Quickutz Presents Die and GooseBumps!

Hi, I hope you are having a great weekend.

March is busy card making month for me because so many members of my  family and some friends have birthdays during the next four weeks.

So I have made start on a couple of cards and this is a completed birthday card for my grandson,Ethan, who will be two this month..... his brother Finley will be one this month! Yes, my daughter has her hands full with her two small sons but seems to love every minute ! Rather her than me! lol 

 


I have coloured in The Hanglar Image with my Copic Markers and then added some shade with Polychromos Pencils.


I am really getting the hang of this sewing 'my card stock' lark, as you can see, there is a fair bit of stitching on this card. ( on the inside too!)

The corners are cut from Quickutz dies and the Presents are Quickutz as well.

I also ran the larger,red,corners through a Quickutz 'Goosebump' folder/die called 'Dots' It just gives the corner a little bit of texture.

The sentiment is a Stamp from the LOTV range.


Later,I am going to write some text and add foil to it on my 'Foil It' Machine for the message on the inside of my card.

I added some 'interest' to the card with a border using a Martha Stewart punch.

After a while I ran out of space on the card to 'fling' anymore stuff on too lol!

  So that's it, job done!

I find my mind is drifting away ( nothing new there then! ) from these OTT cards that I have been making and I am planning one that will be totally different .... please come back and have a look during the next few days!

Thanks for looking today and also for the lovely comments you keep leaving me .... very kind, I just love reading them, thanks again x


I am 'shouting out' for this smashing blog today Poppyspapercraftpatch Have a look, you won't be disappointed!

Eileen x

Foil It Machine

Huh! Had this since Christmas ... not used it yet!

Trust me ....the fish is shiny!

Morning all ... I will post a card later today but I thought you may be interested in my Foil It Machine .... This was a Christmas present from my husband! I think he is a bit miffed cos I have not used it yet.....  not surprised, it seems I am a bit ungrateful  :(    but truthfully, I am so delighted with it and today I am going to play ..... I will let you know in a while how I get on.... see you later maybe....x



Yoo hoo... back again.

Well, I have had a great time.

Overall I am very pleased with the performance of the Foil It. It's very easy to use and the instructions are clear and easy to understand.

All the words shine when you catch the light right!

The machine comes with some sample foils and photocopied images to practice on. These 'foil up' very well indeed and look great. Also included is a CD that has 100 clip art images on, that you can download on to your lappy.

Any image printed on white paper, that I tried, worked well each time.

I typed some words and printed them out on white smooth 160gm paper and the effect was great. I have posted a picture ... it looks uneven because of the light but it is very good in 'real life!'

This looks lovely

You can only use images that are printed on a laser printer ( I nicked  my husbands!) or photocopies.

I wanted to see how the machine behaved on dark coloured card and paper .... well, not too good to begin with.
Some of my paper/ light card, had a slight texture and the foiling was patchy.... even on smooth dark paper/ card it did not seem to have much effect. The foiling was very poor.

So, reading the instructions again and with a cup of coffee and TWO Mr Kipling French Fancies (I have a weakness for them) I started to 'turn up' the heat!  Better results.... tried all different sorts of dark paper and some dark pearly stuff ....better and better results .... turn the heat up again  much better still .... so that's it really, you need to play and try different textures with your paper and  adjust your heat settings .... I am pleased with the machine and will use it a lot for my inserts .... I hope you find this post useful.


Enjoy the rest of your day. After more coffee and cake! I will be posting another card that I made a few days ago. Thanks for popping by.

 Eileen x

Nestibilities Stars and a Quickutz Corner

Hello I'm back!
Last week went very quickly, all busy,busy,busy but I have made three cards to show you, two birthday cards for friends of friends and a Mothers Day card for one of my neighbour's daughters.

I am posting the first of the birthday cards today, with a 'taster' of the other cards to be posted tomorrow and Thursday.


After that I should be back on track with my blog and able to post more often .

This card is for my friend Ronnie's husband, Peter, who will be 75 on the 3rd March.

I have used various papers from my stash along with my new sewing machine! I love sewing as long as it's in a straight line and does not go on for too long cos I go into 'wobble' mode!

The Stamp is from the Hanglar range and I thought it was an ideal opportunity to use my Nestabilities Stars!

Male cards are always difficult to think up a design for but I really enjoyed making this card.

I coloured the 'young man' with Copic markers and Polychromos Pencils. I have co-ordinated the inside of my card to match and  I've made a box.... job done .... I hope Pete will like it


   I have included a couple of taster pictures of the two other cards I have made, so if you can, have a look tomorrow and Thursday when I post them 'proper' lol.

  I hope your week is going well and look forward  to seeing you again soon

Thanks for looking today x

BTW I like using Little Claire's stamps and  Mary  is on the design team for them .... have a look at her lovely blog ( hugs to Dougal, Mary !)

Eileen x

LOTV Stamps and Copic Markers

Hello, I hope you are having a super weekend . My friend Karen came to visit me yesterday and while we had a 'gossip' we made some cards.

The Child and Puppy on a Swing is from Lili Of The Valley range.
This style of card making is not usual for me but I have so many 'cute' stamps that were just sitting in a drawer! .... and I am loving trying to make my cards look pretty!

See you all soon .Thanks for dropping by today. Eileen xxx

The Black Magic Technique with Anita and Clarity Stamps.

Clarity Leafy Swirl Stamp.

Hi, I have learnt a new technique today, it's called 'The Black Magic Technique'

I had great fun and have a couple of examples to show you here.

I have used an Anita's Stamp on the completed card and the 'topper' that I am hoping to make into a card soon is an old favourite from Clarity Stamps ....my 'Leafy Swirl'
 The technique is so easy to do and has been around for a number of years but I have not seen it very often.

You need a 'solid' image stamp and black card stock along with White Pigment ink.

Anita

Stamp your image onto your black card using the white ink and allow to dry. Use a heat gun if you wish.

Then using colouring pencils, colour your image in and finally 'highlight' any areas you like with a white gel pen. That's it! Job done! Easy or wot?

I found Watercolour pencils were very good to use but my Polychromos Pencils and some Sansodor were better. You can get great results with ordinary and metallic pencils too! 

I love the effect ....what about you?

Thanks for looking today.

See you soon, enjoy your week and happy crafting.



Eileen x

Spellbinders Nestabilities, Lacey Squares and Labels Fourteen.

Hello, thank you for popping by my blog today I hope you find it useful.

The card I have posted here is  a copy of a card found on Yvonne's Blog .

As you can see I have used a different colour and the image is a Digital Stamp.

I cannot remember where I got it from, sorry.

I have used Copic Markers to colour in the flowers and cut and dry foam to shade around the edges of the Label Fourteen Die.

I had to cut and stick two large Lacey Squares together to 'frame' the image and plonked a few pearls here and there!

I love Yvonne's blog her work is just SO beautiful, please have a look.

I am having a great card making 'time' today so I am off to make some more . See you soon and have a good week.


Eileen xx

Faux Cuttlebug Plus Embossing Folder!

Hi everyone, today's card is a bit of a 'CHEAT'.
I just loved a card that Shaz in OZ made a few days ago and wanted to make one like it.
Shaz has one of the new Cuttlebug Plus Embossing folders.
I saw the card she had produced and rushed off to BUY the folder!
On the sites I went to (that had it in stock) it was TWENTY-FIVE QUID ! Ouch! too rich for me for one folder even if it does cut, dance and sing "If I was a rich man"!

 So..... after having a good look at it I decided to cheat and using a 'normal' 5 x 7 Cuttlebug folder and a Labels Fourteen Nestabilities Die .... I have come up with this !

I stamped my flower image onto watercolour paper and used brush markers to colour it in.

I chose some Colorcore Cardstock( The Chocolate Box)  plonked the Nestie Labels Fourteen in the middle of the cardstock, cut it, then slipped it into the Cuttlebug folder and ran it through my machine.

 I stuck the flower image onto the back of the cardstock so you can see it through the aperture
and after distressing the card with a sanding block, I mounted it onto a pink card blank and fiddled around with some ribbon and a Nestie Ribbon Tag. Job done! I don't think it's as nice as the card Shaz has created ....but it's cheap!

Before I go, I would like to say a big thank you to Maggie and Maria and Keryn for my lovely blog awards. Many thanks ladies. Please check these blogs out cos they are fab!

Thanks for popping by today ...see you soon.

Eileen x

Red, Black and White ...thanks to Shaz !

Shrink Plastic Butterfly

Hi, Just a quick post today because I am so pleased with how this card turned out!

Many, many thanks to Shaz in Oz who kindly let me copy her design.

Shaz in Oz has a super blog and you must go and have a look here.

She is very fond of her brayer and along with another Shaz, silverwolf  (please see this blog as well  ) uses Stampscapes stamps.  They have made amazing cards and I have ordered some stamps for myself !

Thanks ladies for the inspiration. I cannot wait till they arrive ....woohoo!
Shaz (silverwolf) has some fantastic easel cards on her blog at the moment and Shaz in Oz has a new technique using her brayer ....phew ! busy or wot .


 I am delighted to see I have a few new followers ....thank you so much and welcome.
I am off now to make some more cards ....trying to catch up with these other ladies ! xx


Thanks for dropping by

Eileen xx

Lavinia Stamps, Adirondak Ink Pads and My Brayer.

Hello, I have had the most super day today, making a mess while playing with my Brayer and lots of stamps and ink pads. I feel really relaxed after a very busy few days.

 This card is a bit bright and that reflects my mood !
I have used Pepper Red and Sunshine Yellow Adirondack Inks and  all the images are from the Lavinia Stamps range. Gorgeous stamps, please have a  look at Tracey's work and shop HERE.

I only use my Brayer with the Matt card stock from Lavinia Stamps or the Silk card stock from Clarity Stamping.

I find I get a nice smooth finish with no lines as long as I remember to 'flick' my Brayer and do not overload it with ink, as with all things in life 'little and often' is best!

I have also inked the edges of the card with the Red Pepper ink, applied with Cut and Dry foam.
 The 'cracked ice' or 'water' effect was achieved by inking the brayer right on it's edge with Pitch Black Adirondack Ink, so that you get just a tiny very thin line right around your brayer then flick it over your art work as many times as you like till you are happy with the image. BE BRAVE!  lol!

The Chinese words on the die cut say 'Double Happiness' and it is a Punch that I have had for a few years!

Thanks for looking today and many thanks  for the lovely comments  and e-mails you are leaving about my work...it is very much appreciated.
Eileen x

Woodware Bauble and a LOTV stamp with Copics and Polychromos Pencils

Hi, just a quick post to show you two Christmas cards, but first, I just want to say a massive thank you to all of you who sent me e-mails and left kind messages and comments along with your warmest wishes ...what a lovely lot you are. xxx




Jacqui and Karen your cards are beautiful and will be treasured forever!



The Woodware Bauble card was inspired by a card that Karen (my best crafty mate) received from her mum, Joyce, at Christmas. Joyce  is a very talented parchment crafter, her work is outstanding.

I have stamped and embossed the image with a Versamark pad and white embossing powder on to black card-stock and then covered it with blingy stuff !. It was a very easy card to make.



The other card today is another 'cute' card! The image is 'James with Presents' from the Lili Of The Valley range.
 Stamped using a black Memento Ink pad (the only pad I use with my Copics, as other inks can damage them) and  coloured with Copic Markers then shaded with Polychromos Pencils.

Check out this blog to see 'how to'! The Cats Whiskers brill site! This is my first attempt with these pencils and I plan to have another go later today if I get time!


Thanks for looking today

Be back soon..... Eileen xx