Heartfelt Creations Wednesday.

Hi Everyone.


Gosh well it seems the weather has turned a little and gone backwards after such a lovely few days hey, how easily we all get lulled into a false sense of security and sunshine haha.

I hope you are all having a good week, I know a couple of my lovelies haven't been to well this week so I would like to wish them all better and say I have been thinking of you and sending get well wishes your way.

Well I managed to make a little card with Heartfelt Creations Sweet Lullaby collection for today and i have to say I am so in love with this paper its beautiful and the dies in the collection are pardon the pun to die for , I haven't used one of them on today's card but my goodness wait til you see them if you haven't already.

So here it is, what do you think? 

I called it Little angel cos of the tag and well it is actually my daughters birthday today and although she is an all grown up 24 I remember this day 24 years ago as if it was yesterday and I am so proud of her and her brother. So I kind of dedicated this one to her for today even thought its a baby card .

 A close up of the picture and all the different papers and the metal sign I added .

Here is the bow with the tiny little nappy pin I managed to find in my embellishment box.

 You might just be able to make out the little dummy I added to this corner with another pin too, so cute haha.

 Another view, the outside colours are like a damson colour but look black on camera.

Of course I have the full tutorial written up and it is over on the Heartfelt creations website if you would like to pop over and have a read and leave me a comment I would be extremely grateful as always.
Anyway I hope you have a nice Wednesday and I hope to chat with you all later .

Huge crafty hugs to you all.

Love

Kim 

xxxx

Visible Image Sunday.

Good Morning my lovely crafting buddies.

Well yesterday was a wash out , I went for another little drive in my car, still trying to get this old foot moving again but my goodness it was torrential  rain, hail stones gosh not at all nice. I finally got home and the sun came out for all of a couple of hours and then it rained again. Lets hope for something a little nicer today.

Hope you are well and those of you going away over bank holiday I hope you all have a wonderful time and you will be missed so I look forward to hearing about your adventures.

Today is my day as you all know to post for Visible Image officially, as yesterday was a new launch we did an extra day so here is the card I made for today.

Here I used another couple of the gorgeous new fantasy range stamps, although I did change it up a little and it is absolutely covered in glitter , two different ones too. This stamp set is called Myrddin Magick set and The forest background The set I got the amazing sword and rocks from is Myrddin and he is a wizard and is amazing but I chose not to add him to this one as I have another idea for him so I thought I'd do this and do something different with the trees, but up close you can see they are fading into the background but it just wouldn't come out on camera, and really just picked up everything I added to the top but I will explain how I made it anyway.

I took the Forest stamp and white card and I also added a mask to the upper left so I could have a moon in the corner.I stamped the forest several times but I used lots of greens and browns in the distress pens and drew directly onto the stamps so it was more subtle, I breathed on the stamp each time just before I stamped it as distress is water based it reactivates the ink, I kept them all very even and ended up with a straight line at the top where it says Magick.
I decided to start added a few grass type strokes above the line to break it up a bit.

I added milled lavender and dusty concord shading and lots of walnut stain to the bottom to make it really dark at the bottom, I stamped the rocks in the bottom corner and made 2 masks for the rocks too, so I could make it a pile of rock s rather than just one small rock, I then coloured them in and kept them really dark at the bottom and light where the moon would shine and added some highlights too. I re-added the mask to the top rock and stamped the sword and coloured adding a really sparkly sakura gel pen to the blade and a white highlight all the way down like a halo in the moon light ( you see it now I said it don't ya lol).
I took the mask off the moon and added some dusty concord very lightly in stages moving the mask a little at a time so you can almost see rings as you look at it.
I dried everything thoroughly added more highlights etc til I was really happy with it and dried it a bit more , I rubbed over the top right corner with an anti static bag as I wanted to emboss in white the sentiment form the set and if any distress was wet or even a little damp it would grip the embossing powder too so double check it is completely dry then used versamark to emboss with true white embossing powder. Believe in Magick.
I added a self adhesive sheet to the complete picture but only peeled half the backing off and added a chunky glitter all along the bottom then i took off the top part of the backing and added a slightly smaller but not too fine glitter as it faded up.
I then took some distress pens and coloured over the things i wanted to pull forward in the image, Like the sword, you just dab the pen on the glitter and it kinda sucks it up and darkens the glitter but the gorgeous sparkle remains, yummy.

I held it up here in the hope you could pick up the trees in the background, you can but only just. Anyway I matted the picture onto a purple/plum card ( not blue as is here), then cream and back to the purple to finish off.

I didn't take lots of tutorial pics for this one as I did yesterdays and also I was doing a card ready for Wednesday for heartfelt creations post this week. But I hope you like it .

These are the new stamps part of the new fantasy series by the amazing Visible Image.

                       Myriddin magick set                                     Forest background stamp

 What is everyone up to this bank holiday then, anything nice or will you be home crafting along with me?

Have a lovely day.

Huge hugs

Kim 

xxxx

Visible Image Launch , new stamps.

Hi everyone,

It is so good to see so many of you now leaving me comments , I still try to get them all answered so come on back and check from time to time won't you. I love to read your comments as it gives me such a good idea about what to show you and if I am going in the right direction with the blog etc so thank you all so much for that.

Now today is a very special day for sure , Visible Image are launching there brand new fantasy range today and over on Facebook they have a competition running and you can win all the stamps in the new launch (wow) and I just fell in love with Fae the minute I saw her so today's card is in tribute to her so without further ado everybody I would like to introduce you to Fae.

I have lots of pictures and close ups so you can see how sparkly I got the wings etc and I have a step by step too.

 So I started by stamping the map background with versamark and clear detail embossing powder onto white card. I extended it upward and out and added a few lines here and there, it really doesn't matter as I am distressing it and ripping bit anyway. Below is the ink pad I used to stamp Fae so That I didn't have such harsh lines as I knew I wanted to colour her in pinks and purples.

 These are the colours I used of distress inks to colour in the map after I had embossed it with clear powder I rubbed the inks in in my usual way. then used a cloth to wipe the excess ink of the embossed areas resisting the ink and that brings it back white again or indeed whatever colour  your paper is to start.

 I stamped fae out on white card and also on some post it notes so I could mask her and create more wings etc. This is where I used the momento ink as I knew i wanted to use my promarkers to colour with today.

 The top picture show the distressing tool I used to scratch up the edges of the map and I turned over one of the corners which I help in place with a sparkly brad. The picture below that shows how I added some hessian ( you know how it is my fav thing just now) then on top of that I used some corrugated card which I also distressed I mounted both onto some soft gold card and again I turned one of the corners over with a brad. I distressed the gold card too and added that onto a blush mat.

I then made it neat on the outer layers with a black and ivory mat and layer so it is now ready for the map to be added at this stage.

 Lots of jaunty angles and layers on this one but I just feel like they all seem to work. I found this metal embellishment that almost reminds me of a shield with a crest on it back when knights were around etc.I also found a little Prima brad which had a compass on it which I thought was perfect.

 It is a little blurred but you can see it is a good close up on the shield and compass.

So next I set out colouring in this beautiful little lady , I started with Promarkers and then used a Sakura stardust pen to add some glitter , which I brushed out with a water brush and dabbed the excess water off on tissue so the image wouldn't buckle.

 I then used a quickie glue pen and some clear glitter to highlight all the edges etc and I cut her out partly with scissors and partly with a craft knife.

Here she is complete , however I wanted to add a little dimension so I stamped her out again and cut out and coloured her cape and head piece so I could decoupage it on with a little foam.

Here is a close up on her finished wings so you can see just how sparkly they are , they glisten in real light here , I wish you could see it.

Here you can see the extra piece I decided to decoupage.

Here she is added to the map and backing piece.

Next I took the sentiment in Fae's set and stamped it onto gold card with versamark and white embossing power, I cut it out quite randomly, not perfect straight edges and matted them onto black card and added them to the right side of the card almost like the old films portray a Ransom note cut out of newspaper clippings haha.

Lastly I added a key with a brad so the key moves  and I added a key hole metal plate. I hope you like it it took a long time for sure .

Come on over and join the Visible Image group so that you see all the teams work if you would like , there are some amazing makes for this launch for sure and also there is the visible Image blog too
you can always follow us on there too, My day to post is Sunday as you know and I always put a blog post on here and on their main site too so here is the link for that too (blog)

The stamps I used today are 

                             Fae hope Set                                             Mystical Map Background.

I really hope you like seeing today's Launch and you will come and join in the fun if you can. I will be back tomorrow with my normal Visible Image days post and I look forward to reading your comments as always my friends.

Big hugs

Kim 

xxxx

Creative Expressions Thursday and A Rose.."Just for You".

Hi My lovely ladies and Gents (if there are any, lol do hubbies count too?)

Well haven't we had some lovely cheery wall to wall sunshine, my daughter has been going off to work in the morning in just shorts and little T shirt. She cycles to work anyway but it has been so horridly wet that most of time she gets soaked and luckily gets a shower in the gym before work but these last few days she got to cycle in wearing nice things before hitting the gym then work,, ooo to be so young and carefree hey girls. However as I am typing this it is now torrential rain oh dear...( I jinxed it)

Ah well today's card has a number of things going on but looks quite simple , I went for a colour scheme that in my head I never thought would work but you know once I laid it out I really liked it even though I am not a pink person with the right colours with it I warm to it and this really came out all romantic with the tulle etc.

So have a look and I will get started on how I made it.

Blush , Milk and Teal card stock.

 A slightly different look so you can see the layers here.

            Here are the stamps I used to create this card.

For you  and  Floral spray , I used just he rose in that one.

So to start I used perfect medium and stamped the Just for you stamp on Milk card  and embossed in Gold detail embossing powder. I cut it out with a simple rectangle die and Inked through the die with a little Antique linen Distress Ink just simple around the edge.
I then used the Matt chalk paints and a water brush as the colours are just so smooth and easy to blend, I used just three colours here , a hint of Pacific Teal in the clouds well watered down, Tuberose and china pink in the flowers with a hint of black pen in the centres. I also used a little hint of glaze over the flowers to make them shine.
I matted this onto a small piece of teal card and wrapped the bottom with a thin double sided satin ribbon.

 I took a larger piece of blush card which has a hint of pink in it already and I stamped the Rose from the floral spray set but this time I used my distress pens and simply coloured onto the stamp with the pens til I had the colours of the outline I wanted , I then breathed onto the stamp to re moisten the ink and stamped it on the right hand side of the card. I finished adding a few shaded areas with the same pen colours which were Spun sugar, Victorian velvet, Worn lipstick, Peeled paint and forest moss. The good thing about stamping with pens is you can mix lots of colours to stamp in and get the colours where you want even in detailed areas.

So I knew I wanted to have some embossing or debossing on the card but my dilemma was that I wanted it to have some hessian and tulle (as these seem to be my ultimate fav thing just now along with the Chalk paints.) But it is so easy to go over the top when adding so many things all in the one place so I wanted to show you ladies that you can use all things if you want to add texture but if you balance the card your eye will always still be drawn to the main focus point so it is best to choose in the beginning what that will be , whether it is the sentiment, the image or are you going to feature some handmade flowers  or an embossing technique, here I have shown you all of those items in one card but this is how to do it with balance. ( ooo don't I go On hehe)

So I took the same piece of blush card that I stamped the rose onto and ran the left hand side through Sue's Sea Garden embossing folder ( remember to hand the embossing folder over the edge of the plates so that you don't get a line on your card stock. I could have inked on the positive side of the folder to letter press the colour into the debossed areas but I find sometimes it doesn't always transfer neatly and for this card I wanted the colour on the card in a neat as opposed to shabby Chic style ( I love shabby chiq things and vintage styles but I would do it all the time so I like to be versatile) Once it came out of the folder I took my spun sugar pen and my Victorian velvet pen and began to draw in the debossed areas, just around the edge where I knew it would show. You can see it in the small picture above. I then added a strip of hessian which I frayed to the left of the card and a piece of tulle over the hessian and out the other side to lay over the area I just coloured.

 The top Image shows the Hessian and tulle out the left hand side of the image  and after I added the whole piece onto a double matt of blush card which I pierced. I thought I would make a little flower section, so I took a piece of hessian and added a small circle of card on top to give me something to adhere things to and I took a piece of tulle and tied a know in the middle I folded it in half and added it to the left on the card disk, I then added a small cream flower that I made using a strip of the Crochet ribbon cut in half and I just did a quick running stitch down the fixed end and gathered up with a knot stitched in the end. I added a pearl spray so it ran up the left of the card. On top of that I laid my thin ribbon double bow and a hessian strip bow too ad finally a heart dazzler was the bow cover as we can have naked bows here lol..

Here is a bunch of the flowers I made form the crochet ribbon and other laces in my stash.

This is the really thin , looks a 5mm doubled sided satin ribbon I used this week, last week I used one double as thick as this, so it comes in the two different thickness's and at least 3 double sided colours.

To finish I added a couple of flat back pearls and voila as they say.

I wish you could see this card in person it really does look so very pretty, well in fact I will make sure when I send out my little treats that this is one of the cards that goes out. 

Now ladies I am sure you don't want to see too much more writing today as there is a lot on this post but as promised I took a few pictures of all the latest stick pins I have been making, in all different sizes as sometimes we wanted shorter pins others longer so today I thought I'd show you the pictures and then on another day I will show you how I have been making them. They aren't as nice as Sue's I can tell you hers are amazing but I was pleased with this last bunch and so I wanted you all to see them, especially as they aren't staying mine if you know what I mean some of you  lucky ladies haha.

So here they are.

 I laid out a fair few to start then realised you weren't going to get very close like that so i then took a few at a time, when I made these when i first had the Op done and I had been home about a week I didn't have any of the CE stick pin blanks that Sue uses and sourced for us all but I wish I had, these in the pictures are mostly headpins cos I found even though they are blunt at the bottom I could still add them into bows or under them with a dab of glue etc, But the thing is some of the really skinny ones can bend while you are making them ( most don't but they can) so now I have learned a bit more I use the CE ones, they are much thicker and sturdy as those of you who are lucky enough to have them will know. But this is what I have so far and as they all have crystal on them I want to use and give them away before I make the next ones.

 Mixed pinks.

 Yellow, green and clear.

 Dragonflies.

 Blacks.

 More green and yellows.

 Tanzanite purples.

 Deep purples mixed.

I bought some pearls on sticks and added a bead cap these are gold but I also did silver.

So there we have it ladies  for today. 

I am now heading off as I have lots to prep for , Not only my shows On the 7th June but we also having a blog hop (shush) around that same time to prepare for and Saturday this week is the amazing new launch of the next characters in the Visible image range so we are doing a special launch that day too.

 I want to say a huge thank you to all you wonderful ladies for leaving me so many comments over at Craftwork cards on Monday , wow you are not only followers on my blog but you are also warm lovely ladies who have become my friends so thank you from the bottom of my heart for that , it is very much appreciated.

Lots of crafty hugs 

Love

Kim 

xxxx