress barn door ink. A few words cut from my sheet of stamped Christmas word block & some embossing with my Cuttlebug and this card was done.

I think this is the last of the Darkroom Door cards to share and it was really time consuming to do but I love the effect! The stamping was all done with pale blue pearlescent Brilliance ink using the Noel and Christmas Reindeer plates as well as the French Script background stamp. The silver edge was actually created with embossing powder & silver pigment ink.

While playing with the Christmas word block stamp I came up with a couple of tags. The image was stamped and embossed over some vintage music. A quick swipe of some ink and and a tie of ribbon and the first one was done.

This one was done basically the same but I added a pinwheel for embellishment using some of the Tim Holtz Christmas tissue tape.

A Darkroom Door Christmas

2011-12-19T20:38:00.001+10:00

Gee, my regular readers will be shocked by another post! Quite surprised myself actually but I wanted to get these up before Christmas, there didn’t seem much point otherwise! The post got really long so you will see the rest of it tomorrow.

Making Christmas cards usually starts early for me when I begin to plan my Christmas card classes for Stamp Art Studio in May. Usually I try to incorporate the most recent stamps whenever possible but also include some old favourites whenever I can. Here are some of the ones I have made using Darkroom Door stamps.

A simple one using Dear Santa Vol 1 coloured with distress inks. The greeting is from the same plate and was stamped & embossed in gold.The background stamp was the Flourish stamped with chalk ink and sponged a little.

I really love this Christmas word block and this is a simpler way to use it than the post before by stamping with red chalk ink. The greeting was done by masking off the top corner using post its and then removing them prior to stamping & embossing. This is so easy to do and means you can easily stamp up any of the word combinations on the plate.

With so many cut-out sheets available this Christmas, this card also comes together really quickly. I just cut out the shapes I wanted (this sheet is from Bo Bunny), laid them over a strip of red, stamped with one of the word strings from Christmas Sentiments using crimson Versafine ink and added a few buttons for interest. The reindeer circle came from the icon strip of the same set, stamped with pearlescent Brilliance to give a bit of bling and the card was done.

A more time consuming card using an old Christmas favourite – the Noel set. The main image was stamped using pale blue pearlescent Brilliance ink and die-cut with a Spellbinders die. Believe was stamped with the same ink but embossed to make it stand out a little and both pieces were raised up with foam tape. The embossed panels were created with a Sizzix folder and given a swipe of Stickles for sparkle. If you have never tried this, Christmas cards are the perfect reason. Just squeeze some Stickles onto a smallish, flat surface (I usually use clean milk bottle caps) and smoosh the glitter glue over the embossed design. If I have used a cap I can just throw it away – no clean up!

Another really time consuming card using a technique from Tim’s 2011 set of Christmas tags. You can find details on how Tim Holtz did the technique here. I took the basic idea and adhered my decorated fragments onto a card front. I did the glittery line the same way as the Basic Grey Christmas card below, only I used two shades of glitter. A pearl topped of each of the fragments and the greeting was a Copic coloured word from a Dear Santa word strip.

Overall I was happy with how they turned out but it was a bit annoying to have the slight greyish tinge in a few places where the ink didn’t quite rub away.

Stamps used were the flourish background and the scroll one from the Ornate Elements set.

I love this Christmas Reindeer set and use it so much. The reindeer is a pain to cut out but so worth the effort! I started with a base stamped with the Star background stamp and clear embossed. It was sponged with distress inks in wild honey, rusty hinge & barn door. The die cut was from Spellbinders and I stamped half of it with the words from the same stamp set. A strip of embossed cardstock covered the edge and added a bit of interest. The reindeer was stamped in red ink, covered with Glossy Accents and sprinkled with coarse glitter. I had to smoosh it on a bit to get it to stick. Once layered up the reindeer looks like he is about to take flight!

Embossing Resist Christmas Cards

2011-12-18T11:32:00.001+10:00

As soon as I saw the Darkroom Door Christmas word block I knew it would work perfectly for this technique. I love how the words disappear into the background, except for where the embossing is.

For these cards I stamped the word block and heat set it to make sure it was really dry. I then dusted with an embossing buddy and stamped the reindeer image with clear ink and embossed with clear powder. To bring out the contrast around the stamped image, I sponged with inks or paint. The embossed design resisted the ink and after a quick wipe with a tissue to remove any ink build-up the image was done and ready for layering.

For this one I used warm red Colorbox chalk ink for that real Christmassy red in both the stamping and sponging. A few pearls added a bit of bling to his antlers. The die cut is from Spellbinders.

This card was done a little differently. I stamped the word block with distress Ink and once the reindeer image was embossed, I scraped over some Precious Metal Colour with a gift card. The close up doesn’t do the effect justice – it really shimmers! Once dry, I die cut the reindeer & layered it onto a panel stamped with Darkroom Door dots background stamp in pearlescent blue Brilliance ink. The panel was raised on foam tape before adding to the card front.

This one was done a little differently again. The word block was stamped with wild honey distress inks and instead of stamping with another image, I die cut a stencil using the Spellbinders ornament die, laid that over the word block and used a direct-to-paper technique to apply the clear ink. A quick sponge with some more distress ink and it was done.

I finished the card with a little punched tab stamped with the tree image from the Darkroom Door Christmas sentiments plate.

Christmastime…

2011-12-17T18:20:00.001+10:00

We are done to counting sleeps until Christmas so I thought I might share some of the Christmas cards I have made over recent months. Some I taught in classes & others were just playing with techniques and stamps.

First up is a real simple one using a Stamp It stamp. I stamped with lime Brilliance ink to give a pearlescent effect and layered the image up with red and green Bazzill. The green layer is Bazzill bling.

Next up is another simple one. I used a piece of Basic Grey paper, tied a ribbon across and added a stamped, embossed and layered greeting (Stamp It). The glittery edge was created by putting a line of glossy accents around the paper and sprinkling with glitter. The most time consuming part was waiting for the glitter to dry!

Another in a glittery theme is this dove themed card. The image was coloured with Smooch paints – these are so easy to use and give a gorgeous shimmery effect which is just perfect for Christmas! The close-up of the shimmer actually worked this time but is so much better IRL. The image is from Stamp It. I thought the card didn’t have enough shimmer so I added a strip of thin X-Press It tape and sprinkled with glitter. The pic looks a bit yellow but I think that might be the light and the gold flecked glitter I used. The ribbon was also held nicely in place with another strip of X-Press It tape.

Hero Arts Challenge

2011-11-25T18:04:00.001+10:00

If you follow the Hero Arts blog you will know that they run regular challenges with lots of great prizes. I haven’t entered for ages but I was inspired this month to create a flowery card matching the colour theme of pink, pool, green, neutral & white.

The flowers were coloured with pink & green shades of Smooch Inks and accented with a few tiny pearls. The butterfly was coloured with Copics & coated with some Ranger crackle accents. I loved how it softened the strong Copic colours.

A close up of the crackle effect.

Inkurable October Challenge

2011-11-02T18:23:00.001+10:00

The challenges keep coming at Inkurable Stampers and this time we are to use orange, green and purple plus neutrals of white/black/brown if needed.

This colour palette is not one I use regularly so it was an interesting exercise. As I have a class coming up featuring the batik technique, I thought I would give that a go. It gave me a chance to use my new Darkroom Door Bold Blossoms set.

Essentially the batik technique tries to mimic the look of batik fabric – normally done with wax as a resist to the dyeing medium. In this technique, the image is stamped and embossed with clear ink/powder and the background is coloured with inks etc – on this card I used Distress Inks. Once happy with the result, the piece is covered with a bit of paper towel and ironed with a dry iron. The heat from the iron removes the embossing powder and leaves a lovely 'flat' image which leaves people guessing.

Darkroom Door - Masked Stamping ATC Swap

2011-10-15T11:56:00.001+10:00

The September theme for the Darkroom Door ATC swap was to use masked stamping as a technique. I thought this would be a perfect way to use my all time favourite butterfly stamp and a new favourite, the Journey wordblock. As this technique can be a bit tricky I thought I might do a step-by-step for the blog.

I prepared each ATC base using some Distress Stain and later when they were stamped I added a bit of sponging to fill in the gaps. I usually make my bases 3 1/4" x 2 1/4" so I can mat them with a contrasting colour & still end up with the required size of 3 1/2” x 2 1/2”.

I then stamped the butterfly image into the centre of each base.

For masked stamping you need to create a mask - a post-it is perfect for this job and they work really well. Stamp the image over the 'sticky' bit and cut it out really closely. Place over your image, making sure you line up the image as closely as possible to avoid ghosting. Remove the post-it after stamping and apply to the next image.

I then stamped over the masked butterfly with the Journey wordblock using Distress Chipped Sapphire ink. Once I finish a batch of ATC's I usually dispose of the mask as it is very inky but if you are only stamping a couple of images - keep it with your stamps for next time.

To finish the image I coloured it with some Copics and sponged the edges a little more with Distressed Chipped Sapphire ink. I stamped the word 'Nature' using one of the images from the Garden Inchies set and applied it over the middle of the wings with some foam tape.

The final step was to mat the base with some cardstock sized 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" and they were done!

Inkurable September Challenge

2011-09-22T17:21:00.002+10:00

This month the challenge at Inkurable Stampers is to produce an item which uses eyelets.
My card uses the Darkroom Door Christmas Reindeer stamps. These are one of my favourite Christmas sets to use.
The embossed panel was done using some Core'dinations cardstock which was sanded lightly after embossing.

ATC Swaps Revisited

2011-09-03T17:54:00.001+10:00

Recently I have been sorting through my digital images of past ATC swaps and thought it would be good to share some with you, along with the techniques used to create them.

For the first set, I have ATC’s created for the Darkroom Door ATC swap from April 2011. The theme was to use background stamps.

This set used the French Script background stamp along with the Tour Eiffel stamps from the Paris Collection.

The background was made by sponging cardstock with Distress Inks, I used Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold & Spiced Marmalade. After sponging I flicked a bit of water over to create the droplet pattern.

Then it was a simple matter of stamping each of the backgrounds with the script stamp, stamping the wording and Eiffel tower and attaching to the background.

I love the colour this combination of inks produces – so luscious!

Here is a group photo – it shows the variations in the background.

August Inkurable Challenge

2011-08-20T12:03:00.001+10:00

Sarah is back with challenges on the Inkurable blog. This month we have a quick one based on a PageMaps sketch. Check it out and upload your project by the end of August.

The pic worked out better than I expected – hubby is out with both the digi cameras so this was taken on my mobile.

Paper is Basic Grey, punch is EK Success, stamp is Hero Arts and the diecut is Spellbinders.

A Creative Thought

2011-08-03T09:54:00.001+10:00

I found this recently on the internet and thought I would share. We all need a bit of solitude and ‘me’ time in order to create

When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others, too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others. Only when one is connected to one’s inner core is one connected to others, I am beginning to discover. And, for me, the core, the inner spring, can be refound through solitude…
Certain springs are tapped only when we are alone. The artist knows he must be alone to create; the musician, to compose; the saint, to pray. But women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves; the firm strand which will be the indispensable centre of a whole web of human relationships.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh in Gift from the Sea

Copic Oz Challenge #12

2011-07-24T19:48:00.004+10:00

This month the challenge on Copic Oz is to create a project using Copics to colour the embellishments. Easy! I do this all the time.
I haven’t used my Magnolia stamps for a while and as I had a birthday card to make for a 4 year olds birthday I thought this image would be perfect. I coloured her in pinks (R81/83/85) and also used two shades of pink with the airbrush to colour the flowers. I was aiming for a light dusting of colour and they came up really well. I also used Copic to colour the adhesive pearls as I didn’t quite have the right shade of green.
I know the card will be barely looked at by the birthday girl but her mum will appreciate the effort.

I am trying something different with this post to add a ‘Pin It’ button for Pinterest. Please let me know if you try to pin the card image and it actually works.
Pin It

Adorable

2011-07-24T17:39:00.001+10:00

We have a new baby boy in the family and I couldn’t resist a cute card to celebrate his arrival.

You Make Me Smile

2011-06-30T19:51:00.001+10:00

I have been waiting to use this dear little girl again and the Inkurable Stampers challenge this month was a good opportunity. The challenge for June was to use spots, dots & circles.

I embossed the front using Sizzix Flourish & Dots embossing folder – it is perfect as a background and needs no further embellishment. This was layered with a darker colour cardstock and mounted onto a tent folded card base. The greeting is new one by Hero Arts and it has been layered over a scalloped die cut (Eyelet Circle by Spellbinders). The dear little girl is a My Favourite Things stamp and I have coloured her with Copics. Her top is paper pieced from some pattered paper. It went so well with the cardstock colours and the pattern was perfect.

Guest Designer for Tarisota

2011-05-01T13:03:00.001+10:00

I am so excited to announce that I am a guest designer for the upcoming collections at Tarisota Collections! I am so pleased to be in such wonderful talented company. I have been a customer of Tamar’s for years and love the kits she puts together and her blog is one I visit regularly.

I was introduced in the post here.

I got to work on a brand new ATC kit called ‘Life is Beautiful’. If you want to see a sneak, check it out at the Inkurable Stampers blog as Tamar has kindly donated a kit as a prize for the April challenge. The sneak is here. There was so much in this kit – I have heaps left to play with after creating eight ATC’s.

A Bit of Publicity & Some Great News

2011-05-01T11:41:00.001+10:00

Regular visitors will know how much I love Darkroom Door stamps and if you have visited Rachel’s blog lately you might have seen she had a post this week on stamp storage. Ages ago I sent pics of my DRD stamp tin storage to Rachel and she has included them in her post. Check it out here. But I do warn you will get stamp envy .

In other news, a link to a tag I did recently for a challenge at Inkurable Stampers was included in Rachel’s Sunday link post this morning. It is well worth following the links from Rachel’s blog – you never know what you will find and the art is usually amazing! She shares links from artists around the world. Check out today’s post here.

The great news deserves its own post so I will share that next.

A Free E-zine from Craft Stamper Magazine

2011-04-20T10:13:00.001+10:00

If you have never read Craft Stamper magazine then now is a great time to get a free e-zine from their website. It is packed with some of the best projects from 2010. Download it from http://www.craftstamper.com/ezine/ or click on the button below.

Craft Stamper are having a competition as well for all how share this download link. Check out the editors blog here for details.

Free E Mag - Simply Homemade Issue 1 Sampler

2011-04-05T10:16:00.000+10:00

Check out this first issue of a new mag from Practical Publishing. Myebook - Simply Homemade Issue 1 Sampler

Spread Your Wings

2011-03-31T20:24:00.001+10:00

It is challenge time again and this month the challenge at Inkurable Stampers was to use paint! I love playing with paint and what a better reason to use my newly purchased Viva Precious Metal Colour!

The card uses a 14 cm square white card base. The strip on the left is punched with a Martha Steward punch. The pale blue cardstock was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The circles were punched from scrap, the flourish ones were punched from some gorgeous embossed ‘wedding’ paper that I sponged with Distress ink to give a bit of colour. The words are from Darkroom Door Love Birds set.

The birdcage is die cut from chipboard & painted with Viva Precious Metal Colour (cinnamon) and backed with a piece of textured velum. The bird was painted with Distress Crackle Paint in broken china. I rubbed the wing over with a bit of the matching ink before coating with Glossy Accents. If you look closely the branch and the birds legs are painted two different browns in the Crackle Paint – I find it defines the legs a bit.

Bookmark Inspiration

2011-03-02T15:55:00.001+10:00

The last month seems to have been so busy that I have barely had time to craft. I couldn't miss doing a bookmark for the latest Inkurable Stampers challenge though. Make sure you have a look at Sarah’s blog this month – there is lots of inspiration.

My bookmark was created using plain white cardstock as a base. I stamped it with the Darkroom Door Criss-Cross background stamp in pearlescent lime Brilliance ink. The tag was then sponged with Adirondack dye ink – citrus, pool & lemonade. The cool thing about the Brilliance ink is that it acts as a resist against the ink and the pearlescent effect shows through. The quote is from Darkroom Door Art De Fleur Vol 1 set.

Then it was a simple matter to set an eyelet in the top, tie some ribbon and attach some lace down the left hand side. The flower was made from some velvety leaves & layered Kaiser flowers.

I loved how the colours worked so well together – I hope you do too!

Accordion Fold Birthday Wish

2011-02-13T20:01:00.001+10:00

Ages ago I did a class on accordion fold cards and as I am about to give this one away I thought it a good time to share.

The card is made from a 10cm wide strip of A4 length cardstock, folded into an accordion. Before folding I stamped the Autumn Leaves floral flourish and coloured in a few places to highlight the flowers. The greetings are Hero Arts. The card band was made by embossing a strip of cardstock with the Cuttlebug & wrapping it around to fit. The Happy Birthday greeting was popped on the front and then it was done.

January Copic Oz Challenge

2011-01-24T16:46:00.002+10:00

This month Copic Oz is running a Summertime challenge. We are to use yellows and greens and create something Summery.
I chose to use this cute Magnolia image.
Colours used:
Hair/skin – E51, E33, YR14, YR24
Dress – BV02, Y02, Y04
Tulip/socks/bow – YG05, G07, Y17, Y35, Y38, YR16, YR68
Colourless blender was used with tip to tip colouring of the prune colour on the dress.
Embossing is done using a Cuttlebug Jamara plate & die cuts are Spellbinders.

Seashells

2011-01-04T11:02:00.000+10:00

While I have this set on loan from Stamp Art Studio to work on some class samples I thought I would play a bit more with a one-layer card. This time I used a technique from Lucy Abrams that I saw a while ago on the Hero Arts blog and adapted it a bit.

Firstly I ripped a rough rectangle from some scrap paper to form a reverse mask for my card front and attached it to the card base with temporary adhesive. Using Versamark I stamped three shells in the open space & embossed with clear powder. Leaving the mask in place the open space was sponged with tumbled glass distress plus a bit of pool Adirondack ink. The base card is lightly textured so this showed nicely with the sponging. The mask was removed and a fine line of Glossy Accents was applied as a border around the shells – it doesn’t have to be straight! Glitter was dusted over and the card was set aside to dry thoroughly – don’t rush it or you will have smudge everywhere :). The word was stamped with black Brilliance and clear embossed.

One Layer Wonders

2011-01-03T16:39:00.001+10:00

Happy New Year readers! I hope the silly season has gone well for you.

I have been busy of late catching up on some crafting during the downtime that usually comes with Christmas. It has been nice to play, especially as I couldn’t properly for a few months due to severe back pain. All fixed now thank goodness!

Just before Christmas I started working on some one-layer wonders – the current challenge theme at Inkurable Stampers. Here is the card I will send to Sarah.

I used the Darkroom Door Seashells stamp set from the Seaside Collection. Firstly the background was lightly sponged with tumbled glass distress ink. The shells were then stamped with Versamark & embossed with clear powder. The cardstock was again sponged with distress inks – this time using broken china & chipped sapphire as well as a bit of tumbled glass (don’t you love those names?). Excess ink on the embossing was removed with a tissue. The word was stamped on with black Brilliance & embossed with clear powder. The small stars were highlighted with dots from a white gel pen. The card was finished off with some webby stuff and a bit of recycled twine and then mounted onto a card base.

Here is a close up:

While I was on a roll I did another using the same technique and just the Nautilus shell.

A Birthday Wish

2010-12-19T10:08:00.001+10:00

It always seems a while between posts but I appreciate that I have had a few visitors in-between posts.

Recently I had a recipe on the Tarisota blog. Tamar does a yearly Christmas recipe book and I was lucky enough to be able to contribute this year. You can see the post here. The recipes are all fabulous and worth trying over the holidays.

Now to sharing a card I made recently for daughter of my cousin. The girl is a Hero Arts stamp and it has been coloured with Copics.

Lisa Vollrath Holiday Countdown

2010-12-02T08:04:00.000+10:00

For the 5th year in a row Lisa Vollrath is having a countdown to Christmas and sharing lots of free images on the way. Check it out here.

There are lots of terms & conditions on the use of the images so make sure you read the FAQ’s – but they are so worth it

A Morning Visitor

2010-12-01T09:46:00.001+10:00

I woke this morning to hear my hubby pointing out this visitor to our sons. What a lovely surprise! We used to have lots of kookaburras around our area. A pair used to live very close to us but I haven’t seen one for ages. Hopefully he is back to stay.

Copic Oz Challenge

2010-11-22T16:42:00.001+10:00

Today is the last day for the current Copic Oz challenge and I finally found the time to finish my card. It has been sitting all coloured on my desk all week but I couldn’t decide how to finish it.

The challenge was to create a card with feathering and this lovely stamp was certainly a challenge to feather! But it turned out how I planned so that was a bonus. Since the certification course I did back in June I have been working on mastering this technique and this stamp shows it off really well.

Here are the colours I used:

Just a few!

Stamps - Hero Arts, die cuts – Spellbinders

Special Treasures

2010-10-30T17:51:00.001+10:00

I thought I would have a go at the sketch for the October challenge on Inkurable Stampers. There is still time to enter – you have until midnight tomorrow night.

I stamped Darkroom Door butterflies all over a 9cm square piece of white cardstock and then coloured them with Copics. I then cut the cardstock into four 4.5cm square pieces and arranged them over a lime piece of Bazzill. The border was punched with one of the new EK Success large border punches, this was attached to the left hand side and layered with a bit of pink ribbon. To complete the card, I stamped a Hero Arts greeting onto an oval and layered that over a Nestibility tag with foam tape. A couple of pink pearls on the flourish ends completed the card.

Cute Stationery

2010-10-17T09:23:00.002+10:00

Have you been to Borders lately? They have the most wonderful collection of cute stationery instore at the moment!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.3

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

2010-10-11T19:30:00.000+10:00

Earlier I mentioned my spot as a guest designer at Inkurable Stampers, here are some images of the samples I created for the challenge this month.

Journey

This arch was a good opportunity to try a new technique – beeswax. I was really happy with the results and the arch smells so good!

· The arch was hand drawn after looking at a few images online. It is based on a template by Belinda Schneider but I changed the dimensions a bit. All images were from Darkroom Door.

· I started with a white cardstock arch. The background was made by first stamping the French Script background with Versamark ink & clear embossing.

· The arch was lightly sponged with Distress Wild Honey & Barn Door inks and excess ink wiped from the embossing. I dripped a bit of water onto parts of the arch and allowed them to dry.

· I stamped the cars from Vintage Automobiles and the words from Prague Vol 1 onto white tissue paper and cut images out roughly. These were adhered to the arch with gel medium. The tissue paper allowed me to alter the orientation of the top car.

· The gentleman is from the Photobooth Hats sheet and I used a grey pen to ink the edges so the white cut marks wouldn’t show. He is also adhered with gel medium.

· Once everything was dry I melted some beeswax and painted it all over the arch. Additional heating smoothed the surface a bit.

The next is one I called Destination.

I came across this sheet of Basic Grey patterned paper at my LSS this week and it became the perfect background. Once again stamps are Darkroom Door.

· Cut arch from patterned paper and paint with white acrylic paint. Allow paint to dry for a few minutes and remove parts using a baby wipe. This will allow some parts of the design to show through more than others. If you remove too much, just repeat the process until you get the required effect.

· Once dry, paint with Ranger Distress Crackle paint in Rock Candy. Allow to dry and lightly sponge with Distress Frayed Burlap. Check out the before & after pic to see the change painting & sponging makes to the paper.

· To highlight a couple of the cars, I used my Copics to go over two of the car images to deepen the colour and then applied a bit of glossy accents to make them pop.

· The border is punched and stamped with the border stamp from Ornate Elements with Distress Chipped Sapphire ink and then affixed to the bottom of the arch.

· The words are from Vintage Automobiles and die cut using a Spellbinders label die. The diecut was then sponged lightly on the edges and towards the centre with Distress Chipped Sapphire ink, folded slightly and affixed at an angle over the border with foam tape under each side.

If you aren’t too familiar with the technique of painting over patterned paper – give it a try. This pic shows you the difference painting can make before & after.

Inkurable Stampers – Gothic Arch Guest Designer

2010-10-11T18:15:00.001+10:00

It is with great pride that I can tell you that this month I am the guest designer for the gothic arch challenge on Inkurable Stampers! Please visit Sarah’s blog and check out my interview and have a look at the samples.

Regular readers will know that I often participate in Sarah’s challenges, I always find them inspiring and the chance to win a prize is a great bonus. This time around it was to make something totally different, a gothic arch. A shape that many find inspiring but some find totally difficult :). After this challenge I am in the first group.

The challenge this month is to create an arch with the theme ….

PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES

Don’t forget to upload your arch to the Flickr group when you are done.

I’ll be back later to give you another look at my arches – dinner is calling.

Best Wishes

2010-10-09T20:12:00.001+10:00

I made this card a while ago for a class at Stamp Art Studio and thought I should share it. The card is pretty basic but the flower showcases the Tim Holtz tattered flowers die.

The flower is made by die cutting a variety of papers (I used dictionary paper) and fabric and then layering the pieces to create a flower. I used a premade flower as the centre point.

Once complete the flower was spritzed with Chalkboard Glimmermist.

Spread Your Wings

2010-10-09T16:42:00.001+10:00

Just when you think I might be getting more frequent with my blog posts I go MIA again! We have been in Melbourne for a holiday and had a fantastic time. Melbourne is a beautiful city and the people were so friendly – pity the weather wasn’t better but you can’t have everything. I plan to share some pics in coming posts, but for now I have another card to share.

I have had this stamp for ages and had planned to make a card exactly like this when I bought it. For a change the image in my head matched what was created – it rarely works that way :)

The background was made using Luminarte sprays onto watercolour paper. The image was stamped onto the background and also onto clear acrylic. The image was coloured using Copics. The clear acrylic was cut out and coated on the back of one wing with Stickles and the other wing was coloured with Copics, it was then affixed over the card image and the wings bent up a bit.

It is really hard to see from the pics but the wing became quite luminous with the glitter behind it and the background is very glimmery.

The butterfly stamp is Stamp It, the words Darkroom Door and the punch is EK Success.

Bloom

2010-09-25T20:14:00.001+10:00

Today I completed my latest swap ATC’s for the September Darkroom Door swap. They turned out so pretty!

The base was embossed with the Swiss dots Cuttlebug plate and the background image was the large roses background stamp. I clear embossed it onto white cardstock and then sponged with dye inks to bring out the colour. The flower images come from montage sheets and words from the Viva La Flora wordstrip. The punched strip is a Martha Stewart punch.

Copic Challenge – It’s All About Men

2010-09-22T10:10:00.001+10:00

Copic Oz is running a challenge to create a Father’s Day card or masculine card. As I rarely make male cards I thought I would give it a go. It was the perfect opportunity to get my Tim Holtz stamps inky.

You might be wondering how the Copics were used? The black images were stamped with black Momento ink directly over cardstock pre-coloured with Copics. I also coloured in the Paris postage part of the main image with Copics.

For the strip along the left hand side I inked my stamp with 3 different Copic colours, spritzed the cardstock with Colourless Blender solution and stamped. The blender solution reactivates the ink on the stamp and you have your image – much like the brushless watercolour technique using dye inkpads. It takes a bit of practice but the results are worth it!

A close up of colouring the cardstock & stamping. The foolproof way to get perfectly matching cardstock!

For the interested, here are the colours used:

It is a bit hard to see but the stamps are Tim Holtz Visual Artistry, French Market. The embossing was done with a Cuttlebug plate.

Thanks Darkroom Door!

2010-09-22T09:30:00.001+10:00

Last month I won two stamp sets from Darkroom Door for participating in a challenge. My stamps have arrived and I wanted to thank Rachel for running the competition and for my lovely new stamps. I can’t wait to play! Pity we are about to go on holidays :(

I chose two sets from the new Essentials 6 release – Noel & Chocolatier.

Butterfly Wishes

2010-09-17T10:45:00.000+10:00

I thought I would share a card given to a friend recently for her birthday. She has a particular fondness for butterflies. The image is coloured with Copics.

Stamp: Hero Arts; die cut: Nestibility

Copic Backgrounds

2010-09-17T08:38:00.001+10:00

Did you know that aside from colouring with your Copics you can stamp with them as well?

Just colour in your stamp as you would if using dye based markers, spritz your cardstock with blender solution or rubbing alcohol and stamp. The blender solution/alcohol reactivates the ink on your stamp to create the image.

Usually you get a paler image so it is best to use stronger colours that you normally might be used to.

This card background is a bit splotchy looking as it is stamped onto textured cardstock – just the effect I was after.

Stamps: Darkroom Door, Hero Arts; die cut edge: Nestibility

Copic Play

2010-09-16T17:25:00.001+10:00

Lately I haven’t had much time to play with my Copics so I made a special effort at the weekend.

Stamps: Darkroom Door, embossing folder: Cuttlebug, punch: EK Success, die cut: Nestibility.

Inkurable Challenge

2010-08-29T10:26:00.001+10:00

It seems ages since I have participated in Sarah’s Inkurable challenges. I had forgotten how much fun there are.

The theme for this month is resist techniques and I have chosen to make an accordion card for Christmas using a Brilliance resist.

I have used Darkroom Door Christmas stamps – Christmas Reindeer & Yuletide Vol 2. The front is stamped with Brilliance and the reindeer is clear embossed.

The inside is also stamped with Brilliance but it is heat set, not embossed. I imagined the reindeers flying across the sky on their way to meet Santa :) The branches along the bottom are stamped with Brilliance in a rust & olive. Once heat set the card base can be sponged with dye inks. I used Distress mustard seed, tumbled glass & shabby shutters.

A close up:

It is a bit hard to see but the Brilliance ink retains the lovely pearly effect.

Mail Art Call

2010-05-27T08:33:00.000+10:00

Recently Darkroom Door put out a call for some mail art to grace their booth at SIA. I had some fun creating these two envelopes - it has been ages since I have done some mail art...so much fun. If you want to have a closer look at how Rachel set up her booth visit her blog here.

Caardvarks Challenge

2010-05-04T16:15:00.000+10:00

I have been busily working on swaps and cards for upcoming classes lately but I found some time to do the Caardvarks challenge. The challenge was to use Core'dinations cardstock on a monochromatic card.

It's been a while....

2010-04-01T11:30:00.000+10:00

It's been a while since I last posted - but I didn't realise it was 4 months! Life seems passing so quickly lately but I have been busy so stay tuned for pics of my latest projects.

Firstly to some swaps. As usual I have been playing the in Darkroom Door ATC swaps and have marvelled at the returns. You can see them all on Rachel's blog here. Just click on 'swaps' in the categories and it will take you to them.

Last month we had a Red, Black & White swap.

January was the month featuring the Essentials 4 Collection.

We missed December but November featured the Yuletide sets of Christmas images.

All were fantastic swaps so make sure you check out the slide shows on Rachel's blog.

Hero Arts 2010

2009-12-08T09:37:00.000+10:00

Hero Arts is having a 2010 catalog preview party on December 18. Click on the blinkie to find out more.

I just love the new lace images coming.

Welcome Baby

2009-12-06T17:16:00.000+10:00

My cousin had a baby recently and this is the card I made to welcome the new addition to our family.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-06T17:15:00.000+10:00

I shared these two cards on the Darkroom Door Flickr group this week. Make sure you check out the other wonderful creations which are being uploaded this month – inspiration just in time for Christmas!

Fraser Island Pics

2009-11-11T17:47:00.002+10:00

I thought I would share some photos from our holiday at Fraser Island.

This is the Maheno wreck. Every day it becomes more a part of the sea.

The ocean was pretty angry at times during the week but so clear and blue. It was the week after the awful dust storms on the east coast of Australia and for the first few days the shoreline was a murky brown colour but it cleared quickly.

Fraser Island is on the path of whales travelling up & down the east coast. This pic was taken from the tip of the island while B was standing on the shore. It was amazing, we were at Champagne Pools with a bunch of strangers but when the whales appeared everyone was stopped and became glued to their movements; talking and being friendly to those around.

We had a house on the Eastern or 'ocean' side of the island. It made for a windier time but you can more easily drive up and down the beach and access all the spots we wanted to visit. The island has changed so much since we last visited in 2001. It is sad to see that many of the areas the public used to have access to have closed and the huge tourist buses are more prevalent.

Thanks Darkroom Door!

2009-11-09T21:25:00.003+10:00

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to win the Prague UM plate from Darkroom Door during a giveaway promotion Rachel was running. This is a really lovely plate of stamps and so easy to use! The cards almost make themselves and I was quite pleased with the outcome of this one.

Brushstrokes Challenge

2009-11-09T21:22:00.002+10:00

I haven't shared the card I made for the Ranger September challenge. We had to use alcohol inks with a brush or marker instead of the usual applicator method.
For this card the background was made using alcohol inks in the traditional method. It was then overstamped with the gorgeous Hero Arts butterfly using archival ink. I filled in the spaces of the wings using alcohol ink & a fine brush. I have never tried using alcohol inks in this way and I was so impressed at how easy it was!

MIA

2009-11-09T08:43:00.003+10:00

Sorry readers, I have been missing my blog posts of late. We got back from our lovely holiday and a short time later my laptop died. Rotten VISTA! I am now the proud user of Windows 7 with not a hiccup since loading it. Took a while to get all my files back in order though which is an absolute pain!

I have still been busy crafting though so I willl share some of my latest creations over the coming week.

Fraser here we come!

2009-09-25T14:00:00.000+10:00

Our destination come sparrows on Saturday morning - a week at Fraser Island. Fraser is world heritage listed and is the largest sand island in the world. It has been about 8 years since we visited as a family so it will be fantastic for the boys to see again after so long. Can't wait!

By the sea...

2009-09-24T14:08:00.006+10:00

The challenge this month at Inkurable is to use the ocean or seaside as our inspiration. I came up with this noteblock, perfect for leaving at my front door with a pen at the ready!

I used a noteblock which I sponged all over with Adirondack dye inks. The stamps are a Stampington plate and I used a different shell stamp on each of the three sides. The word image was stamped in a paler colour. The base is mountboard, sponged with dye inks and embellished with some small shells and microbeads.

Weekend Visitors

2009-09-24T13:21:00.003+10:00

Recently we were blessed to have a pair of King Parrots visit our neighbours backyard. The male was so tame we could almost have hand fed him. He certainly didn't mind posing for these photos and was more interested in picking through Dave's cherry tomotoes than us.

Medallian Cards

2009-09-24T13:13:00.003+10:00

The last few weeks seem to have been so busy with the run up to end of term. Thank goodness we now have 2 weeks of school holidays!

Lately I have been playing with the Spellbinders pendant dies and have mastered the medallian style cards. These are so much fun to make.

Bluebird

2009-08-28T10:16:00.003+10:00

Sarah at Inkurable is also having a music themed challenge this month. I thought the song Bluebird by Kasey Chambers was a great inspiration.

The background was also created using Ranger Distress inks with a bit of water flicked over to give the splotchy look. I got to use my new Unity stamps as well - these are such fantastic stamps! Just perfect for this ATC. I painted a bit of twinkling H2O's onto the tree and the blue wing to give some sparkle.

Blackbird Singing ...

2009-08-28T09:38:00.004+10:00

The Ranger Yahoo group is running a music themed challenge for this month and this is the ATC I will submit. It is based on the Beatles song Blackbird.

The background is made with sponged Distress Inks, stamps are Inkadinkadoo. The blackbird is painted with a small amount of Crackle Distress Paint to bring out a bit of feather-like texture. The branch leaves have spots of Distress Stickles added for extra texture.

Here is a close up of the bird.

Background Swap Postal

2009-08-16T19:12:00.004+10:00

I posted off my Stamphappy ATC background swap last week. I used a wax resist technique and I was really pleased with the final effect.

Here is a basic description of the technique:

Emboss wax paper with Cuttlebug folder. Sandwich wax paper between cardstock and iron with dry iron. Take care to protect iron & board from any wax from the wax paper. Embossed design will be transferred to both pieces of cardstock. Sponging with ink will make design appear. For these I used Ranger Distress ink.

You can achieve a similar effect if you scrunch the wax paper instead of embossing with the Cuttlebug.

Fabric Stamping

2009-08-16T19:09:00.003+10:00

Today I have been playing with a bit of a different technique - fabric stamping. Instead of traditional stamping ink this time I used Riso Gocco Ink. I think it worked rather well.

Unbleached calico was firstly painted with black Neopaque paint and ripped into the right size for ATC's. I made a temporary stamping pad for the ink and stamped away. The effect turned out much better than I thought but the lines are still a bit thick & splodgy. I wanted a finer effect so will have to try a few other products. If anyone has any suggestions - please let me know!

I created this ATC for a fabric stamping swap so it will be interesting to see what the other girls create.

Stamps used are Inkadinkadoo & Just Johanna.

Spread Sunshine

2009-08-03T08:49:00.003+10:00

I made this card recently using the selective Cuttlebug technique. Quite easy once you get the hang of it!

Thinking of You

2009-08-02T16:29:00.002+10:00

Hi Readers, my blog stats tell me I have had quite a few visitors in recent weeks - sorry you had nothing new to look at :). My inlaws moved in for a while as they waited for their new home to be ready and that didn't leave much crafting time.

Here is a card I made for a class recently using Nestibility dies and a really cute mini Basic Grey stamp, coloured with Copics. I love all the cute owl stamps around at the moment!

Crackle Close Up

2009-07-12T18:28:00.001+10:00

I know I really should include these in the same post, but Picasa makes it so much easier to just start a new post!

A close up of the grungeboard shape. The shine around the edges is created with Pearl Dabber paint.

Crackle Paint Play

2009-07-12T18:24:00.001+10:00

This week I have been following along with Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking classes. The topic for this week is Distress Crackle Paints from Ranger. These classes are fabulous if you can spare the time. Jennifer gives so many tips and tricks during the videos.

Here is my play for this afternoon. The shapes are Grungeboard, text stamp is Glitz Design and the greeting is Darkroom Door.

Join the A-Muse-A-Palooza

2009-07-09T11:29:00.005+10:00

Amuse Art Stamps are about to run their annual A-Muse-A-Palooza. Click on the blinkie in the sidebar to join in the fun.

If you are a Brisbanite you can join in the fun at Stamp Art Studio. Rosemary is running a week long event next week with make & takes every day. Stop by to join the fun!

Here is a card I made recently using Amuse Stamps. It is a matchbook book style card.

Make a Wish.....

2009-07-08T09:51:00.000+10:00

A yummy cupcake card to celebrate a birthday - a guaranteed low calorie treat!

A Special Day

2009-07-07T17:16:00.004+10:00

It was a special day for a special friend recently - here is the card I made for her birthday.

The bird was painted with Ranger daubers and then over painted with some Ranger crackle paint. The branch was also painted with some distress crackle. Check out the close up of the bird:

Photo Editing Play

2009-07-07T17:09:00.003+10:00

I am participating in the Jessica Sprague digital class - lots of fun! Here is my pic from the first lesson. My crazy dog often sleeps in a corner of my study when I am working - not quite so 'sassy' here but she can be!

Ratty Tatty Papers

2009-05-30T16:07:00.002+10:00

I went to the Textile Art Show held here in Brisbane yesterday and was lucky enough to do a class with Dale from the Thread Studio. We made some fabulous silk papers using silk fibres and water - amazing! Starburst stains, metal leaf flakes, cocoons and muslin was used for colouring and embellishing our papers.

The show is being held in Brisbane for the first time and I really hope it will be back next year!

Here is a close up of the texture, totally flat and perfect for mini books or more embellishing. Super strong too!

Hoot!

2009-05-01T08:29:00.001+10:00

I coloured some Stampbord with Adirondack inks and stamped the images. Once that was dry I scratched into the Stampbord to give a bit of a highlight.

Stamps are My Favorite Things.

If Nothing Ever Changed ...

2009-05-01T08:26:00.000+10:00

I love this quote and so perfect for the many butterfly stamps I have.

This card was created last month for the Inkurable birthday celebrations. The challenge was to use 5 stamps on a card.

I used a version of a technique called brilliance resist which I will explain with another post. It is done using metallic Brilliance inks and brayered Adirondack dye inks. The stamps are Darkroom Door. Not sure if it comes out too clear but there is some Crackle Accents on the butterfly.

Inkurable April Challenge

2009-05-01T08:07:00.001+10:00

It is Inkurable Challenge time again and for April the challenge was to create something using the colours orange, black & white.

This is an acetate card featuring an Inkadinkadoo bird, stamped with Stazon onto the acetate. The inside is a SU texture background and the greeting is Hero Arts.

Inkurable Challenge

2009-04-10T09:45:00.004+10:00

Last weekend I was following the happenings at Inkurable. Sarah's first challenge was to create a birthday card using a Pagemaps sketch. Once I found the Pink Paislee paper the rest was easy - a blue/silver colour scheme and butterfly embellishment.

The greeting is Hero Arts, the frame Urban Lily, the scallop Collections and it got put through the Cuttlebug swiss dots folder. I also used the writing embossing folder for the background and highlighted the words with a little ink. The patterned paper was distressed a little and edges painted with a bit of silver paint.

This isn't a great close up of the butterfly but I think you will see the silver around the edges and the distress crackle paint on the inside of the wings. The shape is grungeboard. I was quite pleased with the overall effect!

Happy Birthday Inkurable

2009-04-04T13:47:00.001+10:00

Sarah at Inkurable is celebrating her first blog birthday. Visit here to join in the fun which will run for the whole weekend.

Caardvarks Challenge

2009-03-29T09:20:00.001+10:00

This week I decided to enter a sketch challenge at Caardvarks. Such an easy sketch to use.

The background panel was created by laying 3cm wide strips of patterned paper over some Jac paper and then cutting them acrossways into more 3cm wide strips. Each strip ended up with panels of paper. Once they were arranged, I added some faux stitching around each block of paper.

The birdie is from Inkadinkadoo and the THANKS from Hero Art.

Cuttlebug Challenges: We're gonna have a Parteeeee!

2009-03-28T17:26:00.001+10:00

Did you know that Provocraft are running a survey to ask our opinion on products and new releases? Check out the link below to participate. There are great prizes to be won as well.

Cuttlebug Challenges: We're gonna have a Parteeeee!

DD Filmstrip Swap Returns

2009-03-23T09:42:00.001+10:00

Here are the returns I received in the Darkroom Door swap - all are fantastic! If you want a closer look at any of them, check out the gallery Rachel has created on her blog.

Nature's Beauty

2009-03-22T08:51:00.003+10:00

The focus of Rachel's swap was to use the filmstrips to make ATC's. I chose the lovely floral ones as they match one of the stamp sets I already had.
The background was created by stamping matching images from the Full Bloom plate and colouring with watercolour crayons. A strip of Bazzill bling was embossed with the Cuttlebug writing plate and sponged with a bit of purple ink to bring out the embossing.
The natures beauty words were done on the computer - too easy! Selected images from the filmstrips were trimmed and distressed with one of Tim's tools and attached with foam tape.

Darkroom Door Swap

2009-03-22T08:50:00.001+10:00

A few weeks ago I participated in a swap run by Rachel at Darkroom Door. Now that the swaps are reaching all the swappers I thought it time to share my entry. More details next post.

Toetally Fantastic

2009-03-04T09:49:00.000+10:00

I recently saw some paper piecing done in a magazine using lined stamps so I thought I would give it a go. I was quite pleased considering it is a first effort. The images are My Favourite Things and are coloured with Copics.

Art Outgoing

2009-03-03T15:50:00.003+10:00

I also swapped some inchies with Adrienne. It was only the first time I had made some and boy are they such a small canvas to work on! I was quite pleased with the end results though.

Adrienne sent me a lovely collection of ATC's and inchies for our swap. So much work goes into these tiny works of art.

Fly...

2009-03-03T15:45:00.000+10:00

Here is another ATC I made for Adrienne. I recently got my hands on a Martha Stewart punch and had to try it out.

Hoot Hoot!

2009-03-03T13:53:00.002+10:00

Recently I got my order of new My Favourite Things stamps and just had to make an ATC with these fun owls. The owls were coloured with Copics.

I made this ATC to share with Stamphappier Adrienne.

Birthday Thanks

2009-03-03T13:38:00.002+10:00

I received a wonderful pile of gorgeous cards to celebrate my recent birthday. Here is a pic of them all together.

Thanks to Sharon B, Barb P, Marlene L, Trish C, Deb D, Marion W, Evelyn P, Julie P, Mary F, Erna M and Kylie A for helping to make my day special!

Puzzle This

2009-01-18T11:19:00.004+10:00

I created this cards for this months Inkurable challange. The focus this month is on using puzzle pieces.

I think this technique is called reverse spotlight. Normally you would colour the ‘featured’ part but this time I coloured the rest of the image and left the featured bit (the puzzle piece) uncoloured. It was created by:

- cutting a piece of calico to roughly the right size and pulling the side threads to give a bit of interest. I then painted it with off-white acrylic paint. A puzzle piece was painted at the same time.
- pear image is by Stampers Anonymous and is stamped and embossed with clear powder. An interesting part of the image was selected and stamped onto the puzzle piece.
- image was water coloured using water colours. The puzzle piece was left blank.
- image was matted with green Coordinations cardstock, ripped at the bottom onto a tan A5 card blank. The puzzle piece was match up with the image and mounted with foam tape.
- the right side of the card was stamped with a branch (K & Co) using Versamark. The word ‘Grow’ (Christina Re) was stamped and embossed.

I did another card, colured the opposite way - the more traditional form of spotlighting.

Inkurable Challenge

2009-01-18T10:28:00.007+10:00

During December, Sarah at Inkurable Stampers was running a challenge based on the use of scallops. Above is my entry and you can see it on Sarah's site here.

Luckily Sarah chose me as a winner - a lovely set of Darkroom Door stamps! Woo hoo :)

Art Catch Up

2009-01-09T11:08:00.003+10:00

The silly season got in the way of regular blog posts over the last month so I will try to catch up. I have some Christmas cards and some swap returns to share in upcoming posts.

I did a few more cards for the Darkroom Door Christmas Competition. If you have a look at the gallery my cards are there along with some fabulous art. Instructions are within the blog posts and I did projects #27, 23, 20 & 8. It was so much fun!

I was lucky enough to be drawn a winner for Rachel's competition so I have a set on DD stamps on their way :)

Christmas Reindeer ATC

2008-12-08T16:11:00.005+10:00

Rachel is running a great competition on the Darkroom Door blog. You need to design something using the Christmas Reindeer stamps and you can win some great prizes. Check out the blog for details.

I made this ATC for it, and I am making a heap to take to club on Wednesday for Christmas ATC's.

It's Been a While

2008-11-21T20:31:00.001+10:00

Well I am finally getting back to update this blog. A computer crash coupled with a few weeks of severe headaches means that I haven't even looked at other blogs, let alone my own for many weeks.

I will remedy the lack of posts over the next few days.

Darkroom Door Photobooth

2008-11-21T20:27:00.000+10:00

These are the ATC's I sent off to Rachel a while ago for the Darkroom Door Photobooth Swap. I have never really worked with this type of image before so it was a bit of a challenge. The use of the fabric was a bit new as well but in all I am very pleased with how it turned out!

08 Tim Holtz Inkurable Swap

2008-11-21T20:24:00.003+10:00

While on the subject of swaps, I thought I would share these images from the ATC's I made last year for the Tim Holtz Inkurable Stampers swap. The background was made using melted crayon, overlaid with the image stamped onto tissue paper and embossed. The harlequin panel was coloured with some dabber paint to add some colour to the top layer and bring it all together. The image is taken from one of the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous plates.

Delightful

2008-10-06T14:05:00.001+10:00

When I first got this set of stamps I couldn't wait to use the bird image. It is so effective. The stamps are from Yellow Bicycle.

Easy Christmas Cards

2008-10-06T14:01:00.002+10:00

These would have to be the easiest Christmas cards I have ever made and they turned out so well! Stamp your image with Versamark and emboss with clear powder. Next do a swipe across with some Twinkling H2O's. Embellish and you are done. The swirl above the 'Christmas' word is glittered with Kindy Glitz, it may be hard to see from the pic.

It is a technique that has been around for ages, but I got the reminder from a card posted here.

It would help..

2008-10-02T17:14:00.000+10:00

If I remembered to share the close up I took of the butterfly...

Card Share

2008-10-02T17:04:00.000+10:00

Thank goodness I never promised to update my blog often as I would have gone back on it already! Here is a card that I finished today, it has been in my head for ages. I was quite pleased with how the card turned out.

The stamps are Inkadinkadoo and Hero Arts. The background was made with alchohol inks onto cream matt cardstock for the bottom layer and some cream pearl paper for the top layer. I went around the edge with copper dabbers and some more alcohol ink. My friend Marlene produced something similar at stamp club recently and I had to give it a go.

Your friendship ...

2008-09-22T10:54:00.001+10:00

I just love the range of greetings you can get on stamps nowdays. Here is one of my favourites.

I also used my Nestibility dies for this card. I will share some more using them soon.

You will also notice that I got a watermark to work - finally figured it out!

Camp Creations

2008-09-03T15:58:00.000+10:00

I went on the annual stamp camp arranged by Stamperholics Unanimous last weekend - I sort of had to as an organiser :) We had a fantastic time! Imagine almost 40 women crafting from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon - some barely stopping to eat and sleep.

We were taught projects by the fabulous Sue Smythe and Myléne Hilliam. On Friday night Sue showed us how to make a book with half pages and stamped tags. Myléne did two projects - a decorated box filled with bottled messages and a decorated tin with fold out pages. I didn't even really start that one but you can see a pic here at Mill Lane Studio.

Below is a pic of the book and box.

We also had Jenny Caesar from Stamp Antics as our camp shop. I was so nice to be able to walk a few steps in order to shop - a bit deadly for some!

Darkroom Door Swap

2008-08-27T08:59:00.001+10:00

Well Rachel is about to sort and send her swaps for the first Darkroom Door swap so I thought I would share my contributions. We needed to do an ATC or a card utilising the fabulous DD products (http://www.darkroomdoor.com/). The first is my ATC, using the Wildflower stamps.

And here is my card entry. It is my take on the Cuttlebug Collage technique described by Annette in her blog http://goannafive.blogspot.com/. The picture doesn't really do justice to the textures and the pearlescence of the copper sections. The card was made using the DD Venetian Vol 2 plate. The face image was stamped with Stazon on a transparency and overlaid over the map image. I was quite pleased with the effect.