Red Dragon

I've been busy colouring this weekend so just the 1 quick card! I did make my own designer brads though and it's my first make using a new kit from a company that I've never used before. Lelli-Bot crafts was on Create & Craft a few weeks ago and as I hadn't heard of them, I had to watch. They had a whole range of kits that are a little bit different. I ordered 2- this Fantasy Dragon one and Gothic Lace, which is monochrome with skulls and lace.

With the popularity of programmes like Game of Thrones, I thought this kit would be a good investment for some of the craft shows I'll hopefully be selling at during the summer! I haven't personally watched Game of Thrones but I have read the books. I tried to watch it but the 'wights' freaked me out too much in the first episode that I didn't watch any more. They weren't that creepy in my own head!

This card was super quick to make and all of the toppers and papers came from the Fantasy Dragon kit. I started with an 8x8 card blank, rounding the corners for a bit of extra detail. I then used a pearlescent grey paper for the first layer on the card, followed by layers of the patterned papers and the square topper. The message also came from the kit.

To complete the card, I added 3 large red brads to the bottom right hand side of the card. To tie them in to the theme of the card, I stamped and black embossed each one with a small dragon stamp from a Creative Expressions set that I've had forever. I used 2 different sized stamps across the 3 brads. They are not as detailed as I would like, but I'm still happy with them.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Crafting Musketeers 'use a die cut' 28.5
Papertake Weekly 'anything goes' 12.5
Clear It Out 'anything goes' 12.5
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges 'anything goes' 12.5
Creative Inspirations 'birthday wishes' 12.5
Polkadoodles 'things with wings' 22.5

Super Stamping

Another busy weekend for me but a little bit of crafting squeezed in as usual! Tried to get a few cards done as I might not get any crafting done next weekend- the ladies football team I play for has our first ever match next Sunday so my usually calm crafty day will instead be a sweaty, active day! We have been promised a post-match team talk in the pub though, so I think I'll survive!

Anyway, here's one of my makes from this weekend...

I am creating more simple, 1 layer, cards recently and this is another example of that style. I love CAS cards and I think this definitely fits into that type of crafting.

I started with a 6x6 white card blank, masking a panel across the middle with a piece of scrap paper. I then used 2 flowers and a leaf stamp that have been in my stash for years (they are very small purple rubber stamps, that I think were called SeeD's by Papermania/Anita's- they are similar to the sort of stamps now sold by Majestix- but not clear) and randomly stamped using just 1 pink and 1 green ink pad. I used 2nd generation stamping to achieve the different shades of colour.

I wanted to add a sentiment to the central panel of the card but was a bit too scared to stamp directly onto my cards base! Instead, I cut a piece of raspberry pink card to slightly smaller than the white strip and then stamped and embossed my message onto that instead. I finished the card by adding liquid pearls and stickles glitter glue into the centre of the flowers (doesn't show up very well on the picture unfortunately!).

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Crafty Calendar 'add a sentiment' 1.5
Craft Your Passion 'anything goes' 19.4
Quirky Crafts 'flowers' 26.4
Papertake Weekly 'words, words, words' 21.4
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges 'for the girls' 21.4
Crafting for All Seasons 'milestone celebrations' 27.4
In the Pink 'make it sparkle' 29.4
Creatalicious 'embossing' 14.5
Crafty Catz 'girl thing' 23.4

Rising from the ashes...

Back in November, at the Lincoln Sincerely Yours show, I bought a brilliant Sweet Poppy stencil of a Phoenix- they had done a demo card where the Phoenix had been zen-tangled and it was fab. I had to get the stencil so I could make my own Fawkes inspired cards (and possibly use it in my Harry Potter scrapbook if I ever get it started!).

This is the first time I've used it so I've gone for quite a simple design

I started with a sheet of golden yellow A4 cardstock that I folded to make an A5 base card. I inked the edges of the card with Barn Door (Red) distress ink. I then used a Versamark pen to draw the phoenix design through the stencil onto a piece of white card. I did small parts of the design at a time, heat embossing with gold embossing powder. After I had embossed the entire phoenix, I went around the edge of the design firstly with a red promarker and then orange and yellow, blending the colours together. I also used my black promarker to colour the embossing on the eye- just to help it stand out a bit. I then trimmed down my phoenix topper and mounted it onto red mirror card.

I wanted to add a layer of texture to the background of the card so I cut a piece of orange net fabric, slightly smaller than the card, and then attached it using double sided tape.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Challenges 4 Everybody 'anything goes' 4/4
That Craft Place 'anything goes' 15/3
Blog named Hero 'stencil' 14/3
Catch the Bug 'anything goes' 8/3
Crafty Calendar 'animal' 2/4
Crafty Catz 'anything goes' 6/3
Paper Shelter 'animal magic' 4/3
Creative Inspirations 'boy thing' 4/3
Love to Create 'anything goes' 2/3

Quoth the Raven

I always love to buy Halloween themed papers (esp. DCWV) but here in the UK we rarely give cards for Halloween. This means that I have lots of beautiful papers I rarely use and only one friend that would really appreciate a card of a gothic style. When I saw the Graph'It challenge for this week, it gave me a great excuse to use them.

I again started with an 8x8 white card blank. I cut down a piece of DCWV 'Midnight Spell' 8x8 paper to fit the card and then stamped around the edge of it with my Imkadinkado gears system and a new branch stamp from a set called 'Halloween'. I stamped with a versamark ink and then embossed it with a black glitter embossing powder. It is difficult to see in the photograph but in real life adds an extra dimension because the printed paper is flat black. I chose a Saturated Canary digi stamp and coloured it using my promarkers. I trimmed it leaving a small white border and mounted this onto the card. I used a star punch with some black glitter paper to make the embellishments for the card and then wrapped some black & white bakers twine around the edge of the card, adding the skull bead.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Smudgy Antics 'embellishments'
Creative Inspirations 'anything goes'
Paper Shelter 'sun, moon or stars'
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges 'anything goes'
Cute Card Thursday 'hip to be square'
Graph'It 'Halloween colours'
Daring Cardmakers 'signature style' (8x8 square card, CAS, stars)

Don't Blink...

I've been waiting patiently (or not) for the Melt Pot I ordered to arrive all the way from America since the start of August, and it's finally here. I've tried melting normal embossing powders in it but it doesn't seem to be working for me (anyone got any tips) and I've only got 1 colour of UTEE, so I've only been able to make one more Doctor Who card to add to my collection. The 'Weeping Angels' are my favourite Doctor Who monster though so I've been dying to make this card...

I made the angels first by melting Platinum UTEE in my Melt Pot and then pouring it into my Weeping Angel silicone mould (from Lakeland- meant to be for baking). When they were cool, I removed them from the mould and rubbed the top with a little gilding wax. The background of the card is made on an 8x8 white card blank and the scene is die-cut using an x-cut die set. I stamped the message 'Don't Blink' in a mixed font to match the Tardis & Dalek card I had made previously. The UTEE toppers are very light so I simply attached them to the card with red super sticky tape.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Creative Card Crew 'things with wings'
Challenges 4 Everybody 'anything goes'

T'wit T'woo

We've got a new challenge over at Card Makin Mamas for August and it's a nice simple one (I think)! All you need to do is make a card using just 3 colours- BLACK, WHITE + 1 OTHER and link it up to our challenge here. The prize is a mystery box of goodies from head mama Jess so come and take a look. Here's my DT card using BLACK, WHITE & BRONZE.

It's a really simple card starting with a sheet of A4 white card that I folded to make an A5 base card. I used different sized feather stamps from Sheena Douglass to stamp the base card to create my own design. I used a black VersaFine inkpad, double stamping to get the grey tone as well as the pure black, and a bronze VersaColour inkpad. The main owl image is a beautiful Indigo Blu stamp that I got at a show recently- it has amazing detail and stamps beautifully. I stamped it and embossed with black embossing powder and then coloured the image with 3 different shades of bronze Cosmic Shimmer iridescent watercolour paints. I cut out my Owl image as close to the embossing as I could and then used 3d foam to mount it onto a double layered Kanban mat.

This card shows that with a beautiful stamp, it's easy to make a fantastic card. Now show us what you can do!

Ooo Wee Ooo #2

I am super excited about this card for many different reasons! #1- I LOVE Doctor Who, #2- rumours are that the new Doctor will be announced in a tv special on Sunday night! & #3- the dalek & tardis on this card are my own hand-made embellishments (I tried a new idea and it worked really well!)

At the moment, Lakeland stores have a new range of Doctor Who baking supplies e.g. cake toppers, cake cases and the most awesome cake pan for making a 3d Dalek cake (is it ok to have that as a cake for your 30th birthday???). They also have dusting stencils, ice cube moulds & chocolate moulds (these are the 3 things I've bought for crafting with). The moulds are all made of silicone so are great for a wide range of crafting products. The chocolate moulds are shallow and the ice cube ones quite deep. For the toppers on this card, I've used the shallow chocolate moulds. I don't have a melt pot (yet!) but I still wanted to have a go at using my embossing powders in the moulds so I did it layer by layer with a versamark pen! The silicone mould can happily take the heat of the heat gun and actually stays warm for enough time to be able to re-powder without re-inking every time. Because this method took quite a long time, my toppers are very thin (paper thin) but this does mean that they are very lightweight and easy to attach with 3d foam pads. Once I had made them, I rubbed them with a little gilding wax as the back of the embossing powders are always dull and then arranged them onto my backing card (pearlescent design from Kanban kit). I then used some typography style clear stamps that have been in more stash for years (maybe decades) to stamp the 'ooo wee ooo' message in a pearlescent platinum brilliance ink so it isn't too obvious but is definitely there. I then mounted it all onto a 6x6 white card blank.

I sense a whole set coming on as the mould also has K-9, a cyberman head, a sontaran head and (my favourite) weeping angel! Looking to get a bargain melt pot first though so it's a bit quicker to do- anyone know where I can get a bargain???

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Songbird 'favourite things'

Creative Inspirations 'anything goes'

Cute Card Thursday 'anything goes'