and now for something completely different.....

Different indeed. I may have mentioned that Beloved Hubby is teaching himself to play guitar, with Rocksmith.
 Bass guitar, at the moment, and so the guitar collection is building up. The constant tuning and retuning for different songs goes through guitar strings like crazy- now we know why you see so many guitars on stage at a concert! Its better to have a guitar for each set-up, than to keep retuning. So this is the first two,one a bass which is heavy on the shoulder, after a couple of hours, and the other is a lead. So he bought himself another, lighter one. New to him,but a pre-loved guitar.


















This is it, in need of a bit of TLC. It also has a badge missing, from the headstock, and thats where this post comes into it.
Hubby said' those raised shiny things you make,could you make a badge for that space?'
 Good job I can follow his train of thought, what he wanted was a triple embossed piece for it.
 Black, maybe with some blue speckles, and a skull was the brief.

 So I started by tracing the shape for dimensions, and had to cut it by hand from some thick card. I was hoping Nesties might work for it, but the oval shape was wrong. Thats the thing with ovals-  a square is a square, a circle a circle. But ovals? Long ovals, thin or wide ovals- too much range! So, DI in Black Soot onto the base card- then the question, did he want a flat black, or a glittery one? Up to you came back the oh-so -helpful reply. I was about to use a glittery black EP on it, when a thought struck me. It might be too glittery, and make the image hard to see.  Then I spotted some Crafters Companion Iridescent Glitter spray on the shelf, so I gave it a blast with that.
Doesn't show too well, but it gives it enough sparkle without being overwhelming.  Let that dry then patted it onto a clear embossing pad.
Three layers of UTEE, and  into the top layer I sprinkled a little Blue Glass Ep, then it was ready for the stamp. This had me a bit worried at first, as I know I have a few skull stamps (who, me?) but didn't think I had one small enough when he suggested it. Visible Image stamps to the rescue! A recent set I bought, Max Rocks, has the perfect sized skull in the set.










I used Silver Encore Pigment ink on it, to contrast the black.

 And this is the finished piece- worked out quite well in the end.










Here it is in place in the guitar:

First batch of Christmas cards finished.

I started these a few weeks ago, and finally got them finished today. well, almost, I just have to stamp a greeting inside them.

The stamp is by Penny Black, called Adornment. I stamped it in Silver Encore pigment ink, and heat embossed with Stampendous 'Stardust' embossing powder, after trying out a few others.
 The Merry Christmas sentiment was done in the same way.
 After cutting out the squares with the image on, the corners were rounded with a Corner Chomper.
 I have the one that cuts in 1/4" and 1/2"




 I used the 1/4" side for the main image, then later used the 1/2" side to round the top corner of the cards. It does a lovely job, and much more tidily than the other corner punches I've had over the years.Doesn't need any real effort to punch either, certainly less than a normal punch.I matted the image onto silver card and rounded the corners again. I used a mix of 2mm and 3mm acrylic gems, added with Pinflair glue gel.

 When I came to mount the image, I thought the base card just TOO plain, so browsed my box of embossing folders. I have a couple with snowflakes etc on, but they seemed too busy. Then I came across this recent purchase, called 'Tied Together', by Couture Creations.








 What I really liked about this folder was that the back part is slightly narrower than the front, which makes it easy to emboss the front of a card, right up to the fold. So I embossed all the card fronts, then rounded the corners.



 

The image is mounted with DST, and the sentiment with a couple of blobs of silicone glue.



The main image mounted on the card front, waiting for the sentiment & ribbon.

By the way, I used up all the scrap pieces of card from cutting out my images to stamp the sentiments onto, then trimmed them down and matted onto silver again.





Ribbon now in place, waiting for the glue to dry. Some are silver, some have a splash of red. OK, I admit it, I ran out of silver ribbon, lol.


Supplies:
Stamp, Penny Black Adornment
Silver Encore Pigment ink
Stampendous Stardust embossing powder
Acrylic gems, e-bay
Tied Together Embossing folder
White pearl card base
Red/silver narrow ribbon
Sentiment stamp
Corner chomper/rounder punch

Mystic Moon(light)

  Here is the second of my DT pieces for Craft a Scene's March challenge, Moonlight.
It uses a couple of Stampscapes stamps, and a couple from Non Sequiteur.
The background is also a little different this time, created using oil pastels. If you go to this page, you will find instructions on how I did this. Its a really simple technique, but can produce some interesting results. The important thing is that you will have to stamp in Staz-on, or it will wipe off, Versafine will work, but you need to spray with a sealant to make it permanent, I use cheap hairspray.
I created the background on white pearl card, an A5 piece,leaving a white area where I was going to place the moon. The oil pastels I used were a mix of blues with a little black for the night sky, browns in the centre for the mountains, another layer of blue where the lake would be, then greens for the foreground.
     Another bonus with the oil pastels is that when you have your images stamped, if areas are too dark, or just to make  areas of light & shade, you can remove some colour using tissue/kitchen paper/cotton buds.I did this in the water area to simulate the reflected moon.
The first image I stamped was the mountains, Rocky Peaks,188F, roughly in the middle of the background. Next I added the Cloud with Crescent Moon Lge, 202G, placing the moon in the white area. A Stamp Positioner helps here.

72C, Mystic Dreams

At the base of the Rocky Peaks I stamped Lakeside Cove Lge, 049G. To finish the scene, I used a stamp of Standing Stones, from Non Sequiteur plate 72C, Mystic Dreams. These stamps are now available from De Stempelwinkel. You can see the full range of images here, at Non Sequiteur,. They have some fabulous stamps, images you won't find anywhere else, all u/m.
 Finally, some white gel pen was added to give highlighted areas. I trimmed the image down, then matted onto black, then silver card. Before mounting onto the front of a Black base card, I stamped the words MYSTIC MOON, also from the Mystic Dreams plate, in Silver Encore pigment ink, added Silver Detail embossing powder, and Heat embossed. Then I mounted the image above it.
 So, to recap what you will need:

Stampscapes stamps

 188F, Rocky Peaks
202G Cloud with Crescent  Moon
049G Lakeside Cove

Non Sequiteur stamps
72C Mystic Dreams

Oil Pastels
White pearl card
Black card
Silver card
Black Staz-on
White gel pen
Silver pigment inkpad
Silver Detail embossing powder
Heat gun

85th Birthday

The lady who ordered the Ruby Anniversary card, also wanted a card for her Mothers 85th Birthday, and again I went with an easel design. The base and face of the easel were covered in a rose print paper, and both edged with a silver peeloff border and corners. as the lady seems to be wearing a pale lilac and silver dress, I went with these colours for the card. I cut silver & lilac paper with a deckle edge blade on three sides, then punched a fancy border on the last side. These were layered up, then the photo matted on top. I wrapped White & lilac ribbon around the front and tied in a bow before I mounted it onto the easel. A triple embossed heart in White & silver finished the front. The base uses Nesties Petite scalloped rectangles, again in Silver & lilac with white/lilac roses (Craft Creations) in the corners.The word MOM was cut out with a Quickutz squeeze and Alphabet die. Its been a very long time since I last used that- I'm not even sure if they are still making them! I bought it very early in my crafting, to add names, ages etc to cards, then got annoyed at not having any real choice in size of letters, and that I would constantly have to buy new Alpha sets if I wanted a different style, and still not have much of a size range. So I ended up buying a Silhouette digital cutter- I found them on a really good promotion, loved the fact that I could cut any font on my PC, in any size I wanted. I have had it now for about 7 years, and I have to say it was the best money ever spent, when you consider the cost of Alphabet sets/shape dies for manual machines.

Engagement Congratulations

           I can post this now, its been given out.
The base card is a DL size, and is embossed with straight lines.
 I cut out two hearts from thick card, which works as well as chipboard for this.I inked each one using clear embossing ink and White Pearls embossing powder from Stamp'n'Stuff for the first layer. Then I added two more layers of clear UTEE. I used a swirl stamp-Scroll Pattern,2636K- from Penny Black, inked with Silver Pigment ink, to stamp into the last layer while it was still wet.
 The same stamp & ink was used to stamp onto a scrap of white pearl paper, and this was heat embossed too. I trimmed it down to a square with a deckle edge blade, then cut a slightly larger square of silver card to mat it onto. I mounted this to the top of the card and the hearts were added on top with silicone glue. A strip of the white pearl paper was punched with a Fiskars Hearts border punch for the bottom, and stamped the Congratulations phrase,which is a Whispers Words stamp from Do-crafts, in silver & heat embossed. I added the dots before the word with an Embossing pen, and heat embossed them in silver too. Finally tied a length of silver eyelash wool around the spine. This design could be easily adapted for Weddings, anniversaries etc. I think I may do a few more in different colour combos, as they are quite quick & easy to do- the longest bit is the triple embossing!

More Christmas cards

 These are cards ordered by a work colleague for Christmas, this first one will be for his wife.The backing paper is from Craft Creations, and the Rubber stamp is from Elusive Images,Mistletoe Script .Stamped first onto a silvery blue card, then onto inkjet film with Stazon Black, then glittered. I cut out the glittered image and mounted on top of the stamped image with silicone glue. The heart is made with triple embossing, as I did on my Anniversary card.

 This card is for his son, and teen boys are not easy to make for!This image was stamped on inkjet film with Black stazon again and glittered. I trimmed it square and mounted onto a piece of holographic card with brads.It doesn't show well scanned, but the colours change on the background, almost like reflections of the candle flame. This stamp was from The Stamp Man, unfortunately I think it is retired now. I have scanned the image with white paper behind it so you can see the wording.

Add caption

This one is for his daughter, who is much younger, again stamped on inkjet film and mounted onto holographic card with silicone glue behind the glitter. This backing paper is also from Craft Creations, and I used a scoring board from The Glitter Girls for the 3 squares, and snowflake table confetti in pairs, one silver & one holograhic, joined with a brad The snowman stamp is by Funstamps, Scribble Snowman, F-M131..

Christmas 2010

These are the cards I have been working on lately. My mass produced batch for friends, workmates & my Beloved Husbands forum friends.The Stamp used is Santa Collage, by Rubber Stampede,3408F, and the vellums were stamped with a large u/m snowflakes stamp,origin unknown, sorry.It was stamped in clear embossing ink then embossed with Stampendous 'Stardust' powder.I used a mix of inks to stamp with: Encore silver, gold & metallic blue and Distress Cracked Sapphire, Aged Mahogany and Forest Moss.Each image was matted onto a matching foil paper, then onto white card embossed with the Snowflake Cuttlebug folder, then onto foil paper again. A matching narrow ribbon was wrapped around this, then a bow added.The sentiment was stamped in matching colours and matted onto foil.  All elements were stuck down with silicone glue, due to the glittery vellum. Normal tabs don't always hold very well on this surface, but silicone glue will.

  I trimmed the card front with a fancy edged blade, then stuck a matching strip of foil onto the rear of the card with DST.       

                     The insert is from a CD, called Thomas Kinkade, from Joanna Sheen  

 

                                                                                    

       I will be posting some pictures on how to batch-produce cards on my Tips & Techniques page during the Christmas break.     

Triple embossed birds

The 4 Birds stamp from Crafty Individuals stamped onto an oil pastel background then trimmed down. Mounted onto thick card and dabbed with a clear embossing pad then triple embossed. Dark blue card used in landscape format and a strip of dark blue angel hair paper stuck across the middle, with a slightly narrower strip of embroidered handmade paper placed across this. The bird squares are mounted with silicone glue. 3 Square brads added to the top left corner, and sentiment ( Stick & Stamp magnetic stamps, Rubbadubbado) stamped in silver in lower right.
By the way, if you stamp onto an oil pastel background, either use Staz-on ink, or spray with sealer (or hairspray) to prevent the image being smudged.

Its nearly THAT time again!

So, its heading towards December, and yet again I am saying I shall not be making last minute cards in the week before Christmas. Hmmm, we shall see. These are the cards I made last year for friends, colleagues et al. This uses a brass stencil of baubles (Ling Studios BS162) with Gold or Silver embossing paste. I then sprinkled a little glitter over the wet paste and put aside to dry. The base card was covered with Christmas vellum, and the red panel is stamped using Inca stamp 1023-K Merry Christmas background.The Merry Christmas is from a Hero Arts set called Holiday Messages, which I think is discontinued, as I couldn't find them to link to. The message was cut out using a Nestabilities die and gold or silver ink run around the edges then matted onto more red card and fixed in place with a glue dot. The bauble image was trimmed and matted onto gold or black card and attached with foam pads. By the way, the stencil is actually longer than this, it has 10 baubles on it, but this would have been too long for my card base, so I masked off the bottom two with low-tack tape before stencilling.
 A tip for using stencil paste with brass stencils: It is very easy to bend brass stencils while cleaning them, so try to work with your stencil flat on your work space to clean them, rather than dropping into a bowl to scrub. Have some baby wipes flat on your work surface, and each time you use the stencil, lay it on the baby wipe and fold the wipe over it. This stops the paste drying. Then use another wipe to rub over your stencil ( both sides) to remove any paste before stencilling again. This stencil has some very fine lines so you may want to have a toothbrush handy to make sure there is no paste left in them. Then lay on a towel and again rub over it flat on your table to dry.

Wedding Card in Black & White

Base card is A4 sheet from PDA Card & Paper, cut, scored & folded.
The u/m Celtic Horseshoe stamp I bought a long time ago, but I think its discontinued now, as I haven't been able to find it anywhere