Ombré Stamped Cards

Posted on 9th July 2015 by Neil

It was an exciting day yesterday as several orders got delivered… I knew what was coming, but the ladies attending my Come & Craft session in The Studio were definitely living vicariously as I unpacked each one!

This morning, as I got to grips with my new varifocal specs, I decided to do a straight rubber stamped card – not something I have done for quite a while. To be honest, I don’t know whether it’s the glasses or the fumes from spray glazing some bowls that’s making things go swimmy…

I’ve used the new Hero Arts Ombré dye ink pads to make my cards. Each ink pad is made from three graduated colour strips and with a little shimmy as you ink up the stamps, you get great blended ombré effects. Above are four cards I made showing off several of the colours available. Ombré colours used: Pink to Red; Light to Dark Peach and Butter to Orange; Lilac to Grape Purple; Grey to Black. Stamps: background – Darkroom Door Harlequin; Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Carved Swirl; flower is an old Anita’s stamp and the sentiment is Stampendous’ Cling Grunge Birthday.
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Bunny Friends with Chameleons

Posted on 27th May 2015 by Neil

I’m not normally one to be grabbed by a ‘cutesy’ image, but this new rubber stamp from Penny Black / Margaret Sherry (dated 2009, so re-released?) definitely caught my eye. It’s one of those stamps that comes with a coloured image on the wooden block, which really helps those that need guidance on colouring in. I’ve used my Chameleon Pens to colour these in, which really came into their own for the shading on the pots. It took a couple of goes to find the right combination to get a good terracotta colour, which is why the pots are different colours between the two cards. The lettering is cut on my Silhouette Cameo – I found I need to set the cutter to ‘deep cut’ on the on-board screen, which meant the little serifs didn’t end up tearing.

Never Been Used: more in my art journal…

Posted on 31st March 2015 by Neil

I’m still trying to get a new trend going – tagging a post where I’ve used something that hasn’t previously been used by me as #nbu – never been used. One problem is finding time to do it myself! It’s part of my determination that nothing comes into my studio that I don’t then use in some way…. perhaps a rather weak way of justifying the purchase in the first place! Anyway, I finally did something last night with my Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous stamp set ‘Remnants’ (CMS130):

Art Journal Pages: with Carabelle Studio Stamps

Posted on 19th March 2015 by Neil

Here are some more previews of projects I will be demonstrating at Daisy’s Jewels and Crafts in April. I’ve created a couple of art journal pages using Carabelle Studio‘s ‘Steampunk Man Portrait’ ‘Steampunk: Machine à remoter le temps’ with ‘Collage Texte et Négatif’. The second page features ‘The here and now’. And the third features Birgit Koopsen’s ‘Leafs’.

Never Been Used: Spider Mum Stamp

Posted on 22nd October 2014 by Neil

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.

Art Journal Prompt – Colour Schemes

Posted on 14th October 2014 by Neil

I snuck in an extra art journaling lesson this afternoon, and got on with my ‘homework’ from this month’s official session. I wanted to encourage the group (and myself) to use colours together that we wouldn’t necessarily choose ourselves, so set the task of using a palette from the design-seeds.com website:

Allowing for colour reproduction errors, I used the Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks from Ranger and one ‘standard’ one – top to bottom: Pale Ochre, Leaf Green, Fern Green, Cornflower, Orange Blossom, Dandelion. I applied colour with a piece of Cut’n’Dry foam or TH Tattered Leaves stamps, and the letters were cut from 160gsm card covered with the blue ink. I then edged the letters with black and white pens to create the embossed look.

Exploding Bauble Box (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 24th September 2014 by Neil

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 Neil

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 Neil

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 Neil

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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