Mini Album

I started making this cutesy, little mini album at Amy Shaw's workshop a few weeks ago.  I finally got round to printing off photos and adding the finishing touches.  The album is for a friend to remind her of her fab 50th birthday party:

Inside each page is a coordinating tag for the photos:

Have a good week xx



Ships ... Friendship ... and ... Mica

On Saturday, I went to a Creative Expressions workshop with the fabulous Maria Simms.  It was such a nice change to make cards for men and a real eye-opener to be shown that you can still use Mica powders and Cranberry ink for men's cards too!

The first card uses Espresso, Cranberry, Versamark and gold Mica powder:

The second creation is a fabulous box frame card.  I've never made anything like this before and I am delighted with it.  I'm not sure I will be able to part with this one!

The final card uses a different colour scheme - Denim ink, silver and Aqua Lagoon Shimmer Mist:

I learnt so many new techniques at Maria's workshop and I cant wait to use them on my own projects in the future.

Hope you're enjoying the Easter hols - despite the rain :)



Workshop Cards

Just a quick post to share some lovely cards I made at Amy Shaw's workshop last Sunday. We used a Snowflake stamp set by Stampendous that was ours to keep - how cool is that?

The aim of the workshop was 'one stamp ... six ways' (yes, we made SIX cards in 2.5 hours!!!)

One:

 Plain and simple stamping with a touch of Stickles.

Two:

 Stamping, a touch of Stickles and velum.

Three:

 Embossing with Kaleidascope embossing powder.

Four:

 Using Gilding Flakes.

Five:

 Triple embossing.

Six:

Alcohol ink background.

It was a fab workshop, made even more fabulous by a plentiful suppy of choccies and coffee ... cant wait for the next one!

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend xx 

Workshop in Chorley

Just a quick post to share some cards I made at Amy Shaw's workshop yesterday.  We made cards in the morning and scrapbook pages in the afternoon.  I had a lovely time meeting new people and trying new techniques.  I've never ventured into scrapbooking so to say I was outside my comfort zone is an understatement!!  However, Amy was always on hand to offer advice and I'm quite pleased with the results :)  You'll have to wait to see the scrapbooking pages though, as I still have a couple of finishing touches to do.

Onto the cards now, they were all made using the Ruffled Bloom rubber stamp set by Stampendous and this set was free with the workshop - yay!!

Card One - corrugated kraft card, 3D flower  (excuse the smudged Stickles - don't trust me with Stickles Amy!!):

Card Two - background and greeting stamped with Distress Inks, greeting mounted with 3D foam:

Card Three - stamped in a circle, using masks, to make a wreath:

 Card Four - stamped with Memento inks, ribbon added:

Here is the stamp set:

Amy also had some crafty stash to buy on the day, so I just HAD to have a nosy!  I was very controlled though and only bought what I REALLY needed!!!

Check out this cool water bag, it can double up as a pen/tool holder.

I'll be back to share the scrapbook pages as soon as they're finished :)

Have a lovely week xx

Clarity Workshop

I had a fabulous time yesterday at Maria Simms' Claritystamp workshop in Preston. We made three totally different cards using the Butterfly Montage stamp and the stamp was included in the price - what a bonus!

First Card

Second Card

Third Card

After plying Maria with Tunnock's Teacakes (mmmm) she also showed me some basic techniques using the brayer.  Here are my first attempts at brayering (is that a word?):

I am so pleased with my first attempts!  Although it's not perfect, the reflection, sky with moon and dappled water turned out better than I expected.

And the Bouncing Brayer technique used for this background is so effective :)

I cant wait to do more brayering ... watch this space!!

Paint Fusion workshop

On Saturday I went to a Paint Fusion workshop with the lovely Sheena Douglass.  It was a lovely day, filled with laughter, coffee, messy fingers and cake!

I'm so pleased with the results as I never thought I would be able to produce projects that look this good :)

My first project was a tag - I learnt how to make the crackle background and age it with distress inks ...

... and then it was on to the stamping and painting!  I finished off the tag by embossing each of the sides with Sheena's Wow powder - it really is extremely sparkly!

Next, I made a topper using an embossed bouquet stamp.  I learnt how to build up the background colours and how to paint the leaves and make the pretty pastel flowers: 



After lunch, I decorated a piece of pre-crackled mountboard with the Sheena's Daisy stamp.  This can now be used as a card topper or even a fridge magnet!

My final project was to decorate a candle.  I didn't even know you could stamp straight onto candles!

I loved the textured look of the paint on the candle: 

This will make a fabulous Christmas/birthday present ... I will definitely be decorating more candles - in fact, I just bought some today!!

Have a lovely weekend and I hope the sun shines for you :)

Distress Techniques workshop at Dawn Bibby Design Studio

I had such a fabulous time at Jane's Distressing workshop at Dawn Bibby's Design Studio on Saturday! I learnt so many new techniques and met some great people :)

Card 1:

This card has several layers: ripped green card; background image; frame with acetate window ...

... the background image has rivets (added with a 'boinger'!!) and distressed flowers and ribbon. The frame and image were scrumpled into a tight ball and distressed with Distress Ink. The edges were smeared with a glue-stick and embossed with gold embossing powder.

I love the random effect achieved this way.

Card 2:

The frame and image were distressed the same way as Card 1 (except embossing). I used alcohol ink on embossed foil. I used it to make corners.

Card 3:

No scrumpling this time! The edges of the papers were distressed with Distress Ink. The edge of the green paper were misted with water and rolled between thumb and finger, then heated to set.

The 'roll' and edges of the papers and image were embossed with gold using a glue-stick. Black ribbon was threaded through eyelet holes and die-cut butterflies were added.

I now know that 'distress' isn't just inking the edges!!

Thank you for looking x

Darkroom Door Workshop

I had such fun yesterday - I went to Dawn Bibby's Design Studio for a Darkroom Door Workshop. And the workshop was delivered by none other than Rachel Greig, one of the founders of Darkroom Door.

We made four cards using some fantastic stamps from the Paris collection:

Here are the cards in more detail:

Stamped onto glossy card, coloured with Marvy Le Plume pens and mounted. Simple but extremely effective.

This card was made using a Grungeboard shape and distressing the edges of the image and sentiment. I've never used Grungeboard before but I'm pretty sure it wont be long before I have some in my stash!

Another first for me - Alcohol Inks!! I coloured the glossy card with alcohol inks and then stamped over it with the Montmarte stamp. The background card was stamped with a ticket stamp in Sepia.

For this card, I stamped the Eiffel Tower image twice, distressed the backgrounds and then cut out one of the Towers. This was simply mounted on 3D foam. Finally, I added Glossy Accents to the Paris postmark to give it definition. Stunning!

I cant wait for my next workshops!!

Have a nice weekend xx