Challenge # 2 Take 2 colours - lime and gold

When you start a project, where do you begin?  Is it focused around something new in your stash, such as a new stamp, ink or paper?

Well, this card started with a lime green ink pad, I was given a couple of samples of a new range of inks to try and one happened to be lime green.  I had made a number of butterflies with Tim's Take Flight Alteration die when demonstrating them but I hadn't made them into cards.  I remembered I had used some lime green fantasy film with gold mirror card and a quick hunt for lime green card or paper and there it began! 

The paper I found was lime and gold glitter paper, how handy was that!  I used the ink pad with one of Kay's Funky Flourish stamps to create the background and a greeting from one of Tracey's stamp sheets Alluring Ladies.  The new ink pads are great, I'll tell you more about them once we have them in stock!!

Jill

Butterfly wishes box from last Monday's show

I used one of the Tim Holtz Ornate Plates as an embellishment with one of the Adage Tickets on a box I decorated for last Monday's Create and Craft show.  It was used on one of the Craft Creations blank boxes that featured on the show. 

Not content at leaving it as it was, I decided to emboss part of it to match the embossing powder I used with one of Kay's flourish stamp designs from Aspects of Design 58 Fancy Flourishes, I dabbed around some of the detail with a Versamark pad and added Moonglow Midnight Teal Obsidian embossing powder, I wiped some of the excess off where I didn't want it before heating.  I then added a little gold embossing powder the same way.

I embossed the butterfly from the Aspects of Design 3 Botanical stamp sheet with the same embossing powder and added a gold curly clip that I had stretched out and cut in half.

I used the Moonglow Mardi Gras set to colour the box.  I spray the stains onto my non-stick craft sheet then dabbed them randomly onto the box with a screwed up piece of copier paper to give a stippled effect.  This works nicely as you get tiny puddles forming.

I added a small piece of card ready for a sentiment or address to be added that has been mounted onto gold mirri card.

It is a shame the photo doesn't show how luscious the colours are!

Jill

PS:  Did you spot the missing curly clip on one of the butterflies... it was lost in transit and I only just spotted it after taking the photo, darn it!

More Nestie shrink plastic

Just a quick post today with more Nestie Shrink Plastic from last Monday's telly show used with a scalloped oval card mount.  This time I stamped the flower (from Kay's Funky Flowers stamp sheet) with black Archival ink over the white Brilliance flourish background on the shrink plastic.  I left it to dry before colouring with the Sakura stardust pens.

I ran the pink vellum through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss dots folder, which cracked the vellum to create white dots.  A few paper flowers and ribbon have been added as finishing touches.

New blog look and more Nestie Shrink Plastic

Another card with a shrink plastic button along with a large piece that I used as a platform/mount for paper flowers.

I decided to have a play yesterday evening and decorate my blog page.  I may have another play and change it.  What do you think so far?  or, do you like it as it is? 

When I started my blog I didn't really know what to do for decoration so just left it. 

Tracey having started her new blog has spured me on to have a play with it.  I did try to help Tracey with her new blog and managed to loose her lovely background so I thought I needed to learn a little more about it myself!!

Talking of Tracey, she is working on new stamp designs to add to the ones we already have in hand but she has asked if there are any stamp designs you would like to her to draw.  Do pop over to her new blog with any suggestions you have.

Jill

Shrink plastic buttons from last Monday's show

Same basic idea and instructions as the previous 2 cards but on this one I made use of some of the Shrink Plastic scraps to make buttons, well you can't waste it can you? So use your punches or nesties to make them. If the buttons are for embellishments, so what if they are square, triangle, octagonal or oval!

I meant to mention this before, you may find that you get little shreads of plastic around the edges when you cut a shape with a punch or die cutting machine. That was what I was doing on the show when I stood there sanding the edges, but didn't explain. When I watched the show back I saw it was still a bit tatty, but Shrink Plastic is very forgiving though and it does hide a lot of imperfections when shrunk. If you do have a sanding block then it doesn't hurt to tidy it up a little.

Since the show I have been asked which colour Shrink Plastic I used, it was translucent.

Stamp the swirl stamps onto the Shrink Plastic with white Briliance ink for a nice elegant look then use an office hole punch size to make the holes (1/4"). Using anything smaller will make it difficult to thread ribbon, threads or cord through, and life's too short to spend 1/2 an hour threading ribbon!

Of course, you can stamp in any colour for the buttons that will match your project, just remember they will be darker once shrunk, so don't apply too much colour. If I want to make a coloured background to simply stamp over, I wipe the pad, direct-to-shrink style, then wipe a lot of the ink off with tissue before I stamp on it, it really needs to be very pale.  You may wish to try just sponging a little ink here and there on.

For this button I doubled up the ribbon, tied a knot at the fold, then threaded each end through the button holes to the back. I fixed the ends inside the card. It makes a nice knot with no loose ends.

Again I was Cuttlebug obsessed on the show, I just love the white embossed effect, has had me hooked for years, but it is SO much easier to do than dry embossing using a stencil and takes the blandness away from a plain piece of card.

This wasn't one of my favourite cards I made for the show, it was one of the last I got together and why I stuck that bow on I'll never know!

Anyhow, I can't hide it as it does show how you can use a Shrink Plastic button or in fact any button. Maybe if I make the picture of the button big, and the picture of the card small, you won't notice how bad it is.

I decided it is about time I decorated the blog, I hope you like the changes.

I think I've waffled on enough, thanks again for reading!

Jill

Shrink Plastic platform card with Nestabilities

Same idea as yesterday for this card. I stamped the flourish design onto pale blue vellum with white Brilliance ink and left it to dry.

I stamped the same flourish onto a large scalloped edge square of translucent shrink plastic that I cut with a Nestability and shrunk it straightaway, no need to wait for it to dry.

The largest dragonfly on Kay's Funky Frames stamp sheet was stamped with black archival ink onto another piece of shrink plastic that had been cut from a large label Nestability.

I edged the piece with the black ink so that there would be a contrast between the dragonfly piece and the scalloped platform.

I left it to dry for 30 minutes before colouring with Sakura stardust pens as I explained on yesterday's card.

I shrank it down and glued it onto the platform.

Remember not to panic when shrinking!!

Jill Boulton held a workshop with us here today, but I didn't get to play:(   In amongst serving customers, I must have made quite a lot of cups of tea and coffee, dozens I think, plus Ian and I made a start getting product samples decided and together for a new live show we are doing on Create and Craft TV on 28th November (12pm).

We have been asked to go back to film another show with Tracey's stamps that featured at the beginning of last month. We will have different accessories this time so I made up the envelopes today for the new design team members to have a play. Quite a challenge for them as there isn't much time and again, there are restrictions on what we can use.

So no chance to take a breather at the moment, it's straight onto the next show. Somewhere in between I really must start my Christmas cards!  I have ideas in my head that keep changing so by the time I get to actually make them I'm hoping I'll have decided what I'm finally doing!

The ladies at today's workshop used a variety of Ranger products, distress inks, cut 'n dry foam, grunge paper, alcohol inks, acrylic dabbers and this afternoon metal embossing with Walnut Hollow products.

The Cuttlebug came in handy on and off all day and last thing this afternoon I poked my nose in with something to try, embossing the Moonglow filigrees onto metal and then working on them with tools. I'd tried it in the week but hadn't made a note of the order for the sandwich, and it proved illogical to figure out again! But we got there in the end and they looked good. Another thing I will show you once I get a chance to make something with them!

Jill

New Design Team members and a card from Monday's show

Here's a very bright and cheery card from Monday's Create & Craft TV show. I know we should be thinking Christmas at the moment but people still have birthday's at this time of year and how nice would it be for them to receive a nice cheerful bright card! More about the card later but first some news...

I added 2 great new design team members to our blog on Wednesday evening, Vix, who is a true out and out Moonglow fan like me, I reckon she has it flowing through her veins like me:) I feel I've found a twin! Check out her blog... there's lots of Moonglow inspiration there, I'm really looking forward to our combined inspired play with Moonglow! So, watch this space:)

I am also very happy that Jo Austin, (my partner in the Springer Spaniel fan club), has joined us too. On the very rare occasions that I've been in the same place at the same time as Jo, she has accepted my Springer Spaniel type over excitement at seeing her, so the usual welcome with a big HUG goes to Jo, I am really looking forward to seeing what Jo does with our stuff!

Plus, tonight I am adding Tracey into the links too, as she has now got a blog! Do pop over and have a look, she has lovely cards on show there already. I did to Tracey what Debbie did to me, convinced her she needed to have one, Tracey is very new to blogging and we all know what that is like so I hope you will give her some support by joining and following her blog too.

So... more about the card.



A ran some of the vellum through the cuttlebug with the Swiss dots folder. Heavy pattern folders will crack the vellum and don't work so well, but the dots are great as the small white cracking effect looks good as a contrast against the colour of the vellum.

Use Nesties, punches or your trimmer to cut shapes out of shrink plastic, I used the largest square scalloped nestie for the platform and a slightly smaller circle to mount on top. I sanded the scalloped square piece and added colour from the Ocean Breeze Chalk ink pad before stamping with the black archival ink and the swirl stamp. Once you have done this you can shrink straight away, it is only when you want to colour in that you need to let the archival ink dry for half and hour.

I stamped onto the smaller circle with the Ranger black archival ink, without sanding, not necessary with the archival ink (also, it will bleed into the sanded lines, as will Stazon ink, so not good). Leave for half an hour and then you can colour in.

The Sakura Stardust pens are brilliant for colouring shrink plastic as they will give a great glittery effect when shrunk. I just traced around the stamp outlines and pulled the colour into the centres with an almost dry waterbrush. Don't apply too much colour, it needs to be very pale as the colour intensifies when shrunk. I went back over the lines before I shrank it, no need to wait for the ink to dry as they will heat set once shrunk.

If you haven't tried shrink plastic before, a very important tip here, and as I said on the show, don't panic! Easy said I know!!! If it looks like it is sticking to itself, just leave it and keep going, if you have a lolly stick to use then keep it where it is, don't start poking and prodding to try releasing it. Just keep heating and it will (normally) release itself.

Sometimes, especially with long thin pieces, it will stick and not release. With these pieces I rub my anti static bag over it lightly before shrinking, you can also use talcum powder for this if you don't have an anti static bag. You don't want to dust too much powder on it as it will spoil your colouring, so just use a small amount. It is less likely to stick to itself as the powder takes some of the sticky away.



What else to say on this... Use a good glue that dries clear to stick the pieces together, pva or silicone glue spread entirely over the back of a piece works well. I'll be showing more shrink plastic cards from the show and will give more tips as I go along.

I just need to add a greeting to this card before I send it!

Before I go, I must suggest that you pop over to Vix's blog, she has put up some Moonglow blog candy, totally thought up by her and from her own collection, how very kind of her, I will make sure she has something nice as a treat to thank her for doing that! You'll find her link on the right hand side with the other new DT members!

Thanks again for your comments and for reading all this, (if you've made it down this far)

Jill

Brilliance ink card from Monday's show

I thought I'd start with this card from Monday's show first. I made it with the Brilliance ink pads featured in the show, I'll explain how it was made shortly, but first a bit about our day.

We normally only get to show 3 demos but on Monday they wanted extras, it caught me out as the floor manager had moved my demo crate to the other end of the set. I had told the producer I could do some demos on the hop if needed, when I looked down my crate wasn't there!

I always try to keep it near me just in case I've forgotten to get something out and only have to reach down, it was way too far down the counter for me to even grab when Joanne was at the other end, so the floor manager came behind us on his hands and knees to grab it back, better him than me, as you'd have probably seen my head bobbing up and down as I went along!! He couldn't even drag it in case it made a noise so he had to lift and carry it back while still on his knees. That'll teach him to move the guests things too far away from them:)

I hadn't worked with Joanne before but I found her good to work with, she is a lovely lady, I felt she let me talk and get on with it.

We had a meeting at Ideal World before we set off on our journey back home and found that the sign we saw first thing in the day about the A1 north being closed still stood, it was quite foggy in the morning and we thought that it was maybe an accident or fog that would have cleared by the time we headed home, but no, it was completely closed into the afternoon with a huge back log of traffic on the small roads in the diversion (to Newark).

Thank goodness for Sally traffic who said the junction was open so we turned around. The junction wasn't open as stated but we followed the other cars that had listened to Sally and obviously knew an alternative route and hey, we turned up at the next junction to a nice clear road! All was OK until we hit the M62. Sorry, I seem to be getting obsessed with traffic, I'll shut up about it now.... so more about Monday....

I think they were quite taken with this card and Joanne kept going back to it. I wasn't expecting to demo it but it was a nice simple idea and definitely my kind of thing.



In case you missed the show, I applied the Brilliance ink pads direct-to-craft sheet, just randomly using the crimson, ivy, gold and white ink pads (they are all pearlescent inks). I hadn't taken my spray bottle so I had to sacrifice my drinking water by flicking it onto the ink splodges, I did most of that off screen, not a glamorous way to do it, much better to use a spray bottle if you have one!

I then placed my card on top of the inky mess and swished it, lifted it, swished it, lifted it etc, until I was happy with the pattern. You can always add more colour and if you find it is getting a little dark, just apply more of the white. The card I made has more of a pink tone to it than the darker crimson as I had used more white on that piece. I used more gold in the demo, but as I say, it doesn't really matter as you can adjust it.

I stamped over the background with the black archival ink pad when it was dry. I did add some colour to the leaves on the finished card with the Stardust pens and also added the brads to the flower centres so basically a very quick card to make, but it does have a lovely pearlescent finish to it.

I'm not sure if the show will be repeated at the weekend, but if it is I will post the details as soon as I know. I'll show another card from the show tomorrow, it'll be a shrink plastic one, didn't Joanne do well with her first piece of shrink plastic, I think she was really pleased with it. You didn't see us doing it on screen, but we did a high five after it!

Thank you for the comments and messages you have left here or emailed, they are always lovely to receive.

Jill

Another bright and sunny card from last Wednesday's show, nearly matching the warmth of the Indian summer we had here yesterday, it certainly isn't usually this warm in North Yorkshire at the end of October but is most welcome!

I decided to change the blog background colour, having a play about while eating my toast when I really should be getting on with more important stuff. Even changing that won't make the photo here look any better, honest the card does look a bit better in real life! Thank goodness Christmas is coming soon, and I may be able to justify asking for a new camera:)

Jill

Two cards from Kay's Funky Frames sheet

Two more cards from last Wednesdays show. Both have been coloured with Sakura Stardust pens and a waterbrush. The background of the first card has been stamped with the Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and white Brilliance ink. The second card has a black Cuttlebug'd panel mounted on top of pink vellum that also featured in the show.

It's been another busy day, we've been unpacking from the show yesterday and catching up on mail order plus other things that we needed to get done today. There's another week of busy-ness ahead too, but at least the shop is gradually getting back to normal and restocked for customers that are visiting.

I will post about yesterday's show at Doncaster and other chatter tomorrow when I'm not so weary!

A couple more cards from Wednesday's show with Kay

A couple more cards here made with Kay's fabby stamp collection from Wednesday's show. If you live in the Doncaster area, you can see them all in real life along with others at the Stamp Magic show at the Dome today! I checked with Paula (the organiser) today, you can just turn up on the day and pay at the door. It's a huge light and airy hall with plenty of room for everyone, so a nice show/shopping experience for everyone.

Kay has made such beautiful cards with her stamps, (they are so much better than my simple creations), I hope you can visit and see them all in real life.

I used the Fancy Flourishes sheet and chalk inks to create the background on pastel blue vellum. The main image has been coloured with Sakura Stardust pens



For this card, the side panel has been Cuttlebug'd with the swirl folder, the main image is again coloured with Stardust pens.

Jill

PS: I may be back posting later today... Depends on available energy level!!

A couple more cards from Wednesday's show

A quick post today with a couple more cards, as we'll be setting off for Doncaster soon.

I've used the yellow pastel vellum and Easy Sew Stitches on this card. The main image is from Kay's Funky Flowers sheets and the wording from the Fancy Flourishes sheet.



I used the Cuttlebug Swiss dot folder with some doubled-sided yellow/black black magic card that I sanded to match the flower heads.

My birthday card from Kay

Kay sent me this beautiful card for my recent birthday. It is a large 8" x 8" square card and Kay has stamped onto the pre-printed background paper with her Fancy Flourishes stamps using a pesto green ink for some flourishes and embossing others with what I think to be crystal embossing powder. You won't see the glitter in the photo but it is there adding a very subtle twinkle, nice Kay!! The design is beautifully coloured with Copic markers. Thank you Kay it is so lovely. To see more of Kay's cards, do visit her blog by clicking here.

Shrink Plastic Funky Flowers card

I'm still enjoying using Kay's new stamp sheets, here is another I made recently.

I sanded and coloured translucent shrink plastic using a Brilliance lavender ink pad. I put the ink pad directly onto the shrink plastic (direct to paper style) making random blobs all over. I then worked the ink over the whole sheet lifting some away to leave it fairly pale. As the shade will intensify when shrunk, it needs to be very pale.

I stamped the design using Stazon black ink and then painted the flower with the Brilliance ink that I had pressed onto my non stick sheet, and a detail paint brush. I also used coloured pencils for the leaves, then heated the piece with my heat gun to shrink. Use wooden dowling, or lolly sticks to hold it down as shrink plastic doesn't stick to wood and it is also less likely to spoil the plastic than using tweezers (that can also get very hot). When it looks like it won't shrink anymore, splat it with the back something solid that won't spoil such as an acrylic block. This will give a nice flat finish. If you call into the shop you may see this card, the photo shows the piece quite dark but it is a lot lighter in real life.

I punched out a flower and made 2 holes in it to make it into a button. I shrank the piece completely and while still really hot, I stamped one of Kay's flourish stamps into it with black Stazon ink and attached the ribbon when it was cool. Oh, nearly forgot to mention that I reheated the flower a little after stamping, just enough to make it curl upward to give it dimension.

I stamped over the pre-printed dragonfly background paper with the Brilliance ink pad, then stamped over again randomly with the black Stazon.

I added mauve brads to the corners and added some Magenta mesh style ribbon that I attached to the back before mounting onto a square base card.

I used silicone glue to attach the shrink plastic to the card.

I'll add appropriate words to the card before sending.

Kay's new stamp sheets!

We're back from the Port Sunlight show and still shattered, it was a very busy show. Thanks to everyone who visited our stand, it was lovely chatting to everyone. In amongst the chatting I did actually do some demonstrating and was able to show everyone Kay's new stamp sheets (even though the actual rubber didn't arrive in time).

As you probably know, our stamps are VERY deeply etched and we have special plates made for us. The plates that arrived on Thursday were just normal ones, well that wasn't good enough, and we felt it important to wait to get them how we really like them.

We should have them sometime this week, (I hope to get some news tomorrow), so I've now added them to our website for pre-order if you wish to order them now. Here's the link that will take you straight to the page. As is normal, you will not be charged until we actually despatch your order. If you pre-order them we can send them out as soon as they arrive.

I did make 3 cards from the artwork to take to the show, they look so pretty when coloured in. I finished them late on Thursday night along with others that I made that were relevant to what I was demonstrating, so a VERY late night! I finally managed to get those table cloths ironed on Friday morning before we set off.

In the rush to leave I forgot to pick up the info about the hotel we were staying in and as the normal hotel was fully booked, I'd booked a different one and couldn't remember where it was! After we had set up for the show we went shopping to a local supermarket for water, papers and bananas etc. Watched 2 people losing their marbles ranting at the lottery counter, I couldn't understand why there was such a long queue or why people were getting so het up about getting a ticket, then Ian told me about the Euro lottery, and no we didn't bother getting a ticket so a missed opportunity there (perhaps?) anyhow, the crowd was far too rowdy to bother. Anyway, back to our problem, we stopped off at the place we normal stay to ask for details of others in the area in the same chain and of course, I couldn't get away with our problem not being found out, Janice and Andy, from Sir Stampalot were in the queue to check in, so fessed up about what I had done. We found the right hotel easily so all was well.

Looking forward to catching up with you tomorrow Kay and we can organise the blog candy, just need to sort out the piccies and we're ready to go... I'm sure you'll agree that Kay's new designs are lovely, there was positive feedback from customers at the show, I think they are her best so far!

It's going to be a busy day tomorrow unpacking stock from the show and catching up with everything. It'll be nice to get it all back in its place and back to normal.

Jill x