Creative Expressions Thursday

Hi all

Well this is the last Thursday of the Month and so here is the last of the Christmas posts for this month. Again I have a couple of cards for you to peruse and give me your opinions on of course.
I hope you enjoy them.

Ok so lets get started here is number one.

 This is one of the demo's I did on C&C and it has the five pointed star couture creations die along with the sleigh die that sold out on the show too and the flourish under the flower. I stamped out the sentiment from the Christmas post set of sentiments and I used tape around the edge of the matting and covered it in antique rose polished silk glitter.

 A close up on the flower which I covered in the Glitter Jewell's diamond snow, which I loved.

 Here  is the sparkly sleigh too which I used inside a cut out I created with the vintage labels 7 and popped up onto foam above the soft silver cardstock we carry. I know you loved this sleigh too as it was selling very quickly and I can see why as it was so cute , especially those little presents that are part of it, although not on this card. Funny story for you my daughter was in her room yesterday and came out saying " I don't think this is mine, I think it is yours".  it was one of the little die cut presents from this set and somehow managed to gravitate into her room, I think on one of her socks when she came to say night to me when I was in the stash room haha. ( that must have been in her room for ages now as it was a long time ago I cut this out. )

Here is another look at that very neat sentiment which would work lovely with the chalk board effect that is so popular right now.

So for card number two.

 This was going to be another demo on the show for C&C but we decided to do a mini clinic instead and so this one got missed off but it was shown, it only has a little stamping with the sentiment and the poinsettia which was coloured with distress ink. But the ribbon is gorgeous and was on the show too and the background was created by taking a piece of white card and covering it in double sided sticky sheets and then I die cut this Couture creations Lace background four times and placed three whole on the paper and cut the other in half and added it I then sprinkle the whole thing in sea green polished silk glitter. I added some cosmic shimmer glue to the few areas i wanted to change the colour of the glitter and then tipped on gold glitter , because it is opaque it coloured over the green completely and I was left with a stunning and very sparkly piece of art to add to my mat and layers .

 Here is the sentiment I chose and stamped it in black archival ink and cut out with the smaller Vintage labels 7 die.

 Here again is the finished look with that large ribbon neatly tucked around the first mat and a double bow tied by hand and a poinsettia used to cover the knot and one of the real sparkly embellishments in black seemed perfect for this one.

A close up of the bow with all that gorgeous satin , I used some glue dots as shown before to make sure the bow stayed perfectly placed in true chocolate box fashion.

Well we have reached the end of another month so next week sees the start of a new month on the team and I wonder what we will be demonstrating this time.... hmmm

have a wonderful Thursday everyone and I will see you all soon.

Huge hugs

Love 

Kim 

XXXX

P.s   Thanks so much lovely blogglies for all your kind words and messages re my mum, My brother is very touched you leave all these kind wishes for me and says thank you too. I explained how we are all a huge family here and he was most impressed. Huge hugs and I appreciate your kindness and support very much.

K xxx 

Visible Image Wednesday & Express Yourself.

Hi Folks

Today I have a card created with the Amazing Visible Image stamps some old and some very very new, In fact so new it was only launched at the weekend and pre orders coming in very fast. This new launch has a set of six sets of Inspirational sentiments from the Visible Image family of Mark and Helen. Here is there promo pic that you may have seen on Facebook if you have it featuring all the sets.

 I know you can't see it very closely but no fear more photos will follow of the sets as I use them and the link above will take you straight to all six sets to have a look at, so whether you are a card maker or an avid scrapbooker there will definitely be a phrase or sentiment here you are sure to need in your stash.

Here is today's card using The Make me Smile set. Created in rich purple/pink and Orangey warmth for Autumn with touches of natural fabric in hessian and a burlap bow I hope you all enjoy how I put this one together.
I have a full tutorial with lots of pictures for this one so please get yourself a nice cuppa and enjoy putting this one together with me.

 Ok, to start this one I ran my Anti static pad over the card,  I took my "You make me smile" stamp and Perfect medium Ink with clear embossing powder and stamped somewhat randomly over the piece of white card I had chosen as my base colour. I heat set the embossing of course and then moved on to choosing the ink colours for today's card look.

 The first colour I chose was Dried Marigold distress and I used my usual method to apply the ink, cut and dry foam and added the ink in my usual side side middle way. Of course the first layer of ink as I have said on several cards now is just a blending layer and so just throw it on there , to wet the card fibres a little and if it is patchy as mine is above , don't worry. You know me now ladies and you can here me saying it just doesn't matter can't you.

My next colour is the gorgeous and vibrant Seedless preserves, I just love this colour with the orange palette its so gorgeous. So this is coat one complete and just look how patchy and swirly the colour is, at this stage people give up but don't. While that ink is still tacky ladies ( and gents) go back in with your second coat to smooth the colours out.

 So, coat two. Much richer and deep but still a little blending needed but not too much as I have not finished with layering on this background yet.

 Deepen the edges with darker shades or another coat of colour on the edges. I used Rusty Hinge on the Marigold to deepen and the same Seedless preserve with a little vintage photo all over the edges to really bring out the dark edge and mix of colour here.

So here I started to introduce some of the other stamps Visible Image retail. Here I started tone on tone with the Ink splat set in the same rich colours and didn't mix them much at all. So keep within the purple with purple splats and so on. Quick blast with the heat gun here.

 Next, I wanted to have some lighter splodges for want of a better word but you could wet a stamp and lay that image down too and it will have the same effect as I used here , so the lighter drops are water spritzed into my hand and dripped onto the card and ink and left a few seconds then dabbed off with kitchen paper. Dry again here pretty well this time.

 The next background I added was the Crackled Background and I used Black archival and held the stamp in my hand and added random and small amounts just around the edge of the card and again blasted to heat set this one, or the ink would have smudged. I also used my anti static pad very well here to make sure all was dry or the ink would pick up the embossing powder in the next stage.

My last background here I again held off a block in my hand and this was the grunge polka dot and I used  white embossing ink for this one in several areas  and once all was done and heat set I used a micro fibre cloth to buff up all the clear and white embossing to remove any ink that had tinted the whites. I then added that piece to a piece of black card with just a very small border. I then set aside.

I had this little chippie frame so I coated it with perfect medium and gold embossing powder and heat set , I cut it the frame in half and set aside too.

I stamped out the main Sentiment I wanted to use from my set first of all and I stamped it in black archival and then simply used a very thin and pretty shimmery gold stardust gelly roll pen from sakura to add a slight halo effect on the words which you can only just see here, I then mounted that white piece onto some black also and added the two halves of the gold frame to the back with a gap in the middle.

 I added a second double mat under the over all card with foam in between for some elegance and cut a piece of hessian which I then frayed and added on an angle to the front of the card, I then added my sentiment and frame concoction on the other angle to create a sort of 'X' at this point on all I needed to do was build it and add the two small flower displays.

This is the bottom right flower in rich plums and orangey/peaches and white to match, I also took a couple of the little orange leaves I stamped out from the Poinsettia set and used those to go under the flowers on the card.

I wanted to add a little close up as I added some white gel pen to the roses and also some glossy accents very finely with some iridescent glitter added to them too for a little sparkle. You can also see the layering of the stamping we did on this image, which I love and feel it gives such depth the a background this way.

And here is the sentiment in place on the card and you can just pick up the tin sparkle on the letters here too.
So there we have it guys the way to layer inks and embossing to give a look that can be subtle if needed but easily taken to the grungy stage with real dark inks to blend and over layer.

I used some stunning stamps for this one and here I will add them and the links.

                                      Ink splats.                                        Crackled Background.

                     Grunge Polka dot Background.                           You Make me Smile.

                                                                   Poinsettia set.

So lots of stamps used for this one to create a inky beautiful well framed background to use to push forward our sentiment from the beautiful new Express Yourself Launch from Visible Image.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial on how to and that you can see colours that you really think sometimes no way will they go actually do and you can make them anyway by adding in all the layers of stamping and embossing to diffuse the concentration of the colours. Have a go and see how surprised you are to get these results just with a little ink .

** So by way of a little update. My mum is now clear of ICU and on a ward in the hospital, she still isn't walking yet but they have twice now had her sat in a chair and she is eating without tubes feeding her now so although she is a very ill lady her condition, now the infections are leaving her is improving for her and she has had to have a barrage of scans to see if anything else is going on as she is very confused at times and has very little short term memory too but at least she is on the mend, her illnesses are such that she is unlikely to have too long but the hospital remain hopeful she can be well enough to manage again for a while. Thank you for all your kind wishes and patience regarding posting at this time and i really do appreciate all your kind words on here and fbook etc. **

Huge hugs 

Love

Kim 

XXXX

Creative Expression Christmas Post.

Hi folks

I have some show cards on the Christmas theme for the Dt this month as you all know so I have been adding a couple each week so that they all get seen a little more up close.

Here is card 1.

 This first one and the only real stamping it has on it is the sentiments so of course there will be another and a twofer always helps hey... I used several of the different new Couture creations dies from the Christmas lace collection and The Merry little Christmas selection of dies too.

 Here you can see the sentiment from the Just Rite Christmas post series of stamps and the backing is the  Border lace die cut and the trio of trees die cut with the negative areas that popped out used as trees with some glitter just along the edges.

 I also cut the top off the lace border ( another strip of it anyway) and used just the top section along the top of the card just so the patterns all matched up.

Here is the finished card with its gorgeously symmetrical feel to it.

Next is another little number that I love.

 This is a tall thinner card and again I used the ribbons of holly Background in Hydrangea blue ink I then stamped out my sentiment from the Christmas post set from Just rite , It also had that dinky tree flourish that I used on the sentiment tag too and I cut it out using the Vintage labels seven die.

 A close up shows you the two little holly piece I stamped too on the tag and the new white flowers and die cuts underneath the flower also Couture creations.

I used the green crinkle edge ribbon in sheer organza to add to the finished look.

So please leave your comments below as You know how i love to read them all and I will see you all very soon.


Huge Thankyu's for all your kind comments re my mum etc yesterday, I really do appreciate them all and last night very late they moved her from ICU to a ward so that means definite progress, I know they can only get her to a certain point but at least she is now responsive and sitting up. She is still very confused and you have to repeat everything several times and she doesnt really know why shes in there or how ill she has been again but maybe thats a good thing in one way.

Thank you again with lots of love

Huge crafty hugs 

Kim 

XXXX

Visible Image Wednesday

Hi Lovelies

Today as you can tell by the title is of course Visible Image Wednesday and I have a lovely little clean and simple card tutorial for you which utilises some masking with the stamping using the fabulous Visible Image stamps of course and some colouring in with Promarkers and a little glittering too. This one is very clean and simple so should be great for beginners to intermediate levels although could easily be taken to the next level with extra wings or lace used to give another layer of wing, You could add more dimension with decoupage on the heart or even splitting the heart and adding some cogs emerging from the tear. You could add a zip to act like a body to the butterfly looking wings and have the sentiment poking out, you are limited only by your own imaginations and thought process so without further ado let me show you today's card.

 Very clean images for me, I am taking things back a little so we can start the series of techniques we were all talking about a few posts back so today is a simple masking technique.

 I took an A4 piece of white card and stamped my sentiment on the bottom of the page and heat set. At this point I really was not sure if I was going to stamp all my images and cut them out to use separately on a card or to stamp it whole but as You will see I decided to stamp it all and colour it and keep as is, as I hardly ever do this.

I stamped the heart first once on this card and heat set it. Then again on a scrap piece of card which I also set to stop it smudging all over while I cut it out. I took some small scissors and cut out my heart including the winding key and any of the lines that were raised etc., After I did this I took my first wing and placed my heart mask over the heart on the page and then inked and stamped the wing on the page, I left the heart in place and stamped wing number two which left me this beautiful image of the heart with the wings behind to colour.

I used three blues to give depth, I used shale brown to build some brown/purple in the shading on the wings along with white for highlights. I used grey around the image to make it stand from the page and I used 3 greys in the heart and 3 browns on the cogs on the heart too.

I also stamped the little oil can from the OZ tin man set and drew in a drip over "the" in the sentiment I also drew a very loose puddle under the sentiment and coloured , shaded and highlighted the items.

 Here is another view and you can see the mats and layers I then added under the first image along with a ribbon and bow with a sparkly stone to finish the card off but just before the end I thought this card needed some sparkle. Whats the point in having gorgeous wings like that if they don't sparkle so I set about with some Vintage white opalescent glitter and my quickie glue pen, all over the wings and the oil and drip on the sentiments etc, plus a few shadows.

Here is the long view I always show so you can see the layers properly with dimension and my last pictures I tried to show some of the sparkle, but as you know glitter is extremely hard to catch on camera unfortunately but hope you can see it.

Just a tiny bit on the left hand side maybe

 A close up and you can see some glitter through the sentiment and under the puddle here too.

So here are the three stamp sets I used to create this one for today.

                           Live the life.                                                    Fae hope set.

OZ Tin man stamp set.

Aren't they gorgeous, I feel very lucky to have them all as part of my collection for sure.

Rumour has it there is an amazing new launch of gorgeous and amazing stamps coming very soon from our lovely Helen and Mark the brilliant team behind Visible Image too so keep your eyes open won't you as they sell so amazingly quick once they launch. Congrats to them also for a fabulous show at the NEC  unfortunately I wasn't there in the end with my mum taking bad etc that weekend either but Mark and Helen did get to meet some of you and had a fabulous  and very busy show. Yayyy.

Update.

Some of you have been emailing me re my mum which is very lovely of you all but this last two weeks I have struggled to answer any messages , blog posts  etc so I am so sorry for this as I hate to miss your letters etc, You are all very special to me and I would hate you to think I wasn't going to reply but with mum on ICU this time I have been at the hospital from early until late everyday and have missed everything including shops etc so I am so very sorry about that. You will be pleased she has opened her eyes again now and is starting to have some tubes removed day by day but is still very poorly of course so it s really a case of making her as comfy as possible for as long as we can and hope she can go home again for a while ( they did warn us when she was in last time that she would have spells in and out of hospital and that she had 6 to18months at most when she left hospital last time, although when she went in they told us she would not make it last time, shes a fighter for sure but is very confused now too. We nearly lost her several times last week but today they took her feeding tube out and she had a mouthful of real food so that's progress hey guys.

NOW TO GROVEL LOVELIES

I have a huge mahoooosive apology to make to all my winners from the last giveaway to especially the ladies who have emailed as I really did just glance at my mail today and saw Id missed Pat and Mrs B's emails asking if there prezzies had been lost on royal mail , NOooooooo I am hugely enormously grovel grovel sorry but I hadn't got time in the last weeks as promised to actually get to the post office to queue to get the parcels weighed to post as I have around 8 to go off to you all. I have been picking my brother up each day and driving to Barnet (40 mins away) to sit with my mum everyday including the weekend and I have also had meetings with work about returning now my foot is settling a little more so its been crazy this past 3 weeks but you will all be glad to hear I am actually not at the hospital until today around 2 so I will be queueing at said post office and getting the parcels to you before the end of this week, I only hope when you see your gorgeousness arrive you can forgive me for the delays.
I truly am sorry Lovely blogglies its just it is only me who does it all here I don't have anyone posting for me or anything so am thankfully I was ahead with the actual blog posts. I hope you all understand and I'm sorry for any worry or concern caused , two of the nights we were called to hospital too so am pretty zonked just now but at least this time she is pulling through again. Sorry again guys for the delay.

Love to all

Look after each other

See you tomorrow

Hugs

Kim 

xxxx