Echinacea all the way - by Rachel

 Hello there. Rachel here today with my final set of inspiration from the September shows - this time using the Echinacea Blueprint set. In this first sample I used an MDF film strip stand that I bought in a previous show and gessoed it black. I then created the central portion by stamping the main image on card and colouring using water colour pencils.

In this final piece I stamped the backgound to the card using worker stamps then the main focus was stamped in versamark and heat set with white embossing powder before colouring in using water colour pencils. The layer in between was kraft card given the stamping and versamark/embossing powder treatment. 

Hope you've found some inspiration from my makes this month - I always enjoy making for the shows - the stamps are so intricate. Love them!

Have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel xx

floral blueprints (by Veronica)

For my last post this month I have a set of  very simple DL cards using the main images from each of the blueprint sets featured in last month's tv show. All the base cards are of  a dark silver card, and the images stamped on white card with black versafine ink.

The flowers were coloured with  koh-i-noor  pencils and blending solution, and the sentiments were stamped onto spare white card. The sentiment on the echinacea card is from life is so much better.

 

Floral Blueprints

Hello, I am sharing  some more of my Blueprint cards from the September show on The Craft Store.

The stamps that I am using are from Echinacea Blueprint and Lupin Blueprint.

On my first card I made a background using Distress Inks which I then sprinkled with water and blotted to lift the ink. I then stamped around the edges with some of the smaller stamps to create a border. I stamped the main image onto some card, again I used Distress Inks to make a background and I coloured the flowers with water colour pens.  I used oval shaped dies to cut out the Echinacea image and layered onto black.

My next card is very simple. I had a small piece of script paper which I layered onto some black card.

I stamped the smaller echinacea flower onto some cream card and coloured with a silver sparkly pen. I added a piece of ribbon around the lower part of the card and mat and layered this onto some black card and then onto the script layer.

My last card uses the Lupin Blueprint set. I made a background by using Versafine Clair on the Inky Plate. I then used one of the stamps to frame the edge of the card. I used my stamping platform to stamp the main image of the lupin and lightbulb, coloured with water colour pens and then stamped the image again to make it look nice and clear.

Thanks for looking

Sandra x

 

Enchanting Echinacea

Enchanting Echinacea 

Hello all, today I will be sharing samples of the Echinacea Blueprint stamp set. The Echinacea has to be one of my favourite plants so pretty and they do last a lot longer than you would think if you deadhead them regularly.

For this first sample I made a mask of the heart and cut the Masking Tissue the same size as the topper which really helped when making both the heart itself and for masking the outside when using the stencil to make 'sunrays' inside of the heart, these masks can be kept for future use and will be used many times more yet.

I used Distress Inkpads to colour and Promarkers to add extra detail.

Here are a few more samples for you the Echinacea is a very easy flower to cut out so although you may not like fussy cutting this is not too fussy.

Thank you for looking in today, take care

Love Doreen

Blueprint Notelets (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a quick and easy project to share with you today in the form of a set of notelet cards that I created for last month's TV show on The Craft Store, using the Blueprint stamp sets. 

I made four different cards, but the principle was the same for each card. I used a piece of textured card cut to size, slightly larger than a square acrylic block. I coloured the acrylic block with Distress Ink, and lightly spritzed it with water, before stamping the block onto the piece of textured card. I lifted the block away from the card, and left the background to dry. If it was very wet, I tipped the card to let some of the water droplets run, creating more texture on the background.

Once the background was dry, I used the same colour of Distress Ink as the background, to stamp words from one of the the Blueprint stamp plates over the background, and chose one of the little worker floral stamps to stamp in the bottom left hand corner, using Versafine Onyx Black Ink. I added the number on the stamp plate as well. Here we have the image from Allium Blueprint against a pretty Teal coloured background.

I chose Chrysanthemum Blueprint for my second card and a zingy green Distress Ink. I coloured the floral images with pencils, choosing colours on the opposite side of the colour wheel to the backgrounds for a pop of colour.

Lupin Blueprint was the choice for card number three with a soft orange background. The flowers are so pretty on this stamp set.

My last card was created using Echinacea Blueprint and a pale green background. To complete the cards, I drew around the edges using a fineliner pen, creating a border. Each one was slightly different, but you could draw them all the same, it is not important.

These cards were really fun to make, and would be useful for so many purposes. I hope you will try something similar. They would make a lovely gift, or be handy when you need a card in a hurry.

Thanks for stopping by, Take care,

Judith xx

Lupins and Lightbulbs by Rachel

 Hello there! Rachel here today with a couple of makes from Chocolate Baroque's September shows - these makes mostly use the Lupin Blueprint stamp set but there is a little stamp from the Echinacea Blueprint set also used.

My first piece is my ceramic piece - I do love this one and think it worked very nicely! As usual I stamped the images in ink and then over painted all the line work as well as the colours in glaze. My friend Deb from PottyRoos then took over and did the over glazing and the firing. 

This second piece used the worker stamps from the Lupin and echinacea sets - I stamped them on a rectangular piece of card then coloured in using watercolour brush pens. Finally I added a little more greenery by hand and then used a distress tool to add ink for the sky. 

Hope you have a lovely day!

Rachel x

Vibrant Echinacea by Brenda

Morning all, my first post of the month with some shares from the September Craft Store shows where some of the lovely Blueprint stamps were revisited.

The above card and matching envelope uses the lovely Echinacea Blueprint, we have an abundance of these in one of our perennial beds and the vibrant colours are a joy. The background is a simple watercolour rainbow wash onto which I stamped the image and coloured with Distress Markers and placed the piece into a die cut frame. Stamping the individual Echinacea's several times, I coloured, cut our and placed around the frame so the blooms popped outside. A sentiment from my Life is so much Better.

From light and bright to a bit of grunge with Lupin Blueprint. I had fun creating the background for this one using Distress paste, some of the new colour Halloween Mica Distress Stains along with Oxide sprays.  The main image was stamped and also one of the worker light fixings and the main image coloured with pencils. A sentiment from the same set placing into a Kraft pocket.

As always, thanks so much for your kind words and visits.

rhythm of life (by Veronica)

Good morning everyone, hope you all had a pleasant weekend and everyone who needed fuel got some.....

Today I have two wreath cards to share, using some of the smaller blueprint stamps from the September shows. 

These may look complicated, but if you have a stamping platform they are very easy. The first one uses two  flower stamps from the blueprint chrysanthemum set. The smaller stamps was inked in green ink and stamped 8 times to form the base of the wreath onto a square piece of white card. The larger stamp was stamped several times onto white card using a terracotta dye ink pad, and the colour dragged out with a waterbrush. I fussy cut these out, and decided to use 6 of them to add to the wreath shape - while we are always told to use odd numbers in flower arranging, I fwelt that 5 wasn't enough and 7 was too much, so 6 it was.  The sentiment is from the echinacea blueprint set.

This was even simpler. I used a very ancient multicolour ink pad to stamp the lupin image 8 times onto a piece of square white card. The centre image is part of the main image on the set, cut out with a punch and glued in the centre. I inked a mat of white card with a matching alcohol marker .

 

Vellum Echinacea's by Brenda

Morning Peeps, my final shares of sampled using the new Blueprint stamps. 

The top card has a background of Distress Oxides, stencilling an a little bleaching to lift the colours, Echinacea  Blueprint stamped centrally then further blooms added with the smaller worker stamps. I bleached out the colour from the blooms then stamped again onto vellum, but out and decoupaged. A sentiment from one of the new sets, some flicks of white pen and white doodling around the edges.

A chipboard tag covered with acrylic paint onto which I added some torn strips of printed tissue paper. Chrysanthemum Blueprint  stamped with Versafine black, as is my usual the flower heads stamped again onto an inked offcut, cut out and paper pieced. The number stamped onto a piece of Aida and the remainder of the image coloured with Distress Markers.

Pretty Notelets

Hello, I'm sharing a few more of my samples from the September show on Hochanda using the second set of blueprints stamps - Lupin Blueprint, Chrysanthemum Blueprint, Echinacea Blueprint and Allium Blueprint.

I made a set of little set of notelets using the small individual stamps that are in each stamp set.

To make my notelets I first cut some circles from cardstock to fit on my cards and blended some Distress Inks onto the background. I then used the same colour with a stencil before stamping the flower and sentiment.  I finished by doodling around the edges

Thanks for looking

Sandra x

all together in the floral dance (by Rachel)

 Hello there! Rachel here. Did I get you singing? Hope so - then you'll be smiling as you look over some more samples I made for the September shows.

This first one is using the main image from the Echinacea Blueprint stamp set - stamped onto a gel press background and coloured with watercolour pencils. This panel has been mounted onto a card stamped using more industrial aspects of the stamp sets. 

This was my upcycling project - I used a cardboard box that something had been packaged in and covered it in the postcards that Lesley sells. Onto these I decoupaged images from the allium and the lupin sets - it made a very bright and cheerful gift box.

And finally - my sign  from the craft along shows - I used this to create this sign. The back back of the plaque is dry brushed in paint and has stamped images from the industrial parts of the stamp sets all over it. Next the letters were given a coat of acrylic paint and then stamped over and finally I added the allium to the centre of the O.

Hope you have picked up a few more ideas of ways you could use your stamps.

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Lupins light up my life (by Rachel)

 Hello there! Rachel here today with some makes from the September shows - mostly focussing on the Lupin Blueprint stamp set. 

In this first sample I used a gell press background I had already made and added the decoupaged image on the top. Colouring of this was with watercolour pencils.

For this next card I got my coloured inks out and stamped and fussy cut lots of lightbulbs. Next I stamped a grey background using images from a few of the blueprint sets and then I arranged the lightbulbs to make a flower.

My next piece is a ceramic piece made using both the echinacea and the lupin blueprint stamped sets. I used glazes to paint onto the bisque fired pot before putting it in the kiln for a final blast!

My last card was made initially as a tag - using the lupin flower again - I did get a bit carried away with this one - coloured in water colour pencils. I then added it to a DL card I had stamped some of the words and blue print images onto...I was trying to achieve a bit of a parquet floor sort of effect!

I hope I have given you some inspiration of different ways to use your stamps!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

by eck, it's echinacea (by veronica)

 Good morning everyone, hopefully the weather is better where you are!

Today I am sharing some samples using the echinacea blueprint stamps- or the eckythump stamps according to David....

My first idea was to decorate a small greyboard binder - by the time I had done it, I had worked out how to decorate it around the ready-fixed ring mechanism....... hopefully the next time I do this the result will be neater at least as I still have a binder to use.....

I had trouble using a brayer to add paint, so resorted to splodging paint on with a flat brush instead which doesn't give the same softer result. Next time I wil prop the binder up between two hardback books to give a level surface to work on ( and will also make sure I have enough desk space to lay the books out on as well!) I used three browny shades of paint, and then a darker brown over the edges and the the spine. I used black archival ink to stamp the large stamp and the smaller sentiment stamps, then stamped the image again onto white card and coloured the flowers with marker pens. The coloured image was fussy cut out and glued onto the binder

These are some of the inner pages of the binder using some the other blueprint stamps with pockets and tags or foldout pages as a change from ordinary pages.

Chrysanthemum Stairway by Brenda

Morning Peeps, Brenda here to share a few more samples from Lesley's September Hochanda shows with the lovely new Blueprint stamps.

As is my usual route, inks and colours are the order of the day starting with Barn Door Distress Oxide brayered lightly onto the the background and then Chrysanthemum Blueprint stamped with Versafine black. I stamped the blooms a second time onto an offcut coloured with the same Oxide, cut out and paper pieced and the leaves coloured with Koh-i-Noor paint. Some texture paste stencilled to one side, a fee sequins, sentiment and some splats of white paint.

The background of this one has a thick brayered later of Actylic paint over which I used a stencil and gesso to add some interest. Blooms from Allium Blueprint and Echinacea  Blueprint stamped onto inked offcuts and cut out to place over strips of white card and a die cut oval. Sentiments from the same stamp sets and a couple of red 'splodges' using one of the worker stamps from Timeless.

Many thanks for you visit today.

Vintage Blueprints

 Hello

Today I am showing some of my cards from the One Day Special on Hochanda  from September.

These are the second set in the Blueprint series and they are fabulous with so many images, quotes and sentiments to choose from.

There are 4 in the set - Allium Blueprint, Chrysanthemum Blueprint, Lupin Blueprint and Echinacea Blueprint.

I made this set of cards from the main stamp image of each set.

First I took some old paper from my stash, some were gardening related and some were architecture.

I then covered each page with white gesso to give me a good base to stamp on. I added some Distress Inks to the background and spritzed with water in places.

I then stamped my main image in Archival Ink and coloured with water colour pencils. I added some background stamping using Make Your Mark stamp set. 

I finished by adding the flower names, a number tag and a sentiment. These were then mat and layered onto some coordinating papers.

I'm sure you agree that these are wonderfully detailed stamps and suitable for many different occasions.

Thanks for looking

Sandra x