Christmas Animals

Christmas Animals

Hallo There!

.......and we've reached the

end of another busy week!

Time for you to put your 

feet up and relax with a cup

of something warm and

cheery before you have to

hit the treadmill once more

...................!

Here's Jane Castle with the

final Christmas Animal for

this week...:

"Hi Everyone, for my Christmas Animal 

I chose the Stag, such an elegant creature 

and one that has become more readily

 visible in our neck of the woods during 

the past 10 years.

To begin with I coloured some of the

 Creative Expressions Pop-ems deer using

 ink straight from the coffee bean ink pad.

These were then put to one side while I

 created a scene on my card blank.

The sentiment was stamped at the bottom

 righthand corner and the sky was coloured

 with DI and a blending tool.

Next I placed 2 blobs of paint on my craft mat

 and gradually blended graduating colours to 

be sponged through my 

Tim Holtz Woodland Layering Stencil.

Adding slightly different shades as I went.

I love how the Zinc paint gives that

 subtle shimmer. 

Gradually the scene starts to build.

With christmas cards I like to make 

several in one sitting.

Then using the same sponge and paints 

I added some snowey hills to ground my trees

Using a Quickie Glue pen I added some 

glitter to the trees and the ground. 

Stickles could also be used for this.

All thats left is to add my Stag.

Although the coffee bean ink pad isn't a 

pearlescent one it still has a slight sparkle

 and texture.

Really liked using the Pop-ems,

 good selection of sizes and different poses. 

Plus once the deers have been used

 you are left with a pretty comprehensive 

stencil ------ bonus!!!"

Materials Used

Woodware Christmas stamp

Distress Inks

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil

Brilliance Ink Pads

Creative Expressions Pop-ems

DecoArt Metallic Paint

Fresco Finish Chalk Paint

Quickie Glue pen

Glitter

Super cards Jane

Thank you very much

You look to have had a

lot of fun making these

So, that was the week of

Christmas Animals.

Such fun showcasing another

side of Christmas icons

'Till tomorrow 

Mickie xx

Crafty Emotions

Crafty Emotions

Hi!

Have you got all your weekend

chores done? Good for you!

Now it is time to sit back and

relax and what better place to

start than with Jane Castle's

Thank You card........

"At this time of year it's so easy to concentrate

 solely on Christmas but it's probably a good

 idea to have a couple of cards ready made

 and 'In the Bank' as to speak for those 

special thank-you's. 

Not only for a fabulous gift but dinner parties, 

drinks gatherings with neighbours 

and then there's 'New Year' parties. 

Today I'd like to share with you a card that

 can easily be adapted using different colours

 if it's for a male or depending on what

 you might have in your 'crafting stash'.

I started by preparing my outer frame, for this I painted 

a piece of smooth white card with Mud Splat paint. 

Once dry it was then given a coat of Weathered Wood, 

left to dry again and then a final coat of Blush

 

This was then put to one side as I wasn't sure 

at this stage how large I would need

 to make my aperture.

Using the following stamp set and inks I proceeded

 to build up the layers of my wild flowers.

The first to be stamped was the cow parsley, 

this was heat embossed with white EP.

Then I gradually filled in the bunch using 2 other 

stamps from the same set. 

Finally I added a few hand drawn stems using a

 Distress Marker. 

After trimming to size I punched 2 holes, 

1 each side of the stems, threaded some

ribbon through and tied a bow.

After cutting my frame to size I then decided to

 add some narrow lace to the inside of the aperture. 

This was attached using narrow double sided tape.

A die cut tag was then stamped with my sentiment 

and this was attached using a dragonfly brad.

Using a different sentiment on the tag this could be 

adapted for many different occassions, so one could 

make a couple of cards and add the tag when needed!"

Items Used

Craft Emotions Clear stamps

Stampendous Embossing Powder

Distress Inks

Distress Marker

Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint

Americana Weathered Wood

Dragonfly Brad

Ribbon

Lace from sewing stash

Memento Ink

Double sided tape

What a lovely card Jane;

thank you.

Just goes to show you don't need

a load of stamps and supplies

to make a stunning card

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Find It

Find It

Hi There!

You may wonder what you

are being asked to find.......

Worry not Find It is the name

of a die cut company, new to

us but some of you may be

familiar with them.

We thought we'd give them a

whirl this week and here is

Jane Castle to start us off:

"Well time is marching on at a pace

 and if you have not made all of your 

Christmas cards yet here's a 

fairly quick idea that can be 

changed with a different centre piece

 so as to not get boring in the making.

To begin with I did all of the die cutting

 using a fab set from Find-It Media 

called 'Christmas Card Set'.

This set is great value for money,

cuts and embosses beautifully and

 some elements can be used all year round. 

Below I've added a photo of a piece

 I cut, embossed and then stamped whilst

 the card was still in the die. 

This leaves a very fine clean edge all the way 

round rather than cutting after stamping.

Whoops, back to the job in hand!

Next I stamped the crate image from a 

Craft Emotions stamp set onto white card

 and kraft card. The kraft card was then

 cut so as to form the outside of the crate.

Both images were heat embossed with clear 

embossing powder. Colour was added using 

Distress Markers and Jelly Roll pens.

The card blank had DI in old paper added 

to the edges and then using the same ink 

stamped the zig-zag lines from Jofy 07. 

These were then brushed with Perfect Pearls.

A tag was stamped using Jofy 47 stamp set

 and this was attached to the crate with some

 ribbon before fixing to the card.

A little Treasure Gold was rubbed onto the 

die cut mounts after lightly sanding. 

The gorgeous holly die-cuts were then

 slightly shaped and curled as I prefer things 

not completely flat.

Stickles were added to the berries and 

Pewter Liquid Pearls added to the crate

 to enhance the nails.

It's a long while since I made any traditional 

red/green Christmas cards and they do have 

that magical feel to them, I wonder if it will catch on!!

Enjoy your Christmas card making X"

Items Used:

Find-it Media Dies

Craft Emotions Stamps

Jofy Christmas Stamps

Distress Markers

Distress Inks

Ranger Perfect Pearls

Ranger Liquid Pearls

Jelly-Roll Pens

Core-Color Card

Kraft Card

Treasure Gold

Stickles

Many thanks Jane, a super

project to start us off

At the rate I'm going it doesn't

look like I shall be sending any

cards this year! Better get 

my skates on......

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Joseph's Coat

Joseph's Coat

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for dropping by.  We

continue our colourful theme

this week with Hazel Harler

who has given the ancient

technique a modern spin:

"Hi everyone, for my latest project I've used 

the Sgraffito technique. 

This one was done on mountboard.

This one was done on canvas board

 I started with a canvas board and a 

Crafters workshop mask.

I scribbled oil pastels over the canvas.

Then the canvas was covered with black gesso

I taped the mask over the canvas, 

this will stop the mask from moving.

Using something sharp gently scrape 

away the black gesso.

The finished canvas: 

Because the canvas surface isn't smooth 

a lot of black spots were left so I've decided to 

do another one on mountboard.

I made a frame out of foam board. 

I marked the board with pencil and 

cut out the centre.

 To make a backing for the frame I used 

distress ink directly onto some white card.

I painted the frame with black gesso

 and glued it to the backing.

 I decided to do another piece but on 

mountboard this time. 

I coloured the board with oil pastels 

and painted it with black gesso.

Then I taped over a mask and scraped 

the gesso away in places.

The finished board glued to the frame. 

I decided that it looked a bit plain so I 

stamped some Tracey Scott flowers onto white card, 

coloured them with Distress Oxides, cut them out and

 glued them to the board. 

I added some metal charms to the

 centre of the flowers.

I prefered using the mountboard, 

it was a lot easier to scrape the gesso away

 and it didn't leave lots of black spots."

Supplies:

Canvas board.
Mountboard.
Oil Pastels.
Black gesso.
Stencils and masks.
Distress inks.
Foam board.
Stamps.
Distress Oxides.
Metal charms.

More highly colourful loveliness!

Thank you Hazel  It was very

interesting to see the difference

in the two applications. Personally

I like them both!!

In these days of Mindfulness Colouring

I think this technique fits very well as

it cannot be rushed and concentrates

the mind as you do it..........

'Till tomorrow 

Mickie xx

Joseph's Coat

Joseph's Coat

Hi There!

Thought it might be fun to

re-visit an old technique ....

...... very old.......I remember

doing this in Primary School!

Here's Helen Chilton to start

us off..............

"Rub the Distress inks onto a panel of glossy card.

Stencil the mosaic pattern over the top 

with VersaMark...

... and then emboss in clear

Rub over a dark coloured inkpad - 

I used Black Soot.

Buff over with a cloth to remove ink 

from embossing.

 I don't think I let the ink 'cure' for long enough 

as it came out quite pale so I ....

....then rubbed over with Chipped Sapphire 

and left it for a bit longer.

Rub some Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin 

onto a small piece of glossy.

Lay over and clear emboss the fish fossil

Rub over blue and black until black and blue(!) 

and then buff up.

I then added some definition with a black pen

 as it was annoying me!

Add more black pen to the background and

 layer up on card. I added some messy ribbon 

and fibres - I like a bit of a mess!"

Materials used:

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: 
The Crafters Workshop template: 
Distress Ink pads and Versamark Pads:
Stamp and Stuff Detail embossing powder: 

Lovely bright start to the week

Helen, thank you very much.

Just when you think you have all

the layering stencils you will ever

need; somebody uses one you haven't

got!   Always the way

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx