Foil Art Cards

Today I have finished off colouring the flycatcher (based on Ben Kwok's template from Ornate Animal Illustrations on Facebook).

I coloured it with Inktense pencils, water and Sakura Clear Star Gelly Roll pen.

It's got some lovely sparkle!

Last night I decided to have a go at using foil tape to create ZIA. My first experiment is quite dark. I used black acrylic paint to accent the contours of the piece and the surface textures. The I used Sharpies for colour. It's the right general effect, but not quite there yet.

So this morning I had another go, and I'm much happier with the result.

It's quite hard to photograph these foil pieces to show off the sparkle and still keep the detail.So I  tried in a couple of different lights. I think that you will get the idea!

Thanks for looking,

Delia

Dragonfly

So here's my interpretation of Ben Kwok's template of a dragonfly, again from his page Ornate Animal Illustrations. I printed out the template full size onto a piece of A4 copier paper, and used a 0.05 Staedtler pigment liner, and shaded with HB pencil and a blending stump.

I'm happy with the result. I was anxious once I had finished the dragonfly not to lose it into the background, so decided to keep that very simple. My elder son suggested to treat it as though it was a brooch as the dragonfly looked jewelled, and so the pearl border was born!

Here it is when just the dragonfly was done...you can just see the pale blue of the template lines for the background.
I took a photo at this stage in case I ruined the whole piece with the background! Nothing like confidence in yourself...and that was nothing like!

So here's the finished piece. I might go back to it with colour....still considering that idea.

Thanks for looking,

Delia

Pyjama Party- Tying the Knot

I have been using another stamp set from Waltzing Mouse Stamps to create this card. I love the various knots in this set and felt that they should definitely be metallic and shiny...so out came the Versamark ink pad, gold and silver embossing powder and the heat gun. I wondered how the knots could be combined to emphasise the knotty idea. So I cut them out and played with them until I had a combination that was something like I imagined.

I finished it off with some adhesive gems, a scored border and backed onto matt gold card. The sentiment that I have used is also from the Tying the Knot set at WMS.

Why not pop and see the other cards at the WMS pyjama party?

Delia 

Today has been tangled too!

I started the day with ironing, then picking blackberries. After that I decided that the day was my own until dinner needed cooking- how very decadent of me!!

So I took out the template by Ben Kwok from the Ornate Animal Illustration page on Facebook. He was kind enough to give us the template free!

Here's what I did with it

It's a flycatcher. I used a 0.1mm Staedtler Liner.

I had such fun that I thought that I would try adding some colour.

Im not finished yet, but here's the work in progress. I am using Derwent Inktense Pencils and a waterbrush which makes the pencil colours come alive!

I'm looking forward to finishing him off tomorrow and trying the new template, a dragonfly.

Thanks for looking,

Delia

It's all gone a bit tangly here!!

I have to admit that I haven't made a card for few days, but that is often a good thing and I will come back to that with a fresh outlook soon!

What I have been doing is brushing up my zentangling skills!! Having joined a couple of groups on Facebook I'm almost compulsive at the moment. I expect things will change when I am back to school next week. Until then, Yay, for Zentangles! (Copyright)

A couple of posts ago I showed you my ABCD tangle for a challenge. Well I have since completed my EFGH tangle, which is a little rough, but gives the effect that I was looking for.

The tangle patterns used for those of you who like to name those things are: E-Eddy, F- Fescu and Finery, G- Gryst, H-Henna Drum. It's on a 4x4 inch tile, drawn with a 0.1 and 0.2 Staedtler fine liner, and shaded with HB pencil and blended with a stump.

I have also been  getting on with the Autumn ATCs for a Zentangle swop. ATCs are so tiny (2.5x3.5 inches) 64x 89mm, so it's very addictive and you can make several very quickly. Hers are my first few, I think that I need to make about 15 for the swop, so I'm nearly there....what will I do then?

I used Memento ink sponged over stencils that I made from a drawing of leaves to create the background colour. Then I added some sparkle with Sakura gelly roll pen- Clear Star.

I enjoyed creating the negative leaf shapes, and will pursue this idea.

Then I got really carried away with colour!

Happy Autumn everyone!!

Thanks for looking

Delia x

A new camera

Until now I have been taking all of my photographs with my iPhone 3GS camera  which is 3MP. I thought that it was doing a pretty  good job. However, at the weekend DH bought a new camera, an Olympus SZ-31MR, which although not top of the range seemed more than adequate for our requirements (a few days out and things that we photograph to put on Ebay! Oh, and pictures of the dog.)

Well, this morning I thought that I would experiment, and see what difference the extra 13 MP would make to the detail and clarity of the pictures.

First of all I took a picture of Jack, our greyhound, who is black with dark brown eyes, and very difficult to get a good picture of. Here's an example of previous attempts.

This is very sweet of course, but it's hard to see the details.

Here's a picture in similar lighting conditions with the new camera! I'm very pleased with the results!!

I also used the camera to take pictures of the zentangle which I posted last time. Here's that original picture again followed by today's new photo. What do you think?!

I will be using the camera instead of my phone from now on. Lesson learnt!!

Thanks for looking.

Delia 

ABCD tangle no.2

I wasn't really happy with my first attempt at creating a Tangle using patterns with names starting with ABCD. So, this afternoon I had another go.
I am much happier with the result this time! I used some patterns which are less familiar to me, in fact ones which had made it into my sketchbook, but not onto tiles. They are: Antidots, Ballenchain, Clam Bake, Double Florz, Centerpeed and Drawave. I used a 0.1 and 0.2 Staedtler fine liner and shaded with an HB pencil and blended with a paper stump.

Now I'm off to find patterns for the EFGH tangle!!

Thanks for looking,

Delia 

Chalkboard technique

Over the weekend I didn't get a chance to do much in the way of crafting, as all of the family were home, we went to a car boot sale, sofa shopping, taking the dog to the vet etc.

I did get to have a little tangle as I had neglected that for a couple of months. I brushed up a few old favourites and explored a few new tangles too. Just a basic tile produced at the moment, but feeling inspired to get back in the groove! Also signed up for a crafty swap and have been paired with a lady who seems to be a perfect match...so watch this space for what I make for that!!

Here's the tangle tile first...

Not the best photo ever...oh that's another thing, ordered a new camera from Amazon which should arrive today. Let's see if the photos improve!! This is an approximate 10cm square tile on white card drawn with 0.2 Staedtler fine liner and shaded with an HB and blended with a paper stump. I have entered this into a blog challenge on Facebook ( a fabulous artist called Kathy Long is running it) to create a tangle using patterns starting with each letter of the alphabet. This tile contains ABCD: Arundel, B'Tweed, Cadent and Drupe.

This morning while looking at Pinterest I spotted a tutorial from Claire Brennan  at Waltzing Mouse Stamps for creating the chalkboard technique. So I thought I would have a go, although the white ink pad that I have is almost dried up! Will need to invest in a new one if I decide to do this again!!

So here's a picture of my first attempt at this technique. I kept it simple as I wanted the technique to be the focus of the card. I added a few adhesive gems to add some bling!!

Naturally I used Waltzing mouse stamps for this! Paris Nouveau, and Compact Sentiments part 2. I stamped onto black card sock with Versamark ink, then embossed with white Wow Embossing Powder. The adhesive gems and card were from my stash.

Thanks for looking, here's to another crafty week!!

Delia

Christmassy again

I hadn't intended to make a Christmas Card when I sat down at my craft table. I was playing with my new stamp set Simple Sprig from Waltzing Mouse Stamps. My first thought was that I should stamp the leaves in green onto hits card and then add embossed red flowers. I'm still feeling a little gritty, but sparkly as I had a small mishap with the red tinsel embossing powder.

Once I had made the background panel I realised how festive it looked.

I sponged green ink to soften the starkness of the white background, and mounted the angel onto dark green card stock.

I then stamped more of the leaves onto a white panel to back the whole card, and inked with green again. I used my WMS Ornate Ornaments and stamped with Versamark ink and embossed in gold. Adding some red gingham ribbon I assembled a card.

I used several adhesive pearls to the embossed red flowers to add interest and some extra sparkle.

Thanks for looking.

Delia

August birthdays keeping me busy

Here I am back again to show you what I've been up to with my new Waltzing Mouse stamps that arrived earlier this week. The sets I've used are Funky Flowers, Pinstripe Background, and Say it Loud (which I already had and is a favourite!)
I have several birthday to make cards for in August so it's lucky it's the summer and I have some spare time!!

In this one I used memento ink in Danube blue, cottage ivy, dandelion, tangelo and tuxedo black and Distress Ink in Shaded Lilac. I stamped the flowers and cut them out giving the petals and the leaves a little fold for added depth and attached to the card with adhesive pads. I added some ribbon and patterned paper and adhesive gems from my stash.

This card is for a friend who turns 40 this weekend.

The next card is also made from the same stamp sets, but I also stamped the background with the pinstripe stamp with Versamark ink and used clear embossing powder to give a shiny finish. The flowers were all cut out and given a layer of clear ultra high embossing powder.

The next stamp set for me to try has crept into the photo here! It's called Tying the Knot again from Waltzing Mouse.

Thanks for looking.

Delia

A car boot sale find!

Last week I went to visit my Mum in Banbury, and she gave me this stamp which she had found at a carboot sale and wondered whether I could use it. Could I use a stamp....well certainly!! Thank you Mum!!

I don't often use rubber stamps, especially those ready mounted on wood, I'm more of a clear stamp on acrylic block kind of girl. This is a pretty large stamp, about 10cm square approximately.

As soon as I saw it I started to think about the different layers that I would cut out and decoupage.

He's the finished result. I was pleased with it for a first go.

I coloured in the layer with lots of blue shades of ProMarkers, and added Sakura Gelly roll Clear Stars pen to add sparkle. In the very centre I curled the top layer (don't know whether you can see that in the photo), and added an adhesive pink crystal.

Thanks for looking,I'll be back later with my latest Waltzing Mouse Stamp card. New things arrived in the post on Tuesday, so of course I have been playing already!!!

A baby shower

Wanted to show you the gift that I made for a work colleague for her baby shower. As we knew in advance that the baby was going to be a girl it was a great excu to buy pink things, something that I hadn't had to do for myself with two sons, and five nephews!!!

I wanted the present to be useful and found just the thing on Pinterest, they were diaper babies. These has been posted by several people in US so I'm not sure who the original designer was.

Here's my interpretation; each baby is made from a rolled newborn nappy with a towelling sock hat, and a bib wrapped around as a nappy and all secured with a pin. The cradle that the babies are in is a shoe box which was half full of more nappies and covered with muslin squares.

I finished them off with some eyes drawn on with permanent marker.

Thanks for looking! 

Delia 

Doillies for Thankyou and Birthdays

Still using WMS Dainty Doillies 2 paired up wit Say It Loud. I think that these two sets work perfectly together.

I have been experimenting with a range of colours of ProMarkers and combining them with glossy accents, and adhesive gems. On the birthday card I have used silver embossing powder on acetate for the greeting.

This was made for my son to send to an auntie to thank her for birthday money that he received last week. It's very shiny and sparkly in person, but hard to get a photo which shows that off .

Close ups of the bling! I love the smooth bumps of the glossy accents here.

The acetate strip has extra adhesive crystals attached.

Thanks for looking.

More Doillies!!

Been playing with my Dainty Doillies, this time set 2, and Say it Loud. I stamped the Doillies with Memento Danube Blue ink and coloured in with my ProMarkers- various shades of blue and aqua. I gave them a little sparkle with Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Star. I meant to use some glossy accents too, but forgo and assembled the whole card! Might have to take it apart. Until then here is the card so far.  Maybe other colour schemes would be possible, I will have a go later! I would like to use a white card blank too really.

I was planning to make something CAS today, but I don't think that 4 layers, ribbons and gems really qualifies, although there is some white space left, lol!!

Feathers

I have been playing with the WMS set Fine Feathers. Wanted to try using embossing powder on vellum. So here's the result of my experimenting.

It's a card!!

Managed to make a card that I am happy with using the "wreath" from the previous post.

Would like to make more of these, but they are definitely time consuming. Lots and lots of fussy cutting. Have to see how I feel later!

I'm entering this card in the Cards Galore Challenge-August Bingo, using the three boxes: embossing, die-cutting and a sentiment. Hope I've linked it up right!!

Here's the link back again!

http://cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/?m=0

All in Christmassy red gold and green.

Here's a picture from a different angle to show the layers. Used lots of adhesive foam pads to  achieve some height.
Coloured with ProMarkers and Gelly Roll Clear Stars. The greeting is also WMS from Ornate Ornaments, and embossed with gold.

Christmas in August? Sorry!

Well, I'm still on my creative streak, so I thought I would play with another stamp set which hasn't been out very often. This time it's Dainty Doillies from Waltzing Mouse.  As soon as I had stamped this one, which is made up of four parts in the set, it reminded me of snowflakes. So I got out the cold   and icy colours from the ProMarkers, the Sakura clear star gelly roll pen, and the glossy accents, and I was off!!

The background is also stamped from the same set, here I used a Versamark resist technique. I'm pretty happy with this, but I'll have to find something less fussy to make for the main bulk of the Christmas cards, especially with the cutting around the edge of this one!

I also thought of using the Dainty Doillies as a wreath....that's a work in progress! I got a bit carried away and was layering this one up. Not sure what the finished card will look like. Watch this space.

Bedtime Story - Waltzing Mouse Stamps Sketch Challenge 1

I managed to miss the other activities in the Waltzing Mouse Pyjama Party, but with 5 days to take part I just about had time to get organised for the sketch challenge.

I haven't had a go with a sketch for about 2 years so here we go!

Making cards for my son's upcoming twelfth birthday seemed like an ideal opportunity to give it a whirl!

I used Waltzing Mouse set USA 1776, which I bought several months ago, but had not taken out of the packet! Also used the star shaped Spellbinders Nestability which I bought at the same time intending to make shabby chic stars... well maybe I will during the summer! I used lots of coloured inks and embossing powders, and it really is quite sparkly, although it's hard to tell from the photo. Think I might have to use something other than my phone to take pictures if I going to put things on this blog!! The greeting is also from WMS one of their compact sentiments, although I masked and fudged two greetings together to get the message I wanted. Then it's all stuck together with dimensional foam pads to give it some height.

According to elder son it's "awesome" so hopefully it will be just the thing for the birthday on Saturday.

While getting inky I cracked open another set which had been waiting for some time, WMS Folk Art Medallions. I thought that I would try to stamp a background, and try joining the motifs together...I was pleased for a first attempt at this type of stamping. I'm more of a stamp it and colour it in type of girl!