Category: Art and crafting styles

Earlier this week I shared the page I made in Marie’s journal… well I had to do both sides of the envelope so today I am sharing what I did with the other side. I also have an apology for the wobbly video as I kept bashing the camera! Ooops.

Anyway… check out the video here to see the process…

And here is the final piece…

Absolutely love this … and the fact it is such a contrast to the other side of the envelope. This side was a much softer page and more about nature and flowing … the other side more graphic and edgy…. which do I prefer? Neither and that is the joy of art journalling… Everything can be different and take you in a different direction and style.

Here is a close up of the yummy textures and colours…

Happy crafting!

Catherine

A little while ago I got a magazine that had a kit for making some vellum cards…. I didn’t do a brilliant job of the ideas that the magazine suggested but was happy with these two cards.

Both of them were designed as easel cards and I think they look quite pretty.

So here are my two pretty pretty cards from the kit!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I bought some shimmer watercolours a little while ago and the first thing I did was make a couple of backgrounds… and finally I got round to making them into cards.

The top one I used some Tim Holtz stamps and also flicked a bit of the art alchemy sparks paint on for dimension and added sparkle. I mounted it onto a blue textured card and with a purple organza ribbon.

The next one I used the Petal Palette leaves stamp and kept it quite simple with some string and a brown background.

Love these shimmery paints and can imagine using them a lot!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello… I have a tag to share today that I made for a swap. I decided as it would be received near Valentine’s that a heart theme was appropriate. I grabbed a canvas heart and added to my tag I made from mixed media cardstock. I added colour using Dylusions paints and a baby wipe. I then added some stamping using the paints a pattern stamp from Serene Silhouettes. I then added lots of splatters using the Art Alchemy Sparks and metallique paints and then added stamping using the hugs and kisses stamp from Good Greetings. I love the font on these stamps. I added some more ink to the edges and then finished it off with the same sentiment on white and some drops of glossy accents. Love both the sparkle and the texture on this and the contrast with the silver grey ribbon. Happy crafting! Catherine

Hello. It’s been a while since I’ve shared any circle journal pages as we had a little break to allow for people to catch up. So I’ve been holding onto Marie’s journal for some time.

I did play with the video recording…

… So pop over to You tube to check out how I did this…

I adore the colours and the layers and how something so small such as the patterned paper Marie had included in the envelope sparked my mojo to make this! Such fun!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Another day, another swap… this time a postcard. I watched a Jennifer Maguire YouTube video before I made this about using alcohol inks and lifting colour through a stencil. So I gave it a go! I added the alcohol ink using an applicator to create stripes across a piece of vellum and then used the blending solution to lift colour through the stencil. This created a really soft finish. I then tore the vellum and affixed it to some card stock using my sewing machine… this is by far my favourite way of added vellum to anything. I then heat embossed the Tim Holtz wildflower using the mixed metal colour embossing powder from WOW. I love the finish of this… it looks so textural. And then I added a little sentiment to finish off. I did add some black cardstock to the back to strengthen the postcard for going through the post. Happy crafting! Catherine

The prompt for this week’s playing card challenge was clear and transparent.

I knew immediately I wanted to play with my alcohol inks on acetate and to create a window/frame. But it was yesterday before I got the chance to start.

I did a little playtime first and then remembered to film the process …

Here is the link.

And the final piece…

I love the texture and depth I got on this. And that lovely colour on the acetate layer too.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today I have a postcard to share that I made for a swap. It was an anything goes swap and I decided to go for a sewing theme using paperartsy stamps.

I started with the patterned gingham paper and then layered up the stamping around the outside and added the focal image and the embossed label.

I also added splatters in the pale pink and blue and lots of faux stitching in pen to add to the sewing theme.

Quite a clean and simple type postcard for me… love it!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

The princess’ best friend is a unicorn obsessive so I made a unicorn card for her birthday!  Her birthday was actually at the beginning of December but rather rubbishly she has only been given her card and present today.

I used one of the gelli plate backgrounds I made a while ago as the starting point and added some additional colour to the Claritystamp unicorn. Then I added plenty of wink of Stella to make it brilliantly shimmery! 

I added lots of layers of pink and blue cardstock and then some blue and purple thread wrapped round and knotted. 

So happy belated birthday Millie!

I also have quite a few backgrounds left that I have not had a chance to turn into cards yet… hopefully will be able to soon.  So do watch out for the rest of the backgrounds in the future.

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

Tonight there are a few of my friends coming round for a crafting session.  Originally this was pre Christmas but it ended up being a date no-one could make…so instead it’s tonight for us to have some fun with Distress Oxides. 

I decided that we could all make some pretty papers and then make cards from them… but with a twist… once we’ve made the paper we cut it into pieces and then swap so we have some of each other’s papers. 

I did however need to make a couple of samples to see if we could design cards regardless of the style of the papers we made… with similar elements…. 

… so I first made a vintage themed background with Peeled Paint, Faded Jeans, Vintage Photo, Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain. 

I used a selection of stamps… Timeless Textures, Affection Collection, Butterfly Basics, Sheet Music.

Next I made a bright and funky one… Picked Raspberry, Twisted Citron, Spiced Marmalade, Cracked Pistachio, broken china.  And stamped using stamps from Tap Tap Tap, Handcarved, Happy Celebrations, Butterfly Basics.

Then I cut them into panels… 

… And then started to put together cards based on the same sketches that I put together (whilst eating lunch at work I managed to get some ideas down on paper! 

I started with an inlay die cut using the swirly scribble thinlits die. This provides a lovely finish and needs very little to finish it off.  I just added a stitched framelit oval and a sentiment to each of them and changed the orientation of the cards.

Next I took the other larger panels and I die cut a frame effect using two rectangle dies.  I popped the frame up on foam pads and then added the diecut birds to the middle panel before sticking it back in place.  I added some wink of Stella to the bids and a die cut sentiment label and added twine to each of them … one the linen thread and the other the bakers twine. 

I decided to change the orientation for each of them again to show two possibilities for the card design.

Next up I wanted to use die cut sentiments.  As I was layering two panels of the cardstock I did add a little ink to the edges to give them more definition.  I felt one needed a white sentiment and the other a black.

So onto another layered layout.  I couldn’t resist using this dragonfly die cut for both of the cards.  I just adjusted the position of the bottom panel for each card and chose a different placement for the sentiment.  I die cut both dragonflies from white adding colour using my clarity brushes to keep it gentle.

And finally I gave both of the final cards a mount of black and on one I tore an edge and the other I left it straight.  Then I layered two flower die cuts that i had done in black and white and reversed the order to give them a different look.  I added lots of wink of Stella to the black top level on the bright card as it needed some shimmer.

I am really happy with how these came together as samples… wonder how the session will go and if we will manage to do something different? I’ve diecut loads of bits and pieces and so it will be interesting to see what people use! 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine