Background Check: Day 2

Posted on 28th July 2015 by perfectly4med

It’s Day 2 of my online class, and we’re playing with stamps and inks to make backgrounds. In the main today was revising techniques I’ve previously come across, but always good to see them used in imaginative ways by the tutors and yank them back to the forefront of my memory! Here’s today’s highlights:

Lots of stripes, and not a stripe stamp in sight. What’s a man to do? Go find some funky foam and cut that into strips. Add a bit of removable double sided tape, and ta da, strippy stripy stamps and backgrounds 🙂

I also like the idea of working more on mid-tone cardstock. I remember in college working on a charcoal ground and getting on better – you can use light and dark shades to emphasise shape, form and, in this case, pattern. I’ve been doing some zentangling on Strathmore Toned Gray Artist’s Tiles and finding the same (more of that in another post).

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What I did at the weekend…

Posted on 30th March 2015 by perfectly4med

This gorgeous bird started out as a £1 plain brass charm at the start of Saturday morning. It’s only 7x5cm in size, but had the dimples ready for the cloisonné effect additions of Stickles Glue (Stardust, Peacock & Lagoon), Juniper Liquid Pearls and some Glossy Accents. So by the end of Sunday, this was the final result. I need to make sure I get to the rest of them, so I’m staying quiet as to where I found it!

I also completed two more art journal pages – another for my Carabelle Studio stamps demo, and the second featuring new stamps from Tim Holtz. This page had several layers of paint and distress stains to start, and then I augmented it with the ‘Pretty Like A Flower’ stamp, with distress markers. It’s the first time I’ve used PanPastels to tone down a background, fixing with a quick hairspray. Which by the way causes archival ink to swim about, so the gesso layer got thicker to cover that learning moment…

Iridescent watercolours really make the embossed butterfly zing – but beware when drying the previous page – the embossing remelts and distresses both the artist and the facing page somewhat!

Never Been Used: Spider Mum Stamp

Posted on 22nd October 2014 by perfectly4med

I’m sure I’m not the only one that has a section of stash that has never been used. Shocking, I know. I have to admit my never been used pile is relatively small – but I have a lot of stash, so there’s actually a fair number of items in it! This situation is not good. Happily, I keep stamps out of the drawer until I have used them in a project and as the pile is growing, I thought I would do something about it.

So I’d like to introduce you to a new hashtag: #nbu – never been used. If you too would like to rise to the challenge of raiding your stash for something that you have never used so far, make a project with it and share the fact that you have one less thing that has never been used, remember to tag it with #nbu. Then we can all share in your success!

Here’s my inaugural never been used project. I have several Stampendous Jumbo stamps in my unused pile, and this is the first to be used – Spider Mum. I’ve stamped in Jet Black Archival onto watercolour paper and then coloured with Letraset AquaMarkers. The border is heat embossed with WOW! Superfine White Pearlescent EP.

Exploding Bauble Box (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 24th September 2014 by perfectly4med

This is my last project as a member of the Creative Expressions Design Team – and I thought I’d go out with a bang! For some reason the inspiration came at 3am in the morning, and then again at 5am, so 12 hours later, here it is! It also happens to be my first ever exploding box.

The exterior is decorated with heat embossed baubles, coloured with Cosmic Shimmer Mists used as paints as well as the Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Inks and Sparkle PVA, embellished with Cosmic Shimmer White PVA and topped off with a grosgrain ribbon bow.

An all white interior shows the die cut filigree baubles beautifully, whilst the centre bauble seems magically suspended (if only acetate wasn’t quite so reflective!). Here’s a short slow-mo video of the ‘explosion’:

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Sparkling Baubles Card (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 17th September 2014 by perfectly4med

For my penultimate DT project for Creative Expressions, I’ve gone all sparkly! Featuring heat embossing, two types of glitter, two types of coloured PVA and two types of card, this relatively clean and simple card is packed full of winter sparkle.

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Potted Poinsettia (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 10th September 2014 by perfectly4med

When I first saw the poinsettia stamps and dies from Sue Wilson’s Festive Collection for Creative Expressions, I knew I had to go 3D. There’s nothing quite so Christmas as a classic potted poinsettia. A simple, though repetitive, make, this will brighten any room.

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Teal Triptych (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 27th August 2014 by perfectly4med

My final -ptych card using this month’s featured stamps from Creative Expressions is another play on the tone-on-tone theme. Featuring heat embossing, iridescent watercolour and careful colour choices, this is a simple, relatively quick, and effective card for any occasion.

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Creative Expressions August 2014 Blog Hop

Posted on 15th August 2014 by perfectly4med

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Welcome to the Creative Expressions August 2014 Blog Hop! Hopefully you got here from Donna’s blog but, if you didn’t, here’s the start at the Creative Expressions News Blog!

These new Christmas designs from the Singles Range at Creative Expressions, include seven different stamps. As you will see from the samples made for the Blog Hop, they do not just have to be used as they are but can be altered and interchanged to give lots of different options.

One randomly selected person commenting on this blog post before the closing date will win the following fabulous prize, which includes some of the new stamp designs:

Here are four card ideas for three of the new stamp designs:

Joy to the World

Stamp Joy to the World in Perfect Medium on Coconut White card. Heat emboss with Lapis Black Aurora. Cut to size. Emboss 4½” square piece of Brunswick Green card with Couture Creations New Year Dove folder. Wrap a length of Green/Ivory Grosgrain ribbon round the embossed card and secure. Mount on 4⅝” square piece of Coconut White card, then a 5″ square of Brunswick Green, using Cosmic Shimmer Specialist Acrylic Glue. Stick down to your card blank and then outline the white card border in Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Twinkle.

Believe

Print Believe stamp onto Milk card with Perfect Medium ink and heat emboss with Bright Gold Metallic embossing powder. Cut to size and mount on Brunswick Green card. Emboss a strip of Brunswick Green card, 5″ x 1¾”, using the New Year Dove folder. Mount on your card blank and overlay the heat embossed image using foam pads. Add the pearl swirls and edge with Comic Shimmer Golden Sparkle PVA.

Joy to the World #2

Stamp Joy to the World with Perfect Medium ink and mask the bottom image before printing onto a piece of Cobalt card stock. Heat emboss with True Detail White embossing powder. Cut out leaving a ¼” border. Edge with 5mm double sided tape. Reveal top layer of tape and cover with Cosmic Shimmer Diamond Sprinkes, pressing the glitter into the tape before brushing off the excess and returning to the pot. Cut a piece of Cobalt card 2½” high to fit your card blank and edge with Diamond Sprinkles as before. Using a piece of wide low tack masking tape, press down over the self adhesive Star Swirl and carefully peel off from the backing sheet – the masking tape keeps the shape as you transfer it to the cardstock. Press down firmly on the pearls taking care not to press the masking tape too hard onto the card – peel off the masking tape. Mount on your card blank with Cosmic Shimmer Glue and then adhere two small Fancy Pearl Embellishments using the same glue. Allow to dry completely.

Happy New Year

Ink up Happy New Year stamp with Perfect Medium and mask off side and top section, print onto Cobalt card. Heat emboss with Silver Shine Metallic embossing powder. Mount on Milk card using Cosmic Shimmer Specialist Acrylic Glue. Emboss a 5″ x 3½” piece of Cobalt card with the Couture Creations Happy New Year folder and gild with Pewter Gilding Wax. Mount on Milk card with Cosmic Shimmer Glue. Stamp, emboss and mount the sentiment from All Occasions set as before. Assemble on a C6 card and embellish with drops of Silver Lustre pearlescent PVA.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave a comment below in order to be in with a chance of winning a prize!

Once you have done that, you will need to click here to visit Tracy’s blog.

To help you along the way, here is a list for the Blog Hop:-

1. Sue Wilson
2. Julia Watts
3. Tracey Laughton
4. Kim Bacon
5. Donna Ratcliff
6. Neil Burley [you are here] 7. Tracy Heaton
8. Kerry Hickton
9. Pam Smith
10. Creative Expressions

Start page, prize details and how to take part: Creative Expressions News Blog. The blog hop started on Friday 15th August at 6am and ends Tuesday 19th August at 5pm.

Thank you for taking part in our Blog Hop – good luck!

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Brusho Paint Crystals are go!

Posted on 29th July 2014 by perfectly4med

Ever since I came across the name ‘Brusho’ and saw what Eileen Goodwin had done with them, I just had to have a play! For the unfamiliar, Brusho paints are water-soluble crystals of glorious colour which can be sprinkled onto a wet surface, or scattered dry and then spritzed, or indeed just mixed with water to make a watercolour paint. These are three cards I made this evening, on my first journey with the starter kit. The quotes are courtesy of Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous. For the first two, I stamped over and embossed with white embossing powder. For the last, I tried the faux batik approach, which I was less happy with, in part due to the wrinkled watercolour paper I was using – but that sort of goes with the sentiment of the card! And I love the effect, definitely on my to-play-with-more list!

Simply Stenciled Card (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 16th July 2014 by perfectly4med

I’m still playing with the stencils/masks from That Special Touch for my card this week – it’s the 6×6″ Art Deco Elements again. I wanted to make a classic white on kraft colour combo, and after a bit of trial and error, discovered that the Perfect Medium pad isn’t soft enough to get into the finer bits of the stencil. That’s where a piece of Cut ‘n’ Dry foam came in handy. I’ve also made a video of the process – I’m a bit rusty on the commentary side of things, my apologies. I’d love to know if you find the ‘live’ demonstration helpful.

And for the British spelling purists, this is also a stencilled card.

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