All posts by Jackie

Steampunk card

card, steampunk, steampunk card
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I love the Steampunk style that can be seen in a few stamp designs now and it really lends itself to cards for men. Now I am not saying Steampunk is not for women – far from it – just that it is great for male cards which can sometimes be more difficult. I remember a few conversations about Steampunk with Donald (whose birthday it is very soon) so this card is for him.
The corner elements are made by sticking thermawrap tape onto paper lace border and using an embossing tool or paper stump carefully emboss the lace pattern.  Then paint over with black acrylic paint and wipe off most of it before it dries just leaving some in the de-bossed areas.

Inks:  Memento Tuxedo black, Distress inks Barn door, Aged mahogany and Peeled paint, versamark with silver embossing powder
Card:  white, black, silver miri card
Stamps:  Oxford Impressions Steampunk
Other:  watch parts, diamond glaze, paper lace covered in thermawrap tape, copper pen

Vintage shabby card

card, craft stamper magazine, shabby, vintage
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This card was inspired by an article by Rachel Jackson in Craft Stamper mag. June 2010.  I have kept to the same colours and roughly to the same design but used different stamps  and embellishments.  I don’t have re-inkers to colour the tissue paper background so I just wiped the ink pads onto my craft sheet and spritzed it with water.  I crumpled up the tissue paper and spread it out on the craft sheet and gently pushed it around until it took up the colour.  If I do this one again I might use vintage lace instead of the ribbon and add some distress stickles to the crown.

Inks:  Distress inks Tattered rose, Antique linen and Brushed corduroy, versamark with white embossing powder
Card:  white card, ivory card, white tissue paper
Stamps:  Anna Griffin border, Vennaisance feathers, greeting (unknown)
Other:  ribbon, pearls

Art journal week 3 Schooldays

art journal, school days, week3
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This was such a fun page to do but I could probably do a whole art journal about school days never mind just one page.
The prompt this week over at ukstampers is (if you haven’t guessed already) School days.
The page has to include:

  • jot down 10 random things about your school days
  • use lined paper
  • add ink blots and doodles in the margin

Just in case you can’t read my random thoughts they are:

  • pink custard
  • belted for ripping a book (those were the days when the teacher would ask you to hold out your hands, cross them over and the teacher would belt them with a leather strap – ouch!
  • navy gym pants – horrid!
  • climbing ropes – in the gym hall there was a massive climbing frame that could be pulled out from the wall and it had ropes on it
  • Janet and John books (TOGS will know about these) – oops I actually put this in as Jack and Jill but they were in fact Janet and John reading books.
  • walked to school
  • my best chum was Catherine
  • ‘has a tendency to daydream’ was a comment on one of my report cards
  • under 15 junior athletic champion
  • prefect then deputy head girl

I used graph paper as my background paper which I roughly painted white edges on.  I drew on a graph and added doodles.  I used to like colouring in squares and making patterns.  I wrote out the ten facts on lined paper which I then scanned, added ink blots and the ‘remember’ at the bottom.  This was printed onto acetate and I added white paint behind the pale blue ‘remember’ to make it show up a bit more.  Staples and a paper clip hold the two pieces together as they also remind me of school days.  The acetate reminds me of the overhead projectors that took ages to get just right.

Inks:  Black document ink, Distress ink Frayed burlap and Antique Linen
Stamps:  The Artistic stamper Ephemera 1 048A5
Paper:  graph and lined paper from a jotter, acetate
Other:  staples, paper clip, red pen

Art journal week 2 Gifts

art journal, ukstampers weekly challenge No. 2
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This weeks page is about gifts: we had to include our best and worst gift and also a piece of packaging or card or label etc.
For my best gift I chose cuttings and plants for pals and family to start our own garden off.  When I go around the garden now I am always reminded of each person, so much so that the plant’s name has changed to the friend’s name ie Cathy’s plant instead of saxifraga trifurcata.  For my worst gift I chose a sack of tulip bulbs that a friend gave us,which I have to say was extremely good of them, but we had spent ages digging the same ones out of our garden.  Not really a bad gift but the timing was just bad.  The following year my husband gave me terracotta tub full of exactly the same tulip bulbs too!!  The dragonfly is my piece cut from a recycled card – I think it had been a gift token card but I can’t remember now as I had only saved the picture side of the card.
I am not very happy with this page as it didn’t quite come out as I wanted.  The white pen soaked up the red ink and turned pink even though I had dried the ink first.

Inks/paint:  Stampin up Soft suede and Ruby red ink pads, Ballet pin, Spa blue and white acrylic paint, Distress crackle paint Frayed burlap
Card:  patterned paper from Anna Griffin, Grunge board letters,
Stamps:  Hero arts Single brush stroke, Studio G Alphabet, Dovecraft Fantasy Emblems
Other:  white gel pen, Distress stickles, cut out foiled dragonfly (added pink tinge to wings with a copic pen), brown glitter pen

Art journal week 1 Goals

art journal, goals, week 1
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To herald in the new year I have given my blog a lovely new background and to start my new craft projects what better way than to try something a bit different.  ukstampers challenge this year is to make an art journal doing a page per week.  Each page should measure 15 x 10cm (mine is slightly wider as I am leaving a 2cm edge for whatever binding I choose) and each week we will be given a prompt and a list of things to include.

Week 1 The prompt is Goals and has to include:

  • handmade background paper
  • 3 things you want to achieve this year
  • a photograph

My background paper is hand made cotton rag paper (from eden project) painted with a mixture of acrylic paint and emulsion then stamped.  The photograph is actually of the journal page itself but reduced in size (and also a tiny  tucked into it).

Inks:  Stampin up Soft suede, Memento Tuxedo black, Stazon black
Card:  hand made cotton rag paper, acetate, photo paper, gold vellum
Stamps:  Stampin up Sense of time, Elusive images Diamond art, Technique Tuesday Bijou borders, Oxford Impressions Steampunk, Invoke Art tickets,
Other:  glossy accents, brad and washer, gold pen, sepia pen, watercolour pencils (to colour the tickets), acrylic paint Prussian blue, white and mauve, emulsion Almost sage

uk stampers weekly challenge tag week 39

medieval, tag, tags, uk stamepers challenge
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Sadly my photography is not getting any better!  This tag was made for the ukstampers challenge for week 39 which had to include:

  • stamped text background
  • a found object
  • and an image of an angel

I stamped the main image, masked it, then stamped the text background but only on the right and left sides of the tag is the text actually visible after I had cut it to size. The found object is the gold coloured heart.  I don’t know where it came from but I know I didn’t buy it so it is probably off the middle of a bra, or an old project, or an old piece of jewellery.

Inks:  Stampin up Soft suede, Distress inks Frayed burlap and Old paper, embossing ink with gold powder
Card:  white silk card
Stamps:  medieval angel romance stamp and text stamp (unknown but possibly Elusive images??), LB Venaissance (sides)
Other:  copics to colour, gold embossing powder, gold eyelet, ribbon, glitter pen (sheen on wings), gold coloured heart

Grunge board bracelets.

bracelet, dragonfly, filigree ring, grungeboard, jewellery

I hope everyone enjoyed the festivities over Christmas time and didn’t indulge too much with all that Christmas spirit and goodies.  It is almost back to ‘normal’ in our household so I should have more time for some crafting.  The snow has almost gone along with the freezing temperatures which means my craft room will be at a more comfortable temperature to work in.

Here are a few things I made as little extra Christmas gifts (colours all look a bit odd on the photos):
You can find great tutorials at billies craft room on you tube for these.

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Dragonfly grungeboard bracelet

Inks:  Black stazon, Lumiere metallic acrylic paint Halo violet gold
Card: grungeboard, grunge paper,
Stamps:  crafty individuals cracked paint stamp, dragonflies (unknown)
Other:  glitter pen, Diamond glaze, black peewee glitter, Tim Holtz hitch fastener
The pendant alongside the bracelet is just made using patterned paper (to match the bracelet) glued into a bezel.  Glitter to highlight areas then glaze to finish.

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Daisy grungeboard bracelet
Inks: White stazon, black acylic paint
Card:  grunge board
Stamps:  Aspects of design Daisy daydreams
Other:  black stickles, white fabric flower with various metals centres and pearl brad, Tim Holtz hitch fastener
The pendant was made as the one above and the silver filligree ring was made with a similar flower.  I punched a hole in the ring for the brad to hold the flower onto it.  This can be removed and a different flower or other embellishment added.
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Copper grungeboard bracelet
Inks:  Black stazon, gold acrylic paint, copper acrylic paint
Card:  grungeboard
Stamps:  Urban tapestry by Tim Holtz (the grungy dotty stamp)
Other:  piece from an old clip-on earing held on with two gold bradlets, Tim Holtz hitch fastener
The filigree ring has some Tim Holtz flower bits again fastened with a brad through a punched hole.

Brayered birthday card – Chasing dreams

birthday card, brayer, card, chasing dreams, Clarity stamps, lavinia stamps
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After watching Barbara (from Clarity stamps) doing a cloudy sky technique on TV the other weekend I just had to give it a go on Heather’s card and I have to say it is dead easy to do.
To get the cloudy sky you pull out a cotton wool ball to make it nice and fluffy and flattish and you flatten it onto an old embossing ink pad.  Take some silk card and now squash the cotton wool onto the sky area of your card using the palm of your hand (not finger tips).  Remove the cotton wool then using a brayer and some blue dye ink, brayer over it.  Now if I remember correctly Barbara then went over it lightly with a darker shade of blue but I didn’t.  Then buff the card with a piece of kitchen roll.
Inks: Adirondak Stonewashed blue and Black, Distress inks Frayed burlap and Forest moss, Stampin up Bordering blue
Card:  White card, black card, white silk card
Stamps:  Clarity stamps Row of trees, Lavinia stamps Chasing dreams (sml), mushrooms (sml), fairy steps and wild grasses and flowers, Woodware Nature fun (tiny snail)
Other:  copic pens to colour certain areas, black tiny nail heads, stickles

Brayered wistful cat birthday card.

birthday card, card, cat, lavinia stamps
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Inspiration for this card is from Lavinia stamps picture gallery (tranquillity).  It is not quite a direct copy but very nearly.  I used the brayer for mine and a couple of different stamps but the over all design is Tracey Dutton’s.  I made this for Grace’s birthday – I love the peaceful aspect to this card and I resisted the temptation to put too much stamping around the edges for once.
Inks:  Adirondak Sailboat blue, Black and Eggplant, Distress ink Stormy sky
Card:  white, black and blue card
Stamps:  Lavinia stamps cat, lily pad, bamboo, wild flower and bugs, Elusive images Oriental good deeds.
Other: Mini mosaic tiles, stickles, opaque pink pen, green glaze pen

uk stampers weekly challenge tag week 36

lavinia stamps, tag, tags, uk stampers challenge 36
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This tag (for week 36 in the ukstampers challenge) is so much nicer in real life as you can really see the twinkle.  This weeks challenge had to include:

  • a leaf as a stencil
  • paint
  • doodling

Inks:  Brilliance Platinum planet, Versacraft white, Colorbox French blue and Ice blue
Card:  white card
Stamps:  A stamp in the hand Field of sky (for the snow), Lavinia stamps Icicles
Other:  Dried pressed leaves, glitter pen, diamond glaze, white acrylic paint, white opaque pen, fibres, silver eyelet

I used the leaves as a stencil and dabbed the blue chalk inks over them then dabber a little Platinum planet over the tops.  You can just make out some veining on the leaves as these were the same ones I used for the previous tag so there was a little residual ink left on them.  The snow was stamped using the white ink and the icicles using the Platinum planet ink. I spattered some white paint over the whole tag to give an extra snowy effect.  My doodling is actually the 3 spiders webs in the foliage – using the white pen and highlighted with the glitter pen.  The icicles were highlighted using the glitter pen too and also diamond glaze.  I took the glitter pen all around the edges too.