Creative Chemistry 101 – Day 3

It’s Creative Chemistry 101 Day Three and we’ve learnt about the properties of oil-based Archival Ink from Ranger. I only have black at the moment… which makes some of the homework a bit tricky. Tag one is the alcohol ink agate background with images stamped in Archival Ink, tag two is the Archival Resist on glossy paper (only I substituted Adirondack pigment inks, which of course are water based and not going to do the same), and tag three is the Reflections Stamping onto embossing folder – only I don’t have the Reflections stamps, but I practiced the principle! Not my best work as I’m rushing to get done in time to go set up at the NEC and got them done in 40 mins 🙂

 

Creative Chemistry 101 – Day 2

I’ve enrolled on another course – this one is online and is a 10-day delve into the world of Ranger inks and other products lead by none other than ‘Professor’ Tim Holtz. Creative Chemistry 101 Day One introduced us to the various types of ink and their properties. Day Two was exploring distress inks, and for me was a revision of blending and spritzing, watercolour stamping and wrinkle free distress. Here’s my homework tags:

More butterflies – and the odd moth

I’ve had a creative day today – and this is one of the results. I’ve used the new Attic Treasures stamp from Tim Holtz, masking tape, Promarkers and a Letrajet attachment, a bit of Letraset metallic tape and a few stick on pearls. I’ve kept it clean and simple to enter the ‘Less is More’ masking challenge this week, and the colour scheme fits the ‘Passion for Promarkers’ yellow and pearls challenge. Oh, and me being me, I looked up each of the winged things on the interweb to find out what colours they should be…

I’m thrilled to be showcased over on the Less is More blog for this card – what an honour to be the first LIMister!

WOW! Some new stamps :)

Very exciting news – WOW! Embossing Powders have new stamp designs available. Here’s a quick card showing some of them, with a minimalist design suitable for beginners.

I’m entering it into the ‘Less is More’ one layer challenge this week as well. I’ve prepared an instruction sheet ready for the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC, Birmingham (22nd-25th March) – here – I’d love you to have a look and let me know if it’s clear enough!

 

Simply a Mother’s Day card

I’ve found a challenge blog that suits my natural card making style – ‘Less is More’, a clean and simple challenge blog. There’s so much less of the layers and lace and embellishments and frippery – just a clean simple card. So I thought I’d enter a card into their neutrals theme challenge this week. And then I realised I hadn’t done a ProMarker card for a while, so thought I’d enter the same card into ‘Passion for Promarkers’ challenge this week on their Mother’s Day theme.

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Twelve Tags for 2012 – March & April

Hi all – my journey into 2012 in tags continues, with March and April ready to be taught at the Manic Stamper Craft Club on 17th March. I note that a certain Mr Tim Holtz has copied me copying him and is doing his own monthly tags too 😉 – check them out here. But before you do – here’s mine! Full instructions for March and April are posted over at The Manic Stamper blog.

An old magazine and a bit of Brasso?

Recycling is all the rage these days – apparently making something you’re about to throw away into something useful and beautiful is now known as upcycling. Here’s how to upcycle a glossy magazine page into a pretty greetings card using Brasso, embossing powder and a bit of elbow grease.

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More ATCs and a Gift Box

I’ve been busy melting powders today… the last of my ATCs for this weekend’s swap with the Wow! Embossing Powder Design Team are complete! As normal, the photo doesn’t quite do them justice 🙁

And the last of my creations to be made in time for the trade show at the NEC is this lovely gift box – it’s just 5 cm square at the base and made from a sheet of A4 coloured card. The stamps are all from Wow! Embossing Powder, as is the fabulous no-messing-about-with-antistatic-bags white embossing powder.

ATCs – heat embossing techniques

I’ve been busy quilting for the last few Thursday mornings, and all weekend – I’ll be showing the quilts off in due course once they are finished. I also spent several hours this week doing 3 metres of bunting for the WOW! Embossing Powder stand at the NEC trade show this weekend:

We’re also doing a Design Team ATC swap at the show, and have been encouraged to share our favourite embossing powder techniques… here are two of mine: