A quick sunflower card

 

Hi there! I have been busy making samples for the Bee crafty show on the Craft Store tomorrow (Tuesday 29th at 1pm) so my step by step today is a very quick one! 

I used 

a 6x6" white card blank

Big ones inkable - eclipse trellis

distress inks in Twisted Citron, mustard seed and Spiced marmalade

Regular Doodle Art sunflower stamps

Versafine/ versafine clair black ink

Ecoline brush pens

a small piece of watercolour paper

adhesive - I used Matte Medium

Everyday sentiments 1 regular

liquid pearls 

I began by attaching the inkable to the card with stencil tape. The folded edge is left without the inkable covering it. I applied the distress inks with blending brushes. By turning the card around I am less likely to put fingerprints on the white bit!

Next I removed the inkable, stamped the sunflower directly onto the card and coloured the leaves with the light green and chartreuse ecoline pens.

I also stamped the small border stamp from the Sunflower set at the two outer corners.

I set the base card aside and stamped the head of the sunflower onto watercolour card.

Then I used a selection of ecolines to colour the flower. 

I cut out the flower and stuck it onto the base card using matte medium.

I added a sentiment using black ink then used liquid pearls to add a little interest to the corners.

Here is the finished card again. 

Don't forget to tune in to the Craft Store at 1pm to see Bev demonstrating with the fabulous new Journaling Girl stamps tomorrow.

Here is a sneaky peek! 

Thanks for looking! 

Dragonfly Tag

 Hi there!  This month's challenge over on the Bee Crafty Stamps Facebook group is to show us your journal pages and tags. There are 3 entries allowed per person so you can do both if you wish to! Today I have an mdf doodle art dragonfly tag for you. 

I used

MDF tag

Ranger Distress grit paste

coffee stain script and perspective circles inkables

Dina Wakely heavy body acrylic paints - Ocean, Turquoise and Lime

Dina Wakely clear gesso

Pretty gets Gritty explosion powder - mars

Dina Wakely gloss spray -Lime

Texture Border stamps

Texture circle stamps

Doodle Art XL dragonfly stamp

Ecoline pens

Watercolour paper

Glossy accents

Black card

White embossing powder

Small words stamp set

Versafine ink - tuxedo black

Archival inks

Versamark ink 

Copper gel pen

gel medium

I began by applying some grit paste through the stencils to the mdf tag

Once this was dry, I painted the tag with the three colours of paint.

Next I mixed a little clear gesso with the explosion powder and applied it over the raised areas on the tag.

I stamped the borders and circles with the archival ink.

Next I splattered the tag with a little of the gloss spray and left it to dry.

I stamped the dragonfly in versafine ink onto the watercolour paper, then coloured it with the ecoline pens.

I cut it out and stuck it to the tag with gel medium, applying a little glossy accents along the body.

Finally I stamped a sentiment onto black card and heat embossed in white, adding it to the bottom corner. I also added a few bits of copper gel pen to the tag and the butterfly.

Here is another look at the finished tag with a piece of coordinating ribbon. 

Thanks for looking and For all your comments, support and thoughts on my previous post. I hope to see your tags and journal pages in the challenge album too! 

The importance of good stamps

 Hi there! 

Time for a little rant I'm afraid!

I'm sure you have probably heard about a number of fake stamps appearing out there. Many of these seem to come from China and are made of silicone. There are huge numbers on Ali Express. No matter how cheap they are, please don't buy them. I'm not just saying that just because they steal the images without permission (although that is reason enough I think!).  The nature of the materials they are made from means that ink won't give an even coverage; they are so squashy that the stamp distorts when you stamp it and the stamped image is poor to say the least. Also, they will decay a lot quicker than any rubber or decent photopolymer stamp. I own 20+ year old rubber and photopolymer stamps that stamp as well as the day I bought them. With silicone stamps they ended up in the bin after less than 7 years. I am very lucky to be on the DTs for Bee Crafty and Crafty Individuals, who produce excellent quality stamps that I consider to be the very best. I've also got stamps from Inkylicious, Hobby Art, Woodware, Chocolate Baroque, Lavinia, Card-io, Honey Do, Uniko, Indigo Blu, That's Crafty and Visible Image. These are all UK based companies that have excellent quality stamps and good customer service. They have built up a good reputation. If you want that quality of stamp and service, buy direct from them - They are all crafters too, so they make stamps that they enjoy using themselves.

I have heard a number of crafters say that they tried stamping but struggled to get a decent image so gave up. I wonder how many of them bought cheap, poor quality stamps and that was the cause of their issues? When I have tried using some of these stamps it has taken me much longer and sometimes several attempts to achieve something half decent. Many 'free' stamps on magazines are manufactured in the same way. Some are okay, but none are as good as the real thing. 

We have an amazing Craft Industry in the UK and it would be good to keep it that way, so when you spend your craft allowance, spend it wisely and buy direct from the companies you know you can trust! 

Thanks for reading this 

Crafty Individuals Samples

 Hi There! Here are the samples that i made for the Crafty Individuals shows on the Craft Store at the beginning of the month. The stamps and other products are now available on the Crafty Individuals website (link at the bottom of this post)

CI-575 and CI-556

CI-576 and photo pack papers

CI-573 and CI528

CI-577 and 'weekend in Seville' papers

CI-508 and CI-430

CI-574, CI-573, CI-541 and CI-542

CI-510 and CI-573 and wonderfully weathered papers

CI-574 and CI-573

CI-577 and image sheets

CI-576 and greyboard beach huts from the website

If there are any questions about the other products I used please don't hesitate to ask! 

All of the new stamps and paper products can be found here

Thanks for looking! 

A journal page for Bee Crafty

 Hi there! Over the last month I have bought a few new goodies with my birthday money, so it was time to try them out! Here is a journal page in my 8x8 dylusions journal using several of them. 

I used:

8x8 Dylusions Journal

Dina Wakely gloss sprays in Blackberry, sky, Ruby and Tangerine

Mandala Inkable #7

Bee Crafty Over the moon Stamp set

Bee Crafty La Luna stamp set

Bee crafty Moon and stars sentiment stamp set

Texture paste

Gel medium

Collage paper

Gold embossing powder

Gold gilding wax

Posca pen

Archival ink

Versamark ink

Gold Liquid pearls

A small piece of black card

Here's what I did:

I applied some texture paste through the mandala stencil to the page and left it to dry.

Next I sprayed it with the Dina Wakely gloss sprays, then left it to dry very thoroughly

I applied gilding wax to the mandala area before setting the journal aside.

I stamped the la Luna and the moon stamps in versamark onto the collage paper and heat embossed with gold powder.

I cut these out and applied them to the page with gel medium.

I used archival ink to stamp some borders and add a few extra details. Some white pen helped to make them stand out a little.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment onto the black card and cut it out.

I added it to the page with the gel medium, and added a few dots of liquid pearls on the circles and at the corners.

This was the first page in my new journal, although it isn't at the front. I want to get used to working on a bigger page before I attempt that. 

If you do a journal page or a tag this month using Bee Crafty products, you can enter it in the current challenge in the Bee Crafty facebook group for a chance to win some stamps!

Thanks for looking! 

Playing with my Gloss Sprays and those beautiful face stamps

 

Last week I treated myself to some more Dina Wakely Gloss sprays and decided to have a play with them for my blog post this week. 

Here is what I used to make my card:

15cm square card blank

14cm square of mixed media card

Dina Wakely gloss sprays in Heather, Mineral, Lime and Eggplant

Faces - Whatever Works stamp set

Inkable Easy frame circle

Inkable big one - Bakewell

Small Words stamp set

Archival ink in Cobalt and Majestic Violet

blending brush

Versamark ink 

White embossing powder

Dark blue scrap of card

First I sprayed the mixed media card with the 3 paler gloss sprays and left to dry.

Next I stamped the face onto the sprayed card with the blue Archival ink. Make sure you use a juicy inkpad for this and don't leave it on the sprayed surface for too long or it will stick. I also stamped the other eye, lining up the eyebrows.

Once the ink was dry I placed the Bakewell inkable and inny circle mask over the face before spraying with the Egg plant gloss spray. I put the Bakewell on the right hand side, leaving an area on the left of the sprayed card not stencilled.

After removing the stencil/masks and putting them into a bowl of water, I used the tubes from the bottles to splatter the colours across the sprayed card.

I used the same part of the bottle to draw some solid lines of the spray where the edge of the big one stopped.

once this was dry I placed the circle back over the face and used a blending brush to add a little extra shading in the purple archival ink around the edge of the circle and the edge of the card panel.

finally I mounted it onto a blank white card and added a sentiment (white embossed onto a scrap of navy blue card)

I can see I am going to have so much fun with the sprays as well as the stamps! 

Thanks for looking! 

Crafty Individuals on the Craft Store

Jean from Crafty Individuals will be on The Craft Store at 10am and 2pm on Friday 4th July. There are new stamps, designed by Maria Kitano and Jean, new paper products and there will be some amazing demos too, as well as some older favourites. 

If you would like to see some more sneaky peeks from the rest of the DT do come over and join the Crafty Individuals Facebook Group (link in my sidebar). We are a very friendly, kind and encouraging group with no drama, where everyone supports each other. 

Thanks for looking and I hope you will be able to tune in!