Colour Perceptions ATC

For the month of  October the colour is Blue and must be predominately that colour. Inspiration/theme is based on and emotion/how the colour us makes us feel.

I think of blue as a calm colour so that is the emotion/perception that my ATC evolved around. 

I started by stamping a Stampscapes stamp with Marvy dark blue ink.  I coloured the sky and river with copic markers. 

On a piece of cardstock, I stamped the Marks of Distinction swans in fluid chalk Prussian Blue then coloured the water below them in chalks. I cut them out and attached them at the bottom of the card. 

To make the river look more realistic I covered it with Glossy Accents. 

Colour Perceptions ATC

Green is the colour for September ArtVentures Colour Perceptions ATC swap.

The colour green makes me think of nature and how every colour is harmonious with it, so that was my emotion/perception for this month.

I started with white cardstock and a Hero Arts flower stamp and used Cathie Allan's "Stamp Smoosh" technique with Olive Fluid chalk.

I stamped the Paper Parachute floral stamp with green pigment ink and Judikins Forest twinkle embossing powder. I used this stamp as there is a negative side to the stamp and the original background showed through.

To add some more detail I covered a piece of white cardstock with aquamarine fluid chalk, stamped a text stamp in green pigment ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I attached this to the right-hand side of the ATC.

Colour Perceptions Artist Trading Card

On ArtVentures we are starting a new ongoing swap theme "colour perceptions", with each month being a different colour. For this we must think layers of the colour and must be  predominatelythe colour for that month. Inspiration/theme is based on and emotion/how the colour us makes us feel,

For this month the colour is red, and this colour made me think of love and passion.

I took a piece of glossy white cardstock and coloured it with Sangria Piñata Alcohol Ink and pounced it on with Caro extender and a felt pad.

I coloured some white cardstock with Lipstick Red Fluid Chalks then cut out the Memory Box curly wreath. I had printed off some pictures of lovers previously so I also cut them out with the die and placed it in the centre of the curly wreath on the ATC.

I punched some heart from 130LB cardstock and layered 3 together to give them some body, and coloured them with a red marker. I melted some clear UTEE and added some garnet Heat-it-Inks, dipped the hearts in it and when dry added a little flower gem.

I attached a piece of Sookwang tape to the bottom of the ATC and covered it with Fire Red and burnished it and attached the heart to the side.

I coloured some white cardstock with Red Pepper Adirondack ink and stamped the PSX Pixie Expressions stamp in Versfine Onyx Black and attached it to the glitter piece with double-sided foam tape.

Playing around with 3-D Mbossabilities

I received a bunch of supplies that I had ordered and one of the items was the new 3-D Mbossabilities by Spellbinders. So instead of working on one of my swaps that I am trying to decide on a theme, I played with the embossing folder.

I came across my Radiant Pearls paints that I have not used in a long time and sadly these beautiful paints are no longer available. I painted the whole surface with these paints except for the banner which I covered with Bisque Fluid Chalk ink then highlighted with the Creamy Brown Fluid Chalk ink. 

I then went over the whole piece with the Creamy Brown and distressed the edges with Vintage photo Distress ink. The sparkle of the Radiant Pearls still shows underneath the fluid chalks. I stamped the sentiment with Memento Ink. 

I think I will be playing more with this embossing folder using different supplies.

 

T for Tapestry-A to Z Techniques

For the T I chose to use the Tapestry Technique and discovered two different versions for it.

The first one I found on Split Coast stampers. On cream coloured cardstock I applied two different colours of Fluid Chalk inks and blended them together. You can also use distress or pigment inks and of course more than two complimentary colours.

I chose a floral stamp and stamped over the dry background with white pigment in and set it aside to let it dry well. You can heat set it by placing a piece of newsprint paper over it and iron it with a dry iron, or heat set with a heat gun.

If you want you can emboss the whole piece with clear embossing powder, but I decided to  leave it as is.
I used a Tim Holtz ticket stamp and sentiment to complete the card. Linlnk for this variation:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/tapestry/http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/tapestry/

The second variation I found on Youtube. Tapestry Paper Vintage technique

I stamped a text stamp on off white cardstock in a light brown dye ink.

Using a wadded/crinkled piece of plastic wrap and shimmer paint, dab off some of the paint them dab over the surface. You want subtle areas, not big blobs. I don’t have shimmer paint, and used scribbles and some of the Tim Holtz Dabber Pearl paint. You could probably experiment with other paints which have a shimmery effect.

Brayer a light coat of a pink toned dye ink over the surface. (I used Marvy Rose Pink).

Clean brayer and add a tan or light brown dye ink over the pink. (I used Old Paper Distress Ink).

Make sure the inks are completely dry and if necessary use an anti-static pad such as SU embossing buddy, then ink a stamp with pigment ink and embossing powder of your choice. I used Merlot pigment ink and Terra Cota embossing powder.

Here is a link to the technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnXAOMmMIZw&feature=player_detailpage

A-Z techniques- S

The next letter for the A-Z techniques on ArtVentures is S. I decided to do the Stamp Smoosh and Sparkle Marble which I learned from the wonderful Cathie Allan.

I used Lipstick Red, Lime Pastel, and Yellow Citrus fluid chalk inks to stamp smoosh the background and for the Sparkle Marble technique I used Siren, Luscious Lime and Gold Lame Smooch ink.

I decided to add a Cuttlebug die-cut star for the central image. I added some Sookwang tape to cardstock and ran it through my die-cutting machine. I removed the backing from the largest die-cut and covered it with some gold Stampa Rosa glitter. On the smallest star, removed the backing and covered it with Clearsnap's Cherry Pie Designer foil.

I decided not to add anything further as the background is so sparkly, although the picture does not show it very well.

Doodles Unleashed Alphabets

The next series for this swap on ArtVentures is E to H.

The background for E is done on watercolour paper with Dylusions sprays and the ghosting technique using a stencil. I got a bit silly with this one and added some googly eyes to the top to go with the saying I wrote on the letter.

The F background is newspaper that I had under some other projects so it is covered with sprays and paints. I coloured the letter with Lyra pencils and some markers then cut them out and attached them to the background. added some transfer foil to the one edge and a paper flower.

G was done with fluid chalks and a text stamp for the background. The letter is coloured with Tombow markers.

H is a distress ink background and the H is fairly simple as I was running out of ideas for the doodling. I drew lines around the edge with Tombow Markers to give it a more finished look.

Butterflies and Dragonflies Easel Card

On AFTCM I joined a swap to make and easel card with the theme of Butterflies and Dragonflies with heat embossing on it.

I started with white 130LB cardstock and colored two pieces with fluid chalk inks using Cathie Allan's "stamp smoosh' technique.

On one piece I stamped the Stampendous dragonfly with green pigment ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Cut around most of it leaving an area on the bottom right, flipped it over, then traced around some chipboard letters to spell out the word "FLY". I cut around them, ensuring that there was areas joining the dragonfly and letters to the panel. I edged it with a green marker, and stamped some corner stamps at each corner.

I embossed the chipboard letters with green pigment ink and clear embossing powder and attached them to the front of the card panel.

To hold the front in place and create an easel, I cut a piece of embossable window plastic and folded it in half, attached it to the back panel and then to the front. I attached a little 3-D butterfly at the corner of the front panel.

To complete the inside I stamped a saying and attached it over some butterflies wings.

I colored a piece of ribbon with pigment inks to coordinate with the colours I used on the card. and attached it to the back (covering it with another piece of cardstock to hide it) then tied it in place to keep the card closed.

Row Houses

On Mixed Media Misfits Trish suggested a Row House swap. I have not made any of these for a while so I was up for this swap.

I coloured some cardstock with Clearsnap fluid chalk inks using Cathie Allan's Stamp Smoosh and Sparkle Marble technique. I attached this to a piece of cardboard and cut out the three house shapes.

I added some Tim Holtz tissue tape to the bottom and coloured it with the fluid chalk inks to make it blend in. I stamped an alphabet background stamp in a second generation in Versafine sepia ink.  I added a couple of other stamps to give it some depth. I took a piece of sequin waste and added this with some acrylic paints.

On the left hand one I added a corner piece from cuttlebug embossed with pearlised embossing powder at the top. The circles are stickers coloured with alcohol inks. The butterfly, roses and the lady are from Moonlight Journey.com.

On the middle one, at the top, I added a piece of a die-cut from Memory Box coloured
with Clearsnap Smooch Gold ink. I stamped the PSX saying with pearlised embossing powder. The image from digitalcollagesheets.com  and coloured with chalks and set it with Judikins Microglaze. The butterfly and the roses are from Moonlight Journey.

On the left hand one I added some opals embossing powder and stamped into it while hot with the alphabet background stamp. Added a corner sticker to the top coloured with alcohol inks. Added the lady, butterflies and roses from Moonlight Journey.

Heart Strings card

The card of the month swap theme on AFTCM was Heart Strings and as always the interpretation was up to us.

I started by cutting out 3 different heart shapes with a Sizzix die. The largest was covered with a piece of an old book page and I coloured it and the second one with Smooch Siren ink. The smallest has some book print on it and was coloured with both Smooch Siren and Gold ink. I took some gold and red metallic thread and wound it around the largest and smallest hearts - "heart strings".

For the background I used Cathie Allan's Stamp Smoosh technique with fluid chalk inks then her Sparkle Marble technique over the top.

I made some flowers using a the Tim Holtz die and the same colors of ink used on the background. I punched out some hearts and leaves and added them to the cards, along with some of the metallic thread. I added a little piece of a border die from Memorybox, which is actually a winter border but I added  some centres to the star shapes to make it look like a vine with flowers.

To finish the card I attached it to a black cardstock base.

A-Z techniques

This month's technique is H. I could not find anything new so decided to do a heat embossing technique which I learned in a class a few years ago.

The main image is a sticker and it is masked off on the outside edges, clear embossing ink and embossing powder is applied and heated. A stencil is placed over the piece and clear embossing ink is dabbed on, embossed with clear embossing powder.

The piece is coloured with fluid chalk inks, then sprayed with Adirondack sprays. The embossing is then removed by placing another piece of cardstock over it and ironing with a hot iron. The word saying was embossed with pigment ink and pearlized embossing powder.

The sticker was masked with a post it note, anti-static powder applied, then clear embossing ink and then covered with sparkle embossing powder, and heat set.

Each one varies as I used some Christmas stickers by Magenta Style and they were all different and I chose ink and spray colours to compliment the stickers.

Note: Should you decide to try this make sure you do not use the see-through stickers. They have to be good quality ones which are durable and can take the heat of the embossing gun.

Trick or Treat Toilet Paper book

Another Halloween Swap on AFTCM is to create a mini book using toilet paper rolls with a Trick or Treat theme.

I had saved several toilet paper rolls and decided to use 6 of them to create my book. I flattened them by hand, ran them through my pasta machine then coloured them with dye inks. I then cut some Halloween scrapbook papers to fit around them and glued them on. Cut some coordinating colours of cardstock to insert inside the pages.

To complete them I printed images from Dover Art Publications and Words from Lisa Vollrath's freebies, and glued them to each page, along with and some dollar store stickers. The ghosts on the inside front page are a piece of "ribbon" I bought at my local rubber stamp store.

I created the background for the covers by covering some printer paper with dye inks, sprayed it with Goosebumps spray  then when dry, added another colour of dye ink over the top. I cut some cardboard a bit larger than the toilet paper rolls, and attached the backgrounds, then finished the insides with some orange cardstock. Added some dew drops to the edge (clear ones I coloured with alcohol inks and markers), and images, words and stamps (Stampscapes and Tim Holtz).

Punched 2 holes in all the pages and the covers. To bind the book, I used clear zip ties, coloured with a black alcohol marker. (I got this idea from the wonderful creative Cathie Allan who writes for The Canadian Scrapbooker, Scrap and Stamp, demos for Clearsnap, and teaches fantastic fun classes!).

To complete the edges I added some eyelash fibre, and some ribbon that I coloured with Clearsnap fluid chalks and pigment inks to get the colour I desired, then added some buttons and spiders to them.

For the inside of the pockets, I created some tags. I used dye and brilliance inks for the backgrounds, and added images from Dover Art, and digicats blog, sayings from Lisa Vollrath and on one I used my one and only Halloween stamp. The stamps in the background are Stampscapes and Tim Holtz.

ABC Techniques

The latest ATC alphabet technique in the ArtVentures group is the letter C.

For this one I did a crumpled chalks background (I call it this because I don't remember the correct name!)

I took some cream cardstock and then applied Clearsnap Fluid Chalk inks with a piece of crumpled up Saran Wrap, moving it around as I dabbed it on. I did three different colours of the fluid chalk inks.  I prepared  a couple of extra pieces and stamped an Inkadinkado flower, cut it out and attached it to the ATC with double-sided foam tape.

I stamped another inkadinkadoo saying and a no name Dollar Store stamp directly on the ATC with Versafine Onyx Black ink. To complete the card I edged it with a marker.

Criss Cross Card

On AFTCM group we are doing a criss-cross card swap in a vintage theme. I usually only make cards for special occasions, but this seemed a bit different so I decided to join.

I took a piece of cream coloured cardstock and stamped a Hearts in Touch stamp and coloured it with Lyra pencils. I stamped and embossed a couple of Hero Arts stamps at each side. I then went over the whole piece with clear embossing ink and dabbed smooch ink and worked it in with a Clearsnap stylus applicator. I placed it on a piece of pink cardstock and cut a little edge around it.

For the criss-cross "envelope" part I started with a light tan cardstock, and cut out the flaps that fold over. I then put the flaps in my Cuttlebug and embossed a paisley pattern. I coloured this portion with distress inks. It looked unfinished after I glued the flaps down, so I added some paper lace to the edges.

I stamped a long piece of white cardstock with creamy brown and warm red fluid chalk inks and added another piece of paper lace over the centre, then attached it around the envelope portion.

To complete it I added a paper flower, some embossed punched leaves and a couple of small paper roses. I hope my partner will like the card since I don't really "do" vintage much.  

Vintage Love Letters Postcard

I signed up for a postcard swap on AFTCM. I coloured the background in yellow, red and creamy brown fluid chalks. I then stamped the couple, masked it then stamped the text stamp over the top. I then stamped all the other images to fill up the postcard. All the stamps are by Non Sequitor.

This is ready to be mailed to my partner.

Mad Hatter

On AFTCM we did a Mad Hatter swap as a continuation of the apperal shapes.

I coloured the background with fluid chalk inks and added a piece of velvet ribbon on the brim.

I printed off some images from a website that allows the use of the Disney images for personal use. I printed off a little watch face face and added a page pebble over the top. Using my labeler machine I printed off "I'm Late" twice. Printed the ticket stub and added some Vintage Photo distress ink to it. Added the key with some fibre attached to it.

Ezee Pzee Design Team Project Reveal

The January Ezee Pzee kit consisted of several die-cuts, with some extra items which included a die-cut of wheat, a piece of slate and a feather. There was a caveat attached that we had to use all the items in our kit.

Lovely wooden album covers were included with our kits and I took my cue from that, thinking that we had to make a photo album.

Now, I must admit I am not a scrapbooker so this project was a real challenge for me. Also, we are not big "picture takers", except when we are on vacation and then they are usuallly scenic shots. I went through the pictures on my computer and selected several that I liked, resized them and printed them.

Project #1
This is the cover of the album. Since it is wooden I did not want to do too much to it. All I did was paint  it with some wood stain, added some colour to the lettering and attached the  Ezee Pzee leather Maple Leaf and a little piece of ribbon that is in the shapes of maple leafs.

My first page is of Lily (a Dachshund) and Tigger the cat. Neither of these are our pets but we agreed to babysit them while their "parents" were away.

The background is done withClearsnap's Fluid Chalk inks, the Word stamps are by Hero Arts, the paw one-unknown. The little bone is a button that I had in my stash. The curlicue and the circle are Ezee Pzee die-cuts. The curlicue is coloured with Smooch ink and the little circle is covered with Glitter Ritz to simulate a ball.

The second page I used the colours from the picture to make the background. I stamped and embossed the Impression Obsession stamp with white ink and embossing powder, went over the whole surface with Fluid Chalk ink and sprayed it with Adirondack spray, then ironed it between two sheets of newsprint to remove the embossing powder. I attached the picture to a piece of red cardstock, then to a piece of white cardstock and stamped the Inkadinkado "kisses and hugs" with Versfine ink. I coloured the paper lace to coordinate with the page and attached it to the left. The Ezee Pzee die cut flourish was embossed with Distress embossing powder and dusted with Perfect Pearls.

Page three is my son and I on a day out when we went out for supper. The background is done with pigment inks on which I stamped the flourish background with Adirondack dye ink. I then framed the picture with a coral coloured Cuttlebug embossed piece then with a blue piece and stamped a Hero Arts script stamp around the edge with Brilliance frost white.

I stamped the Inkadinkado Word Stamp with Versafine ink, added some coral fluid chalk around the word, edged it with a blue marker and attached it to the page. I took some paper flowers and stamped over them with the HA script stamp and set them aside. I coloured the Ezee Pzee flower shapes with Smooch ink then stamped them with the script stamp and Brilliance Ink and added a little pearl as the centre.

 Page four is my Husband Joe in his truck while on a visit to my Sister.  The background is fluid chalk inks, and I stamped some hearts in alabaster white to give a soft background. After placing the picture on the page, I stamped the words in white ink and embossing powder then went over them with fluid chalk ink.  The words happiness and sweet are by Inkadinkado, Ride is individual Hero Arts Alphabets and the word MY is Tim Holtz die-cuts which I embossed with red pigment ink and clear embossing powder. The final touch was to add the beautiful Ezee Pzee leather leaves from a previous kit.

Page five, another fluid chalk ink background done in the 'stamp smoosh' technique I learned from the wonderful Cathie Allan. The pictures are of myself and my cousin-in-law who has been become one of my best friends. The frames are some from my stash. The Ezee Pzee flourish was embossed with Judikins Twinkle embossing powders. I used the piece of shale on this page because it made me think about the beautiful Rocky mountains in Jasper and Banff National Parks. 

Page six is the newest addition to my family-my great-great nephew Cohen. The background is a resist done on white glossy cardstock with watermark and Big and Juicy ink brayered on top.  The large C is a Hero Arts stamp that I stamped, cut out and embossed with Judikins Twinkle embossing powder; the other letters are chipboard pieces covered with Glitter Ritz.

The little buggy is a Cuttlebug embossed piece that I rubbed Tsukineko Versamagic Ink over to highlight the raised portions. The Ezee Pzee photo corners were painted with acrylic paint and Smooch ink and a gem added. The little rattle was an item I had in my embellishment container. 

Page seven is from a camping trip to Jasper and yes it really did snow in July!

The background is iridescent paper that I embossed with the Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. I punched out the border with a Martha Stewart punch and added it to the top and bottom. The letters are a Tim Holtz die cut that I covered with Stickles. 

The Ezee Pzee tree was coloured with Smooch ink and the little pearls added. I used my labeler machine to print out Jasper National Park.

 In August 2010 we had a family reunion with my Sister, Brother-in- Law, their children and grandchildren. This picture is their 3 daughters and oldest son. The background is another resist page with the Big and Juicy ink brayered on glossy white cardstock. The letters at the top of the page and the jewelled flourish are stickers that I found at the dollar store. Instead of framing the image with cardstock I took a mica tile and stamped and embossed a Magenta butterfly on the edges. I adhered it over the photo with glossy accents.

 I coloured some glossy cardstock and stamped the Hero Arts stamp on it and punched it out to add to the bottom left. The Ezee Pzee flower die-cuts were inked with pigment ink and embossed with clear embossing powder, and the same Hero Arts stamp was used to add the words. I coloured three buttons with a Krylon leafing pen and glued them to the flowers.

Every year we spend the September Labour day weekend with my Husband's side of the family. We play games and share lots of good times with them and our extended family.

For this page I chose a shaving cream background and stamped a Magenta Flourish stamp with Versafine ink. The Lost and Found frames and PSX and Inkadinkado words were stamped and embossed with gold ink and embossing powder.  The Ezee Pzee die-cut was coloured with Smooch ink and the flower portion covered with Adirondack paint and a flower brad inserted in the middle.

  

Page 10.  My beloved nephew Jamie passed away suddenly in October 2010 and I  wanted to do a page in his memory. He truly loved his family and was so loved in return and we all miss him so much-we have very large holes in our hearts.

For this page I did the background in orange tones and greens. It was not until I had done it that I realized orange was one of Jamie's favourite colours.  The picture is one that my niece sent of her with Jamie and it so reflects how I think of him; smiling and joking. 

The Hero Arts words were stamped and embossed in black then fluid chalk inks applied over the top, and edged with a marker.  The frame is a piece of yellow cardstock that was embossed with a cuttlebug folder, and  fluid chalk inks applied over the top.

The Ezee Pzee tree die-cut was coloured with smooch inks and then I added some Glitter Ritz on the trunk and branches. To complete it I printed off "Jamie" and the dates on my labeler machine and attached them to the leaves.

Page eleven is a picture of my great niece and great-great nieces from Scotland and was taken at the Valley Zoo when they came for a visit.

The background was stamped with a thistle stamp and Alabaster fluid chalk and sprayed with Memories mists. I then stamped the thistle again around the bottom with green fluid chalks.  

I stamped and embossed the Sunshine Designs flower stamps several times and coloured them with coloured pencils and Smooch ink. I added a sequin to the centre of each flower. The little punch out flowers are from a piece of cardstock that I had covered with glitter. 

The word at the top is a portion of a Paper Inspirations stamp, stamped and embossed in green then covered with coral fluid chalk ink.  The Ezee Pzee die-cut was embossed with opal embossing powders and stamped into with a stamp while hot to give it dimension.

The final page is our Christmas tree taken a few years ago. I did the background with a Hero Arts pine needle stamp and fluid chalk inks. The frame is done with pigment inks and a snowflake stamp. Both were edged with markers. The chipboard letters were painted with white acrylic paint, added frosted lace Stickles then covered them with Cool Highlights Glitter Ritz. The three small snowflakes are white brads covered with Diamond Stickles. The large snowflake is an Ezee Pzee die-cut which I painted with white acrylic paint and added the Diamond Stickles over the top.

Project #2 and3  As I said at the beginning of this post, we had to use all the items in our kit so I had to come up with something to make with the remaining two items, the feather and the wheat die-cut.

The feather became an Artist Trading card. I took a ATC background piece that I had made a  year ago as the base. I stamped a Canada Goose postage stamp on glossy cardstock and placed it on the background, I attached a Maple Leaf brad and placed the feather under it and across the stamped image.

The wheat die-cut was made into a pendant. I took a pendant blank and stamped onto it with Stazon white ink. I then took the wheat die-cut and covered it with yellow pigment ink, added some Opals embossing powder and heat set it. I added Fantasy Film over this layer and clear UTEE embossing powder. Repeated this step twice and stamped into it while hot. This gave the piece a little bit of definition. I glued a gem to the top and glued the die cut to the pendant blank.

Scraplings

I joined another swap to make some Scraplings. Basically these are a miniature card which are normally 1.25" X 4.25" because they are made from off-cuts after making a card or other project. The premise is to use all your scraps to complete the Scrapling.

This is a great way to use pieces that you would normally throw away.

This particular swap has a red/green/white colour scheme, but how we create it is entirely up to us.

I ended up making three as I was actually enjoying the whole process.

For the one on the left, I stamped an image with Vivid ink, outlined it with a green marker and attached it to the green cardstock. I added a red die-cut and a pearl embellishment which I coloured with alcohol ink.  I wrapped some green thread around the card and added some white pearls. To complete it I stamped the saying with fluid chalk ink and attached it with double sided tape.

The middle one was just a fun idea I had as the image is one of my favourites. I stamped the base with some green Versafine ink using a background stamp. I stamped the face with warm red fluid chalk ink and cut it out. I added some velvet rick-rack at the bottom then inserted the face just above it. I stamped and embossed the word Zen and the Z's on a piece of scrap cardstock and coloured it with the red fluid chalk and outlined them in green. I made a crown out of a stamped scrap piece of paper and added it above the Z's. For the final touch I took a punched flower, another scrap piece and added a little paper gem to finish off  the bottom.

The last card was stamped and embossed in white on the red card base. I took a sticker and attached it to a piece of white cardstock and clear embossed it. I coloured around the sticker with two colours of green fluid chalks. I then stamped a swirly snowflake stamp in red over the area, and wiped off the overstamping on the sticker. I framed it by using Be-creative (Sookwang) tape and Hunter Green Glitter Ritz. I had some little butterfly embellishments but felt it needed something so I attached a couple of tiny beads for the body and glued it to the top. I added some gem pieces to the bottom to complete it.

I am not sure which two I will be sending to my partner but I guess I can decide that when the swap closes.

I'll Be Home for Christmas Tags

On AFTCM  I joined a swap to make two tags for a partner with the theme" I'll Be Home for Christmas". The size and interpretation of the theme is entirely up to us.

The first tag I made, I fell back to using one of my favourite colours-blue. I had some cardstock that I had already coloured using stamps and fluid chalk inks with a touch of gold. I cut this to size in the shape of a house and stamped the image by Paper Inspirations with Versafine Black Onyx ink and coloured some of the areas. I stamped a piece of vellum with the Hero Arts Music Sheet stamp and attached it to the top to simulate a roof. I then edged the piece with a blue marker.


On the same cardstock I added some Brilliance Pearlescent Lavender ink, cut pieces to fit around the edge of the image then stamped the various word stamps using stamps from Hero Arts and TPC Studios and attached them to the sides and bottom with double-side foam tape.


For the top I stamped "Believe" from a Tim Holtz stamp and edged it in gold and attached it with the double-sided foam tape. I then punched some snowflakes, added glitter and glued them to the top and sides of the word.

To make the second tag I started by cutting the cardstock template in a house shape with a chimney.  I coloured the background with red and green Clearsnap fluid chalk inks. I  stamped an Inkadinkado snowflake flourish stamp and embossed it with green glitter then repeated it in a couple of areas and embossed it in white.


For the chimney I used a portion of a Christmas stamp by Stampington and Co., stamped it twice and added it to the left-hand side and added glitter to the top to simulate snow. I also added some metallic tape to the top of the roof.


I took a small chipboard frame and embossed it with pearl green embossing powder and stamped a holly stamp into it while hot. I added some red Stickles for the berries, then inserted the picture of the little girl courtesy of Trish B, added a piece of transparency over the top to protect it and attached it to the tag.


I coloured a piece of cardstock with green fluid chalks, stamped and embossed the saying by Rubber Stampede and attached it with double-sided foam tape.  To complete the tag I added the little poinsettia  embellishment.

 I hope my partner will be pleased with the two tags.

A card for a special friend

A dear friend of mine who has been widowed for a number of  years is getting married this month, and I decided to make a wedding card for her and her groom.

I first stamped the couple (Inkadinkado)  and coloured it with Lyra colour pencils. I made a mask and covered the stamped image with it, the did the background.

The background was done with Fluid Chalk inks, then I stamped Mica Magic Yellow Gold with a heart stamp in various areas.

I just bought a gorgeous flourish stamp by Hero Arts, and decided to use it on the card. I left the mask in place on the cardstock and stamped the flourish with Pigment Goldrush ink and embossed it with Ancient Gold Embossing powder. After heat setting, I removed the mask.

I played around with various ideas to put at the top left corner to finish the card. I tried various stamps using my stamp positioner to see how they would look, but did not like any of them. I finally decided on using die cut letters, (cut out 3 times and glued togehter to make them thicker) to spell out LOVE. Again, I fiddled with various mediums on them, and finally settled on embossing them with the same Ancient Gold embossing powder.

I edged the card front with a marker and adhered the panel to a card base in a mustard yellow colour.