Crazy Critter Monsters

If you haven't seen them yet, you must go and look at the fabulous new Zinski Art stamps over at Paper Artsy!  I am just a little bit in love with these amazing and quirky stamps.

They were ideal for the birthday card for a very amazing little girl.  This is the card that I made.

The background is a 2nd generation Gelli print that I had in my stash.  This was cut and added to a 5x5 card blank and a scribbled border drawn around.

The images were cut and then painted in random quirky colours using Prima watercolours and then some pencil shading added.  These were cut out and added to the card blank.

A simple greeting was added to finish.

Very simple but very quirky and fun!

Thanks for looking.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.....

Now I can't stop singing the song in my head!  It's official - Michael Buble's Christmas album is loaded into the CD player of my car!

I thought I would share one of the Christmas designs that I have made
for my cards this year. 

I actually started these cards before the Alcohol Ink challenge on the Paper Artsy blog.  And I had such fun making them.

The background is created using alcohol ink.  It's been so long since I used them - I had forgotten how fabulous they are!

I then stamped the large background snowflake from JOFY for Paper Artsy - this is an amazing stamp!  I stamped in different ways so that the cards were all slightly different - some were stamped in white, others in blue.  Some were embossed and others had a ghosting image where I removed the ink leaving the white background.

The snowman was stamped and coloured using Prima watercolours.  This was mounted and added to the card and a scribbled border created around the edges.

To finish I stamped a sentiment and added a few gems.

I also created some in a landscape design too:

These were really great fun to make.... mainly due to the amazing stamps designed by Jo Firth-Young!

It certainly got me into the Christmas card making frame of mind that had disappeared this year.

Thanks for looking....

All You Need Is Love

In October we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary (15th!!!  I know!!!)

I waned to put a bit more effort into an anniversary card and used some of the techniques that I learnt from the Seth Apter workshop that I was lucky to attend in September.

This is the finished card

To start the card I created a Gelli print background using a 6x6 Gelli plate, Fresco Finish paints and a Dina Wakely stencil.  This is the print that I pulled from the plate:

Next, I set to work with a pink Posca pen and drew around each shape that made up the hearts.  This took forever but I think was worth it!

The next step was to highlight some of these shapes with a white Posca pen in order to make the heart stand out a bit more.  You can actually see the difference in the next photo as I remembered to take a quick snap before I highlighted the heart in the top right corner.

This is how it looked with all of the hearts highlighted...

I then cut the print to size and added it to a grey card blank.

The main images were stamped onto the second print that I pulled from the Gelli plate.  These were cut out and added to the card.

To finish I scribbled and added a greeting and seam binding.

I was really pleased how this turned out.... so much so.... I created a page in my small journal:

The 'how to' for this journal page is very similar to the card and so I won't go through the steps again.  I had great fun creating these.  And actually found it very therapeutic.  I even remembered to pack the card to take to Portugal as we celebrated our anniversary while we were there!

Thanks for looking....

Mini Journal Play Time

Today I am sharing the pages that I have created in my mini journal over the last few months.

This first page was created by brayering Fresco Finish paints.  I then stamped various shapes over the pages.

Next, I created a border using a That's Crafty stencil and Little Black Dress Fresco paint.

The main image is a Trish Latimer 'Word Girl' stamp that was coloured using Polychromo pencils and then added to the page. 

I finished the page by adding a Tim Holtz quote and scribbling in white marker.

This journal page was again started by brayering Fresco Finish paints. and stamping shapes.

The border was created using a JOFY mini stamp - this is sooooo useful!

The main image is from Kaisercraft - I love this cat - he reminds me of my Sid with a look on his face as though he hasn't been up to anything!  This was stamped and coloured, then cut out and added to the page.

I stamped the Tim Holtz quote - this is a great quote.

To finish, I added shading, scribbling and little doodles!

My final page was really just me playing around - and I actually like it so thought I would share it!

I started this page by stamping various Tracy Scott Paper Artsy stamps. 

I then started to colour these in using Prima watercolours (I have a slight addiction to these).

Once I was happy I coloured in the background in a random and not perfect fashion.

To finish, I added a scribbled border, highlights and little scribbles.

I really like my mini journal - it's such a great size.

Thanks for looking....

How Can It Be December Already!!

I honestly can't believe how quickly this year has gone!  I have been a bad blogger and not shared anything for a long time - I just lose track!

So, I thought I would share some male cards that I have made over the last few months.

The first card that I am showing is the card that I made for Dan's birthday. I wanted to keep this quite simple so that the main car image stood out.

I created a card blank using black card and stamped the cog stamp from Tim Holtz in white Archival in 2 corners.

For the other corners I cut up mart of a masterboard that I had created using Fresco Finish paints and Seth Apter stamps and stencils/

The main image was stamped in Archival and them distressed, mounted onto black card and then onto the card blank.

To finish, I added metal embellishments.

Next, is a card that I made for a friend's birthday:

I added different layers to the card blank. 

The main image, from Tim Holtz, was stamped in Archival and then a wash of Gold watercolour was added.  The numbers were also coloured in Gold watercolour.

The final card to share uses one of my favourite ever stamps which I never get bored of using:

This Paper Artsy 'Gentleman' image is just timeless.  I adore it!

I covered the card blank using a painted masterboard.

The image was stamped and mounted onto card before attaching to the card blank.

The Greeting was die cut and added. I created shadow around it to make it pop.

So.... that's what I have been up to over the last few months!!

Thanks for looking.....