Saturday show cards

Good Morning folks.

Well Not so exiting as the night before however we did still manage to have a little thunder again last night but nothing like the night before. I am not sure what direction the wind is moving the storms in now but enjoy it if you like it and hide if you don't. When I was small my mum had a thunder bolt go through her roof just as the milkman was walking up the path and he got thrown down the path so my mum and brother who was home at the time are terrified of the thunder but I love it and so do my children as I explained to you all yesterday. Isn't it funny some of the tales you recollect as you get older I would love it if we all lived near enough for me to do classes and we could all tell each other life tales in the breaks haha. gosh I don't think those sessions would last an hour do you ?

Well on to the matter at hand again another piccy or two for you to feast on today.

This one I loved as although it has a bright pink in it from the Damask Delight pad it was mixed with a black pattern and I used it here just as a frame so at home do gut out the centre of the page to give yourself enough for another card, it is hard to do that while prepping for the shows as of course time prevails etc but out of a piece say 8 by 8inches here you can cut 7x7 from the middle to use on another project. I am sure a lot of you do do that but sometimes we just forget and do it the other way and then realise later so just a little reminder with all the up cycling we do now.
So I stamped my gorgeous Iris's labels Four image from Just Rite in Cranberry Adirondak dye ink and then used a water brush to simply drag some colour into the centre of each of the flowers featured.
I blasted it with the heat gun and then added a tiny clear sparkle glaze over the flower heads and a little Meadow ink on the leaves and stem. I cut it out using Just rite vintage label four then flipped the die over onto black card and drew around it with my trusty white pen and fussy cut it out by hand to give myself a mat for the focal point to sit on. I also used a tiny Happy mothers day greeting from the set on a small flag cut piece of card to go with my bow.

Here is a close up of the colouring which of course hasn't picked up the sparkle on the Iris's but you can see how crisp the image stamps out even using a dye ink and not a pigment one like we normally use I also pulled the colour into the little dots in the trellis intersections but you could use tiny little stones or pearls if you wanted but I think they would have to be 2mm to not detract from the image.
You can also see under the focal point I incorporated the fudge embossing folder length ways with a tiny bit of Raspberry sorbet ink to match the very bluey pink of the paper, I think you can just pick up the tiny line of glitter on the edge of the embossed piece too. (what is that saying now. "The devil is in the detail").

I used several layers of seam binding around the embossed coconut white card toward the bottom end to look almost like a ruched ribbon in pink and tied a three layer bow from it also and added pearl strings and my little flag sentiment and a small luxury pearl embelly in the centre. I use several mat and layers as usual with foam in between the back double mat and a black mat to bring out the black in the pattern paper and to mat the fussy cut mat under the focal point, this ties all the colours together and keeps it neat as you look at the entire card pulling you eye centrally.

Here is that longer shot I like to use to show off the layers and give you a look at the dimensions, this finished up a fairly large card of around 8x8 inches in the end but I did enjoy building this one.

Next one I have for you today is another one I really enjoyed.

I just loved the packaging on the Just Rite stamp set here so I mixed up the colours to match from the colours on the show only as I didn't want you to have to use things you wouldn't have or similar items.

 Again I chose another of the gorgeous papers to match in from the Damask Delight pad By Couture Creations on the show and chose matching  Silky crush ribbon and the pearls on the show in sprays and embellishments. I used coconut white and black cardstock in between and used Vintage labels three to cut out the focal point and a black mat also. I cut a large piece of the paper for my focal point to sit on one side and wrapped a piece of the ribbon on the left with the focal point just over lapping it slightly.

Here you can see the added sparkle which came out in this picture , typically. Again when colouring use the inks darker in places where there would be a natural shadow this always makes it look more dimensional of course.

The bow is a double layer of ribbon with fork cut ends and another of those pearls in the centre and a couple of the pearl sprays tucked in behind the bow itself. I used the large 8mm pearls just in the corners too.

Obviously this card with its bow etc is fairly feminine but just a couple of tweeks for instance a hessian and raffia strip down the side and not so many mat and layers maybe no sparkle on the image and it would instantly look masculine, you could use some of the metal embellishments we do for the corners and it would look quite regal but definitely masculine too, these pads really are very versatile , well done Couture I say.

Ok folks well that is Saturday's twofer and I will be back of course tomorrow with Visible Image and If you go to their site today you will see they are having a wonderful launch of some fab new images which are gorgeous so I hope they do well with them for sure.
For all those lovely blogglies asking if I will be at Ally Pally in September after having to pull out with the operation this last time the answer is a resounding Yes so I would love to meet some of you if you can and I look forward to that immensely.

Hugs to you all and look after each other.

Love

Kim 

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Show cards.

Hello all my lovely blog family

Thank you for all your kind comments yesterday as always and I will answer them individually today. It is amazing how many people like a pink patterned paper but not really a bright pink on its own just as plain cardstock isn't it, I myself am not a bright pink person but |I love vintage and shabby pinks and baby pink too but not the cerise colours yet I love the Damask paper I used on some of the samples which is in bright pink hmm I'm an odd one.

Well I finally got round to playing back the shows from Sunday and gosh that top made me look chunky pheww lol well more chunky I should say that and standing to one side all the time trying to keep weight off the bad ankle. But I really had lots of fun however I must stop saying yea yea yea all the time in my North London accent oh dear ... I know we never like to watch ourselves but I did smile at some of the funnies in the afternoon show.

Anyway I have another couple of cards today to show so here we go with the 1ST.

 I chose this Thank you card as I always want to say that to all you lovely lot out there who takes time to check the blog and leave lovely kind messages and emails in to the shows , I am so lucky to have you all with me and always appreciate them all.
I chose a yellow and fine black pattern from the Damask Delight paper pad and used that on a black mat to set my colours I added that onto a double matt of coconut white card with foam in between.

You can see I also used one of the couture creations embossing folders for the back ground with a little inking with Adirondack Butterscotch also included in the ink packs. These inks are so pigmented but are dye based so  are very easy to blend or paint with or use with any tool you can think of really as they react with water just like distress inks.

Another angle to show all the mats and of course a yellow seem binding bow with pearls and more pearls haha.

I like this shot and always seem to take one on this angle as it really does give a view of every part of the card I think (or maybe I just like it haha).

Ok for card number two...

I thought I would put this one on as you saw me demo it and then you have a few pictures to work from if you choose to have a go or do a variation with whatever stamps you have similar of course.

Again I chose the gorgeous butterfly paper from the Pad and cut out just a quarter of one page and of course you have 2 of each design and they are all double sided so you can do your turn backs etc so easily too.

Here is a close up of the papillon stamps from Just Rite of course that were on the show and the Vintage labels three dies also Just Rite too. Just like the other card I mounted the paper onto a creamy milk coloured card before wrapping a ribbon around and giving it a think black mat then onto a double white mat with the top one pierced for added effect.

I coloured one of the butterflies in the pink tones of Adirondack on the show and the other I left white for the bow with some pearls strings of course.
You all watched me stamp out the Papillon word stamp if you saw the shows just for a little feature of interest also at the bottom of the card too.

Here again is another long view so you can see all as explained above in the long shot.

Hope you liked today's twofer and you have a lovely Friday whatever you are doing , I am so pleased it has cooled down here a Little after all last nights thunder and lightning storms, I must say it smelled so fresh and cool with all the windows open in the night even though I didn't sleep ( whats new about that my friends hey lol)

See you all tomorrow for more show cards . Lots of crafty hugs to you all.

Love always

Kim 

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Creative Expressions Thursday

Hi Everyone.

Massive huge thank you to all the lovely blogglies that sent in emails , I went through the cup after the show Sunday and read them all so no fear I got them and appreciate every single one. Thank you to all the ladies commenting and leaving me messages since then also. It certainly is a wonderful feeling when you get messages on air but even more so when you recognise it is people you know are part of the blog family too.

Today is DT day for creative Expressions of course so I have a couple of the cards from the show in close up to show you  as I know you do not get to see them in any detail like I like to  show on here and as I spent all week locked in my craft room working on them I really wanted to show them to you.

Here is the first one.

 Look away anyone with a pink aversion here haha... It is rather pink  but I actually like it.
It of course is made with the gorgeous papers I had on the show from Couture Creations called Damask Delight. Anyone who had the Sew Jo pad from my last show will know the quality of this fabulous double sided paper and it is such a reasonable price for 48 pages of yumminess.
Anyway I wanted to make a little fan from the paper which I did and used loops of the pearls which is hard to see here but you will see it on the close ups. Also the reason all the patterns work so well together and do not clash is the small mats of blush card in between help to give it that tiny separation needed to help it blend.

So you can see here that central panel which has two types of card on blush card with 2 different ribbons round the centre, silky crush in white and the brown/pink double sided ribbon also. I also stamped my design and used it to wrap around the base of the fan to hide the glued parts. With a bow poked into the under part so you cant see up into the messy bit and a pearl embellishment in the centre with pearl strings left to dangle below it. This is a pretty one and very very feminine I mean realllllllly feminine.

So here is a close up of the fan with the sentiment from Just Rite, to get the old look i added the Cranberry Adirondak ink to the stamp and then simple blotted a few areas back off then stamped it out onto some blush cardstock.

Here is a closer view of the side and you can see I used a ribbon to hide the gap behind the fan to give it a nice neat finish and to cover the foam etc to raise the fan up from the card also.

Another side view.

This one shows the little rolled ribbon I tucked into the side of the fan, If you were watching you will see me make a rolled ribbon on air and a bow but I thought we would spend some time on that this week along with the other tutorials I had promised for last week but ran out of time for.

Here is the last view of this one in full so you can see all the mats and layers etc. I hope you like the composition even if you are not a pinkaholic and those of you that know me now know I actually am not but It is part of the pad and so I wanted to show it can be mixed and matched well , I am much more a fan of the shabby chiq pinks which are much more muted but I actually like how this one came out.

Ok next I thought for this twofer as the first was soooo girly I would show something a little less so. Well a lot less so, here is a  masculine one made from the same pad. All the elements were cut from the paper too and mounted onto taupe card.

It looks complicated but it isn't at all ladies it is all matting an layering with wonky layers and a tiny strip toward the bottom of the first mat that helps to draw your eye in.

Here's a close up of the central panel. I just love this Just Rite stamp and it would be perfect as a chalk board effect with white ink on black card too. 

I used a burlap string from CE to make the bow on top of an old boot lace which I wrapped around as a ribbon haha waste not etc. I topped it with a brown Dazzler to match. You will also notice a couple of small wood buttons with a brown bling in the centre of each which are very small just for a couple of accents.

Here is the full view again from the bottom , as you can see the whole thing was matted onto black to frame the card nicely to finish.

Well I hope you have enjoyed today's twofer and please leave your comments etc below as always and if there is anything you need to know or want shown of course let me know I hope you loved Carols Bracelet that she sent me as a present I love it, I am going to photo it nicely for you all to see this week and if you love love it as much as I do and would like to buy one from her I will also give you her details and you can wear one too whoop whoop ...My daughter also has a beautiful set which Carol sent her so I will show that too, it really is close to my heart not only cos Carol is one of my lovely friends met through blogland but also cos myself and my daughter used to make jewellery together for a few years during her gcse's to keep her mind off the worry so I still have my little lol hmm stash to play with when ever I get the time hahahaha alright..... I know...

Anyway everyone have a lovely Thursday I will be back tomorrow with more of the cards so will see you all there.

Lots of crafty hugs to all.

Love

Kim

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Creative Expressions Thursday

Hi Everyone

How are you all, we have had so much rain and today, just for a change.. it was windy too. Although the sun did poke his nose out here and there so I am guessing we must not complain haha ( I just did, oops.)
I am so sorry I have been a little slow to answer comments this week with prepping the cards for Sundays shows 9a.m and 3p.m and doing my DT cards too plus a bit of drawing I have definitely been on the busy side. Plus of course resting the foot does take sometime with all the swelling etc but still at least I can do that at the moment.
Today I have a card which is some what different for me but this month the Creative Expressions team were sent some Glitter texture paste and a couple of masks plus we could use any stamps that we wanted so I went for a look that is not my usual as I like lots of details as you all know but here it is see what you think anyway. ( I am waffling as I am really not confidant on this one girlies, don't be too harsh lol )

I started with getting out my stencil tape and a palette knife to scrape the paste through the Mask which was a 6x6 mask of Ali's of course and I could not choose which corner I was going to use as they are all different so you know what I thought I would use them all. lol (why oh why would you ) I am obviously having a funny evening haha

 That special touch Art Deco Mask.

 Here are the colours I chose which as you all know I love my berry shades Hence the blackcurrant coloured hair so I thought Id use these 2 together for a little contrast. They are called Lavender Mist and Rich Plum very yummy.
I took a piece of black card about 7x7inches to give me a little room to straighten up if  I needed to after and I taped it down to my desk with my very low tack masking tape, if you don't have low tack and you have that purple stuff or even the removable tape we use for dies booth of them work well but I would de tack them a little more as they can pull the coating off your card which is also another reason to leave a border so you can cut off any uneven bits if needed, just expose a bit of skin and stick your tape to it a couple of times and the oils in your skin will de tack nicely so you can then use your not so sticky sticky tape ( If you think that's hard to say you try to type it haha).
At this stage you can scrape your paste through your mask in any fashion you wish depending on how much thickness you would like, I only wanted mine thin so I could dry it with my heat gun but it is best really to leave it to one side to dry on its own then make up into a card but I was in a whirl with show cards to get done too. Actually Julia did a fab demo on one of her recent shows of how to do this if you managed to catch that.

So here is a close up on the sparkle but it never picks up how glittery it really is in the pictures ( which is why I want to do videos , soon peoples soon.)
Once I had dried it all I did some matting and layering with simple black and white to keep the Art deco theme ( although I am sure Art deco didn't have felt flowers haha) oh well .
I used my Blossom pack of felt that our lovely Sue sourced for us and I love the colours so I made up a few flowers.
My tip for this is while you are relaxing at any time make up a lot of these and put them into a jar, if any of you were watching the last show you would have seen my Jar on the  counter with my shabby chiq flower on the top , I also have a box for all the ribbons I use for Creative Expressions work and I spend some time tying up lots of the chocy box bows that you all comment on that I do in all colours so I always have them to hand for while I am prepping for shows as the little things are the huge time savers but they also look really pretty in jars on a window sill or shelf . I will take some pictures one day and show you the room I work in If you would like to see of course.
So back to the card I added some pearls and attached a couple of the pearl sprays to 2 of the flowers so I could keep that V shape we know works so well in corners on cards.
I used some small word stamps and created just a small tag which I matted onto black but drew on in my trusty white pen a deco feel frame on the black mat.
Lastly I matched up a ribbon bow and placed the larger darker flower in the centre and added it to the others in the corner to finish.

So there we go 4 different corners and a centre which can all be used separately but I managed to mix them all together and although ideally you could maybe do 2 corners of one design and the other 2 in another or all the same I don't think it looks too out of place with the finished card here as it is. I think if you just stick to one or two colours that helps the design a lot too.

Well my lovelies I am off to go back and answer your comments now as I don't ever want anyone to think I didn't want to answer you all as I love to read your comments and answer your queries especially when time allows me to.

Have a great day and I hope if you can,  to see your emails  on Sunday ( it so lovely when you feel you know the people that write in) remember the shows are 9a.m and 3p.m and I hope you get to win a card from the shows too I will try to give away a few and then the following week on the blog I will giveaway some too.

Hugs to all.

Love

Kim 

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Visible Image Sunday

Hello my lovely blogglies.

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend and the weather is nice and warm where you are still, we had a little rain yesterday but it wasn't too bad,it didn't cool it off a lot though which is nice.

Thank you for all your lovely comments this week, I have had a little creating session for today and this card is a bit different for me I think but I wondered if I could create what looked like backing paper with my Visible Image stamps today and yet still manage a little layering with the embossing powders and stamps.

I want to send my love and thoughts to all my lovely ladies who have friends who are ill or have lost people this week , I am thinking of you all and them and I hope the long days ahead will bring some relief into their lives with time. I do understand their pain and I know how desperate they will be feeling right now. My heart is with you guys Mwah xxx

Here is today's little card which  I made into kind of a tag card with room for little gifts or vouchers etc, see what you think.

I took two 5x7inch cards and attached them together in the back , then I trimmed half of each front side into the triangle shapes you see here. I then took my Polka dot Background and stamped all over both sides matching up the pattern as I went, I used Versamark and embossing powder in clear so the white of the cards would show through while I inked the card front.

These are the two colours I used to Ink the card at this stage and I used a cloth to buff the polka dots so they were free from ink after, nice and white.

 I am not sure if you can see well in this one but I used my Ink splats stamps to also create some tone on tone layering in the background too with the same distress inks. I also used my Grunge flourish stamp with versamark and bronze embossing powder to create the bottom edge interest here.

I thought I would stamp out my little tag/bookmark at this point and inked the edges simply in weathered wood Distress ink to match the card , punched a little hole in the top and added some skinny ribbon to match and a little pearl heart.

 I opened the card and covered both inside parts in Aqua card to match and cut little pockets for each side to hold a little voucher card or something, I punched a little half circle in each for ease of removing the gifts etc and of course a little ribbon and bow. Inside you can see I created a pocket for the tag and covered it in Hessian fabric, a hessian ribbon bow with a skinny bow on top I also added a wooden button with a pearl heart which would show through once the card closes. I also added letters made from Hessian spelling heart to match the tag.,

 Here is the first side , with more hessian letters saying " live", again like Helen's lovely verse I used on the tag. You can see the splats a little clearer here too, blue on blue and tea dye on tea dye, I added a strip of the ribbon so it can be closed and a bow tied to keep it shut. I also added some flowers in half a spray here which would close together with the other side and more flowers to complete the Rose spray.

Here is the other side with more letters this time "love" from the verse too. the other half of the rose spray is now seen here and some little pearl hearts plus the stamping can be clearly seen here too.

 Sorry about my gear in the background (pretend it isn't there ) haha. Here is the card standing open with its little pockets and tag on show too.

And here it is standing closed with the Rose spray meeting and the bronze embossing on the Grunge flourish at the bottom of the card showing and the tag poking from the main pocket too.

Here's that embossing and splats behind with the polka dots behind that , even embossing can be layered with these deeply etched stamps.

 A couple more of the sides and pockets here.

I held it up against my cream wall here to let you see the colours better here and you can see the shine on the embossing too.

Here are the stamps I used from Visible Image this week.

                                   Grunge Flourish                                     Live love,laugh

                               Polka dot background                                     Ink splats.

I hope you liked this little one for today and I will go back and answer all your comments today so please go read your replies of course, sorry I am late with them this week.
Here is a link to the Visible Image blog and a post on my Utee card with The Newly launched Revolution set if you would like to see the instructions again and this week I will do a full tutorial on the technique part , if you get a minute pop over and have a look at the wonderful work by the team there too.

Ok friends have a wonderful Sunday and I look forward to reading and answering your lovely comments as always.

Love and hugs 

Kim 

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