Flower Power and a song bird

Flower Power is our theme at Allsorts this week selected by Wendy and we have two sponsors, Scrappers Delight and Whimsy Stamps.

The card base is another using the fancy fold in the tutorial in my post here. The DP is really old which I found in my 'green drawer', the flowers are Heartfelt Creations, so clever and easy to use with a single large stamp for all the flowers and die that matches perfectly making it so quick to create several layered flowers in one go. I stamped the flowers with Adirondack rust ink, ran though the e.bosser using the matching die and added some of the same colours ink around the petal edges. Some leaves and a Penny Black sentiment making it a really quick card to create.

My second card is for this months Chocolate Baroque colour challenge, as lots of you know I only enter the odd challenge so I was super excited to discover I won their last one and have some lovely new stamps to play with. I am not terribly happy with how the colours show up on my photo as despite carefully selecting my Pan Pastle colours the terracotta looks rather pale. I first stamped the Let Your Heart Sing image in coffee archival ink, cleaned the stamp and repeat stamped just a section to extend the branches. Next I masked a sun and created the background with Pan Pastels and sponged some sun rays. The frame is the waste from cutting a Timmy cabinet card which I embossed and coloured with the same PP's. I made a tatty rose and cute a few hessian leaves to embellish.

Have a lovely weekend.

A bit of an experiment and a gift basket

Hello Peeps, I hope you are all OK and those of you who have been poorly with all the viruses going round are on the mend.

I had a delivery from Baker Ross this week, it's always a bit of a surprise when they arrive as I never know what's inside so it's lovely rummaging through the goodies. I will be sharing more makes using the new products in due course but for today I have a card which was a bit of an experiment using the Porcelain Paint and a little basket made from the Spring Creativity Set along with Tattered Lace dies.

Being one who likes to experiment with paints and inks I was fascinated to know if the pain could be used on other surfaces........my box of goodies had some lovely porcelain items to paint and that's one of my projects for a quiet weekend.............but today I wanted to get messy. So I brushed ice green, creme, ice blue and receda (an apple green) onto a piece of Fabriano card and blended with water.

Next I scrunched a piece of clingfilm on top and put on the radiator for ten minutes, removed the clingfilm and dried off with the heat gun. Then I simple stenciled the Sweet Poppy stencil with gloss black medium and sprinkled with crystal glitter, when dry I added a piece of the corrugated card from the Spring pack mentioned above, twine, a couple of the brads from the same Spring pack which I coloured black and a butterfly button. I would like to join the current Butterfly Challenge where the theme is A Butterfly and Brads.

The basket shape is one of several pre cut templates in the set which also includes patterned papers, gems, brads, ribbons and some really scrummy coloured corrugated card, great value at £6.99. I also used some of the Pastel Gems, £2.99 for a pack of 36 strips.......that's 900 gems in total in coordinating Spring colours.

The baskets are so quick to make up and I started by assembling the base but didn't fix the handle at this stage. Then using a contrasting colour I cut out three long strips using Tattered Lace Chantilly Swag die which matches up beautifully to cut longer pieces. One strip is adhered round the bottom of the basket using red line tape and the other two to the underside of the handle so the fancy edge shows and then fixed to the base.

I love the little baby elephant dies from Tattered Lace and cut the row of them them out twice in the same contracting colour, separate them and fixed one to each of the six sections of the basket and one onto a little matching gift tag. Finally some gems and ribbons and you have a pretty little basket to fill with sweets or other goodies.

Thanks for popping in to take a peek.

Lace and Pearls

Our Tracy Mouse is challenging us to use Lace and Pearls on our work at Allsorts this week where our sponsors are Deedees Designs and PPR Papercrafts.

I have two cards and both are way different to the norm for me, one is a tad cute.................I did say some were coming along didn't I.............. and the other has some colouring in, now there's a turn out for the books on both counts. And I have to make a confession that I really enjoyed making them both.

The focal image on my card at the top is a really old wood mounted stamp I have had for years, there is no clue as to the make but I have a feeling it may be an early one from Creative Expressions. I had the pretty piece of pink lace so used that as the colour inspiration for my card and coloured the image with Chameleon pens, some very subtle shading round the edges, simple mat and layering and some roses and pearls plus a pearl necklace for the lady.

I listed all the making details and products used on the baby card over at Tattered Lace here so won't bore you with all the details again, there will also be a blue version popping up over at the Tattered Lace blog tomorrow.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Tattered Lace and some Penny Black as well

Happy Wednesday Peeps.

Can I say a huge thank you for all your kind comments on my weekend post about joining the Tattered Lace team, I knew their products were popular but I can tell from what you all say that they rate among your very favourite dies on the market. Certainly Stephanie's intricate designs and their cutting quality are second to none and I am finding that there's none of this having to run through your machine several times as invariably they cut perfectly first time.

So have you seen the Tattered Lace four day deal on Create and Craft this week ? I am still having great fun playing with the new products and have another card to share with you which you will also find on the Tattered Lace blog. The inspirational blog was only launched last month so if you have not already found your way there what are you waiting for as it has daily inspiration, freebeis, tutorials and of course updates about new products.

For my card above I used the Butterflies interchangeable embossing folder and coredination card stock which I sanded down and as with my card Saturday embossed a second piece so I could cut out a butterfly to embellish. The edges of the card and butterfly have some gold gilding wax rubbed over them as has the rose which I made from some thick'ish tissue paper........thanks from using it to wrap my serving plates Marks and Sparks, I told you it would have a second life ! I added some punched borders, ribbon and twine and ivy cut with Tattered Lace ivy die.

Rather belatedly I also have my mid month Penny Black inspirational piece, I always rather like the striking contrast of yellow and black and started with a black card base, added an embossed yellow panel, a banner stamped with Penny Black 2638K Swirl Pattern, the sentiment is from Penny Black 30-229 Special Wishes and some die cut swirls, lace, a rose and pearls to finish. There is still another week before the challenge closes so plenty of time to join in to be in with a chance of winning one of the great prizes on offer.

A hint of Spring and some rather exciting news

Saturday morning means it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts but before I tell you about that I have a bit of news to share...............I have been invited to be part of the Tattered Lace inspirational team, exciting or what. Our work along with Stephanie and Nancy's is posted here on an almost daily basis, the blog is new so if you are a Tattered Lace fan or just enjoy using the dies you already have you need to add your name so you don't miss a thing as it's full of tips, inspiration and free downloads.

I feel very honored to be given the opportunity to work alongside the other talented crafters on the team and create with Stephanie's awesome designs. Next Monday 19th January sees the launch of a tattered Lace four day deal on Create and Craft and one of my Allsorts DT pieces this week features some of the new products which include some really clever and rather different embossing folders. I have been busily working away with both the new folders and dies and will be sharing more with you in the coming days...........and that includes some cute, scary or what from me.

So back to our new challenge at Allsorts where Susan has played right into my my hands with the theme of 'Spring Flowers'. We have two fab sponsors this week A Passion for Stamps and Marianne Designs. It's no secret that I love Springtime and don't need much an excuse to create cards with Spring flowers.

On the top card I used one of the new Tattered Lace embossing folders with coredination, sanded it down and cut a circle to make an easel card, I also cut out one of the butterflies to use as an embellishment. I made three flowers using punched shapes and my idea was they are Alstroemeria, I know they are more of a summer flower but there are some Spring varieties......OK with you Susan ? The Ivy is a Tattered Lace die, it's extremely detailed and quite large but cuts like butter with just one run through the e.bosser.

My second card is a little scene that can be seen at the end of our garden every Spring !! I used my Timmy cabinet card die for the base card and stamped with a mixture of Chocolate Baroque and Lavinia stamps, distress markers to add some colour to the flowers and Pussy Willow and Pan Pastels for the sky. Finally I used a mask, grunge paste and glitter to add some fairy magic.

Thanks so much for taking a peek and if you also have fairies at the end of the garden please do tell, it would be nice to know that I am not the only one living in a fantasy world.

Brusho playtime

First I saturated the cardstock (see below for type) with water before sprinkling colbalt blue, violet and leaf green and just letting them merge together. Hero Arts scroll stamp, Rubbernecker sentiment and Hearflet Creations flowers using the same method to colour after stamping and cutting.

Good Morning Peeps, hope you are OK, I know lots of you have nasty flu bugs so to those of you who do I do hope you are soon feeling much better.

Our internet was down all weekend and is still off more than on at the moment so blogging and commenting has been very much if an when until they get it sorted. So what do you do when you can't while away the time in blogland..............you play..................and on this occasion it was with the Brusho's Santa delivered. I am demoing with them in a couple of weeks so need to get my head round them so it was the prefect opportunity to get messy.

Oh what fun they are as well, no secret that I love lots of colour and anything inky and messy so I was in my element and though I would share a few. I still have lots to learn with them but am fairly happy with how it's going so far. I have experimented with various cardstock to see what gives the best results and to my mind it's Fabriano HP 300lb as it's such a sturdy weight, I find lighter weight card warps and does not give such a nice finish when matted onto the cards which is probably not surprising given the amount of water used to get the full benefit of the powders. I have tried out various methods in my playtime and listed under each photo what I did with the Brushos.

I created the moodly sky by first masking a sun with Pebeo masking fluid and laying a piece of paper over the bottom section before sprinkling cobalt blue (it has to be one of my favs as it gives out such gorgeous hues of blue and purple as it dissipates in the water), purple and orange onto the dry cardstock. Next I spritzed with water and dappled with my finger until I was relatively happy with the spread of powder. The stamps are a mixture of Stampscapes, Inkylicious, Clarity and Art Impression. The ground section of the card was added using Pan Pastels once the sky was dry.

To achieve the graduated look I started by spritzing water liberally over the top section of the card and added violet, then repeated the spritzing twice more coming down the page adding ultramarine and then lime green. All stamps are Inkylicious. I was really pleased to discover that the Brushos bleach out beautifully which is what I did to the raindrops before adding a little white gel pen.

Here I spritzed the top section of the card first and sprinkled on turquoise, then more water and tilted the card around to allow the colour to run downwards to give a sort of rain effect. As you are totally in control you can make the drips go whichever way you want. Then I added a little orange Brosho to the bottom section before stamping with stamps from Indigo Blue, Art Impression and a Penny Black bird in the foreground.

The background on the this one was created by sprinkling scarlet and blue and then instead of water I used iridescent gold Glimmer Mist to activate the powders and scrunched a piece of cling film over the top, left for a few moments on the radiator then removed to reveal a lovely gold faceted effect. It doesn't really show on the full photo so there is a close up below. The stamp is Penny Black.

My final one is a very random background, I sprinkled blue, sea green, white, leaf green and emerald onto the cardstock then liberally spritzed with water and just left the colours to activate. The teasels and sentiment are Sweet Poppy Stencils using glossy black paste.

What I particularly like about working with Brushos is that the colours achieved on each piece are totally unpredictable as each one has other colours within them and vary dependent on the volume of liquid added. For example I used no yellow, orange or pink on the card above yet all of those colours are within the finished piece.

And they are not that expensive compared with some colouring mediums, the individual colours are about £1.40 each (Ken Bromley Art Supplies which is where I also but my Fabriano) and if you buy a box set of either twelve or twenty four it works out even cheaper.

Have a good Tuesday all and as always any questions please do mail me and ask away.

New and cute....eeeek

Time for our new challenge at Allsorts where Mervi would like to see'New and Cute' creation, our sponsor is Cuddly Buddly.

As always the word 'cute' fills me with dread, but a challenge is what it's all about and I am hoping my fairies will count as cute, or at least cute'ish. I bought the Lavinia fairy carriage and quote at the NEC in November and this was their first outing, all stamped in black archival and the background and sky usings torn paper for the hills, a mask for the sun and my usual Pan Pastels. The branches and flowers across the top of my scene are also Lavinia and I just love this Lavinia quote, then the fairy wings, wisteria and carriage curtains have a little glitter added, well you can't have a fairy and no glitter now can you.

Happy weekend all.

The requested fancy fold tutorial and some dancing in the moonlight

Today sees our first challenge of the year at  FlonzCraft Vintage Stamping Challenges  where we have the theme of 'New Year, New Stash' and as always there if a fabulous $20 on line store voucher to be won from FlonzCraft.

Also below a short tutorial of the fancy fold card I blogged on Saturday, lots of people asked for the details so I have written down the measurements and folds for you.

When it comes to new stash nobody bothers to buy me any at Christmas as they all know I have a steady diet of it all year round. So I decided to use the most recent new crafty item I bought which was a tub of Grunge Paste, boring I know but my standby tub which I opened the other day was solid so I had to rush out to get another. I did take the other back and they said I must have opened it and forgot and were having none of it, so I won't be buying from them again.

I created a background with Dylusions and Glimmer Mist, stamped the Flonz couple, then bleached out some of the colour, next I used a mask to create the New York skyline, inking just to top as I wanted a faded look, another mask for the moonrays, that's where the Grunge Paste came in. I carried out a bit of an experiment as I wanted to get a moon like glow so I dabbed the same Glimmer mist over when it was dry and it worked a treat. The edges of the card are stamped with Flonz Baroque corner and the sentiment but into three is a really old wood mounted but nameless stamp.

Now for the tutorial for the fold on this card...................

Start with a piece of A4 cardstock and trim about 1/2 cm from the widest section so you are left with a piece measuring 29cm x 21cm

Score two 4.95cm sections both sides which will leave you with a 10cm centre panel - scoring slightly under 5cm allows sufficient room for the folds themselves.

You should then have a piece of card which folds back on itself like this

Next measure 4.75 from the top down the two inner folds, Make a pencil mark at the very center of the card and  score diagonally from that point and the top of the left and right folds so they meet centrally at the bottom of the 4.75 measurement. Then gently ease mountain and valley folds into place as shown below and the whole card will fold back on itself

The card stands up really well and folded fits a DL size envelope, when folded you see just the central element

I do hope all of that makes sense, it's not the easiest one to explain so please do mail me if you need any further details.

Mask and stencil inkiness

Time for our monthly challenges at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes are 'Dies and Punches' and 'Stencils, Marks and Embossing folders'.

My card at the top is my Stamping Sensations piece using Dylusions for the background and two stencils, a mesh/wire one and the face which I sponged with distress ink. The lattice down the side is a Timmy die painted with gold acrylic paint, Heartfelt Creations flowers stamped and then cut with the matching die and edges rubbed with gold gilding wax to coordinate with the lattice, then gold Frantage around the edges of the base card. The sentiment is Penny Black masked and stamped three times - the wording is too close to just cut into three but it only takes a few moments to do this way.

It's another bluish card, wasn't my plan, just how it worked out. I created the background with Glimmer Mists by brushing them over the reverse side of a piece of Centura Pearl, used a Gothic arch stencil to create a frame around the image Penny Black 40-200 Sweet Dahlia which I stamped and coloured twice to decoupage the flower. Next I used Penny Black 25-003 Verdant stencil to which I added some ultra fine glitter to the flower heads. And it seems I used the same sentiment as above Penny Black 1483E Cherish Yesterday which is a real oldie and sadly no longer available, I didn't actually realise until I wrote up this post so I figure it means it must be a favourite with me. And a butterfly from Penny Black 30-117 Free Flight.

A second Penny Black card which is a result of my first play with the Brushos Santa gave me. I stamped Penny Black 4383K First Dance with black Versafine, dried the ink and then saturated a piece of Fabriano watercolour card.........it's 640gsm which I ordered by mistake ages ago and not used much as it's so heavy, but finding it perfect with all the water used with Brushos as it retains it's rigidity beautifully. Once dry I used Penny Black 25-005 Alluring stencil to add some leaves around the Lily, added some ribbon and pearls and mounted onto a piece of embossed coredinations. Hubbys comment "hmmm lovely"........you see he doesn't really appreciate my inky grungy indulgences.......but as I told him, it was he who arranged for Santa to bring the Burshos !!

As always we have fabulous prizes at both challenges so I really hope you will join in this month.

Cold and Frosty colours

Happy New Year to you all.

It's seemed like such a long holiday period with Christmas and New year all merging together, but it's been lovely having everyone staying with us and with me feeling under the weather the extra hands have been much appreciated. The last visitors leave today so I am hoping I feel up to getting back into the crafty groove.

Today I am hosting our first Allsorts challenge of 2015 and have chosen the theme of 'Cold and Frosty Colours'. Our sponsors are Nicecrane and DigiStamp Boutique.

It's a snowy scene from me at the top using my current favourite Penny Black stamp set called Natures Friends, you are probably all getting a bit fed up with it by now as I do seem to have used it rather a lot on Winter cards. It's all fairly simple really, Pan Pastels, some snow glitter and liquid pearls to add berries to the twigs across the bottom, three of the Deer from the set and little birds, the sentiment is also Penny Black, a firm favourite of mine.

(Note added: quite a few have asked how I folded this card so I will so my best to come up with a tutorial in the next few days and pop it on a post)

And my second card using Nicecrane Vintage Christmas design set, I have no idea what you call the fold here, it's one I made using my scoreboard after seeing some card blanks on C&C and rather liking the unusual shape. I am not sure if the colours are cold and frosty but the little girl is all dressed for the snow as she goes delivering her gifts.

Have a lovely weekend all.