Birthday Cards - Variation on a Theme 3

 ..... and the last one in this little trio of variations.   This has proved a really useful stamp, and the fact that the money from its purchase went to Children in Need is a great feeling.

This time in addition to the jumper stamps, I used a little butterfly from IndigoBlu.

Also may I take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year and here's hoping that we get back to some sort of normality in 2021. x

Bee Happy

A little page from my Art Journal that I created a couple of days ago playing with my new Daler Rowney paints, Mama Makes stamps and IndigoBlu large Bee stamp.

I applied a thin coat of white gesso to the page, and then with my finger applied blue, pink and yellow paint randomly over the page.

I then used some of the paint and also Artistry ink pads with the Mama Makes stamps.  I stamped the bee on the page and embossed it with silver, and then on a separate piece of card I stamped it with a black ink pad and embossed it with clear powder.   This was then painted and fussy cut and decoupage on top of the stamped image.  Finally a few more background bits added with a Mama Makes stamp and white gesso and the "Happy" sentiment added in black, and highlighted with a white Posca pen to make it stand out.

Butterfly Birthday Card

A fairly quick little card for a lovely little lady.   I stamped the Indigoblu butterfly with black ink and heat embossed it with clear detail powder, cut it out and painted it with distress oxides.  I masked off the card, stamped the butterfly in the middle, and then randomly brushed the background with distress oxides and did a light wash over the the butterfly with the same colours as the cut out butterfly.   I also gave it a little shadow.   The cutout butterfly was glued over the top of the stamped one on the card.

I edged the masked off distress oxide section with a black pen, added some peel offs (well it is no use them sitting in boxes being ignored) and then created the sentiment in Craft Artist and mounted it on card.

Dandelion Card

 

Keeping it simple again today.  Having found my stash of this shape of card, I thought I really ought to use them!

Stamped with Nuvo Empire Blue ink with am Indigoblu stamp.  Mounted on blue mirri card, and the sentiment (Clarity) die cut from the same blue card.

The card was then edged with the Nuvo blue ink.

Messing about in a Journal

I received some new stamps - and naturally I just had to play.   Journalling is still a little struggle for me - but I have found it useful for trying out techniques

The background was done with distress oxides applied with an old dried out wet wipe.  I then randomly stamped with the IndigoBlu "Golden Ratio" stamp.  I then stamped the owl from Katy Sue Designs, and coloured this with Posca pens and water.    It is sort of work in progress, as being a journal page, I can add to it as the mood takes me.

I also did the same background on this page, but used the Katy Sue Unicorn stamp this time,  It hasn't turned out quite as I wanted, the main stamped image wasn't perfect, so painting it with the acrylics wasn't so easy.   You win some you lose some - but again as it was a journal page - I can go back into it and add some more - you never know I may get to share it again when more has been added.

I have realised that I need to add some shadow/shading to make the images "pop".   That;s the advantage of just playing and taking a photo - you can see more easily what you need to do.

Painted Calico Rose Card

There was a little panic yesterday, when I realised it was a friend's birthday.   A quick card was required.  I suddenly had some inspiration as sitting on my craft desk was some calico where I had practised stamping and painting some flowers.  (The stamp was from IndogBlu, and I used Posca pens to colour it.

I did a qick random background with distress oxides and a sponge     I cut out the flower and applied clear embossing ink to it and then clear detail powder.   This gave the effect of stiffening.  I added a drop of glue around the centre and added some Cosmic Shimmer glitter jewels, and cut into the petals to give them some shape.   The words from Craft Creations, stamped in black and embossed.

MDF Plaque - SteamPunk/Grunge Effect

Front

A little experiment with an MDF hanger today.    The backing paper was one from Craft Artist, which I stuck to the MDF and then sandpapered the edges to get a neat finish.  I then the "attacked" the paper with distress inks and stamps.  I used an Artistic Flair stencil for the wording and inked through it with Brown Nuvo ink, and sprinkled on clear detail embossing powder, and applied a little White Colour Cloud Blending Ink to the edge.  I sealed everything with Spray and Shine.

The cogs and clock face were painted with , Decoart paints in Paynes Grey, Quinacridone Gold (red), yellow ochre, Prussian blue and Raw Umber and a touch of IndigoBlu Townhouse Teal to create a rusty affect.  Stamperia Glass paste was then applied with a finger to create a pitted look, and also highlights with Pebeo Gilding Wax in different shades of Gold.   These were then sealed with Spray and Shine, and when dry adhered to the plaque with Sweet Poppy translucent special dimension paste.

Back

The reverse was a bit of an experiment, that gave me a lot of trouble.   The background was created the same way as the front, using the same paper which I had coloured blue before printing.  Again it was distressed and stamped.

I tried to use a dimension paste through another Artistic Flair stencil, and tried to apply some gilding wax to it, which wasn't awfully effective, so I re-applied the paste and sprinkled on some black glitter.   This didn't look quite right when dry, and on the suggestion of my daughter, I sanded the wording back to make it more "grungy", which improved it and then applied a couple of layers of Stamperi glass paste over the whole design.  (It doesn't look brilliant in the photo, but is better in real life and has a sort of under-water look to it).

I also applied some white Cosmic Shimmer Colour Cloud to the edges of the plaque, as on the front.

Front of plaque showing stamping and distressing

As you can see from this work in progress photo, for some reason the embossing powder didn't wan to play on a couple of the words.  You will note they are fine in the final result - with a little help of a fine paint brush and some raw umber paint!

Finally ... a couple more views hanging on a wall, before I wrap and send it off to its recipient.

This is the first time I have done something like this, and confess it was a bit of a learning curve.  The aim was something a bit steampunk/grunge.    Think I might have achieved it ...... sort of... lol!   Just hope my pal likes it - at least she has one of the glass angels I made to hang up, even if this doesn't make it - although it may have a place on her craft room wall.