Category: Sizzix

Emma Godfrey, Gummiapan, Ribbons, Sizzix, Stampendous, YouTube video

Playing with purple distress inks

Catherine

Last weekend I grabbed a stack of distress inks to make a background inspired by Jennifer McGuire but ended up not using the two that I made originally but instead the ‘fail’ background and made that into a card. If you fancy watching it come together I did video the whole thing.

If not … read on!

So the background was made by using distress ink resist mono print type technique. But this one didn’t come out very clearly so I decided as it was pretty to carry on playing with it regardless and come up with something. It ended up quite grungy and I love it!

I used the Gummiapan alphabet stamp and then lots of splatters. Then the Stampendous stamp that had been used as the resist pattern originally.

Then I picked out some new to me dies (I know no spend but I bought these with the money I had used selling stash so I’m not counting it as spends! – yes I’ve found a loophole in my no spend resolution I’m willing to work with!)

Anyways I die cut some leaves and the circle in white and stacked them up.

I grabbed the denim blue ribbon and added that before adding the banner and sentiment. I also die cut the little circles from the same cardstock and die set and added wink of Stella and used them as gem type embellishments.

I used Rich Razzleberry as the base and added a layer of white to frame the background panel and added white inside to make sure it was good for writing on (but didn’t decorate the inside).

Really pleased with this inky card and what’s more from the play I ended up with another three backgrounds to play with.

I did end up using one of them straightaway and filmed another video but I’ll blog about that once I’ve got round to editing and uploading it!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Advertisement
Design Team, Sizzix

DT: Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog

Catherine

Good morning! First of August (which actually means Happy Birthday Mum but not sharing her card right now!).

Instead it is time for this months Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog design team contribution!

Again I delved into the old Making Cards magazine stash and made these two fun modern cards.

I don’t often use ‘characters’ in my cardmaking, but these cute images I could see myself using and I LOVE the pretty papers that came in the kit.

I decided to team them up with lovely sentiment stamps also from a magazine set and stamped directly onto the main images. Then I decided to play with an old Sizzix die set of those flowers as they are sweet and modern and I think they worked with the images well.

Inside the cards I added more paper, and the same for the envelopes.

Simple finishing touches of some rhinestones made these cards cute but simple and I love how they turned out!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Design Team, Itty Bitty Greetings, Sizzix

DT: Happy Little Stampers – Anything goes with dies

Catherine

Time for another design team contribution… this time it is for Happy Little Stampers and I created a card using dies. I was inspired by the Artist Trading Coins I made for this months swap and made a square landscape using the Sizzix dies.

After die cutting and assembling the scene (I used watercolour for the sky portion) I then die cut the panel as a whole using my stitched squares die…. this took a fair few passes through the machine as there are quite a few layers of green cardstock to make the hills… but it worked!

Then a simple sentiment and a button to embellish and some layers of card and paper for the cardfront.

Loved playing with these stitched landscape dies. Looking forward to seeing what dies others have been using this month over at the Blog challenge.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Artist Trading Coins, Sizzix

“Landscape” ATCoin swaps

Catherine

Hello!

Over on my Facebook swap group our theme for February is “Landscape” and I chose to play with some Sizzix dies I was gifted a long time ago by the lovely Mara but hadn’t really got around to using.

They are stitched landscape dies and this seemed like the perfect time to get them out to play!

The great news about using small dies like these and creating a landscape on such a small scale is I used lots of scraps of cardstock to create these little coins… so it felt like I was being thrifty too!

On each I alternated with the cardstock colours for the hills… and I wish I had used the stitched circle to cut out the complete circle so that the stitching continued round but never mind.

I chose a Paperartsy stamp for the sentiment that spoke to me … simply embossed in white on the bottom hill.

Then I used recycled die cuts to make the coin the right size …. and the brown frames the landscape perfectly!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Distress oxide ink, In the Pines, Joy, Peace & Joy, Pine Woods, Sheena Douglass Embossing Folders, Sizzix, Tim Holtz, Wreath Builder

Merry Christmas!

Catherine

Merry Christmas dear blog readers… hope you have a lovely day, however you choose to enjoy it. Clearly we all have had very different years all year and Christmas will no doubt be a different experience too. However staying safe is the most important thing and we will get to party and spend time with our loved ones another time as long as we stay safe!

OK… onto the crafting… today I have the cards I made for the child and the hubby to share with you. As usual they were the last cards I’ve made… always left until the last minute!

The Princess got a pretty wreath card with peach and green colours and lots of white.

Hopefully you can see plenty of sparkle on the words too and a bit of soft wool for the bow.

The hubby also had word dies feature, but I went for a wintery scene instead…

I used lots of ink blending and splatter for the background and lots and lots of sparkle on the trees too.

Entering this card into the Stampin Up only challenge for Winter cards.

Really pleased with both cards and they incorporated my new obsession of die cutting which I have really taken to this past few months.

Anyway, thats all from today. Best wishes to you all.

Happy crafting & Merry Christmas!

Catherine

Claritystamps, Design Team, Peace & Joy, Sizzix, Tim Holtz

DT: CHNC: use the word Christmas

Catherine

Almost at the big day… So time to get those last minute cards made.

Today I have my design team contribution for you for CHNC. Hazel’s challenge for this week was to use the word Christmas… not a challenge given its a Christmas card! Lol!

I used some making cards magazine patterned paper and used Magenta Madness to add a base and create strips on either side of the sentiment panel.

The sentiment panel I used a Claritystamps stamp and Versafine to get a good dark impression on the Soft Sea Foam cardstock. Then I decided to go funky and use my Tim Holtz moose die. I cut him from black twice and then added the extra elements using the leftover bits of magenta madness and soft sea foam.

I finished off with the little merry stamped image embossed onto black cardstock.

Really fun card and not too challenging to put together.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Artist Trading Coins, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Gummiapan, Lawn Fawn stamps, Masks/Stencils, Sizzix, YouTube video

More play Artist trading Coins

Catherine

Hi… another coin video for you to see… and more for the theme of play as I got a little carried away and fancied making more!

So this time robots, spaceships and toy cars are the feature images and the colour scheme is blues and greens… I started with a masterboard.

And then die cut it and moved it onto the features.

Here are the finished articles…

Really cute! Love these so much and love the fact making a masterboard like this gives you the easy option of making multiples… and I also have an ATC background too to finish at another time.

So fun!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Artist Trading Coins, Distress oxide ink, Kim Dellow, Masks/Stencils, Sizzix, Tim Holtz Tissue Wrap

Two artist trading coins

Catherine

Last night I had a spare hour whilst the hubby watched men kicking a ball up and down a field and the child was doing a similar activity in the garden with her friend so decided to make a couple of coins from some mountboard I had leftover on the desk.

I started with a piece of Tim Holtz tissue wrap and added that with a coat of gesso over it. Then I added distress oxides in Fossilized Amber, candied apple and peacock feathers.

Next I added some stamping using one of the Kim Dellow Paperartsy sets. Then chose to add versamark through a stencil … forgetting that the oxides would also grab the powder … but as I had no definite plan and was just creating a background I didn’t mind. The powder I chose was a mixed batch I have in a pot when I mixed a few colours together.

I then cut out the coins using the sizzix die… one moved slightly and it has a small flat bit on one side but not enough to matter!

Next I stamped and cut out the Kim Dellow flowers and also die cut some stems from black cardstock for in the background.

I coloured the flowers with the same colour of distress oxides as the background and then stuck them all down. I also added some highlights with a versamarker pen and added more embossing powder.

I then added the sentiments and decided I wanted to coat them completely in clear embossing to create a glazed tile effect. Three layers later I was happy with these… although they are difficult to photograph due to the shine and dimension.

A question about sealing your artwork came up on a facebook group I am a member of … this is by far my favourite way of doing it and it can completely transform the artwork, especially if there is dimension involved. Love it!

So another set to satisfy my new obsession for these little works of circular art. And don’t forget about the Facebook swap group …. there is still time to get your Light and Dark coins to me! Check it out here!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Alcohol Inks, Artist Trading Coins, Distress oxide ink, Masks/Stencils, Petal Palette, Petals and more, Sizzix

Another Art coin

Catherine

This artist trading coin was made because I had some yupo on my desk and fancied playing with alcohol inks. I made the background first and let it dry and then added texture paste through a stencil.

Once that was dry I die cut the circle and then added more of the ink and included the gold mixative. This created a fabulous rich finish.

I sanded back the texture a little to see if that made a difference to the numbers… it did but only a bit.

I added the sentiment sticker but then I decided to sew the yupo to a backing piece of cardstock to make sure it stuck well.

Once I had done this I added the die cut flower and then stamped and die cut the bird from the petals palette stamp set. I used oxides to stamp and colour the bird.

I love how this came out and enjoyed playing with my alcohol inks and combining the different textures. And that gold mixative is fabulous!

Happy crafting!

Catherine