Frilly and Funkie October Challenge- Haunted Halloween

**********************UPDATE************************
Guess what peeps - I won! I cannot believe it and it really made my Monday. You can see all the action here.

My debut make for the Frilly and Funkie. October challenge There is the usual amount of things going on- I am not sure that I am capable of making a simple card!

Well I find myself drawn to another card making challenge (well okay, I am addicted to them now) and to be honest, it is a wonderful way to focus my makes and really test myself - the whole point of a challenge after all!

I had some card stock left over from another project that I had painted with acrylic paints. Perfect for the Skeleton!

This time it is for Frilly and Funkie and the theme is Haunted Halloween. Now how could I possibly resist that!

Highlighting the bats with some white Gel pen and then only adhering the middles gives some extra dimension.

I started this make with a C5 white card blank and a piece of 250gsm card the same size.  To this I added some Tim Holtz Halloween Design tape for the edge.

Purple, bone and black just works!

I am not much of a purple user but this time, it suited the theme perfectly. I inked some pieces of card with Distress Oxide Ink         (seedless preserves, dusty concord, hickory smoke and black soot).

I sew on almost all of my cards - it is a nod to my day job!

These pieces were layered and sewn (one trimmed to make it slightly smaller.).

The card that I used for the skeleton had been painted and treated with a weathered wood crackle medium (DecoArt). This we perfect for giving him a cracked and old look!

Then came the die cuts. Tangled Twigs (Sizzix) was perfect for the background onto some TH black kraft core paper and then sanded (of course!).

Adore layers and dimension!

Before I adhered the twiggy panel on, I stamped an owl and moon from the Stampers Anonymous Mr Bones onto a piece of oxided card and die cut it with a circle die.

I have been waiting for the perfect chance to use that owl stamp!

It was time for skeleton man to come out of the grave and go exploring. He is from the Sizzix too and comes from the Ghoulish die set.

For me, it is all about that shadow!

I made a shadow for him by keeping the negative piece that I cut him from and using it as a stencil with some Black Soot Distress Ink and a Blender Brush. He has some bat companions too! They come from the same die set.

The tombstones are so easy to make - don't forget to check out the link!

A tombstone was a must. I have a full tutorial for those here and the black grass was just card offcuts snipped with a lovely sharp pair of Tonic scissors.

When I first started using the quote chips, I didn't think of sanding them -Duh! I sand everything!!

All that was left to do then was to sand a quote chip and add some spookiness with another message using TH Label Letters.

Well fingers crossed that this one will meet with favour! Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that you are a bit inspired to enter a challenge yourself!
Hugs
Debbie
xx

Easter Cards and a Gelli Plate Printing Adventure

Love that time of the year when my garden decides to produce some flowers!

So it is Easter again and I have been busily making cards. The difference for this one is a Gelli plate. I bought one and gingerly put it aside (as you do) imagining that it would be quite difficult to use.

Just perfect

Well once again, I have been proven wrong. It was easy and it was fun. I used DecoArt acrylic paints in a few Easter pastel colours and set to work making backgrounds for some seasonal cards.

I wish this stuff lasted longer inside!

Please forgive me that I have lost my step by step photos! I have safely tucked them into a digital file SOMEWHERE. I will make it up to you with a new tutorial after Easter with some proper photos - honestly, the ones that I had were not brilliant.

So, rather than me making excuses, let me show you the cards and talk about them a little bit....

Don't just plonk the hat on the bird's head! I use a surgical scalpel to cut the hat and wrap it around the head so that it looks like it is actually being worn.

I have drawn heavily on my Tim Holtz favourite crazy birds and dies for this one. Basically, I gelli printed some random card with acrylic paints and then cut a piece for the background and some more with my Sizzix Big Shot and alphabet dies indifferent fonts. I cut a Christmas bow too.
Lots of layers and then sewn on with my sewing machine (honestly, there is little that it cannot do!).

Butterflies are ALWAYS a great Easter option!

The next one was an egg cut using my oval stitched die and some greenery. I suspect that this was also a Christmas one. I used Tim Holtz Kraft core paper and sanded it (of course). The butterfly was the big star here. I stamped it onto some gelli printed card and it emerged, as butterflies do, with the most gorgeously surprising colours!

The pink splatters on the card add a new dimension.

Birds in bonnets again! This bird is coloured with Distress inks but the rest is gelli printed and of course the font cut from my Sizzix alphabet dies. The butterfly is another one stamped onto acrylic printed card.

Love the effect that the printed card has when making letters

I love my postage stamp die and it made a perfect border for the gelli printed background. Sewing appears in most of my cards. Honestly, it really gives a card a finishing touch! If you are not a sewist, it is worth finding a cheap sewing machine just to do this.

So much going on in this one!

Finally a touch of whimsy with a thoroughly bemused cat! This one has a conglomeration of all sorts including gelli printed, stamped, water coloured with distress inks and die cut.
Once again, be sure not to just glue things like hats over the animal or bird. I always cut the hat strategically so that I can put it ON the subject. Otherwise it just doesn't look realistic - too perched.

Well that is it for now. Have a happy and safe Easter everyone and I promise (in fact I am already planning it) to make a proper Gelli Plate tutorial in a very short while.

Love and hugs
Debbie
xx

Stamping and Book Pages

Hello all and welcome once again to by blog.

I was wandering through my library not so long ago and I came across an old French dictionary which I never use - I hasten to add here  that this book is too old to be useful in the normal sense but it is not so old as to be valuable and do make that distinction when you are searching for a book to use in craft projects. If it is a first edition, make sure that it isn't worth more than the house!

I am loving stamping and colouring the images with Tim Holtz Distress markers at the moment and I thought that I would show you a few examples.

These are so easy to do as well, simply choose a book which is slightly older - one with a bit of age and the older style papers look lovely and mellow and they are useful for so many crafts.

Tear out the page and get stamping! I chose a couple of birds for this first one and a branch from a completely different stamp set. Think of your stamps as individuals rather than a set which comes together. as individuals you can break them up and use them anywhere. I have had a few which were, strictly speaking, joined together. They looked better when cut up and I have used them constantly since.

The images are all stamped with Ranger Archival Ink in black. This is a more serious type of ink and it is permanent. This is good in this setting because it means that the ink will not smudge and it will not come off onto the markers.

I have used the Distress Markers here to colour and shade the images  and then make a shadow effect around the bird too. To achieve this, make a line with the thick (brush) end and immediately smudge it out with your finger. You have to work like lightening because it dries really quickly but the results are worth it.

Here are some ladybugs made the same way....

I have been a little creative with the colours too. One is traditional red but I have gone for a green and a blue one to see what they would look like.

When you are using this technique, choose three values of each colour marker. A colour value means the lightness or darkness of the colour. It doesn't matter which colours are used, go through your stash and use what you have. The main thing is to use the colours and then to remember the rule of thirds.

The rule of thirds means that the first layer of colour is to be 3/3 - total coverage. The next layer is 2/3 - some of layer one showing through and the last layer is 1/3 - highlighting. Imagine if you coloured something completely each time. No point to that!

With most paints, you can leave the highlighting layer to the last one - think acrylics. With Distress Markers however, because they are transparent, you will do it all in reverse, like water colour. Layer one is the lightest shade (3/3), layer two is the medium (2/3) and layer three (1/3) is the darkest one and is used the least.

Have a look at what I mean with the little girl in the rain above. You can see on the jacket how the shading effect works out. Once it is learned and practised, it will work out every time. Bliss!

Finally for this series are the butterflies to show you another application of the technique. Have a go and see what you can come up with. Then use these images in your cards and layouts. They are money in the bank for Mixed Media projects too.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting
love Debs
xxx

Stamping With Acrylic Paint

Hi All!

Well it is getting closer to Christmas and I have been so busy with my day job, writing furiously for the year ahead - magazine world is such a strange place to live, that I have not had a chance to post anything remotely Christmassy! Let's do something about that right now!!

Normally when papercrafters and card makers talk about stamping, they reach for their favourite ink pad. But there is another way. Consider acrylic paints! I love DecoArt for their general versatility and now I can add stamping to the mix.

Before we begin though, I want to do the right thing and thank the wonderfully talented Andy Skinner for showing this idea. We have much for which to thank him!

So. What do we need? Firstly, we need some paints. DecoArt have litterally dozens of gorgeous colours and then they all mix together ad infinitum so the sky is literally the limit.

Next you need a stamp or two. Let's choose something Christmassy for the sake of this particular argument.

A brush is also needed and make it a flat one to make the spreading of the paint easier. I use a 3/4 flat brush. This is a really good all rounder and it makes a welcome addition to your kit. Incidentally, if you are new to painting and you are worried about choosing a brush size, they are printed on the handle and if they are not, RUN! the brush is too cheap and is a waste of your money. Buy a great brush and look after it.

You will also need a non stick sheet. These are those beige Teflon ones - everywhere at the moment. However, if you have not got access to one and you need to do this tonight, try non stick baking paper. Even waxed paper. Experiment.

The first thing to do after choosing the paint colour and the stamp is to put a pea sized amount onto the non stick matting.

Spread it out with the brush until it is very thin and even.

Coat the stamp by pressing it onto the paint and then apply it to your project. et voila! A very crisp image.

So why bother, I hear you ask? Well, this paint is lightfast and waterproof. You can use it where you cannot use ink, paints come in an almost infinite number of colours and you can mix them for more. This is without talking about the benefits of being able to stamp white or light over dark and the whole world of metallic shades. You can use paint over transparent and translucent surfaces, layer them up and it is simply another way of approaching the subject. Acrylic is waaaay cheaper too, need I go on...Have a play anyway and see how you go.

There is a small warning though. Acrylic paint dries really fast. This is both a good and a bad thing. In particular, I am talking about your brushes and stamps. Wash them immediately in water. Never leave this task because once the paint is dry, it is dry. As I said, both  a good and a bad thing!

Thank you so much for stopping by!
See you next time,

Debs
xxx