Who doesn't love a saving

It's Thursday and that means it's my turn on the DT blog at Clare Curd Crafts.

 

It was only after I made this card that I realised Clare has put this stamp set and lots more into the 40% sale she has on at the moment

 

The background of the card is brayered with grey ink and over stamped using the small nut & bolt stamp. The motorbike is stamped in grey ink and layered onto black card.

The patterned paper is from the Carta bella well Travelled pad

I cut a couple of cute little banners and attached them.

 

 

A bit of distressing on the edges and this manly card is finished.

 

 

Something for the boys

It's my turn over on the Clare Curd Crafts DT blog today and yes I know it's Halloween but I just couldn't bring myself to make anything spooky, so instead I went all butch and masculine and made a grungy card.

 

the base of the card is coloured using a brayer and a brown ink pad.

The layers are cut from the Carte bella paper pack as well as some old Tim Holtz papers from my own stash.

 

Clare stocks a great selection of Tim Holtz products by the way!

 

 

I then started working on my layers, some inking, some distressing and some stamping

 

The motorbike stamp is great and is  from  the Crafty Impressions Explore stamp set

 

I put half the quote on the outside of the card

 

And then stamped the rest inside

 

I'm linking this card to the following challenge blogs

 

MAKE IT MONDAY

 

&

 

SCRIBBLE&SCRAP

 

 

 



Bits and bobs

I hate waste, any kind of waste, food, time, crafting materials. So with this in mind I have a box that I drop all my bits of left over paper into. They do come in useful for those little bits we all need from time to time, but today I thought I would share a couple of ideas that just use little scraps of paper.

 

The best way to start with this kind of project is to pull out a nice pile of contrasting papers, most of mine came from the Well Travelled paper pad

 

 

I then got together a collection of embellishments and ribbons that would work with the papers I'd chosen. You won't use everything you've got out but having them to hand will make decisions easier.

 

The first thing I made from this pile was a pendant, using a wooden tile as a base, you could use a domino, mount board, anything as long as it wont warp when glue is applied.

 

 

I chose my scrap of paper which I then glued to the base

 

file the edges of the paper to get a nice smooth finish

 

pick a couple of other contrasting papers and layer them on your base.

 

Now coat this in Mod Podge to seal all the edges.

Pick your embellishment and glue to the base.

 I stamped and added a word to mine, from the Crafty Impression Explore stamp set.

If you want to make a pendant, make a hole to thread a cord through. You could use this as an embellishment for a card, a Christmas tree decoration, or even add a magnet to the back.

 

 

The second thing I made was a quick card Embellishment, which could also be made into many other items.

 

I started out by cutting three different sized circles using my Cuttlebug.

 

I layered them up and added some ribbon,

 

I chose an embellishment

 

 

and there you have a finished embellishment to use in whatever way you want

 

It's my turn over on the Clare Curd Crafts DT blog today, stop by and say Hi x

 

 



Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow

Hello lovelies, it's Thursday again and that means it's my turn over on Clare Curd Crafts blog.

 

The title of this post kind of sums my life up at the moment, nothing happens for ages then a whole load of stuff all at once. This week is a whole load at once one as my youngest is off to Uni on Saturday so it's all hands on deck getting all the last minute bits and pieces together for him. With this in mind crafting time has been very limited, but I got stuck in and in under 30 minutes put together two cards, both quite different from my usual style but they show the versatility in the products I was talking about here.

 

First up is a little pink and black number I put together using the papers from the Carta Bella - Well Travelled 6x6 pad and some well loved dies I rediscovered in a box

 

 

I used a 5x5 black card blank and covered it with a sheet of paper from the paper pad, then cut the circles using dies and my Cuttlebug.

 

The words and butterfly are also dies. To bring the pink over onto the butterfly I applied some micro beads down the body.

 

The second card I made was even faster than the first

for this card I started out with a 5x5 white card base which I sprayed with Dylusions spray in Dirty Martini. When this was dry I over stamped it with the sentiment from the Crafty Impressions Explore stamp set. I then cut three banners from different sheets of paper from the paper pad and using a paint brush edged them in the green spray ink.

 

When I stuck the banners down I curled the edges a little to give some movement and dimension to the card

 

If your in the market for some new dies take a look here at the selection Clare carries in the shop.

 

 

Up, up and away

It's Thursday, so that means it's my turn again over on Clare Curd Crafts I can't believe how quick these weeks are flying by!!

 

I made a mixed media panel to share with you today, not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, I may mount it and hang it or I may just add it into my art journal, who knows :)

 

I've used the Carta Bella - Well Travelled Collection 6x6 paper pad and the Crafty Impressions stamp set both available from Clare's store.

 

The background was run through my Cuttlebug to get the embossed texture and then I layered up the acrylic paints and papers from the pack, decorated some tape and applied that and then mounted up my stamped image and quote.

 

 

The hot air balloon was great fun to make. I started off cutting a balloon shape from card then built up the depth I wanted in layers of tissue and masking tape. I then added the ropes by using a length of suede cord I had in my stash, over the top of this I applied another couple of layers of tissue, covering it in home made Mod Podge ( mix equals parts of white PVA glue and water) and making sure the tissue moulded around the 'ropes' 

 

Once the glue was all dry I painted the balloon and added the basket.

 

If you are stuck for inspiration pop over to the Clare Curd Crafts DT blog, someone is posting inspirational stuff on there every day.

 

 

 

 

Versatility

Today is my turn over on the Clare Curd Crafts blog

 

With pennies not as free flowing as they once were I know I like to get as much mileage from my crafting materials as possible, and one of the things I look for is versatility in the products. Take the Carta Bella - Well Travelled 6x6 paper pad, as soon as I saw it I liked it, and my first impression was how masculine it was, but after looking through it I discovered there are in fact some very useful papers in there.

 

 

I've previously used this paper collection and made a very manly card and a boyish mixed media hanging, but today I thought I'd show you just how versatile this paper pad really is.

 

 

The black and cream papers are from the Well travelled collection, and to contrast with these I wanted something totally different in both colour and pattern, so I took a plain piece of white copy paper and made my own sheet of patterned paper using Dylusion sprays in Dirty Martini and London Blue I sprayed through a paper doily to get the lacy effect.

I stamped and cut out my main focal image, a very old stamp, in fact it's the very first rubber stamp I ever bought a good 10 years ago, and it's still a firm favourite of mine. I mounted this onto black card, as I did with all the other layers.

 

 

The flower is one I made from the sprayed paper, just cut a rough circle and then cut a spiral into it. Then from the outside edge of the spiral roll the strip all the way to the centre, then secure with adhesive. Roll some of the edges back to get some texture, then add a black gem to the centre of the flower. The frill is in fact a piece of the doily I sprayed through. 

 

Once everything was mounted up I stuck it to a 6x6 white card base.

 

 

~~~~~~

 

Just to show how versatile this paper pad really is I then went on to make a quick and simple Christmas gift tag

 

 

So crafting need not be expensive if you shop wisely and buy products that will see you through the whole year.



DT Thursday

Good morning :)

 
Today is my turn over on the Clare Curd Crafts blog

 

I loved the Carta Bella - Well Travelled Collection paper pad as soon as I saw it, such a great collection of really useful papers, and that is what I used on my card and gift bag I'm sharing today.

 

 

 

-I started off making a card 6x6 card base from a sheet of black card from my stash. Then after deciding which of the lovely Carta Bella papers I was going to use I then decided on my layout.

 

- I stamped the motor bike, from the Crafty Expressions EXPLORE set and distressed and inked the edges, this then led the way for the overall look of the card, rough, ready and masculine.

 

 

 

-  all the edges of the patterned papers were also distressed and inked, I tore into my main patterned paper and rolled the edges back and put a contrasting piece of paper behind, then matted all my pieces onto black card.

 

 

- in the paper pad there is a sheet that has little quotes and saying on it, I cut one of these out and attached it off to the side of the card. I also made little tabs, rounded the ends with a corner rounder punch and attached them with eyelets. Little details like these add interest to a card.

 

 

- now mount everything onto you base card and we're done. Now onto the gift bag.

 

 

- this was so simple to make as I already had a pile of brown paper bags in my stash, but you could just as easily make a bag.

 

-I stamped the motor bike out and cut the piece into a tag shape, then made a second tag with some black card and some off cuts of paper left from the card. I attached these together with another little tab.

 

- I made a decorative strip for the bottom of the bag, again using off cuts.

 

- all that is left to do now is decide how you are going to close your bag. I decided to roll the top over a couple of time, punch a hole and then thread a piece of ball chain through my tag and the bag, so when the chain is closed it holds the bag shut.

 

 

 

Items used from Clare Curd Crafts

 





~ Carta Bella - Well Travelled Collection

 

~  Crafty Impressions Explore