WOYWW #482

Yep, there you go. No warning, just hitting you with a messy desk shot. Mind you, you ought to see the table behind me, lol. WOYWW is here again, so leave your link over at Julias, The Stamping Ground, and you too can visit desks like this. 😀







 I decided that using up some UFO's today was in order, so hauled out an envelope full of these:

A whole bundle of Mixed Media Die cuts, that were going to make some fast cards.


Pretty much only needing trimming to size, and then a sentiment adding.

9 cards so far, and quite a few more partly done.

I do love these dies, they are great for using for any type of card, so even a last minute card can look really fab.



A wedding card made from one of these is in the post a couple back, and Morts birthday card and it's jazzed up interior is just below this one.

Had a very productive Sunday, as inspiration struck for some ATC's for the crop, and I got them all made the same day. Go me!

Sunday also involved a visit to Tesco, where I saw these 'Cosmic Colour' Sharpies, for a couple of quid, in the Back to School promotion.




Sent of for our tickets to the Happy Stampers Festival on October 6th. I've put the link there for anyone curious. It's held at Port Sunlight,and is a great show that's all Papercrafting. There is a list of those taking part on the link, as well as the address to buy tickets, which have to be bought in advance, there are no on the door sales. But the really fab thing is that the tickets cost £2.50, and the parking is free, either in the adjoining, but quite small, car park, or the surrounding roads. It's a really nice show, and there are always a few WOYWers there.
 Less than two weeks now to the crop, and I have been putting quite a lot of crafting books and other stuff into a box , ready to go looking for a new home.
 I'll be bringing my dies, as usual, probably my embossing folders, and my Cuttlebug. I expect someone will have a Big Shot about their person as well. So bring your cardstock- I'll also bring my envelopes of off cuts to be used up.
 We've booked into the Travelodge in Llandudno town for Friday night & Saturday night, then travel home on Sunday.
 Well, I think I'm done, that only leaves
 And Finally..................................

18th card with a Silhouette cut

 Apologies straight away for a slightly blurry pic! I didn't look at the photos before it was signed and sealed, and the glitter embedded in the cardstock seems to have confused the camera a little.

The main panel was cut with my Silhouette Portrait 2, using a file I downloaded from a forum called UKScrappers. It's a free to join forum, where you can always get help & advice about using your machine, and once you have been a member for a month, you have access- for personal use only- to the cutting files uploaded by members.
The front panel was cut from some glitter card. It's not totally glittered, just lightly sprinkled into the background card, then this was matted onto silver glitter card, then another piece of the same black glitter card as the panel. All mounted onto a 7" square card blank.
 The 18 key added at the bottom is one of the plastic ones you can buy to decorate cakes with, but are great as an embellishment on cards. I found them in gold and silver colours, and there are ones for 21, weddings congrats etc.
 For the insert, I jazzed that up a little.

The numbers are from a set by Dovecraft, and this exact set isn't available now, but an almost identical one is. They've just changed the font slightly. I also cut the numbers from a post-it mask, so I could overstamp.

To do the overstamping, I used two sets, this one from Visible Image, called Rays of light.  This is one of the original packaging, it's still available in the new range, but comes with more stamps now.

This is one of the 3 Stampin Up stamps I own, lol. No idea if it's still available though. It's called 'It's a Celebration.'







For the numbers and greeting, I used Versafine Clair Nocturne.

I masked off the numbers, then overstamped with the 'firework' stamps using Metallic Blue & Purple inks from Encore, then heat setting with Crystal Embossing Powder.

 When I stamped the sentiment, I realised the stamp was badly made and the 'Happy' part of the sentiment was not straight! I resorted to a scalpel to separate the two parts of the sentiment, and cut a new sheet for the card.
 As I have other Happy Birthday stamps that are 2 parters, I'm not unhappy to have another that I can mix and match size/fonts etc.

 A bit of surgery, and I had an acceptable impression.





The top image is after I split them, the bottom one is the wonky before image.

I gave this side the same treatment with the firework stamps, just remembering in time to leave room to write in it!






Not sure if you can see here, but I've trimmed the 3 outer edges with a deckle blade on my trimmer, leaving the fold edge flat.

Which I suddenly realised was a mistake, as it's a top fold card, so a retrim was in order!







And that's my finished card, received now by the Birthday Guy, our Grandson Mortimer. That's also the last of the Leo birthdays for this year, as his falls on the 23rd of August, Leos final day.

A Mixed Media die Wedding Card

I didn't actually take a huge number of pictures for this make, mainly as I had a whole envelope full of various Mixed Media die cuts waiting for the right card to be made with them.
 The Mixed Media die is the Flourish one, MM set #2, from Tim Holtz/Sizzix.

The card base is a sheet of Pearl White, scored & folded in half.
 I'd cut the die from a slightly less than A5 size pearl card, and I trimmed it further to give me some space for some embossed details on the card front.

After I'd trimmed it down, I used a piece of cardstock I'd coloured with oil pastels in Pinks, blues & purples, and fixed that behind the die cut area.
 On the inside of the card, I marked where the panel would go, and then scored two lines either side of that with a scoreboard & stylus tool.
 To add a little more interest, I used a different scoreboard to make the chevron pattern above & below the score lines.
 For this I used a board that has diagonal score lines on it.

The bottom board is a Martha Stewart one, and the dark brown one with the diagonal lines is an 'add on' board,from Stampin Up. I believe it was being retired when I bought it, as it was reduced. Hard to see in the pic, but the score lines in fact match up perfectly with the lines and markings on the MS board.



I stamped the sentiment, from a Phill Martin set called Baroque Sentiments 2, in silver Encore pigment ink, and heat embossed using Silver detail powder. Final addition was three silk flowers, in colours to match the background paper. The Mixed Media dies are so useful for making fast, but good looking cards for any occasion, and have been a good investment.

WOYWW #481

And so here we are, another week closer to the crop, which is now less than 3 weeks away. I've been looking for stuff that needs a new home, and whilst doing that, ended up completely resorting my stamp folders! Not entirely sure how I got there, possibly worked better as a spur of the moment thing, if I'd thought about it first, I don't think I'd have started, lol.
I did have a considerable number of them sorted into folders by manufacturer, but was starting to realise that meant I forgot entirely about some stamps. Like, I had leaves and trees as a subject in one folder, but equally had a lot of both stamps in folders by manufacturer, so if I was looking for a tree, they'd get missed. So now, apart from Tim, who is now up to 3 folders(!),  Lavinia stamps and Stampscapes, they are all stored by theme. 27 folders of stamps, and 4 folders of Christmas stamps. I have about 30 wood mounted stamps, all fairly large, so they've not been unmounted. Then there's an A4 Really Useful Box of Visible Image stamps, and a smaller box of Card-io/Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps.  At least now, when I've moved those odd items from that end cube, I have 2 new storage spaces!

Hubby contributed to the stamp collection again, with these from Whimsy stamps.  I'm not normally a 'cute' person, but the bunny upside down in one of the stockings, and cute penguins are a winner. Above is a storage box for blending tools for me to decorate and assemble, and it has a couple of drawers for spare foams etc.

Stamping an insert for our Grandsons birthday card, and it was clear that this stamp wasn't straight. The Happy part is definitely at an angle to Birthday. So, out came the scalpel, I split the two words, and now I can stamp it straight, as well as switch the individual parts with other Birthday stamps.

Bottom was the original stamp, the top one after surgery! The stamp was by Dovecraft, so only cost a couple of quid at most, and it was an easy fix, but really, what ever happened to quality control? I remember once having to throw a wood mounted rubber stamp from a set by Whispers, because they had spelt- in capital letters- Congratulations as 'ConGARTulations.'



Onwards then.

This is Morts card, cut with the Silhouette again. Sorry if it looks a bit blurry, I think the glitter in the cardstock has confused the camera a bit.  I'd already written it and sealed the envelope when I looked at this pic.

I'll blog the card, and the insert,which I jazzed up a bit, later in the week.

Some  Freebie stamps I picked up, with Creative Stamping magazine.





One last thing. You all remember this monstrosity from a couple of weeks ago. Well, one of my commenters, Jackie, Suggested colouring it with Alcohol inks. Brilliant.
 

 
Came out a little bit streaky, but at least now I can look at it without cringing.😉







Oh, almost forgot. Had a follow up with my Oncologist on Monday, after the CT scan. Seems the nodule is still shrinking, so all is good. So the radiotherapy I had, which is called SABRE, or Cyberknife, is still working a year later.

And finally................................

  





Remember to leave your link over at Julias, The Stamping Ground, and we'll all do our best to come visit.
Last thing, are we doing ATC's for the crop, does anyone know?

WOYWW #480

Good Morning folks, hope you are having a good day today.  Our local craft store, Amelias, had a sale day on Saturday, so of course it would have been rude not to visit.😀
 Snagged a few bargains- I love the Impression Obsession Cover a card stamps, and got a fab snowflake one, along with a Crafters Companion Birthday sentiment one, and a couple of House Mouse Christmas ones.






Not that I need any paper pads, but the Christmas 6x6 one was only a couple of quid.
Some Yupo paper which I've been meaning to try out with alcohol inks for a while, and a great set of TH Snowflake dies.

And then of course, Doug spotted some stamps he really liked! The Crow one got my vote too, as well as the Parrot in the set on the far right. Poor thing looks like he's missing a few feathers, lol. So feather stamps went in the basket too. I also picked up another Encore Metallic pad in a colour called Honeydew, and a Brusho colour that wasn't in the sets I bought, called Sunburst Yellow.

I finally got around to doing all the inserts for those Christmas cards on last weeks desk,the big Snowflake stamp is from Chloe.

The sentiment is an Inkylicious stamp.

Used it across the inside of the inserts, and on others I used a Santa & Sleigh stamp from a  Visible Image set.

This sentiment is from a Phill Martin set, called Snowflake Borders.













Hubbys birthday card, as yesterday was our birthday.

 Stamps from Visible Image.
















And a 40th card for my daughter, who's birthday is on Friday.
The card front was cut out with the Silhouette.


And that's pretty much me done, I think.
All that remains is for me to add my link over at Julias place, The Stamping Ground.

And finally..............................

WOYWW #479

There has been crafting done, lol. Post below has Triple stamped Christmas cards in, and the one below that has a couple of cards for the Christmas Club challenge, Winter activities.

One thing I like about triple stamped cards is that it provides a use for a lot of the smaller stamps that sets always contain, and then often never see ink.

Currently on my desk is a mountain of cards that need inserts stamping and adding, along with envelopes. I keep telling myself I should do all this at the time I make the card, but rarely do. So that's a work in progress.
They've all been cut to size, so just need to get stamping now.

 Bought myself an ATG gun. I use a lot of those Stix2 tape runners, especially for adding inserts, and sort of realised I can buy a refill for one of these, which costs about the same as a tape runner, but is way longer. My only complaint? It's PINK!!!!
 It would have been nice if there was another colour choice, any colour would be better than this, but they only do this particular size in this, so I'm stuck with it. Can you guess it's my least favourite colour?😡


Realised it's only 5 weeks till the crop, so I'm also getting stuff sorted out that needs a new home. As a heads up, I'll be bringing my dies as usual, so pack your cardstock.😊 All the details are available on Julias blog, if you've not done one before, do just jump in at the deep end and come say hello.

 I have cards to get down to over the next few days- Beloved Hubbys, as it's our birthdays next week, and my daughter is 40 on the 17th. In fact, from this Sunday on, for 9 days, there are two family birthdays every day- we have a real pride of Lions here.
 Limping a little today. Managed to twist my ankle on the stairs this morning. Fortunately, I only slipped a couple of steps, but have a twisted left ankle, and a bruise on the back of my right thigh where it rubbed on the stair. Only me, rofl!

And finally..........( I think I may already have achieved this though!)


So that's me for another week, I'll be seeing you all over at Julias place, The Stamping Ground, for this weeks desk fest.

Holly, Mistletoe & Snowflake Triple stamped Christmas cards.

Right then, the last of my recent run of Triple Stamped cards,and I used the technique to create myself a dozen Christmas cards. Despite what it may seem, this is actually a good way of batch making cards that appear a little more work than they really are.


The Snowflake one is the card made in the You Tube video.


Just so you know, this is quite a photo heavy post, lol.

First part was cutting all the layers, and choosing stamps.
 I'll put the measurements used at the end of the post.

The first stamps I chose came from Chocolate Baroque sets,  Holly Script & Mistletoe Script sets, both still available.

To the Holly, I added a couple of Card-io stamps, from a set called Festive Fircones, and also from a Rubber Stamp Tapestry peg stamp set called Cardinal in Holly.

I used Versafine Clair in Rain Forest for the stamping.






Before stamping the image stamps, I stamped and heat embossed in Gold detail powder, a sentiment on each one. I used 4 different sentiments.

The top two are from Hobby Art, the set is called Winter Wishes.
 Bottom left is a very old stamp from Denami, which used to be wood mounted. Bottom right is from a Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous set called Scribbled Woodland.

My four pieces, all stamped and ready for matting. Word of advice, separate and layer each set individually. If you mix them up it will take forever to sort them out again into the correct order!
 I used a dark green cardstock for the matt layers for these.

 All layered up, and the one has a piece of ribbon over one corner. It actually makes a nice way to add something a little extra, but was really there to cover a bit of the stamping that blurred a little!

I added some red acrylic jewels to the Holly berries, but if you want to keep them as flat as possible for posting, you could colour them with markers, or use Stickles or Pearls for this.

Next we move on to the Mistletoe ones, I used the same sentiments, this time in Silver ink and Detail Powder.

The stamping was done using Versafine Spanish Moss.
 I didn't have any cardstock in  a similar colour for the matts, so used some white pearl cardstock that I coloured the edges of with the Versafine to match.
 It seemed like a good idea at the time! But I don't recommend using Versafine on Pearl cardstock.

It seems to take forever to dry, even with heat setting.

I'd inked the edges, and left overnight. It was a good 15-18 hours before I got back to them, but it was still wet. So I heat set, but that only improved it slightly.















I had originally tried Promarkers, but even though the colour was great, I couldn't get one even coat all the way round, and any overlaps left a darker area.



The Versafine did give me a problem with inky smudges, so i took to wiping my fingers with a baby wipe every time I handled one. Even though I couldn't see any ink on my fingers, there clearly was!

However, I did have a fix for getting rid of the smudges.

A while ago I mentioned Tombow Mono Sand erasers, as being recommended for removing stray specks of embossing powder that had been heat set. Which it works extremely well for, I might add. I've discovered it's also very good at removing ink.

Hopefully you can see the ink smudges on the bottom layer.

 Here is what it looks like after I've used the eraser on it.






So that eraser is a really useful bit of kit to have in your arsenal. Available HERE on Amazon.

The 'open' Mistletoe is the Chocolate Baroque one, the 'closed' one is from Card-io, a set called Christmas Greenery.

I've added two sizes of half pearls for the Mistletoe berries on these.

Final set of cards uses a selection of Snowflake stamps, mainly from a Clarity set called Snowflakes, with the addition of some random tiny snowflake stamps to fill gaps.

Still using the same sentiments, and again silver heat embossed.
The snowflakes were stamped using Versafine Majestic Blue, and I added some WOW! Embossing powder in Arctic Blue, which just gives the snowflakes a little sparkle.

 The Snowflake embellishment is a box of wooden snowflake embellishments from Kaisercraft, picked up at my local craft store. They were coated in Oxide  Broken China, then clear embossing ink. Sprinkled with the Arctic Blue EP and heat set. I then added another layer of clear embossing ink, and a layer of clear UTEE, then finally another layer of the Arctic blue while the UTEE was still hot. You could replace the UTEE with a clear powder, just maybe using two coats. Don't do too many layers though, or you will lose the detail.
 I stuck them to the front with a little Glossy Accents.



To keep them flat, you could either skip the embellishment, or die cut a snowflake or two from glitter card/paper.

The measurements for these cards are as follows: the card base is 4⅛x 5⅞. This was created by cutting an A4 sheet of card in half lengthways, which then gives you a 'landscape' card base, 2 from each sheet of card. The card base itself is the first matt layer.








So, your matt layers need to be:
 4⅛ x 5⅞ ( card base)
 3⅛ x 4⅞, and
 2⅛ x 3⅞.
 Your stamping layers are:
 3⅞ x 5⅝
 2⅞ x 4⅝ and
 1⅞ x 3⅝.
 It is better to use a thinner cardstock for your stamping layers than for the matt layers.