Coloured Stencils a la Jennifer McGuire

I have been looking for an idea to make some thank you cards for my Floridian friends, every time I visit they go out of their way to include me and take me to the most fab places.

I watched a video from Jennifer McGuire and thought I have everything to make that so I sat and had a go, i had to sharpen my pencils multiple times but I really like the effect. Next time I might use my crayolas and see what difference these make.

Ingredients
Image: "moroccan mosca" stencil from MFT
Sentiment: "written in watercolour" from MFT
Card: "natural" from MFT
Dies: A2 stitched rectangle stax from MFT

Making Cards Magazine Roses

When my friend Jane received the making cards magazine a few issues ago she made 17 cards with the free papers< i was very impressed and tried to remember ever using the free papers. I remember using the foxes and bunnies once to make about ten cards but that was my maximum. I am not going to be making 17 cards with this set but I did make two, there is lots left over so I might make a few more but at least I have used them this time.

Famous last words but each month I am going to make at least a few cards with the stamps and papers so that I feel the magazine is worth the subscription. It does feel every time I think I should cancel they bring out a super cute set lol.

I used one of the designs in the magazine as a starting point for the cards and they kind of developed on their own. Even though I only cu out and stuck together I don't think it was any quicker than my coloured cards, probably cos they are clean and simple.

Ingredients
Image: "making cards magazine" issue
Sentiment: "a little bit sentimental" Clearly Besotted
Card: "kraft" from the Range
Paper: "making cards magazine" issue

Spotlight Technique

I was trying to make life easier and make two cards with one pass but life never quite works out that way. I have used the spotlight technique before but only normally with one area either coloured or greyscale. On a recent visit to Snazzy's I saw that she had taken a single image and stamped it twice, coloured one version and left the other as line art then cut the same areas out of each and transposed them. It was so effective I wondered why I had never tried it so I decided I would as soon as I got home.

She used a large floral from Penny Black but I don't have that so I thought I have loads of floral images from Just Inklined so why not use one of those. I was originally going to just print it twice and colour one when I saw I also had the pre-coloured version. I thought oh I can make this so much quicker now, famous last words lol. Of course the images are almost identical in size maybe a few mm off but enough to make this a much more difficult job than just colouring it myself would have been, but lesson learned lol.

I popped the circles on one and inset them on the other, not sure which I prefer but I would definitely try this again but I would colour the image myself lol.

 


Ingredients
Images: "crocus jug" Just Inklined and coloured version from La Pashe CD
Sentiment: "" Clearly Besotted
Dies: "a2 stitched rectangle" MFT
Card: "dark charcoal" recollections at Michaels

Heart and Sole 2

At the start of the year I was trying to increase my chances of getting all the cards I needed made so I was making two cards at each sitting. Now I wrote this blogpost back in April and I am hoping I managed to stick to this as it was definitely reducing my stress levels and making card making more enjoyable. Not that I am saying it isn't enjoyable more that I put myself under pressure by always leaving things to the last minute and then not being happy with the result, so I made the decision if I had an idea for a particular card for a particular person I was just going to get on with it and make it lol, so here we are with a card made in April not needed until October lol.

Now I could have shown this when it was made as the person doesn't follow my blog, however his mum does and I knew she would guess it was for him (is the 40 a give away Jane lol).

There is only one difference from the original (apart from the fact that card was pink and purple) and that is that this one is on an action wobble lol.

My original idea was to make the splatters brown like mud but that really didn't work as they looked like something else lol so I thought its a card it doesn't have to reflect life so blue splatters it is.

Ingredients
Image and Sentiment: "heart and sole" Papertrey ink
Inks: "twisted citroen" and "broken chinat" both Distress Oxides
Stencil: "splatters" Tim Holtz
Dies: "a2 stitched stax 2 and a2 stax 1" both MFT

Flipping Golfer

My good friend Kay recently brought some older stamps to playday and asked if anyone wanted them. These are not my normal style but I appreciate that the people I send to might like something different so I brought this one and a fishing one home. They come with a front and back image but I only used the front today. I ought to try a flip card with both but not this time.

I did draw in the background to look like a bunker and hopefully it works.

Ingredients
Image and Sentiment: "golfer" Flipping Stamps from La Pashe
Dies: A2 stitched rectangle from MFT
Card: "elegant evening" Papertrey Ink

Copics
Skin - E11, 00, 000
Club - B99, 95, N5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Shirt - N2, 1, 0
Beer - YR27, 24, 23
Cap and Trousers - B99, 95, E79, 74
Socks and Sweater - YG99, 95, 93, 91
Sand - E35, 34, 31
Grass - G46, 24, 43
Sky - BG11, 10

Drinks Trolley Beer Glasses

Third and final for now card in the Drinks Trolley Collection from Craftstash. I enjoyed making these and like the shoes and lady ones I made earlier this year they have helped immensely with the stress and made card making fun again.

I speak to lots of people who make cards and never send them but everyone of my cards is made for someone, I make roughly 300 a year between birthday, christmas and new home, new baby, congratulations. I think next year I am going to try the multiple method often as it certainly helps as I get more time to play.

Ingredients
Image "time for a beer" Apple Blossom
Sentiment: "" Simon Says Stamp. memento bermuda bay ink

Copics
Glasses - E53, 51, 50, YR23, 24, 27
Background - B14, 12

Drinks Trolley Beer Bottle

This is the second of a set of three cards all made with the drinks trolley sets from Craftstash. I wanted to make more with the other images but ran out of time. I used a real bottle for the colour inspiration of course that meant I had to drink the contents lol.

I kind of wish I had stamped the same label as the mini version but thats next time lol.

Ingredients
Image: "time for a beer" apple blossom and magazine free set
Sentiment: "" Simon Says Stamp

Copics
Bottle - E29, 37, 35
Background - G02, 00

Drinks Trolley Pop Can

I have been looking at the apple blossom drinks trolley collection available at Craftstash for a while but had no idea if I would use them so I resisted, however in June one of the UK magazines had a miniature version with dies as the free gift. I thought this would alleviate my desire to own the originals but instead it made me buy them lol.

I stamped the mini version of the can and coloured the same as the large version and before I knew it the card was finished. I liked it so much I made two more versions with different images and that doesn't happen often I can tell you lol.

Ingredients
Images : pop, fizz. party from apple blossom
Sentiment : drinks trolley magazine freebie

Copics
Can - R39, 37, 35, N2, blender, N5, 4
Background - N8, 6

Swiss Army Knife

I am not normally pleased with the cards I make, I kind of like them and I don't hate them but pleased is just a little too far lol, this card is the exception to the rule. It turned out better....yes I said better...than I hoped it would. It didn't go to plan and I had to adapt along the way but that just means it's different to how I envisaged it and in this case that's a good thing lol.

I was experimenting with the die set and cut it from white card to see how it all went together, I thought I would use my wink of Luna and colour the tools and my copics to colour the body. This was my first attempt and I ended up liking it a lot so I scrapped my idea to use metallic cardstock and went with what I had.

Of course once assembled it was too big for a standard A2 card so my handy trusty 6x6 cards came out to play. My original idea was a pocket from an old MFT set but it was too small, then I had the brainwave of making it like a front pocket, I used the jeans I was wearing to get the correct look and a circle die to draw around and bish bash bosh it was done. This makes it sound like it was quick, it wasn't lol.

I have left the knife loose inside the pocket so it can be removed, this card was a lot of work and I hope the recipient likes it too.

If you are still here, well done on sticking with my ramblings lol.

The Pocket Knife

Ingredients
Card: "enchanted evening" papertrey ink
Stamp: "denim" background from MFT
Dies : "utility die set - his" from Art Impressions