Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to those of you that celebrate. 

Thanks for all your inspiration and visits in 2015!

Enjoy your time with family and friends.

'See you here' in the New Year,
Cheers, Shirley

Enjoy the Magic of the Season

Hello everyone I hope you are enjoying the festive season :)

I have a couple more Christmas cards in oranges and pinks to show.  Again these backgrounds were created on a large sheet which I spritzed Dylusions Inks and Metallic Glimmermist.   I also embossed the front of the white folded card with a snowflake folder.

Stamps:  Chocolate Baroque sets -  Harlequin Christmas and Gothic Fragments.  The sentiment is from Penny Black's Christmas Cheer set

You can see the Metallic Glimmermist on the close up below:

Seasons Greetings,
Shirley

Hello... with Water Effects and Tim Holtz Stencils

Hello everyone... Writing 'hello' makes me think of Adeles' fabulous new song :)

Another break from Christmas designs today.   This one features Tim Holtz stencils and Design by Ryn's water effects stamps.

The challenge this month at Fashionable Stamping Challenges is "Make Your Own Background" so I am joining in again with this design. 

The background started with Distress Inks (Festive Berries, Wilted Violet and Blueprint Sketch) using an acrylic plate and water.   I blended Wilted Violet DI over top using Tim's Latticework stencil.

The flowers were created with Tim's Wildflower stencil.   I used molding paste over the stencil and sprinkled holograph glitter over top while wet.  After it was dry I added ink with a Versamark pen, and embossed with white powder.  It has a lot of texture that's difficult to see in the photo.

I stamped Designs by Ryn's Trickling Water 2 (also available with the unmounted Trickling Water 2 set) and little droplets from the unmounted Textures Set with purple Memento Ink and added white highlights.  I also used the Letter Background stamp by Penny Black (that I've had for ages and still love) here and there in the background which again is hard to see in the photo.  And to finish it off I splattered paint and embossed little a little silver Frantage embossing enamel.

Hello is from Impression Obsession which was stamped on a little die cut tag.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Orange and Pink Christmas with Chocolate Baroque

Hello everyone I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

I'm honored that Lesley, owner of Chocolate Baroque, featured this group of card designs at their Shop Blog along with step by step instructions for each one.  

The challenge this month at Fashionable Stamping Challenges is "Make Your Own Background" so I am joining in with these designs.

As mentioned in other posts, I was focused on creating smaller, flat Christmas cards to reduce postage fees.  I created one large master board background in the non-traditional colours using Dylusions spray inks.  There is Glimmer mist on the backgrounds which created a challenge with photography but it gives such a lovely shimmery effect.

Stamps on above card:  Chocolate Baroque:  Harlequin Christmas and A Child is Born

Stamps on above card:  Chocolate Baroque:  Beautiful Baubles

Chocolate Baroque stamps on above card:   Beautiful Baubles and Warm Christmas Greetings

Chocolate Baroque stamps on above card:  Snowflake Flourish, Gothic Fragments and Bold Christmas Words. 

Chocolate Baroque stamps on above card:  Gothic Angels, Gothic Fragments and Bold Christmas Words


Below you can see the effect of the Glimmer mist over the background:

If you are interested in reading the step by step detail please visit Chocolate Baroque's Shop Blog here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Turquoise Tattered Poisettia

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well during this busy season.     We are enjoying milder weather than normal but I would like to see the sun a little more.   December is usually a dreary month but with the cold weather in January the sun comes back.

I have a Christmas design to show that was a lot of fun to create.

Background:  Dylusion spray inks and with stencilling and stamping using Chocolate Baroque snowflakes.

Stencils:  Tim Holtz Christmas Words THS030 (with Krystal Viva Gel) and Poinsettia THS049 with Distress Ink

Dies:  Sizzix (Tim Holtz) -Tattered Poinsettia 658261 and Holiday Greens 658759, Impression Obsession- Reindeer DIE228-G,  Memory Box- Winterberry Sprig 98732

I embossed the reindeer antlers and the branches with silver embossing power.  I painted the reindeer with Viva 3D stamp paint.  The Poinsettia was stamped with Design by Ryn - Sea Bubbles, coloured with Distress Ink and a coat of Distress crackle paint added.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

My Craft Studio

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend during this busy season.

I love it when other bloggers share photos of their craft rooms/space, it's so much fun to see where you get creative.  Finally I'm ready to share pictures of my space.   When we downsized and moved here over a year ago, my craft room was pink as previously it was a two year old girl's bedroom. 

This spring my dear husband painted it in two grey tones as it had wainscoting that couldn't be removed.  He finished the painting while I was away in the Netherlands visiting family and hanging out at the Art Specially Event.   Recently he finished building all the shelves I requested that hold a display of cards along with inks and other mediums that you can see in the photos below.

I took photos as I entered the room and turned around.  I didn't open up all the drawers or you would fall asleep looking at everything.  I like to be organized so I can find my stash and use it.  Some of the drawers are for non crafting things and I also do embroidery so there are drawers and space reserved for that hobby as well :)

Opening the door to my space

As I walk into the room.  I have empty spots on the walls waiting for artwork :)

I use a dresser that is a great height for die cutting and stamping.  The drawers and cupboards provide extra storage.

I keep more inks, stamping paper, my stash of bling, ribbon, etc in the plastic drawers.   You can see the shelf next to my craft desk that is handy to keep my spray inks and other mediums close.  My bin of stencils are close by as well.

My craft desk with Distress Inks close at hand.  The antique desk drawer is very deep which holds tools, pens etc. 

I  have an 'office' desk that is used as a craft space when I have a crafting buddy over :)  The blue bowl has water for our cat who likes to jump up to see what I'm doing and have a drink :)

Next to the desk is a closet, no longer used for clothing :)

The closet when closed

The closet open on LH side....lots of stamps are stored in these drawers along with other tools.   I keep embroidery stash in the middle section.

Closet open on RH side, more drawers with lots of sheets of Chocolate Baroque stamps :) 

Like all of us I make a mess when working, and this isn't as messy as it can be.  I store 12 x 12 card stock in the RH dresser cupboard.  My small dies are stored in magnetic folders in the LH shelf below the die cutting machine.  The larger die sets are in containers on the dresser shelf.   I keep more paints, markers, mixed media papers etc in the drawers.

And of course my craft desk gets messy when working

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour of my craft studio which is one of my 'happy places'.   I would love to see where you create !

Have a great week,
Shirley

Hummingbird with Blues & a Holiday Gift from Designs by Ryn!

Hello crafty people, I hope you are doing well during this busy month of December. 

I have a design in blue today, featuring another beautiful Hummingbird from Designs by Ryn.   I am not happy how this one photographed so I cropped this first photo.

 
The Hummingbird available on Designs by Ryn's Hummingbird 1 unmounted sheet was stamped onto a Gelli plate print hanging out in my stash and coloured a little with Tombow markers. 

I tried many times to get a proper photograph but will show you the entire design below.   The colours are not showing properly and the glimmer and sheen is making it look 'off'.   You will have to trust me that it's much better IRL.

The background is Dylusions Inks.   I used Ryn's Japanese Anemone stencil with Viva Kristal Gel and Inka gold rubbed over top.  The Crealie Flowers are painted with Viva 3D stamp paint (more glimmer). 

You can see the flowers better in the photo above.  Crealie Die:  Creative Flowers CLCF15.


Good news from Designs by Ryn... she is giving away a free Flowing Branches stencil as a holiday gift with every order placed in December.  No minimum order, no coupon codes required, just place an order for one or more of her fabulous stamps and/or stencils and she will include this holiday gift. :)  Happy dance !

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day
Shirley

Winter Wishes in Green and Yellow

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.  I've been away from blog land for a little while but back this morning with more Christmas cards:

I normally create 'one of a kind' cards but here is what I would call 'batch' card making, but with some changes.  I used a fantastic tree die set from Impression Obsession as the feature on these.

As you can see I varied the colours and lay-outs slightly:

The backgrounds were created on one master sheet using Dylusions spray inks.  I blended Distress Inks where I wanted to darken it a little.   I over stamped with a snowflake from Chocolate Baroque's A Child is Born.   Winter Wishes is from Impression Obsession as well at the Fir Tree Die  and Sm Snowflakes Die sets.  I added Distress Crackle paint and then glitter over the trees.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

A Damask Reindeer

Hello crafty people, I hope you are staying safe and doing well.  

I recently ordered another beautiful set of stamps from Chocolate Baroque - Damask Reindeer, it was on my 'wish list' for a long time.  I used the set to create another Christmas card that is flat for easier mailing.

I blended Distress Inks over the background with torn card stock.   Next I stamped with an image from Dusky Damask that compliments the beautiful pattern on her body to create the ground foliage and a snowflake from Damask Reindeer.   I coloured the magical Reindeer with TomBow markers & water, carefully cut her out and attached.  I added white embossing enamel (heated underneath) to create snow.

Thanks for stopping by and take care,
Shirley

Friendship gives Wings to the Heart

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great week.

I have a design today that features another gorgeous Hummingbird from Designs by Ryn and a couple of her amazing water effects stamps.

Background:  I blended Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks using an acrylic block and water.   I added Fozzilized Amber and Mowed Lawn DI with Design by Ryn's Japanese Anemone stencil.   I also used a small Magenta dotty and Ryn's Flower Lace stamps with Mowed Lawn but it's hard to see the lace.

Main images:  I used VersaFine, Olympia Green, for the main stamping.  I stamped the Hummingbird from  Hummingbird 1 unmounted sheet separately, coloured with Tombow markers, cut him out and attached.   I also stamped with Ryn's Hanging Droplet Set and Trickling Water 2 which are available mounted individually or in unmounted sets. 

The sentiment is from Chocolate Baroque's beautiful Pretty Poppy stamp set. 

TIP:  How to make Designs by Ryn's water effects stamps appear more 3D:

• Stamp the image with permanent ink
• Brush a little water over top of the droplet area
• Blot water off with a paper towel to remove some of the colour.  I used Distress Inks in the background which are water soluble and will lift up with water and paper towel.
• When dry add highlights with either a white Gelly Roll, Uni-ball or Acrylic pen.  On the card above I used a Molotow white acrylic paint pen than Ryn recommended at her Facebook Page.
• Sometimes I add a little colour back into the water droplets but I did not above

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Arianna Blooms

Hello everyone I hope you are doing well.

I have a card to show today in blues and purples and not for Christmas.    I love working with paper flowers using die cuts -  my collection of dies is growing.  My flower dies are mainly from Crealies and Heartfelt Creations.

The background is Dylusions inks, the stamping is Blueprint Distress Ink and then sprayed with Precious Metal Glimmermist. The flower were cut from a Gelli print from my stash and also white cardstock and then  coloured with Wilted Violet Distress Ink (love this new colour).  I used a stylus and mat to mold the flowers and attached small beads with Glossy Accents.

Stamp:  Chapel Road - Flower Words
Dies:  Heartfelt Creations:  Arianna Blooms (flowers) & Bella Rose (flourish)

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of the weekend,
Shirley

Green and Yellow Christmas

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I have a few more Christmas cards to show you.  Again I created a large sheet for the background, chopped it up and started stamping :)

The background stamping above includes a small Poinsettia by Magenta and Winter Berries by Penny Black.  Merry Christmas is from Chocolate Baroque.   I stamped on the Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia die cuts with Design by Ryn's Sea Bubbles to create some texture.  The 'greenery' is from a McGill punch -Designer Pine .

The background stamps above are from Designs by Ryn:  Snowflake Set and again the Sea Bubbles which I like to use for 'snow'.   I added ornament Die cuts by Memory Box that match the Sea Bubbles and is the reason why I 'had to have it'.   I used again the same sentiment by Chocolate Baroque.

Again the small Poinsettia by Magenta is in the background along with Holly by Impression Obsession.  Peace and Joy is from a Penny Black set.  The star die cuts are by Memory Box. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Playing with Acrylic Inks

Hello creative people I hope you are doing well.

I was playing with Acrylic inks on a tag and ended up adding one of Designs by Ryn's beautiful birds from her Hummingbird 2 unmounted set.

I added copper acrylic paint using Ryn's Maidenhair Fern stencil and white paint using a Memory Box dotty stencil over the background of acrylic inks.   The black circles were 'stamped' with a small empty bottle and black acrylic paint.

I coloured the Hummingbird with Tombow markers, cut him out and added white highlights with a pen.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Happy Halloween!
Shirley

Frosty Trees

Hello everyone I hope you are doing well.    It's very dark with heavy rain and winds today so it's nice to stay inside and play in my craftroom :)

I have another Christmas design to show today using beautiful stamps from Chocolate Baroque.  The matting and stamping is navy not black as the photo shows.

I sprayed Goosebumps over the background and let it dry.  Next I added Picked Raspberry and Coral Distress inks using an acrylic sheet and water. I stamped over the background with snowflakes from A Child is Born (I love these negative snowflakes and use them frequently).

I stamped the trees from Frosty Trees with cobalt Archival ink on a separate sheet.  I use mixed media paper when using water, ink and paint.    I added colour with the Distress inks again using water on my craft mat.   When dry I covered the trees with Glossy Accents and added white highlights.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Blue & White Christmas

Hello creative people, I hope you had a great week.

I have more Christmas designs to show you that are flat for easier mailing.  This group of cards were created from one large master background sheet created with Dylusions Inks and Glimmermist.

I won't go into details on each of these cards but you can see that I used different stamps on most of the backgrounds and embellished with white die cuts.  All dies are by Memory Box which I was determined to use as they have been sitting in their folders for a while. 

  

This last one isn't quite as blue, with more of the fuchsia ink showing :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend,

Shirley

Serena the Christmas Angel

Hello creative people, I hope you had a great weekend.

I could not resist ordering some of the new Chocolate Baroque Christmas stamps including the gorgeous Christmas Angel Serena.  The actual image has Christmas Roses at the LH bottom corner but I've changed it a little by adding the die cut Poinsettias over them.

I stamped Serena with Majestic Blue Versafine ink over a background that I created using Distress Inks (Wilted Violet and Peacock Feathers) with water on my craft mat.  Using a brush I added water to her face and neck and highlights and then blotted with a paper towel to remove the ink.   I coloured her with Prisma pencils and added white highlights with a pen.

I coloured the Spellbinder die cut Poinsettias with Distress Inks (Picked Rasberry & Wilted Violet).  I use a small finger dauber when adding ink to die cut flowers.  I molded them with a stylus on  the back on a foam mat.  I added beads to the centres with Glossy Accents.  The frame is also a Spellbinder die cut.

This is the actual stamp image:

Here is a closer look at the flowers, I used clear Wink of Stella to add glitter to them.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley