Shaving Foam Backgrounds.

Although this is not a new technique it is having a bit of a revival. I first saw it in a Craft Stamper magazine about 4-5 years ago and had every intention of getting around to it, BUT never did.
As I have found out this can be a fun but messy technique and even though you think all pattern/ink are done, keep going because you get some lovely subtle marble effects. Great for toning matting/layering!
Here are a few simple examples of what I've made so far.

 This one is a second or third lift where the ink is still bright.

This one is probably around the tenth lift with no extra ink added. I also did a shadow effect on the tree.

The one below is a first impression but I also used a stencil.

I think bold line art complements these types of background, especially when stamped and heat embossed in black. You see the bold splash of colour with the simplicity of the line art. When stamping/embossing in a colour other than black it made the image disappear into the background and you didn't get the striking contrast.




Happy crafting

Yve

:)



 

Stamping on Acetate

Stamping on acetate is not as easy as stamping onto paper because of the static. Embossing powder clings to it something shocking.
When stamping onto acetate it is advisable not to just swipe the acetate with an antistatic bag where you are going to stamp, but to put a good amount of powder (French chalk/talc) down onto both sides of the acetate AND the sheet of copy paper that you are collecting the excess embossing powder on. You will then need to wipe the talc/French chalk off after you have heat set the embossing powder snowflakes.
Speaking of heat setting you need to be extra careful doing this as even heat resistant acetate will bend and buckle if you over heat.

TOP TIP. If you work with acetate a lot consider buying a box of OHP (overhead projector) acetate from a stationary store. (I use Staples). All these cards are stamped onto OHP acetate. It works just as well as heat resistant acetate.

This top one is stamped in pale blue using the

Creative Expressions – Bold Snowflake Stamp –UMS168.

It has then been decoupaged in white and then embellished with Silver stickles and crystal gems. The circular greeting on the back panel is one of my own computer graphics, mounted on matching tones of card and cut with Tonic layering circles.

 

The second one is simply stamped and embossed in white. The frost effect has been done using scrunched up wax paper and sandwiched between the front acetate and a separate panel of acetate behind. Again the greeting is  my own design.

 

 

 

 

Instructions for bottom card.

1) Using a light blue base card measuring 145mm x 145mm dust liberally with an antistatic bag.
2) Stamp and heat emboss using Versamark and clear embossing powder.
3) Randomly stamp again with Tumbled Glass and Stormy Skies Distress ink.
4)Dust again with the antistatic bag and stamp and heat emboss using silver embossing powder.
5)Distress using Peacock Feathers, Stormy Skies and Chipped Sapphire.
6) Buff to remove any excess ink off.
7) Cut the
Creative Expressions – Let it snow Die – CED3004 twice, once in silver and once in navy and offset them against each other to give a shadow effect.
8) Cut a lengthwise strip of acetate 298mm x 145mm and score in half to make a square card.
9) Liberally dust all surfaces (front, back, inside and copy paper) then stamp around the edges of the card front and heat emboss using white embossing powder.
10) Wipe away excess chalk/talc with a damp microfiber cloth.
11) Assemble card by gluing the 'Let it snow' greeting to the distressed inner and then fix both to the inside of the acetate.
12) add clear crystal jewels to the centre of the snowflake.
13) if desired place a backing sheet to the back of the card to cover any adhesive and for the personalized message.

Happy crafting

Yve. :)
 

Promarkers going dry? Top tip !

If your alcohol markers are going dry or you accidentally left the lid off, don't throw them away they can be reinvigorated!
Just remove the end of the pen to get to the inside and drip triple distilled vodka onto the coloured felt tube. Re seal and leave for a few hours. How much vodka you use will depend on how dry the pen is.

This is a bit messy so if you don't want to get your fingers stained wear some rubber gloves.

More money saved!

Yve
:)

Oooooh !  Just had a thought............maybe you could use this for the shading effect in the previous post. Hmmmm?? Will have to try that!

Turn your Promarkers into shading pens

Am just watching the UK's dedicated crafting Channel (I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about) and specifically the programme about the alcohol pens with the colour blending pens with the name of a lizard (Ch---------n).  Having already got a good selection of PROMARKERS I thought I'd see if this worked with them and guess what IT DOES !

Simply turn your coloured promarker upside down with whichever end you are wanting to use and press's the chisel end of your blender pen to the end of your coloured pen and wait for the blending solution to be absorbed into the tip of the coloured marker. Use as demonstrated or if you didn't watch the demo shade from the light area to the dark area with just the one pen. Ta dah!

Money saved!

Yve
:)

More Christmas card inspiration for 2014.

 

There's a lot of different manufacturers in these cards, some old, some new.  I have listed them below. I hope you like them.

 

Tip for today : If you don't have the right colour for your decorative gems try dripping alcohol ink over clear, white or a similar coloured gems (e.g. use a pink gem with dark red alcohol ink). I did this for the stags/deer eyes. I used brown alcohol ink on a clear gem. For the Holly berries I used cranberry alcohol ink on a pearl white gem.

The centres of the poinsettias are clear microbeads mixed with a yellow alcohol ink and allowed to dry before application.

 

Stag's head and leaping stag - Marianne dies
Greetings - frames from an old Anna Griffin CD rom and computer text.
Winter wishes - Tattered Lace.
Noel greetings -  designed & cut by me on the original Quickutz Silhouette machine
Pine branches - Chloe's stamps, Tattered lace and an old Judikins Christmas block.
3 Holly leaves - Judikins Christmas block.
Poinsettia - Spellbinders, Quickutz silhouette & Sizzix Bigz dies.
Flourishes - Spellbinders.
Gold Matts - Martha Stewart punch around the page & Tonic dies.
Holly sprig - Creative Expressions die
Wreath - Sweet Poppy stencil and my homemade stencilling paste (see earlier post)
Holly corner - I think is an old X cut punch.
Gold snowflake - Spellbinders.

Have fun!

Yve
 

Inexpensive Card Stand

Do you sell your cards?
Want to display them without spending a fortune on expensive dies or stands?

Well here's my version (with template & instructions). Feel free to copy & print the template. All I ask is that you point the credit back here and spread the word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Take an A4 sheet of card.
(I used foiled but you could use plain and decorate it)

2. On the wrong side and measuring from the shorter edge measure & score at 1cm, 2.5cm & 4cm (ABC distances apart as shown).
     Draw a pencil line at 5cm. (the red line at 'D' on the template)

3. At the opposite end of the card measure and score at 1cm, 9cm & 17cm.  (EFG distances as shown)
     Draw a pencil line at 23cm. (the red line at 'H' on the template)

4. Cut the A4 sheet into 3 lengthways (the dotted green line). Each piece should be 7cm wide.

5. Between point 'A' and the edge of the card put extra strong double sided tape.
Fold to make a triangle align and stick to your pencil mark at 'D'.

6.  Between point 'E' and the edge of the card put extra strong double sided tape.
Fold to make a triangle align and stick to your pencil mark at 'H'.

7. Do this for each of your 3 pieces.

If you're not decorating - Job done.


Thanks for looking and happy crafting.

Yve

Rough few weeks !

First I have to apologise to apologise to the ladies booked on my 'mirror stamping' class. Unfortunately since I was off sick from my regular day job, I can't be seen to be working elsewhere (however much I want to be there for you). So I'm sorry I had to let you down. I will be doing classes again after the holidays so I hope you'll forgive me and join me then.

Personally I've had a rough few weeks culminating in the passing of a dear family pet who went over the rainbow bridge sometime overnight Thursday/Friday. Although his passing has been expected for the last year, I thought I was prepared for it. WRONG ! I spent all Friday night balling my eyes out. Welcome back those fatty bags under my eyes that I worked so hard on getting rid of last time I had a good boo ! Oh, well !

I haven't been lying about feeling sorry for myself all the time though as you've probably noticed from my last post (stencilling with this Sweet Poppy Stag being what I  hope to be doing as one of my classes soon). Once I'd made all these stags heads though they had to made into cards and here are some of the results (plus some other creations). Hope you like them. Only one of them is done with shop bought embossing paste.

 

 

Hopefully, with the arrival of a very lovely gift from Tonic studios (guess who jumps to the top of my favourite crafty stash list) on Saturday morning I can put all this bad luck behind me. I also got a £5 birthday voucher from Ideal World (which I hope includes C&C) and only this morning I got a £2 voucher for being overcharged at ASDA's  (including the amount I was overcharged). Not a huge amount granted, but when you live on a tight budget everything's welcome. The moral of the story is "always check your receipts before you leave the shop".

 

 

Anyway, enough for now. I'm Hank Marvin so I'm off  to see what I can rustle up for my tea.

 

 

Yve

Stencilling on a budget - Part 3

Making your own glitter paste.

Ok folks, as promised the results of my experiment.

 

 

I think that's a brilliant result. Don't you?

 

Some cheapo kiddies glitter glue (from leading supermarkets) mixed with Tylose powder (available from good cake making shops or I got mine from C & C) to make a firm gel. (I sieved it in an blended well each time).

 

Place the card onto a magnetic sheet and pop the stencil on top. Mask off the edges with low tack tape, Scrape over the gel with a dedicated scraper or the edge of a palette knife. Carefully remove the masking tape and lift the stencil and VOILA !

Allow to dry and design your cards.

 

 Simples !

 

On this example I really like the tonal variations between the sections of high glitter and those with a lower concentration of glitter. I'm just blown away that this is so inexpensive but gives amazing results.

 

Although I love my job, I feel sometimes my talents are going to waste.

Any serious job offers considered. LOL

 

 OH WELL! school holidays are here. YIPPEE !!!!!!!

 

Yve Jaye



Stencilling on a budget part 2

Encouraged by my efforts at creating a budget embossing paste I've just finished trying it with glitter glue. As expected adding the talc made the mixture opaque, reduced colour to a pastel shade and had minimal glitter showing. It looks good though!
What could I use to thicken the mix enough so that it wouldn't just run under the stencil or collapse into a puddle when the stencil is lifted without compromising the transparency? Gelatine was my first thought, but that packet that I remember being in my kitchen cupboards must have gone out of date and been thrown because I just couldn't find it anywhere. OK..... think harder ........... I have gum Arabic or Tylose powder. I'm not really sure whether they are the same but I use Tylose powder to thicken roll out icing so it is easier to mould flowers without them losing their shape. However.... when mixed into glitter glue does it turn transparent? Only one way to find out. My first attempt was a disaster. I used about a quarter of a teaspoon in about two teaspoons of glitter glue and it just went into a lumpy mess. Second attempt and I added it very gradually, making sure to add in minute quantities (almost dusted in) and blend well each time. On my first, second and third attempts at stencilling with it, the results got gradually better. Fourth attempt ( and a fresh batch in gold) was just right. It needs to be quite gloopy. (If you've every made meringues you'll know what I mean when I say it needs to stand in peaks.) It retained transparency and didn't run.
The proof will really be in the drying but I am hopeful and will let you know soon how it turned out (with pictures). If it works, I will used the Tylose powder in with the /pearlescent paint to see if it works any better.

Fingers crossed !

Yve Jaye

Stencilling with embossing paste - on a budget

This week I have been thinking about Christmas cards and in particular this beautiful stag stencil. I saw it and just had to have it...... you know how it goes......right?!
Anyway...... I already had some embossing pastes from way back when Dreamweaver stencils first appeared on the market so I thought they'd be perfect to use.  Now ......... take a look at the images below. Do you notice any differences (aside from they are obviously facing in opposite directions)?

Another difference is ............the ones on the left are shinier because they are done with the Dreamweaver paste. The ones on the right are more of a matt finish but (and maybe this doesn't show too well) they do have a subtle shimmer.
Soooo........ is that all? you ask.... am I missing something?

Well ! not really except, the ones on the right are done with a paste I created myself at a fraction of the cost.
I used some cheap metallic paint available from most major supermarkets (bronze above and a glittery silver below) and I mixed it with PVA glue (binder) and .................................wait for it................................ talcum powder. Mix them all together to form the paste and "Bobs yer uncle" embossing paste on a budget. I am also going to try some other variations like glitter glues.
Since all the ingredients are for use with or on children I presume it to be non-toxic but I make no claims about that or about it being fire retardant. Having said that paper is flammable anyway so it seems a bit of a moot point.

SOOO.......If you like the idea of stencilling but can't afford the posh stuff have a try with this. I can't give you exact quantities but at a guess I would say 50/50 paint and PVA and just keep adding talc till it forms a paste. It doesn't want to be too runny or too firm. you'll just have to experiment with consistencies. The copper one has nice crisp edges because I did that firmer but the silver one was a bit runnier but it settled slightly which gave the edges a rounder finish.

OH ! and don't forget to store them in an airtight container.


Happy crafting!

Yve Jaye

Never-ending card & sneak preview.

I really can't believe it's a month since my last class. Where has time gone?

This Saturday (21/6/14) is my next class and I understand there is one place remaining. Those of you who have been into Samuel Taylor, Brighouse will already have seen the demo cards I will be doing but for those following this page..... here it is.

and here's a sneaky peak at the next project which is 'Mirror stamping'. These will not be in the shop for viewing till Saturday.

 

Hopefully, see you soon.

 

Yve.

Class for 24th May 2014

Pull out card + stepper card

 Above is how the pull out card looks in it's closed position.
Pull gently on either of the ribboned tabs and both sides come out simultaneously. See right.

What you need

Crafty Impressions Feminine Florals stamp  CICSA6231
Verses rubber stamps Birhday Fashion BB0422B-CL
Spellbinders large scalloped rectangle die
Memento Black dye based ink pad
Memento Rich Cocoa dye based ink pad
3 x A4 White card
8 x 8” polypropylene bag
Ultra strong adhesive tape
White chiffon ribbon

                                                           

Promarkers                                                                                    Copic                                                                       

 Powder blue                Pastel blue                  Sandstone                Copic G28      

Pastel yellow               Buttercup                    Caramel                    Copic Y000 –Pale Lemon                          Pink carnation            Bluebell                      
Lavender                     Orchid                         Cinnamon
Leaf green                   Apple                          Pastel Beige
Satin                            Ivory                           Cocoa                         
Cool grey 3                 Ice Grey 1 & 5            Khaki
Warm grey 2               Buttercup                    Blush                          
Tan

                                                                                   

 How to make this card

1. Use one A4 sheet of card and fold in half to make an A5 landscape base card. Cut the remaining card to the following sizes.

            20 x 14cm                   (x 1 front base mat)

18.5 x 12.5cm             (x 1 upper front mat)

19.5 x 10.5cm             (x 2 inside pull outs)

20 x 13cm                   (x 1 inside centre)

2. Put strong adhesive tape to the very edge of the long edges of the ‘inside centre’ card. Remove the tape on the top edge, align to the centre of the card and stick down.

3. Cut a 10cm section (horizontally) from the polypropylene bag and slide onto the ‘inside centre’  card. Align the seams of the polypropylene to the centre of the card.

4. Place the two ‘inside pull outs’ cards side by side. On the left hand card decorate the left side and put  ultra strong double sided adhesive tape on the other side leaving a 1cm border round the edge free of adhesive.

 Decorate/stamp the far right on the right pull out and on the reverse and on the opposite side to the decoration/stamped image add the ultra strong adhesive tape.

5. Stick the left hand ‘pull out’ card face up onto the underside left half of the polypropylene wrap.

6. Stick  the wrong side of the remaining ‘pull out’ card to the top right half of the polypropylene wrap.

7. Put ultra strong adhesive tape on both bottom edges of the main card and making sure none of the mechanism is in the way, glue together.

8. Decorate the outside of the main card. The ‘pull out sections should pull out/push in simultaneously when either side is pushed/pulled on its own.

Stepper card
Because the aim of any class is to complete two totally different cards using the same products I thought this one would be a nice idea. HOWEVER, as ladies who have attended my classes know, I pack a lot into that two and a half hours. We don't always finish the second card but I like my students to go away thinking " I got my moneys worth today ". Having once been there myself, there's nothing worse than leaving a class feeling like you've not really learned anything new.
The positive side, is that if we don't complete the second card it's always on here a day or two later with instructions and I am always happy to stay later in class provided there are no afternoon classes scheduled. I don't get paid extra but this is what I love to do. It's my passion!

For the next class I will be doing a never-ending card and a really simple card. The never-ending card involves a lot of stamping and colouring so it's debateable whether we will be able to complete in the time allowed, but we'll give it a go.

Yve

Glossy Grape Hyacinth card

What you need

Woodware Clear singles stamp –Grape Hyacinth JGS288

Black pigment based ink pad (Brilliance used)

Versamark pen

D-lites corner die

Tonic Circle die

Clear embossing powder

Clear sparkle embossing powder

1 x 72 x 7” blank card

1 x A5 White card

2 x A4 sheet of funky foam

Stormy sky distress ink pad

Bottle Adirondack ink pad

 

 

Promarkers used                              

Grape Hyacinth                                                                     

China Blue                                                                 

Amythyst

French Navy

Grass                                                                          

Bright green   

To make this card

 

1. Using spray adhesive glue 2 sheets of funky foam together (any colour will do as the colour does not transfer). Allow to dry.
2. Using a Tonic circle die, punch funky foam to make a stamp. (NOTE : Spellbinders does not work for this as it does not have the depth in the cutting surface)
3. If you have an acrylic block large enough (lucky you) use it to stamp with, if not do as I did and glue together 2 sheets of thick acetate to replace the acrylic block.
4. Using Versamark stamp directly to the centre of your card, apply sparkle/glitter embossing powder and heat emboss.
5. Using dye based ink distress the top and the bottom halves of the embossed circle in green and blue to represent the sky and grass. Buff over with kitchen roll to remove excess ink.
6. On white card stamp the Grape Hyacinth with a black pigment ink ( I used Brilliance) and heat emboss with clear embossing powder.
7. Colour as desired with promarkers.
8. Using a versamark pen fill in the coloured areas of the stamp by dabbing (some colour will transfer to the pen) then cover with clear embossing powder and heat again.
9. Cut out the Hyacinth and mount onto the card using foam pads or your choice of 3D glue.
10. Add white corner dies and Hyacinth label to complete.

Instructions for Hidden message card

Hidden message card

                                                                            

What you need

Woodware Clear singles stamp –Grape Hyacinth JGS288
Woodware clear singles stamps – Tulip JGCL532
D-lites corner die
Spellbinders oval die
Cloud embossing folder/mask
Verse Stamp/computer print out (that will fit the oval die)
Black dye based ink pad (Memento/Distress)
3 x A4 White
1 x A5 Pale blue card
White chiffon ribbon ( cut to 2 x 10” and 2 x 7½”)
Stormy sky distress ink

Promarkers used                              

Grape Hyacinth                                                          Tulips

Powder blue                                                                Copic RV000 –Pink
China Blue                                                                  Magenta
Orchid                                                                         Pink Carnation
Apple                                                                          Sunflower
Grass                                                                           Lavender
Bright green                                                                Orchid
Copic G28                                                                   Amythyst
Copic Y000 –Pale Lemon                                           Grass
                                                                                     Bright green

                                                                                     French Navy

 

                                                                              

How to make this card

1. Using one of the A4 sheets of white card cut in half to make two A5 sheets. Distress round the edges with stormy sky distress ink. These will be the outsides of the card.
2. Using one of the other sheets of  A4 white card cut in half to make two A5 sheets and then trim down by a couple of millimetres on the long side and the short side. Distress round the edges with stormy sky distress ink. These will insides of the cards. On the reverse write lightly in pencil ‘wrong side’
3. on one of the pieces stamp and colour the ruffled tulip in the exact centre of the card. On the other use the mask or the embossing folder to create the clouds.
4. Blue tack the insides of the card to the table with the wrong sides facing up. The tulip should be on the right and clouds on the left.  Down the right hand sides put a mark at 15mm from the top and the bottom.
   

On the left hand card mark at 15mm then add the width of the ribbon at the top and bottom.

5. secure the ribbon on the wrong side of the card pass it underneath (i.e. across the right side) and then back up to secure on the wrong side at points A to A, B to B, C to C and D to D.

6. Cut 3 ovals with the Spellbinders die. Stamp and colour 2 of them with the tulips and one with a greeting (optional).

7. Fix one of the tulip ovals to the clouds so that it is behind and central to the crossed ribbons.

8. Fix the verse/greeting oval behind the crossed ribbons so that the greeting faces the tulips and it aligns perfectly.

9. The remaining tulip oval is used to camouflage the where the greeting is fixed to the crossed ribbons. When sticking, make sure that that they all align perfectly.

10. Stamp and colour the grape Hyacinth onto white card using a dye based ink and colour with promarkers. Cut to size and matt and layer with lemon coloured card. Fix centrally to card.

11. You can add your own choice of corner die or use the spellbinders D-lites one as shown in the picture above.

 

 

 

 

 

Hidden Greeting card

I've been a little remiss over the last few weeks and neglected my blog. My next class is two days away and I realised I haven't even posted the pictures for it never mind the "How to do it" for the last class. Anyway, here they are:

The above is the main card for this weekends class but here are some more ideas with the stamps I got to work with.

Once again the formatting is playing stupid games and the photos refuse to move around the page! So they are all over the place!
The background for this top card has been embossed using funky foam to create a stamp from a Tonic die. This will also be covered in class.


 





 

Fed up of trying to format this. It won't even align left now. Time for bed!

Night Night.

 

Yve

 



 

 



Even more La Blanche colouring ideas.

 I think I'm all coloured out now so here are the last La Blanche cards I'll be posting.

 I need to start my mock up cards for my next class which will be a hidden greeting card plus one other (which I haven't decided on yet) but will post them as soon as they are done.

 

 

Yve

More lovely La Blanche stamps

Here we have a few more of the images I have been chillaxing with this afternoon.
What is it about colouring in? many people never grow out of it!


I apologise to any gardeners out there if I've got the flower names wrong....I tried searching Google but either the flower looked wrong with the leaves or via versa.

Here in Yorkshire it's been a beautiful day! T-shirt weather....no kidding!
Took my poochie for a walk and it was glorious!
Another "what is it....." ... about dogs? do they have telepathy?
before I went on the walk I went into my bedroom and put on my trainers. My dog couldn't see what I was doing as I'd shut the door and I didn't want my dog, to get my daughter's dog, wound up since I wasn't taking her. As soon as I walked out of the bedroom there they were! both of them, like jack-in-a-boxes, all exited and thinking they were both going out for a walk.

Yve
:)

Happy Crafting whatever style you choose.

Finding space!

 No.....I don't mean the stars at night, but space in all those cupboards and drawers that us crafters seem to fill with endless crafting goodies.

Well, a week ago I was having a rearrange and came upon some La Blanche foam stamps that I had almost forgotten about. What I mean is, I knew they were there, I'd just forgotten how gorgeous they are. After stamping out many copies I was going to put them all back in the cupboard,but decided that I needed the space for new goodies. So I put them up for auction and have been having fun colouring some in, ready to use as card toppers in future. Here are some of the ones I've done so far.

I hope you like them as much as I do.

Once again I have been having trouble formatting the pictures! they just don't seem to want to move where I want to place them. So, I apologise that they are all over the place.  SOOOOO frustrating!!!!




Yve