Brick Man Part 2

In addition to Dr Who, I also made a Harry Potter figure.  Again painted with various acrylic paints and Posca pens.  Card added for collar and also used to create his glasses.  Hair, Golden Snitch and Hedwig the owl were created in Air Dry clay

sitting

golden snitch

Hedwig

Brick Men Part 1

standing

As regular followers will know I have been a bit quiet on the blog recently, and that is because I have been working on a couple of secret projects for my daughter's birthday.

There was a special offer on MDF models etc recently on a friend's website.   I said I didn't need anything and my daughter said she was thinking of buying a couple as she fancied a Dr Who and a Harry Potter figure.  Thankfully she forgot to order them ...... but I had duly noted her wish and I bought them and have been secretly building and painting them over the past few weeks.    Fortunately for me (but not her) she has been quite ill, and hasn't visited quite so much recently, so I only had a couple of mad panics to hide them when she visited unexpectedly!.

sitting

The model kits are from Stamps Away.  I painted them using various makes of acrylic pain and Posca pens.  I added some collars using card, and also a cravat using scrunched up tissue.   I also knitted the scarf -now that is a feat in itself as I hate knitting (and as my daughter remarked when I gave her the model - "ah, that is why your knitting bag was out the other week!).   I created the hat and the hair from air dry clay, as well as the sonic screwdriver,   Yes I did my research on The fourth Dr Who, and discovered what his sonic screwdriver looked like!

I even amazed myself when I painted his face as I think it actually looks like Tom Baker - more by luck than judgement I confess!

Floral Birthday Card

This is the card I made for my daughter.     I used Clarity Designer paper for the flowers, leaves, sentiment and the strip down the left-hand side.   I cut the flowers and leaves using a Craftascope die, and then stamped them.   I then shaped them and added a bit of detail with a white Sakura pen, and added some jewels for the centre.  The "brick wall" die was from Paper Roses, which was cut from black card.  I fell in love with this die, as I could see that when cut from card it could also be used as a stencil.  I have added a bit of colour to the "brickwork", so you can see where my thoughts for another use were going.

The peel-off box also came out and I discovered yet more matching peel-offs to edge the strip and add to the corners on the right.   (Peel-offs do tend to get overlooked these days don't they - time for a comeback!)

Below is a close up for the stamped and die cut leaves and flowers.

Granddaughter's card for her Aunt

I had the grandchildren over the weekend, and the 7 year old wanted to use Craft Artist.  She made a card for her bff, and also a birthday card for her aunt.  This was the front of that card.  She also made an insert and designed a paper for the back (but I didn't take photos of those).

She knows her aunt loves owls.   As she normally goes a bit OTT when designing cards, I thought the simplicity of this card was lovely.

.... and on the same theme

I had another card to make this week - this time for a male, so I thought I would carry on with the idea I had for the card I posted the other day, and do some more experimenting, this time with embossing powder.

Once again I used some Clarity Designer Paper and Craftascope stamps - this time one of the leaves, which I embossed with white embossing powder.   The sentiment was cut from the reverse of the Designer Paper and was once again a Clarity die.    I water-coloured some darker blue and green on the leaves, and again found some peel-offs in my stash to match.

Simple Birthday Card

I wanted to try out my new Craftascope stamps, and having seen a card with a strip down the side I decided to try them out on that.

I cut a strip of Clarity Designer paper, and randomly stamped the daisy.   It looked quite effective, but then I had the idea of trying a white gelly roll pen on the petals (yes I was at this stage just playing to see what effects I could get).   I then remembered that I had a birthday card to make ........

and thus the card above evolved.  I edged the strip with some peel-offs - yes probably like most most of you I have a stash of them from when I first started crafting.  I also found some little circle peel-offs in a matching colour - so those were added to the centres of the flowers.   I die cut the sentiment using a Clarity die, and added an insert.

Sympathy Card for a Treasured Pet

A dear friend and neighbour lost her beautiful dog yesterday.   I thought I would make her a card to say that I was thinking of her.  (which is the sentiment inside the card).

I took a picture of her dog and removed the rest of the photo, and then used it on a background from Craft Artist.  Added a rainbow, a bridge and a tennis ball - his favourite toy.

Run free of the Rainbow Bridge Bentley.  You will be sorely missed.

Driving Test Congratulations

Having had to make a Get Well card for my daughter, I was pleased to make this card yesterday for my eldest granddaughter.    So proud of her and the worry of her mum being ill in hospital didn't stop her from passing.

Get Well Card

I only had a few minutes to make this card, before taking it to the hospital.   My son discovered that we could nip up and see my daughter in hospital, and phoned to say he was on his way to pick me up.  So it was a very quick make.

The crocodile and syringe images are from Andy Carolan's Card Toonz CD - Professional Nuttyness, and the other images were from Craft Artist.

I made it so quickly that I didn't have time to take a photo - so my daughter took this picture of it on her hospital bed.

Football & Scrabble Card

I have used my scrabble letter kit for this one. (I used the kit for the two cards I made that I forgot to post at start of January too).  A very useful kit when you are not quite sure what card to make.

I created the background from a couple of other sports related kits, as well as the little footballer and used the blank tile from the scrabble kit to put the age on.   It was then matted on to black card before mounting on to the cardstock.

Galactic Plastic

I treated myself to a Galactic Plastic Kit for a Christmas present to myself.   I finally got to play with it, having felt under the weather with this grotty virus that is doing the rounds!

Preparing the slithers of plastic in the chosen finding

Starting the melting process with the carrier on the warming plate

The finished finding - swirled and glitter added

I then had a play with the plastic trying to recreate a flower with petals cut by hand. I also dragged the centre out.

A "freehand" flower

 In my craft stash I had some Friendly Plastic from many years ago, that I had never played with, so I thought I would experiment with some slithers.  I cut three random shapes and melted them together.  I then made a hole in the centre (well centre-ish - blame the eyes for that one)   I then reheated it and squashed it between two carriers, which made it slightly larger, and as you can see it took the imprint of the carrier mats.

The Galactic  Plastic is a lot easier to use (and cut) than the old Friendly Plastic, and does not have the black backing that the Friendly does.    It can be reheated and mixed and rolled to create new colours, and I am quite liking it.   The warming plate together with the carrier sheets are very easy to use.  It can also be cut with metallic shapes when warm, and also moulded into shapes, as well as adhering directly on to cards.

I am looking forward to some more experimentation.

Welcome to 2020

Happy New Year to all my followers.   There should have been a posting today, but I forgot to take photos before I got the cards in the post - duh!

I confess 2019 went out on a "grotty" note.   The family have had a rotten year, and it has continued right to the end.   I started to lose my eyesight, my eldest granddaughter has been quite poorly, and my son has had various obstacles to face too.  The end of the year and start of the New Year has seen my daughter in hospital.

Please 2020 try and be a bit kinder to us all.