Been Using Gilding Flakes - Messy But Fun!

Good morning friends, family and followers old and new.   Recently I have been playing with gilding flakes and today I have a a gilded card for you,  If you pop over to the papermill direct blog you will find my tutorial for making this card. 

I used papermilldirect black, mandarin orange and white linen cardstock, Indigo Blu flitter glue and flakes the Hero Arts large blossom stamp which is great for gilding, the sentiment is from a Darkroom Door stamp set.

As well as my tutorial you will also find  ideas for Easter crafting from the other design team members.  You will find this Easter card on there too, I am going through a very bright period at the moment as anyone following my blog will know, loving the bright mandarin orange card and brighter shades of distress inks and brilliant colours the Pan Pastels give to your work.

I used distress inks through a stencil for this bright spring  card and Stamp Impressions Bunny Behind clear stamp.  More details and a full list of materials used can be found here on the papermill blog.

See you soon and many thanks for your kind comments, they are much appreciated.

Rubber Dance Stamps Challenge - Green White and Orange

Morning everyone, I must be in an orange phase as I seem to be using this colour in most things I have done, or are doing at the moment.  This card is my entry for the Rubber Dance Challenge this is a colour challenge and this month the colours are green, white and orange with an optional theme of St Patricks Day.  I don't have many of their stamps but was lucky enough to get the pear image as a gift when I ordered some art journaling  stamps from them.

The orange background colour was created with Pan Pastels over a scolloped mask and stencilled with distress inks in spiced marmalade and cracked pistachio.  I stamped the swirl in cracked pistachio in the white circle, stamped and embossed the pear, coloured it with distress inks and cut it out to mount on the swirled area, the background was stencilled and stamped.

The stamps used on the background and the swirl in the white circle are from the Round in Circles Stamp Set.  The pear I think is from the Da Vinci Stamp Set.  I found a sentiment stamp with special wishes on so used this to stamp Special against the pear, "Special Pair" ideal for an engagement or anniversary card.  I mounted the panel onto Papermilldirect Spring green card and added it to a white linen card blank.

Pop over and check out the Rubber Dance Stamps shop, they have a great selection of stamps and some great inspiration on their blog from the design team.

I will be back next week with details of a tutorial and another card using orange again, mandarin orange cardstock from Papermilldirect.

Hot Colours and Cool Blue Greens

Good morning friends, family and followers, I have a bright card for you today using Pan Pastels, distress inks and marker pens and a fabulous image from Lavinia Stamps. 

It is a while since I entered any challenges or competitions so am going to try do so this year, as well as keeping up with my Design Team work.  Lavinia Stamps have a great challenge over on their facebook page which I am going to enter this card into.  You post your card and if enough people go over to the facebook page and "like" your work you are in with a chance of winning £40 to spend on Lavinia stamps.

I do love Lavinia stamps but only have a few of their floral stamps and fairies, this image was bought ages ago and this is the first time it has been inked up.  I purchased a starter kit (two colours) of Pan Pastels recently and used these for the background with a stencil and co-ordinating shades of distress inks.  The image was coloured with Spectrum Noir pens in shades of blues and greens with some yellow and orange.  I matted and layered Papermilldirect black and teal blue card onto a white linen card blank to set off the colours on the background and image.

I will have another bright card for you at the beginning of next week but until then have a great week and enjoy your crafting xx

Easy Easter Make

Hi everyone, Spring is in the air with  the bulbs bursting into colour in the garden.  The beautiful daffodils and crocus make me think of Easter, which is approaching fast, so today I have an Easter card for you.   This is a simple to make card, ideal if you have a lot of cards to make as you can use different colours and stamps on the egg, cut the bunny from different coloured card and use different ribbon colours.

I used papermilldirect white linen cardstock for the card blank and buff card for the die cut bunny.  An oval die was used to cut out my egg and it was coloured with distress inks and stamped with Spring stamps in sepia ink.  This is a top fold card so the hessian string was tied round the card and the stamped egg attached over it.  The greeting was stamped and a die cut bunny placed at the end of the sentiment.  

The egg could also be coloured and stamped directly onto the card using an egg shaped mask, the string tied below the egg and the sentiment stamped half way down the card at the side of the egg.