Alcohol inks and Yupo paper

February 15, 2019, 5:08 am

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Hello and welcome to the blog.

Today I've been experimenting with some alcohol inks and Yupo paper. I've had the inks for years but the paper is new to me. It's a surface that takes alcohol inks, watercolouring, acrylic paints etc and die cuts beautifully.

I used three inks - Denim, Butterscotch and Red Pepper with the Blending solution and a drop or two of the Pearl mixative.

I would like to have had some gold to add more life to it but I never got round to buying it. 

I deliberately wanted the colours to fade to one side but deary me I've a long way to go before I make anything sensible.

I stamped Hero Arts Fabulous Flourish with black Archival ink onto the surface and removed the ink with a cloth. It didn't quite work out as I'd hoped but left a grey shadow instead of a negative of the image. I'll have to keep working on that bit. 

This is a close up of the panel. I removed some inks using the blending solution and dabbed the resulting white areas with blue ink. I added detail with an alcohol marker (Promarker Gold) and then some fine lines with a Micron 01 Archival ink pen to mimic flower heads.

The sentiment is from Apple Blossom's 12 months of flowers stamp set that came with Creative Stamping magazine Issue 65. 

Thank you for calling in today. Have a lovely afternoon. 

---

Tonic Keepsake Bookmaker Insert Die sets

March 3, 2019, 8:14 am

≫ Next: Butterfly Perfumery

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Hi and welcome to the blog today.

I'm just catching up with some of the samples I made for the Tonic Keepsake Bookmaker dies launched on Create & Craft on Friday 1st March.

Sadly these are my last samples as I have stepped down from the team after over four and a half incredible years.

I can only say a great big thank you to all the team at Tonic for their support and generosity. It's been a privilege to work with them and the superb products they have designed.

I have to have a shout out to the amazing Design Team it's been my joy to work with. I'll not be losing contact with the girls as we have become firm friends over the years so that is a major plus.

Life just gets in the way sometimes so this is a step I felt I had to take.

I will still be crafting and blogging as and when I have the time so that hasn't changed.

Thank you for joining me today.

Hope to see you soon! 

Edna x 

Butterfly Perfumery

March 6, 2019, 7:38 am

≫ Next: Floral themed mini album walk through

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Hello and welcome to the blog today.

I've had a wee play with my Chocolate Baroque stamp set 'Butterfly Perfumerie' today.

I inked a piece of card stock using Tonic's Aqua Flow markers in Spiced Ginger and Red Poppy.

I then stamped the perfume bottle image in Versafine black onyx ink and die cut it outside the die using the Stitched Circles from Tonic.

I cut round the upper wings of the butterfly to give dimension and matted the circle onto a spare piece of inked and die cut card stock to fill the gaps.

I used Tonic's alcohol markers to colour the image to make it pop. I faux bleached the fronds and added some white gel pen to finish.

The tag was cut to suit the sentiment from the stamp set and I used my WeRMK tag board for the shoulders. They are always the most difficult part for me to get even! 

Finally I stamped the bottle label again with the little Happy Dance sentiment in place and cut it out, 3D'd it to the image and edged the whole image with pale grey alcohol pen. A few drops of Nuvo Onyx Black  completed the card.

The card base is 5 x 7"

Hope you like it! 

Floral themed mini album walk through

March 15, 2019, 1:19 pm

≫ Next: Layered Daffodils

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Hello and welcome to the blog today.

I have a You Tube walk through of my latest album to share.

I've used a box and cover kit from My Creative Spirit by Claire Charville as the base and Crafter's Companion 'Roaring Twenties' papers to decorate.

All the dies and extras I've used are mentioned on the video.

Hope you enjoy it and thank you for calling in today.

Edna x 😃

Layered Daffodils

March 16, 2019, 7:51 am

≫ Next: Mitering Corners Tutorial

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Hi and welcome to the blog today. I've been having a play with the smashing wee daffodil die set from Issue 188 of Simply Cards and Papercrafts. 

I love daffodils, a sign of spring and beautiful fresh colours to brighten up a dreary day.

It brings to mind a wee lullaby my Mum used to sing to me so has extra special memories.

I printed off some of the download papers available from www.simplycardsmag.com and got busy.

I've used a Martha Stewart punch for the decorative edges and Tonic Studios Essentials 'Someone Special' die set along with the printed daffodils and designer paper. I've also used a leaf die from a previous SC&P magazine.

I've finished off the card with English Mustard Nuvo drops and a faceted heart gem from my stash. 

For the second card I die cut two layered and one printed daffodils and stems. The stamp is from a set by Clearly Besotted. The plain card stock is from my stash.

For my third card I cut the daffodil shape from a piece of thin card stock and used it to stencil the shape onto the card using various distress inks.

The embossed panel is from a folder by Crafts Too and the sentiment from Tim Holtz's Casual Small Talk stickers matted onto black card.

All the cards are 5 x 7" which is the size I prefer for my charity shop cards. 

They were fun and quick to do. 

Thank you for joining me today.

Have a great weekend. 

Mitering Corners Tutorial

March 17, 2019, 9:30 am

≫ Next: Dancing Chickens

≪ Previous: Layered Daffodils

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Hello and welcome to the blog today.

I have a short tutorial on my You Tube channel to help with mitering those corners on your album covers etc.

I tried to find a mitering tool  but could only come across them in the US. Though they weren't too expensive the postage etc just made them ridiculous so I had a wee think and came up with this solution that works for me.

I'm sure it's nothing new but it's new to me so I hope it helps if you struggle to get those corners just right. 

Have a good day! 

Edna x 

Dancing Chickens

March 21, 2019, 8:09 am

≫ Next: Seahorse Trio

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Hello and welcome to the blog today.

I was making some more cards for my local charity shop yesterday when I came across these fun chicken stamps I've had for a while.

I thought they would make a light hearted cute card for a friend.

I've used Woodware's 'Dancing Chickens' stamp set by Jane Gill and after masking and stamping the images I coloured them with Tonic's Nuvo alcohol markers.

The sentiment is one from the lovely Paula Pascual and the backing cardstock is from the Ombre pad from the Works that tied in beautifully with the colours of my chickens. LOL 😃

Sometimes it's just good to have a play.

Have a lovely day and thank you for popping in today.

Edna x 

Seahorse Trio

March 23, 2019, 9:30 am

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Hello and welcome to the weekend on the blog.

I've had a busy day so far out shopping with my daughter and grandson for his birthday gift.

We had a lovely lunch as well so home now and right and tired but it was a good day. Jude is turning 15 and I can hardly believe it. It seems no time since he was toddling around and getting into all sorts of mischief. The time is flying! 

I had some fun yesterday playing with my new seahorse hot foil stamp and die set that I purchased from a lady on FB. I've had my eye on the seahorse for a while and couldn't resist nabbing him when I had the chance.

I've letterpressed the first two cards and hot foiled the third. Hope you enjoy them. 😃

I kept to the same colour palette throughout and introduced a little pink and green accent with the inks I used.

My first card uses the stitched edge rectangle dies from Tonic for the main mats.

I've also used Sue Wilson edge dies, a random leaf die I found in my stash, paper from The Works Hombre 12 x 12 pad and Bright 6 x 12" pad.

I've used foliage, sentiment and star fish stamps from a set free with Creative Stamping magazine #43

The leaves were cut from Craft Perfect glitter card in Sugar Crystal and coloured with alcohol markers also by Tonic.

I've inked the background using Distress oxide inks.

The seahorse hot foil stamp was inked with Nuvo hybrid inks

The card was finished with some Nuvo Diamond Harlequin confetti.

The second card uses a background mopped up from the first one. I've overstamped it with a stamp by Christine from CraftiPotential called Messy Watercolour.

As well as letterpressing the seahorses with Nuvo Hybrid inks I've also letterpressed a Todo Chevron background hot foil plate in various colours of the same inks and cut a wavy edge before adding it to the inky background.

I've used Polar Ice, Laguna Bay, Spring Heather, Lime Burst and Panama Rose hybrid inks.

I've used Craft Perfect Silver Silk as my mat for the background and for the seahorses.

The sentiment is an old one from Craftwork cards

The card is finished with Nuvo Dream drops in Indigo Eclipse, Fairy Wings and Dragon scales.

I've used the seahorse and hot foiled it with green foil from Di Everett on FB.

The patterned panel is from the Brights pad from the Works

I've die cut the circle accent from Tonic's Mermaid collection 'Mermaid to be Friends' die set.

The sentiment is from Marianne designs and I've used the stitched rectangle layering die set as the mat.

The stamped border is from the free stamp set with Creative Stamping Issue #43

I finished off the card rounding one corner and added some Aqua Aurora sequins also by Tonic from the Let It Snow collection.

Thank you for calling in today.

I hope you have a super weekend.

Edna x 

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Hello Seahorse card

March 24, 2019, 7:19 am

≫ Next: Rose and Daffodil Stained window card

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Hello I'm back with another wee seahorse card today.

I found this little fella under a pile of offcuts so I just had to make him up into a card.

I've used a variety of crafty things so I'll start at the beginning.

The main panel was a piece of water colour card stock inked with distress oxide ink in aqua tones.

I spritzed it with Nuvo Mica Mists in Nebula Blue and Fresh Pear. I also used a Tattered Angels spray in Marshmallow that I've had in my stash forever.

Once dry I stamped the seahorse, foliage and starfish from Creative Stamping #43 in Beluga White from Squid ink and then embossed the panel using an old Cuttlebug folder.

I punched the border strip and corners using an EK Success punch set 

I matted and layered the panel onto a piece of Craft Perfect Silver Silk card stock and repeated that for the border.

I cut the Tonic Sentiment strip Hello from a spare piece of the inked card stock.

I finished off the card with a small piece of frayed cheesecloth and 3D'd the seahorse on top.

The seahorse is the Todo hot foil stamp that I've letter pressed using Nuvo hybrid inks in Lime Burst and Laguna Bay.

This pic shows the shimmer a little better but it's so difficult to catch it on camera. 

Thank you for calling in today.

Have a lovely Sunday. x 

Rose and Daffodil Stained window card

March 25, 2019, 4:40 am

≫ Next: Vintage Collage Stamp set

≪ Previous: Hello Seahorse card

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Good morning and welcome to the blog today.

If you have received your copy of the Tonic Magazine #8 you will have received this pretty die set in the box.

I thought I would make a wee card using the dies just to keep my hand in. LOL 

Products used -

Tonic Rose and Daffodil Stained Glass Window die set and sentiment stamp

Tonic Keepsake Creator The Life you Love die set for the card base

Promarkers in Lime Green and Pear Green

Decorative papers from Floral Feelings design pad from The Works

Tiny butterflies are from an old Tonic punch

Leaves are an X Cut birch leaf punch

Sweetheart flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts

I created an easel card using the Keepsake creator base die and decorated it as you can see in the pics.

Apart from the paper piecing it was a very quick card to make and lovey for a spring time occasion.

Thank you for calling in today.

Have a great week! 

Edna 

Vintage Collage Stamp set

March 27, 2019, 5:08 am

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Good morning and welcome to the blog today.

I've been having a wee play with the gorgeous stamp set from the Creative Stamping magazine issue #67.

I had a piece of card stock from a collection I bought at the Works and this was a leftover piece I wanted to use.

I've stamped three of the stamps from the set onto the card using Versafine Smokey Grey ink and I'm really pleased with the results.

I've used a 5 x 7" card base as this one is intended for my charity box and I find this size the most convenient.

The main image is also from the stamp sheet and I've stamped the tiny butterflies again, cut them out and decoupaged them for some texture and interest.

I've kept the 'grunge' element very subdued as I'm not sure full on grunge would sell plus I'm not entirely into mixed media and grunge anyway. LOL.

 

The next pic is a close up of the panel that I've 3D'd to the card front.

The sentiment is by Paula Pascual and I've finished off the card with some black gems from my stash.

Thank you for dropping by today.

Have a good one! 

Here is the stamp sheet I used today 

Vellum Floral card

March 30, 2019, 6:02 am

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Good morning and welcome to the blog today.

I've been having a play with one of the floral sleeve dies from Tonic Studios called Dahlias in Bloom

I had cut out the floral piece from white card and it was lying on my desk so I thought I would mess about with it and see what happened.

I used Walnut Stain distress ink initially and stencilled through it onto my card front.

Once I had done that I went over the die cut piece again with Black Soot distress ink so it would stand out more against the background.

I cut the backing for the die from white vellum and glued the two pieces together.

I then set to with Nuvo glitter pens and added the colour detail to the die cut. I applied the glittery ink to my glass mat and used a fine brush to apply it into the spaces. I went over the main parts with a clear glitter pen to add a bit of zhuzz to the flowers. 

The sentiment is from a freebie set I got with a magazine and it is stamped with walnut stain distress oxide ink.

I finished the card with a few Nuvo Buttermilk crystal drops.

The vellum bubbles a little with the addition of the glitter ink and gives a little bit of dimension in an otherwise flat piece.

Thank you for calling in today.

Have a smashing weekend!

Edna x 😃

Thanks from the heart

April 3, 2019, 7:38 am

≫ Next: Cards from scraps

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Hello and welcome to the blog today.

I've had the best fun putting this wee card together today. 

Doing a bit of tidying up I came across these stamps from way back when and I couldn't resist having a play with them.

The background is out of my box and is probably water colour inks but I didn't note the colours.

The stamps are from Creative Expressions and are images from Sam Poole's 'Monkeying around' and 'Jungle Friends'

The scallop edge is a Stamping Up punch, the stitched wavy edge is a Sue Wilson die from her 'Stitched Hills and Cloud' die set and everything else is from my stash.

I've coloured the images with Nuvo alcohol markers.

Cards from scraps

April 7, 2019, 8:20 am

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Hello and welcome to the blog today.

What do you do with your scraps, left over die cuts and embossed bits?

Quite often I just tip mine into the bin but these bits survived that fate (perhaps they shouldn't have! LOL 😃) but I wasn't in the mood to do any serious crafting so these are the results of having a bit of fun with endy bits.

Again I don't know what your stash is like but I have rather a lot of dies from all over the place and as I was attempting to tidy up (I didn't succeed by the way) I just die cut various card scraps and left them in a pile.

The embossing folder is one I bought in the Works which matched some paper I had in my stash so I had to have it for the princely sum of £1.50. I inked the folder with black ink and I thought the end result was quite dramatic so I went with it. 

Hello is a Reverse Confetti die which looks very smart and modern, the flower I've had for so long I can't remember whose it is and the leaves the same.  

I finished off the card with Ebony Nuvo drops for the flower centre. 

My second card is very retro indeed. 

I recently bought papers and embellies that are quite old from Craft Asylum I think.

The papers are funky and bright so I thought I would take a step back in time, buy the matching embellies and just have some fun.

The embossing folder is from Todo and is called Kilim. I've just sanded the raised portion back to reveal the white core of the card to give a good contrast. 

I've used papers from a pad I bought at the Works called Ombre.

The heart is from a Tonic set and the papers from another Works pad which shall remain nameless as I can't remember which one I used sorry. It was just another scrap I had lying around. 😕

I've used the same flower as the first card, a brad, sentiment and ribbon from the retro embellies set and a small heart from an EK Success punch I have in my stash. 

The card bases from Anna Marie designs are 5 x 7" 

Thank you for popping in today.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend. x 

Seahorse with glitter

April 9, 2019, 8:13 am

≫ Next: Dies from the Works

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 Hello and welcome to the blog today.

I have found yet another way to use my seahorse die set for this card today.

I didn't feel like getting my hot foiling machine all set up so instead I used double sided adhesive sheet to cover the card stock before I started die cutting. 

This meant that I could back the main die cut shape using a pale translucent foil and use various colours of my Nuvo Pure Sheen glitter to cover the intricate die cut.

It's very hard to see the sheen in the picture but it does give another avenue to explore with your die cuts.

I've hot foiled, letter pressed and now used the adhesive sheets to vary the finish on these seahorses.

Of course you can do all of the above with loads of other die cuts but I'm very into the teal green/blue look at the minute and these images work so well with that. :) 

I've used a piece of patterned paper from a 15 x 30cm Brights paper pad from the Works for the background and stamped some foliage from the stamp sheet that came with Creative Stamping #43.

The watercolour card has been coloured with Nuvo Shimmer powders in Blue Blitz, Atlantis Burst, Green Parade and Solar Flare. 

I used an old stencil from Dutch Doobadoo called Wavy Stripes and inked through it with Squid Ink in Beluga White to give the idea of bubbles.

The circle die cut is from a set by Tonic Studios called Marina from their Mermaid with love collection and has been glittered with Nuvo Ice white Pure Sheen glitter.

I finished off the card with Nuvo Diamond Pure Sheen sequins.

Thank you for calling in today. 

Hope you have a great week. 

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Dies from the Works

April 11, 2019, 4:35 am

≫ Next: Botannical Bloom

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 Hi, good afternoon and welcome to the blog today.

I'm sharing a really quick card I made using dies I purchased yesterday at the Works.

Both sets cost me £7.00 and I have to say they have cut like a dream and all the bits fell out without much persuasion.

The floral die is a partial cut and can be used in so many ways but I was just in a hurry to try it out. It comes with a Moroccan type design and I can see me using these a lot in my albums as decorative panels.

The centre die is a cut out floral die with an edge so you could make a beautifully shaped edged card and pop the decorative piece on top.

The background and floral piece were coloured using Nuvo Shimmer powders.

I finished the card with Nuvo Ebony and Ivory Seashell Crystal drops.

The floral strip die has cut out pieces that you can raise to give dimension.

I used my Tonic shaping tools to round and shape them.

The sentiment is by Paula Pascual.

Just a quick card but I can see me having lots of fun with these wee dies. 

Have a good day and thank you for calling in.

Edna x ❤️

Botannical Bloom

April 12, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Happy birthday Karen

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Hello and welcome to the blog today.

I was fortunate enough to get to play with the new Tonic embossing folders and this one is called Botannical Bloom.

I find embossed images difficult to colour without the media spreading onto the embossing, particularly water colours so I came up with a way to get round that difficulty.

Admittedly the image is not embossed but it does make it a doddle to colour and gives another use for your folder so I hope it helps.

I've used Kuretake Clean Colour pens for my image and a sentiment from my stash. The mats are coloured using the same pens. 

I've done a wee video tutorial and I hope you enjoy it.

This is the original embossed image, inked up and highlighted with Tuscan Gold mousse from the Nuvo Expanding mousse collection. 

Thank you for stopping by today.

Enjoy the shows.

Happy birthday Karen

April 14, 2019, 3:42 am

≫ Next: Home Sweet Home

≪ Previous: Botannical Bloom

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 Hi and welcome to the blog today.

It's my daughter Karen's birthday today and as she loves sunflowers I made her this card using a Woodware stamp set Sunflower Sketch (JGB004) from Creative Expressions.

The background is inked with Distress Oxides, the image embossed in black and coloured with Prisma pencils.

Have a super day Karen.

Loads of love from Mum, Dad and of course Charlie xxx ❤️❤️❤️

Home Sweet Home

April 18, 2019, 11:36 am

≫ Next: Peony Trio 3D embossing folder

≪ Previous: Happy birthday Karen

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Hello and welcome to the blog today.

I have a new album to share with you and the theme is Home Sweet Home.

I have used papers by Craft Asylum HERE
As you will see they weren't too expensive. 😃

I also used stamps and embellishments from the same Home Sweet Home collection.
The album needed two 12 x 12" pads, some 6 x 6" papers and a variety of dies from different sources.

The best way to get all the info is to watch my You Tube walk through where I point out all the materials used etc.

The spine

Inside the front page

Various pages from the album

I hope you enjoy this one today.

I had the best fun making it and I just loved the quirky, retro papers and the bright colours.

The card stock used for the covers and pages is from Anna Marie Designs. 

Have a good evening and a great weekend! 

Edna x 

Peony Trio 3D embossing folder

April 21, 2019, 8:41 am

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Hi and welcome to the blog on this gorgeous Easter Sunday.

The sun is shining, it's warm and it makes such a lovely change to be able to sip coffee and then have lunch on the patio and soak up the rays.

I had this piece made ages ago but wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

I was playing with Nuvo shimmer powders and some gilding wax and embossing mousse.

I wanted loads of colour and texture so I was generous with the powders and the texture was provided by the gorgeous Peony Trio embossing folder from Crafter's Companion Parisian collection.

I painted the leaves using a slightly watered down shimmer powder and they really gleam but it's difficult to see in the picture.

I highlighted the embossing with platinum mousse by Nuvo and edged the card with gilding wax I had in my stash. 

The sentiment is from Tim Holtz's 'Small Talk' sticker collection. 

I'm still not sure I like it but experimenting is fun and it could lead to something really fab in the future. LOL 

I hope you are having a very blessed Easter season.

Edna x