Happy Birthday

The challenge at Just US Girls this time is to make your own stencil. I didn't actually use dies, as I often do, but used my cutting machine instead. I didn't do a brilliant job and and I've since ordered a new blade, but there was enough which cut properly for my purposes. I used my home made embossing paste and twinkled it with Glamour Dust. This is a link to a video which shows how I made the paste.

https://youtu.be/gfIae0VBFF8

The flowers are by Alexandra Renke and I shaped the bells with an embossing tool and added a little foam tape behind them to keep the shape.

 

A New Stencil

The challenge over at CAS Stencil is to use a new Stencil!

Well this one couldn't be much newer as I only made it this morning and I haven't previously used the die to make a stencil either...in fact I think it's the first time the die has been used.

It's from Memory Box  and I cut the stencil from a piece of vellum. I wanted to use embossing paste but my homemade pot had dried up a little too much and although I tried to reconstitute it, it wasn't playing ball. I managed to dig out an old pot of Poppy Stencil embossing paste, but that too was on its last legs, but it just about coped.  I sprinkled on some WOW embossing powder and heat set it. The joy of using vellum stencils for embossing paste means that there is no clean up afterwards... I just toss the lot into the bin. The palette knife is the only thing that needs a wipe. The foliage die is by Alexandra Renke, which I stacked, adding a deep green bottom layer which I offset slightly. I simply added a few tiny pearls to the berry sections of the die cut.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

Job Done!

The design actually used the sketch from Case this sketch but inverted!

A couple of Christmas Cards

Here are another couple of cards for my Christmas supply, each for a different Christmas Challenge.

The first one is home-made, white embossing paste applied through part of a Sweet Poppy Stencil. I added WOW Metallic Embossing glitter and heat set it. This paste spreads really easily, I just hope that I can recreate it when this lot has been used. The sentiment is from Tim Holtz.

It's for the Glitter Challenge at CAS Christmas

 

This next one is for the challenge at Christmas Kickstart

"Dachshund through the snow"

Naturally they would love to see a pooch!

  

Well I have a dog and there is snow, so hopefully it will fit the bill!

.

The tree line die was a freebie from a mag and the dog  is a die from an All Occasion Dies set. The embossed snow is from an embossing folder from Sheena Douglass but sadly is not available at the moment.

Noel

Here is another contribution for the CAS Christmas Challenge, which this time is to use Glitter.

I made some embossing paste, but I think that the recipe could do with a little more glue in it than I used this time... the Gitter didn't adhere to it as much as it would have done to a commercially produced embossing paste. I guess I could just put some more glue in and see what happens. However, I don't mind the result.... in fact I was just pleased that the embossing paste worked out at all as it was the first time that I had tried making it!

I used a Sweet Poppy Stencil for the tree and a Sizzix die for the sentiment! As that is popped on dimensional pads like the tree I layered it to make it a little more robust.

Merry Little Christmas - Anything Goes

Just Us Girls - Circles

Bright butterflies

I have been playing around with all sorts of messy things today trying to come up with a design for a couple of challenges.

CAS Watercolour - Colourful Butterflies

And the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch

I saw a video on YouTube where a piece of card was daubed with Distress inks, spritzed with water and then embossing paste added through a stencil. I did this and added a dusting of Gold Glamour Dust over it, but the butterfly I had used was huge and the whole thing looked gaudy. I decided to use what I had made in a rather different way than planned and cut out a couple of small butterflies from this huge butterfly using Sizzix dies, adding gold bodies and feelers. I think they look quite cute  and fitted well with the CAse this Sketch sketch! The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

I was running out of embossing paste and so decided to try my hand at making some. It worked reasonably well but was a matt finish so I shall have to work out what to do to add a little shine or lustre.
Dies R US Bright Colours

Brusho Butterfly

The CAS Watercolour challenge is to create a colourful butterfly.

 

To make this card I used a Sweet Poppy stencil with some Pearlescent White embossing paste. Once I had lifted the stencil, I tapped a few grains of Brusho colours over this in Turquoise, White, Ultra Marine and Cobalt Blue. After waiting for a few moment for the colours to mix the with paste, I then spritzed with water. Over this a sprinkled a little Gold Glamour Dust and left it to dry.

The sentiment is from an old Magenta stamp simply embossed in Gold and cut with a tiny stitched rectangle die. I had to extend this by just a couple of stitches in order to fit around the image completely.

I'm really fond of butterflies for cards so I may be trying another card very soon!

Christmas Sparkle

The challenge at Happy Little Stampers Christmas as ever is Anything Goes and this time with the option of adding Sparkle!

For this card I began with a metal stencil from Sweet Poppy and after taping it to my piece of card, I applied some Pearlescent White Embossing paste, also from Sweet Poppy.

After removing the stencil I sprinkled over some Glamour Dust Gold powder and allowed it to dry. I did toy with the idea of adding a sentiment but in the end opted to leave it as is. It is really twinkly and lots of individual flakes catch the light at different angles.

It does seem odd making Christmas cards at all times of the year, but when the festive season comes it's so good to have a ready supply of cards to send to friends and family. I can thoroughly recommend making Christmas cards ahead of time and Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge is a great place to display your creations.... so do join us!

ABC Christmas 

N - No peeking

and

 O - Ornament

Texture Paste

A little time ago I dug out some texture paste to use for one of the challenges at CAS Mix Up and since then I have wondered why it remained in the drawer for so long untouched!

Here I used some Pearlescent White Embossing Paste by Sweet Poppy, through a Craft Workshop stencil. I sprinkled a few shades of Brushos onto the stencil before removing it.

The stencil itself looked pretty good so I took many prints from it, by activating it further with a few spritzes of water. Now I have lots of backgrounds in hand! 

I cut the aperture with an MFT Peekaboo square and added a sentiment from Clearly Besotted. Sadly I don't recall the make of the bird die which I double layered for added dimension.

It's for the challenge  at Just Us Girls - Texture Paste

Here is a card made from one of the prints from the stencil.

After lifting the stencil from the card, I spritzed it with water, which activated some more of the Brusho powder, then placed it onto another piece of card, using a piece of paper towel over it to add pressure. I was really pleased with the watery, ombre look. Some die cuts flowers from Alexandra Renke and a simple sentiment from Hero Arts completed the card.

CAS Mix Up - Ombre

CAS Watercolour - Blue

Happy Birthday Handsome

 

Here is another contribution to the CAS Stencil Challenge.

This time I opted to use translucent embossing paste on dark card stock, with the addition of Gold Glamour Dust.

The stencil is from The Crafter's Workshop.
I thought that the image was a good choice for a chap, which is why I went with this sentiment which was a freebie from a magazine.
The twinkle on this image is really very pretty, but I'm afraid that my photographic expertise isn't sufficient to show it off to its full potential!

Our grandkids have arrived for the weekend so my crafting time is over for the moment!

Birthday Butterfly

The theme this month at CAS Stencil is to use Embossing Paste. These challenges are SO good for me as they make me use techniques sometimes forgotten, sometimes new and sometimes ones which need a little refining of my technique (to put it politely).  Actually some need a lot of practice!

The first pot of embossing paste I picked out of my stash ... I couldn't open... it was totally stuck, probably due to the fact that it wasn't cleaned up properly before closing the last time I used it!

Anyway I digress!

For this card I cut a stencil out of vellum from a Memory Box die, through which I applied some Sweet Poppy Pearl White Embossing Paste. It was quite pretty as it was but I thought that a tiny sprinkle of Gold Glamour Dust over it would make it even prettier, which I think it did!
Using vellum as a stencil is great as there is no clean up involved... I just throw it away when I'm done!

I cut a berry spray from vellum which I just popped onto the paste whilst it was still wet. The butterfly, from Cutplorations was cut from white card and the top layer glued and sprinkled with the same gold  Glamour Dust. I had though that it might look a little too fussy but I liked the effect as the gold twinkle is so delicate.

I treated the sentiment in the same way but thought it looked a little tacky, so I added another layer in plain white card over the top. A tiny bit of the gold peeks out which looks really nice IRL. 

Sadly I don't remember where the sentiment die came from!

CAS Stencil Challenge

This coming week we will be having 2 of our grandchildren staying with us as it is the beginning of the Easter holidays! By mid-week all three will be here! What fun!

Having fun!

Since attending the Happy  Little Stamper's Craft retreat last year, I have really become a Brusho convert!

This card is a bit of an experiment and I had fun doing it.

I began by applying some White Pearlescent Embossing Paste through a stencil and then having removed the stencil, tapped some Brusho colours onto the wet paste. It began to react a little but I fancied a little more impact so I spritzed it with water and blotted it a little.

The pearlescence shows through the colours and I rather like the effect!

The sentiment is from Paper Smooches, stamped in SU Pacific Point ink.

I'm submitting this card to two challenges

CAS Mix Up  (my additional  choice is die-cutting) and Just us Girls

         

Here is another using a similar technique, although this time I cleaned the stencil and put it back over the embossed images before adding the Brusho pigments. The pearlescence didn't show as much so I brushed a little Perfect Pearls over the butterflies and then decided to do a little spritzing as well.

The dry embossing is from a Cuttlebug folder.

Do you have a preference?

Happy Valentine's Day

Another day, another card!

Here is a simple Valentine incorporating a few challenges!

I used the sketch from CASe this Sketch...

plus the requirements of the challenge at CAS Mix Up

and the theme from Just Us Girls

The sentiment is from an old Magenta stamp and the larger of the two punched hearts was punched from some card which I had stencilled a mix of ink and embossing paste, adding a little twinkle for good measure.

 I used a Lil Inkers die for the sentiment, elongating it slightly to accommodate the length of the stamp.

Diamonds

The challenge this week at Less is More is entitled Diamonds. My first thought was of the sparkly things, but then I thought of the shape and that is what I went with here.

I cut the Sizzix aperture die from a corner of the front of the card and placed another piece of card inside to cover the holes. This was overlaid with another Sizzix flower die cut from grey pearlescent paper and a simple hello sentiment die cut from MFT.

This second one again employed a die from Memory Box, used to make a stencil  and covered with embossing paste then adding a sprinkling of Glamour Dust once the stencil was removed.

The butterfly was cut from a Soft Drinks can using a die from SSS and coloured with alcohol inks.

The sentiment is from WPlus9, again twinkled with Glamour Dust.

Use a stencil

Here is a card with a similar layout to the sketch from a couple of weeks ago at "Less is More". This time the challenge is to use a stencil. This super leaf stencil from Stamplorations was embossed with glossy black embossing paste and allowed to dry. After slicing it into two, the die-cuts from Memory Box were added plus a simple sentiment from Tattered Lace.

The joy of embossing a whole piece of card and then cutting it means that I have another piece to use on another creation! The leaves on this stencil are facing in both directions, so it doesn't matter which way up it is used.

Here I used a stencil from our sponsor Stamplorations and dusted some colour over it with a brush. When removed, I then stamped a few Stamploration butterflies in some of the gaps, then over stamped with the Stamploration sentiment stamp and added a Memory Box butterfly die-cut.

We have a new Designer at Less is More this week so do check it out... Esther has joined us so do pop over and give her a warm welcome!

A little purple

At Less is More this month we have a couple of fabulous sponsors... Dies to Die for and Stamplorations!

Shery at Stamplorations has been really generous in providing the DT with some yummy Stamplorations products. I have belonged to the Bi-monthly club for quite some time and so have accumulated quite a few stamps and stencils. Here I used a fab heart stencil, which I combined with embossing paste and and some Glamour Dust.

The purple card was made by smooshing some Distess Inks with Inka Gold Paste, which when dry I die cut with the butterfly from Memory Box and the sentiment from Craft Essentials Creative Dies.  The ivy die is a Signature Die from Joanna Sheen.

For this I used the faux bleach technique. I covered some card with distress inks using sponger daubers. Then I stamped with some Stamplorations stamps using just water, which reacts with the inks and removes some of the colour! The joy of this technique is that if you're not happy with the result, you can re-ink the card and then re-stamp with water.The butterfly is from Memory Box and the sentiment from Die'sire. I altered a Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle to fit the tab shape.

This week I have been on a tour with my choir in Derbyshire and Nottingham singing in churches in both venues.

Take it Make it

It's time for another Take it Make It challenge at the Craft Stamper Magazine Blog.This time the theme is to stamp or emboss in white!

Her I used a Dreamweaver Stencil and Pearlescent White Embossing Paste, which was then sprinkled liberally with Glamour Dust!

The dry embossing is from a  Couture Creations folder and the sentiment from Clearly Besotted.

Why not join in!

I'm off to sing carols with a group of friends in the Victorian Farm in Upper Hamble Country Park.  It's where the Wartime Farm was filmed. 

We've had this engagement for over 20 years and we always enjoy it...even though it's often VERY cold!

Holly, holly

This was a bit of an experiment. I began with a Penny Black Holly stencil which I used to add embossing paste to some designer paper. When it was dry I added another sprig of holly, die-cut in vellum using my Penny Black Holly die. The embossing paste matches the vellum really well, so it's difficult to tell which is which in this picture.

It was finished with some pearls for the berries and a little tag for the sentiment.

Penny Black at Allsorts - Anything Goes

Use a stencil

I drew and cut this stencil with my Silhouette. It's made from acetate and so can be used over and over again. I used Sweet Poppy Pearlescent White embossing paste, which gives a lovely sheen.

The butterfly is cut from a Memory Box pair of dies. The top layer cut from vellum and then coated with Wink of Stella in Black. Sadly the hints of gold don't show up in this picture. The sentiment is from Penny Black and it's finished off with a few pearls and black studs.

It's for Addicted to CAS's challenge  - Stencil

I am dedicating this card to my bloggy buddy June.
Have a wonderful birthday June

DIY Chevron Mask

This card was inspired by Day 3 of the online Stencilling course I enrolled in.

It called for a chevron mask, which I didn't have, so I went about making one for myself.

I used my Silhouette Portrait, to draw it and cut it from acetate so that it can be used over and over.

To begin with I spritzed a piece of card with a goldish shimmer and then when dry applied some embossing paste through my home-made mask. Whilst still wet I tapped a little gold Perfect pearls over it.

The leaves from Clearly Besotted were stamped onto vellum and embossed with WOW Sea foam white EP and die-cut.

The butterfly is from Memory Box and painted with a little white Perfect pearls powder mixed with water.The sentiment is from Paper Smooches embossed in gold and cut out with a slightly extended Framelit die. A few pearl and it was done. 

I quite like it but it took me quite a while to execute!
Silhouette Challenge - Anything Goes

CAS on Sunday - Lovey Dovey (as this is a Wedding/Engagement card)
Muse - The foliage, the central  focus element and the use of chevrons are in line with the Muse this week!