Gold

Hi All,

Well, the weather's finally broken here, what a thunderstorm we had at 5 am this morning. I do enjoy a good thunderstorm although I wasn't quite excited enough to actually get out of my bed to look out the window.  Hopefully the sun will return soon.

I made a birthday card the other day and it just to happens it fits with this week's CASology challenge which is "GOLD" and the Craft-room Challenge which is "HEAT EMBOSSING".

I used a Klimt stamp from Chocolate Baroque which I think has quite a Deco feel to it.  I stamped the image onto black card and heat embossed in gold.  I did the same with the sentiment, then mounted them onto gold miri, then matted again onto the black and gold miri card.

Well, that's me for today, short and sweet.  I'm still going to the chircopractor and getting deep tissue massages (ouch) but I'm feeling much better and I do seem to have more energy again.

Thanks for popping in, see you all soon.

Suze xx

An Experiment

Happy Monday Bloggers,

I'd like to start off by saying a humongous thank you to the ultra lovely Debbi Glennie (Promarker Queen) for the huge box of goodies I won in her recent giveaway.  As I said to Debbi, it'll keep me busy throughout the summer holidays when my teenage kids are lying in their beds for half the day!  Check out Debbi's blog for great tutorials on using your Letraset markers. She's also got another giveaway at the moment too.




Okay now on to the 'experiment'.  I really wanted to use the metallic markers which I received from Debbi.  I did a couple of things - first I silver embossed some Hero Arts butterflies onto black paper which I then coloured in with the markers.






I then swiped the markers onto a piece of acetate which I then dabbed with a baby wipe to soften the lines.  You need to set this aside to dry as the markers are water based, hence don't dry as quickly as alcohol markers.










And here is the finished card (sorry, the photo is a bit 'glarey' with all the embossing, bling, miri card and acetate!) ...

I'd like to enter it into three challenges:

Addicted to Stamps Challenge #1- "Make your Mark" ie use any kind of markers.  This is a new challenge and there's still a day left to enter if you fancy!
Fashionable Stamping Challenge #24 - "Nature", and
PanPastel Challenge 24 - "Anything Goes"

Okay, must go and put on a washing and tidy up the breakfast dishes.  (Well you have to get your priorities right, don't you ladies - crafting comes first!)

Thanks for stopping by.
See ya
Suze xx

"Less is More" Challenge

The theme this week over at the "Less is More Challenge" is butterflies.

As usual it's taken me a day or so to think about this challenge and to try out various stamps, colours, layouts etc.  I've come to the conclusion I'll never be someone who can make a card in "5 minutes", in other words I spend a needless amount of time 'faffing' about and this week is no different!

This was my original card but I felt it wasn't quite right, I think the letters are too heavy for the heart ..

so I tried it without the letters, which I think is better ... do you agree??

The heart image is Papermania 'Confetti' stamped in Dusty Concord Distress Ink and clear embossed.  Mounted onto textured card then Bo Bunny DP.  Letters cut from Tim Holtz Vintage Market Die. Butterfly is K & Co 'Madeline', stamped in Versafine Imperial Purple & clear embossed.

Wishing you all a happy week. (I've got a busy week this week but I'll try and get round as many of you as I can!)
Suze x

"Less is More" Challenge

Fingers crossed there's no blogger hiccups today. Gee, I was forced to spend some time doing housework yesterday with blogger being down, mind you that means my house is (relatively) clean & tidy, so I can blog & craft most of the day!

It's Week 15 over at the Less is More Challenge, and this week it's 'One Layer Card - Embossing'.  On the one hand this challenge is a bit easier for me (looking back, there's only 3 weeks that I haven't embossed!) however, I felt that I needed to try something I hadn't done before.

I decided to use my fab new stamp from Stampin Up and to create a partially embossed 'frame' around it (the part I haven't done before).  Well as you can imagine it took a fair bit of trial and error (I won't bore you with the details) and in my final attempt below, the image is not properly centered inside the frame (and that was using my stamp-a-ma-jig!).

Stampin Up "Wedding Wheels"
Versafine Black Ink & Black EP
Oval Nestie
Victorian Fleur Embossing Folder

Have a great week everyone and fingers crossed Mr Blogger behaves himself!

Suze x

Wedding Wheels

As soon as I saw the new Wedding Wheels stamp from Stampin' Up, the song, "Daisy, Daisy" immediately sprung to mind.

Although I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to use the stamp,  this week on the Less is More Challenge blog, two ladies (Kate and Nicky) used tags on their cards. I thought this was a fab idea, and suitably inspired, today I have made my first ever wedding card (also quite appropriate as today is our 16th wedding anniversary!).

Text printed directly onto card.
Stamp: Wedding Wheels by Stampin Up, silver embossed
White embossed DP, black card & adhesive silver glittery paper
Ribbon, grommet & heart from stash

Hope you like ...

Happy Crafting

Suze x

"Less is More" Challenge

Week 13 over at the Less is More Challenge and this week it's a lucky dip with the theme 'Thank You' or 'Congratulations'.

My original idea was to mount two hearts onto a gold embossed panel but it was too fussy, so after quite a bit of time playing around with the layout, this is the end result.  I suppose I could have been even more CAS and stamped the sentiment straight onto the card but it's done now and I need to get back out into the sunshine!

The heart stamp has been stamped with versamark twice on white card and twice on kraft card, then embossed in gold.  I then softened the brown kraft card with distress ink.

Heart Stamp - Inkadinkado 'Friendship'
Sentiment - Papermania
Versamark with Gold EP
Worn Lipstick Distress Ink
Kraft & white cardstock

Hope you're all having a great holiday weekend.

Happy Crafting

Suze x

"Less is More" Challenge

Week 9 over at the Less is More Challenge is "A Touch of Red".

Well, just when I thought I was going to have a relaxing Mother's Day, crafting all day, I've been tearing my hair out - and here are the culprits - a trio of CAS cards!

The first card was NOT meant to be a christmas card.  I know many people make christmas cards throughout the year but I'm not one of them.  Anyway, once I'd teamed up the red and silver, it started to look very Christmassy so I just went the whole way with it.  Enough said!

Hero Arts Poinsettia Cling Stamp
Silver embossing powder
Xmas Border Embossing Folder
Berry Red Promarker
Silver Miri and Red SU card

Next I went red and gold.  This was my fourth attempt at trying to emboss red and gold together.  I'm sure there's a proper way to do it but I inked the whole stamp with Versamark first, then added red ink to the flower heads.  Once stamped, I covered the red bits with clear embossing powder, then covered the rest with gold EP.  Think the black band is a bit flat, maybe should have embossed it??

Inkadinkado Flower Sentiments
Versamark and Dew Drop Rocket Red Inks
Clear and Gold EP
Gold Miri

The final one was more fun to do. Again I embossed the poinsettia stamp in silver, then popped up the embossed girl image. I added the sentiment into a flattened bottle cap (thought it would go with the teenage theme).  I inked the cap with versamark then silver embossed it (caution - cap gets quite hot when heated).

Hero Arts Poinsettia Cling Stamp

Silver embossing powder

Inkadinkado 'In the Groove' stamp

Dew Drop Rocket Red ink with clear EP

Bottlecap - sentiment is Papermania - coated in glossy accents

Apologoies for the long post this week.  Will probably be a last minute entrant (and not able to do much commenting) next week as we're off next Saturday to the Isle of Skye for a few days.

Happy Crafting Everyone

Suze x

"Less is More" Challenge

It's week 3 over at the "Less is More" challenge and oh my goodness, this week has been even tougher than last week.  The theme is Spring.

I decided to go oriental and do cherry blossom (that was the easy bit!)  Oh my, trying to find a suitable sentiment to go with it.  I spent ages on the internet and eventually came across this quote by William Shakespeare (who'd have thought culture and crafting would blend together so nicely! Lol), then of course printing it out took a bit of time too!

The image is stamped and clear embossed, then coloured with promarkers and a touch of Sakura (Japanese for cherry blossom, don't you know!) Gelly Roll pen.

(Added Note: The image is the same stamp, stamped twice and it's a stamp which was purchased quite a few years ago from Lakeland (Kitchens) who I don't think do craft supplies anymore.)


(Further Note: I notice Beryl  (entry no 131) has used a blossom stamp from the same stamp set I've used.  She says hers is from the English Stamp Company, so I've checked their website and it's exactly the same stamp set and it's still available to purchase - obviously ESCo made it for Lakeland!).

Hope you like it.

Happy Crafting

Suze x

"Less is More" Challenge

Well, it's week two over at the Less is More Challenge and this week it's a one layer card (i.e. stamping straight onto the card with minimal embellishment) and the theme is trees or flowers.

Well I don't know how some have found this an easy challenge because I've had to do a fair bit of playing around before I found something I was happy with, so here it is:

I stamped the first tree with Versamark then embossed it with copper embossing powder, masked it and then stamped the second tree and sentiment with Kaleidacolor ink.  I then framed it with a double embossed line.

I'm fairly happy with it, though the stamping isn't perfect (but maybe that's just the virgo in me!)

(Tree from Kanban Spring Silhouettes)

Happy Crafting

Suze x

Inchie Card

The layout for this card was inspired by the cards that Helen over at 'It's all Fiddle Fart' creates.

Images and sentiment have been heat embossed.  Although fairly detailed, I still think this card has the 'clean and simple' style!

Inkadinkado Inchies
Hero Arts Sentiment
Stampin Up coloured card
Dew Drop Purple Hydrangea ink & Clear Embossing Powder

This is another inchie card I made recently, this time a single image, mounted onto some DP, with a couple of gems for a bit of bling!

I'm off to a Promarker class tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some "professional" images to show you later! Lol!

Happy Crafting

Suze x