Joy

 Here's a card for the challenge at ABC Christmas where the letters this time are W for White and X for eXtra special.

The embossing folder is by Sizzix, treated with the Eclipse technique, using a die set by Poppy Stamps. The edges of the letters are twinkled with some Glamour Dust. The poinsettia is by Britannia dies with a few tiny gems added to the centre.

I seem to have been AWOL from my blog for quite a while, but I have been spending lots of time making videos. It would be great if you could check out my channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@Chrissieannie/videos

Here's a video of the eclipse technique.

Clean and Simple on Friday  - Greeting card

Cozy

I was looking though some blog challenges today and spotted that CASology had the cue word COZY

Actually I wouldn't spell it like that, as in the UK we tend to use an 's' instead of a 'z' for lots of words... but we all know what we mean!

The first stamp which came to mind with this word was this old one from Hero Arts. I have another with Santa's jacket and another with his boots...and I have always loved them. I coloured it with Copic markers and added some fun flock for the fur. I cut two additional squares and mounted them all on foam tape.  Job Done!

 

Thanks

I really love leaves and foliage of any kind really, so when I saw the embossing folder for this oak leaf on Amazon I ordered it immediately! I actually thought it was just a regular sized 3D embossing folder, but it turned out to be an Impresslit from Sizzix. It was much smaller than I had anticipated plus it contained the dies for the leaves too!

Having both the impression and the die made the folder really thick and was too thick to go through my Spellbinders Platinum 6 using any of the normal plates, so I set about finding a solution. 

This video also shows how I coloured the leaves, giving them shimmer, but using regular alcohol inks.

The challenge at Addicted to CAS is Autumn, so this card seems ideal for that challenge.

Addicted to Stamps and More

I would be delighted if anyone watching my video could also subscribe to my channel as this makes it pop up to more crafters so I understand!

Thanks so much!

 

Gnoel

Today, I spotted that the challenge over at ABC Christmas was U for Unusual Christmas colours.

Just Us Girls has a CAS challenge this week which is just up my street!

Here is a gnome by Simon Says Stamp and I used non-traditional colours…. Lime green and deep teal. I think that die-cutting is a good way of using up the backing papers that I no longer use as layers. The noel is by Clearly Besotted and the G from Papertrey ink. The snow background embossing is by Sheena Douglass but sadly is no longer available. 

His beard has been gently shaded with alcohol markers.

If GNOME can be spelled with a G, why not GNOEL?

 

Happy Birthday

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to have a card selected as the winner over on the Male Room Challenge, following which I was invited to be a Guest Designer for one of their challenges and this is it!

Needless to say that this theme is just up my street!

My card was made following our recent holiday in Antigua, where we stayed in a super little cottage in Cocobay, with Adirondack chairs on the deck overlooking our pool and the sea. We spent many happy hours on those chairs, reading, enjoying the the weather and the view. As soon as I got home I searched to see if I could find a die of an Adirondack chair and found this one from Impression Obsession. It is triple stacked, adhered over a patch of  'sand'  from a stamp from Stamplorations and embossed with some old Distress Embossing powder, which melts to a rough, matt finish.  I don't believe that it is still produced.

The seagull is by Memory Box and the sea elements from Charlie and Paulchen.

I hope that we can return to Antigua before too long, the people are so welcoming, we loved it!

 

 

 

Noel

Today I spotted this challenge at AAA Cards 

and remembered a little die set from Charlie and Paulchen so I thought I would have a go. 

I selected the centre rectangle for my image which I coloured with a variety of marker pens. I think he's such  cute chap!

I made this video on how I did the colouring!

I made a slight faux pas with adding the image to my card and stuck him on the back of the card, but a simple bit of cutting had made it a panel to be mounted onto the front of a new card base!

 

A little bird...

I was playing around with my embossing folders and loved the results of inking this Nellie Snellen 3D embossing folder with  SU River Rock ink.

I mad this video to illustrate the process.

The tiny birds, from Charlie and Paulchen are popped up onto foam tape to add a little definition.

The sentiment was computer generated in Are you freakin serious font.

The code word this week at Addicted to CAS is Birds so this is for that challenge!

 

Hello

There's a new challenge out over at CAS Mix Up

This time it's to use Gesso together with a stencil

Hilary, one of the designers, is hosting this challenge and here is her message.

Hilary's Message

Gesso is primarily a surface primer that gives a uniform surface and is often used in mixed media projects, but in reality it can be much more than that. This month we would love to see you use gesso on your card along with your stencils. I have included some video links below to help inspire you.

Video Tutorials:

Creative Ways to Use Gesso by Tiffany Sorlario (7:04)

Distress Oxide Gesso Resist with a Twist by Gerry van der Velden (11:35)

Gesso Resist by Kim Schofield (6:11)

Gesso Resist Background by Eileen Godwin (31:02)

Lavinia Stamps and A Gesso Resist by Eileen Godwin (first 12 minutes)

Stencil and Gesso Technique by Club Scrap (6:02) 

I have to admit that I'm a little in the dark as to the use of Gesso. I bought some many moons ago, meaning to get to grips with its use, but so far haven't really done so. When searching for the Gesso I found a pot of Micro Beads in the same drawer. They may well be banned now as I'm not really sure that they are environmentally friendly, but I just used some of them for this card. I cut a stencil from Mylar using my Silhouette Portrait cutting machine and applied some Gesso through it, sprinkling on some micro beads whilst it was still wet. In the pot they looked just translucent, but once on the gesso took on a silvery look. I don't suppose that this is a recognised technique, but I thought it looked ok!

The Gummiapan butterfly was cut from a piece of card on which I had used this tissue paper technique.

The sentiment is by Poppy Stamps, with a little silver gilding wax added to match the butterfly.

Do join in the fun if you have some gesso, if you don't there are recipes that you can use to make some for yourself. I'm going to try out some and I'll report back!

So have fun, have a go and come on over to CAS Mix Up for this fun challenge!

 

Double Stamped Vellum

Some of you may know that some time ago I made a video using a new technique, whereby the front of a piece of vellum was embossed with white embossing powder, then the paper turned over and stamped on the back using the same stamp, but in a coloured ink.  The effect is really pretty especially if the image has spaces where the stamping on the reverse can show through. here I used a rose leaves stamp by Impression Obsession. The thank you is by Memory Box and I used some of the vellum for the shadow part of the die cut, adding a white payer beneath it to allow the stamping to show through, This is popped up onto foam tape. I think that the overall effect is really delicate.

The folks at Split Coast Stampers asked me to do a tutorial for them and you can find that here

 Double stamped Vellum

This is a second video which I made using the technique.

Pine Trees

The challenge at CAS Christmas 

This month it's PINE!

I'm not really sure where the die for the trees came from but it's only about 1in across!

The background is a print from a Gelli plate background. I use dies from Presscut for the squares and the circle aperture. The pine tree die is just a frame die,  so I cut the circle aperture in the square just a tad smaller so I could attach it.

I think I must get out my Gelli plate again, this background has been sculling away in a drawer for a while!

Hello

It's time for another challenge at CAS Mix Up, which this time is to include Emboss Resist!

Hosts Message

Emboss Resist is an old technique using different Heat Embossing techniques.

I highly recommend you watch one or more of the videos that have been 

provided by our design team.  I guarantee that you will be inspired to play along!

We can't wait to see your Clean and Simple Mixed Media cards:-)

Video Tutorials:

2 Ways to do Emboss Resist by Kristina Werner (10:52)

Emboss Resist with Stencils by Lydia (6:01)

Emboss Resist WITHOUT Embossing by Natasha Foote (5:25)

Black Embossed Resist by Jennifer McGuire (9:08)

Heat Emboss Resist with Watercolour Wash by Debby Hughes (5:11)

Faux Batik Cards by Channin Pelletier (7:13)

Welcome to our wonderful Guest Designer

 Brenda (Inkspired to Stamp)

I thought that this small Stamplorations bubble wrap stamp looked rather like honeycomb, so I stamped in Versamark, embossed with clear embossing powder and inked with a few shades of Distress Oxide Inks, applied with blending brushes. I'm not sure of the origin of the bee die cut, but it was coloured with marker pens and then glazed with Nuvo Crystal Glaze. The hello is from a long string die, but I chopped off the ends.

 

Happy Birthday

A card using dies from Gummiapan (net) and Charlie and Paulchen. The dies were cut from pieces of digitally printed card with images from pngwing. The pink was flowers and the green was a leafy background. I think it works quite well, giving slight variations of colour.  Sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

Addicted to CAS - Nautical

 

Happy Birthday

When I saw the challenge at the Male Room, I realised that I had posted the perfect card for it the previous day, so I went about making another in a similar vein. 

My previous card has a knot on it and so I thought I would do another with a similar knot, but not exactly the same. This took me back to my Guiding days and this knot is called a sheet bend.

Here's how to do it!

The sentiment is by Gummiapan and the posts from Memory Box, the anchor was a freebie from a magazine. The source for the seagull escapes me, but that may be Memory Box too!

The only source of colour is the seagull's beak and legs!

We're off to our grandson's Speech Day today on his last day of school for the academic year. There is a to be a picnic in the grounds so it should all be great fun!

 

Ahoy!

Recently I was fortunate enough to win a challenge at CASology and was subsequently invited to be a Guest Designer and now is the time for that to happen!

The challenge is WINDY

My very first thought was of a stamp that I have of a boy with a kite, but despite taking it off the wood block, I still couldn't get a clear image of every part of the stamp, so out came this old SU stamp... also on a block, but it worked rather better. I also found the little quote  stamp in a set I had with no name printed on the carrier sheet (I hate that). I remember that I bought it on one trip to Ally Pally. 

I had a fancy for doing one of these flat knots as an embellishment, I always think they look rather nautical and they also lie pretty flat for mailing. I think I may have to try to do a video to show how they are done.  

Here is the video

The twine I selected to use was somewhat off white and looked dreadful against white cardstock, so I opted for this ivory hopsack textured card from Papermill Direct.

My son loves sailing... I have used this image a few times for cards for him!

 

Thanks

The theme this month at CAS Mix Up is Things with Wings and is a watercolour challenge.

This means that some form of water colouring should be present.

For my card I chose a favourite old Memory Box die called Chloe and used the backing die to make a stencil from Mylar. I then stamped the script background stamp through the stencil and embossed in white embossing powder. After heat setting I placed the stencil back over the stamping and inked with three shades of Distress Oxide inks using blending brushes. (Salty Ocean, Salvaged Patina and  Tumbled Glass) I then just added a few droplets of water and blotted with a paper towel. I adhered the matching filigree die cut over the inking and added a few tiny pearls.

It's a simple look but It's a little involved to achieve but I'll probably be quicker next time!

Do join in the fun with some water coloured wings over at CAS Mix Up!

 

Congrats

 

Today's card was made with a couple of challenges in mind.

Addicted to CAS

and AAA Cards

I used an old Cuttlebug folder for the embossed dots, and a Memory Box butterfly, cut from some Nuvo Shimmer background. The stacked sentiment was cut from part of an Altenew frame die-cut.

We had some fun last night with a 'Come and Sing' performance of HMS Pinafore. G&S is not something usually tackled by my choir, but this was great fun. My husband took the part of Captain Corcoran and I was little Buttercup! All that followed by a meal with a bunch of friends made the perfect day!

Botanicals

Fairly recently I discovered a craft company from Sweden, called Gummiapan. They produce the most delightful images for stamps and dies and are really reasonably priced, with excellent customer service. The vase and flowers for this card came from that source. I coloured them with markers and added a little dimension to the vase using an embossing stylus amd mounted it on foam tape. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted and I stamped a scrap of card with the stripy stamp and cut a small piece for the coaster.

The challenge at CASology is Botanicals so this is for that!

Inkspirational

 

On your Special Day

CAS Mix Up has been taking a break for a while but we are back again with a new fun challenge, which this time is to use pastes or gels.

Some time ago I discovered how to make embossing paste after being faced with a solid lump of the stuff when I wanted to make a card. Being a creature of impulse I wanted to do it straight away, so after tossing the dried up pot of the stuff, I made my own. Here is a video I made, demonstrating how I made it.

For this card I used two stencils, the Paisley type one, and a circle one over the top. I spread the embossing paste through it using a palette knife and sprinkled it with Gold Glamour Dust when still wet.

The twiggy die cut is stacked a few times to add dimension, the heat embossed sentiment is by Personal Impressions.

 

Thank you

A  craft company that I discovered only fairly recently, produced some delightful products and I'm particularly drawn to their dies. The have lots and lots of very small elements, which are perfect for my  clean and simple cards as I can include quite a lot of detail and still have lots of whitespace. These grape hyacinths are from them and the vase is the base of a coffee cup die. The company is called Gummiapan and they are located in Sweden. I just placed another order and  today received an email telling me that I had received a partial refund from the company. I thought perhaps that an item wasn't available and so they and refunded the cost of it. However I couldn't have been more wrong.  After enquiring about the reason for the refund, they informed me that the package was lighter than anticipated and so sent a refund for some of the postage costs. Everything I had ordered would be arriving in due course (and there is always a little surprise gift in the package).  How many companies would bother to do that? I could probably count them on the fingers of one hand. 

Addicted to CAS

The stripes are from a stamp, inked with Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide Ink. The flowers were coloured with SU markers!

 

Merry Christmas

Recently I was fortunate enough to win a challenge at 52 Christmas Card throwdown, which came together with the invitation to be a Guest Designer for them. So here I am with a card for their colour challenge which this time is 

The red in my version is minimal to say the least. but where would \Rudolph be without his red nose! The deer die is by Gummiapan, I don't recall the origin of the tress, but they were coloured with Distress Oxide Inks.

I made a video on how I colour die-cuts here. https://youtu.be/_fv0SL4-2B4

The sentiment is a foil plate from Spellbinders... I couldn't resist playing with my new toy... a Glimmer Hot Foil machine!

 

Get well soon

I do enjoy working from a good sketch and this one by Cecile is from Freshly Made Sketches.

I stamped the background using a stamp from Stamplorations, and used less ink and the secondary stamping to make the colours lighter nearer to the top. I still thought that the colours were a littl too intense so I tore a piece of vellum and added it over the top of the stamping.

The gently coloured die cuts are by Gummiapan and the sentiment by Poppy Stamps.

Daisies in a vase for a get well card always reminds me of You've Got Mail... one of my all time favourite films!

CASology

 

Thanks

I have been having fun recently with my Gelli plate and some Nuvo Shimmer powders. This butterfly emerged from one of the prints. The die is by Sizzix and has tiny little overlay pieces which add considerable interest to the effect. The large fern die is by Charlie and Paulchen and the sentiment by Stamplotations,  both of which are stacked three times.

The challenge at Fusion called for a blue butterfly... always makes me think of my friend Jen,  a consummate designer who joined me as  at Less is More many years ago, whose blog is called the Tiny Blue Butterfly!

Have yourself a fabulous birthday

A short while ago I drew a sketch for the Facebook CAS Card Making Group, (where I am a moderator) using this card as the model. It is so similar to the sketch at Just add Ink, that as I haven't previously blogged this card, I thought I would do it now!

This is the sketch from Just Add Ink.

I was using up scraps to make this card... even the die-cut flowers are from very old Cuttlebug dies. There's something about kraft or this neutral shade and white which I find particularly pleasing. The ring is mounted on foam tape to add a little dimension.

The sentiment is by Personal Impressions.