'Love You' card using Woodware 'Lovebirds' stamp set & Koi Brush Markers.

Welcome back & Happy Valentine's Day!.

Thank you for visiting my crafty little blog. Today I'd like to share a 'Love' inspired project made using the Woodware 'Lovebirds' stamp set.

The 'Lovebirds' were stamped in clear versamark ink onto watercolour paper & heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Next I coloured/painted the birds using various colours of Koi brush markers, water & a paint brush.

I used blues & greens of the same pens,water & a large, flat paint brush to create a colour wash for the background. The flowers from the same stamp set were second generation stamped randomly over the background with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.

The 'Love'  & 'You' are from a stamp set by Wow! Embossing powders.

These were stamped in Picked Raspberry Distress Ink onto water colour card, cut out, distressed around the edges & mounted onto lilac card & then onto the background, one above each bird.

To finish, I added some polka dot lilac ribbon across the bottom of the card.

Thanks for stopping by, please pop by again soon to see some more of my crafty little projects.

Amy x 

Jeepers Creepers! Woodware sneaker card.

Welcome back to my crafty little blog.
Today I'm sharing a card design we made at our card making workshop at my shop Out Of The Blue in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol.
This card design went down very well with our craft ladies. They said it would be perfect when they find it hard to come up with a card for a male or someone of that 'inbetween' age.

For this card we used the Jeepers Creepers Sneaker stamp set from Woodware.

The main sneaker image was stamped twice in black ink & heat embossed onto watercolour card & then coloured with koi brush markers.
The images were cut out & holes created to thread twine through for the laces.
One sneaker was layered with 3 d foam onto the other.

The backgrounds were created with the background sneaker stamp & the other stamps in the Jeepers Creepers set.
The sneakers were raised up onto die cut circles along with the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Please leave me a comment & pop back again soon.

Amy x

Friends are flowers in the garden of life canvas. Paperartsy JOFY stamp set 42

Hello & welcome back to my crafty little blog.

It's been a while since I last posted a project, so today I'm going to catch up a bit by sharing a canvas I made for my friend for her 40th Birthday.

We're both really busy & struggle to find the time to meet up very often so as well as this little gift we went on a spa day!.

It was a lovely relaxing treat with no kids to worry about & we felt really chilled at the end of the day.

Here's the canvas:

I decided to use the Paperartsy JOFY stamp set 42.

 It has the sentiment 'Friends are flowers in the garden of life'.

 I used a 6 x 6 deep edge square box canvas blank & painted it with Paperartsy fresco finish paint which dries quickly with a lovely, even, chalky finish.

I also painted the inside of the back of the canvas as this was going to now be the front!.

I cut some strips of turquoise card to fit the front panels of the box frame & using black ink stamped the loopy edging design across the top & bottom, filling the loops with lilac paint

I used the foliage down both edges & painted those & on a seperate piece of white card stamped the small flower & leaves which I coloured with promarkers.

I stamped the girl twice & coloured both girls with promarkers alternating the colours to match in with my background & flowers.

I cut them out & cut the legs & hair bun off of one of the girls.

I repositioned the hair bun & legs so that the front girl is shorter than her friend & has a different hairstyle.

They were then glued into place on the front of the canvas, one in front of the other.

I stamped & coloured the sentiment onto white card, added some flowers & blended around the edges with distress ink.

This was then glued into the back recess of the box canvas.

I then printed a personalised message onto card & glued it into place on the back of my box canvas along with some polka dot ribbon to hang it with.

Thanks for visiting.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday & I'll be back again very soon with another project to share.

Amy x

Pick a Daisy card ,Paperartsy Eclectica Lin Brown set 26

Hello again everyone.

 Hope you enjoyed the Bank Holiday weekend & managed to get some crafting done?.

 Other than working in the shop on Saturday I had a relaxing weekend & made this card for my Mother in law who is celebrating a big birthday tomorrow. Not saying how old though as she's not keen to broadcast it & after all, age is just a number, as my husband wrote inside.

Here's the card I made using Papersrtsy Eclectica Lin Brown 26 stamp set & stencil 024.

As I wasn't incorporating a number on the card I thought it fitting to use Daisies as my theme because

 my daughter ( her Granddaughter) is called Daisy.

I created the background with a colour wash using Koi Brush Marker pens on watercolour card.

I mixed some green mica powder with pearlescent texture paste & applied it through the stencil & then heated with a heat tool once the stencil was removed. 

This added more texture for my background which I stamped with the foliage & open Daisy from the stamp set using Peacock Feathers & Dusty Concord distress inks,

I stamped the main Daisy twice with black memento ink onto white card & coloured with the same colour Koi Brush markers as I used for the background.

I cut these out & layered the head on top of the base Daisy, curling the petals & leaves to add dimension.

I added the stamped sentiment, cut into segments & finished the card with stickles glitter glues & liquid pearls to match the colour scheme.

Off to bed now, I'm feeling rather full after we took the birthday girl out for a vintage tea party this afternoon. We filled up on lots of yummy tea,cake & sandwiches!.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave me a comment if you can.

See you again soon

Amy x 

Easter Treat Box made with Inky Doodles stamps.

Hello again, thanks for coming back to visit my blog.

Today I'm sharing another Easter project that we made at one of our Out Of The Blue paper craft workshops recently.

We have started stocking Inky Doodles stamps in the shop & the Spring Applique set was perfect for this project - an exploding box with a treat inside!.

So, we started by cutting & scoring a box shape & lid.

Square pieces of card were cut to fit each panel & then these were decorated with the stamped & coloured bunnies, hens, sheep, chicks etc.

These were all coloured with promarkers & extra colour was added with blended distress inks.

The chocolate Lindt bunny is sat within a strip of card decorated with flowers. To stop him rattling around once the box is shut he is held in place with a sticky dot.

The perfect little treat for Easter!.

Hope you have lots of treats lined up this Easter.

Please pop back again soon for more Spring project ideas.

Amy x 

Follow Your Dreams Esme

Well Hello there!

As you've probably noticed I've been missing for a while.

It's been a busy old time since my last post with preparations for Christmas in the shop.

The gift side of the shop goes a bit mad at this time of the year & we also hold our annual Christmas Shopping Evenings at the beginning of November. Not to mention half term holidays in October & Daisy's birthday party which I was brave enough to host at our house!!.

 

 

My project I'm sharing today is a Birthday card for my friend's daughter who turns 6 this week.

You may remember my card for her brother Finley featuring the Max Rocks stamps from Visible Image.

For this card for Esme, I have used the Fairy Dance stamp from Stampendous.

 

 

I wanted to keep this card very girly as it is going to be put in a frame & hung on the wall in her bedroom. So of course it had to be pink, purple & sparkly.

This stamp was the perfect image as when us 2 mums get together Daisy & Esme are forever dancing & twirling around in pretty dresses practicing their ballet moves!.

 

 

The image was coloured with my Inktense pencils & an extra skirt added over the top of the original to add dimension.

The Follow Your Dreams sentiment from Visible Image was stamped over a blended Distress Ink sky & foliage was stamped down the edges in green using a Lavinia stamp.

 

 

The image was layered onto white card & a background made with Brushos. The larger background was a mix of picked raspberry & dusty concord over stamped with a rose design, also from Stampendous.

I embossed around the edges with sparkly pink Wow! embossing powder & added a cluster of flowers & leaves & of course, lots of stickles glitter glue.

 

 

Thanks for visiting.

I hope to be back again very soon.

 

Amy x

 

 

 



Summer smile

Hello there blog friends & Hello September!.

I can't quite believe Autumn is almost upon us.

Although I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to Summer, I have to admit, I have been enjoying getting back onto a routine with school runs & set hours working in the shop this week.

It's also lovely to have lots of new goodies arriving in the shop for the Autumn/Winter season & I really do love all the colours this season will bring.

Today's project is a card made using the Chrysanthemum background stamp from Wow!, clear embossing powder & Distress Inks.

The background was stamped twice onto white card with versamark ink & clear embossing powder. 

Chipped Sapphire, Picked Raspberry & Peacock Feathers distress inks were blended randomly over the background.

I selected some of the flowers from one of the backgrounds & cut them out to layer together to make the flower embellishment.

I stamped the smile sentiment onto a strip of card with blue archival ink & blended the distress inks around the edges after cutting an inverted 'V'.

The strip & embellishment were then stuck in place onto the background which was then mounted onto a matching layer & then the card blank. A droplet of Cosmic Shimmer Pearlescent PVA glue was added to the centre of the flower to finish.

Very easy & relatively quick to make but quite effective.

Thanks for stopping by, please visit again soon, your comments are much appreciated.

Amy x 

Live Your Dreams

Welcome back blog friends. I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful sunshine we've been having recently?.

Hopefully it will now continue, fingers crossed into July when we get to take our annual holiday in beautiful Dorset.

Today I'm sharing a card I made using the Lost In Thought stamp from Indigoblu.

I created the background with black & brown Brusho paints, over stamped with Honeycomb Background using white paint & sepia versafine ink.
I distressed around the edges with a pair of scissors & blended brushed corduroy & black soot distress inks.
Stampendous shabby white Frantage was sprinkled here & there to add some texture & light.

I stamped the girl in black & used the Brushos as watercolours to paint her. I was aiming for a kind of grungy look.

I cut around her leaving a few millimetres around the edge.

She was then mounted onto the background, to the right with 3d foam.

The Live Your Dreams sentiment from Visible Image was stamped in black & heat embossed with clear powder, cut out & distressed with brushed corduroy. 

This was then added to the background with 3d foam.

I mat & layered onto card distressed with brushed corduroy & then onto a craft card card blank.

I think this card would be great to give a teenager, maybe off to college or uni.

Finally, here's a picture of me with my little Oompa Loompa!

Her school had a float in the Chipping Sodbury Festival procession the theme of which was Musicals & they chose Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.

See you again soon

Thanks for visiting

Amy x 

' Over the Rainbow ' Chipping Sodbury Festival workshop 2015

Welcome back.

 Today I'm sharing the project my half of our Out Of The Blue craft group made for the Chipping Sodbury Festival.

Every year in June, over the period of about a week, the town & community get together to share various events in the town.

There is always a theme & the week culminates in a Street carnival complete with floats & a carnival princess!.

This year's theme is 'Musicals' & we decided to choose The Wizard Of Oz as the theme for our card making workshop which took place yesterday evening.

The perfect stamp set for the occasion was yet another from Visible Image, my current stamps of the moment!.

Here's the card my half of our crafty group made

I loved colouring Dorothy with my Inkense pencils. They give such vibrant colour results & for this particular image I much preferred the effect of these watercolour pencils in comparison to another Dorothy that I had coloured using promarkers.
The design for the yellow brick road & scenery was created using a Sheena Douglas mask & the Brick Wall stamp from Visible Image.
For the grass I used the Tall Grass stamp & the Winter Tree stamp for the trees.

Distress inks used were Shabby Shutters, Pine Needles, Mustard Seed, Festive Berries, Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord.
Dorothy's ruby slippers were embossed with Stampendous red glitter embossing powder & touches of red stickles added the final touches to the trees & poppies.

Everyone really enjoyed the Workshop & we are now planning the projects for July & August dates.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you all have a fab weekend. I have a rare Saturday off as its Daisy's first time on the float for her infant school. Can't wait to see all the little ones dressed up as Umpa Lumpas from Charlie & the chocolate factory!!

Amy x 

You Rock Finley!

Hi everyone, sorry its been a while since my last post.

 Things have been busy as usual in the land of Out Of The Blue with lots of sorting & planning for our Summer Sale which is coming up shortly.

Also in June we will be holding our card making workshop for the Chipping Sodbury Festival. This year's theme for our workshop is The Wizard Of Oz for which we'll be using stamps by Visible Image.

Today, the card I'm sharing was also made with Visible Image stamps. You may have noticed, I'm really enjoying using their stamps at the moment!?. 

This card was made for my Godson Finley for his 10th birthday.

His mum asked if I could make it so that after his birthday it could be framed to hang in his bedroom.

His favourite colours are red & green so, of course I had to incorporate those. 

I used the Max Rocks stamp set, promarkers to colour Max, Brusho paints, distress inks, Time Holtz alphabet stencil & Visible Image Grunge Check Background stamp.

I really enjoyed making this card and hope you like it too. 

Brushos are fun to use & are featuring on lots of blogs at the moment.

 We are now stocking them in the shop so it was great to get my hands on a set of 12 colours & have a bit of a play around with them. Watch this space for more projects featuring Brushos!.

Thanks for stopping by & I promise to be a better blogger & make a massive effort to check out what you've all been creating since my last visits & comments.

See you again soon

Amy x 

Singing Star

Welcome back blog friends.

Its mid way through the week & I for one am looking forward to the bank holiday weekend ahead.

Not much planned at the moment other than working Saturday & then relaxing with the family Sunday & Monday.

Maybe I'll be able to fit in a bit of craft time somewhere too!.

Today I am sharing a card I made using Visible Image stamps Sing, Galaxy & Soul Music

This card is currently sat on the shelf in my shop right next to the stamps themselves. I'm sure it won't be long before we need to reorder as these are lovely stamps to work with & Helen & Mark's range of designs is great.

The singer was stamped onto white card in black ink & heat embossed. I used black soot distress ink to blend around her & the galaxy stars are stamped in black & heat embossed in silver.

I stamped the singer again & filled in the lines on her dress with a sakura pen & then cut her dress out, shaped it & stuck it into place on top of the original dress to add dimension.

I stamped & embossed the black background card with the music from the Soul Music set in silver embossing & added a touch of treasured silver gilding wax around the edges.

I stamped the Sing sentiment, mat & layered it & stuck it into place in the top right corner of the card.

We are really excited to be hosting a special day of crafting with Visible Image on 17th May at a local hotel & restaurant.

Its going to be a fab day with a Sunday roast included too, yum!.

The very talented Pauline Butcher will be teaching the workshops on the day & Helen & Mark will be coming along bringing lots of their lovely stamps to sell.

Here are all the details, if you fancy joining us please get in touch on the number below.

Thanks for stopping by

See you soon

Amy x 

Pop up card workshops April 2015

Hello blog friends!.

 Well, its been a busy time since my last post.

Lots of new goodies have been arriving in the shop & we've been busy with our monthly workshops.

We've also been organising a special crafting event coming up in May when Visible Image will be joining us with Pauline Butcher for a whole day of crafting.

More info on that in a future post.

Today, I'm sharing the pop up cards we made at our workshops the last two weeks.

We used the pop up die & stamp set to match by Stampendous from WoodWare.

First up is the card I made as a sample followed by my group's creations with their own choice of colours.

So, here are my half of our group's creations, all coloured using distress inks as watercolour paints.

The die cuts all the pop out elements to add your stamped images to. It also has edge cutters & the oval & label style dies to use for the sentiments. 

So, a very handy die set & it proved to be very popular at our workshops this month with me having to reorder die & stamp sets in time to sell for the following weeks class.

The stamp set contains 2 vase stamps, a rose cluster, a daisy stamp, leaf stamp, butterfly & hydrangea cluster.

My group used the rose & daisy stamps, Carole's half of our group used the hydrangea. 

Here's the sample card I made using the hydrangea.

If you hop over to Carole's blog here you will see the cards her half of our craft group made using the hydrangea stamp from this set.

There are also now a few more stamp sets available to go with this die set. I like the look of the Woodland/forest animal set & we hope to have it in stock in the shop very soon.

Some of you already follow Carole's blog so you will know that its nearly 3 years since mum & I asked Carole if she would like to join us to help teach our workshops to help promote our shop Out Of The Blue & the products we sell.

I'm pleased to say our workshops continue to be very popular & many firm friendships have been formed along the way.

We also have new crafters joining us for nearly every workshop & its great when our members come into the shop following a class to let us know how much they have enjoyed creating our projects.

So, enjoy the rest of your weekend, thanks for stopping by & I'll be back soon with more info about our special Visible Image workshop day.

Amy x