Friday, 16 May 2014

Heart Cat



Heart Cat

Hello  everyone  and especially to Hilda who has just joined as a follower of my blog and who I met at the Biggin Hill craft show last weekend. 

Hello to anyone else who visited us on the stand. I really enjoy talking to other crafters about using the laser cut shapes, as there are so many things you can make with them.

I love playing with the various shapes, and I created a cat as a sample.  Quite a few people liked it ,which was very pleasing, as I have to say I think it is my favourite design so far. Thank you for the lovely comments that were made.

It utilized a mixture of shapes.
I made the face as a separate item a while ago, and I wasn't very pleased with the finished result, so I rubbed it down and put it to one side. I was going to make it into a brooch for myself.



Then I started to play with a large  12cm.  heart and embossed it with silver powder using the Inkylicious Butterfly Flourish stamp. It was then washed over with watered down black acrylic paint.
 Having done that, I realised that the face was just the right size to fit onto the upsidedown heart , which created a body. All it needed was a tail, feet and whiskers.

Below is the finished result.






The ginger version was my second attempt and has been stuck onto one of the flat pack boxes, to create a pencil holder.

I positioned the eyes differently, so that the cats have a slightly different expression.
The pattern on the body is embossed with gold jewel embossing powder, with Distress ink for the ginger colour.

 
 
 



 
 

These are the two cats together before I had found the orange jute string and the gold thread for the whiskers and tail.


 
The tails on both cats have a thin wire twisted through the jute to stiffen them slightly, so that they don't flop.
 
 
Hope you have enjoyed looking at these as much as I enjoyed making them.
Thanks for visiting.
 
Carole
 
 
 

Friday, 18 April 2014

A Card for mum



Hello.

Thought I would post the card that I gave to mum for Mothering Sunday. I know this is a little belated but just found the photograph that I took of it .

I was really pleased with the finished result and the heart could be taken off and hung as a decoration as well.

 Hope you like it.



 
 
The stamp I have used is a Chocolate Baroque bauble stamp.
This stamp is a particular favourite of mine as I think it is a lovely design.
 
The heart is made from birch ply and is sold by Artcuts.
It has a lovely surface to stamp onto. I then put Glossy accents onto the flower, and, when dry, swiped a VersaMagic inkpad over it.
The edge was then glittered and a crystal style strip stuck on.
 
Thanks for visiting.
Bye.
Carole

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Old Crock cards for men



Hello everyone.



 Just realized that I haven't posted anything for ages!!
Today I have cards suitable for men.

 Always difficult I find as I don't seem to have much male orientated stash! However, I do like this Old Crock stamp from Hobby Art and I have stamped it onto metal and acetate for my samples.













 This design uses metal sheet, stamped and embossed.
I love this technique and I never tire of using metal on my projects. The Happy  Birthday stamp is a Woodware, stamped onto shrink plastic. It was a good size when shrunk. The eyelets have been set using a Crop-a-dile, which is a great tool and easy to use.





The car is stamped onto acetate for this sample, and coloured on the back with metallic paint. I have spray mounted it onto an embossed background.

The Sizzix die cut frame compliments it well  I think, and is just the right size to go around the car.




The backgrounds are embossed with different Sizzix embossing folders, to give some texture.

All the products used were purchased at The Craft Barn.

See you soon.
Carole




Friday, 21 February 2014

Gorgeous new stamps

Hello

Thank you for visiting.


I was very excited recently, as I received my delivery from Chocolate Baroque and couldn't wait to use the new stamps I had ordered.
 
 I bought a flower border set and two baroque hearts which I have been wanting for a while .


I immediately stuck the rubber stamps onto the cling mount and got the clear stamps ready to try them out.

                                           Oh boy!!! Are they gorgeous!!

 
 
I have stamped the hearts onto Artcuts laser cut heart shapes.

The poppy baroque and fushia baroque are such beautiful  images and work perfectly on the hearts, giving lovely bold designs.
 


You will be able to see the samples for real if you are able to come along to the Farnborough craft show at the end of February.

                             Artcuts will be there with a demo table this time.
                                             Look forward to seeing you.
 Please mention that you saw the samples on my blog if you come to see us.



The border stamps are great for making base cards to display the stamped hearts, as you can see above.


I just love the Chocolate Baroque designs and they work so beautifully on the heart shapes.

Hope you have enjoyed looking.
Carole 








Saturday, 8 February 2014

100th Birthday card




A century old!!  Wow!!


We had a very special event in the family this week, as we celebrated my mother-in-laws  100th birthday.

I pondered for ages as to what type of card I would make, but decided I liked the format of one I posted previously, which I did as a wedding card.




                            I have used:
       Spellbinders - background die
                         Heartfelt Creations - Stamps and die cuts
  Artcuts - lazer cut butterfly
Distress inkpad - Peacock 
 
 
 

The etched heart above is from Artcuts and I have lightly inked around the edge.The family all signed their names on the back as a memento of the day.



Unfortunately my mother-in-law managed to fall at home, the day before her birthday, and broke her hip, so she spent her special day in hospital. Having had an operation the day before she was a bit "spaced out" and we are not sure whether she really recognized some of us.  She looked surprisingly well all things considered.
Ten members of the family all piled down the hospital and as she was in a room on her own, the ward let us all go in together and we had a little party with cake and tea. All the cards were opened, but pride of place, of course,  was the card from the queen, which she showed everyone who passed.

The staff were great and made her balloons and a special birthday hat and bought cup cakes for her.
She got lots of attention from everyone which she liked, of course.

Not the ideal way to spend your 100th birthday and she was most annoyed that her party had to be cancelled, but we shall have that celebration when she gets out of hospital.


Thank you for visiting my blog.
 
Bye for now
Carole








Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Metal embossed card

Hello again.


As promised, I have posted another metal embossed card that I sent to a friend this week.



The flower was stamped onto a light coloured metal , embossed and then coloured with a rose pink metallic paint.
 
Sorry,
can't remember the make of the stamp as I stamped it a while back and had it sitting in my "bits" box. It is a lovely open design which is very suitable for embossing.




This card was also a gift , to a friend of my mum, who is as obsessed by owls as I am!!

 


It has been cut out of metal using a Tattered lace die. I mounted this onto a piece of black felt and cut around it, then attached a brooch pin onto the back.
I think this owl is a very pretty shape. Must get around to making one of these for myself!! The embossing folder is from Sizzix. It is a very useful frame.

                  Hope you have enjoyed looking, and please visit again.

                                                             Carole

Monday, 20 January 2014

Metal embossing

Hello

Just a quick post today, as I haven't done one recently!!

I have been inspired, at the start of a new year, to create some projects with metal.
It is a product I love to use, but haven't actually done much with it recently.


The sample below uses metal tape and is useful when working with delicate stamps.
It can be stuck onto a piece of card then stamped onto with Staz-On ink. The ink needs to be dry before the design is traced over with an acrylic embossing tool. This gives a delicate embossed look.

This is a Hobby Art stamp
 
The metal tape can also be stuck over die cut shapes and then worked with the metal tools. Some interesting designs can be created this way, particularly for book covers.
 
 
Some more metal embossed cards to follow.
Bye for now.
Carole