Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my blogland friends!  Let's make 2013 the year we want it to be!

I have had a lovely Christmas with family and even managed to squeeze in a few hour's crafting.  I made the most of the opportunity, finishing a frame that I had covered with gesso back in October and then hadn't time to do anything with.  I love creating little garden and wildflower scenes so I was in my element with this.  My new stamp sets that I treated myself to with my first pay check have been sitting there lonely and uninked, so this was always intended to be pure inky self-indulgence!

I started by painting my PoundLand frame with gesso and sanding it down.  (The leaving for 3 months part is optional.)  I stamped the leaves from Summer Silhouettes in VersaMark and then embossed in a shimmery type of embossing powder that I've had for some time.  I measured out some Whisper White card, but as the frame measures 15" I was always going to have a line to deal with.  I inked the bottom of the card with a combination of Pear Pizzaz (retired, but I love it), Old Olive and Summer Starfruit.  The top of the card was inked in Bashful Blue and Baja Breeze. I do find my sponge daubers very easy to use for inking.  

I started stamping with the beautiful bloom on the left from Elements of Style and then stamped randomly along the rest of the card.  I used the top of the fir tree from Lovely As A Tree, the dandelion heads from Serene Silhouettes, the leaves from Papaya Collage and the flowers from Summer Silhouettes.  The inks used were Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Pear Pizzaz and Gumball Green.  I added some insects from Nature Walk and the beautiful butterfly from Papillon Potpourri, stamped twice, once directly onto the card, once onto some scrap. Both were coloured, and then the scrap was punched out with the coordinating punch and mounted on top of the other.

The chipboard tree looked a little stark against the vibrant summer flowers so I stuck leaves onto it, punched out with my Bird Builder Punch and the stems trimmed off.  I added paper roses and gardenia to the edges, with some die cut leaves positioned behind.  The final touch was a rub on quotation.

Supplies

Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Papaya Collage, Elements of Style, Lovely As A Tree, Papillon Potpourri, Serene Silhouettes, Nature Walk (edit: definitely not retired, clearly I am confused from lack of crafting)

Ink: Basic Black, Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green, Pear Pizazz (retired), Rose Red, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight, Bashful Blue, More Mustard, Pretty in Pink, VersaMark

Card: Whisper White

Other: aquapainter, sponge dauber, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Bird Builder Punch, heat gun

Non-SU supplies: paper roses and gardenia, rub on, chipboard tree, copper shimmer embossing powder

Now, on a serious note, Socks felt that he should give you all some advice as you contemplate a new year.  Firstly, set realistic and achievable resolutions:

Always see the best in yourself:

Reorganise your clutter:

Spend time on your hobbies, or even learn a new one:

Make sure you spend time with your family and those you love:

Wishing you all the happiest of New Years!

Nature's Walk and Nest

Wow, what a lot of fantastic entries for our make your mark challenge last week.  This time round at Addicted to Stamps, it's Bingo week to tempt you out to play!

Here what I made:

I combined the lovely nest out of Nature's Nest with the thrush from Nature Walk to create this mini little scene, which I'm rather pleased with, though I couldn't see the card coming together.  The greeting is part of one from Happiest Birthday Wishes (using my marker pens to colour in the bit I wanted).  I think it's all pretty straightforward so I won't waffle on, but do email if you've got any questions.

Supplies
Stamps: Nature Walk, Nature's Nest, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, marker pens in Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi and Certainly Celery
Card: Pear Pizzaz (retiring soon - get it while you can!), Soft Suede, Whisper White
Other: sponge daubers, Crumb Cake taffeta ribbon, stamp-a-ma-jig

Here is the bingo grid so you can play along:

I chose circle, free (technique- using markers to colour my stamps directly) and birthday.

A picture to amuse you:

Thanks for stopping by,

A Walk With Nature

Time for another challenge with Addicted to Stamps!  This week we're back to 'make your mark' so anything goes with your marker pens, be they SU markers, Copics, ProMarkers, FlexMarkers........ grab 'em and show us what you can do with 'em!

I've made a little scene using the grass stem, the butterfly and the bird... come and have a look:

I coloured my stamps directly with my markers (Wild Wasabi and Riding Hood Red) and stamped a couple of times before reinking.  The butterfly was stamped in Basic Black, with colour added with my blender pen and just a hint directly from my markers.  The bird was also stamped in Basic Black with more black added using my aqua painter.  The slightly torn paper at the bottom is a scrap of Twitterpated, which qualifies my card for the 'torn paper' challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ, as well as for more fun in the Snippets Playground!  Hurrah!

I mounted this onto Riding Hood Red card to match, added a snippet of beautiful Victoria....... lace.... aw, you thought I was talking about myself!..... and an antique brad to finish.  The blackbird was cut out and mounted on dimensionals before being placed in the scene.

Supplies
Stamps: Nature Walk
Ink: Basic Black; marker pens in Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive, More Mustard, Riding Hood Red and So Saffron
Card: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red
Paper: Twitterpated Designer Series Paper
Other: stamp-a-ma-jig, antique brad, Victoria crochet lace


Now I don't want to seem one dimensional so I bring you a dog picture instead of my usual cat picture (just don't tell Socks or he'll get grumpy):

Looking forward to seeing your markervellous creations this week!  Pop over to ATS for the DT's fantastic inspiration and to enter your creations!

Thanks for visiting,

Tutorial for my Star Card of Garden Scenes

On Friday I posted this card and promised a tutorial on how I made.  This is the first time I've written a tutorial, so let me know if there's anything that isn't clear and I'll edit it accordingly!

I will give the supplies list that I used, but I do understand that you might prefer to use other products.

Materials
Stamps: Autumn Days, Nature Walk, Lovely As A Tree, All A Flutter, Faith in Nature
Ink: Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Basic Black, marker pens in Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, More Mustard
Card: Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Forest Green (non-SU)
Paper: Everyday Enchantment Designer Series paper
Other: Simply Scored board & metric board, Lacey Leaf border punch (non-SU), Whisper White 5/8" Organza Ribbon, sponge daubers


Right, let's get cracking:

Cut out five pieces of white card measuring 17cm by 10cm.

Using your preferred means, sponge on a pale blue ink for the sky and a green for the ground.  You will have to come quite far down the card (about half way) with the blue ink.  I used sponge daubers to ink with as I find them very easy to use, together with Bashful Blue and Wild Wasabi ink.

Once you are happy with your inking, here is the fun bit!  Collect together your foliage stamps and ink them up in your chosen colours.  Don't feel you have to ink up the stamp every time you stamp with it: stamp two or three times gives a good sense of perspective to your scene.  I stamped the wheat stamp from Autumn Days in Crumb Cake, the longer grass stem from Autumn Days in Early Espresso, and the silhouette type grass from Autumn Days in Early Espresso and Always Artichoke.  I added in just the top of the pine tree stamp from Lovely As A Tree in Always Artichoke as it works great as a general foliage stamp in this way.  I stamped the wild grass stamp from Nature Walk in Old Olive and Perfect Plum (colouring in the stamp directly with my marker pens).

Add in some insects into the scene: I used the bees and the smaller butterfly from Nature Walk and the big butterfly from All A Flutter.  These were stamped in Basic Black and then coloured in directly with markers, or with my blender pen and markers (the colours I used were Riding Hood Red, So Saffron and More Mustard).

Cut five pieces of green card 20cm lengthways x 10cm high.  Score and fold these down the halfway point (10cm).  Also score and fold the stamped scenes you've just made down the halfway point (8.5cm).

Cut a sixth piece of green card measuring 21cm x 10cm and score and fold at 10cm, 10.5cm and 11cm.

When your cat decides it's bedtime, make sure you give him/her plenty of attention and obey immediately.

You will make him or her very happy!

Start again the next day.  Cut out five pieces of Whisper White card measuring 15cm x 10cm.  (If you use another brand of white card, make sure it's not too thick.  Remember it's going to be folded in the middle of the book.)

Measure 2.5cm down from the top and draw a pencil line.  Do the same 1.5cm up from the bottom edge.  Draw your curtains so they are relatively equal on either side.  I did this by making a pencil mark where I wanted them to start and end on each side and drawing free hand.

When you happy with your window, cut out the middle and use it as a template for the other four pieces of white card.

Cut out five lengths of 15cm x 1.5cm of Very Vanilla card.  Stick to the bottom length of your white base pieces.  (I forgot to do it in this order which is why the photos seem a bit out of sequence!)

Use one of your windows as a template to draw out your curtain shapes onto patterned paper.  I used this lovely sheet of Everyday Enchantment because it coordinates well with the colours in the garden scene.  You will need five left curtains and five right curtains. You might want to ink the edges a little depending on the paper you use.

Cut out five pieces of Very Vanilla card, measuring 15cm x 2.5cm.  Then cut out five pieces of the same patterned paper, measuring 15cm x 2cm.  Punch down one edge with a border punch.  Adhere the patterned paper to the Very Vanilla card, and then stick onto the white base piece.  Do this for all five pieces.

Stop for a snack.  I recommend homemade white chocolate and summer fruits cheesecake. ;-p Yum!

Put double-sided tape down the edges of each of the five green pieces of card and adhere the stamped scene in place, taking care to line up the edges carefully.  This is crucial!  You are not sticking down the whole thing!

Do the same thing with the window panel.  You are only adhering the very edges.  I used the really thin strips of double-sided tape for this bit.  Do this for all five panels.

Adhere ribbon securely with tape onto the back of one of these panels.  Cut off a good length of ribbon.

Take your front cover piece (the green card measuring 21cm x 10cm).  Line up the window panel you've just stuck the ribbon to with the front cover and stick together (the whole thing this time, not just the edge).  As you have three scored lines on the cover and it is 1cm longer than the other panels, it looks like it will stick out by 0.5cm in the centre - that's OK! - you need the extra length to work well as a cover for the book when it's closed.

Repeat this to secure the ribbon to the back of the cover and stick in another of your window panels.

Now it's a case of sticking in your other window panels.  I do like double-sided tape as it's a strong dry adhesive and holds the panels in place, but use the adhesive you prefer.

Your book will now look like this:

Cut a piece of Very Vanilla card, measuring 9cm square.  Stamp your front panel.  I did mine by colouring in the quotation from Faith in Nature in Old Olive and Perfect Plum markers, adding in the wild grass stamp from Nature Walk in the same colours.  The butterfly, also from Nature Walk, was stamped in Basic Black, and I coloured it using my blender pen and Riding Hood Red and So Saffron.  Attach to the front of your book.

In the photo above, you can see why those extra scored lines and extra 1cm are so important for the front cover.

When you undo the ribbon, you can pull the front and back covers round to create a star shape:

See the original post for more close-ups of the stamped panels.

Voila!  Of course you might want another snack by this point and your cat will almost certainly want some attention!

Hope this is relatively clear, but do let me know if any of it is confusing.  If any of these supplies have caught your eye, please do not hesitate to get in touch either by phone on 07977 141605 or by email.  I'd be delighted to assist you with your crafty makes and place an SU order for you.  If the patterned paper has caught your eye, it's limited edition and you only have until Tuesday to order it, so don't hang around!

If you make a star card using this tutorial, I'd love to see what you make, so do post your link in the comments.

Thanks for visiting and well done for surviving a very very long blog post!

Star Card of Garden Scenes

I'm really pleased with what I have to show you today, as it's been a real labour of love!  It combines some of my favourite things: inkiness and multi-stamping but in an unusual form.  From the outside, it just looks like a mini book:

The cover was stamped with the grass stem and butterfly from Nature Walk, with the quotation from Faith in Nature, as it seemed most fitting for what happens when you open it.....

It opens out into a star shape, with each part of the star decorated to look like a window.  Come and have a closer look at each panel:

The garden scene has been created with stamps from Autumn Days, Nature Walk and Lovely As A Tree (using the tree top only makes for some great foliage).  The insects and butterflies are from Nature Walk and All A Flutter.  The curtains and windows are made from Very Vanilla card stock and Everyday Enchantment paper.

I'm putting together a tutorial on how to make this, mostly so I can remember the next time I want to make one, but if you're interested too, check back on my blog soon!  So with that in mind, I won't put my usual supply list as I'll include it with the more detailed instructions.  Edited to add: the tutorial can be found here.

I'd like to enter this into the 'In the Garden' scene challenge at Craft A Scene, 'Crafty Passion' challenge at Sir Stampalot (inky loveliness, playing around with stamps and trying to come up with something out of the ordinary all rank pretty highly on my list of crafty passions!) and 'This is the House That Jack Built' challenge at Daring Cardmakers.

Today's feline offering is not a photo, but a video, supplied by the lovely Sandy.  Thank you, Sandy!

Thanks ever so much for stopping by today,

Nature Walk

I have a little square of inkiness to share this morning as I made a quick summer scene using the lovely wild grass stem from Nature Walk and the sentiment from Faith in Nature.

Take a look:

I inked up the bottom of the Whisper White square with Sahara Sand and then Old Olive (a little too much for my tastes but I wasn't wasting the square!).  Then I coloured in the grass stems with Old Olive, a few random dabs of Always Artichoke and Perfect Plum for the flowers.  The sentiment was stamped in Old Olive and Perfect Plum to match.  This was then layered on... but of course... more Perfect Plum (love how easy it is to coordinate with SU!) and popped onto a Whisper White card base.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Supplies

Stamps: Nature Walk, Faith in Nature (hostess)

Ink: Sahara Sand, Old Olive, marker pens in Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Perfect Plum

Card: Whisper White, Perfect Plum

Other: stamp-a-ma-jig

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch if these or any other SU goodies have caught your eye.   Just give me a ring on 07977 141605 or drop me an email.  I would be delighted to assist you with your crafty makes and to place an SU order for you.  Remember that during July orders of £45 or more qualify for 2 9-yard spools of organdie ribbon and a box of Everyday Enchantment brads!

I'd like to enter this into the 'summertime' challenge at Tuesday Throwdown and the 'anything goes' challenge at Papertake Weekly.

Today's cat picture instalment is a compare and contrast exercise so I hope you're feeling awake.... one is a funny cat picture from the Internet and the other is of Socks:

Thanks as always for visiting - and a big welcome to my new followers Sam from Hettiecraft, Elizabeth from The Silver Scrapper's Craft Space and Kimbo from Cards and Cats (a great combo!)