Wednesday 29 January 2014

Happiness Box - Graphic45 Typography

This project is a gift I made for my husband. The box is filled with happy memories (little mementoes to remind him of happy moments, each wrapped in tissue paper).

 

The original box was plain and wooden. I covered it in patterned papers from a Graphic45 Typography pad.

 

 

 

Thursday 23 January 2014

My take on Tim Holtz' January 2014 tag (mine's a card!)

These tags from Tim are such an inspiration. I love to follow the techniques but do something a little different, so this is a birthday card for my husband Tom, a cat lover!

"The Journey Awakens the Soul"

The centre panel follows Tim's techniques, with masking using a small Idea-ology mask and distress inks.

 
"Charming"

I just love that climbing cat charm that a DC friend gave me for Christmas. The "T" muse token is perfect for Tom's card, and the clock charm goes with the overall theme.

 
"Shaker Clock"
 
That black paint on the embossing folder technique is one of my all-time favourites; I love the grimy, oily look it gives.
 
 
"I've got a Screw Loose"
 
See those loose cogs and gears inside the clock? Well they really are loose. I couldn't resist turning this into a shaker card, so it rattles when you give it a shake and the gears move about. There's a layer of acetate over the gears fixed with foam tape all around to stop them falling out. I must get it together to do a shaker card tutorial, I love making them and they are great fun.

 
"Brad"

Whenever I hear the word "Brad", I think "Janet"* and hear that song in my head. But I digress. Another pressie I received was a pack of blank, square brads. I cut a square of inked card added a rub-on, and fixed it to the front of a blank brad with glossy accents. Then I covered the whole thing with a thick layer of glossy accents and left it to dry. Perfect for making embellishments to match your project!

*(for those of a different age group, this is a reference to the Rocky Horror Picture Show"!)

 
"The Cat Who Walks Through Walls"

This cat looks so like our cat Lucky - not so much the shiny embossed gears, more the way he is walking off with tail aloft. A second, black diecut is placed behind the shiny one to act as a shadow and highlight the cat on the coloured background.


Ingredients:
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Mask
Gears embossing folder
Sizzix Bigz Tim Holtz Alarm Clock
Sizzix Framelits Circles
Cat die
Distress ink pads: Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves, Shaded Lilac
Alcohol inks: Stream, Plum
Acrylic paint: black
Stix 2 Foam tape strips
Acetate
Cardstock: Black 300gsm, white smooth 160gsm, silver mirri
Blank Brad
Rub-ons
Charms: Muse Token, Clock and Climbing cat
 
Entered for the following challenge:

Sunday 5 January 2014

Buttons and Bows

Today is the day the new Stamping Sensations challenge goes live and our subject this month is "Buttons and Bows" so we would like to see your creations with buttons and bows in! As usual, we have a fantastic prize on offer. This month's sponsor is Nicecrane Designs, so please head over to the challenge blog to check out the prize and my teamies' fabulous creations.

"Buttons and Bows"

I made this birthday card for a dear friend; I'm hoping she loves the weird and wonderful as much as I do lol! It is of course one of my book cards (click on the link for a tutorial). I was definitely in a "purple" mood when I made this one lol!

 
"Be like the bird..."

There was a lot of fun involved in creating the backgrounds. The trees were stamped with Dusty Concord distress ink with a spray of water added to the inked stamp before presing on the paper, allowing the ink to run. Then the same stamps were inked up with black archival ink and overstamped in the same place to add some detail to the trees (not my idea, I nicked it from Barbara Gray!). I don't have any of the Clarity Stamps, so I used some Silhouette trees that I bought at last year's craft fair. The birds and sentiment are from Crafty Individuals and are stamped in black archival..

The sentiment is one of my all-time favourites "Be like the bird that, pausing in flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her and yet sings, knowing that she has wings" Victor Hugo.

 
"Button Garden"

The button flowers are glued into the book aperture with Pinflair, and you can just make out the background stamping in this photo. I bought the fabulous purple flower buttons in a big pack from my local craft store; the other buttons are from my button box.

 

Bows are added to some of the flower stems to act as leaves.

 

Here's the finished card, all tied up and ready for the big day.

Thursday 2 January 2014

From Someone Who Cares

This is the second of the two cards I made with the decoupage sheet from Docrafts. I thought this would make quite a good sympathy card, maybe for an anniversary.
 
"From Someone Who Cares"

The decoupage images are so pretty, they didn't need much else. I didn't want to detract from the flowers, so added a muted background of stylised flowers (from that old favourite Hampstead stamp set)  stamped in grey ink. The same grey ink was used to edge the card, and some gingham ribbon and a bow added from the Papermania Monochrome Capsule Collection.


The sentiment is stamped and heat-embossed in silver. It's one of my favourite sentiment stamps from the Birdsong collection. All these old Papermania stamps stamp beautifully and are well worth getting out of your stash for a play.

I wonder what the other forum volunteers have done with their goodies? Maddy x

Wednesday 1 January 2014

Docrafts Special Request

A couple of months ago, Kate came onto the Docrafts forum asking for volunteers to make cards with some items they would send us, and of course I had to volunteer! This card made it into the January 2014 edition and is featured on page 103!

The first card I thought of was a book card. We weren't allowed to use any other company's products on our creations, so everything on here is done with DC stuff, even the ink!

 
"A rose by any other name"


I loved the sheet of decoupage I was sent to play with. Many of you will not realise that I suffer from severe peripheral neuropathy, which has interfered markedly with my dexterity. I can no longer fussy cut like I used to, so the diecut decoupage was especially welcome!

 


The diecut decoupage is itself relatively straightforward. You just pop the pieces out, shape them and put together in layers using a dimensional glue. The edging for the book card is inked in reddy pink and overstamped with grey using some of the flourishes from the Birdsong collection together with inks collected from the DC goody bags over the years.

 

The sentiment panel "Wishing you lots of love and a happy ever after" is from one of those sheets that DC produce, another one that's ready diecut. I fixed it over an oval cut to match the decoupage on the facing page, and thence to the backing paper. All the patterned papers for this project come from the Henbury Lane and Summer Bloom ranges. For the paper on the inside of the card, I used an old birdsong filigree panel as a stencil and sponged dark pink ink through. You can just make out the pattern in this photograph. Flowers are from the decoupage sheet and Summer Bloom collection. The polkadot ribbon is from the monochrome Papermania capsule collection.
 
"Have a Perfect Day"

The lovely sentiment on the inside of the card is fairly non-specific and would do for a Birthday, Engagement or Wedding, so I thought I'd keep the front of the card non-specific too. It's a little hard to make out in the photo, but there is a sentiment in the bottom right which says "Have a Perfect Day". This is taken from a Henbury Lane or Summer Bloom sheet (can't remember which!).

If you enjoyed this, please come back tomorrow for a look at the other card I made, and before I go I just have to shout HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :-) Maddy x