Tags Galore

I've been desperate to catch up on some tags all week and this morning have managed to do two, Wow! that's good for me. Only problem is they are both late for what they are intended for, still I'll post them anyway.

The first one is for last weeks Tag It On challenge which was Blue Moon. Sorry it's late Frankie!


I masked the moon and dabbed baby blue eyes blue gold and wisteria purple blue (don't they have fantastic names) starburst stains all over the tag and let it dry. The Crafty Individuals trees were stamped in brilliance blue and embossed with holographic powder and a colourbox dark blue and clear EP to give a bit of depth.


I then worked darker ink over the top of the tag and shaded the moon and hand drew some clouds with pencil. Lastly I went over the top of the tag with Frosted Forget Me Nots Starbust stain to get the glimmer back. For some reason this stain has lost it's blue but it's great for applying glimmer when you don't want any colour.

The second tag is a take on Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. If you haven't seen them yet, have a look, he's doing some amazing stuff again this year.


I think this was Tag 7 which was all about masking. I've used my own Santa stamp which is one I've had for ages and not really used. It's been rediscovered again this year though. He was stamped in Graphite black Brilliance and clear embossed. The swirls were then stamped with white acrylic paint and left to dry thoroughly. Peeled paint Distress ink was applied and a red pigment ink (unfortunately I don't have a red DI yet!!) and then the white swirls were buffed to remove the ink from them.

I added a gold embossed greeting but it looked terrible so I added some more swirls and gold embossed those to disguise it. I think looking at the whole thing I should have stamped the image at the top and put the greeting at the bottom. What do you think?

Well it's not a patch on Tim's who had stickles and music on his as well but at least I've managed to have a go.

I hope your week is going well so far.

Thank you as always for your wonderful comments, I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading them, they are so much appreciated.

Butterflies

I hope you are all having a great weekend and enjoying Father's Day. We have been quite relaxed. It was our local Carnival yesterday so we went to watch the parade with some friends and then ambled home eating ice cream and were invited into a lovely garden for coffee on the way. What a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. I then indulged in watching Mamma Mia for the hundredth time last night and now wish I was on a secluded Greek island soaking up the sun!!!!
Oh well a girl can dream!!

Now back to reality. In between tag making and card making to post on here I always have a scrapbook page on the go. I don't always show them too you because we are a shy family and I don't want to post the photos which is why you just get bits of them and only the full layouts when they of objects!!!!

Today is no exception. I have at last used the crafters workshop butterfly stencil on a layout that my lovely blog friend Sally included in her blog candy a few months ago.

I made my own background paper by spritzing with starburst stains and then drew the stencil with a soft pencil and went over it with pastel Whispers felt tip pens and just coloured parts of it in.

The photos were of a visit to a butterfly house so I stamped some of the lovely Butterfly Beauties from Stampendous using distress inks and cut them out giving them gem bodies and used these as my embellishments along with a few flourishes from the same set. I didn't want to cover up the background too much so didn't add anything else apart from the title, which I did on acetate and a bit of journalling which was cut from a nestability.

I really enjoyed using the stencil and will have to think of more ways to include it, thank you again Sally.


Before I go I must also say a lovely thank you to Kate who sent me these 2 lovely awards. I shall wear them with pride and would like to pass them on to my following blog friends, all of which are a great inspiration and always full of encouragement.
Sally
Lynne K
Jill
Karen
Jill (the stampman)
Brenda
Michelle
and
Debbie
and if anyone else would like them, please feel free to help yourselves.

A Beautiful Bunch of Flowers

Well it may be a wet Saturday, but I've just been given a lovely ray of sunshine from Brenda at Floral Fantasies who has given me this beautiful bunch of yellow Honeysuckle, because we share the same love of flowers and nature. Isn't it just lovely. Thank you so much Brenda. I shall display them with pride.

It seems to be a perfect crafting day, much too wet to get in the garden so before I go and make a mess I thought I'd share another card from that box of paper I found.

The main backing paper on this one was a print from the glimmer screen once I'd used it for a mask. There is always such a lot of ink on them it seems a shame to waste it and I got several prints of varying amounts, I inked round the edge of this with chestnut whisper ink just to finish it off.

The other piece of background paper was made by wiping the chestnut ink over a plain piece of card and then edging it with the bluey green ink and stamping a flourish with the same colour.


I used the same colours on the stampboard and the stamp was from Creative Individuals. I scrapped back some of the ink to give it a bit of a 3d effect.

The greeting was from a Prima build a swirl set and I added the gems as a finishing touch.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.

Scorching Saturday

Hasn't it been HOT!!!!!! What a gorgeous day. Hope it's been as good for everyone else.

I've done absolutely nothing today apart from pottering in the garden, filling a paddling pool (again), drinking coffee with my Sister-In-Law and reading a book. What bliss.

It's now 10pm and I shall do a bit of crafting with a cool glass of wine-does that sound tempting?

I have managed to finish a few more cards with that box of glimmer misted papers I found last week, so I thought I'd share another one with you tonight.


I had sprayed the background with starburst stains and already stamped a blue fern on this one, but it didn't really work and had been left in the box so I decided to change the colour scheme and stamped other Artylicious meadow flowers in a green and then the main one in fuchsia pink. I then inked up a piece of stampboard in the same blue as the background and stamped the same flower in the pink and just placed it on top to give it another dimension. The edges of the stampboard were sanded back to make them stand out.

I stamped the main white card with the same flowers but in a paler blue ink and just added the sentiment and some blue organza ribbon.


The main stamped image has a lovely golden sheen to it when the light catches it from the starburst stains.

This was definitely a case of leaving something alone when it was not working and coming back to it with fresh eyes.

Thanks for looking and have a great Sunday.

Bits and Pieces

While I was hunting in the cupboard under the stairs for the cushions for the outdoor chairs I discovered a box full of bits of glimmer misted paper that I did ages ago but had never got round to doing anything with.

This got my creative juices flowing and I spent the afternoon yesterday trying to make something out of them. This is all I came up with.... but at least it's a start!

The background was a butterfly glimmer screen sprayed with a mixture of buttercup Crafty Notions spray and a green starburst stain for the shimmer, not sure of the shade now. I edged it with chestnut whisper ink.

For the first piece of stampboard I traced the pattern of the butterfly and then painted it with the sprays but in the opposite colours to the sprayed version. This was edged with Kangaroo Moon glow powder and I traced the pattern with a green stardust pen. It was then embossed with clear powder.


The second square was painted with the same inks and then sanded back and the message stamped on in stazon.

The colours are not the ones I usually reach for but they matched the sunshine of the last few days and I was quite pleased with the end results.

Now, what can I do with all the rest of the pile!!!!!

Flower Power

We got up to an absolutely beautiful day here, clear blue skies and warm spring sunshine. You could almost see the flowers opening. I took my mug of tea out and sat in the garden this afternoon and it was bliss to feel warm sun on your face. I hope it was as good where you are.

Well back to crafty things.

I managed another cuttlebugging card, this time using the build a flower embossing folder and dies. I thought just using 3 petals looks a bit like a tulip so I wiped pink brilliance ink over and then used pink gems to create a stalk. The background is sprayed with Amaryllis Burgundy Starburst stain which leaves a lovely gold sheen when it dries and then I stamped a butterfly all over with crimson brilliance ink and used that again for the greeting.

I seem to be a bit cuttlebug obsessed at the minute. I think it must be time for a change!