Christmas Flora

Christmas Flora

Hi There!

It's nearly here..... that most

wonderful time of the year, as

the song goes.

Thought we'd take a look at

some Christmas images from

the natural world.........

So to start off on our quest

for Christmas Flora, here is

Jane Castle:

"For my project this week I've chosen 'Holly & Ivy' 

as I love cutting these from the garden and 

decorating the house over the Christmas holidays. 

This time I've decided to move away from 

the traditional greens and use various blue hues 

with some added sparkle.

To begin with I coloured some white card 

with Distress inks, stains and PA Infusions.

This was then stamped and heat embossed

 for my ivy leaves and also die cut for my 

holly borders.

Next I stencilled the top left-hand corner 

and the bottom right-hand corner of my card blank 

using Iced Spruce and an Imagination Crafts stencil.

Grunge paste was then applied through my

 Tim Holtz stencil.

 I masked off areas around the word Christmas

 so as not to end up with any unwanted splodges! 

( so easily done)

The stencil was removed, cleaned and replaced 

to add Merry above as I found it easier 

to centralise the longer word first.

The Grunge paste was then covered in 

glitter whilst still wet.

The holly border was trimmed to size,

 dots of Liquid Pearls in Pewter were added

 for the holly berries and finally the ivy leaves 

were shaped and stuck in place.

Then looking at the stencils I'd used I thought

 of other ways of using everything previously 

prepared for the card. 

I cut some large white card tags and 

came up with the following:

This had the addition of a couple of 

self adhesive gems.

This one had Ranger Perfect Pearls brushed

 onto the stars and I used another die from

 the same set.

The holly border was trimmed using the 

corners rather than the long sides.

And finally on this one I applied the 

grunge paste through the other stencil

 creating a completely different effect.

I could have done many more variations 

and all of these could easily be adapted 

for cards.

So for just under £25 for the 2 stencils, 

the die set and the mini stamp I could

 make all of this years christmas cards and 

tags without getting much more out on 

my bench ---- that's got to be good value!

I have now decided to make several 

batches of the large tags in different 

colours, place 4 different ones in a cellophane 

bag and give them to my Mum's care home 

to sell at their Christmas Fete."

Items Used 

Imagination Crafts Stencil

Tim Holtz stencil collection

Find-It Media Dies

PA Grunge Paste

Jofy Mini stamps

Ranger Liquid Pearls

Ranger Perfect Pearls

Distress Inks

Distress Stains

PA Infusions

Self Adhesive Gems

Glitter

You have certainly started

us off on the right track

Jane.  Thank you for a

lovely idea too - those sets

should sell very well at

the Christmas Fete

'Till Tomorrow

Mickie xx

Holiday Album

Holiday Album

Hi There!

The time has come to get those

photos off the digital devices

and into something we can all

pass round and at the same

time show off our creativity!

Angela Radford is starting us

off with her altered book:

" Hi all Angela here to show you how I've 

started my new holiday album.

 I found this old book amongst my collection 

and decided it was just the thing.

This is one lovely old book.

I started by removing some of the pages 

and then glueing some together to 

strengthen them ready for use. 

This type of book has stitched pages 

which means it will not fall apart when 

the pages are removed

You may wish to cut away more or less pages

 depending on how dimensional 

your art work will be.

Now we can start to journal.

 I began with some Tim Holtz stencils 

and Grunge paste.

 I love this one as it reminds me of the sea. 

More stencilling.

At this stage I started to add some of my

 found and collected ephemera.

Then painted over this with Gesso.

Started adding colour using Distress Oxide reinkers. 

Just three drops at the top left.....

Spray with water and move the book around 

so that the inks spreads.

Everything looks a bit messy at this stage

 but trust me it gets better!

At this stage I replaced the stencils to add 

more colour using the Distress Inks.

Here I've added some text stamping and dots.

Outline smudge and blend around those

 images you want to stand out

 with a black alcohol pen.

And complete the pages by adding more images.

 My focal image was a beer mat that I found

 and I liked it so much just had to include it 

as it reminded me of our days by the sea. 

I hope to maybe show you some more pages 

in the future but that's all for now. 

Happy crafting, Angela xXx

Materials used:

Tim Holtz Stencils

Grunge paste

Distress Oxide Reinkers

Distress Ink Pad

Versafine Ink Pad

Thank you Angela, I love the book

so far.........  Looking forward to 

more pages!

I love to use one thing to 

make another don't you?

As for ring pulls - I predict

these may well become a

crafting must have, so get

collecting Everyone!  

I find the ones you see in

the road are very good as

they get flattened by the

cards running over them

and don't add so much

bulk to your project......

or you could take a hammer

to the one you've just pulled 

off that can of fizz........!!

'Til 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

Vintage Chic

Vintage Chic

Hi Everyone!

How're you doing?  If you

are in the UK I'm sure you

will be looking forward to

the Bank Holiday...

Hope you've something nice

planned and the weather will

be good .........  Fingers crossed

for that .........

Claire Jackson is with us today 

to share a beautiful card that

could be sent to anyone for any

reason:

"Cut a square of white card 41/8 x 41/8 inches. 

Stamp the main bird vignette image and 

emboss in black detail embossing powder

Tape down the harlequin stencil onto one half 

of the card blank and mask off the other half 

to prevent any stray specks of Brusho getting on it.

Sprinkle Ost. Blue Brusho over the stencil and

 spritz the card and stencil with water. 

Blot with a paper towel to remove any excess 

water and remove the stencil. 

Dry thoroughly with a heat tool.

Tape the stencil back in place. 

Use the triangular stamp in the set 

without a mount, tapping it on the 

ink pad and pressing randomly 

over the stencil.

Sprinkle ost. blue Brusho around the edge 

of the embossed image and spritz 

with water. 

Blot with a paper towel to control

 how much the crystals spread.

Sprinkle ost. blue onto a craft mat and mix with 

a wet paint brush, paint over the bird before 

diluting down to paint the bird seed box. 

Repeat with violet and colour the flower and leaves.

Use the triangular stamp unmounted again 

to add swirls around the edge of the main image

Add shaded lilac Distress Ink to darken 

the edges and highlights with a gel pen. 

Mount onto black card before securing to 

the centre of the card blank"

Materials:

Blue Fern Studios clear stamps: bird vignettes

Brilliant white super smooth stamping card

Versafine: onyx black

Detail embossing powder: black

Square card blank

Tim Holts Layering Stencil: harlequin

Brusho: ost.blue, violet

Distress Ink: shaded lilac

Thank you Claire. That is such

a versatile card

What do you think Everyone?  Do you

agree it is good to have a few cards

made up ready for any occasion?

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx