Happy Heart & Spring Dawn

2 New cards from the "Birds" Stamps from Elusive Images - sorry I keep calling them the "Birds" as I don't know what the plate will be called yet. Just to show that although the theme plate shows black images - you don't have to stamp these birds in black. You can alter the colours in both cards to suit your own colour scheme.

The first is Happy Heart

This card stated with an off white piece of card which was then coloured using DTP with Tim Holtz Aged Paper and an odd turquoise ink pad. Over the top I used the long stamp from the "Fantasy Floral" themeplate in alternating directions in Anna Griffin Chocolate ink. After inking the edges with the turquoise ink I then mounted it on to a 15cm square card. The topper again started as an off white piece of card which was first stamped over with one of the "Damask Backgrounds" themeplate. The bird was stamped with the Turquoise ink ( with some of the chocolate on the branch ) and then clear embossed. A soft turquoise inked edge before using some of the flourishes from the "Birds" stamps around the edges. The flowers and the filigree in the Bird were coloured in gold with a Sakura pen. The matting was the off white card inked using the turquoise for the top and then another in chocolate for the bottom mat. The sentiment is from the "Words of Wisdom" themeplate which was stamped in the turquoise and then clear embossed. Again matted and layered over inked edged mats. Finally an organza ribbon and three wooden flowers to finish.

Now for ................

Spring Dawn ...

So how's that for colourful ? Yey - Stampbord again !!!

First the main card is an A5 landscape pastel green, the back matting is a white card stock with an inked edge in a summer blue ( from a clearance set of 60 ink pads for a £5 ) , the main background white card stock was first DTP with the summer blue and a soft yellow ink, where the blue and yellow meet it gives a natural soft green hue. This was then stamped over first with the floral spray from the "Floral Damask" themeplate in a whispers baby blue ink, this gave the soft image I was after - more like a shadow stamp. Random filigree swirls were added around the edges wherever I felt like popping them. The "Oval Stampbord" was DTP ( suppose that should read Direct to Stampbord DTS ) and the Bird stamp was stamped in Versafine Olympia green. As this remains wet on Stampbord I embossed it with clear powder and added some more branches to the lower of the oval - again all embossed. I used the "Scratch Tool" to etch into the design and then recoloured using red, orange and yellow inks. The oval edge was sanded back a little. The top background layer for the Stampbord piece was a white piece of card stock, a soft yellow ink was dusted over then stamped again with one of the "Damask Backgrounds" themeplate in the Baby blue whispers ink. Flourishes from the "Birds" stamps to the corners in the summer blue and inked around the edges. This was matted on to a piece of white card stock which had the edges inked over with the yellow and blue.

The greeting comes from "Joanna Sheen - from the Serendipity range" stamped in the blue and clear embossed over a DTP matted layer again matted on to an inked edge layer. The flower is held in place with one of the Large eyelets from Crop-A-Dile.

I'll explain about the flower in another post - make them yourself for pennies !!!

PLEASE REMEMBER - Glendas Blog Candy Give-Away for the "Unicorn" stamps Ends at Midnight Saturday 6th September - if you want to be entered your must leave a comment on the "BLOG CANDY" post to be in with a chance of winning !

The Bird Stamps have arrived !

Well I got back from the office Saturday and there on the door mat were the new ''Bird Stamps'' by Elusive Images that I won courtesy of Glenda Waterworths' Blog . The stampbord hasn't arrived yet but when it does I'm hoping a couple of these stamps will fit it perfectly.

So here's a sneaky peak at what I've made this evening ....

Morning Glory . . . reminiscent of early morning, when a fine mist dances around a meadow and the birds gather to sing.

Shown below ... I 've tilted the card so you can see the gold shadow under each bird which helps them to stand out. I haven't mounted it fully yet as I have quite afew birthdays etc this month so untill I know which occassion it will be used for I won't put a greeting on .



I'll update this post later with some more pics of how I made it etc ... I need a coffee :-)

Now Don't Forget - Glenda Waterworth is giving away some Free stamps.

If you want to be in with a chance to WIN some of Glendas Newest Faery Stamps then you need to leave your comment on the BLOG CANDY post !

Knave of Hearts

Wow - I saw this in the Graphicus Sale - Knave of Hearts and at half price ! I wasn't too sure what I might use it for but at £6.25 you can't go wrong. Boy was I wrong - ( gob smacked as they say in Yorkshire ) the detail in this set of stamps is fantastic and I hope the pictures go someway to showing this.
My first reaction that sprang to mind was the old Medieval architecture, the colours of the stonework and etchings as often seen in these old places and I've tried to bring this out in the card.

1. Using direct to paper techiniques I created an old stone effect background, over the top of this I stamped the large acanthus styled design in a deeper shade, then over this in various shades used in the DTP I randomly stamped the crown.

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2. The border edging on the left and bottom of the card was stamped using a sage green with an odd hint of holly green. The emblem in the bottom corner was a flourish stamp which was then embossed in copper to resemble a seal ( no - not the ones that live in water ! ). I'll explain about the top right emblem lower down.

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3. The scroll was made by taking some paper and aging it using Vandyke crystals dissolved in distilled water and used in a spray bottle. You can add more or less water dependant on the depth of stain you require. I made sure that I also did the back of the paper where I was going to roll it. When dry I stamped the Knave using Versafine Sepia and also added the border stamp to the top and bottom.

4. The scroll edges were torn and then inked with a copper ink pad. I used one of my paint brushes to roll the scroll and some good ol' double sided tape to ensure it stays in place. I placed the scroll on the card as though it wasn't attached, just a bit of tape under the top and bottom of the scroll but with the scroll centre off the page, this gives it some movement as though it had just been unrolled.

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5. The copper emblem, made by triple embossing a piece of card with copper colour embossing powder, on the 3rd embossing while the powder is still fluid stamp into it.
The verdigris aged effect was done by allowing the embossing to crack and then using my sage and holly ink pads to rub into the embossing.

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Overall I was really pleased with the stamp set, even more so as I have also purchased the matching Queen of Hearts set too ! But that's another story that will be coming to a blog near you very soon !