'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 

Clean & Simple designs for Out Of The Blue

Hello again blog friends.

Today is Thursday & also the day we hold another of our Card Making Workshops at Out Of The Blue.

We held the same workshop last week with the theme of CAS cards - clean & simple.

This is not a genre of card making I normally turn my hand to very easily as I sometimes struggle to know when to stop adding more to my designs. 

Less is generally more with clean & simple cards along with a good amount of white space.

However, once I sat down & got started making my samples for the Workshop, I really got into it & was pleased with the results. 

So, here's what we've been creating for our August workshops

These cards are all A6 in size & made using the Flower Head Stamp set from Woodware & Color box cats eye que ink stacks in various colour combinations.

These stamps are great as they stamp a solid flower so no colouring is needed as the ink does all the colour work for you!. So, dead easy & quick too!.

We used masking techniques to layer the flowers one behind the other & some of the flowers had more than one colour ink applied.

Finishing touches were stickles glitter glue, faux pearls, ribbon & cosmic shimmer pearlescent PVA glues. 

I'm particularly liking the Decadent Teal & Decadent Grape colours in the range by Phil Martin & have ordered other colours, due to arrive in the shop today.

We intend on completing at least 3 cards each if time permits but there's always lots of chatter & tea & cake at our workshops so we'll see how it goes!.

Thanks for stopping by

See you again soon

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 

Gone fishing

Happy Friday! 

Hope you all have a fun & crafty weekend lined up?.

I'm working tomorrow & then on Sunday I'll be busy getting things prepared for our workshop on Thursday.

 This evening I'm sharing a card I made as a special commission.

My Dad is a keen fisherman & since retiring in the last couple of years he has spent a lot of time in our local fishing tackle supplies shop (just opposite our own shop) picking up tips & getting to know the owner Chris.

So, when Dad found out it was Chris's birthday last week he asked me to make a fishing themed birthday card for him to give him.

I had just the stamps for the job!.

I used Woodware's 'Gone Fishing' background stamp & 'Casting the bait' stamp.

Plus Creative Expressions 'Tree Bark' A6 stamp by Sam Poole.

The whole card was made using navy, white & black card, black archival ink & faded jeans distress ink, pale blue embossing powder & some screw head metal brads.

I enjoyed making this card as I don't often make men's cards.

Apparently, it was well received & I'm already planning a Father's Day card with a fishing theme to make for my Dad in June.

Thanks for stopping by & leaving me your comments which are always much appreciated, I'll be back again soon.

Amy x 

Floral layers card

Hi bloggers!. I thought I'd share with you a card I made as the project for my half of our group to follow at one of our recent workshops for my shop  Out Of The Blue. 

We were using a set of floral stamps from Woodware that we have used for several workshops since,  with the idea being to show our craft group the multiple uses, effects & varying projects you can achieve from the same product. 

Flower stamps are always so useful & versatile & this clear stamp  set comes with 3 sizes of flowers that you can layer - layered flowers was the brief for this workshop.

I was very taken with a technique I had seen Sue Wilson use to make a background so thought I'd have a go too. 

On cream card I blended 3 colours of ink & once dry, stamped the 3 sizes of flowers over the top in clear ink & heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

 I then stamped the 3 sizes of flowers over the top again in clear ink but this time heat embossed with white embossing powder. This technique creates a lovely layered & textured background which I then cut down to mat onto cream & then turquoise card. 

I then layered this onto a piece of cream card around which I had stamped the flowers in brown ink.

 Onto the offcuts of my background sheet I stamped & embossed more flowers, cut them out & layered them together & attached them to my card along with some stamped leaves & beige ribbon to co ordinate.

I then stamped the sentiment in brown ink on cream card, cut it into a banner & distressed  it around the edges.

I tucked & glued it under the flower, & curled it slightly to add dimension before glueing into place.

I finished the card by adding some pearl gems & stamping inside the card. 

Hope you like the finished result, I'll be back with another project soon using the same set of stamps.

Thanks for following & leaving your comments which are always much appreciated.

Amy x 

Window Basket of Flowers

Hello all!

 Sorry I've not posted anything for a while. It's mainly due to my Mum (& business partner) having a weeks holiday plus staff being on holiday.This means more hours for me working in the shop to cover for them & fitting those hours around my 3 year old & getting workshops organised plus all those boring everyday things we all have to fit in too like housework!.

Surprisingly, I have managed to get a bit of crafting done in between (pictures to follow shortly), & had a weeks holiday myself too which was lovely.

 

Anyway, this week we had another Out Of The Blue card making workshop.

We decided to use some Tonic dies, the Domed Window & Window Basket.

We have only just started stocking Tonic products in the shop so Mum & I thought a good way of introducing them to our crafters would be by using them for one of our workshops.

 

After having a play around here is the project I came up with for my half of our group to make.

 

Having made the purple version first, I thought it would look good made in other colour ways too & thought my ladies might like to choose which of these two options they were going to make.

 

The background is embossed using the Creative Expressions Heart Lattice embossing folder & I've rounded the corners using the Tonic corner punch to match in with the domed shape of the window frame. I've used spotty paper behind the frame & also some clear acetate to give the effect of glass, although my pictures don't really show this clearly.

 

The Tonic Window Basket die not only cuts the basket but also the leaves that I've used on my cards. It also cuts a row of small flowers to fit behind the basket but I decided not to use that. Instead I cut some flowers from assorted spellbinders dies & used some punches. These were then inked & layered together & finished with some cosmic shimmer pearlescent pva dotted in the centres.

 

 

 

 

Here are some pics of some of our regular crafters hard at work!

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

And here's our crafty friend Carole, obviously enjoying herself too!

 



 

Our ladies really enjoyed making their cards & we sold out of the Window Frame Die straight away!

 

Here's some of their creations

 

 

That's it for today.  I'll be back soon with another card made using this die.

 

Thanks for stopping by & please do feel free to leave a comment, it's much appreciated.

 

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

 

 

Amy x 

 





 

 

 

All You Need Is Love - Beatlemania!

Hello there my crafty friends & a big 'Hello' to my new follower Sharon.

 Thank you for joining me & taking the time to see what crafty projects I've been creating.

It's very exciting when someone new joins us!

 

 Hope you all had a good week last week? Mine was full of all things Beatles. Might seem a bit odd but let me explain.

Every year we hold a festival in Chipping Sodbury over the space of a week. The local community are encouraged to join in & attend the various events taking place in the town & the week ends with a street procession led by a carnival princess & decorated floats & a 'Last night of the proms'.

 The local businesses are all asked to join in by decorating their windows with the theme of the festival which this year was Beatlemania to celebrate 50 years of The Beatles.

 

Here's a few pics of my window display

 

 

As you can see, we won second prize in the Best Dressed Window competition!

 

Carole & I held an afternoon workshop on Friday & the card design was based on one of The Beatles songs. Carole came up with the design for this workshop & we used a stamp by Crafty Individuals that was perfect for the theme. The stamp had jumped out at me when we were on the Crafty Individuals stand at the NEC trade fair back in February, so we knew straight away this was the song we would be basing our design around.

The stamp was used to create the heat embossed background, the stopper on the base of the card & the flower which was cut with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die, this has become a firm favourite of mine.

 

Here's the card we made at our workshop

We also used the Creative Expressions Heart Lattice A4 embossing folder

 (like gold dust to get hold of at the mo!) 

All our ladies really enjoyed the workshop & the new ladies who attended did a great job even though they'd never used any of the techniques before & I'm pleased to say a few more spaces on our regular workshops got booked up as a result!

 

Having made the above card, I couldn't help use the same layout to create a couple more.

I couldn't resist adding a bit of black soot distress ink to this one & although I really like the effect, I think for a 'love' themed card it may be a bit dark.

 

We had just had a new Creative Expressions delivery in the shop, & I thought this heart stamp would fit the theme too, so I added a bit of  red & some roses to the mix ( although it looks a bit orange in the pics!) & I think this is my favourite.



  

 

Well, thanks again for taking the time to look at this long post today!!

I'm off up to the shop now to change my window display & looking at how sunny it is already today, I think I might melt in the process!

Later on I'll be preparing all the bits & pieces for our next workshop tomorrow evening which will be the same project as my previous post.

 

See you soon

 

Amy x

 

Beside the Seaside

Morning all, hope the sun is still shining on you all? Looks like it's going to be another beautiful day here, hopefully it will still be nice tomorrow on my day off too. Although some of my Sunday will be spent preparing my latest window display in the shop so technically I'll still be working.

 

My card today is the design my half of our Card making workshop group made at this Thursday evening's class. A bit of a seasidey theme with a hint of vintage.

We used the 'Beside The Seaside' stamp from Crafty Individuals.

 

 

I knew I wanted the beach huts to be in the background some how, so after playing around with Labels Seventeen Spellbinder this is what I came up with.

I cut the two pieces of card, one with a fold to form a hinge to attach to the other. I then die cut the frames into them so they pop up. I did this by only having half the die on the cutting plate & the rest over lapping the edge so that only half of the shape cuts. ( I hope this makes sense!)

I then cut & embossed the frames fully to go over the top, & inked them with peacock feathers, mustard seed & brushed corduroy distress inks.

The background was spritzed with cosmic shimmer spays in mango & Egyptian blue & these were also used to colour the crochet ribbon strips.

The images were stamped in black ink & heat embossed with clear embossing powder & then coloured with water colour pencils & blended.

I finished with a few shells from my current nautical display in the shop!

 This is Karen's finished card

 

 This is Leanne with her version of Carole's design

 

 And this is a close up of Leanne's finished card, she was really chuffed!

 

These two cards were made by two new ladies to our group who had never tried any of the techniques we used at all before. They enjoyed themselves a lot & I'm pleased to say they have booked up to come along to our classes again.

I think they did a great job!

 

As always, thanks for stopping by.

 Your comments are much appreciated & I really enjoy reading them.

 

 

Amy x