Retiform Technique Cards

 I came across this technique on You Tube, and there were some really cool cards made with it. I ended up with 4 cards from it, I did make 5 backgrounds, but completely stuffed up the stamping on the first one!




It's very simple, you just need Post-its, dye inks and applicators, and a selection of stamps of a suitable size, and if definitely works best if you have a theme, as this unifies the whole piece.

 The idea is that you mask off a section using Post-its, then sponge ink into that section. Then you move the Post-it to cover the inked section and add another Post-it or two to create another section, and repeat the sponging. You carry on this way until you've created sections all down your cardstock.
 It works best if you vary the size and shape of your sections too, along with the depth of colour sponged on.

For the first one I used Card-io/Majestix stamps, which are great as they are the right sort of size to fill the spaces.. You can of course use partial images, which I've done with the others, and would also be a great way of making use of the smaller 'filler' stamps that are in many sets.
The sets used here are:
Greenery 1, Backyard Blooms( Spider web & spider, and some of the greenery), Pottery petites( the small flowers on the Wheelbarrow),Oriental Whispers( Branch Bottom Right),Perfect Patch( Wheelbarrow & Wellies),Seasonal Rose,Pleasant pastures( Toadstools), Dragonfly Garden, and Feathered Friends for the birds. The blank space has been left for a quote/ sentiment.
I used DI  Old Paper, and an assortment of Versafine inks for the stamping.

I went with a sea/boat theme for the blue one.
Some of these stamps came from a sheet bought from the USA many years ago, and I cannot remember where I got it. Others were 'bargain bin' stamps bought at a stamp show. I believe the quote was a magazine freebie again a few years ago.
 The ink was Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress ink, the stamping done with Archival Cobalt.

 I used Wilted Violet Distress Oxide for the sponging on this one, and Versafine Majestic Purple for the stamping.
 The stamps are: Visible Image, 'Music Speaks, Smiley Faces and Music on World off.
The 'Rock Star',Skull Border, Drum Kit,Winged Skull and Guitar lower right are from an Inkadinkado set called 'You Rock'.
Guitar top right is from a company called Dimension, who I think are no longer trading.
The angel & guitar is from a magazine freebie sheet, as were the music notes.


All 3 of these would make good masculine cards, I think, indeed the technique itself works well for them.

Final one used Distress Oxide Wild Honey for the sponging.
 There are two stamp sets used, the stylised cats are a set from a company called Inkwell Stamps, a UK company, as is the sentiment.
 The other cats, as well as the Fish bowl, wool ball, paw prints and mouse come from a  Hobby Art set called Catz. They were stamped in Versafine Vintage Sepia.

The four finished pieces.

All four were matted and layered with toning cardstock, then mounted onto card bases- 5x7- also in coloured cardstock.

The quote on the garden one is from a Tim Holtz clear stamp set, and is smaller than the rubber version.
 Not adding sentiments to the other 2, that way I have more latitude when I come to use them.
 The blue and the brown ones would be suitable for a Retirement card, as well as a Birthday, for instance.

WOYWW #362

I'm Back!!!!! Yes, after a week on the high seas, minus internet & phone access to anywhere, other than when in a port and settled down in a bar somewhere, lol. There was wi-fi available on the ship,but at an eye watering £56 a week! This was our home for a week, and it was a very nice ship. We had a good holiday, saw some interesting places, but I don't think we'll be doing it again, apart from maybe a Northern Lights cruise. Not really our type of holiday, in the end. But it was a good experience, lovely crew and very nice fellow cruisers.Oh, and we got an invite to dine at the Captains table one night, which was fun. We arrived home last Tuesday, the  3rd of May.The weather has been extremely warm ever since we came back, I think we may have just snagged the sunshine and towed it back with us. Unpacking and washing, as you do for the next couple of days, then re-packing an overnight case for our trip up to Port Sunlight for the Happy Stampers Festival. 
What can I say, but Wow! If you've never been, if you're a stamper, you really must. Fantastic show,almost all stamping related, and I came across some new companies I'd not  heard of.
















 
 We also got to meet our Neet,( Hickydorums) and Chris, (Pearshapedcrafting). I got to meet some other lovely crafters, friends of Neet- one of whom, Lyn, recognised our name from FB posts, lol. Neet brought me a lovely book, full of celtic designs she thought I'd like, and a smashing rubber stamp. Has a plain side, to stamp a background, and on the other side is a gorgeous rosebud.
The pic above was taken at our lunch break- about 1.00pm, we all stopped for a reviving drink, and some food.Much purchasing of stamps was done-now I just have to catalogue and store them all.

 Love these cats and dogs from Indigo Blu- and you may spot a bit of a cat/dog theme here.

Some Sweet Poppy stencils- a steampunk cat, and dog(!) amongst others.

Hobby Art stamps here, this time we have Cats & Owls, along with a scenic set.

Over to Cardio, and a selection of stamp sets here. Bunnies, some flowers, and a scarecrow set, with a really sweet little snail on it, in a few sizes. There's also an Oriental set, with a few sizes of Hummingbird on.
I also picked up a set with a number of fairies in small sizes in a variety of positions, and I think quite a lot of these stamps are a perfect size to mix and match with the Lavinia Stamps I have, which is always good.

Inkwell Stamps, I have seen before at the NEC, but not really had a good look at what they do. A set of stylized cats(!) grabbed Dougs attention, as well as the Pebble People stamps. A cute penguin and snowman Christmas stamp, along with a NOEL stamp in the sale.

A few from Crafty Individuals- The loose stamps were 5 for £3, a bargain. I think they are oddments from some of their larger sheet sets.

 I've heard of these Cover A Card stamps, but this was the first time I'd seen them. The Holly one, which was reduced in a sale, will be great for Christmas backgrounds, and the Spiders Web one I have loads of stamps it will go with.

A visit to Helen and Mark at Visible Image provided these stamps, and a nice chat.  I'd been chatting to Helen on FB when we were starting to drive up, and thanks to her info about the state of the M5 & M6, we stuck to back roads, and made good time.

A few from Lavinia stamps, I have a large version of the dancing fairies already.

These came from Stamps Away/Clevercut. I'm always on the lookout for sentiment stamps, trying to get a variety of sizes, and scripts.  Liked the handwriting font for these, and they are a bit larger than normal, without being too large.

This is a company I had never heard of before, Honey Doo Crafts. They have some amazing, beautiful stamps. If you don't know them, go have a look. They have a huge range of stamps, and loads of other crafting goodies.

  This one was a freebie, I think it was buy 4 large stamps, get a small one free.

 A few stencils from Glitzcraft, and some Scenescapes cards from Lavinia Stamps.


An awesome little Dinky stencil of Bats.






Then a handful of basics- some Stickles, some pearls, a new pot of Glamourdust, some Puffy Stuff- I thought it might make interesting snow texture- and some glue.






And the final purchase was some deckle edged 8x8 cards, and envelopes. 4 packs of 15 for a tenner.

 All in all, quite a haul there.So now all I have to do is pack it all away, and of course I need to get going with my ATC's for this years Birthday bash. Anyone who would like to swap, just leave me a comment, and if we haven't swapped before, drop me an e-mail with your snail mail in. That should keep me quiet for the rest of the week, lol.Hope you all have a smashing Wednesday, and I'm sending loads of love and healing thoughts to our much loved leader, Julia, as she has a nice break before her surgery.

WOYWW 232

Not enough days between Wednesdays- these weeks just fly past. Almost finished all my friends/work colleagues Christmas cards, I just have to stamp the inside sentiment. They're in the post below, by the way. Doing this up on Tuesday night to schedule, so my desk has some of my purchases from the NEC, where I did indeed meet up with Andrea, we had coffee and a chat.  Love meeting WOYWWers, so nice to speak in the flesh to our friends online. Completely forgot I had my camera in my bag, so no pics, sorry! Waffling away here, so pop over to our Head of Desks, Julia, at The Stamping Ground, and come see the desks of the world in all their glory.
 So what did I get?

Mainly stamps, what a surprise! A couple of Indigo Blu ones, a couple of Lavinia stamps, some Inkylicious, but my absolute favourites- a company called Visible Image were there. I've seen them lately in Craft Stamper, and they have some delicious Gothic stamps.




The set on the left in the picture below I fell in love with when I first saw it.
 

You can also see a Poinsettia die in the first picture, I  have the Spellbinders  Layered Poinsettia, which is fine for larger cards, but a bit overwhelming on smaller ones. This one makes a lovely sized small flower, (Nellie Snellen, btw).

This one came from Inkwell stamps, which will be great for simple Wedding cards, and the coolest thing is they also have a 'Mrs & Mrs', and a 'Mr & Mr' stamp for civil weddings.

Indigo Blu- you can see the Ella Bella stamp in the top picture, and this one I bought to use for family/friend cards this year. They had a gorgeous sample on display, which was what sold me on the stamp.

Apart from a few odds & ends- a set of square dies which had 14 squares in it, some tape,a couple of ink pads and a couple of embossing folders on sale,the only other thing I bought was some packs of pre cut & scored cards. I usually cut & score my own, but liked the scalloped shape on these, and cutting square cards from A4 limits the size somewhat, and they were reasonable, the largest, which fold to 6x6, were £4.99 for a pack of 50, with envelopes. And they'll be the perfect size for the bauble stamp.
I have to say that overall, I thought the Hobbycrafts show was not as good as previous years, although that does somewhat depend on your area of crafting. It seemed this year that well over half the show was beading or fabric retailers, this seems to go in cycles, I've noticed. Each year there is a heavy leaning to one particular craft. Last year it seemed every other stall was beads. I also noticed a number of regulars absent - Paper Artsy for one. Also missing were Crafters Companion, who I don't buy from very often, but they usually have a big stand, and some good bargains.And a lot of others had far smaller stalls than they usually do. So do have a lovely Wednesday, I'll be catching up with you later.
 Quick PS-For anyone with bent 'bug plates- a couple of posts down is a method to flatten out your warped Cuttlebug plates- I've done it and it does work.