Saturday 29 September 2012

Dimension Stamps: Seasons around the corner

Seasons around the corner is a new stamp set from Dimension Stamps (ref: 2400071a). It is a corner stamps but you know me, I like to be different!

"Union Jack"

I know it's not in the right proportions for a Union Jack but that's what inspired this card.

To make this card, I chose the butterfly corner and stamped it back to back. I then masked those corners off, and using the sun corner, I stamped it at an angle in each corner.

To colour in I used pink distress inks for the red parts and a pale blue for the blue parts.

I matted the flag onto black card then onto some denim patterned paper from my stash.

To finished off I stamped the butterfly corner and coloured it in. I then cut a 1inch circle out of the patterned paper and then stamped "With Love" from the Dimension stamps Grand Word Perfect stamp set (ref: 1803161a).  This was then stuck into a bottle top and I added glaze. I wrapped some ribbon around the top corner of the card added a pink flower and attached this using a blue safety pin. Then finally I added the finished bottle top.

I had so much fun making this one, I want to make it again but this time go all glittery!

It's a Cracker!


Every year I make a cracker for everyone at our Christmas table each one is personalised to them, and when I saw the snowflake corner I had to play!

Crackers are so easy to make all you have to do is take a strip of scrap paper slightly bigger than the present and curve it best you can (books are always tricky, they never look curved!). Wrap it loosely around the present and tape it to stay closed. Next add your snapper and any other items you want (I normally add a joke which is personalised i.e. football related hubby, fishing father-in-law, etc). Then using your "cracker paper" in this case I used brown wrapping paper, but tissue papers work really well! place the present in the centre (ensuring enough space is left either side to hold when the cracker is to be pulled) and cover the present by rolling the paper when covered fasten paper with a little bit of tape. Then gather the ends and tie, I used string.

To make the band I used the snowflake corner and twisted them to form a pattern. I then distressed the band. Finally I curved it around the cracker and stuck it with a strong glue.

To finish it off I  made a tag by stamping the corners to form a square and added "Just For You" and "Aunty" from the Dimension stamps Grand Word Perfect stamp set (ref: 1803161a). This was also distressed and attached to the cracker!

Um apparently there is only 87 days till Christmas, now isn't that exciting! Think I need to get making those Christmas presents!

Friday 21 September 2012

Dimension Stamps: A Touch of .... Autumn

A Touch Of ... Autumn (stamp ref: 0701085a) is another set in the A Touch of ... range from Dimension Stamps. They are such lovely flowers I had so much fun playing with them.

Acrylic Paint

This first card is made using the Chrysanthemum stamp


I created the background by cutting a square of card and covered it in torn pages from a book (all the torn pages were lightly distressed before being stuck down).

When the background was dry I then lightly stamped (using stazon) the chrysanthemum onto the background (again allowed this to dry) and painted it using acrylic paints. I then did the same for the butterflies (this butterfly was taken from the Butterfly Background (ref: 0604066A) I have cut mine up so I can use the butterflies individually). Once all the paint was dry I stamped the images again over were I had painted.

To finish off the card I stamped  "Happy Birthday"  across the top and added a ribbon to the corner.

I mounted it onto purple card and added it to a kraft card.

Calendula

For this card I stamped the calendula stamp.

I stamped one centrally then filled the rest of paper by masking off the stamped images. I then coloured it in using distress inks, sticking to traditional autumn colours. I added a narrow boarder of orange, and matted that onto a larger piece of yellow and stamped "Autumn" and "Falling Leaves" around the edge. I then added some brads and stuck this onto a brown card. To finish off I die cut some leaves and stamped the words on them and added two flowers and a button.

All the flowers (sorry, couldn't think of a better name!)

Now I might have got a bit carried away with this one, but hey, I just loved this stamp set!

The front page is made up of the forget-me-not stamp along with a postcard (ref: 1808010A) with the calendula stamped into it, finished of  with "With Love" sentiment from the Grand Word Perfect stamp set (ref: 1803161a) stamped across the other side.

The Second page is made up of calendulas at the bottom of the page with chrysanthemums peeking out the top.

The back page is again made up of all the flowers, with "Happy Birthday" Stamped across the top so it can be seen when the card is closed.

They are all coloured using distress inks.





Friday 14 September 2012

Mum's Birthday

September is also my mums birthday! I love my mums birthday as I really go to town with her card and always try out something new. Even if it doesn't work, we both get the enjoyment out of discussing how we could make it work next time!

So this year I wanted to try canvas paper, it's meant for printers but hey anything is fair game when it comes to crafting! And I LOVE IT! It is fabulous to work with, the ink moves as it has a glossy finish and as it dries gets darker and darker.

Here's the background of the card.


To do this I used a mask of cogs and sprayed green ink onto it, then once dry distressed it to loose the brightness of the white areas then used a postal stamp at the top and bottom. The beauty of the canvas paper is how much ink it can hold, I sometimes struggle as I like to play with my inks and some papers/cards just curl as they dry, canvas paper doesn't, I left this to dry over night when I came back to it, it was slightly wavy I smoothed it out and it was as flat as a pancake!  

Here's how the finished card looked


You don't really see much of that beautiful background!

The card is made up of loads of different stamps, the postage stamp frames are from Dimension Stamps ref: 1808011A as is the Forget-me-not (bottom left hand corner) ref: 0701081a, the other stamps are ones I found in my stash.

I stamped lots of different images coloured them using distress inks, cut them out and glued them flat to the card. The only raised sections are the ribbon (I may have over done it slightly!) and the butterfly.

The only down side to canvas paper is once it touches glue it is stuck there are no second chances with canvas paper lol!

Mum loved it and I loved making it I really can't wait to play some more with it!

As it was mums birthday Little Lady also made her a "card"


Great isn't it!

Wednesday 12 September 2012

First Grey Hair!

My sister will hate me for this but she recently discovered her first grey hair, she's done well to get to her age (I was much younger!). She was devastated, to say least!

So, I thought what better way to help her "celebrate" this momentous occasion than to send her a card, just in case she had forgotten!


All the stamps I used are from Dimension Stamps:
  • Hair dryer (ref: 0105029a)
  • Plain Alphabet (ref: 1801012A), used for the G and H
  • Krystal Tips (ref: 1900006A), used for rey and air
  • Birthday Greetings (ref: 1803106A), Occasions - Greetings (ref: 1803107A) and Letter Frames, used for Congratulations on your
The card was so simple to do, I stamped the hair dryer onto white card and the circle from the letter frames. Inside the circle I stamped "Congratulations on your 1st". I then stamped an uppercase "G" and "H" onto some grey patterned paper, I then cut all the stamped images out.

To create the background I took a small piece of grey card (half the size of the front of the card) and embossed it using the cuttlebug then inked and embossed it using holographic embossing powder (I like to do this as it makes the embossed image really stand out!). On the bottom half of the card I found some more grey patterned paper, I stuck both these onto a darker piece of grey card. Where the two papers met I wrapped a piece of ribbon around.

I then stuck the circle onto a fabric flower (I didn't have a grey one so I used a blue one and distressed it with black ink) I then stuck all the stamped images on making sure I could fit "rey" and "air" next to the "G" and "H". I added brads to the corners. Finally I added glossy accents to the G, H, hairdryer and Circle (also adding card candi to the circle to separate the words.)

My sister did eventually see the funny side, but I bet she never forgets finding her first grey hair!

Sunday 9 September 2012

Birthday number 2!

My mother-in-law is also 60 this month, I made this card using a beautiful house pattern from Anne Marie designs and the stamps are from Dimension Stamps.

Thursday 6 September 2012

Birthdays Galore!

September, October and November are my busiest months for people birthdays everyone seems to have crammed them into either March or the next three months, so I need to pull my finger out and get making

This card is one I made for my father-in-law, using lots of different stamps. I stamped the background and attached the tickets to the bottom. I then glazed the tickets the Happy 60th Birthday, whilst the inks were still wet, with so that it went wavy.

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Like mother like daughter...

Well it's official at the grand old age of two my little lady has discovered the wonderful world of distress ink and seems as hooked on them as her mother.


She was so pleased that her hands matched mummy's


And look at her fabulous creations, though I have to say that!