Saturday 25 February 2012

LILLI OF THE VALLEY CARD

Well another week or so has passed by and i have only just managed to get to play for a few hours.
Work seems to have taken over my life lately, and i feel that i never find any me time.
Anyway my friend Kim came over to visit me on Friday and she always manages to inspire me with her beautiful creations.
She has made this stunning card which i am hoping to steal off her so that i can put it up here on my Blog.
It is a true piece of eye candy and no mistake.
I can't wait to get hold of it.....yum!
anyway this is a little something i had a play with today, as i do love my LOTV stamps and such, but i decided to buy a few of their images whilst at the Craft show earlier this month.
I don't normally go in for this kind of thing, but i thought a few already coloured images would be great for a quickie card.
and how right i was too. this one took o time at all.
I hope you like it.
I am seriously thinking about starting a challenge, so if you would be interested, please let me know.



Friday 10 February 2012

HEAT EMBOSSING A DOILY WITH SPARKLING EMBOSSING POWDER

Well I did say I would do some demo's, I just seem to have got carried away....I'm enjoying playing.
I have just got these fab new 5.5" Normady lace Doilies in, and as ever i thought i would try heat embossing on something a bit larger than i usually do.
As usual the Doilies are available from my Website and my eBay store
I generally only emboss smaller Doilies, but these are so pretty i had to have a go.
I used WOW! Nice Ice Blue embossing powder and my VersaMark pad.
I was really impressed with the result as I think you will agree, it looks lovely.
It took the powder beautifully and evenly, and the Doilies are really tough and a good weight for such harsh treatment.
Personally i have tried to do a few of the home made Doilies using a selection of Dies, but i couldn't be bothered with all the hassle picking out all the bits, and even having to turn the dies and roll them through the Big shot 3 or 4 times to make sure they cut properly and pick out all the left overs out of the Die before i could use it again....anyway hope you like the end result of the Heat embossing.

Doily toppers

Here is another sample of how to use Doilies.
This is a piece of a Doily cut out and heat embossed in Black, then layered onto black and gold mirri card.
a few little gems were added.
also shown is the whole Doily which was brushed over with a black ink pad, and also a section heat embossed in gold.

                                  This is a Doily called Victoria  for sale in my website or eBay store


WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH A DOILY


Now, Forgive the overkill on this one, but i have done this purely for demonstration purposes only.
I have been asked so many times... How do you use Doilies on a card? and what can you do with them other than stick them on?
So here is a little demonstration of what and how.
I have taken a plain 8" x 8" card and used a 6.5" round Doily.
I used the Doily as a stencil and using a distress ink pad and a cotton ball, dabbed the ink which has given the lovely mottle effect.
I also used distress ink to colour the edges of the Doily and the rose pattern.
I cut the center of a doily out and flattened it to use it as a lace border trim on the bottom of the card.
On the right hand corner i again used part of the doily as a stencil and glittered it, and on the left side i heat embossed a part of the Doily in gold to look like a metal corner.
The center Doily is coloured using my Distress inks and stickled with gold  following the embossed design on the Doily.
I will add a few more Idea's later on, but this was a quickie to demonstrate a few ways to use Doilies on your cards.


Above is a Doily that has been heat embossed in Silver, you still have all the fine detail.

Idea's to Inspire Lili of the Valley card by KIM

It's not often people put other artist's work on their Blog, but i just felt i had to put this one on.
My friend Kim is such a talented artist and card maker, she has more certificates for her art and design than i have made cards.
When she showed me this lovely LOTV card, I just loved it and had to share with you all.
Kim is more an altered artist (A Tim Holtz fan) and just loves Steam Punk and anything out of the norm.
We travel to as many Craft shows and craft shops as possible together (Our road trips)
Kim has a special talent when it comes to male themed cards (Something we all have problems with) and you can be sure she will come up with something just perfect for the occasion as this lovely card she made for her fishing lover Brother.
I hope she will get her own Blog up and running in the near future, it will be a feast for the eyes and an inspiration to all.

                                      Aren't those Brads just gourg! and those distressed Buttons
                                                                    The inside of the card
love the layering on the cap and shirt which matches the backing papers.  and that measuring tape is to die for.