At Random

At Random

Hello Again!

Shaking things up a tad this

month - not necessarily sticking

to our usual days!  Have to keep

you on your toes..........Hehe!

Here is Claire Jackson with a

rather beautiful perfume bottle...:

"I stamped the Blue Fern Studios 

Bottled Sentiments stamp in 

Distress Oxide inks.

 I over-stamped in different colours using

 a stamping platform.

 

I then masked off the images and added 

the background, with a mixture of sponging 

and stamping, before adding the

 sentiment and layering it all up.

I made a little tag, from one of the other 

stamps in the set, using shrink plastic

 and glossy accents."

Thank you Claire - I love the

simplicity of the design and the

colours you have chosen.

That little bottle tag sets it

all off very well.  Just goes to

show you don't need mountains

of stash to start you off

Of course if a highly developed

stash mountain is your goal then

step into the SALE and see what

you can find............

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

The Christmas Table

The Christmas Table

Hallo Everyone!

It's getting a lot more like Christmas

isn't it?  Are you panicking or are

you on track?  Don't think I fall into

either category - I just take it as it

comes .............................. and like

the advert I pour another drink for

my guests if I need to make myself

a little crisis time!

We have Angela Radford with

us today and she is going to

share her place settings with us:

"Hi all, here today to show you how I've made

 some Christmas table settings. 

I started with a sheet of white card and

 several colours of Distress ink.

Smoosh it on and dry.

Using the Kay Carley snowflake stencil and 

Distress Matte Medium I applied this over 

the coloured card.

 Leave this to dry before finishing the Masterboard.

Used my Tim Holtz stamp positioner to stamp

 the ElenaZinski Elves.

Colour these and leave to dry.

Back to the Masterboard using the Kay Carley

 stencil and two colours of Distress Oxide in

 with a blending too.

Cut out the Elves. 

I went round the edges of these with a 

black ink and blending tool so that the 

white edges don't show.

 Cut the Masterboard to your chosen size, 

edge with matching colour, score and fold. 

then attach the Elves. 

I have printed the names on the computer,

 edged them and attached with a stapler but 

they could also be stamped on too. 

This should stop them falling out about who's

 sitting where Lol! or maybe not! 

Happy crafting, Angela xXx"

Products used:

White card

Distress Oxides

Watercolour pencils

Distress Matte Medium

Glaze

Clear embossing powder

Paper Artsy stencil 070 Kay Carley

Elena Zinski stamps

Black archival Ink

These are great Angela, will bring

a smile to every face too!

Don't you just love these

place settings Everyone?

So quick to do too, with

Angela's brilliant Masterboard

technique

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Mechanical Greetings

Mechanical Greetings

Hi Everyone!

Brrr!  It is getting chilly out

there now.   Time to snuggle

up to the fire............. should 

have bought some muffins

(the ones that are a bit like

pancakes of course).  

Now when I say mechanical

greetings I probably mean

kinetic greetings but either

way movement is involved!

To start us off, Angela Radford

 has come with a greeting card 

that is just right for the 

mantelpiece ...........

Hi all, Angela here to show you one

 of my favourite ways of getting

 movement in my cards.

 I started with a sheet of watercolour paper

 but lightweight card would work too. 

Use your distress inks on a craft mat and

 smoosh the card through it until you

 get a light coverage.

 Once this was dry I used a Paper Artsy Christmas

 stencil by Kay Carley with several colours of 

Distress Oxides.

Looks okay but I just couldn't resist adding more!

So clear Gel medium next through

 the same stencil and allow it to dry.

 Now at this stage I could not decide on the

 colours I wanted to use so cut the paper 

into two and then added the colours with 

Distress Oxides.

Splatter water over the colour and 

allow to activate and dab off.

And here are the two samples.

 If you buff the card a little the gelled 

areas will show up more.

 I couldn't resist it! One more technique: 

Splatter thinned paint onto the surface

 and allow it to dry.

At this stage I folded the front of a card blank

 to make a Z fold card and layered this with

 the Masterboard and matching coloured card. 

You will also need a piece of card for the front 

slightly smaller than the size of your chosen

 card blank. 

This front section is not completed

 at this stage as can be seen below.

Now for the fun part using the Elenazinski 

Christmas set 19. 

Stamp these onto card and heat emboss 

with clear embossing powder.

 How cute are they?!

Next the colouring.

 I like to use watercolour pencils for this. 

When these were dry I also added 

glaze to the eyes.

Now cut three strips of clear acetate and

 attach three of the figures to this and the 

other two on each side of the front section. 

I also stamped the sentiment at this stage.

Turn the front section over and attach

 the acetate strip to the back with the 

stamped figures facing you.

Turn this over and bend the acetate 

towards you. Use a bone folder to smooth

 the acetate into position and then it 

can be mounted onto the white card 

and attached to the front.

And here is the finished card. 

It only takes a little draught to make 

these little guys wobble which I just love.

A side view of the Christmas family

 sending their sentiment. 

Hope you enjoyed watching me make 

this fun card xXx

Products used for the Mechanical Family

Elenazinski Stamps

Paper Artsy Stencil

Distress Oxides

Distress Ink

White card blank 

Watercolour paper

Clear Acetate

Watercolour pencils

Clear embossing powder

Black Ink

White Paint

Gel Medium

Coloured card

Bone folder

Palette knife

Glue

Glaze

Such a fun card!  Thank you

so much Angela

I could just see them bobbing about

on my mantelpiece ......... you

have to hand it to PaperArtsy, they

come up trumps every time ....

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Crafty Emotions

Crafty Emotions

Hi There!

Everything is gearing towards

the end of next month and all

the happy crafters are beavering

away with seasonal items .....

Well what about all the other

life events that take place

even at this time of the year?

Here's Helen Chilton to start us

off with a small selection of

CAS cards that have nothing

to do with Christmas......

"These are clean and simple cards using

 Craft Emotions clear stamp set: Branches. 

They're all made in the same way 

with a few little tweaks here and there. 

Start off by cutting some masks using 

punches or dies. They need to fit

 a 4"x 4" card blank.

Stick your mask down with masking tape 

and choose your colours - I'm using 

Distress Oxides but dye inks are just as good.

Rub on your colours through the mask, 

blending as you go.

 Leave the mask in place and start 

stamping the flowers in black. 

 Build them up.... 

...and then remove the mask.

 And that's it, your basic card.

You can vary them by adding embellishments 

- here I've dotted some Ranger Enamels.

You can also stamp in the background with

 the mask on (Kaisercraft Texture stamp: Script)

 and bring out a couple of the flowers onto 

the white cardstock.

 Then I've added a greeting 

You can stencil the background with the mask

 in place and then double stamp the greeting.

You can change the shape of your mask

and stencil in the background. 

Finish with Stickles.

You can quickly stamp a border.

As these are Distress inks, you could 

splatter the background and add a

 doodled border.

The possibilities are endless ......."

Materials:

Craft Emotions Clear stamps: 

Distress Oxides: 

Ranger Archival inkpad: 

Cards and envelopes: 

Thanks Helen, that is quite a

comprehensive card set there

to suit many occasions

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx