Birds of a Feather

This week over at SCS Teapot Tuesday Challenge is a Tickle week. This means instead of sending our cards to someone who needs cheering up or recognition, we send them to other Teapotters. The theme was feathers so of course my thoughts went immediately to one of my favourite collections of images Crafty Secrets "Birds and Blossoms".

I started by water colouring the reeds and sky then added the strip of burlap. The image came off a bit too ochre for my background so I coloured the reeds the same green as the bg. The feather was too grey for the bird's plumage so I tinted it with distress inks. Tied the raffia around it and stamped the sentiment.

After doing all this the image stamped with a shadow around it (comes from cheap stamps with the rubber image not deep enough...won't mention the brand) That OOPS lead to a much more inspired banner. I stamped the sentiment and scrolled the top edge under and the bottom edge over then mounted it over the badly stamped sentiment.The bird image and sentiment scroll edges are sponged with distress inks.

Thanks so much for dropping by,

Cheers,

Elizabeth 

Dog Gone It

I just can't get enough of these dog stamps, this time I was playing with Crafty Secrets "Little Dogs". I have 2 sisters and when we were growing up my parents weren't comfortable with dogs in the house, well actually my Mom wasn't comfortable with dogs in the house. She was scared of big dogs and truthfully we travelled so much it wouldn't have been easy even to have a little dog. So guess what all three of us bought the minute we moved into our own homes...you got it, DOGS! I have always had Chows, one sister has a dog very much like the one in this card, and the other has every kind of dog big and small and always more than 2 at a time.

I coloured the image from Crafty Secrets "Little Dogs" with copics and then painted the whole image with Tim Holtz clear crackle paint (you can see it better IRL).The frame is a Marianne die which I sponged with Distress Inks. The background paper is also sponged with Distress Ink around the edges. The sentiment is from Crafty Secrets "Big Dogs". I printed the sentiment and then drew the banner around it. The velvet rose is cut from a piece of cut velvet.

Thanks for dropping by,

Cheers,

Elizabeth

Memorial Day

I made this card for the Teapot Tuesday Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers. The theme was to make a memorial day card and send it to a war vet. If you aren't an American you could make a card it your own patriotic colours. My Mom is the only war vet I know and she served in the Royal Navy during WW2 as a decoder at Bletchley, England.

I hand drew the Union Jack (it's not quite accurate) and mounted a piece of velum over the top. The wonderful dog image is from Crafty Secrets "Big Dogs" and coloured with copics. The stamp is a Hero Arts stamp, the flag is hand drawn and glued to a bamboo stick painted black, the sentiment is computer generated, a couple of buttons, and some string round it out.

Thanks for dropping by,

Cheers, 

Elizabeth

Happy Birthday

What fun I had making this Birthday card for our son Geoffrey. I had a huge hole in my stamp collection. I have 1600 wood mounted stamps and close to that in clear acrylic and out of that maybe 10 sets of masculine stamps. Yep, I'm a sucker for flower, fairy, anything vintage but not so much for masculine. Crafty Secrets have a great insect stamp set but he's already had 3 insect BDAy cards

. All that changed with the new" Crafty Secrets Big Dogs" and "Crafty Secrets Little Dogs" stamp sets, this will provide variety for masculine cards for years to come.

This handsome fellow came from "Crafty Secrets Big Dogs" stamp set. The deal of the century is what I'd call this set, so many images and sentiments it'll keep you busy for a long time. After printing Rover I coloured him with copics. I used the hat in the set and coloured him again with copics but decided his hat needed some shaping so I shaped it around a pencil. There is enough dimension so that I needed 3 quite thick dimensionals stacked up under the middle of the front edge. The sentiment is also from Big Dogs. For some finishing touches I mounted the hound on red cardstock, and then houndstooth check, added a couple of buttons and some bobble trim, and on the left edge of his hat is a MS punched "CHEERS". The whole image of the hound in a party hat makes me smile.

Thanks so much for dropping by,  

Cheers,

Elizabeth  

May Linky Party, "One Stamp 2 Ways"

Here we are, another Linky Party. With wedding season coming up I thought I would create 2 cards that could be used to celebrate a Wedding, Anniversary, or Engagement. I would like to show you 2 totally different styles which create great diversity using the same image. A brief tutorial explaining "CAS" (Clean and Simple) and it's 180 degree opposite, "Shabby Chic" styles will follow. I decided to use a simple line drawing type stamp that would satisfy the CAS card and have a romantic feel to satisfy both the Shabby Chic style and also this month's romantic theme.

Clean and Simple

The image, CraftySecrets clear art stamp"Cherish" was stamped and embossed in silver and lightly coloured with magenta and lavender. The sentiment is from the same stamp set. I used a background paper I have been hoarding for a while. The frames were all created by drawing lines with an embossing pen and silver embossing powder. It's finished off with a bit of lavender ribbon and a pearl.

Shabby Chic

The same image also stamped and embossed in silver. Starting from the back layer the grey paper was printed with an image from Crafty Secrets CD2. The next layer is white card stock embossed with a sizzix swiss dot folder and a silver ink pad swiped over the surface. The music layer is an Anna Griffiths stamp once again stamped and embossed in silver. The top layer is Crafty Secrets "Blue Damask"( Don't let the colour fool you. I use microsoft word and I changed the colour palette to sepia and white.) The white frame is a sizzix folder but I cut it down. The image is coloured with taupe and cream copics and the moon is painted with a pearl glaze and then the whole thing is fussy cut. I stamped the couple and blossom branch twice and fussy cut again and popped up.  The leaves are a "no name" stamp, stamped and embossed in silver and then fussy cut. The roses are a sizzix die and used up the leftovers from the music panel. All paper edges were distressed.

TUTORIAL

WHAT DEFINES A CAS CARD? It is the equivalent of the "little black dress". It's elegant, understated and is the epitome of, less is more! The main objective is that the main image or sentiment is easily visible and is set in a large ground of white space. This doesn't mean literally "white" but rather background or undecorated space. With a CAS card you should be able to take it all in with one glance. Although less time usually goes into making a CAS card this doesn't mean it requires less skill, graphic skills are very important in placing or angling images. Alittle sparkle is fine as is ribbon, but a simple well tied bow versus a triple bow with tails. For me it's as much about what not to do...stay away from the rhinestones,pearls, ribbon, edge distresser, fussy cutting, flowers, and multiple layers. It's all about editing. Coco Chanel said it best "When accessorizing, always take off the last thing you put on" 

-one main image

-white space

-limited embellishments

-limited layers

-quick and easy

WHAT DEFINES A SHABBY CHIC CARD? This general style began in England in the 1980's as a definition for fine furnishings which were worn and faded but still viable. Slightly faded chintz sofas and curtains were considered "unassuming good taste". Shabby Chic is a soft opulent style where the objects used are chosen for their appearance of age and wear, or new items are distressed to take on this appearance. The colours are usually pure white, ecrus, pale pastels, or worn looking floral patterns. To create this look tea staining or deliberate bleaching are 2 techniques used. Papers which look like linen or damask, roses and angels, anything romantic are appropriate. Paper edges should be torn or distressed and even better is to also ink the edges. Pearls and lace are perfect embellishments better yet if they are tea stained. Start a collection of vintage buttons if you haven't already. Cut every bit of lace off old clothes. Use pastel colours and if the colour is too intense sand some of the colour and pattern off. If you are not already comfortable creating in this style start with your image and collect 3 papers that enhance either the colours or subject of the image. Find some thematic element in either your image or papers and enhance that theme with embellishments.  

-multiple layers 

-distressed and inked edges

-light or faded colours

-roses (flowers) or angels

-very embellished (lace, ribbon, buttons, tickets, keys, hearts, pearls, rhinestones, old jewellery, etc)

-romantic

-tea staining

-sanding

We all develop a so called style of our own as we craft. My own style is probably about half way between CAS and Shabby Chic. I always start with my main image and I like to colour so usually choose something that would be fun to work with. The next thing I choose is my background paper, rarely selecting more than 2 papers to layer. My eye tells me where to stop with the embellishments. I call my style "vintage smorgasbord". There is never a plan when I start but I collect all the papers and embellishments that could work with my image and play around until I like it. My cards evolve, they are not created.

Please come and join our May Linky Party where you can add a sample(s) you've created using any of our products and receive a $6.00 coupon and one random.org winner will get a $50.00 gift card!

Thanks for visiting Paper Pass Times.

Make sure you visit the rest of the design team! 

Kathy Clement Team Leader

Vicki Chrisman

Michele Kovack - 300+ Gallery!

Darlene Pavlick

Sheila Rumney

Cherry Nelson

Cheers, Elizabeth

Tea Time

The challenge this past week over at Splitcoaststampers Teapot Tuesday was to use home furnishings on your card. Perfect! I have been wanting to use this chair ever since I first saw it. I have got to the point where I don't really care if a stamp set is polymer or digital, both venues have their positives and negatives. For me a perfect world is to have all Crafty Secret products in both polymer clear art stamps and digital. For this cozy little scene I used Crafty Secrets "Take It Easy" digital set for all the furniture, teacup,and tea pot; "Home Sweet Home", and "Banners" clear art sets for the banner.

I printed off a sheet of pink damask from Crafty Secrets digital "Valentine Kit" and cut it 1" in from the edge on all sides. I then used distress ink on the edges of both the frame and the insert.  The lacy white trim was created using a Martha Stewart punch. After glueing the trim around the insert edge I glued it back into place in the outer frame. The chair, table, cup, and teapot were coloured with copics. After finishing the chair I decided it wasn't 3D enough so I flipped it over and used a very large stylus on the back then turned it over and used a small stylus on the stripes. The sentiment words were all stamped and embossed in silver as was the banner. Everything was fussy cut and popped up on dimensionals. It's finished off with 2 tiny ribbon rosebuds and a bit of ribbon. I love this stamp set, I could just climb on into the little vignette and fall asleep reading a book in that chair.

Thanks for dropping by  

Cheers, Elizabeth