For the Boys

For the Boys

Hi Everyone!

Wouldn't be great if

making gifts for the

boys was just a question

of changing the colour

scheme? ........... 

Actually, I think we

would miss out on a lot

of the fun if we did that

although I did read 

somewhere that the male

brain is wired differently

for colour.  Really?

I'm not sure  .........

Louise Thomson has

an interesting question  .......

"Why do women get all 

the notebooks?! Sure, I love a tiny 

notebook probably as much as most 

crafters but that's not to say that 

there can't be masculine ones too. 

My Dad always keeps a notebook

 in the car to record his petrol 

and mileage. 

My brother has one that he records

 places he's cycled, and yet

 if you look in the shops, most 

notebooks are floral and feminine, 

or at best plain. 

Time to address the situation!

I started with an alterable Kraft notebook, 

fresco paint in Antarctic and some 

Seth Apter stamps. 

I gave the notebook a couple of coats

 of paint and left it to dry.

 I stamped one of the Seth Apter ESA05 set

 in cobalt archival ink onto some tissue paper

and glued to the spine.

 I used aquamarine archival ink 

for the main image

I partially re inked the stamp and stamped 

over the top in the darker blue. 

Using a fine liner I highlighted a few 

of the details. 

I also added some inking around 

the edge of the notebook.

To finish I added metal corners 'tarnished' 

with a little permanent black ink, 

coiled wire and a wooden kaisercraft key 

gilded in silver alchemy wax and attached

 with a little piece of wire."

Materials;

Notebook

Fresco paint

Archival ink

Tissue paper

Fine liner

Metal corners

Seth Apter Stamps

Wire

Kaisercraft wooden key

Alchemy wax

Thank you Louise.  I think

you have provided a good

solution to the dilemma of

why are little notebooks

often so pretty pretty

I try to keep a stock of

these little notebooks to

hand as I find they do

make nice little presents

and are quite fun to

decorate to suit the

recipient

"Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Drunken Chalks

Drunken Chalks

Hi Everyone!

Glad you could stop by.

Today we have Hazel Harler

with us.  She is going to

demonstrate her take on

the topic, so sit back and

enjoy..........

"For my latest project I've been playing 

with the Drunken Chalk technique.

 For my first card I used Versa Magic

 chalk inks and glossy card. 

I coloured the card with the ink pads 

directly onto the card,

The card was then sprayed with surgical spirit.

When the spirit had dried I covered 

the card with Encore metallic ink.

I sprayed the card with the spirit and the 

metal in the Encore ink separated from 

the rest of the ink 

The card was stamped with Paperartsy stamps

 and Archival ink.

-oOo-

For my second card I sponged Distress Oxide 

onto the glossy card.

I used a pipette to drip the 

surgical spirit onto the card.

I cut the card in half and covered one half 

with Encore metalic ink and 

dripped the spirit with the pipette. 

I loved the effect it made.

To finish the card I used Kaisercraft papers, 

Woodware stamps, black archival and I coloured 

the image with indian ink markers:

-oOo-

I decided to make a Christmas card for my 

next sample. 

I coloured the glossy card with three 

different blue Distress Oxide inks.

 I covered the card with Encore metalic ink.

This is the result after dripping 

surgical spirit onto the card. 

It's a good idea to spray the finished 

background with an acrylic sealer as

 the metal ink will rub of on 

everything that touches it.

 I used a Woodware stamp on the card 

and heat embossed it. 

The image was matted onto red and 

blue card and I trimmed it with some ribbon.

-oOo-

 For my last sample I scribbled some

 Distress Oxide onto glossy card using 

the corner of the inkpads.

 Then sprayed it with surgical spirit.

 I covered one half of the card with the metallic ink 

and dripped some surgical spirit onto it.

I stamped the background with a Woodware stamp

 and coloured it with Indian ink markers."

Materials:

Card Blanks

Glossy card,
Distress Oxides.
Versa magic ink pads.
Encore metalic ink pads.
Archival ink pads.
Surgical spirit.
PaperArtsy stamps.
Woodware stamps. 
Indian ink markers.
Kaisercraft papers.
Acrylic sealer.
Embellishments.

Great tutorial Hazel;

thank you very much

I am sure everyone will

have learned a lot here

I am sure you all agree that

Hazel has produced a beautiful

set of cards using this technique

Do you have a favourite?  

Currently I am favouring the

last one..........but this my

change......

Anyway, I am now off to get

some surgical spirit.......

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Fond Farewells

Fond Farewells

Hallo Everyone!

Thought just for a change we

could tackle the Goodbye word.

It has such an air of finality about

it, I much prefer Auf Wiedersehen,

Au revoir....... or even the more

informal Ciao and Servus that

mean both Hello and Goodbye

We start off with Bon Voyage and

Jane Castle

"I've been working on a pattern for a 

small gift bag recently that 

could be made from a sheet of 

12"x12" double sided paper and 

having got the proportions to balance 

I thought I would share this with you

 for this project.

To begin with I made my template 

( there were a few before!)

 out of a sheet of fairly robust A4 tracing paper.

All dark straight lines are cuts, side and bottom

 and the dotted lines are folds.

 I then cut the main shape from my piece of 

Fabscraps paper.

Then working on my cutting mat 

I scored my folds.

 Most lines are easy to follow as they 

join up several of the v-shaped cuts.

 As I didn't want to make any marks on the paper 

I laid the template on top to check any folds 

I was not certain of.

Most folds all go the same way except

 for the 2 centre side panels.

To stick the bag together I used Comic Shimmer 

Glue as this not only dries clear 

it also dries very quickly! 

I began with the 3 flaps at the bottom, 

then the side fastening, 

then folded over the top 

making a neat edge and

 finally the last flap at the bottom.

4 holes were then punched at the 

top for the cord handles.

Now onto the tag and card:

For this I used a piece of A4 cream 

coloured card which I cut in half (A5) 

for the card and cut the tag from the remainder. 

The edges of the card and tag were lightly 

brushed with D.I. in Pumice Stone.

I then randomly stamped small areas of text 

in Potting Soil from my new set of Archival Inks. 

Then using 3 of the 4 ink pads from the set

 I inked up the main image from 

Deep Red Clingstamps of a train station.

For the tag I didn't ink the area of the roof 

with the clock but I did in the card.

 From the trimmings of my double sided paper

 I cut out a few of the small images and added

 these to the tag and card.

I then cut 2 x 28cm lengths of black nylon cord

 for the handles of the bag. 

These were threaded through and knotted

 on the insided of the bag.

The tag was placed onto the cord before knotting!!

Bon Voyage was added to the card using die-cut letters.

I really like the way the inks blend 

giving subtle shades of the 3 colours.

The bag is a perfect size for small gifts

 for travellers ie sun tan lotion, vouchers, 

jewelery etc and if the bag isn't completely

 full the card fits inside too --- a bonus!

I hope you find these instructions fairly 

easy to follow but if you have any queries 

please leave a comment at the bottom of the 

page and I will get back to you. 

Thanks for stopping by today."

Items Used

Archival Wendy Vecchi Mini Inks Set 1

FabScraps 12'x12' papers In Transit C87

Deep Red Clingstamps Train Station

Distress Ink Pumice Stone

Cosmic Shimmers Glue

Text stamp 

A4 cream Card

Thanks to you Jane for a lovely

start to the week. 

'Till tomorrow

Mickie