Metal Foil Embossing

For the CS girls - these are two sample cards using metal embossing - mostly free hand. There are lots of moulds and stencils you can use but I like the free hand effect. For the burgundy card I used a fiskars texture plate for the background on metal foil, the wine seal foil (I know there is a proper name for them but I dont know what it is :0))is on the top and freehand embossed. They are coloured with alcohol inks and stazon and then sanded. The first card is the wine seal freehand embossed coloured with alcohol inks and sanded, layered onto watercolour paper distressed with rangers inks and walnut ink with a few splashes of my krylon pen for good measure.

Wedding Pages

These are part of a book being made for Louise who is getting married this week to Mike. Jo organised a group of ppl to contribute a page for her. I hope she likes it and look forward to seeing the whole book put together. The idea was to do a LO incorporating an ATC in it.

Wednesday Stamper - Eggs

The Mystery of
How she had laid
an Egg..........

Lots going on in this :)

Scrapwest Challenge - Its the Little Things

Friendship isn't a BIG Thing
Its a MILLION little things.

Altered Book Pages

This is a double sided altered book page for Nicole. I've used old books and transfers for these.

Daring Card Makers / Birthday Card for a Friend

I have put this card over on the Daring Card Makers blog for this week's challenge which is :
Embossing.
Dry embossing with a light box or with a die cutting machine.
Using embossing powders or triple embossing.
Using pre-embossed papers.
Embossing with found items.
Just have fun playing!
There is some fabulous work on this blog so go on over and have a look - the link in on my challenge links.

The postie came today with a couple of parcels and one included a melting pot which I have been after for quite some time and two cuttlebug embossing folders - hmm... Anyway - I had to give them a go so I have made this card for very non crafty friend. The card has a Tim Holtz stamp in ancient page brown ink. For the main piece I used the script embossing folder from Cuttlebug and a gold rub-on over it, I then tore a coffee cup from a napkin and used my melting pot and some bees wax to stick it down. Over this I stamped two inkadinkadoo stamps onto acetate and attached them with brown organza ribbon. TFL.

Wednesday Stamper - Polka Dots

This week's challenge is Polka Dots. I have used sticky metal brads for the dots along with a BG paper strip at the bottom. Stella Ruby paper for the background stamped with Hero Arts Swirls and stars. Spin art with alcohol inks on acetate layered onto text paper and a Cherry pie art stamp as the juggler. The text at the bottom reads 'Juggling was only one of her talents'. Hope you like it. I like all the colours on this one.

Scrapwest Challenge - Celtic Inspired

This week's challenge - set by myself - is Celtic Inspired. I recently bought a plate of celtic stamps and thought I had better use them so this is the result. Its a 9x7 canvas and was painted black over gesso and rice paper. I then used silk outliners to draw the gold designs, some gold leafing onto laminate adn stamps. The finished result was originally just a black background but it just wasn't right. I have now added various gold and purple metallic glazes, metallic rub-ons and pearl-ex poweder to add a bit of interest.

Wednesday Stamper - Flowers

These challenges are great for pushing me out of my comfort zone. Flowers would not be something I thought would be easy for me to do. I have made the background with acrylic paints, vaseline for a resist and a lovely copper glaze over the finished piece. I then layered, yes, you guessed it, another transfer, I cant seem to get enough of these and this poor lady looks so miserable. Have a nice day everyone - the sun is shining here and it is beautiful.

Scrapwest Challenge - Tags

This week's challenge was a bit of a rush, I havn't had a lot of free time so this is my contribution. I was in Dublin yesterday and visited the Green Gallery and saw some fabulous paintings - some that stood out were very vibrant pinks and yellow's and not something I would normally be drawn to, however, I've obviously been inspired in some way by them as this is my new Klimt stamp, embossed on colorbox inks - very bright colours for me!!. I got some new Cherry Pie Art Stamps this week and this image works well with the colours. TFL

4x4 Quilt

This was my first 4x4 quilt and the first ever completed quilt again for a Talk Crafts swap. I must admit, I didn't want to give this away so I hope it's liked. I transferred the oriental image onto fabric. I layered this onto batting and then red fabric. I ironed on the dragon image (note to self to get more of these!). I then stitched the seed beads around the image and added a coin. To complete the piece I quilted various small stitches throughout and added some cord to the edge (to hide the stitching on the outside). I then added a holder to the top and a chinese trinket to the bottom to finish it off. It is not very well finished off I'm afraid, a bit rough around the edges, I promise to make a more refined one for myself soon :o)



I am very pleased to say that the lovely lady who received this has sent me a picture of it hanging up in her home on a lovely dark red wall. Thank You so much Mary for not just putting it in a box or drawer somewhere. It made my day.

Canvas

I made this canvas for the Talk Crafts canvas swap - it is around 7 x 4". I used a baby wipe to apply and blend acrylic paints, applied the butterfly transfer first and then the little girl image over it. I stamped a quote at the bottom and applied Mod Podge all over to seal it. I used a scrap piece of metal and embossed it and inked with stazon and glued it(I hope) to the top corner of the canvas. I hope the receiver liked it.

Courage

This is my contribution for Isa's Scrap and Stamp challenge this week which is the letter C and a tag and no Brown!! I have written a quote saying 'It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are' The background is made with blended oil pastels, distress inks, bondaweb, metallic paints and stamped over with a Hero Arts script stamp. The girl is a Crafty Individuals stamp and the letter C is from Tanda stamps. I added some embellies and fibres and my old reliable gold pen to the edges.

ps. I promise there is no brown on this, the scan shows the gold fibres on the bondaweb to be brown :( and the're not........ :)

Scrapwest Challenge - Birds of a Feather

Another week another challenge - I will have to start paying somebody to feed me at this rate :0) This was a nice challenge and I could have done lots of different things for it but I love the Robin, the morning of my wedding I woke up to find one at the end of the bed, the little thing stayed in the lodge with us for 3 full days and only flew away when we left so I had to use a robin somewhere. This is a circle folded in half and then quartered. The bottom half has 2 extra folds in it. I have used BG papers, Sabrina's now famous vintage book with a little bird poem, some distress inks, fibres and feathers and a decoupaged robin.

Wednesday Stamper - Doors

This week's theme over on Wednesday Stamper is 'Doors'. My piece is 'Follow your Heart'. The background is made with twinkling H2Os, Stampendous marble stamp, Anna Griffin scroll stamp and Crafty Individual Love text and woman image. The door is from a photograph of a Cathedral door I took in Barcelona and a heart drawn on it which is edged with gold pen and die cuts. TFL.

Isa's Challenge

I have been searching for a book recommended on the UK STampers Forum by Isabelle Norris and happened to come across her Blog. Isa is running a weekly alphabet challenge and I thought I might challenge myself and try this one. I'm trying to broaden my use of colours you see and this week's challenge is B for Blue. Have a look at her blog for some lovely inspiration. This is my contribution and I'm hoping its Blue enough. The peakcock is a beautiful stamp from Tanda Stamps and coloured with Big and Juicy. This is then layered onto a background made with oil pastels blended and covered with Weathered Wood distress inks(and a babywipe). I have used a clear peacock stamp and coloured it with a watercolour brush and distress inks also, and added a Hero Arts saying stamp. This is layered again onto a background coloured with Twinkling H2Os.TFL

Scrapwest Challenge - Here Comes Summer

Another week's challenge - this time it's Here Comes Summer. I did a canvas for this one, smeared gesso fairly thickly and painted with acrylic paints and then some color box inks. Added an image of a butterfly and some papers. The sunflowers were stamped, coloured and covered with Diamond Glaze which makes them look fairly shiny in the picture. I then added some dragonfly brads. It didn't turn out as I had pictured in my mind but they never do :=)

Wednesday Stamper - Games

I found this a challenge even though I have stamps that would suit, creating the right background was difficult for me tonight. I have used Marvey Metallic markers and water for the foreground and crumpled paper and distress inks for the background. Paper Artsy stamps, collage paper adn ribbons finish it off. TFL

I dream of Love

This is another card using copper leaf foil on a laminate sheet. I have used the Judikins stamp and Rhona Farrer swirls embossed with copper powder. I added some copper tape, copper wire heart and swirl to decorate. The colours dont show up as true as they are in real life here.

Copper Leaf Foil

Many thanks to Mary for my little bag of goodies last week which included some copper leaf. If you havn't used this before - a word of warning - it is very static and you definitely need to ensure your image is dry before using the foil. (Mine was still a bit wet and the foil stuck to the image - hopefully you wont notice too much). I enjoyed using this and have another card almost done - will post soon. This is an unmounted stamp so I cant remember where I got it - I do like it though and its stamped onto a laminate sheet, copper foil added from behind and buffed, then I layered onto various papers with some eyelets added. TFL.