Another attempt at a scrapbook page

When looking through some old pictures I came across a really nice one that had been taken at a hotel I used to work at. After studying it for a while I decided on the colours I was going to use and attempted to make up another scrapbook page. I am still new at this and the pages I make are no where near as nice as the ones I have seen in magazines, but it's a start.

Here is the finished page:

The first idea I had was to make something of the blue lights that were in the cigar shack so I matched them with the blue mirri card. I made the lace type border by punching out inverted scallops using a scallop circle punch. I took the off cuts and placed them under the picture to give a scallop type edge.

The cushions in the cigar shack were a red and brown colour so I chose this core'dinations card and scored some lines in a grid pattern onto them. I then sanded them to reveal the core colour and rounded the edges. They reflect the cushions in the shack quite well.

The newspaper cutting was cut out and the edges distressed with an ink pad and a sponge. There is also a slight gold colour that has been sponged onto the cutting too.

For the title I adapted my technique of sticking things on and inking over the top. I had some sticky letters which I de-tacked by sticking them to my clothes a few times so they wouldn't rip the paper when I tore them off. When they were stuck into place I inked over them with the same ink used for the newspaper cutting. I then took each letter off and it left a brilliant outline.

The tags were added for the journaling piece and the brown tag has been outlined and dotted with some platinum liquid pearls. I added the piece of ribbon in the corner and secured it with a brad but I am not sure about it - it seems a bit too random for me!

Anyway, I hope you like it and I'm sure I will find some more pictures to scrapbook soon.

Claire

Cards made with Scenes

I bought these scene stamps from a fair I went to in July and have been getting around to using them. The set is by Hobby Arts and comprises of a sheet with lots of different images on. The idea is that you can build up these images to create your own scene. I tried looking online to find some inspiration on where to start but I couldn't find any pictures, which is why I have been a bit slow to use them. However, I thought I would try today.

The first one I made was this one. This was made using one picture that I did find online which gave me a starting point:

I had to do a bit of masking when it came to leaning the surf board against the wall. I had done this once before but I did have to practice again before doing it on this card. I found it was actually quite easy but you have to do it back to front and stamp the image that will be in the front first. I really love the small people on this card.

The next card was an experiment and I think it turned out quite well for a first attempt on my own:

It only used a few of the stamps on the set but I really like the stamp that has the ripple effect. I added some glitter to these ripples to make them shimmer.

Then I thought I would play it safe and use the camper van stamp to create a male card (or female - it can be for either!).

I stamped the van four times and coloured each one a different colour to reflect the many different camper vans that are around. I mounted each one onto black card stuck them onto a stripy backing paper that was mounted onto a light blue card. The card gives a fresh summery feel.


The next card is an example of when mistakes are made and how they can be rectified. I started stamping a scene but then decided I wanted to add more to it. Here is where it went a bit wrong and the join in the cliffs is quite obvious.

I had already stamped and coloured the image and I didn't want to do it again so I covered it up with a sentiment topper:

I'm not too sure about it - the picture doesn't seem quite in proportion and I am not sure about the sentiment in the centre of the picture, but I will leave it and see if it grows on me. I mounted the image onto yellow core'dinations card and lightly sanded the edge of it which made the picture stand out even more.

I hope you like them - some summery cards to brighten you days.

Claire

Made with peel off's

You may not believe that this first card is made with peel off's - it is, but not in the conventional way, and it's not made with white peel off's either!

I read an article in a magazine about using ink on cards. I love using ink for other uses than just stamping so I thought I would try it out. It involved sticking the peel off's onto a piece of card and then inking over them. When you peel them off the card you are left with a white outline which looks really quite effective.

I then had another idea and using my transfer sheet I picked up all the left over pieces from the butterfly stained glass window peel off and stuck them onto a piece of card. I then inked over that and one by one, peeled off all the left over pieces. this left me with lots of white areas but the ink had taken the place of where the silver peel off lines should have been.

I then mounted it onto purple mirri card and stuck it onto the background. I inked with a dark purple round the edge of the background, embossed a sentiment with clear powder and inked around the edge and this was then placed onto the topper to finish off the card. I am going to try this technique again now with more peel off's and different coloured inks.

The next card I made for my Mum to say thank you and I used a butterfly window peel off from the same sheet as the one used for the above.

I coloured in the peel off with pro markers and then heat embossed with sparkly powder, certain areas of the image. The beautiful backing paper is from a new design by Echo Park - from their Victoria Garden range and I thought the rose on the paper matched the rose on my picture.

I added a butterfly to the top right corner which had been stuck to white card, coloured in, heat embossed with the sparkly powder and then cut out. The sentiment was stamped with pink ink straight onto the card and then embossed with clear powder. She loved it!

Then I made a get well card using some more gorgeous peel off's that I ordered from Little Claire. They are part of their brown and gold range, and using a transfer sheet I picked up the negative image from the sheet and placed it on the card in the middle of the outline:

The scallop circle was cut out of white card and before sticking the peel off on I coloured it with shimmer chalks. To set the chalk I sprayed it with hairspray, so that they don't rub off. After I stuck the peel off on I coloured in the remaining areas. The edge of the scallop circle was painted with gold perfect pearls which gave it a shimmery finish. A perfect card, which is an unusual get well card.

Now off to play with some more peel off's and to get covered in ink again!

Claire

Friday's card project - using sketches

I was looking through some blogs this morning for some inspiration and came across a sketch that I wanted to try out. I can't make it come up on here, but it was for a square card with an image on the left, some ribbon on the right and then some decoration. I didn't copy it exactly but made my own version of it as this card demonstrates:

The image was coloured with pro markers and some card candi was added to the top left of the picture.

For the next card, I changed a few things around but the general layout is the same:

I added some flowers to the bottom left corner instead of the card candi and the sentiment was added as an extra piece going at an angle on the top left of the picture. Instead of mounting the picture onto some coloured card I very gently inked the edges. I didn't want much colour around the picture so I inked it from behind which left a very small line of ink on the front, just enough to give it a little bit of colour.

Then I decided to turn the design around 90 degrees for the next card and had the ribbon on the bottom instead of the right hand side.

I put the picture on the left instead of in the centre and the sentiment is going down. The blue snow flakes replace the flowers on the last card. I also inked the edges of both the image and the sentiment topper to define it from the background. Although it doesn't come up very well in the picture, the background has very faint blue snowflakes on it which I created using perfect pearls powder dusted over an image stamped with clear ink. They are pearlescent so they shine when they get into the right light and look very good on a contemporary Christmas card such as this one.

Sketches can be very good ways of providing inspiration when you are tired of using the same layouts in your cards. Sometimes they can also prove quite challenging as well and it's always fun to try out new things - why don't you have a go!

Claire

Heat Embossing

I have spent the week experimenting some some heat embossing techniques for a new project I am trying out (I won't let on until I know it's happening) but I thought I would share some of the cards I made with you.

This was my first experiment:

I had a set of silhouette stamps which I hadn't used yet. The thank you was stamped with purple ink and then embossed with clear powder. It doesn't show much in the picture but it gives a shiny, almost wet look to it. It was then cut out and mounted onto a scallop circle and perfect pearl drops were added to each scallop. The flourish at the side was done in the same way onto a pink paper. It's a very simple card and I took the ideas and built on them for the next card:

I had been meaning to use my white embossing powder for a while and the flourish was screaming out to be stamped onto black card and embossed with the white powder, so this is what I did. I re-stamped it 3 times next to each other to create this beautiful black and white background. The topper has been stamped with black ink and embossed with clear powder and then the ribbon and stick on gems were added as a finishing touch.

The next card also builds on an idea that I have tried before: a silver embossed wedding cake.

Previously I had embossed the cake on it's own and mounted onto a white card blank, but it's not been that popular, so I have added to the design. I mounted it onto pink and then silver card and placed on a square card blank which had been covered with pink card and then silver congratulations paper. I embossed the sentiment in the same way - with the silver embossing powder as well as the two hearts. I am very pleased with the result and hopefully this one will sell slightly better than they last version.


The next card is my favourite. I read somewhere that someone had tried embossing peel off's. I had this peel off in my stock and hadn't used it but felt that it was in need of some glitter embossing powder, so that's what I did:

Again, it doesn't show up very well in the picture, but certain areas of the peel off have been embossed with sparkly powder. The same was done with the butterflies and they were then cut out and stuck onto the card. The wings have been slightly bent to add to the 3D look. The flourishes in the corners were stamped and embossed with white embossing powder as well as the sentiment.

And then there is this one, which again is very simple but it looks so effective and pretty.

The topper and sentiment were stamped with blue ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. The border along the bottom was stamped with blue ink and embossed with the sparkly powder. The mirri card which has been used for mounting the topper and sentiment, and for the flourishes, adds a certain sophisticated look to the card.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my cards as much as I have enjoyed making them, and I hope that they will bring inspiration to any who want to try heat embossing for themselves.

Claire

July's handmade cards

I feel like I haven't made many cards recently, but then I look at the pictures I have taken of them all and realise that there are actually quite a lot. I had run out of inspiration for anniversary and wedding cards, which seemed to be the most popular and most requested so when I got some new products through I was very pleased to feel inspired again:

I have also been playing around with the new stamps I got and although I have made a few with them already there were still more cards I could make out of them including this one with the camper vans on it - perfect for both male and female I think:

These cards were made with my new peel off's

These gorgeous little girl stamps were borrowed from a friend.

And this new stamp was used to make a boy's card, which I never get any inspiration for at all!

My obsession with core'dinations cardstock continues and after my attempt at scrapbooking (which I will post pictures of later) I tried some more cards, both with the distressed look and the more sophisticated, neat look to them:

And here are the rest:

My favourite one is the gingerbread people on the engagement card!


Claire

New Card Designs

Having run out of inspiration with the existing card making materials I have (and there are a lot of them!) I went and bought some more and my inspiration has returned.

I was looking for a flower silhouette stamp to stamp on background paper. I didn't find exactly what I had in mind but I did get this stamp which I have been experimenting with.

This card was stamped with black ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder - both the flower and the flourish behind is done in this way, and then some pearl dots and glitter were added to brighten it up.

I then used the same stamp and some brown ink. I then used my shimmer chalks and perfect pearls to create the background. A piece of yellow ribbon and some pearl dots finish off the card.

I also bought an unmounted rubber stamp - which I have not used before but I really liked the design so had to have it. Again I have made two cards so far with this stamp.


This card was made with the rubber stamp, stamped in clear ink and then brushed with purple perfect pearls. It went a bit splodgy but it adds to the vintage effect.

I then stamped the image with my brown ink pad and using a sponge, distressed the background card and edge of the blank card with the same brown ink.

I have also fallen in love with a company called Little Claire Designs (no it's not me - it's just a coincidence). I found some gorgeous peel off's to suit many different occasions and here is what I made.

This one is for a wedding, with a stained glass window as the main feature. The flourish was embossed in all 4 corners and some bells and peel off hearts added at the end.

I was also looking for some ideas for children and found these peel off's. They are coloured brown, so rather than just have the outline of the image I used my transfer sheets (which I have finally found after hunting around for ages) and transferred the whole image across.

There were some lovely hedgehog images too which I have made up into small cards measuring only 4 inches square. Again I used the whole image rather than just the outline.

And finally, some peel off's for men were found and I used this car image to make a male birthday card. This time I did take just the outline sticker and colour it in.

These are just a few of the new bits I bought so watch this space for some more new cards!

Claire

A week full of card making

After a few days with no inspiration at all for card making, my selection was diminishing some what so I had to make some more. Once I had sat down with a few bits in front of me I found that I had more inspiration that I thought and is is what I made:

I had to make Hannah's birthday card first of all and seeing as she was the one who started me off in card making I had to find something that would impress her. I tried a double twisted easel card - it was my first attempt and I thought it turned out very well. She was very impressed

And then I played around with a few other bits and came up with these:

Nothing too exciting there but I have great plans for things to come. I made my first scrapbook page the other day as an example to take to my next workshop and I was quite pleased with the result. I now have a whole load of pictures I want to make scrapbook pages out of now.

I have also been making my own range of backing papers as well and again I am very pleased with the result. They are heat embossed with snowflakes on and will be available in the shop later this month. I hope they are popular and I have lots more designs I would like to try out if they sell well - watch this space!

Claire

June Commissioned cards ... so far

Here are the commissioned cards that I have made this month - the requests are getting more popular with more and more people wanting them made.

First, here the one I made my friend for her birthday at the end of May so it's slightly cheating but not by much.

I wanted it to be really summery which I think I achieved and I haven't really made much with the watering can stencil so I thought I would have another go. She said she really liked it.


Next is a Holy Communion card that a lady requested because she was going across to Ireland for her Granddaughters (I think) Communion and she said she hadn't been able to find a nice card anywhere. Here is what I came up with:

The lady came back to the shop the following week and although I wasn't there, she said how well received it had been in Ireland and how everyone had really liked it.


The next was for a fairly regular customer of ours who was looking for an anniversary card to give to her boyfriend. I don't keep a big stock of anniversary cards in the shop because I like to make something a bit more personal and here is what I made:

Again it is a very simple design with a heart corner punch used, but because it's so personal with the names and dates on it makes it that extra bit special.


A 45th wedding anniversary card was the next one to be requested - again it's not something that can be found easily in the shops.

There was plenty of blue used and I used some core'dinations card and sanded it to make the large heart and the border on the right hand side. Again it was gratefully received.


And the greatest achievement was the following card for a silver wedding anniversary:

It is A4 in size and I drew the picture in the middle from a drawing that had been printed off the computer. I am not very good at drawing but I had a good go and it actually turned out to be quite similar. I again used the heart corner punch and used the hearts I had punched as the rain for the main picture.

Because I didn't have any A3 card to fold in half I took 2 pieces of A4 card and punched holes down the left hand side. I bound the card with silver ribbon to keep it in place and because the customer wanted an insert I sandwiched a piece of A4 paper in the middle with the typed verse on it.

She was very pleased and I even got paid £10 for it - far too much I think but it was very generous of her.

There was another card I made for an 18th Birthday but I forgot to take a picture, and another one for a 100th birthday but again I forgot to take a picture - I must get into the routine of it!

Still a few more weeks left of the month so hopefully lots more cards to make.

Claire

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Prestbury

Cheltenham

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