Anniversary card

06/09/2012anniversary card, cardJackie

I have a few anniversary cards to make for this month plus a few birthday cards so I have been looking through my Craft stamper mag for inspiration and just loved the card Paula Whittaker made in the August 2012 issue. I didn’t change much at all: I kept her overall design but substituted eyelets in place of washers and I used different stamps. I didn’t add anniversary wishes to this card but I will be making an insert with the Happy Anniversary message.

Inks: Stazon black, Distress ink Walnut stain
Card: white card
Stamps: Crafty Individuals C1-207
Other: eyelets, stitching, Tim Holtz filmstrip, yellow highlighter pen

Mixed media name badge

01/09/2012mixed media, name badgeJackie

We have a few new members in our Craft (scrapbook) crop and so we were asked to make name badges to help newbies remember who’s who. Mine is a mixed media one and it really didn’t look like this in my mind when I started it. I had quite a few mishaps along the way and this is the result.
Black leather background, gold coloured gauze, white card with stamping, resist and spray (scrap bit from a previous project), eyelets, mixed fibres, dangle from an old necklace,Tim Holtz swivel fasteners and a kilt pin. Name printed using Quilted butterfly font. Leaf with the micro ladybird is a pin that Ceara gave me a while back and it just happens to go really well here.
I am looking forward to seeing what all the other name badges look like as we have scrappers, jewellery makers, knitters etc in our craft club.

Simple Steampunk card

28/08/2012card, steampunk cardJackie

It feels like ages since I last blogged so here is the card I made for Mark’s birthday. ‘Simple’ can’t really be used to describe Steampunk but it does describe the simple layout. The image was stamped using versamark ink then embossed using a mixture of Kettle copper and Brass embossing powder. Although you can’t tell from the photo, I used a silver glitter pen to make some of the metallic pipes shiny.

Inks: Versamark, Versafine Vintage sepia, Distress ink Brushed corduroy
Card: white, metallic patterned, background paper
Stamps: Oxford Impression Steampunk elements
Other: Large brads, gold nail-heads, silver glitter pen, small silver cog (watch part), embossing powders (mix of Kettle copper and Brass), brown water colour pencil to colour the wheels

Pass the painting July

30/07/2012art, painting, pass the paintingJackie

Louise 1st layer: paper scraps and glue, Elaine 2nd layer: gesso, distress ink, butterflies and large glitter (sprayed with spray adhesive), Pauline 3rd layer: hand-drawn bird cage, mod podge + napkin, watercolour background, outline butterflies.

These Pass the paintings are going well. This is now layer 4 which is my turn and it is really hard to stop yourself from adding more and more but you have to so the next people have something to add. I did some doodling on the flowers, leaves and bird. I painted over the title words with Diamond glaze then highlighted that area and some random around the edge with Broken china Distress ink then stamped with green acrylic paint randomly with a texture stamp (if we were not passing it on – what I would have liked to do was edge the entire painting with Broken china crackle paint and doodled over the butterflies and added some bling to the flowers and butterflies and maybe more work on the bird). This one has another couple of layers to go (Rosie and Pam).

Inks/Paint: Distress ink Broken china, Acrylic paint Moss green
Stamp: Tim Holts Urban tapestry
Other: Diamon glaze, Pitt pens 125,146 and 156, white Inkssentials pen

Loch Skipport altered photo

22/07/2012altered photo, Loch SkipportJackie

The altered version of the photo above

Well I have made a couple of cards recently but unfortunately in my hurry to send them I have forgotten to photograph them so I had nothing to blog about until today.
I have been trying to alter photographs to look more artistic and in doing so trying to learn more about how photoshop works. Using the original photo that Harry took (while on holiday with my mum in Benbecula) I first cropped it to get rid of the car on the right. Desaturated it and boosted the contrast. I then added another background layer (from Doug Landreth’s Photomorphis sample texture pack). Mucked about with opacity then added a border. It sounds simple when I type it out like that but it has taken me all morning to get it how I wanted it to look. This one was then printed onto glossy photo paper and inserted into a large aperture card for Fraser’s birthday card.

Gell well soon card

11/07/2012card, get well soon cardJackie

This is quite similar to one I have made before but I changed the colours of the flowers and background paper. Even though it is floral I think that using purple makes it a little bit less feminine so it could be given to a guy, in this case for Jamie – hope you get well real soon Jamie.

Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, Marvy le plume pens to colour the stamp flowers and leaves
Card: white card, purple textured card
Stamps: Stampin up Hopeful thoughts
Other: yellow gems, lime green organza ribbon

Semi-abstract Summer

27/06/2012art, card, painting, semi-abstractJackie

So my mum issued me with a challenge the other day: make a semi-abstract using 3 colours of inks or paints with no zentangle, no stamps and the theme is summer.
This is what I cam up with. Summer to me is sitting in the garden watching the bugs and seeds and all the other wee dust particles floating about in the breeze. Did I cheat adding white? My 3 colours are blue, green and red (using white for highlights and the dandelions seeds).

Inks: Distress ink Tumbled glass
Paint: Acrylic paint Moss and Poppy, Antique white
Card: silk card
Other: Marvy le Plume pens in green and red, glitter pen (tiny amount in the fluffy part of the seed heads)

I brayered the background all over using the Tumbled glass ink (which in real life looks almost aqua) leaving a central glow. I loosely painted in grassy leaves and thicker leaves, the stippled over the base to look a bit like moss in the grass using the acrylic paints. Added some flowers then splattered some red and green. Lastly I added the fluffy seed heads adding a little glitter pen to the fluffy bits.

It is just the right size to put into an A5 aperture card but is it semi-abstract? not sure.

Birch trees card

25/06/2012birch trees, card, Clarity stampsJackie

I came across this tutorial by Amy Pearce by accident and decided I really wanted to give it a go but in a smaller version for a card. Instead of painting in the trees I thought it might work if I stamped the trees then masked them out before painting in the background. My first attempt was very bad: I had used a stamp for the trees then masked it out with masking fluid on plain white card and not only did I have to spend 3/4 of an hour de-bunging my masking fluid as it had solidified all the way inside the nozzle before I could even start, but after I had finished the painting and it was time to remove the masking fluid it had stuck to my card too much so it ripped half the surface away too. Argh!!!
For my next attempt I thought I would do an inky background and add the acrylic paint over the top for more texture. That kind-of worked. I stamped the trees, this time cut out a paper mask and used sponges with Distress ink through the mask to make the background. Took the mask off and I then stippled on the acrylic paint but the trees looked too plain and white so I used a water brush with some Pumice Distress ink to go over the trees the used a dry flat brush with Diamond glaze to give a little bit of shine and texture. Finally I sprayed the picture with a fine water mist just to soften the background a little. Now I know that she called her trees Aspen but I will call mine Birch as the stamp I used is called Birch trees. I managed to get a rather stripy effect but I would really like to give it a go for real next time and paint in the trees for a proper painting.

Inks: Black document ink, Distress inks Black soot, Bundled sage, Forest moss and Pumice stone
Card: white card
Stamp: Birch trees Clarity stamp
Other: Acrylic paints Cadmium yellow medium, Yellow ochre, and Vermilion, Diamond glaze, old pond pump sponge, black multi liner pen to touch up a few black lines

Fish zentangle card

25/06/2012card, zentangleJackie

Here is a zentangle thank you card I made for Neill (Sole Seafood Restaurant) and Eve for doing a Seafood Master-class in our house. It is a long story which I won’t go into too much detail but the long and the short of it is: a very good friend of ours (Graham) bid on this Master-class in the Big Bam Boogie – Charity Fundraiser for MacMillan Cancer Care and he very kindly shared it with us. Not only did we learn some cool techniques but we had a fabulous meal with great company and they even cleaned up afterwards so my kitchen was left spotless.
Thank you Neill, Eve, Graham and Gen.
Pity I didn’t take any photos of the food.

Inks: Black Pitt pen, Marvy Le Plume watercolour pens, Inktense pencils
Card: white card
Other: white gel pen, glitter pen, aqua lagoon cosmic shimmer mist spray, salt

Pass the painting – June

23/06/2012art, painting, pass the paintingJackie

This is the next painting that is being passed around – a little earlier than it should just because we had them ready. Elaine did the first layer with paper scraps, Pauline added scrunched glued napkins and scraps of gauze. I added a spray of aqua and red which you see in the first photo (as I forgot to take a photo before I started) then I added more sprays through stencils and mesh then splattered with white acrylic paint.

Sprays: Dylusions ink Cyan and Postbox red, Brusho Crimson, Cosnic shimmer mist and Lava. (sprayed water through stencil then lifted the colour out for a ghost effect).
Acrylic paint: watered down Titanium white sprayed with toothbrush.
Other: Uni paint marker to splatter, alphabet and number, circle stencils, mesh.

Cardesque

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