For some reason when I posted the photo of my stationery and box last night the notecards appear to have been stamped back to front. I took two photos, just very slightly different and one has the notecards the right way round and the other (the one I used) is wrong. I'm completely mystified but just so everyone knows they really were done properly I'm posting the other photo. Gremlins in my camera or computer? Weird!!!!

Glenda's Stampbord Challenge

Oh boy! Two posts in one evening. I didn't think I would have time to enter Glenda Waterworth's challenge for some lovely new bird stamp sets from her company Elusive Images as I have had a very hectic two weeks - Mum's 80th Birthday, my Son's Wedding and visitors staying over. Then I remembered a card I made a little while ago using her products and Stampbord - what better combination can you think of?

The base card is obviously pale blue and after stamping a border of peacock feathers from the Elusive Images Peacock Glory Themeplate I then attached a piece of backing paper printed from an Artylicious CD (sorry can't remember which one without going through them but they're all fabulous). I traced over quite a lot of the printed design with Sakura clear Stardust pen. I then used masking tape to hold nine 1" Stampbord squares together whilst I used various ink pads (Encore and Versacolor I think) to create a background. Over this I stamped the large peacock feather square from the same themeplate as before using black StazOn and used a scratchtool to pick out the areas I wanted to highlight and lastly I used Gold Ecoline Liquid Watercolour to brush over specific areas. When everything was dry I removed the masking tape and placed the squares onto two layers of Glimmer Misted backing card (one with dark blues and one with pale) leaving a small space between each tile and narrow borders round the outside before adding this to the card.

To complete the card I added two strips of navy twill ribbon down the left hand side, added a double knot of gold ribbon to one strip and (shame on me) peeloffs to the other.

I think this card would be quite appropriate for a man. Hope you like it.

A Birthday Gift for a Special Friend

A little while ago I noticed some lovely little sets of drawers on Glenda Waterworth's post about her gorgeous craftroom/studio, one of which she said she bought from TKMaxx. I duly took myself off to my local branch not expecting to be able to find the same set of ceramic drawers but I did find a couple of other items in their clearance section. One was a lovely black box (with plenty of chips) with a hinged lid inlaid with a frosted glass panel. The other item I hope to be able to show you at some later date.

I decided to repaint the box with vinyl emulsion and I then stippled patches of Brilliance Ink in Coffee Bean and Galaxy Gold (and one other colour I can't remember). Because of the shape of the box I knew I wouldn't be able to use an acrylic block so I got rather messy using my fingers and tweezers to stamp images from the Elusive Images Delightful Damask Themeplate. I also knew I wouldn't be able to get a pristine image so I didn't try and ended up with a lovely distressed look. Finally I lined the inside bottom of the box with some lovely dark red velvet paper.

To complete the gift I used the same stamps to create some 'Just a Note' cards and envelopes and a selection of papers printed from my Artylicious Damask Delights CD to make notelets and envelopes.

I was really chuffed with the result and I think my friend was when I gave them to her last week.

Once again I have used some of my fabulous Graphicus and Elusive Images goodies - I LOVE 'EM!

Glorious Peacocks

I'm really not finding much time to play around with this blogging business. I still don't have a clue what I'm doing so anything that goes right is pure luck. Anyway, this is a card I made for no other reason than I wanted to. I used Glimmer Chalks to create a background on hammered white card then stamped the beautiful image from Elusive Images Peacock Glory themeplate. Stamped once onto white card and once onto white shrink plastic and coloured both with Sakura Stardust pens. I mounted the card image onto gold and blue mirri card then onto the base card with foam pads and the shrunken image was attached with silicone glue. I stamped a sentiment from the Elusive Images Paisly Elephant plate. I am sure it is already apparent after only two blogs that although I do own many stamps from other companies, my absolute favourites are from Elusive Images.

June 2008 Graphicus Guild ATC swap

Hello to anyone who has been kind enough to have a look at my blog. I really do not have a clue what I'm doing so it's all trial and error. Just to see 'if I can' I'm hoping to show you a photo of a couple of ATCs I submitted to the Graphicus Guild June swap.

Wow I've managed to get the photo alongside the wording so I've done something right.

Just as a reminder for myself really, I brayered the backgrounds of both ATCs using a Big and Juicy Gum Drop inkpad onto glossy card. The one on the left is using Elusive Images 'All of a Twitter' themeplate and coffee bean Brilliance ink then coloured in with Sakura Stardust pens . The wording is stamped onto a piece of torn velum and attached with brads and finally one of the birds stamped onto shrink plastic. The one on the right is using the Elusive Images 'Wild Meadow' themeplate and a selection of Brilliance ink pads with the final pale blue layer embossed with clear powder. The final touch is a Creative Expressions butterfly stamped onto shrink plastic and coloured with chalks.