Thursday 28 November 2013

Creative Expressions Winter flowers.

Hi Folks

Hope all of you are well and having a good week, It is going really fast for sure.

I want to say a huge congratulations to Lucy Edmondson who was the randomly chosen winner chosen from my blog and congrats to the other 9 winners from the other girls blogs after the Creative Expressions blog hop finished last Friday. There are however a few prizes still unclaimed so please click the link and go check if you are a winner. Well done Lucy for claiming yours I am sure it is winging its way to you as we speak.

Ok so today I have a nice little card using the last flower in the Winter flowers November  stamp pack for Creative Expressions.

The card I used is foundations card in plum from creative too but in the pictures its much more mauve than plum but it definitely is plum lol.
I also used a spellbinder die and a Heartfelt creations leaf die from the Sweet Juliet collection.
I used a Couture creations embossing folder over the background I stamped out in green and is the same flower I used for the focal point, which is the Cyclamen.

I have really enjoyed using Novembers set and made 5 pieces with it which i will recap at the end of this post. Here is some close ups of this weeks piece.

 Close up of the Sweet Juliet die that just had its debut with Julia watts on Create and craft last week.
 I added one of the sentiments from the pack under the bow for added interest.
Hopefully you can see the stamped and embossed background and also the pierced edge on this one.
So the items I made with this months set are as follows.





Next month we have some new stamps to make with from the singles Henna range so I am looking forward to creating something with them and I will be back with some Heartfelt Creations cards Friday.

Have a great Thursday.

Hugs

Kim 
xxxx

Sunday 24 November 2013

Visible Image Sunday

Hi Everyone.
Welcome to all the new ladies that joined this week from the Blog hop we have been running for Creative Expressions this week, the winners will be announced on their news blog on Monday and I of course will post the winners here too once they have all been announced. On that note I am up to 89 followers now and as promised I will be running a competition once I get my first 100 followers too and I have some lovely Candi stashed away for this occasion so tell your friends and get joining we are nearly there.
Anywho,
Wow doesn't the week fly by so quickly. Here we are again and time for my post for Visible |Image. I just love creating backgrounds and getting all inky and today was no exception and I love how it came out with lots of layers.

I have used a couple of different Sets on this piece and lots of Distress inks.
     
  • Firstly I took the Barbed wire stamp from the Immortal Love set and stamped it several times with Archival ink, I used Versafine but you could use any that you have. Give it a blast with the heat gun and set it well. I ran an anti static pad over it too to make sure.
  • Next I used The Bronte border stamp with London Fog memento inks and stamped it all over the page too. Again dry well.
  • I then took the crackled stamp from the Time set and stamped and embossed in clear on 2 diagonal corners. 
  • At this stage I chose my colours Tumbled glass,faded jeans and aged Mahogany Distress Inks and blended them all over the card.Dry with your heat gun in between every layer.
  • I then added some ink splats in chipped sapphire Ink in the odd place and some bronte border in chipped sapphire too. 
  • Next I embossed some white ink splats randomly.Mat this piece onto some white card then black and another white and set aside.
  • Stamp the sentiment , I used the gorgeous Create with your Soul and cut out with the spellbinders label of your choice or any die, I used labels 4 and inked through the die with a little faded jeans.
  • I then cut out 6 very small leaf sprigs and attached 2 of them to a larger leaf in tonal colours and added a small red rose bud to each, I added these under the label and added more to the opposite diagonal corner and added  a smaller tonal blue rose bud to each side. 
Here is a close up of the sentiment.



 Its quite difficult to make out the writing from the Bronte border as I did it in a medium colour but in real life you can see it easily and it is very pretty.

The finished card is 5 x 6 and 1/2 inches.

Here are the sets I used 

                                   Ink Splats.                                           Bronte Border

                                  Immortal Love                                           Time

Create with your Soul.

 
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that you give it a go , Please leave your comments below as always  I read every one and appreciate them so much. Have a wonderful Sunday and I will be back soon.
Hugs

Kim 
xxxx



Thursday 21 November 2013

Creative Expressions Crocus

Hi Everyone

I hope your enjoying the blog hop currently running with Creative Expressions. I am really looking forward to finding out who are the lucky winners of all the goodies available so don't forget to leave your comments on the post below which is also the start of the hop and will take you to the next person in the chain.

Today is my day to create something new for CE and I am using the Winter flowers stamp set, this week I have used the Crocus to focus on.
 I thought I would do something a little different this time and create a long card, it ended up 8x4& 1/2 inches.
As you can see I gave the sentiment a curve as I glued it to the card for interest.

  • I started by stamping the crocus three times. I coloured them in with distress inks. 
  • Then cut out all three with a curved square die. I also cut the matching mats in the larger size for all three.
  • I mounted to of the Plum mats on the diagonal onto cream card and added the crocus previously cut out square on. I stamped out the name Crocus on each of them and embossed in gold.
  • Next, I added the middle mat and crocus but this time raised on foam into the centre.
  • At this stage I matted the whole thing onto some plum card and I  rounded the corners.Then layered onto gold card.
  • I wrapped some green double sided ribbon onto the bottom on the card and again matted the whole thing onto cream card.
  • I stamped out my sentiment 'Warm winter wishes' on cream, cut out with a decorative die and mounted onto plum card. This was then added to the bottom of the card on top of the ribbon in the centre with a slight curve for interest.
  • I added a small bow to the middle crocus with a small dazzler in the centre. And lastly some small flat back pearls in the corner finished the project.
I hope you enjoyed this card, I really like how it turned out. Don't forget to carry on hopping and I look forward to seeing who wins very soon.

Have a great Thursday.

Kim 
xxxx

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Creative Expressions, Couture Creations 3-in-1 Blog Hop.

Welcome to the Creative Expressions Couture Creations Blog Hop!

In order to get here, you must have come via the Creative Expressions News Blog.

If you arrived here from the Creative Expressions News page then you are in the right place.


Here is one of the cards I created with the 3 in 1 Couture Creations Collection I started by stamping out my cup cake stands x 3 and embossed them with cosmic shimmer coloured embossing powder, it gave a subtle but sugar sweet look ( well I think) 
Next I Cut them out with the matching die.

I then mounted them onto white card with foam and matted that with black card stock.

 I then set these aside to create the base.
I took the white card and ran it through my embossing machine with the matching folder , because I wanted to do a slightly larger card I had to move the embossing folder along and run it through my machine again and although it doesn't completely match as you can see you can hardly pick up the slight miss. I inked around the edges to show off the design with Distress Inks.
Dry the Ink thoroughly and wrap around the ribbon you want to use, I used some lilac ad some bakers twine along the bottom and then I matted the whole piece onto black card.

Next I began to stamp and emboss all the elements I thought I would like to use on the card, I knew I wanted to use the bunting along the top so I stamped out several and used the matching dies to cut them all out.
I stamped out my sentiment which I decided to keep in just black on white and then mounted onto a black mat.

I also stamped and die cut my cupcakes and bows , so you can see all the elements I need in this picture and of course I have my base ready so now I just needed to put it all together. I laid out all my items several ways onto my card base before sticking it down to make sure I was happy with it.
So you can see I added another piece of twine to the top of the card and wrapped around my bunting pieces but also added a tiny foam pad to the back which raised it up off the base a little. I added all the other elements and matted the whole thing again onto white and then black card which gave me a finished card of 7x8inches.


Prizes! 
We have some Fantastic prize bundles to give away!  Each prize bundle is worth over £10 and contains a selection of Glitters, Glue, Embossing Powders and a Singles Stamp from Creative Expressions. The star prize will be the same as the other prize bundles, but will also include one of the 3-in-1 Dreamboat Collection Sets!  Our star prize is worth £30!

To be in with a chance of winning a prize, all you need to do is leave a comment on each of the ten blogs over the course of the hop.

The winners will be drawn at random from all of the comments featured on each blog.

Prize draw winners will be announced here on the CE News Blog once the Hop has ended on Monday, 25th November 2013.

Once you have left me a comment you will need to click here to visit Pam Smith’s blog.

To help you along the way, here is a list of the Blog Hop:-
2.    Pam Smith
3.    Neil Burley
6.    Kerry Hickton

Thank you for taking part in our Blog Hop – good luck!

Kim 
xxxx

Sunday 17 November 2013

Visible Image Sunday.

Hi everyone

Firstly, I would like to welcome all the new ladies to my blog , I can see I have had a few new lovelies join this week and I have been saying that once I hit my first 100 followers I will do a little competition with some fab prizes so watch this space guys and welcome, I love to read your comments so dont be shy, also If you have a blog join up so I can come follow you too.

Today is Visible Image Sunday and I have used their fabulous Chandelier set as the main focus.

My favourite colours are Purple and Green at the moment and so when I decided to use this stamp I thought hmmm purple it is then , however it does come over slightly different on camera as I used Seedless preserves and black soot distress inks to create this colour which does look a little pinky in the flesh as it were.

Here is a close up.


So to create my card which finished up measuring 7x6 inches.

Recipe
  •  I first started with a piece of off white card and using perfect medium I stamped the chandelier several times and embossed it with a white powder. This creates a resist so that I can ink around the designs yet still leave my chandeliers white.
  • I used my inks and got my shades nicely blended and dark on the edges. 
  • Then took the grunge flourish stamp with black soot Distress Ink and stamped randomly on the top and 2 side edges. No need to do the bottom as  I wanted to add the ribbon there.
  • I matted this piece onto  black card , then I used the grunge flourish again around the edges but this time with perfect medium and gold embossing powder.
  • I wrapped my ribbon around the bottom of the card and matted this onto plum card. And set aside 
  • Next I took a smaller white card and stamped the chandelier in black archival ink and I used two sentiments from the set, Just to brighten your day and Hang in there, also in black ink. Heat set them and then inked with the same colours on the main card.
  • I took a water brush and swept it around the main image and blotted the distress as it reacts with water you can remove some colour this way and the look I wanted way almost rings around the image like the old Warner Bros sign at the beginning of old cartoons. So I did the same thing with the water brush and blotting several times til I had several rings. then I dried the image with a heat gun. I emphasised the rings by dotting quickie glue around the rings and adding some clear glitter to it. 
  • I added flat back black gems to the chandelier image and glittered around them, I also used a white pen to highlight the chandelier too, I then used foam to add it to the card created earlier to raise it up a little.
  • Lastly I tied a double bow and added it to the ribbon I wrapped around the card earlier and took a cameo for the centre of the bow, however it was a salmon pink colour so I used some treasure gold in Amethyst and then classic gold to highlight the face. A few more flat back gems in the corners and the card was complete.
Here is the finished look again 
 
The Visible Image stamps From lovely Helen and Mark  I used are
 
                                   Grunge Flourish                                           Candelier set.


I hope you enjoyed today's card , have a great Sunday and hopefully get chance to do some fabulous crafting, leave me a comment and let me know what you have been creating today.

Crafty Hugs.

Kim 
xxxx


 

Thursday 14 November 2013

Creative Expressions Thursday.

Hi All

Today is my Day to make something for Creative Expressions and This month as many of you will know we are focusing on The Winter flowers and Poppy single. Therefore today I created a little photo frame using the snowdrops in the set and the poppy single, also one of the sentiments.

I used several Items in the Creative range to colour the flowers and they are the Creative expressions water colour paints that are rich in Mica for that gorgeous twinkle and also the Drawing inks, they seeped into the wood as I left it untreated therefore I got a real bloom around the flowers which I used to my advantage to help create shadows to make the flowers look more pronounced on the wood frame itself. Finally I added a layer of crackle glaze to the flowers which also gave them some dimension and interest with lots of small cracks.


For the Snowdrops in the picture frame itself I again used the above items and a masking technique,  I then dried them before adding perfect medium and covering in clear embossing powder ,heat setting to a smooth shiny finish which enhanced the colours added.


Lastly I added lots of creative expressions waxes to enhance the cracks and the edges of the frame and in the aperture for the snowdrops I also used some garden string for a bow and a button from my own stash with wax to enhance , I made a small Kraft tag and stamped my sentiment which I added to the frame.



I hope you enjoy this as much as I did making it and I also hope you give a little home decor a go with a simple frame or wall plaque and your Creative Expressions stamps.
 
Please also look out for the Huge Blog hop we will all be taking part in starting the 19th of November and it will give you chance to get to know each of the Creative Expressions designers and to win a prize so please be sure to look out for the start of this next week with more info on how to get started on the hop coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a message if you can below. 

Have a great day 

Kim 
xxxx


Sunday 10 November 2013

Visible Image Sunday

Hi all.

Today is my Visible Image  posting day and I really enjoyed creating this with the new sentiment stamp that I finally had time to play with haha. While I am posting this Visible Image are on the road at the NEC showing all the fabulous stamps and hopefully having a fun time at the huge Craft event on over the whole weekend

I went all girly this time with pinks and Yellows. So here is my card.

  •  I started with a piece of white card and added lots of Distress Ink too in in Seedless preserves,Mustard seed,dusty concord vintage photo on the edge. Then spritzed with a mica based spray for a little shimmer.
  • Next I stamped on some crackles from the Time set and brushed over a silvery iridescent Mica powder.
  • I stamped on the dream ,imagine stamps and the bronte background and embossed some with white powder and some with silver powder. I also stamped some wings in black archival.
  • I made sure all the background inks were blended and added drops of mica spray and flicked water to create interest , then dried thoroughly. I then added some embossing ink all over the edges and used gold to emboss all the edges.
  • Next I matted onto cream and then gold cardstock and set aside.
  • I stamped the sentiment in black archival and and embossed with clear powder. and cut out using a spellbinder die. I also cut some leaves and several layers of flower in differing pink shades and added all of the above to bottom left of the card. I added some sparkles to the flower and a little leave with sparkle to the bottom right of the card. Lastly added some flat metal pearls to the corners and all done.
 Here is a close up of the lovely sentiment and flower.

These are the set I used for this one all found at 



 Hopefully you will all make something if you have some Visible Image stamps and then join in with the November challenge of All that sparkles and maybe win your self £20 worth of stamps of you r choice too and you can create anything as long as you use at least one Visible Image stamp so come on ladies give it a go.

So I hope you enjoyed today's card and see you soon

best wishes

Kim 
xxxx

Thursday 7 November 2013

Creative Expressions Thursday

Hi All & welcome to all my new blogglies

Today I have a post using the Winter flowers Stamps from Creative Expressions I really love the colour combination on this one so I hope you like it too.

 This was achieved by inking with Olive and peacock feather Distress through the lattice mask.
I also had this little tin so I stamped the winter flower and stuck it into the bottom of the tin, poured UTEE into the tin and heated it from the bottom until all the Ultra thick melted onto the card flower.
I then scratched out the flower on the top of the utee before totally set to have an image on top too.
 Close up of the little tin.

Also to the bottom right of the card you will see the middle of the flower which has  you will see a clear glossy accent flower with sprinkles in the centre. It looks really nice but very difficult to photograph.
I hope you will look on the Creative Expressions blog today to see and join there site as well as mine to see all new events etc.
 Have a wonderful day tomorrow and I will see you really soon

Thanks guys

Kim