Another animal card - I love these stamps!

Here is my third creation with Sam Poole's animal stamps.  For this one I have used Nutkin Squirrel.

The base of my card is made from Centura Pearl brown cardstock.  I stamped Sam's Feathers A6 Rubber Stamp with Versamark and heat embossed with gold embossing powder on a piece of Centura Pearl hint of gold card stock.  At the same time I stamped the sentiment and heat embossed that too.  I stuck this on the brown card.  I then cut the largest die from Spellbinders Nestabilities Card Creator: Branching Out from some green pearlised cardstock that I had in my stash.  I layered this onto the feathers piece.  I used another piece of brown card to emboss with the tree bark embossing folder shown on my previous post with Hoot the Owl which I used gold gilding wax on.  I layered this on top of the die cut piece.  

I stamped Nutkin with brown Versafine and used clear embossing powder to heat emboss.  I painted him using a mixture of two of the new  Cosmic Shimmer pearl, bronze and gold paints.  I used Sepia Glossy Accents to make a 3D eye and when dry I added a black dot for his pupil on the top with a black Sharpie pen.  I was really pleased with how this worked.  I used foam pads to raise him up before attaching him to the card.

I made the three acorns out of Martha Stewart White Clay and the  Martha Stewart Woodland Molds.  The link takes you to Oyster Stamps where the clay and molds are really good prices.  I much prefer to use the white clay for everything and paint it rather than mixing the coloured clays into the white as I feel that the effect is much better.  I painted the acorns with Pebeo acrylics when they were air dry.  When the paint was dry I used Crafters Companion Spray and Shine High Gloss Varnish  to make them shiny.  

I cut some leaves out of three colours of felt with Tim Holtz's Sizzix Bigz Die - Tattered Leaves.  This is a great die and you can also get a matching embossing folder to use if you are cutting them from paper which is great.  I stuck the leaves to the bottom right hand corner of the card and stuck two acorns on the top and the third in Nutkin's hand.  

I cut the sentiment out into a flag shape and used 3D foam to give some dimension.

I hope you like!  Thanks for stopping by and saying 'Hi!'

Sam Poole's fantastic new animal stamps!

I've been having great fun with these new stamps from Sam Poole.  They are very reminiscent of children's book characters.  Being a child at heart myself, I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them!  You can find them on Sam's website: Hoot the Owl, Nutkin the Squirrel and Mr Bear.  Those are the three I have used in the cards that I will post today and tomorrow.  There is also a rabbit, fox and mouse that I need to play with next!  I need to buy the fox at Ally Pally tomorrow!!!

Here's my first card made with Hoot the Owl.

I used some lovely textured gold cardstock that I had in my SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy)! I embossed a sheet of brown Centura Pearl cardstock with Sheena Douglass' woodgrain embossing folder.  I then used gold gilding wax to bring out the grain.  I overlaid a leaves mask onto the green cardstock which is one of the That Special Touch Masks.  I used a Versamark inkpad through the mask and then gilded the leaves.  I used Sheena Douglass' branch stamp over the top and then painted it in with Pebeo acrylic brown paint.  I stamped the Owl and the sentiment in brown Versafine and embossed with detail clear embossing powder.  I painted in the owl with the fabulous brand new Cosmic Shimmer Shimmer paints which are fabulous.  (I have several of the Luminarte silks and wanted to try the new Cosmic Shimmer ones to see how they compare.  I am VERY impressed as they seem to be just as good but are a lot cheaper which is great!)  I cut him out and stuck his feet flat on the branch and 3d foam on his upper body to give some dimension.  I mounted the owl and sentiment on brown Centura Pearl and then added another layer of the gold behind the owl again.  I matted this onto the woodgrain background and then added some grosgrain and ricrac ribbons.  I made an embellishment with a button, some baker's twine and some more ribbons.

Here's my next card made with Mr Bear.

I used Spellbinders Grand Labels One to make my card base and the frame.  I cut the base out of Centura Pearl Brown twice.  I then scored in an inch down one side of one of the pieces to make a flap.  I glued this flap down to the other piece to make the card base. I then made a frame out of mink Centura Pearl.  I cut another piece of stamping card the same size as the outer size of the frame.  I stamped the tree background onto this and again onto another piece of stamping card with brown Versafine.  I then embossed the line with detail clear embossing powder.  I did the same on another piece with Mr Bear. 

I used a couple of different brown H2O colours to paint in the trees, making the tree at the front darker for more definition. When dry, I cut out the front tree from the second piece of card.  I used luminarte silks to paint in the grass by dabbing together two different green shades to give texture.  I then painted in the sky with blues.  To create the moon, I punched a circle of Hint of Silver Centura Pearl cardstock and stuck it down.  I added the front tree over the background trees using 3d foam.    I added a little bit of colour to Mr Bear with Spectrum Noirs EB1 and EB2.  I cut him out and mounted him with thicker 3d foam than I used on the trees to make him stand out more.  I then added some stars using silver Stickles.  I added the mink frame that I had made using 3d foam again (I like my 3d foam to add dimension, it really makes a difference to having flat elements).  

I used the leaf stamp from Sam's set: Woodland Seals to stamp into several molten layers of Cosmic Shimmer Ancient Copper Detail Emboss Powder.  I then used Golden Green Gilding Wax to rub over and bring out the leaf detail.  I made an embellishment with this, some baker's twine and some fab textured  handmade paper ribbons from my SABLE and a bit of Gold Tulle and stuck this on.

I hope that you like my creations and that you have a go at using these stamps as they are fabulous!  

I will be back tomorrow to blog my Nutkin Squirrel card when I get back from Ally Pally!

Thanks for stopping by...please say 'Hi!'

An Easter Tree!

I'm not really into fabric crafting, but I caught a Pinflair show on C&C before Christmas and ended up making some great Christmas baubles.  (Unfortunately these are now packed away for Christmas and I didn't photograph them, never mind... They will be back later in the year).  They have also brought out kits for Easter so I've had a go and am pleased with the result:

There are two types of decorations: Pastel Fabric Pinecones and Sequin Eggs.  The pinecone eggs make up really quickly - I sat and made them in front of the telly.  The smaller sequin ones take a bit longer and are a little bit more fiddly but not difficult.

I hope you like my Easter tree and that it inspires some of you to have a go!

I'll be back tomorrow with some cards that I have made using Sam Poole's new animal stamps that I am in love with!

Another post ... in the same day ... to catch up!!!

So here I am again, adding a few more recent pieces that I have been pleased with.  Here is a card that I made for my Sister's birthday using Sheena Douglass' Oriental stamps: here.  This was inspired by one of the video tutorials and involved stamping the cherry blossom stamps and embossing them on acetate then painting in the reverse using the Pebeo acrylics.  The background was made using Cut & Dry foam with Distress inks.  The coin was stamped into UTEE.  As I said, I cannot take credit for the general design as it's Sheena's but I was really pleased with how it came out as I had never used the acetate technique before!

Here's a thank you card that I made for my parents using Clarity Stamps.  The thank you stamp was from their New Designs Club a few months back but you can get it here now.  The Leafy Swirl stamps used for the background were an old classroom set and the Cat and Bird are from another classroom set.  

I stamped everything in Black Archival, matted and layered with black and burgundy card and used one of my favourites - an 8" scalloped card blank.  I die cut some flat flowers (a fussy 3D one wouldn't have worked with this design) and used an over sized brad in the middle.

I've also been fleathering!  Sheena Douglass is a genius to work out this technique with Glycerine.  You can see how to do it here.  It's been viewed over 16,000 times in a couple of months!  I used the technique to make this picture frame:

The picture frame was about 60p from IKEA which was a bargain!  I used Sheena's A4 Ivy Embossing Folder and Walnut Stain Distress Ink to create the technique. I then wrapped the frame in it using a strong PVA and red line tape to hold it down.  

I made the two corner embellishments using UTEE in my Melt Pot with Martha Stewart Antique Molds I gilded them with Pebeo Wax.  

I was really pleased with this frame, I just need to find an old sepia family photo to put in which I think would work well.

OK, I am off to play with some of Sam Poole's wonderful new woodland stamps now.  I'll be back tomorrow with some more creations!  I'm off work for two weeks so there will be quite a bit appearing.  I will then vow to blog at least once per week!  I hope you enjoy my ramblings!!!

Back on the blogging road!!!!

OK, so I didn't fulfill my New Year's Resolution in any way shape or form...never mind...that's what ends up happening with resolutions!

Anyway, here I am again.  I have taken photos of some of the things that I have done in the last few months and I'll put them on over the next few days, including a few tonight!

First of all is a card that I made to go with the Spellbinders blooms picture that I made using the same dies and cardstock (see details in the post below):

I used a scalloped 8" card blank and matted the piece onto glitter card.  With these blooms pieces I wanted to keep it clean and simple and so I didn't use inks on them. I wanted the leaves to have a bit of movement so I didn't fully glue them down.

Hi all, I have been very slack and not posted for ages.  So...New Year's resolution... blog at least twice a week!  Hopefully it'll last and I will post the new one tomorrow!
Happy New Year to everyone!