Monday 29 June 2009

The Whole Book

I managed to find a way of publishing a slide show of the whole thing, in sequence. So here it is. I hope you like it.





And a few more






Here are the pages for April, May and June. Techniques are basically the same as for the previous months, but this time I used yellow as the base card for the pockets, and sprayed with red, orange, yellow, gold and copper inks. I also used orange card for layering the date panels, rather than the darker red.



I wish I knew how to put all of these pictures into a slide show. Will post the remaining pages soon to finish off this set of posts, and then hopefully move on to something else.



Thanks for looking,

Tuesday 23 June 2009

More pages

Here are the pages for the first 3 months of the year:




I used the same red card for each page, onto which I stamped a background using Fired Brick Distress Ink. I then added some gold highlights onto the base. For some of them I used Encore Ink in gold, for others, I used Perfect Pearls dusted over an image stamped with the Tsukineko Essential Glue Pad (which I bought in one of my many attempts to get a good foiled image - the result being, I wouldn't recommend it for foiling, but it's great with Perfect Pearls and other mica powders). The pockets started life as plain orange cardstock, believe it or not, which was improved immensely by the liberal application of spray inks from Sticky Fingers and further spraying with some sumptuous Starburst Stains, which I think are quite similar to Glimmer Mists. Sadly, my photography skills don't do justice to the shimmery finish. Not, the only problem with the resulting finish was that I found it quite difficult to stamp onto. Even the Encore Ink, which is a really good metallic finish on most surfaces, didn't show up very well, so I had to resort once again to the Essential Glue Pad/Perfect Pearls combo or to embossing. Even then, I found that the embossed finish started to melt into the background much more quickly than usual.

For the date panels, I printed out tables that I created with my word processor, and mounted them onto matt gold and contrasting burgundy card. If and when I need to update them, I will simply stick the new panels over the top.

Thanks for looking, I'll be back soon with the next few pages.


Monday 22 June 2009

A Year in Cards

Phew, I've just finished my biggest project to date. It's a birthday book - a book with a page for each month to record birthdays (or cards that I need to make) and a pocket in which to store those cards once I've made them. I'm not going to admit just how long it did take to make, but at last it's finished.

To stay with a consistent theme, I decided to go with a limited colour palette and just one range of stamps. For colour, I began with red - my favourite colour - as the base, to which I added accents of gold, copper and orange. There are also some touches of yellow for the summer months. Yellow is my least favourite colour, so I chose to use up some yellow base card by altering it with spray inks in red, orange, gold and copper. For the autumn and winter months, I managed to disguise some orange base card by covering it entirely with spray inks in darker red shades, together with more gold and copper.

All of the stamps that I used are from the Damask Delights range from Elusive Images. I just adore these stamps, and I really enjoyed using them for this project.

OK, here is the grand unveiling of the cover:


I covered some A4 pieces of chipboard (Tip: You never know when the packaging from your online shopping will come in useful) with some gorgeous red and gold handmade paper that I bought a few years ago at the most wonderful paper shop that we found in Southern Spain. The stamped flower image has been foiled by using the absolutely amazing Stickum powder by Sparkle 'n Sprinkle. I've tried so many ways of getting a really good foil effect, and I cannot recommend this product too highly. Just in case you're wondering,I bought mine from Joanna Sheen. I think I'll be using this much more, especially for Christmas cards.

The letters are made with some thin craft metal that I cut out with my Cuttlebug. I backed the metal with double-sided tape before I cut it out, as I have learned from experience that's the easiest way to stick die-cut letters.

The butterflies are also die cut and embossed with the Cuttlebug, using more gold coloured metal and some off-cuts from the sprayed yellow card.

Finally, I added a few flourishes that I cut from various pieces of gold paper with my Whale of a Punch.

I hope you like it enough to come back and see the next few pages.......

Sunday 8 March 2009

Card for Mother's Day

Sadly, since my mum died just over two years ago, I only have one card to make for Mother's Day, for my MIL. This is this year's effort, for which I have been saving the bluebell heart stamp from Elusive Images. Once I had coloured the main image with my Prismacolor pencils, I realised that the Lily Kate papers from Basic Grey would be a good match with it. So, in the spirit of trying to use more of my existing stash before buying any more, I found myself cutting into three whole sheets for this card! I cut the heart apertures with my long-neglected shape cutter and even broke into some Safmat to add the text quotation on the left. I finished the whole thing off with some die-cut letters and a ribbon bow. The final effect is very different from my usual style, with many more colours and patterns - overall it's much 'busier' than my normal comfort zone. To be honest, I'm still not sure if I like it.......
Anyway, if you happened to stop by, thanks for looking.

Friday 13 February 2009

A pair of cute bears



I've been practising my watercolouring. I got out my dusty tin of Lyra Aquacolour crayons and tried them out on this cute bear by Stamps by Judith. I think there's still some room for improvement, but will keep trying. I used papers from K&Co on both cards, together with some of my vast stash of ribbon. Also took the chance to try out my Fiskars Threading Water punch, which is seriously addictive ;) I hope you like them.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Art Deco in Black and white


As a long-standing admirer of all things Art Deco, when I found the Di Kaye Art Deco CD by Card Creations Plus I just had to buy it. This card features one of the many fabulous images on the CD. I have added some black glitter to the image and mounted it onto a black base card by Kanban that is embellished with a celtic motif - I thought it went quite well with the Art Deco mood. A little organza ribbon in silver is the only other embellishment.

Monday 2 February 2009

My blue Valentine


I recently joined the CBC forum and couldn't resist their challenge to make a Valentine's card that had no red or pink, because I've been saving this flocked DCWV cardstock for a romantic occasion. I used stamps by Crafty Individuals and some domed alphabet stickers that have been sitting in a drawer for ages. Some silver beads and fibres are the other embellishments.