BBQ Man

This is the card I made for my husband's birthday as he really fancies himself as a bit of a BBQ expert!

We have several barbies in our garden, one which looks pretty much like this one, plus a smoker, a gas barbie and a chiminea. He began his association with them when we lived in the USA many years ago and his enthusiasm hasn't waned in the interim.

For this card I used a stamp from Hobbycraft, (I bought a whole set just for this stamp!) I coloured it with watercolour pencils and a water brush, but I wanted to get the sheen of the real barbie and wondered how to achieve it. What I came up with in the end was to put a little Versamark reinker onto a craft mat and used it to paint over the image using a fine brush, I simply sprinkled over some clear embossing powder and heated it. Bingo... a shiny BBQ!

The sentiment is from Happy Little Stampers!

The challenge  for the Happy Little Stampers CAS  this time is Birthday!

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

Real Quickie

This is a really quick tip for you, whilst I'm trying to get the better of You Tube technology!

You probably know this already, but for those who haven't seen it before, it's a really useful tip which I discovered quite some time ago, but use ALL the time.

I hope you find it useful!
For larger dies, I either add tape in several strips in order to cover the required area, or use  double sided adhesive in sheet form. I can buy that at The Range stores.

Cuttlebug Embossing Tip... NO Lines!

Have you ever tried to emboss a small folder in the Cuttlebug, only to find that the pressure of the plates on the edges of the folder leaves embossed lines on the card?
Well here's a little trick I discovered which avoids that.
Instead of using the sandwich of base A plate, embossing folder plus card and 2 B plates, I use

•  the base A  plate,
•  then the folder with the card inside,
•  a tan embossing mat 
•  C plate.

You get a really crisp emboss and NO LINES!

Another cunning plan!

Still playing with new toys!

This is another image/die from the Hero Arts / Sizzix combo, which I recently purchased. This has been inked in the same way as the apples in my last post, using the same Shabby Shutters and Forest Moss Distress inks.This is just a simple tree with no design or texture on it so would is perfect for treatment such as the kissing technique... I must try that next.

The sentiment is from SU's Basic Phrases. I cut pieces of acetate from crafty packaging into rectangles, and stamped them with each of the stamps. I keep these in the box with the stamps to use with my Lego positioner. Each stamp is a separate word which obviously needs to be aligned with another, to make each sentiment. It saves me having to stamp a piece of acetate each time I use the stamps.
I used the sketch from Clean and Simple!

Look what I did!

Following on from the card I made yesterday using the 'kissing technique', I was wondering what other stamps I had which I could utilise for this method of stamping. With a little lateral thought I remembered a piece of scrap rubber and attached EZ mount that I had saved from my latest set of stamps from Stampin' Up. My daughter had bought me the Broadsheet alphabet set for Christmas and there was quite a lot of wastage after I had popped the stamps out of the sheet. Being a squirrel I decided to save it. Then I thought of my Sizzix Bigz tag die and so I cut out the smallest tag from the wastage.

So I inked up the tag in lilac, inked a SU floral spray stamp in black, stamped the tag firstly onto the floral stamp and then onto the card.
I think this one will be quite useful!
Has it given you food for thought?
I hope so!

Kissing Technique

On Split Coast Stampers there is a CAS challenge using the 'kissing technique'. Although I had heard of this, I'd never actually tried it so I thought I'd have a go.
The little Hero Arts  heart stamp is perfectly plain and so ideal for this kind of stamping. The stamp which 'kissed' it was a Stampabilities music manuscript stamp.
I tried a variety of types and colours of ink on the manuscript stamp to tie in with the pink Papermania ink I'd chosen for the heart. Finally I decided on SU Ruby Red.
So the heart was inked with the pink ink, the manuscript stamp was inked with the red ink and I then stamped the heart first on the manuscript stamp and then on the card. Hey Presto!
Because the image is an impression of an impression it turns out backwards, but as the music is handwritten it doesn't look too wrong!
The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Whimsical Words.
Since taking the picture I have stuck the right hand side of the border down properly!
Sweet Stampin' - Try something different

Cracked Glass - Guest Designer No Time to Stamp

I was delighted to have been asked by Sharon, at No Time to Stamp, to be a Guest Designer for two weeks. It is enormously flattering to be invited to a position such as this and of course I was delighted to accept.

The challenge this week is entitled Cracked Glass and is a technique that I have only tried about once before. I really could have done with some UTEE, but unfortunately had to cope with fine detail embossing powder and so had to do extra layers.

It's a fairly straightforward process.

1. Stamp and colour your image
2. Ink all over with Versamark ink and sprinkle liberally with Clear Embossing powder, shaking off the excess (UTEE is best)
3. Heat with a heat gun until all the powder has melted
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 several more times (2 or 3 more times) until there is a fairly thick layer over the image
5. Put the card into the freezer for about 20 minutes
6. Take out and bend the stiff card to crack the glaze
7. The cracks can be left as they are or distressed with ink or chalk

Once more I can't remember the source of this image. If I come across this information I'll amend the post.

It's coloured with Copics and embellished with Quickcutz flourishes. I made the sentiment on the computer.

The backing paper is a free download from the Canon Scrapbook site and I coloured the ribbon with one of the Copic pens which I used for the flowers, as I didn't have an appropriate colour in my stash.

It all looks rather serene doesn't it!

Do look to the Design Team for their inspirational cards, you can find them through the following links, and Sharon's through the link above. We'd love to see your creations, so go and have some fun!

Deb Neerman: Paper, Ink, Scissors & Stamps

Barbara Anders: Paper Pursuits

Jenny Gropp: One Krafty Kat

Janine Orchard: 2bKrafty

AJ Otto: The Willow Garden

Deb Saaranen: Dream In Color

Barb Schram: Explore. Dream. Discover

Sadly, Barb is feeling unwell this week and so is sitting out this challenge.

Nestabilities Tip

Have you ever wanted to cut out a sentiment or image but didn't have a die of quite the right dimensions?

Well, I alter die-cuts from time to time and this card was a case in point. The word 'friendship' was too long and thin for any of my dies, so this is how I made a die cut to fit.

• I printed the sentiment onto a piece of card

• Then I placed a Nestie rectangle over the word so that the top border was the size I wanted. I put a piece of scrap card under the part of the die which extended beyond the bottom of the sentiment card, to prevent it from digging into the cutting plate.

• I then moved the piece I had already cut out further up in the die so that the lower border matched the one at the top. Once more I did the cutting over scrap card to prevent the die embedding itself in the cutting plate.

• Here is the finished die cut, which looks as though it has been cut in one operation.

• Should you have no die suitable for your image or sentiment, you can always cut it out with your trimmer and then using a Nestie and an embossing tool, simply use it as a stencil and emboss the edges a little at a time, moving the card around to fit into each corner in turn.

I hope this might be of interest to some of you!

These images are from a Stampin' Up Set and the sentiment from a Hero Arts boxed set.

Stamp Insanity - It happens in threes

365 Cards Day 172 ABC's and 123's

This is a simple card for my granddaughter's little friend, who is approaching her first birthday.
The teddies are Penny Black and I have made my own alpha stickers for 365 Cards challenge today, by putting double sided tape on the back of my card before I zapped it through my Cuttlebug, using the Babyface Alphabet. Once cut, I just had to peel off the backing and adhere the letters in position.
I have been playing around with punches too. The flower was a plain one also from a Cuttlebug die, but I gussied up the tips of the petals by popping them into a scalloped corner punch. I removed the corner guides from my punch and used it upside down so that I could see what I was punching. The punchies in this picture show the before and after flowers. I think it adds a little variety.
I have been out in the garden today, poor thing had been sadly neglected of late, I think I'm going to have to get a man to come and do a bit of maintenance, it's all got rather overgrown! It's surprising what a drop of sunshine inspires one to do!