Zoe is a little bit crazy, as you can see. She's from Crete and they seem to make feisty females over there!
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Caturday: Zoe
Zoe is a little bit crazy, as you can see. She's from Crete and they seem to make feisty females over there!
Friday, 30 January 2015
What a guy masculine card
This image from Guy Greetings really cracks me up, it’s so silly. For this card I decided to keep things easy… well, easy in one respect. I grabbed the stamp set, along with Gorgeous Grunge, a couple of brown ink pads, my Adventure Bound DSP stack (LOVE this) and my box of Neutrals scraps. The ribbons were already out.
So it may seem remarkable that this card features punching and embossing, too… but it’s amazing what you find in your scraps box when you start digging!
I’ve used my Baked Brown Sugar ink pad rather a lot and it’s beginning to lose its colour so I decided to reink it.
In case you’ve never done this, it’s really easy. All you do is ‘scribble’ over the pad with your reinker. I like to go diagonally across the pad, then do the same the opposite way. Then you take your bone folder, or a palette knife (be careful you don’t slice the foam!) and smooth it over the pad, as if you were icing a cake. Your bone folder may stain (as mine has) so if you have a non-SU plastic one, you may prefer to use that instead.
Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Ways to use Irresistibly Yours DSP (Sale-a-Bration)
I promised to show you several ways to use the new Irresistibly Yours Designer Series Paper and here they are... I’d love to hear of more ways that I haven’t covered if you know any. There is one other way to use this gorgeous paper that I haven’t mentioned... and that’s to leave it completely untouched for a really subtle and classy look. But if you’re looking for subtle and classy, you’ve come to the wrong place!
For those who haven’t yet seen this paper, it’s white with a glossy white pattern, opening up a world of possibilities because most inks will stick only to the matt section. So you apply your colour then polish it with kitchen paper to expose the white pattern again. It’s like magic!
Let’s take a look at the methods I’ve used in more detail. Clockwise, from top left...
Stamp on it
We’re stampers, right? So why not stamp on this fab paper. I particularly like combining methods for this, eg brayering a background on the flowery or leafy pattern, then stamping with Hardwood on top. Here, I’ve simply experimented with stamping some solid flowers and leaves.
Spritz it
I used six drops of reinker in a half-filled spritzer bottle; Coastal Cabana at the top and Old Olive at the bottom. Use more drops (or less water) for a more intense colour. This does take a while to dry but you could speed things up by using alcohol instead of water.
Colour with markers
I tried both kinds and decided this method was probably best for the striped pattern. Both types of marker worked well, although you do need to clean off the glossy areas quickly if you’re using Blendabilities.
Brayer it
Perfect for larger areas and, if you’re after a uniform colour, you can forget all those pesky brayering rules about starting at the edge of the paper and working your way in. Just brayer away until you get colour saturation. If you prefer a graduated look, then you need to remember all those rules about starting off the edge of the paper. Just play around until you get something you like!
Sponge it
Sponge Daubers are perfect striped paper; for other patterns, use an actual sponge. You can sponge just one area, various colours, or do the whole lot. Although, personally, if I was going for a uniform colour, I’d brayer it instead (see above).
DTP (Direct-to-Paper) it
This is a grungier technique but I had fun here creating a night sky using various blue ink pads (Lost Lagoon, Coastal Cabana, Marina Mist). I find the old-style ink pads are easier to use as they slide along the cardstock better. But, for fun, I tried simply dropping the new-style ink pads onto the cardstock, which created quite a pleasing effect.
So, now it’s time to get yourself some Irresistibly Yours DSP - which is FREE with a £45 purchase before the end of March. And don’t forget to let me know if you come up with any more methods of using it! My challenge now, I suppose, is to make all of these pieces of paper into finished projects. Don’t hold your breath!
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Guy Greetings - fill your shoes
Guy Greetings is a great masculine stamp set, with lots of images and words. These shoes are a fun image and I think this would make a great leaving card for a man.
I didn’t have any Candy Dots in Neutrals, so I took my Brights pack and sacrificed the colour I was least likely to use (one of the oranges, if I remember correctly) and coloured them with the darkest pen from the Skin Tones Blendabilities pack.
The design is a CASE of a card by Rachel Brumley, although Rachel used a different stamp, different paper, ribbon instead of the cardstock strip... you get the idea.
Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Guy Greetings: Hats off to you!
I’m not usually drawn to the masculine stamp sets, but something about Guy Greetings made me buy it. The strongmade made me giggle and I really liked the hats image. The great thing about Photopolymer is that it’s really easy to stamp a pattern. I’ve stamped the hats repeatedly to cover a piece of Kraft cardstock to make a fun background. A little bowler hat was cut out and popped up on top of the greeting for a finishing touch.
Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com
Saturday, 24 January 2015
Caturday - Ceefur
Ceefur has been thrown a lifeline and we’re all keeping our fingers very tightly crossed for her. She has been in the care of Woodland Nook Cat Shelter for SEVEN YEARS but now she has been taken home by a lady on a month’s trial, to see if she settles in.
Ceefur is a cat with a background which makes her hard to home. She was abused by a man who wore gloves, making her very defensive and unpredictable. She has calmed down enormously but still, of course, has her moments.
For the past year or so, she has been living in luxury at the cat shelter owner’s boarding cattery, where she has thrived on the peace and quiet and her own room to herself. But she’d be much happier in a real home, so we’re all holding out hope that her trial works out well.
Friday, 23 January 2015
Thursday, 22 January 2015
Big Day Make & Take
Without Pinterest, I’d be nothing. And I found the original idea for this card on Pinterest, created by SU demonstrator Joanna Hooper. I adapted it to suit my huge stack of Coastal Cabana cardstock (I over-ordered last year and am still wading through it!) and simplified it for the Make & Take, because the hostess is so good at pulling in a huge crowd. But I did love the Chalk Marker detail on the original card, so added this for my “stepped-up” version.
This stamp set is proving to be one of the most popular SAB freebies so far, with this paper going down well, too. What people love about the paper is that you can make it any colour you like to match your projects. At my launch, I demonstrated SIX different ways to use this amazing DSP... if I get chance over the weekend, I’ll put some pictures together for you to show you.
Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com
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