DIY Wreath Stamping Template

Hey everyone :) I hope you had a good weekend? Ours was a bit of a mix, Saturday was very busy and Sunday was more relaxed, we had sunshine so I went in to Spring cleaning mode and cleared out of some the cupboards and drawers in the house, its amazing just how much stuff we keep that we don't have a use for or can't remember why we have it?! I had a little crafting time over the weekend, but this was mostly catching up with other crafting friends blogs, doing some prep for a Robot style "Meet, Greet and Craft" session we've been asked to run next month and I caught up with some crafting You Tubers like Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner who both give me lots of inspiration.

Late last week we got a bank statement and without going in to too much detail I realised that I couldn't keep spending the amount I have been on crafting goodies, I was going to have to start spending less, using what I have in and finding ways of creating cards and papercraft projects WITHOUT spending more than I have to spend. It doesn't help when so many wonderful products are released every month by all my favourite craft companies, but I really have to learn to resist and adapt.

This weekend I watched Jennifer McGuire demo a new template for helping you create wreaths on cards, something I've tried to do myself but it always ends up looking random and messy and not in a good way lol! The templates are designed by Gina K and if you buy the set then it will cost you $29.95 plus shipping from the USA for the basic set, granted the set comes with a sheet of stamps as well but we're still looking at around £35 for the templates and shipping!

Given that I'm trying not to spend this month and also trying to use the many things I've bought in the past 12 months and not got round to using and stop spending, buying this set is not on the cards at the minute. Whilst I was watching Jennifer using the templates and loving what I was seeing Simon came into the craft room, he asked what I was watching so I told him. I explained I couldn't buy them, but I would save up to get them in the future because I thought they would help me make lots of single layer wreath cards more accurately than when I try to do it myself. A couple of hours later he came back in to the craft room and presented me with a test template he'd 3D printed!

The first one he made is a 3 inch one, he's making me some 4", 5" and 6" versions, after he gave it me, having first saying thank you and wiping away the happy tears, I tested it and it works like a dream. I used a selection of Memento Dewdrop inks off my ink rack, I have so many ink pads that I really don't need to buy any more, not unless one dries up or they do something incredible effect wise. On the first floral card I messed up slightly I didn't make sure that the stamp would be in the right position on the card as you moved it around. It doesn't look that bad, but when I did the second card this morning I made sure that the stamp was in the right position all the way around the card before I started stamping.

Simon said if I want some stencils making with designs we could work on them together, and he'll print them out for me, he's also going to make me some masks, so far I've asked for a star, heart and circle so I can stamp leaving a shape in the middle. He has ideas for making templates that will give more areas for stamping as well.

I didn't realise that he could 3D print so thinly, he's made me lots of things before like the pen pot for my Zig pens, little stands for helping me stand my cards up for photoing and handles for stamps, its lovely when our hobbies can cross over.

I certainly think I could become addicted to making wreath cards and can't wait for Si to complete the other sizes of templates for me. I can see so many different types of wreaths, spring, summer, autumn and winter flowers and colours, snowflakes and lots and lots of paw prints. I coloured the cat with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol, it was a very quick colour, so I think I could make sets of these in next to no time and in lots of different colour combinations, combine them with a little box and I have some gifts for friends and family. I'll do another post when I've used the other size templates as I want to try a few techniques and mediums. I'm off to do some more cupboard sorting now and maybe later stamp some more wreaths. Have a lovely day and thanks for stopping by :)

Colourful Monsters

Hi everyone, outside the window its bright blue skies and sunshine, but go outside and its blinking freezing, that said I noticed more of the Spring bulbs are pushing their way through the cold, damp soil which must mean that Spring is in sight? Think I'll dig out some Spring and Easter stamps and dies and have a see if I can create something that will encourage the Spring along in the house.

I posted the other day about having a day off and spending it mostly crafting, I went a little nuts printing off things from CD's to use after Si installed a new DVD drive for me. The old one gave up the ghost and refused to even open anymore, apparently the bearings had worn out that allowed the drawer to open. The shiny new one means I can print things off again with a relish.

I have lots of CD's with images for toppers and backing papers, I've been using papers I print off to make cards for a while now, and I love the fact that if the images are not the right size or colour I can take them into Paintshop Pro and tweak them to get the colours I want.

These two cards are a perfect example, the purple distressed background was a free download - and I can't remember from where! - I decided that I wanted to make the same card but using the different monster toppers in colours to compliment both, but the background paper came only in the purple variant.

So I took the image in to my paint program and tweaked the colour, hue and intensity and shifted the colours over from the warm (red/orange/purple) side of the spectrum to the cool (blue/green/white) spectrum, it worked perfectly and looks almost like it was made to match in the beginning.

The monster toppers are from a "Making Cards for Boys" CD that came free with Making Cards Magazine in March 2017, it has over 120 papers (an assortment of backing papers and toppers) and includes the lovely dinosaur set that came free with the magazine last year. Again I made my own card blanks for these two cards, I can't believe I'd not done this before, I've made stepper and easel card bases so its amazing that I didn't, I really have to stop thinking that things are too complicated because each time I try something new, I realise its not as hard as I think it is!

To create these card blanks I used Lavender and Xmas Green centura pearl card stocks and a die from the Tonic Studios Bowscale die set. I cut the toppers and sentiment circles using the Creative Dies Plus Wonky Stitches Nesting Circles Die Set and backing it with a slightly larger circle cut from a plain circle in the same colour centura pearl that I'd used for the card base.

I'm trying harder this year to make more cards that can be given to male recepients, I find when I create without an intent or project in mind that I gravitate towards making cards for female recipients. So when I enter a challenge or I create a random card I'm going to try putting a male slant on the challenge or making cards that can be given to either a male or female recipient.

Altenew Build A Flower - Carnation

Hello out there in blogland, I hope you're all well and the crafters amongst you have been finding time to create and play? We had a fun filled weekend of teaching youngsters about robot making, visiting my adorable neice and nephews and I also managed to fit in some crafting and I'm full of ideas for some other projects that I've made a start on.

I've been waiting to get my hands on the Carnation Build-A-Flower set by Altenew since I first heard it was being released back in January, it took me a while to get hold of it, but when I did I began the process of making lots of flowers and leaves in a variety of colourways. I've used shades of Altenew inks for all the carnations that I've stamped so far, I love Altenew inks because they smooth out over as they dry making the colours more even. I have a very soft spot for carnations because they are my birth flower and because it was another close relative of the Caryophyllaceae (Dianthus) family the Clove Pink that first got my interested in flowers which led to a passion for herbs.

When I was about 6 my Nanna had a vase of clove pinks on her windowsill when I went to visit her, the scent was so heavenly I kept going to smell them, I was smitten, so much so I recall asking my Nanna if I could have the pretty flowers and she wrapped them in paper for me when I was going home. I kept them on my windowsill in my bedroom for as long as they lasted and after first finding out what they were, I then started to find out more about the plants that grew locally, I got interested in growing things and identifying flowers and my love of plants blossomed from then. Now everytime I smell the distinctive perfume of a clove pink or a carnation, it takes me back to my childhood and brings back lovely memories of my Nanna.

The Altenew carnations measure almost 7cm across and 5cm high, the die does leave a white border around the edge of the flower, but I've been using the lightest of the 3 colours of ink I stamp each flower with with a blending foam and colouring the white which I think makes the flower look a little more realistic.

If you have a stamping platform or a MISTI or similar stamping tool its easy to make lots of flowers at once. I cut pieces of card to just bigger than the die cut image will be and then stamp all the bases, switch to the next layer and repeat until all the flowers are complete. I've made lots of flowers and leaves so that I can create a variety of cards, the top card I made my own card blank using the largest die from the Tonic Studios 'Victorian Frame Layering Die Set'. The technique for doing this is so easy, and despite having seen other people do it, I've only recently started doing it myself.

My second card is a simple A6 card blank, layered with some pink card and a white piece that I ran through an embossing folder. I added a die cut white panel that I stamped with one of the sentiments that come with the Carnation set and added some Pink Champagne Nuvo Glitter Drops to finish off the design. I have more cards planned using the carnations, I want to make add some of the other flowers from other Altenew sets and make some floral wreath cards on homemade shaped card blanks. I can paper garden with this colourful and bright 'flowers' whilst I wait for Spring to come along. I wish that the flowers had the same heady fragrance as the real flowers, I'm going to having a play with fragrance oil and see if I can imbue any scent to the die cut flowers without messing up the ink. I'll keep you posted!

Bee Happy Card

It's been another crazy hectic week, but its got round to the weekend and this morning when I should have been cleaning I had an idea and this is the resulting card!

I also sorted out my cardstock now, everything is all in one place, well at least all the A4 stuff is, I couldn't believe how much watercolour card, assorted colours of centura pearl etc I have! At least its easier to get to now and I now know just what I have, I don't need to buy any white card, acetate or vellum for a very long while as well lol! Despite being busy by day, I've managed to pack in a fair bit of crafting this week by night.

Thanks to the lovely ladies on a fab group I belong to over on Facebook, I've become addicted to making Eclipse Cards and this week I got a proper set of alphabet dies, more on those in a post very soon. Back to my Bee Happy card, sadly the lighting in my room is not so brilliant so the gold frame and sentiment aren't standing out as well as I would have liked, but it really does shine :)

I actually made the bee in May last year when I got the die from Hobbycraft its from the Intricut range, I cut it out in black card and then added yellow card behind the body and vellum behind the wings that I'd coated with some clear sparkle pen. The bee sat in my maybe someday box waiting for the right project to come along and although I've nearly used it on a couple of occassions, none of the projects were right, until this morning.

I bought the Sizzix hexagon framelit dies in the 2017 January sales and until today I hadnt used them, this whole card started with the backing paper catching my eye. I'd printed some papers off to use and put them to one side and whilst sorting the craft room out yesterday I came across them again. This one is called Honeycomb and if you're a DoCrafts member you can download it here, if you're not a member, its free to join and there are lots of papers to download and lots of inspiration on the site.

This card is the first time I've made a card blank from 2 pieces of card where I've 'hinged' the back piece with a fold and glued the top piece to the fold to make the card blank, a technique that I learned from the lovely Jennifer Mcguire :) I was so chuffed with how easy it was, I can see me making lots of cards like this in the future, in fact I already have one sketched out in my head for some flowers I've just stamped and cut out.

The flowers and greenery on this card were cut using a Crafters Companion Die'sire set called 'Lace Bloom' and I inked through the die with 'Wild Honey' Distress Ink and finished them off with a small golden orange pearl that I picked up at The Range today. They're from the 'Simply Creative' range, they are 6mm in diameter and have 7 colours in the pack and a total of 372 pearls in the pack. They have larger and smaller sizes as well and are just £1 a pack, I didn't go for them though, I went for the Dovecraft ' Bee Happy' die set for the sentiment for the card, I picked up some lovely pink and blue buttons to add to some baby cards I have planned.

This card was really quick to put together once I'd decided what I wanted to do, I've decided I need to stop over thinking what I'm doing and just go for it, sometimes I spend so much time thinking about what I'm going to make and looking at Pinterest for ideas that my craft time gets eaten and I have nothing to show for it. It's also time to start using things from my stash and bits box and stop stock piling lol! That's all for now, I need to put crafting things away and have some chill time with the hubby, we have a nice chilled weekend planned after tomorrow, the sun is apparently going to shine, I hope it shines on you to and you have a lovely weekend!