Kaleidoscope of Spring Butterflies by Brenda

Morning to you all, the final collection of samples from last month's Hochand shows. 

A Brusho background with a die cut trellis as a base for a kaleidoscope of Butterflies using Butterfly Blush, silhouette stamps are a favourite with me so these Butterflies tick all the right boxes and I make no excuse they are coming up again in the card below.

I used Versafine Clair inks and kiss stamped the Butterflies onto various CB backgroind stamps and fixed into place over he trellis.

For this one I used the circles from Strip Stencil set using DI's to shade the edges then with the stencil still in place stamped worker stamps from Eastern Grasses and Fresh Florals and placed a butterfly over each using the same set and kiss technique as the card above.

Thistle Butterfly takes centre stage in my final card stamped using Distress Markers direct to stamp onto a panel created by masking, inking and stencilling then dragging some of the colour from the image.

Thanks for your visit and kind works of encouragement which are always appreciated.

Really Useful Cards (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I wanted to show you some really useful ideas for cards. We often need a card in a hurry, and need to rustle up some thing in next to no time. Lots of these cards could be made in different colour options, you could make a set of them and give them as a gift to someone.

My first two cards were made using textured linen card, and I blended three colours of Distress Ink over the background first. I used a circle mask to create a sun in the sky. I then stamped the foliage from Eastern Grasses across the top using Versafine Clair ink in a couple of colours. I used first and second generation stamping to create a bit of depth. I added a sentiment from the stamp set using the same inks as before.

 You could make lots of these and just choose your favourite colours, they are quite quick to make, just vary the sentiment to suit the occasion.

I have left the sentiment off the next card, it could be used for any occasion. I chose a large bloom from Fresh Florals and inked it up with two different colours of red Versafine Clair. I stamped the image randomly over a piece of kraft card to create a background. I stamped the poppy image onto an oval of drawing cartridge and coloured the image with Koh-I-Noor watercolour paints. I added a touch of Distress Ink around the edge.

This last card is an older card that I made some time ago, but I thought that I would share it with you again. I used some very thin masking tape across the background and then added Distress Ink inbetween each section. I removed the masking tape and stamped the image onto the panel using black ink. I backed the panel onto black card. I coloured some ribbon with the green Distress Ink, and once it was dry, I stamped the ribbon with the words from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set using black Archival ink.

I hope that you will try some of these ideas for quick cards. Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and take care,

Judith xx

Keeping it Simple

Hello, I am here to share some more of my samples from the February show on Hochanda.

These were all relatively quick to make with some stamping and embossing and a little bit of colouring.

My first piece uses an MDF board which I have covered with Chocolate Baroque Black and White Paper (Series 2) using a gel medium. I'm not sure if these are still available, but Series 3 are!  I have then added some watercolour inks, starting with purple, then blue and green. When it was completely dry I stamped the Carnation from Fresh Florals and a sentiment from Artistic Affirmations and embossed in white.

For my next card I used alcohol inks in shades of purples and blues at the top and greens at the bottom on some yupo paper. I then stamped a dragonfly and a few butterflies from Butterfly Blush using Alcohol Lift ink. I did the same with some of the foliage stamps that were also on the show and added a sentiment from Sow the Seeds.

My next card uses the Daisy stamp from Fresh Florals. I stamped with Archival and used watercolour pencils for the flowers and Distress Ink for the edges. I have added a sentiment from Fly Away with Me.

This card uses two of the foliage stamps from Eastern Grasses. I used my stamping platform and stamped the larger of the stamps first, rotating my card each time. I then used the smaller stamp to fill in the gaps. I coloured the open seed heads with a red glaze pen and added the sentiment to the centre. Very quick, but effective.

My last piece features an accordion style card from a die. I stamped the butterflies and dragonflies from Just Butterflies onto some white card and die cut the panels out and glued onto the card base.

 I love how the stamp sets mix so well with each other.

See you soon

Sandra x

Flowers and foliage by Rachel

 Hello there! Rachel with you today with a second installment of my samples from the February shows. For my first sample today I have painted a ceramic piece with glaze using the Thistle Butterfly and Honeysuckle butterfly stamp sets. Once dry this was overglazed and then fired in the kiln.

In this next sample I used the Eastern Grasses stamp set. I started by creating the background of the card using a light green ink on my stamp. Next I stamped the topper on  a piece of card coloured with inks and layered this onto some black card. Finally I added the stamping on the right hand side using a darker green ink.

My final card was made using the fresh florals stamp set. Firstly I stamped the poppy image onto the left hand side of my card and coloured it using watercolour brush pens. Next I stamped the same image onto black card and painted it using mica powders. Its so shiny! I decided to layer it up using some red felt so its quite a tactile piece. 

Hope you enjoy your day!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

monochrome grasses (by Veronica)

My first post this month shows two cards using the eastern grasses set of stamps, both in monochrome and both 6" square cards.

The base card was stamped with the tall foliage stamp in grey in one corner to make a frame, and edged with black soot distress ink and then the edges  dragged across a black versafine ink pad. The main image was stamped in versamark onto a piece of black card, then embossed in white.

The second card uses the foliage stamp again, this time as the main image. 

The background card was randomly stamped using stamps from make your mark, the small foliage stamp from eastern grasses and the script from ace card and then sponged with black soot distress ink. Once it was dry, the foliage stmap was stamped on one edge using black verafine ink and clear embossed. 

The foliage stamp was stamped onto a piece of black card using white pigment ink then twice more using second generation stamping. Stamped again using versamark ink and white embossed. Edges torn using the new draw and  tear rulers 
 

Easter Cards (by Magda)

Hello girls

Tomorrow we will celebrate Easter in a very different way and here below I want to show you the cards I created for this first post of April

I used Chocolate Baroque  Glorious Spring, Eastern Grasses and Russian Exquisite Egg,
the other items are  Distress Ink Pad, Archival Jet Black,  Versamark, mica and  stencils

I wish you all a Happy Easter and take care, hugs
Magda

April Cards (by Magda)

Hello everyone
this morning I have some quick projects for you made with stamps that Chocolate Baroque demonstrated during the TV shows at the beginning of April

Card with envelope:
For this one I used Dina Wakley White Gesso and Tim Holtz Distress Crayons-Set 1 for the background and Archival Jet Black for stamping the flower of "Wisteria Lane"  on the card and on the envelope. You can find the sentiment "On your Birthday" in Words to Dazzle & Sparkle.

Thank you card:

This time I coloured the flower from the stamp set "Eastern Grasses"with different colours of Distress Inkpad and spritzed it with water before stamping, in order to have a watercolour effect.  The sentiment from the same rubber plate, is stamped with Versafine Onyx Black. 

Napkin rings:

This simple table decoration could be perfect for a summer dinner.  Stamp with Versafine Onyx Black the waterlily of "Serenity" .  Colour the stamp with Aquarelle watercolour pencils and cut out the images.  Use a piece of heavy white cardstock  for creating a napkin ring and colour it with a similar pond colour.  Glue the waterlily on your ring.

I hope you liked the post today and thank you for passing by.

Magda

Eastern Sunrise - by Penny

Morning lovely peeps, it's my turn and my pleasure to bring you today's blog post.  It's a mixed media card that I created for last months 'Eastern' shows, and I've used stamps from the Serenity, Eastern Grasses, Landscape Edges and Artistic Affirmations sets, Distress Inks, black Versafine ink, clear EP, stencils from my stash.

On a piece of white card I stamped and embossed the lady and two lamp images in black, then masked them.  I created the background with Distress Inks, and using a stencil I made a sunrise for the sky then I stamped some trees on the horizon.  The lady is meditating at the edge of a stream or lake so the bottom of the panel is blue and I added some clear paste through a stencil to add texture and movement in the water.

When the paste was dry I removed the masks and coloured the images with pens.  I then added glitter glue to the paste to give a shimmer to the water.




I stamped some floral images and a sentiment onto white card in black ink and embossed them.  I coloured them all in with DIs and cut them out. After matting the background panel onto black card and attaching it to the card I added the florals and the sentiment in 3D. 

This mixed media card is such fun to create, I hope I've inspired you to have a go yourselves.  Just look at your own crafty stash and see what mixed media artwork you can create! 
Thanks for dropping in today, I hope everyone has a great weekend.  You can see more details and pictures on my blog  https://ladypenelopesfabcraftyblogspot.blogspot.com

See you soon,

                                                        Penny

Tranquility (By Marga)

Hello everyone, here I am with a new card I made for one of the TV shows on Hochanda last month.

This time I used liquid ink for the background and I coloured the image with pencils. The stamps in the background I stamped with coloured ink. I used a white gelpen for the accents.

Stamps I used are: Eastern grasses, Tranquility

Hope you liked my card

Hugs Marga

Eastern Dreams by Penny

Goodly morning everyone!  Penny here again with a couple of projects from the 'Eastern' shows last month.  I hope you are all warm and well despite the weather, and that you'll join me for a few minutes of crafty inspiration.  

Tag of the Orient

My first project is a simple, pretty tag using the Eastern Grasses,   Artistic Affirmations, and Serenity stamp sets; Distress Inks, black Versafine ink, acetate, clear embossing powder and a few embellishments and dies from my stash.  

I began by blending the Distress Inks onto a piece of white card and die cutting it in a large tag shape.  I then stamped the grasses in black ink along the bottom  and top edges of the tag and added gold pen around the edges.  I stamped the word 'Dream' near the top of the tag and a little bird beside it.  I then added gold pearldrops around the stamped images.  

I took a piece of acetate and stamped the grasses in a frame image with black ink and embossed it with clear powder.  I cut the acetate into a strip a little bigger than the stamped image and wider than the tag.  I scored the ends of the acetate about a quarter of an inch from the edge of the strip.  I used red double sided tape along the edges of the strip and attached it to the back of the tag.  The acetate forms a dome over the stamped grasses on the tag.  I then matted the tag onto black card and cut around it leaving a border.  I punched a hole in the top centre of the tag and added a Chinese coin and some fibres from my stash.  I also added a clay butterfly that I painted gold, and attached it to the acetate with glitter glue. 

To finish this tag off I added a little black glitter glue to the flowers for extra sparkle and texture.  This tag makes a lovely piece of home decor or a present.


   

Oriental Garden

For my second project I have a mixed media card featuring stamps from the Serenity and  Artistic Affirmations sets; Distress Inks, Versamark ink, gold embossing powder, alcohol pens, gold pen and liquid pearls and a stencil from my stash.


I began with a piece of white card and blended Distress Inks on it.  I then took my stencil which happened to be Oriental themed and added one of the inks through it, giving a subtle layer on top of the background.  I added gold pen around the edges of the card. 

The next stage was to make the focal elements.  I stamped the serene lady and some foliage onto white card and embossed them in gold.  I used the same inks to colour the images as on the background panel, except for the lady's skin which I coloured with pens.  I then carefully cut all the images out, including the background of the lady.  

 

I took a white base card and used one of the inks to stamp some foliage and little swirls along both sides of the front of the card.  I finished it off by blending the same ink around the edges. 

I stamped a word  in one of the top corners of the background panel using black Versafine, then added gold pearl drops around it.  I then matted the panel onto black card and attached it to the base card.  I took the embossed focal images and attached them in 3D onto the card, and added some more pearl drops.

I wanted to create a calm, soothing scene for this card, with the serene lady in the cool calm garden.  I absolutely LOVED creating with these stamps, I hope you do too! 

Thanks for popping in today, another of my teamies will be here with more lovely artwork tomorrow.

Crafty hugs,

                                                             Penny      

Fabric Stamping (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have some projects to share with you today incorporating fabric. I really like to add some texture into my projects whenever I can, as it adds a bit of interest and makes the project look and feel quite expensive, for very little cost. I demoed these three projects on last month's TV shows on Hochanda, and I hope that you managed to watch Lesley and I in action.

To create the first card, I cut some small pieces of cotton fabric, and put some Distress Ink onto a craft mat, which I spritzed with water. I patted the fabric into the ink, moving it around to blot up the ink. I added more ink and water if necessary to get a good coverage of the fabric, but was happy to leave some areas uncoloured. I left the pieces of fabric to dry by themselves.

I frayed the edges of each piece of fabric, and stamped a silhouette image from one of the stamp sets: Tranquility, Serenity, Wisteria Lane or Eastern Grasses, and added a sentiment as well. I chose words from Artistic Affirmations, Amazing Mackintosh Words, and Words to Dazzle and Sparkle. I used Archival black ink to stamp all of the images onto the fabric, leaving the stamp on the fabric slightly longer than I would on card or paper, to allow the ink to grab onto the fabric. You do not need to press any harder.

I attached the fabric pieces to a piece of black card before matting them onto a card blank. A little button with paper string tied through was a finishing touch to each card.

For my next card, I created a paint swatch effect by masking sections of a piece of cartridge paper, and inking three toning colours of Distress Ink. I stamped the silhouette image from the Eastern Grasses stamp set onto the piece of card.I matted the panel onto black card before adding the panel to a piece of linen card.

I coloured a piece of cream ribbon with Distress Ink and stamped it with Archival Ink as before, using a sentiment from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set. I attached the ribbon to the background and then placed the background on a square card blank.

For my final project, I used a Crafty Individuals tag, and stamped the main image from the Tranquility stamp set across the bottom of the tag. I coloured the image with pencils. I added the wisteria image using water based markers across the top, using first and second generation stamping for a fuller effect. The ribbon was made in exactly the same way as before, picking up colour from the craft mat, and then once dry, stamping with Archival Ink. I used a word from the Serenity stamp plate. I like to colour ribbon myself to coordinate with a project, you can see another example here.

 

I hope that I have inspired you to to have a go at stamping on fabric, I will be back later in the month with more projects to share. Thanks for stopping by,

Judith xx

A little mini book (By Marga)

Hello everyone here is Marga again to show you something I made for one of the shows.

Today I show you a little mini book I made with Distress Ink, a white and black gel pen and lots of small stamps. I stamped some of the images also with Distress Ink and I used the same colours as I used for making the background. Other images I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black.

Stamps I used are:

Artistic Affirmations, Eastern Grasses, Wisteria Lane

Hope you liked my little mini book

Hugs Marga