Twiggy

Two lovely new characters have joined the Polkadoodles 'family' - they are Twiggy and Toots. Could I resist them - no I'm afraid not and this card has used one of the images of Twiggy perched on a branch enjoying cakes and a cuppa!  Background papers are from the same collection and I've just added an odd piece of punched border which was lying around and a computer sentiment.  Keep an eye out for Toots - I'm sure she will appear on a card soon.

Paper Players

While trawling around the net I spotted another challenge which appealed to me  -  The Paper Players are asking for a clean and simple project using water colour techniques.  I've used the acrylic block technique here to achieve some bands of colour on a piece of watercolour paper.  This was then stamped with the tree stamp and then the blossom.  As this was a CAS project I simply popped the panel onto a square card, stamping a sentiment from the same set - a simple insert and that's it. I hope the prominent watermark isn't a distraction - they do seem to stand out on CAS cards!

Stamps - from Stampin' Up Sheltering Tree set
Background - watercolour effect using Distress pens from Ranger

Pixie Snippets Challenge 173

Another of the cards which I had made as a demo sample should fit in with Pixie Snippets challenge this week and also of course has incorporated heat embossing and stamping which hopefully is making a bit of a comeback so that I can use some of my vast collection of stamps. The background was printed from a design within Docrafts Design programme which sadly seems to have been abandoned by them with no further updates forthcoming - shame!!  I then stamped a matching design onto a snippet of kraft card and gold embossed; topped this with another snippet of left over  card which had already been coloured for another project - this was embossed using a similar embossing folder with the addition of some gilding wax.  The clock was cut from snippets of mountboard before triple embossing in gold.  The 'cut out' pieces on the face of the clock then had some patterned paper added (more snippets).  Finally the trellis at the side was another oddment from my bits box - grunge board topped with some patterned paper before cutting out, then heat embossed with Distress embossing powder. Finally the words were stamped using a stamp from a freebie set and cut out using a banner die. Phew - that was a long description - sorry!  I think I might spend a quiet day in the craft room today after my marathon grass cutting session yesterday.

Background - Chronology paper from Docrafts Designer
Stamp - also from Docrafts
Trellis border - Tim Holtz Sizzix die
Clock - Tim Holtz Sizzix die
Banner die - Sue Wilson

Another Notebook

Here is another of the notebook covers I decorated using ultra thick embossing crystals.  The background was some printed paper from Docraft which I over stamped and inked the edges.  The butterfly and title plaque were cut from mount board, triple embossed in gold and then while the final layer was still molten a stamp was used to add texture to the butterfly and to add wording to the plaque which was mounted onto a Sue Wilson die cut from my oddments box.  The weather is looking lovely again today and I think I really should be getting outside and mowing the grass later on while it stays dry.

Background - printed paper from Docraft
Overstamping - Tim Holtz butterfly stamp and swirls using free stamps  from magazine
Butterfy die - Tim Holtz
Journal Words - stamp from Tim Holtz

Ladybirds

This card is another of my demo samples and I would think it also qualifies for the Pixie Snippets challenge.  Normal embossing powder was used on this one with the ladybird stamp being used twice with black ink and clear embossed  on snippets of white card.  Two circles were punched from one of the images, coloured using alcohol marker and then placed over the original image using foam pads to raise them up a bit.  Two die cut ladybirds were added on a border (more oddments from my bits box) together with a doily and a computer greeting.

Stamp - Docrafts
Greeting - computer printed with Cuttlebug die cuts
Border - Cuttlebug die

I'm Still Here

I have been a bit remiss in not blogging as regularly as I'd like but have actually scanned some of the samples which I made for the recent demonstration days so should have a few things to show you.  I was demonstrating just some of the uses for embossing powders both ultra thick and the normal kind.  I wasn't able to get into using the Melt Pot though because they don't actually stock that item so restricted my demonstrations to just using the heat gun.  I was also asked to show some ways of using Distress inks  so you can imagine that my hands got somewhat 'coloured' throughout the day - thank goodness for baby wipes and kitchen roll - no way I could escape to join a queue for the 'facilities' to wash hands!!  I had made some card samples and also decorated the covers of a few purchased sketch books.  This one which is roughly A5 size had quite a large 'tile' cut out from offcuts of mountboard, sponged with Distress inks, overstamped with a bird cage stamp and some swirls around the edges.  Three layers of ultra thick powder were melted onto this to give a lovely enamelled effect. The background was a piece of card sponged with Distress inks in the same colours; Some more of the inks sponged through stencils;  overstamped with swirls and a bird; then some texture medium applied through a mask in areas to give it texture.  The wording was produced on the computer to fit into a die cut bookplate which I'd also coloured and heat embossed with three layers.

Stamps used - from Chocolate Baroque
Stencils /Masks - Tim Holtz and Special Touch
Distress inks pads - Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed and Seedless Preserve
Bookplate - from Tim Holtz die (large tag with two bookplates)

Busy - Busy

I have been keeping busy but at the moment not on things I can really show on my blog until after next weekend when I am demonstrating at Yandles Show - details on their website HERE.  This company holds a woodworking show twice a year and of course there are also plenty of craft demonstrators there - entry and parking free, with opportunities for lots to see and refreshments available as well - what better way to spend an April day??  My friend Jill will be there with some of her beautiful quilling as well as people demonstrating several other crafts such as quilting, jewellery, felt making and so on - I am demonstrating some of the techniques which can be done with Distress inks and/or embossing powders (including the ultra-thick powders). I look forward to seeing some of you there on either Friday 10th or Saturday 11th April.

In the meantime I hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend and I have a card to share which I made a while ago but haven't shown you - something suitable to send to a man.

Image - Stamp from Creative Expressions
Embossed panel - dimensional dots embossing folder (dark card with Gilding Wax)