Up The Wall

Up The Wall

Hallo everyone!

Hope your week continues well

Expect you're looking forward 

to the weekend - well, here's a

fun project for you from

Louise Thomson

"I started with a watercolour card tag and 

blended distress inks over it in scattered straw 

and fossilized amber.

Next I taped down my brick stencil and 

blended over fired brick and pumice stone inks.

With the stencil removed I added in a selection 

of plants from Card-io’s backyard blooms stamp set, 

all stamped in mowed lawn distress ink.

I added the spiders web in amongst the plants 

using black versa colour ink, 

then used a black fineliner to join up the

 loose ends of the web.

I die cut a strip of grass and then trimmed 

the off cut so I could use that too, 

to make two different grassy outlines. 

One piece I coated in mowed lawn ink, 

the other I left the original green. 

These were then added to the bottom of the tag. 

I also added in a few creepy crawlies… 

(see how many you can spot…!)

Finally I edged the tag by running the f

ired brick ink pad directly around the edge 

of it and finished off with a few 

coordinating ribbons from my stash."

Materials used;

Watercolour tag

Distress inks  (scattered straw, fossilized amber, fired brick, pumice stone, mowed lawn)

Low tack adhesive

Kaisercraft 12x12 mini mix stencil

Card-io Backyard blooms

Grass border die

Black fine-liner

Green paper and ribbons (from stash)

Great tag Louise, thank you

Such fun with all the little critters


'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Card-I-O

Card-I-O

Hallo Everyone!

We have a new theme this week:

Card-I-O stamps 

The DT have been keen to show

what they make of these stamps - 

and it is all good..............

We start off with

Louise Thomson

One of the lovely things about versa magic ink pads 

compared with others is that they maintain their colour 

when stamped on dark card. 

I wanted to make the most of this quality for my project 

and so worked with a black base card for a bit of a change.

Start by inking up a branch stamp with clear embossing ink. 

Sprinkle with white embossing powder, 

tap off the excess and heat to set. 

I used branches from two different Card-i-o sets stamped several times, 

but one would do fine. 

Stamp the small flower from the sakura blooms set using spring pansy ink 

Stamp the side-on flower in pink petunia. 

Add more flowers using purple hydrangea. 

Finally add in some leaves using Aloe Vera. 

Now for the slightly nerve wracking bit... 

line up two nesting square dies 

and cut your image in to three squares. 

Mount each square on a piece of white card with a narrow border. 

Layer them up together and stick down with double sided tape.

Add finishing touches with a stamped butterfly 

and dots of stickles glitter in the centres of the flowers."

Materials used

Black card

White smooth finish card

Clear Embossing ink

White embossing powder

Card-io Stamps: Summer wreath, Sakura blooms, Pleasant Pastures

Versamagic inks in spring pansy, pink petunia, purple hydrangea and aloe vera Nesting square dies

Stickles – diamond

Double sided tape 

Lovely project Louise.  Thank you.

Makes me think that Spring is not so

very far away......

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Bokeh

Bokeh 

Hi there!

How're you doing?  Trust all

is going to plan in your corner

of the universe .....................

To round off the week's bokeh

techniques we have Angela Radford

to show us how she goes about it

Get comfy and prepare to enjoy:

"This is an official name for a specific photographic  effect.

It comes from the Japanese word for 

haze : 'boke'  and blur: Boke-aji.

It is basically the aesthetic quality of images 

out-of-focus in a photograph. 

Crafters have found ways of reproducing this effect without a camera.

There are various ways of achieving this effect 

with both wet and dry techniques. 

The one I am using today is probably the most messy 

but I know that my crafting friends out there don't mind 

getting their hands dirty! 

So here goes.

For this technique you are best using watercolour paper 

as we are going to be getting it nice and wet.

So first you will need to attach the paper to a craft mat 

with masking tape as the paper is likely to warp when wet.

Next cover it thoroughly with water,

lots of it as you need the paint to spread. 

I have started adding colour here and it shows quite well 

that the paper is very wet.

I have used Paper Artsy fresco paints for this 

and you need to add enough water to them 

so they are more like a wash 

then apply them around the paper  

allowing them to blend slightly.

It may look a little dark at this stage 

but remember it will go lighter when dry. 

You can blot it if you wish to remove some of the colour. 

Remove the masking tape and dry it by either 

leaving it to dry naturally or use your heat gun

It should now look something like this:

If the paper has distorted I place it under my craft mat 

for a couple of  hours which will flatten it out again

Now you can start to add the dotty images 

though actually you could use any shape you like 

but I like dots as they are easy to find in different sizes. 

You can use a stencil or dabbers for this. 

I used a white pigment ink at different intensities 

until I was satisfied with the coverage.

And it's time to decide how you will use the Masterboard.

But before I do that I have another practice piece that I tried 

to see how this technique would look with coloured dots too 

and here is part of the Masterboard I made but what do you think?

These would make great background papers for all kinds of projects.                                                                                        

I decided to use sections from both Masterboards to make a card

I needed a background so decided to try the technique 

on a black card blank and I really like the effect.

I played around with the layout for a while before making 

a decision about the design. 

It was during this stage that I decided to use both Masterboards.

I used small dew drops from my stash 

to finish the card which just adds that 

little bit of sparkle which is so perfect 

for this technique.

Hope you enjoyed watching me make this. 

Give it a go, it's great fun to do.

Happy crafting,

 Angela x"

Materials used:

Fresco Finish Acrylic paints by Paper Artsy.

Watercolour Paper

Black card.

Stencils.

Dies.

Stamps.

Distress Inks.

White Ink.

Dabbers.

Smoothies.

Masking tape.

Heat gun.

Echo that Angela!  

Many thanks for a super project.

I'm off to make some master boards 

So very useful to have in your stash, 

especially if you have limited time

or, like me, an awful memory.....

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx