Tag Fragments (By Judith & Lesley)

Hi there, today is a joint contribution between Judith and myself.  A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to have a play day together and in between the catching up chat you have with a friend you haven't seen for a little while we managed to get a little inky! Strangely enough we both started to use the same colours on a tag and so decided that we would do a tag swap. And here are the results.

So first we have Judith's tag. I coloured the background with Distress inks in Shabby Shutters, Squeezed Lemonade and Dried Marigold, splashed water over the top and patted dry with kitchen towel to give a partially faded look. Then Judith took over.

• To make the tag stamp the raindrops from Seasonal Fragments with Potting Shed Archival ink. 
• Next stamp the Snake's Head Fritillary and Honey Bees on to a self adhesive label with Versafine Black Onyx. Colour with pencils of your choice (Judith used Polychromos) and fussy cut. 
• To finish add die cut corners, tinted with the same Distress inks as the background or stencil a similar image with the inks. Remove the backing from the images and stick into place. 
• Finally stamp the phrase from the See Beauty clear stamp set with Black Onyx. 

For my tag Judith dabbed some Acrylic Wax randomly over the tag and then sponged the same Distress inks over the top. She then used kitchen roll to polish the tag, thereby removing the ink from the wax to leave her faded background. Here is what I did next.

• To make the tag stamp one of the floral style images from Seasonal Fragments three times on to 160gsm cardstock with Dried Marigold.  
• Use a water brush to paint over the images with Squeezed Lemonade.and when dry cut around all three images, cutting one of them slightly smaller than the others. 
• For the flower centres die cut three circles, two x 30mm and one x 15mm, stamp them with the image from Rustic Fragments using Versafine Olympia Green and colour with watercolour pencils in several shades of yellow and orange (I used Aquarelles). 
• To give the effect of meadow grass stamp the image from Rustic Fragments along the bottom edge of the tag using Olympic Green. 
• Stamp the images again on smooth white paper and choose three parts of the image to make stems for the flowers. Colour with Shabby Shutters and when dry cut out and stick to the tag with wet glue. 
• To complete, attach the centres to the flowers with glue gel and then the flowers to the stems with wet glue. Stamp the phrase from Amazing Birthday with Olympia Green.

It is so interesting to see that, although Judith and I completed our tags over 200 miles apart, we have both focused on a flower theme. I hope you like our joint designs, it is really good fun to start a project and then had it over to a crafty friend to finish.

Thank you for joining us today and I hope you come back soon to see some gorgeous projects created by the Design Team using the new Birds of Paradise stamps.

Mixing and matching (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a project to show you today using the Sewing Room/Floral Mannequins multi-buy stamp set plus the Dressmaking Collage clear stamp. I have combined these stamps with an older stamp set: Haberdashery, to create a collaged card.

I started to make my background by stamping the buttons in two corners of a piece of watercolour paper using Versafine Onyx Black ink. I coloured the images with pencils, and then painted the images with Acrylic Wax. I spritzed two pieces of tissue paper with red and orange Dylusions spray, crumpled them up, and dabbed the background to create a mottled effect.

I stamped and embossed the silhouette mannequin onto the background, and then stamped and embossed the floral bodice onto a spare piece of card. I coloured the bodice using water based markers and a water brush. I coloured another piece of card firstly with orange and red inks and stamped and embossed the lace flower twice, which I cut out and layered together. I then coloured the card with Scattered Straw Distress Ink to create a little banner for the sentiment.

I added some background stamping using one of the border images, and finally added some hand drawn stitching, before placing the background onto a black card blank.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Blue and Gold (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a card to show you today using the Sketchy Doodle Landscape/Flowers Multi-buy stamp set.

I started my card by colouring a piece of smooth watercolour paper using Distress Inks in shades of blue and Lilac. I misted the background with water once I had finished, and left it to dry. I mixed some Acrylic Wax with gold mica powder, and applied it through a Joggles stencil. I then used the same stencil and Distress Ink to complete the background.

I embossed several flowers and some leaves onto different shades of blue vellum, using Versamark and gold embossing powder, before cutting them out. I arranged them onto the background, and stuck them down with adhesive. Finally, I chose a dark blue card to mat the background onto.

Keep checking back for more inspirational projects from my Design team mates over the coming days. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Chalk and Cheese (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have really been enjoying working with the current stamps of the month, Sketchy Doodle Landscape/Flowers Multibuy, and my samples today are no exception. I wanted to show you the versatility of these stamps, and hopefully I have shown that with the following projects.

I chose to make a set of pastel cards for my first project, and began by masking the top and bottom of the cards, leaving a large strip of the card exposed across the centre. I poured a bit of Acrylic Wax onto a craft mat, and using a piece of cut 'n' dry, I applied the wax onto my stamp. I stamped the image randomly across the card, reapplying the wax to the stamp each time. I cleaned the stamp immediately I had finished stamping the images. Once the wax was dry, I covered the area with Memento ink, choosing soft pastel shades on each card. The wax acted as resist, so that the images were visible through the ink. I removed the masks, and stamped a sentiment onto each card from the Amazing Birthday stamp set using black ink. I stamped some of the butterfly and dragonfly images using Versamark and white embossing powder onto vellum and cut these out, before attaching them to the cards.

My next project was created using a piece of MDF as a base, which I painted with gesso. I added a honeycomb diecut and some lace, which I also painted with gesso.

I embossed several of the sketchy flowers using Versamark and white embossing powder onto a textured card, and cut them out. I added some dark brown die cut pieces, the flowers, and some gessoed metal flowers and butterflies to the board. I layered several of the sketchy flowers up, and added jewellery findings to them, which had been gessoed as well. I sprayed the whole piece with a mixture of blue and lime Dylusion sprays, which I had decanted into mini misters. I wanted a finer spray, without the big droplets that you sometimes get from the normal spray bottles. Finally, I added a bit of gilding wax here and there for a bit of metallic sheen.

I had lots of spray left on my craft mat after this project, so I decided to create a 'mop up' project using some of the left over flowers that I had. So, I dipped a tag through the inks, and also some of the white flowers. I stamped a sentiment from the Rose stem script stamp set over the background using Memento ink. I die cut some leaves from the scrap white card, and added some sari material to the top of the tag.

 I hope that I have given you lots of ideas with these stamps, and that you will have as much fun as I have had. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Valentine Rose (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a project to show you today using the Punky Hearts stamp sheet, currently on offer on the website.

I began my project by stamping and masking the punky rose on a piece of smooth watercolour paper. I then covered the background with a stencil, and using a light brown inkpad, I coloured through the stencil. With the stencil still in place, I stamped the crackle stamp from the Echoes of Italy stamp set all over the background, using a darker brown ink. I stamped the image onto scrap paper each time first, so that I got a lighter image. This is called 'second generation stamping', as I did not want the ink to be too dark. Once the ink was dry, and with the stencil still in place, I brushed a layer of acrylic wax over the top, and allowed this to dry.

I removed the stencil, and covered the rest of the background with a soft lilac, and then added a darker colour around the edges. The wax acts as a resist, protecting the area that was covered earlier. I buffed the wax areas, to remove any of the lilac ink, and the contrast between the two areas became much sharper.

I removed the mask from the rose, and coloured the image using co-ordinating dye ink stamped onto an acrylic block, which I picked up with a waterbrush. I picked out the 'metal' areas of the rose using a gold pen. I added a die cut sentiment, and matted the project onto green card.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

The Beautiful Briny Sea (posted by Lesley)

For my first post using the gorgeous new Steampunk marine themed stamps I wanted to create the illusion of sea foam and bubbles and a great way of doing this is to use Acrylic Wax. This product is manufactured by the company that created Brusho. It is a white fluid that dries clear and is water and heat resistent and was actually developed to use with fabrics, but I have been putting it through it's paces with paper and cardstock.

This is a slightly longer post than normal as I want to explain how you can achieve this technique.

• Squeeze out a small amount of Acrylic Wax onto a piece of scrunched up kitchen roll and randomly dab across a blank cardstock tag. To try and achieve the sea foam effect I dabbed across the tag in four places, applying more or less wax as I went. TIP: Make sure you don't cover the entire tag or you will not be able to apply any colour. Set aside to dry thoroughly. Depending on how thickly you have applied the wax this can take up to an hour. You know when it is ready because you should be able to rub your finger over the surface without it feeling tacky.
• Next apply the colour using either brushes, sponges or Cut 'n' Dry Foam. I used Distress inks in Mustard Seed, for the sand, Peacock Feather in the middle and finished at the top with Broken China. Allow the ink to dry and then buff the whole tag with kitchen roll. 

• Because the wax acts as a resist it sealed in the plain colour of the tag underneath and only taken on the distress inks where there was no wax. For a more subtle, distressed, worn looking background apply a much thinner layer of wax, using a stroking rather than dabbing action.
• The seahorses are from Steampunk Funky Fish and they were stamped onto self adhesive labels using a Memento inkpad, coloured with alcohol markers and then finished off with coloured pencils. 
• To add interest to the bottom of the sea I stamped the coral edge stamp from Seaside Dreams using Archival ink in Orange Blossom. To get the faded appearance of the image I did second generation stamping i.e. stamped it first onto copier paper and then onto the tag.
• Finally the seahorses were cut out, stuck into place and a jumbo brad was attached at the top of the tag to finish.

I hope you get the feeling of bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea (a line from the song in the film Bedknobs and Broomsticks) and that you may be inspired to play with the Acrylic Wax.

Thanks for stopping by and watch out for more delicious creations from the girls.