Tag you're it...

Hi everyone,

I'm back with a piece I made for a brand spanking new challenge.  It's called tag you're it, and I read about it on the delightful Jennifer Mcguire's blog.  The clue's in the title really, it's based around tags, although other projects are accepted.  The idea is to take inspiration from the guest designer's project/tag, and use that inspiration to design your own. This is only the 2nd ever challenge and you can find all the details here...

Tag you're it challenge #2

The guest designer for this challenge is the absolutely, ridiculously, awesome Laura Bassen, and here's Laura's tag...

And here's what I came up with...

I took my inspiration from the graphic background and the delicious juicy colours used on it (although mine didn't come out quite as vibrant).

I started by stencilling embossing paste, in various colours, onto my manilla tag, using the Ranger 'Dina Wakley Plastic Canvas' stencil.  I coloured my white embossing paste using Distress Inks in Mustard seed, Spiced Marmalade, Barn door, and Picked Raspberry.

I then used the same Distress Inks to create a watercolour palette, and pulled a piece of card through it to give me a perfectly matched coloured card to stamp on,  and did the same with a couple of different greens (Evergreen Brough and Pine needles) for my foliage.  I then used the awesome 'bloomsies' set from Mama Elephant, (which I LOVE and know I am going to use sooooo much), and stamped, and cut out, my sentiment and a selection of flowers and foliage.

I also die-cut Spellinders 'Medallion seven' out of vellum as another refernece to Laura's tag, and also , I thought it would look pretty cool as an anchor point for my background.  I then constructed my pieces around it, aiming for a kind of 'posie' look.  I finished off with a few clear gems, a tie of twine, and a little strip of ribbon. 

And there you have it.

I really hope you like it, wish me luck.

Jillxxx

Let's go dotty! ...

Hi everyone,

Today I'm posting a very quick and simple card I made for the, ever awesome, Simon says stamp Wednesday blog challenge, which this week is 'Spots and dots'.

I love spots, and I love dots so have a stash full of spotty and dotty stamps, patterned papers, stencils etc etc - but I decided a while ago to try and use my embossing folders more, so took this as the perfect excuse to stick to my word!  ...and here's my card...

My background is Coordination's card in blue and green, pieced together using Lawn Fawn's 'Grassy border die'.  I embossed the whole piece using a spotty embossing folder, and sanded back to show the kraft card beneath, giving it this organic, hearty feel.  I stamped my little chicks and sentiment from Lawn Fawn's 'Chit Chat' set, also on Coordination's beige card, and sanded these back also.  I covered all  my pieces in clear Wink Of Stella, and then applied Glossy Accents to finish .  I mounted my finished front on to black card and added a few little silver gems to add a wee bit of sparkle, and there you have.  An exceptionally quick and simple, yet cute and effective card.

I hope you agree.

See you soon.

Jillxxx

About a face...

Hi everyone,

A quick share of a card I made for the delightful Simon Says Stamp Monday blog challenge, which this week is 'About a face'.

It gave me the perfect excuse to use a stamp I have, from Indigo Blu, which hadn't been inked up yet (outrageous I know!)...and here is my finished project...

So, as you see, I really went to town on this card haha.  I started with a piece of vintage sheet music and watercolour washed it using distress inks (Vintage Photo, Tea Dye, Victorian Velvet, and Dried Marigold).  Then, using a Memory box stencil, I covered it in 'Grunge Paste' and set aside to dry.  In the meantime, I stamped my main 'face' image (from Indigo Blu) on a piece of torn card, grabbed a previously made Martha Stewart paper clay frame and various off-cuts of ribbon and twine, and gave them all the same watercolour wash.  My sentiment is from an Avery Elle set, and I stamped it in Plum Archival ink and distressed it using the same palette.  Once my background was dry, i covered in the same inks, and finished off with some gold gilding wax around the edges to highlight the design of the stencil.  I constructed my card in an intentional messy and haphazard way,  just to create some interest.  I then added a few vintage looking brown sequins and there you have it.

A change from my normal style, but I really enjoyed doing something different.

I hope you like it, I'd love to read your comments.

Jillxxx

Simon Says - Let's be clear! ...

Hi everyone,

Just want to share another card I made for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which this week is 'Lets be Clear'.

I decided I wanted to have a good play with my embossing pastes, and see what effects I could achieve when using them on acetate ( please see previous post for more samples).

And here's my entry...

I started with a top folding tent card, made from acetate, masked off and taped to my craft sheet.  I then used this gorgeous Memory Box 'Star' background stencil, and used a palette knife to cover in Dreamweaver white embossing paste, which is just the most amazing embossing paste, it's soft, creamy and a brilliant white, a pleasure to work with!

I cut the Lawn Fawn 'Speach bubble border die' from vellum and white heat embossed this gorgeous Mama Elephant sentiment from their awesome 'splendid' set.

I finished the card with a strip of striped silver glitter card from the DCWV glitter stack, and a few gorgeous sequins from doodlebug.  And there you have it....

Again, I was too wrapped up in creating to think about a space for a message, but when I send this out, I will add white card, die cut the same size as the speech bubble, and adhere this behind.

And here's another example of the same technique I thought I would share....

Such a fun technique with endless possibilities!

I really hope you like it.

Thanks for looking.

Jillxxx

Embossing paste on acetate...

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all well.  I am enjoying a well deserved and over-due day off so thought I would share a few cards I made for the Simon Say Stamp Wednesday challenge which this week is 'Let's be clear'.

Now I'm pretty sure I am not alone in being slightly obsessed with embossing paste at the moment, so thought I would have a play around and see what the effects are like when using on acetate.

And here's my result...

I started by creating my card blank from acetate and scored to create a top folding card.  I then taped my front to my craft mat and covered small polka dot mask in Cosmic Shimmer silver glitter embossing paste.  I LOVE this stuff, it comes in some incredible colours and is so easy to work with.  I then die cut a circle from vellum, (well, why not go the whole hog and go clear all the way), and heat embossed this gorgeous sentiment from Mama Elephant's 'Splendid' set - one of my all time favourite sets!  I then used my EK success circle scissor to create this thin silver circle frame to bring it all together and adhered to the card using small amounts of clear glue gel behind the frame.

I didn't have time, but when I send this card out, I will die cut a circle the same size as the vellum to pop on the back of the card for my message to go on.

I was really happy with the effect and instantly had to try the same thing with some of my other favourite masks (see other posts).  So another reason to love embossing paste!  These fellas just keep giving ey?

Well, I hope you like it, as always, I would love to read your comments.

See you next time.

Jillxxx