Monday, January 25, 2016

Floral Postcard

Hello Crafters, I hope you are doing well, January seems to be flying by. 

I've finally used a beautiful Crafty Individuals stamp that was sent to me a while ago as a thank you gift from the Craft Stamper magazine (when a card was published).  


The background started with Dylusions spray inks, spritzed water and blotted with a paper towel.  I over stamped using crackle, lettering and water droplets stamps.   The main image was stamped onto glossy cardstock and coloured a little with Tombow markers and highlighted with clear Wink of Stella (which you cannot see).

Stamps:  Crafty Individuals:   Floral Postcard CI-302, Designs by Ryn:   water droplets are from Textures unmounted set,  Impression Obsession:  CC069 Craquelure (crackle), Penny Black:   199L Lettered Background.

Dies:  Crealies Set of 3 No 3 (flowers, CL CS 23 (leaves) and Die-Namics Fancy Flourish small.

I coloured the die cuts with Distress Inks and molded the flowers using a stylus and foam mat by McGill (Paper Blossoms sets).

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Heartfelt Creations Flowers

Hello everyone, I hope you having a great weekend.

I have card to show that features paper flowers combined with an inky background. 


The inky background was created with Dylusions spray inks along with Tattered Angels Glimmermist.  After die cutting I added Frantage enamel and embossed the edges with gold.

The die cut flowers and foliage were embossed with gold using the co-ordinating stamps before die cutting.  After colouring the flowers and foliage by blending distress inks, I molded them with a stylus and foam mat.  I added micro beads to the centres with Glossy Accents.
 
I used a bumpy embossing folder on one of the layers, but it doesn't have a name or number on it and I don't have the packaging. 
  
Spellbinder Dies:  Romantic Rectangles S5-090, Decorative Labels Twenty-Eight S5-191, Labels Twenty-Eight S5-127 

Heartfelt Creations:  Arianna Blooms Stamp Set HCPC-3608 and Die - HCD748, Italianna Grapevines stamp HCPC-3696 and Die HCD1-772



Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Exquisite Edges in Purple and Blue

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.  Please see information below about some changes in Blogger.  I do not know if it affects anyone that follows my blog. 

First, I have a design to show today using beautiful and fairly new stamps by Chocolate Baroque.


The background was created with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and water on an acrylic sheet.  I stamped over with a flower from Fleurs Nouveau and also some stencilling with DI.   'Best Wishes' is from Mackintosh sentiments.

The Exquisite Edges were stamped with blue Versafine ink.  I messed up at the top and had to stamp again.  So it's not perfect but I like the 'distressed' result.  I coloured the bottom edge a little with Prisma pencils and added liquid pearls at the top.

Blogger News:  Here is some news which I copied from another Blog.  I have no idea if this affects any of my followers.

Here's the announcement they made on Blogger Buzz:

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

I'm pretty sure this does not affect anyone that follows by email but it might affect who can comment.  But  I am not sure as I'm certainly not an expert on the changes.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Friday, January 08, 2016

Tattered Flowers

Hello everyone I hope the New Year has started out well for you.

I've been hooked on dies lately ... oh dear another growing collection.  I also enjoy gardening so it makes sense that I'm drawn to creating paper flowers.  It's great fun shaping and arranging designs onto cards.

I've mainly used Tim Holtz products for this design along with a couple Chocolate Baroque stamps which are listed below.


The green background is mixed media paper that started with several of the green shades of Distress Inks and water, sprayed with a little turquoise Dylusions ink and sprinkled with Brushos.   It's hard to see it all in the photograph.

Next I die cut the holes into the background, brushed a little Gesso over them, then wiped some of it off.   I added gold enamel powder and melted with the heat gun.

I coloured the flower layers with Distress Inks and then wet, crushed and molded them.  I embossed the foliage and background edges with gold powder.

I used the new Tim Holtz splatter brush to add splats of white paint, it's a fantastic tool.  I added a little gold charm that was hanging about in my stash with Glossy Accents.

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Dies:  Holiday Greens 658759, Mixed Media 660220, Elegant Flourishes 656639, Tattered Florals 656640

Chocolate Baroque stampsTextured Fragments set (on background and flower centre) and Artistic Expressions


Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Friday, January 01, 2016

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, I hope you had a wonderful festive season. 

I have a design today using jewel tones.   I was playing with a background using Dylusions spray inks along with a bit of Brushos and decided it needed a Peacock to go with the colours.   Again the colours do not photograph as they look in 'real life' as it has sharper changes and more purple tones.   


I sprayed the background with Dazzling Diamond Glimmermist and added Viva Kristall-Gel to the background using a Memory Box circle stencil.  The shimmer & glitter doesn't show in the photo very well.



The Peacock from Chocolate Baroque's Peacock Parade Set was stamped with Cobalt Versafine Ink and then embossed with clear.  I coloured him with Tombow markers, cut him out and attached along with some dainty flourish die cuts.


The flower dies are by Crealies - CL CF 21 which I coloured with Distress Inks.

Happy 2016, I hope it's a very creative one for all of us !
Shirley