Joyful Tag

Hi! How are your holiday preparations coming along? I hope you have managed to make all your cards and are not feeling at all stressed about the looming date. My make today is a gift tag - just in case you need a little more inspiration for your tags. I've used 2 completely non-holiday stamp sets, and one holiday one from Visible Image stamps in this design. 

This is my last Visible Image DT make for 2018 because we have been given a few weeks off over the holiday period. But we'll all be back in January with more inspiration. 

I didn't have time to make a video today, so here is a photo tutorial of how I made this tag:

First, wet a piece of card and then pounce distress stains onto it.

Spritz the card with water as you dry it with a heat gun to get some droplets that make it look like it is texture.

Cut a tag shape from the card. I used the partial die cutting technique on an old spellbinders nesting die shape.

 Using a co-ordinating ink, stamp the Elemental stamp onto the tag

 Let the tag completely dry before stamping the jumping girl in clear ink before embossing with white embossing powder.

 Now take the star from the Peace Love And Hope set and stamp over the tag. I used second generation stamping to be sure the colour co-ordinated well.
Wipe off the girl image with a cloth to remove any ink that may have been stamped onto her.

 Gently swipe the outside edges of the tag with versamark and sprinkle on some glittery blue embossing powder. Use your finger to remove bits of the embossing powder before heat setting it - this give a more natural look.

 Next stamp the tiny trees and heat emboss those with coordinating embossing powders. Fussy cut them out. Stamp, heat emboss and fussy cut the sentiment too.

 Add an eyelet to the top of the tag and attach some different size and textured ribbons and threads. for some textural interest.  I also threaded a tiny Christmas tree charm around the threads and a piece of pearl wire too.

 Finally attach the fussy cut trees and sentiment at various depths with 3d foam. Die cut some leaves from glittered cardstock and attach those to the top of the tag.

 Here's a close-up of the trees and the embossing around the edges.

 And here is the top of the tag

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
           

   

Other Supplies:

White Card, Spritzer, Distress Stains ( broken china, worn lipstick, wilted violet), Spellbinders Labels 28, Prism Ink (blue lagoon, dusky rose), Versamark clear ink, WOW! embossing powders ( opaque bright white, misty sky), WOW! embossing glitters (coastal, royal crush,neutral ultra shimmer), ribbons, threads, charm, wire pearl embellishment, Sizzix TH Alterations die (festive greenery), white glitter card,3d foam

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Craft Stamper TIMI December - Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart #232 - Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers #244 - Christmas (winter fun theme)
Creative Moments #158 - Anything Goes
Inkspirational #175 - Anything Christmas Goes
Pammies Inky Pinkies #1849 - Anything Goes
QKR Stampede #325 - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Warm Winter Wishes
Stamping Sensations December - Winter Sparkle

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

That's it from me for now. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

You Are Strong

Hello there. This is a card where I tried to incorporate a bit of mixed media into a CAS card. There is a bit of grunge paste, heat embossing on metal, water colour, ink and glossy accents on this one, and of course I used some gorgeous Visible Image stamps.

Thoughts behind this card
Despite what we think, we are all much stronger than we realise. In my card, the leaves blowing away represent a loss, e.g. of loved ones, fading beauty or lost confidence etc. But as they fly away on the breeze they also reveal a strong and sturdy tree underneath and this depicts the inner core strength inside us all. We are all much stronger than we realise and this beautiful sentiment from Visible Image

Here's how I made this card:

Cut two A5 card fronts and die cut a rectangle aperture into one of them. Place the die cut piece on top of the uncut piece and mark the 4 corners of the aperture lightly with a pencil. Using a stamping platform line the bare tree from the Into The Woods set up inside the 4 pencil marked points. Stamp the tree in faded jeans Distress Oxide.

Next stamp the small perching owl in iced spruce distress oxide. Erase the pencil marks and highlight the eyes on the owl with a black pen. Watercolour a little ground around the base of the tree. Protect the owl with a little micro glaze and add glossy accents.








Cut a moon shape in a small piece of masking sheet, spread grunge paste through the shape with a spatula and set the piece aside to dry.

Now add the die cut piece of card into a stamp positioner, and stamp the small leaves from the Create It set using multiple shades of distress ink. TIP: Stamping more than once helps with the blending on the leaves, and rotating the stamp each time makes it look more natural.

 






On a smaller piece of card, stamp the sentiment from the So Much Stronger set in Memento elderberry ink. Mask off the middle portion of the sentiment (lengthways) and blend two borders using the same distress inks as on the leaves.

Thread some cotton through a metal leaf charm, press the front into a clear ink pad and heat emboss with white embossing powder. Let the charm cool, then press into the clear ink pad again and heat emboss with the oasis embossing powder. Let it cool and cut the hole part off the charm.

Assemble the card on fun foam.

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):

            

   

Other Supplies:

White card, My Favourite Things Inside Out Stitched Rectangles, Distress Oxide (faded jeans and iced spruce), Black Pigment Pen, Micro Glaze, Glossy Accents, Masking sheet, Grunge Paste, Gansai Tambi Watercolour: No 20 (Black), Water and paintbrush, Distress Ink (picked raspberry, wilted violet, blueprint sketch, broken china), Memento Dew Drop Dye Ink: (elderberry), Masking Tape, Versamark Clear Ink, WOW! Embossing powders (opaque bright white and oasis), Cotton, Metal Leaf Charm, Fun Foam


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations #210 - Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart #230 - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments 4th Dec - Anything Goes
Crazy for CAS #12 - Not Christmas
Crazy For Challenges C4C463 - Feature A Tree
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #95 - Anything Goes
Pammies Inky Pinkies #1848 - Anything Goes
Retarte #133 - Anything Goes (2nd entry from me)
Through The Craft Room Door 4 Dec - Anything Goes
Tuesday Throwdown #420 - Anything Goes

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

That's it from me for now. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Festive Crackers with Background Stamps

Once again I've veered away from making a card and this time I've made some festive crackers with non-festive background stamps by Visible Image stamps. You can just about use any stamp for these as long as you emboss with a sparkly or shiny embossing powder.

And to mix it up a bit I've made a short video.

1) Red Elemental

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):

               

Other Supplies:

Distress Inks (festive berries, candied apple and aged mahogany), Versamark clear ink a superfine  silver embossing powders, Dies (Tonic Studio: cracker and sentiments. Sizzix: layered poinsettia), Papermill Super Smooth card, Silver mirror card, ribbon.

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2) Pink Shape It Up

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):

               

Other Supplies:

Distress Inks (abandoned coral, picked raspberry, worn lipstick), Versamark clear ink, Wow! sparkling snow embossing powder, Dies (Tonic Studio: cracker and sentiments. Sizzix: snowflake pendant and create a flake 4), Papermill Super Smooth card, white pearl card, ribbon.

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3) Green Fragile

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):

                

Other Supplies:

Distress Inks (cracked pistachio, evergreen bough, pine needles), Versamark clear ink, WOW! metallic gold sparkle embossing powder, Dies (Tonic Studio: cracker and sentiments. Sizzix: shining star), Papermill Super Smooth card, gold card, ribbon.

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3) Blue Organics

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):

             

Other Supplies:

Distress Inks (salty ocean, blueprint sketch, chipped sapphire), Versamark clear ink, WOW! sparkling snow embossing powder, Dies (Tonic Studio: cracker and sentiments. Happy Little Stampers: christmas trees), Papermill Super Smooth card, and white linen card, ribbon.

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I'd like to enter these crackers into the following challenges: A Gem Of A Challenge #232 - Anything Goes Addicted To Stamps #168 - Anything Goes with the option of Use Ribbon Always Fun Challenges #86 - Anything Goes Crafty Cardmakers #223 - Anything But A Card Get Creative Challenge #75 - Anything But A Card (entry #2 from me) Pammies Inky Pinkies #1847 - Anything Goes Retarte #133 - Anything Goes The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #41 - Anything Goes (entry #2 from me)  Through The Craft Room Door 27 November - Anything Goes  Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters): SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold BLOG with all the latest news and posts FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges INSTAGRAM PINterest That's it from me for now. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon. Hugs, Sharon xx

Less is More #385 - Holiday

Goodness me - it is all go on the Less is More blog today.

We're saying a very sad farewell to Sarah who has been on the DT for 4 years and has run the challenge for almost 2 years. She has been struggling with time commitments and lack of mojo for the past 6 months, so I stepped in to keep the challenge going while she had a break.

Sadly the break doesn't seem to have worked, so she's decided to step down. This is a big loss for the challenge as she worked so tirelessly behind the scenes, was an incredible leader for the DT, and inspired so many people with her beautiful projects and comments. We will miss her so much, but I am lucky enough to consider her a friend now, so I hope we will continue that friendship into the future.

Anyway, it would have been heartbreaking to see the challenge fold, so I have stepped up and will keep the challenge running.

We're also having a DT CALL and are looking for 2 new members. Please pop over to the blog to see the requirements.

It is also going to be the last challenge for 2018 as we're giving the design team a well deserved break over Christmas....but we'll be back on 5th January 2019!

So....onto the challenge. It's that dreaded one layer week and we have an apt theme for this time of the year.

We're still sponsored for this challenge by

https://shop.happylittlestampers.com/

And our lovely winner of the Lucky Dip challenge in September, Katrina Bufton has joined us as guest designer.  It would be lovely if you visited her to leave her a lovely comment on the gorgeous card she created for us.

And if you head on over to the challenge blog you'll get lots of fantastic inspiration from the design team too.

I have 3 cards again today.

1) Fa la la la laaaa la llama

This year, for the first time, I have used a lot of digital images on my holiday cards and I've thoroughly enjoyed using them.

To make them more interesting I give them a bit of texture on the smaller details by using glossy accents, nuvo drops and stickles.

On this card the 'fur' on the hat has white nuvo drops, the holly leaves have glossy accents and the fairy lights have stickles.

Here I printed the image onto the hopsack card blank, coloured it with pencil crayons and blended a sky and a bit of ground. Then I stickled, nuvodropped and glossy accented.

A very fast card to make.

STAMPS: Pink Petticoat Digital - Fa-La Llama
INKS: Distress Inks (Tumbled Glass, Broken China)
OTHER: Glossy Accents, White Nuvo Drops, Stickles, Polychromos pencils (Cold Grey 1,3 and 5, light flesh,dark flesh, permanent carmine, dark red, cadmium yellow, light ultramarine, hooker's green), White opaque pen, White hopsack card stock

 

2) Special Memories

I am so glad to have this sentiment stamp in my stash because it is a beautiful way to let someone who has lost a loved one in the year, really know that you have made the card with their loss in mind.

Here a simple black gold and white colour scheme hopefully adds a bit of elegance.

This one is heat embossed with a bit of masking to create the border, and also masking of the sentiment when the snowflake was stamped.

No fuss - just sincere wishes.

STAMPS: Visible Image - Snow Is Falling and Christmas Memories
INKS: Versamark clear, Versafine Onyx Black
OTHER: Detail clear and detail gold embossing powders, post-it note and masking tape, heat gun, White card blank.

3) Christmas Scene

I wanted to create a card with the look of an added layer, so I die cut an oval into a piece of scrap paper and used that as a mask.

The mask was attached to the front of the card blank and then the oval was inked through with iced spruce to create hills, and with tumbled glass, broken china and faded jeans for the sky. The trees and deer were stamped in chipped sapphire and the star in silver ink.

To finish, the mask was removed and the sentiment stamped in faded jeans distress oxide, then stickles were added to the tops of the hills.

STAMPS: Visible Image (Peace, Love And Hope & Go To Christmas Words)
DIES: Sizix classic ovals
INKS: Distress Inks (tumbled glass, broken china, faded jeans, chipped sapphire), Distress Oxides (faded jeans), Encore Silver
OTHER: White card blank, scrap paper (for oval mask and hill shapes), Stickles.



LIM BLOG
LIM FACEBOOK PAGE
LIM INSTAGRAM

I'd like to enter these cards into the following challenges:

Fa la la laaaa la llama
Addicted to Stamps and More! #319 - Clean and Simple
Cute n Crafty #14 - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesdays - Baby It's Cold Outside

Christmas Memories
Aud's Sentiments #217 - Christmas or Winter sentiment
Time Out Challenge #123 - Black White and one other colour
Through The Craft Room Door 20 Nov - Anything Goes

Christmas scene
That's Crafty - Winter Wonderland (entry #2 from me)
The Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge #41 - Anything Christmas Goes
Creative Knock-outs #273 - Snow Much Fun

It'd be fantastic if you joined us over on the Less is More blog for this challenge, and don't forget to consider entering the design team call too.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Artist Trading Coins

Today I have some Artist Trading coins for you. Of course these are all made with fabulous Visible Image stamps. These are the very first Artist trading coins that I've attempted, so please be kind! ;-)

The Visible Image Black Friday sale is on at the moment (until Midnight on Monday UK time) and they have 50% off all their stamps and stencils while stocks last, so don't miss out and nip over to their shop before the sale ends.

As this post contains photo how-to's I've kept all the photos to a small or medium size, but you can see more detail if you click on them.

1) Music Speaks

First blend a background on your coin then using the count me in stencil deepen the colours through the stencil.

   
Next stamp the Set the Tone Background and then stamp the word 'music' and the sound waves from Music Speaks stamp set. Ink blend the edge of the coin.

   
Spread pearlescent dimension paste through the Two Tone stencil. Let it dry then add stickles to the top of the dimensional dots (I suppose you could use plain paste and sprinkle with glitter when wet too). Ink the bottom of the guitar in black ink and clear emboss then fussy cut it out. Add this to the coin on dimensional tape.

   

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2) Soul Singer

Create a mask with a post it note making sure to keep both parts. Put the part with the circle cut out over the coin. Stamp and heat emboss the singer then water colour her dress. Use masking fluid over the dress and set aside to dry.

   
Stamp and heat emboss the rays from Set The Tone. blend squeezed lemonade over the coin, then blend mustard seed followed by picked raspberry through the Count Me In stencil (this gives an orangy colour).

   
Use the 'inney' of the post-it mask and place it in the centre of the coin. Blend distress ink to make a border and use a white pigment pen to make the border dotty.

   

The final steps were to remove the masking fluid, use some stickles over the yellow rays to make them sparkle and stamp the sentiment (the word comes from Music Speaks) and add it on 3d foam.

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3) Fragile Microphone

Stamp the bottom half of the microphone in black ink and heat emboss with clear embossing powder. Stamp the top half in versamark clear ink and heat emboss with silver embossing powder.  Protect the image with masking fluid and set aside to dry (you can see I masked both this and the soul singer coins at once).     Blend spun sugar through the Count me in stencil, then stamp the music stave. Add a little more ink around the outside of the coin and stamp the small dots from the Set The Tone set.     Finally, stamp the cracked glass, remove the masking fluid and add stickles and glossy accents to some of the glass fragments. Stamp the word fragile and raise this up on 3d foam. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stamps Used: (please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):                                        Other Supplies: Distress Inks (squeezed lemonade, shaded lilac, spun sugar, mustard seed, chipped sapphire, gathered twigs, picked raspberry, cracked pistachio, wilted violet), Distress Oxides (spun sugar, worn lipstick, picked raspberry,mustard seed, wilted violet, iced spruce), Versamark clear ink and Versamark pen, White posca pigment pen, stickles, glossy accents, masking fluid, superfine clear and silver embossing powders, pearlescent dimensions paste. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4) Four Seasons Create a moon mask with a post it note and create a skyline mask from scrap paper. blend tumbled glass, broken china, stormy sky and chipped sapphire inks around the moon from lightest to darkest  blue to give the halo effect.     Add snow to the sky with a white opaque pen and blend snowdrifts onto the bottom half of the coin with tumbled glass ink.     Stamp the tree in versamark onyx black ink and draw pieces of snow lying on the branches with the opaque pen. To finish add a little scribbled versamark on the snowy ground and heat emboss with WOW! sparkling snow embossing powder.     The other season coins were made in a similar way: Spring: blend sky with tumbled glass and broken china.  blend ground and hills with bundled sage and peeled paint.  stamp tree in gathered twigs,  stamp blossom using the spots in the Believe In Unicorns set using versamark and heat emboss in white and pink.  add dots of versamark for flowers on the hills and heat emboss with white. Summer: blend sky with spun sugar and tumbled glass blend ground with twisted citron and mowed lawn,  stamp tree in gathered twigs stamp leaves as for spring but heat emboss with a glossy green embossing powder. make the tree look fuller by adding dots of promarker (leaf green and emerald green) add dots for flowers on the ground and heat emboss with WOW! royal crush Autumn: blend sky with dried marigold, spun sugar, tumbled glass and broken china blend ground with bundled sage and crushed olive.  stamp tree in gathered twigs use WOW! Heart Throb embossing powder on the leaves and add a few dots of poppy and orange promarker. add fallen leaves around the base of the tree. Stamps Used: (please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):                I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges: Country View Challenges November - Artist Trading Coins Dream Valley Challenges #191 - No Squares or Rectangles Get Creative Challenge #75 - Anything But A Card Lemon Shortbread #81 - Anything Goes Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends #94 - Anything Goes Pammies Inky Pinkies #1846 - Anything Goes Retarte #132 - Anything Goes The Corrosive Challenge #11 November - Anything Goes (entry #2 from me) Through The Craft Room Door 20 November - Anything Goes Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters): SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold BLOG with all the latest news and posts FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges INSTAGRAM PINterest That's it from me for now. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon. Hugs, Sharon xx