Bluebells

 Hi There! So sorry I haven't been around Blog land much for a couple of weeks. I was busy working on samples and then my laptop decided to stop working. It has taken a little while to sort out a new one and install most things, but I am back now, hopefully without having lost too much. It is a bit of a rigmarole to transfer photos from my camera until I get a card reader. My old laptop had a slot the right size but this one doesn't! 

Anyway, here is something I can show you! This is a card made with the latest stamp from Crafty Individuals. It is a stunning bluebell sketch by Jean. This is on a 7"x7" card so you can see the stamp is a really good size. You can find it here.

I stamped it on a background created with Pretty Gets Gritty explosion powders and coloured with arteza metallic watercolours. The sheen really doesn't show in the photo, which is a shame! The base card was stencilled with distress inks (mermaid lagoon, blueprint sketch and wilted violet) and a That's Crafty mandala stencil.

How is it going? I hope you are okay. We are looking forward to being able to go a little further for a walk and meet up with Meg and Grant too. We haven't seen them in the flesh since Christmas.

Thanks for looking!

A snowflake mandala for Bee Crafty

Hi there! I am here with a really simple card using Bee Crafty Products. This sort of card is really useful for posting abroad as it has no extra layers, and can be done reasonably quickly.

Here is what you will need:

The inkable easy frame 6" circle (the circle 'innie' is 4 inches across)

Journalling Girl- Warm (the snowflake and the stars stamps)

Wordage Small Words winter (the snowflake and a sentiment of your choice)

I used Distress oxide inks in broken china, peacock feathers, salty ocean, blueprint sketch and speckled egg.

A 13.5 cm square card blank

Glitter glue/Diamond Stickles (optional)

Pencil and rubber

 First I used the 'innie' from the circle inkable to draw a light pencil circle onto my base card

 Next I took the snowflake stamp from the Warm journalling girl set and stamped alternately along the pencil line with the broken china, peacock feathers and salty ocean Distress Oxide inks. Each time I lined up the central line of the snowflake along the pencil line, almost touching the end of the previous snowflake. Continue until the two ends meet.

 Next stamp the smaller snowflake from the sentiment set around the outside where each snowflake joins the next one. This was using blueprint sketch Distress Oxide ink.

 Using the Speckled Egg oxide ink, stamp the star stamparound the inside of the circle. I placed them at every other join of the snowflakes.

 Stamp the sentiment of your choice with the Blueprint sketch ink in the centre.

 Making sure all the ink is definitely dry, rub out the pencil like carefully.

 Add something sparkly to the centres of the snowflakes and stars - you could use glitter glue, tiny gems or a sparkly gel pen.

 

And here is the finished card. I was really pleased that the dimensions of the stamps and the stencil allowed for this to work so well. The super skinny slims also help to align the stamps perfectly.

Thanks for looking! 

A Bee Crafty mini Journal

 

Make yourself a cuppa and have a read (it is a bit of a long one).  I have had this mini mdf journal in my stash for a long time and thought it was about time that I decorated it and put it to proper use. It is ideally sized to make pages from left over bits of gelli prints and other backgrounds too. 

I used 

mdf mini journal

Mandala 7 inkable 

Art Journal words stamp

 I also used White gesso, modelling paste, acrylic paints, gilding wax, sandpaper, gold posca pen, versamark ink and gold embossing powder. 

This is one of those projects that I have completed over several evenings, not because it is hard to do, but to let it dry properly between each stage. I started off by painting all the mdf on both sides with gesso and leaving to dry.

Then I applied modelling paste through the mandala stencil and left to dry overnight.

I chose 2 colours of chalk finish acrylic paint and dry-brushed it over the mdf on both sides, first the blue...

and then the purple

When that was dry I sanded it down with the sandpaper and then applied some gold gilding wax.

Finally I stamped the words in versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. 

Here is the finished journal, although I will be tying some ribbons to the metal rings and adding more pages.  I have also gone around the edges of the mdf with a gold posca pen.

If you haven't had a play with MDF before I hope this has encouraged you to have a go.

Thanks for looking!

Stamping Sensations challenge for April

Good morning, It's time for our April challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month we are looking for

****Somewhere over the Rainbow****

Rainbows seem particularly apt at the moment as they are seen as symbols of hope, and many children across the uk are drawing rainbows and putting them in their windows to cheer passers by. As the title suggest we would love to see your hand stamped creations that reflect that song or the colours of a rainbow. I am sure you will come up with lots of fabulous designs.

My card this month was made with a woodware stamp and matching stencil. The stencil was sponged over with distress oxide inks and the stamp was coloured with zig clean colour brush markers.  
Our sponsors this month are Be Creative.

Please can I remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image which reflects the theme as the focal element of your artwork , this means:

Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest

 Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous creations from my talented team mates and more details of that prize from Justin and Gordon!
Before I go, Jean Hardy and Crafty Individuals are on Hochanda on Tuesday 7th April at 7am and 1pm. There should be some lovely demos and a chance to see the new stamps and papers as well as oodles of great samples from my teamies.  
Thanks for looking!