Stampbord necklace- two techniques!

After I got my lovely new Melt Pot, the first thing I did was go onto Youtube to look for tutorials. I was delighted to find loads from Suze Weinberg herself! This necklace was inspired by a tutorial of hers, showing paper beads dipped in UTEE (different from the Leandra bead which uses lots of layers of UTEE), and another tutorial by Suze Weinberg with Julia Andrus, author of 'Paper Transformed', which showed a way of making faux sea-glass. I used the sea-glass technique to make the pendant, but used Stampbord instead of glass as the base- it still looks good to me! The beads were made using the Melt Pot, but I have in the past used Glossy Accents instead of UTEE, which worked as well but was more time consuming. I love these two techniques, and you will be seeing them again!

Here's Faux Sea Glass:



And here's the UTEE bead:

Happy Birthday to Vicky!

It was Vicky's birthday yesterday, but I actually gave her this on Tuesday. This is a mini-file box, 6 1/2" wide by 5" high, and it started life as mountboard, coloured cardstock, and an A3 sheet of watercolour paper! Craft TV Weekly had this as one of their webisodes, and I knew straight away that I wanted to make one for Vicky as a present. Naturally I wanted to get really inky, so I made the patterned paper with the watercolour/craftmat technique (clear embossing first to create the white pattern) and stamped it to within an inch of it's life. It is not a project to make in a hurry, but I am so pleased with the result that I may make myself one if I ever get the time!

Colour: Vivid inks, Glimmer Mists, Versamagic, Versacolour, Brilliance
Stamps: All Paperartsy
Other: Bazzill and SU cardstock, mountboard, watercolour paper, lots of PVA glue, velcro for closure (the magnet I tried to use wasn't powerful enough), Making Memories ribbon buckle.

Birthday Cards- Inspired By...

...Sid and Jo!
I tend not to enjoy card-making at the moment, as I am finding it hard to reconcile my arty-farty, distressed side with the need to make pretty things for people who nothing about my hidden nature! I am quite pleased with these, though, as they have been made using arty and interesting techniques, even though they are essentially cute and pretty.
The first card features Robin Beam's Bandanna technique. Sid did a great step-by-step tutorial, which is on his blog, and he challenged me to have a go. I don't have a lot of solid image stamps, so I tried it with these Inkadinkado scribbled flower stamps, and I love the effect. The card is for a friend's nine-year old daughter, and I think she will like it, especially as I bedecked it with Stickles!
The flower on that card, and the flowers on the second card were made using a technique from Craft Stamper magazine last month, which was from Jo Capper-Sandon. The idea is that you scribble randomly on watercolour paper using water-soluble crayons. I used my ancient set of Caran D'Ache here. Once you have scribbled, you spritz with water, then use a straw to blow the colours around until you have an effect you like. You can keep adding colour and water until you are happy with the finish. I tried this on two different kinds of watercolour paper. The top flower was from a really heavy textured paper, and the effect was very bold. The colours didn't mingle very well. The second card is from the second try (which I remembered to photograph before cutting!), and is on a much smoother finished paper. I was much more able to create a blended effect. In both cases, I stamped in black and cut the flowers out.
Thanks for the inspiration and great tutorials, Jo and Sid!

Stamps: Inkadinkado (flowers), Heidi Swapp (sentiment)
Colour: Caran D'Ache watercolour crayons, Brilliance, Versacolour, Versafine, Ranger Inkessential white pen
Other: Ranger Stickles, braid from my stash.

This morning I have had a huge session cropping and sorting photos of things I have made. I will have lots to show next week! Bye for now!

Think Monday, Think ATC- Loving couples

This week's Think Monday, Think ATC challenge is 'loving couples'. How could I not use this stamp? The original of this is beautiful, but Marina from Cherry Pie has really caught the passion in her rendition for this stamp. Thanks Marina!
The border and text were computer generated, the main image was stamped in black Versafine. The Cherry Pie heart was reverse stamped in Versamark, using the flat plain square from Judikins' 'Carol's Cube' (ink up your stamp, stamp it onto the square, then stamp the square onto your paper. Voila, your image is reversed!). First it was heat embossed with gold detail powder, then I used Versacolour Cardinal Red direct-to-paper over the whole image, poured on clear embossing powder, then heated it. I don't know how this works, but the original embossing comes through the colour! Then I cut out the heart and glued it in position, and mounted the whole thing on black card. Oh, and the lips were coloured with Sakura Stardust then Glaze pens.
If anyone loves fonts, as I do, then check out Dafont.com. There are hundreds of amazing fonts in all different styles, perfect for the finishing touch for your projects. And they're free!

Wednesday Stamper- Hats

I could have managed to be a little later for this weeks Wednesday Stamper, but not much! I seem to be pretty much caught up now, so hopefully will be more on time for everything. Of course, give me enough nights without sleep and that'll change again!
I'm into making ATCs at the moment. I usually have someone in mind for a card, and arty ones don't go down well with my family! But ATCs are just a little artistic indulgence, as they aren't 'for' anything. Hence this one, which I have called 'Hats off to the Music Man'. I am still inspired by these Paperartsy stamps; this is my third ATC using them. When I'm done I will label them as a series, my first!
Stamps by Paperartsy, Tanda Stamps and PSX, inks used are Distress Inks in Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo, plus Versacolour pigment inks in a mix of blues. The 'the' is Sakura Stardust pen. Thanks for looking!