Moonlit Paradise

This is a lovely card that I made recently for a friend's daughter.  I love these stamps and the two-tone paints that I used, they give the work a bit of opulence.  I wanted to design something a bit special as it's for a milestone birthday.  I have used stamps by Sheena Douglass from her 'Laguna Bay' collection.  The paints are Pebeo Dyna paints, I also used Chipped Sapphire DI, and an Embossalicious embossing folder.  The base card is a white 8"x8" card which I edged with the DI.  The focal panel is a piece of navy card onto which I have stamped an Orchid corner image in onyx black Versafine ink and heat embossed with clear powder.  I painted the images in greens and blues.  On another piece  of navy card I stamped the humming bird and hibiscus flowers and heat embossed them.  I painted the images in different colours and added silver to all the images as a highlight.  I then fussy cut the humming bird and hibiscus flowers.  I embossed a piece of Centura pearl card in the folder through a machine.  I cut a large circle and added glitter to the raised cloud pattern, then edged it with the DI, to make a moon.  I then attached the moon to the centre of the focal panel and attached that to the base card.  I attached the bird and flowers to the card with dimensional glue.  I painted another piece of navy card with blue Dyna paint, then die cut the sentiment.  I die cut the name and numbers from white card and glittered them, then attached everything to the card.  I really love this design, it could be done in any colour scheme for any occasion.   

Fresh as a Daisy

This is another lovely card that I made recently for the staff at my grandson's nursery.  I dug out some stamps that I've had in my stash for years, Daisy Daydreams by Kay Karley.  I thought the simplistic style of these stamps would suit a card given by a toddler.  I chose bright, summery colours of Brilliance Inks - yellow and lime green - on Centura Pearl card to give the design a fresh look.  I stamped a daisy border around the edges of the base card using lime green ink and heat embossed    with clear powder.  I added icicle Stickles to the daisies.   I then took another piece of Centura Pearl card and stamped it all over with the daisy background stamp, and heat embossed as before.  This time I painted the daisies yellow with diluted ink, and added Stickles to the centres.  I die cut the panel and blended ink around the edges.  I coloured another piece of card with green ink and die cut it slightly larger than the background panel.  I then matted and layered them onto the base card.  On another piece of white card I stamped 3 butterflies, 2 small and 1 large, and heat embossed them.  I then painted them with diluted inks and added Stickles as before.  Next I stamped some individual daisies and a sentiment and heat embossed as before.  I painted the larger daisy and added Stickles to all the flower centres, then fussy cut all the embellishments.  I shaped them all with a ball tool and attached them with dimensional glue.   A lovely design that will make a good worker card, suitable for all ages and occasions.

A Rose for Teacher

This is a pretty card that I made recently for my grandson to give to his teacher at the end of his time in her class, her name is Rose.  The stamps used are either freebies from a magazine or so old that , they have been discontinued.  I used Distress Inks Picked Raspberry,Worn Lipstick and Mowed Lawn.  I also made my own shade of acrylic paint to co-ordinate with the inks.   The base card is Centura Pearl, and I have embossed it in a folder through a machine.  Then I blended some DI around the edges of the card.  The background panel is a piece of white card onto which I have stamped a pattern of roses using Versamark Ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I then rubbed ink all over the panel, and polished it afterwards with a soft cloth.  The embossed pattern resists the ink, showing a white pattern through the coloured ink.  This is called the resist technique.  I coloured another piece of white card with acrylic paint, then die cut it.  I edged the shaped panel with ink, then cut the background panel slightly smaller than the coloured panel.  I matted and layered them onto the base card.  On another piece of white card I stamped a couple of rose images in Sepia Versafine ink, and heat embossed them with clear powder.  I water coloured the images using the DI's then fussy cut them.  I also die cut some foliage sprigs and painted them in the same way.  I stamped a butterfly, painted it then cut it out too.  I then stamped and heat embossed a sentiment onto white card, then die cut it and added ink around the edges.  I attached it to the card with dimensional glue, then added the flowers and foliage behind it.  I coloured a piece of white card with diluted ink then die cut the name from it.  I inked around the edges of each letter to add shading and attached them to the card with dimensional glue.  I like the simplicity of this design, it makes a nice change from some of my more complex artwork.  I think this design will work for a variety of occasions, and it can be personalised to suit.   

Fishing with Daddy

This is a lovely card I made recently for a family birthday, my youngest grandchild gave it to his daddy.  I have had the focal image stamp so long that the company name has worn off!  I find it so useful for both card making and scrapbooking alike.  So as well as the image of the boy I used a Sheena Douglass embossing folder from the 'Little Bit Oriental' collection, and coloured the project with pearly acrylic paints and Pro Marker pens.  I started with a piece of white card and used some sponges to blend the pearly acrylic paint all over.  When it was dry I blended Black Soot DI around the edges.  I then embossed the panel in the folder through a machine.  I then matted the background panel onto black card.  On another piece of white card I stamped the image of the boy in black ink and heat embossed with black powder.  I then coloured him with Pro Markers and fussy cut the image.  I added clear glaze to the jam jar to give it the look of glass.  I used a white gel pen for the highlights on the boots.  I made a tag using the same paints as the background, stamped some hand and foot prints in blue ink and matted it onto black card.  I used alphabet dies for the sentiment cut out of the same card, and edged the letters in black ink.  I punched some 'beasties' out of pearly paper and added all the embellishments with dimensional glue.  I added some buttons and ribbon to the tag then attached that with dimensional glue as well.  I wanted to create a naive, simple card for a child to give to a parent, but I think this design would suit a card FOR a child as well, and cover lots of occasions too! 

Big Cat's Palace

This is a birthday card that I made recently for a male family member.  I wanted to make a masculine card, although this design would be good for girls too.  I have used stamps and embossing folders from Sheena Douglass' Taste of India collection.  I used Distress inks to colour: Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, and Black Soot.  To begin with I took a piece of orange card and embossed it in the Tiger Stripes folder.  I then rubbed over the raised pattern with Black Soot to create stripes, and blended gold gilding wax around the edges of the panel. I then matted the panel onto a black base card.   Next I took the packaging from the embossing folder and embossed it in the Indian Arches folder through a machine, sanded it back and rubbed gold gilding wax over the raised pattern.  The packaging already had a mottled stone effect on it which suited the arches background I wanted for this piece.  I then matted the panel onto black card and layered it onto the base card.  Using a piece of Sheena card I stamped the tiger in black Versafine ink and heat embossed it with black powder.  I then water-coloured the image with the Distress Inks.  I used a tiny bit of green ink for the eyes the added clear glaze to make them pop.  I stamped the leaves using Versamark ink onto green card, heat embossed the images with clear embossing powder, and added a little gilding wax to the edges of the leaves.  I then fussy cut all the images, and added them using dimensional glue. I stamped the sentiment using Versafine ink and heat embossed onto black card with gold powder, then die cut it and edged the panel in wax again, adding it with dimensional glue.  I think this design would suit many occasions, and several different age groups.  I just love that regal Tiger!   

Magical Birthday Goblet

This is a card I made for my eldest grandson's 12th Birthday last month.  I LOVED making this one!  My grandson and I have similar tastes in film and story genres, so I took the inspiration for the subject matter from Harry Potter 'The Goblet of Fire'.  I also took inspiration from a card design by one of the Inkoids - Sheena Douglass' DT, that I saw when she launched the stamps a while ago.  So for this design I have used Sheena's stamps and an embossing folder; the stamps are from several sets of the 'Little Bit Magical' collection; the folder is the 'Ancient Arches'.  To colour this artwork I have used Distress Inks and Dyna Paints.  I started with a piece of white Sheena card and blended DI's; Peacock Feathers, Broken China and Chipped Sapphire.  I faux bleached spots randomly over the inked background and dried it with a heat gun.  I stamped the Ancient Arches image, some script and a scroll using second generation Vintage Photo, Broken China and Chipped Sapphire DI's, then I blended Black Soot DI around the edges.  Next I debossed the background panel in the folder through a machine to add more texture.  I matted the panel onto black card.  I took another piece of Sheena card and stamped the goblet, flames, ink bottle and quill in black ink then heat embossed the images with black embossing powder.  I painted the images with Dyna paints and fussy cut them.  I added clear glaze to the ink bottle and leaves and let them dry.  I took the white base card and blended Chipped Sapphire around the edges, then stamped a scroll across the corners and also on the envelope to co-ordinate them.  I layered the background panel onto the base card.  I attached the focal images with dimensional glue creating another layer and height.  I tore a piece of copy paper into a rough rectangle and tinted it both sides with Vintage Photo, and the very edges with Black Soot to make it look singed.  I then put my grandson's initials on it and rolled it around a kebab stick so that it looks like a piece of singed parchment that has come out of the goblet with his name on.  As I said I loved making this, I think it is a great design for males or females of any age group, and it would suit different occasions.  I had to give this card away obviously, so I think I might adapt the design onto a canvass for myself!   Watch this space!  

Holly and Ivy

Here is my first Christmas make of 2015!  I was going to make a card but as the design progressed I decided to make a wall hanging.  This was great fun to make, and I used several different techniques and textures.  The stamps and dies are from Sheena Douglass' Festive Fancies Perfect Partners range.  I used Aqua Tint Inks to colour, gilding wax, Sheena Douglass embossing folders and stencil,black Versafine ink, black embossing powder, heat resistant acetate, metallic gold acrylic paint, Distress Inks Mowed Lawn and Vintage Photo.  I began by sponging the Aqua Tints all over a piece of white card.  When dry I used brown ink through the stencil, then embossed the panel through a machine.  I added gilding wax to the raised pattern and around the edges of the panel, then matted it onto black card with foam pads for extra height and layered it onto cream linen textured card.  Next I took 4 layers of copy paper and die cut the trailing ivy leaves.  I painted them with Aqua Tints and stamped the ivy leaves onto the die cuts.  I then embossed a piece of pearlescent green card in a holly leaf folder.  I cut out a couple of the sprigs, added gilding wax and painted the berries.   Taking a piece of cardboard I tore the top layer off around the edges to give a distressed look.  I then painted it gold.  When dry I  attached the decorated panel to the gold board.  I added the holly and ivy leaves with dimensional glue around the edges of the panel.  I stamped the corner images and a sentiment onto acetate in black ink and heat embossed with black powder, then turned the images over and coloured the leaves with Pro markers.  I then painted over the coloured leaves with white Gesso to make the colours stand out more.  When dry I cut the images out and attached the corners to the gold panel, and the sentiment to the centre of the focal panel.  I then put two holes and eyelets at the top of the gold panel and threaded some Bakers Twine through.   I think this design works well as a home decor project, or scaled down as a card.