Icicle Creek Starburst Stains

Last, but certainly not least, is Icicle Creek, the lightest and prettiest set of all, I think. It makes a gorgeous mother of pearl finish on the scrunch technique and I just LOVE it! Click on the pictures to see the photos enlarged. The colours in this set are:

Alpine Ice Rose, Edelweiss Moss Green, Frosted Forget Me Nots, Icy Primrose Gold, Mountain Lavender Gold

The first time I made a colour chart for this set it was too pale, this one has turned out a bit darker than it actually is, but you'll get an idea of the true colours from the cards. I have covered the whole of the front of the card with the scrunch technique which I sprayed again after I have completed the basic scrunch. It has given it more of a gold shimmer.

The background on this card was embossed in gold first and then sprayed heavily so that the stains pool in the embossing. If you look at the card from one side you can see a blue background but move it a little and it is bright gold!

Here's the fusible webbing on an Icicle Creek background, I used white detail embossing powder. It makes a really pretty background.

Mardi Gras Starburst Stains

This is one of the newer sets, the set name sounds as if it is bright colours but is actually a very rich, regal set. Great for vintage work and would be lovely to use for Christmas cards. The stain colours are deep and rich and the secondary gold is a brassy/antique gold. The colours in the set are:

Jazzy Jivin' Purple, Voodoo Purple, Bayou Boogle Gold, Gator Gumbo Olive, Cajun Camelian Bluebells

What lovely names!

The card above is one that Debbie made with the Mardi Gras set using one of Kay Carley's new stamp designs

Victorian Bouquet Starburst Stains

Oh dear, you're not going to believe me but this is another of my favourites and includes one of my favourite individual colours too, the sweet violet purple teal, yep, purple and teal all in the same jar! If you are on a budget and would like to try one dauber bottle that is dramatic, then this is the one to go for! See the shimmer in the picture above, oh yum, it gets me every time! The set of 5 contains:

Canna Lily Burnt Orange, Hydrangea Blue, Lucky Shamrock Green, Ramblin’ Rose Pink, Sweet Violet Purple Teal.

For the 1st and 3rd cards I embossed first then sprayed allowing the stains to pool in the embossing.

The 2nd card has been sprayed after splodging on the bottom panel to co-ordinate with the sprayed top triangle. I painted a BBQ skewer with Stazon ink (I did wear gloves for this!), and then wound gold mitzuhiki cord around it.

The 4th picture shows the shimmer that is usually difficult to capture on camera, as I said before, it is just yummy!

French Country Starburst Stains

This is my favourite set at the moment, if you look in the labels on the side bar you'll find some more card ideas that I've posted before.

The colours in this set are:

Amarylis Burgundy, French Lilac Violet, Jack in the Pulpit Teal, Marigold Yellow Orange, Wisteria Purple Blue.

The first 2 pictures featured in recent posts, but the other 3 are backgrounds made with the noodle brush that I have dipped in water then swiped across the background, while it was still wet I added embossing powders and heated. It takes a bit of practice to get the right amount of water, I usually give the brush a little shake, hold the card up to the light and keep an eye on where I have water before adding the powder otherwise it is easy to end up with an embossed blob! I like using these backgrounds for oriental cards, as per last example.

Jamaican Jungle Starburst Stains

I have to confess that this is the only set I haven't got round to using probably as I've been happily working my way through all the others and I tend to keep using the same set for a while. I will get round to it eventually. It could also be that I'm not a great lover of orange, but I shouldn't let that put me off as I'm sure that once it is used, it probably isn't so bright. They are definitely happy colours though!! I always think of Tiger Lilies when I see this chart, so I'll have to look out for a stamp I can use with it.

The colours in the set are:

Bougainvillea Fuchsia, California Poppy Gold, Delphinium Turquoise, Rhododendron Red Rose, Tiger Lily Red Orange.

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Just a reminder that Kay Carley has some blog candy to give away over on her blog, so do visit her and add your name.

Prairie Wildflowers Starburst Stains

I've posted about this set before and again will say it is much more versatile than it looks on the colour chart as you have all the primary colours, this gives endless shades when they are mixed. The colours in the set are:

Bachelor Button Blue, Bells of Ireland Green, Mission Bells Brown, Peony Scarlet Red, Yellow Rose of Texas

I have posted this card before, it is an A4 card, I have used a mask at the bottom and the scrunch on the side panel. The butterfly is embossed with Moonglow Embossing Powder Morning Glory Azure Teal, (just love these colour names!). The tag book has also been made with this set.

Holiday Wreath Starburst Stains

I have to confess that I haven't done much with this set so far, but I think I will be using it for my Christmas cards this year. Debbie used it on her cards last year and they were lovely. The colours in this set are:

Cathedral Pines Green, Cranberry Mist Burgundy, Frosted Purple Iris, Poinsettia Red Gold, Winter Jasmine Gold.

The picture at the top shows a scrunched piece made with this set.

Autumn Leaves Starburst Stains

Dare I say that this is another of my favourites! The colours in this set are:

Autumn Maple Crimson, Cuttail Copper Brown, Ponderosa Pines Olive, Red Hot Poker Orange, Tibetan Poppy Teal

I love the colour names in all these sets, much more interesting than just red, blue etc!

The first 2 photos are of a concertina book that Kay Carley made for one our Create and Craft TV shows, The front cover shows how the stains resist the pattern on anaglypta wallpaper. Hopefully the pictures give you an idea of the range of colours and projects achievable with them. I'm also showing a scrunch with these colours as I just adore them with this technique.

May Day Meadows Starburst Stains

This is another favourite set of mine, and seems to be a popular set for people to start with too, the colours are very pretty and although there is no mauve in the the set, when the pink and blue mix the mauve is lovely!

The 5 colours in this set are

Baby Blue Eyes Aqua, Carpathian Bluebells, Magnolia Magenta Gold, Maidenhead Fern Green, Wild Honeysuckle Coral.

The photos are of cards made for one of our Create & Craft TV shows using them with Non Sequitur Oriental stamps. It really gives a lovely shimmer to those kimonos!!

If you pop over to our gallery you will find more cards using these stains, Kay made some beautiful concertina books with them too.

Japanese Gardens - Starburst Stains

NEW - STARBURST STAINS IN SPRAY BOTTLES!
We now have the same set colours in spray bottles as well as the dauber bottles and brush on the fun jars. They are on special offer at £19.99 and contain the same quantity as the previous sets. Click HERE to find them on our website.

As I said yesterday, I'm working my way through all 11 Starburst Stain set to show the colour charts and cards to give you an idea of them in use. Unfortunately the shimmer doesn't show in all the photos but I think most people know about the effects of these now. I hope bringing this information together here will help those who haven't been able to watch our shows on Create and Craft.

Today I'm showing one of my favourite sets, Japanese Gardens. I have even used this set for Christmas cards, so it's versatile too. If you click on the photo it will give a closer view of the colours in the set, which are:

Black Orchid Silver, Cocoa Bean Copper, Poinciana Flame Red, Saxifrage Olive Copper

The card idea shows a number of techniques, mainly as the background is made with left over strips that I have woven together (approx 1" wide). The card is actually a 8" x 8" square card. I have also made paper beads with the leftover strips that I cut into long thin triangles of about 4"-5" before winding them around cocktail sticks. Use a glue stick or any wet glue and apply leaving about 1 cm without glue at the widest end then wind up and hold into place between your finger and thumb until it is stuck down. Long thin rectangular shapes will make cylindrical beads, use different widths of card to vary the size of the beads. You can also paint on varnish to give them a gloss or matt finish but it's not necessary. I tend to make them out of leftovers in advance so they are ready to use when required, I keep them in grip seal bags with pre-pared backgrounds I have made with the sets until I want to use them.

As an added touch I have used a quickie glue pen and gold leafing to add a bit of bling to them.

Have a good weekend

Jill

Mermaid Seashells Starburst Stains

Had a brilliant workshop yesterday, the ladies were lovely and enjoyed themselves too even though I did work them hard, it was too hot for embossing yesterday really, but we managed to get loads of techniques done. I don't know about them but I was really shattered last night, hence no blog again!

Starburst Stains - Special Offer! Were £24.90 now £19.99!!

As we have a special offer on these at the moment I am going to work through all the Starburst Stain sets over the next week or so with colour charts and also show ideas of the colours used in projects. Visitors to the shop have been able to see these colour charts and I know they have shown them on our Create & Craft TV shows but hopefully this will be an easy reference for you, and help those that haven't got Sky TV. The top left hand panel shows all 5 colours in the set stippled together to give and idea of how the colours works together.

The first picture is of a panel from a concertina book I made and the 2nd picture a card both made using the fusible webbing.

Today's set is Mermaid Seashells, this set contains the following colours:-

Azure Sea Asters, Cockle Shells Coral, Glory of the Seas Gold, Opal Sea Oats, Sea Mint Green

The card idea shows the Fusible webbing that I've mentioned before. This is the best way I have found to use the webbing. There are 5 pieces in a pack for £2.50, they are approx. 5" x 6". For the first attempts try cutting a piece in half as it will be much easier to manage until you get the hang of it.

Place the webbing over a coloured piece of card, whether a created Starburst Stain background or plain coloured card. Stretch the webbing between 2 large acrylic blocks so that the webbing doesn't move when heating.

Heat the webbing with a heat gun all over until it is all stuck to the card, do not worry about making lacy patterns at this stage, just ensure the piece is stuck down, it takes a bit longer than heating embossing powder, and tends to look clearer when it is heated. When you are happy that it is glued down completely, remove the blocks and then start to heat to create lacy patterns.

Once you have the lacy effect showing all over, keeping heating and ensure the webbing is really hot all over. One thing I noticed at the workship yesterday is that people thought it would be like embossing powder and were afraid of overheating it. It isn't the same so keep heating, even if it seems to take longer than you think it should.

Once you are happy it is hot all over, quickly add embossing powder, it can be any embossing powder, so try experimenting with different colours/types. Tip off of the excess powder and emboss as you would normally, start one end and gradually move over the piece as it melts. If you find that the powder hasn't stuck to parts of the webbing then it wasn't hot enough, it is worth adding more before you heat to emboss as you may have tapped off too much and sometimes it still sticks.

Allow to cool and trim for either a complete background, cut up into smaller pieces to add as textured elements, or punch/die cut into shapes. I tend to save any trimmings and even use thin borders so that none is wasted!

Been awol!

I've had a few days off from blogging, and it would be nice to tell you that it's because I've been busy finishing all the ongoing crafting projects I have on the go at the moment. But I haven't! It's not normal for me to be quiet and not to have or find something to say so yes, it's been an odd few days!

My excuses are that Sunday was Sunday, a day off, and too hot for doing anything other than umm essential Sunday chores.

Monday saw Ian and I sitting in a hospital waiting room for 3 hours, having spent time traveling there too, when we're sure he could have been seen locally, as he has been before. My blog would have resembled more of a rant, so better that I didn't blog about it at all!!

Yesterday, well blogger's cramp had truly set in and I couldn't think of anything to say. Must be the heat, but I'm not really complaining...well only a bit... Why does this country run on extremes, either too cold, too wet, too windy or, too hot... well that's how it seems! So I'll follow suit and waffle too much today too... Just for the hell of it!

The yellow sea of buttercups has disappeared from the garden now the grass has grown higher. Hamish (our dog) is covered in grass seeds and we can't keep track of him in the garden, we just hear a rustling sound as he moves about! The ground will definitely be well re-seeded for next year!

Upsetting news from the garden is that all the bees have gone. We found some in the front garden, but we are sure they usually stay all summer by the Cotoneaster, strange! Hope they are OK, we miss them!!

I'm holding a workshop tomorrow, embossing techniques, it will include using fusible webbing as a background amongst other things, hence the pictures. It gives a lovely lacy effect. My first attempts with this quite a few years ago were disastrous, it ended up wound round the end of my heat gun like candy floss! So, I'm glad I cracked it and found the best way for me to use it. It's a good example of not giving up on a technique when it doesn't work for you straight away, keep at it and you will get there eventually, honest!

I often try to think back to how it was when I first started embossing with stamps, it was quite a primitive procedure back then, before art rubber stamping was even considered a craft in the UK. I'm so glad I stuck with it, if you are new to it, or still learning (as we all are), do keep practising. If you're a die hard stamper lacking mojo, here's a challenge, revisit some embossing techniques you haven't tried for a while, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing with the older techniques again.

Products have improved so much since we started, we didn't have the best fabby embossing pad on earth back then, ie the VersaMark Embossing Pad, or even heat guns, it was either a paint stripper, toaster, light bulb or a heated baking tin in the oven! My first public demos were using my gas cylinder Braun curling tongs (t'was without electricity in our humble show tent)!

Thought it was ingenious at the time to be able to emboss on the go! Forget the benefits of what the tongs could do for your hair, (or not as it turned out). But no-one really appreciated how clever that was at the time! Well, until they got addicted to stamping that is and reported back that in desperation for a heat source, they'd tried it too!! Those were the days.

That first major venue for us was the East of England show in Peterborough, little did I know way back then that IW & C & C would have me returning to Peterborough for the filming of craft shows years later! Funny how things work out...

We have much more stuff to use with embossing powders now and more variety of EPs than back then, it's easier to achieve the many techniques with the great products available. Time permitting tomorrow for all these techniques (I always plan too much stuff to do), we will work our way through the basic/best tips for embossing onto card, vellum, acetate, different types of EP etc. Then we'll hit the real fun... ultra thick, Jacob's coat, shrink plastic, style stones, noodle brush embossing, the hot pot and more....

Ian usually throws us out way past the time our workshops should end, probably a good thing as I guess we'd never stop playing. So much embossing, so little time...

Fusible webbing instructions... coming soon!

Jill

PS: Do pop over to Lesley's blog HERE to see what she made at Saturday's workshop, stunning!