Card making: Online Card Classes – Extraordinary Embossing Folders Day 1

Posted on 26th May 2024 by perfectly4med

In the first of a series of posts, I am going to update you on what I have been doing during my blog’s radio silence… Several groups have been postponed for various reasons, so I have not posted about them, and I have spent the time on a number of projects. This week has been a new Online Card Class; Extraordinary Embossing Folders. For five days there were two videos per day with techniques to expand your use of embossing folders. It’s been a while since I did any card making, so it was good to do some today based on the first day of class:

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Art Journal Session: PanPastels

Posted on 29th April 2024 by perfectly4med

Next week’s Art Journal Session at The Studio will still take place on Monday (6th May) at 7:30pm, despite it being a bank holiday. We’ll learn about PanPastels and use them with rubber stamps to create our spreads. There’s no online tutorial this month as capturing the techniques is tricky as a step-by-step (and I didn’t have a chance to do a video), so you’ll have to book in and come and try for yourself! Here’s my sample page:

Art journal page using rubber stamps and PanPastels

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Art Journaling Session: Pink, turquoise and gold

Posted on 1st April 2024 by perfectly4med

This evening’s session was all sparkly with gold leaf dust! We spent our time working on a colour theme of pink, turquoise and gold, throwing in some dry embossing and distress oxides along the way. The main focus was on techniques for layering acrylic paint to build a background and the incorporation of imitation gold leaf for a very shiny bit of bling:

Pink, turquoise and gold dry embossed blocks forming a background to an art journal spread.

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Art Journaling: Heat mouldable foam stamps

Posted on 4th March 2024 by perfectly4med

As I post, we’re having fun with thermoplastic memory foam here at The Studio. I have some heat mouldable foam blocks that once warmed with a heat tool and then pressed onto a textured surface will retain the texture once cool until they’re reheated. Using water-based inks, you can use the stamps to print a background in your art journal before a quick wipe clean and repeat the process with a new texture. I’ve got out all my pre-printed die-cut ephemera for a bit of decoration and came up with this sample layout to inspire attendees at the monthly art journal session:

Art journal page with background images stamped with heat mouldable foam.

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Art Journaling: Brasso

Posted on 5th February 2024 by perfectly4med

Welcome to the first art journaling post of the new year! February’s session was based on a technique I picked up from somewhere years ago that I remembered using when I was on the WOW! Embossing Powders design team. I found my original post here, from 2012! It uses Brasso metal polish wadding and heat embossing to create an effect that is hard to replicate any other way. I remembered to take step-by-step photos as I created the layout, so another tutorial follows…

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AAA Cards challenge: January’s sketch

Posted on 20th January 2024 by perfectly4med

Well, here’s a thing. I’m no longer on the AAA Cards design team but I thought I’d join in their challenges now and then when I wanted something creative to do that wasn’t ‘work’. January’s sketch design is the first for the year – a prompt for your card layout. Here’s my entry:

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AAA Cards DT: Sketch and cold

Posted on 10th December 2023 by perfectly4med

The last theme of the year has been set out over at AAA Cards’ clean and simple card challenge blog. It has a wintery feel with ‘sketch and cold’ being the design features to include. If you need a reminder, the sketch is there as inspiration and doesn’t need to be literally followed (though a couple of the DT cards have done so). The colour palette does need to be from the cold side though.

Sadly, this card will also be my last design team card for AAA Cards. I’ve made a card every fortnight for them over the last two years and it’s time to move on to do something new/different. There are plans to take the challenges into next year, so do keep joining in the fun 🙂

Here’s my take on the challenge:

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Art Journaling: A shiny Christmas

Posted on 27th November 2023 by perfectly4med

The last Art Journal Session of the year is on Monday, 4th December at The Studio in Leicester. Inspired by all things sparkly and shiny around this time of the year, I’ve come up with this shiny Christmas double-spread:

A shiny Christmas art journal layout with coloured glazes over aluminium foil tape.

If you’d like to come to the session, please let me know. I remembered to take step-by-step photos this time, so instructions follow…

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LIM DT: D is for deck the halls

Posted on 25th November 2023 by perfectly4med

The last challenge for the year is up over at Less is More. We’re onto ‘D’ in our alphabet themes and we’re looking for cards on the theme of ‘Deck the Halls’. I guess we’re going to see plenty of Christmas-themed cards – after all, it is that time of the year… My design team card continues the carol lyrics and features holly and berries:

Stencilled Christmas card on the theme of Deck the Halls featuring gold holly leaves and red enamel berries

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AAA Cards DT: Fall/leaves

Posted on 12th November 2023 by perfectly4med

We’re still in meteorological autumn (just) and there’s an apt theme to the next challenge over at AAA Cards‘ clean and simple challenge blog: fall/leaves. I’m writing earlier in the year, so I don’t know whether there have been gales and thrashing rain or an Indian summer. However, I can pretty much guarantee there was the traditional leaf-changing-colours period and it’s to this I pay tribute with my take on the theme: