Makes from a recent Sheila Oliver Class

On the 18th August I went to a cardmaking class with my crafting buddy Jo. The tutor was the very talented Sheila Oliver. This is the second of Sheila's classes we have been to but for this one we indicated to Sheila the techniques we would like to have a go at and she tailored the class specially for us. Two other ladies joined us on the class and we had an absolute blast! Customers going into the shop (Monk's Den at Ashby-de-la-Zouche) downstairs kept asking what all the noise and laughter was. It was an absolutely brilliant day so thankyou Sheila and if you check out her blog here you'll see what I'm talking about.

This first card was using Cuttlebug embossing folders on card and chipboard shapes. We used a mixture of inkpads, acrylic paint, Rub n Buff, gilding flakes, embossing powder and stickles to colour and texturise the various elements.

The second card was beautifully simple and so effective. Again we used CB folders but before placing the card in the folder we tapped embossing ink inside the folder and then embossed. We then covered the embossed area with clear sparkle EP and heated. Result - gorgeous!!! We used a single large snowflake folder for the top part of the card. I absolutely love this Christmas card.

The third card uses CB folders as well but this time with wax paper. We ran a piece of wax paper through the CB in a folder and then ironed it onto a piece of semi-gloss card. We then blended ink onto the card and the wax created a resist. Finally we stamped and embossed our image.

The final card used a totally new technique to me in the final stages. First of all we built up a collage of images and once we were happy with it we covered the whole piece with Bond-a-web and heated it with a heatgun until it bubbled and the bubbles burst. This meant there were areas where you had the shiny melted Bond-a-web and bare areas of card where the bursted bubbles were. We then blended ink over the whole piece and, of course, it settled into the bare areas to leave you with a sort of faux rusted tin effect.

I you click on any of the photos you can see a closeup of the techniques used, especially the sparkly snowflakes and the faux tin. Sheila's classes are so enjoyable and she's a really good tutor. I only wished we lived closer so that we could get to more of them.

Finally, I want to show a pretty pair of earings which were a RAK from Kathryn. She and I shared a series of workshops at Once Upon a Stamp earlier this year. She's been making some really beautiful jewellery and hasn't been blogging very long so please pay her a visit here and leave a comment.

Thankyou for the gift Kathryn, I shall enjoy wearing them.

Not My Own Work (Unfortunately)

Life has been pretty hectic at our little homestead this week. I've been helping out at my old job over their holiday period and I had a lovely crafty day with Jo on Wednesday. We went to Once Upon a Stamp (which is very close to me) for a good browse and some crafty shopping, called for some lunch on the way back and then spent a smashing afternoon playing with shrink plastic, acetate, gold leaf, Inkadinkado Snow Fall set and some of my new Elusive Images Christmas stamps. We didn't actually finish a card (too much chat and not enough work) but had all the bits ready to put a couple together. I will blog mine when I get chance to finish them but...........................

In the early hours of Wednesday morning I got a tearful phonecall from my lovely DIL. They had a pipe burst and the lounge had a huge hole in the ceiling with water running everywhere. Absolutely everything was soaked including all the electrics so I had to go fetch her and little Alexa back here whilst my son stayed to wait for the emergency plumber - thank goodness for home insurance! The outcome is that they will be staying with us for a couple of weeks at least, which is lovely, but not condusive to my getting much crafting done.

So, as I haven't made any completed projects recently I thought I would share someone else's work with you. My son, Jamie is quite a talented artist (he has a Fine Art Degree) and although he is not employed in any artistic field but works as a Personal Development Outreach Worker, a couple of weeks ago they had an Open Day so Jamie did some graffiti demonstrations but onto boards instead of walls. The following are photos of the pieces he did plus a couple of pencil drawings of children in the family (taken from photos).

I'm very proud of the artwork Jamie produces when he has time and keep trying to persuade him to set up a blog but unfortunately, at the moment, spare time is in short supply so I'm enjoying showing it off instead.

A couple of weeks ago I did go to a cardmaking class with Sheila Oliver as the excellent (and lots of fun) tutor and as soon as I have time to sort the photos of the cards we made I'll post them.

Creeping round the Boss!

This card had to be a bit special because it was for my boss, Lol! Actually, I retired at the beginning of May but was asked if I could help out over a difficult staffing time they're having just now, so although Jayne is technically my boss she is and has been a very good friend for a number of years now.

Jayne is also a friend who, although she isn't a crafter herself has always taken great interest in the things I make and has been very encouraging so I like to make sure her cards are a bit special.

This design is a card within a card. The outer card is folded gatefold style and the inner card is a normal C5 fold. For this card I used a precious sheet of my Graphicus Guild BP pack in a beautiful grey. It almost seems to shimmer like silk. I'm not going to bore you with details of the cutting and stamping as I think it's fairly obvious what I did but if there's anything anyone would like to ask me, please feel free to email or leave a question in the comments. I did also stamp the image I have used below and another sentiment into the inside of the C5 fold card.

Once again everything, stamps, inks, etc., I used on this card are available at Graphicus but you have to join the Guild to get the paper. They have just brought out a beautiful new cd though, called Decadent Brocade, and there are several paper designs on it that are very much like (if not exactly the same) the one I have used, and lots of others that are absolutely gorgeous.

I was really pleased with this card because I thought it suited Jayne's taste perfectly and I was right because she really loved it.

Birthday Card for my Crafting Buddy.

I'm well and truly hooked on the Heidi Swapp Mega Masks at the moment and I used one of the smaller circles on the sheet to create a card for my lovely friend Jo.

We met on the internet just over a year ago through our mutual love of Elusive Images stamps and our admiration of the company's owner/designer Glenda Waterworth, whose blog Artylicious, we both visited and commented on frequently. After emailing each other several times and talking over all things crafty we met irl at a Graphicus workshop and really got on well together. Since then we email each other on a very regular basis, supporting and encouraging each other in our 'crafty' endeavours. It's great to be able to discuss anything to do with craft and know that you're not boring the other person to death (as happens sometimes with my OH).

As well as emailing we do try to have craft related outings every so often and again, it's really good to be able to share the excitement of going to a workshop or a craft show with a good friend and I look forward to many more of these outings with Jo.

I know she's going to be feeling embarrased but I just have to say how much her emails lift my mood if I'm feeling a bit down in the dumps. She always manages to put something in that makes me smile and I know that she has at least one other crafty friend who thinks the same. So thank you Jo and a very Happy Birthday to you for last Sunday.

Now on to the details of the card and I'll try to be brief. I used DIs to blend a fairly light background to the circle and did position a small bird and branch mask (again Heidi Swapp) but I ended up almost obliterating it with stamping

.

All the various stamps I used are from Elusive Images (available from Graphicus) and I stamped the little bird on the branch twice so that I could make it nice and bright and then cut it out and layered it onto the card. I then used Glossy Accents to give it shine. I stamped and embossed the bird with the curly tail and then coloured it with H20s, cut it out and positioned a feather behind the tail before adding it to the card on foam pads.

I blended chalk ink on the pretty block circle stamp and cut it out with my Nestabilities and then stamped the sentiment and inked the edges. Finally, I arranged the little flowers and added a bit of bling.

I think just about everything I used on this card I bought from Graphicus except for the basic card stock and the feather and self adhesive diamante stones which were in my stash.

List of EI stamps used : Damask Blocks

Design-a-Tree

Live out Loud

Curly Birds

Sentiment is from a Graphicus Guild exclusive stamp plate.

Thankyou Sheila!

I had a lovely comment the other day from a card designer I really admire, wanting to pass on a couple of awards to me but it turns out I had recently received them from elsewhere. I thought I would still do a quick little mention on here though so that I could include a link to Sheila's blog and say thankyou. Well it's blogs really as she has two and they are both great and full of inspiration, beautiful work and amusing bits of her life.

My friend Jo and I are going to Monk's Den where Sheila works, next Tuesday for a full day's class with Sheila that she has set up specially for us covering techniques that we requested. If you live within visiting distance of the shop at Ashby-de-la-Zouche I would recommend Sheila's classes. The tuition is great and so are the laughs. We had a brilliant time on our last visit - which is precisely why we can't wait to go again.

See you on the 18th Sheila!

A Birthday Card for a Friend

This card is a bit different from my usual. It's quite simple and although it took me a while to decide what to do (I'm a very slow designer) it didn't really take long to make as there is not much stamping.

It is a card for a friend and ex-work colleague and I knew she wouldn't really appreciate anything 'arty' with lots of inking and stamping so I decided to try and do something just a mite 'chuckly'. The stamps are two by Penny Black that I got from the Paper Mill Shop last week and I stamped the first sheep, once onto semi-gloss card and once onto masking tape. When it was dry I masked it out and stamped the second sheep. I then added just touches of colour from some Adirondack inkpads and coloured the sheep in with a Sakura Souffle white pen. I gave it 2 coats using a circular motion to make the surface a bit rough and 'woolly' looking. I then cut out the image and a scalloped mat using my Nesties.

For the rest of the embellishments I used my Fiskars Threading Water border punch, some little flower punches that have been languishing at the back of a drawer for ages, my Swiss Dots CB folder and some peeloffs that I colour co-ordinated with permanent markers. I just used scraps of paper from my bit box (how good am I?) for the little flowers, inked the edges of the larger petals, layered them and added blobs of Stickles in the middle.

When I'd finished I was chuffed to bits with it and it was a big hit with my friend when I gave it to her yesterday.

Another Lovely Award

I am really lucky to have such nice people visiting my little bit of web space and I have made some lovely 'virtual' friends through it. Crafters are just the best and I've been given this award by a lovely lady called Christina all the way over in America. She has a really pretty blog with some wonderful papercrafting so please give her a visit.

I am supposed to pass this award on to 5 other people but I'm really sorry I just cannot choose five. Everyone who visits and leaves me such encouraging and heartwarming comments, plus having beautiful and inspiring blogs of their own, deserves the award so please accept it for yourselves with my love and thanks for your support.

Lots of love and hugs

Lesley Xx