Floral Steampunk Stepper Card using Punky Flowers (by Anne)

I was lucky enough to grab the special offer ‘Stash Box’ from Chocolate Baroque before they flew off the shelves. There was so much stash included I couldn’t believe it. The Lucky Dip stamp sets that I received were right up my street, Steampunk and sewing themed sets, and I didn’t already have them. How lucky was I! I got all of this for just over the cost of one A4 stamp sheet. I will be busy for some time with this lot.

 

I just had to create something using the Punky Flowers stamp set included. I made this stepper card for a friend and he loved it.

 

 

Materials:

• Mottled Cream Card for card base, pearlescent gold paper for layering, Kraft card for die cuts, white card for stamping
• Punky Flowers and Card Sentiments stamp sets
• Inkpads: Versamark, Distress Inks (Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin, Peacock Feathers, Gathered Twigs)
• Embossing powders: Detailed gold, copper and verdigris
• Pebeo Drawing Gum
• Fine satin ribbon (turquoise) and 3D glue gel
• Dies for stepper card, tag and cogs 
• Embossing folder for textured gears

Summary of Methods Used:

1. I used dies to create the stepper card and mats for layering and stamping. Small gears were die cut from Kraft card for embellishing. I used an embossing folder to create the gear textures.
2. Images were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with fine gold powder.
3. The main image was masked using Pebeo Drawing Gum. I really love this masking fluid. It is water soluble while wet so cleaning up brushes is so easy and there is no nasty rubbery ammonia smell that some masking fluids give.
4. I coloured the backgrounds with Distress inks. I also randomly heat embossed some of the textured gears with a mix of the gold, copper and verdigris embossing powders.
5. When completely dry I removed the drawing gum (it rubs off really easily) and coloured the main image and smaller images using Distress Inks and water on a brush. The smaller images were cut out for decoupage.
6. Layers were then glued to the card blank. 3D glue gel was used for the embellishments to give added depth.
7. As this was for a friend I created a personalised sentiment mini tag to finish the card.

 

Golden Bird (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, my project today is a step outside my usual colour palette, but I wanted to create a vibrant tropical feel with the lovely Birds of Paradise Multibuy stamps that are currently on offer this month.  I spritzed a piece of smooth watercolour paper with some Dylusion sprays to create a background, and then used a stencil to add some depth. I used Distress Inks to add some colour over the stencil.

I used a little flower spray from the Wisteria Lane stamp set to create some branches to hang the bird cage from. I stamped the image randomly around the top edges of the background, using Archival Ink. I stamped and embossed the birdcage using gold embossing powder, ensuring that the background was completely dry.

I stamped the bird onto the background, and then again onto a spare piece of card. I coloured the second image with Polychromos pencils and cut it out before adhering it to the background. I added a sentiment from the Card Sentiments clear stamp set. I matted the background onto a piece of dark green card to complete my project.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Fairy Wishes (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a card to share with you today, using some of the new Seasonal Fragments stamps.I wanted to create a little scene using one of the older dandelion clock images from the Fragrant Honeysuckle stamp set and add the clock seeds as if a fairy was blowing them off the flower head.

I stamped the main flower image onto a piece of card, and then added the flower fragment across the bottom of the card. I added some colour to the background using Distress Inks. I stamped the seed fragment, and added a fairy from the Spring Fairy stamp set. I coloured the images with watercolour pencils, and added a little bit of Stickles glue here and there as an accent. I stamped a sentiment from the Card Sentiments clear stamp set to finish.

I created a larger mount for my image using Distress Ink once again to colour the background card, and stamped the seed stamp around the edges using the same colour for a tone on tone effect. I attached both pieces of card to a large white card blank.

 Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Stamps and paper (by Lesley)

I have always loved patterned papers and I still border on wanting to keep them to stroke because they are too nice to use! However today I want to show you how to get colour into your stamping with very little effort using some of those precious papers.

• Stamp the ruffled ribbon border from Floral Mannequins, twice, onto a piece of pale patterned paper with Versafine Onyx Black. When dry colour the ruffled edges with pencils that tone in with the paper.
• After fussy cutting the borders, use a darker co-ordinating pencil and run it along the edges of the ruffles. This gives the appearance of dimension to the ribbons.
• Stamp the larger of the wire dress forms from The Sewing Room, twice, onto patterned paper (I used the free download from week 4 of our Challenge Blog 8). Cut out the entire image and then cut the tops from the wire frames. Swop these over so that you have a different coloured top to the bottom and glue together. You will have a spare for another project.
• Stamp out two of the small dress form onto another piece of patterned paper, preferably one with a lighter background. Cut out.
• Fold a piece of A4 white cardstock at 12.5 cm to create an oversize DL card, trim as required, and attach the ribbon border across the card as shown. Use a wet adhesive and overlap the borders (you will cover the join with the dress forms). When dry trim off the excess from each edge of your card.
• Stamp the sentiment from the Card Sentiments clear set with Onyx Black then attach the two smaller dress forms flat to the card with double sided tape, positioning as shown.
• Finally curve the larger dress form with your fingers for added dimension and attach with gel adhesive.

I hope this will encourage you to start using some of your paper stash and if that's asking a bit too much why not check out our Challenge Blog where you will find a free printable download every month.

As always there are some fabulous ideas bursting out from the Design Team so why not pop back tomorrow for another dose of inspiration.

Birdcage Collage with Stampbord (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I have a project to show you using one of this month's individual stamps, Birdcage Collage.

I started my project by inking up the stamp, and then placing an ATC sized piece of Stampbord onto the stamp to take a partial print of the image. I stamped the image again onto a piece of white card. I coloured the Stampbord image with pencils, and also the areas of the image on the card that would not be covered by the Stampbord image.

I covered the piece of Stampbord with Versamark and sprinkled it with extra thick clear embossing powder, melting it with my heat gun. I added embossing powder twice more while the embossing powder on the Stampbord was still molten. You need to be very quick to do this! Once the Stampbord had cooled down completely, I attached it to the card image, lining up the two images so that they matched each other.

I created the card background using the wrinkle free Distress technique: adding Distress Ink to my craft mat, and spritzing it with water, before dragging my card through the ink. I dried this layer, and then patted the card onto the mat again to pick up some of the left over ink droplets, and dried the card again. I added a second colour and repeated the process. I used a template and Distress Ink to add a trellis effect to two of the corners of my background, and stamped a small berry stamp taken from the Woodland Dreams stamp set onto the other two corners.

I attached the background to an 8" x 8" card blank and added a sentiment from the Card Sentiments clear stamp set.

 
Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Signs of an early Spring with our new Stamp releases (by Lesley)

The days are starting to feel a little longer, the sun is shining a little more and March is just around the corner. So today I am pleased to announce our latest stamp releases which I hope will help us all feel a little closer to Spring. Plus there are some new clear stamp sets that should really help you get your words straight.

First we have three DL sets, Spring Bird Crocus

Spring Bird Tulip

and finally Spring Bird Daffodil.

Of course these wonderful sets are available individually or as our usual money saving multi-buy.

And now for the clear stamps.  

I don't know about you but stamping words in a straight line has always been a bit of a problem for me. However, once you can see through the stamp it is much easier and there is less chance of ruining the project that you just spent hours creating.

So the clear stamps we are releasing today are all sentiment sets that you won't want to be without. First is an A5 set entitled Sweet Nothings

followed by two A6 sets, Thinking of You Sentiments

and Card Sentiments

Both A6 sets are also available as a multi-buy.

All our Spring sets are just asking to be coloured with your favourite mediums. Here I stamped the tulip stems and heads onto spare pieces of card that had already been coloured with Brushos. After cutting them out I glued them onto the folded card, which was covered with patterned paper. I added a little distress ink around the edges of the card and finally stamped one of our new sentiments. A relatively quick make because I used saved scraps of card for the flowers and I didn't need to mat and layer the sentiment. Sometimes we just need quick and simple don't we?

As you can imagine the Design Team girls have gone to town with their Spring creations, so please keep coming back every day to see a new piece of inspiring artwork.