Sally DT - Cracking Christmas

 Hi There! I've been enjoying playing with the fabulous Nutcracker stamps from Bee Crafty this week. Here is how I made my card

I began by wiping distress ink onto a super skinny slim, giving it a spray of water and then pressing it onto a 14cm square of mixed media card. I dried it between each colour. 

Next I sprinkled a little explosion powder in coordinating colours on to the background and sprayed it with a mister.

Once this was dry I stamped it with the bauble stamp in blueprint sketch ink. 

On a piece of watercolour card, I stamped and embossed the smaller nutcracker and coloured him with a combination of distress ink and ecolines. I cut him out leaving a narrow border.

I stamped the sentiment in blueprint sketch ink and added a few highlights in silver. 

Finally I matted and layered the background, sentiment and Nutcracker onto the  15x15cm card. I used 3d gel medium for the sentiment and nutcracker. 

Here are links to the products I used:

Bee Crafty Yuletide Doodle Art Nut Crackin' Christmas stamp set

Distress inks in Mustard Seed, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch

Pretty gets gritty explosion powders - I used Olympia and Mermaid

Ecoline pens in skintones

Versamark ink

Silver Embossing powder

Silver gelly roll pen

Gel medium

Thanks for looking and I hope your festive preparations are going well.

Jane DT - Just Be You!

 Hello!

This week I have created a really quick and easy card using background stamps...

1) I cut a piece of watercolour card 4 1/2" square and spritzed it with water before adding Pretty Gets Gritty sprays (Coastal Waters, Emerald Haze, Vintage Violet, Blushed Dreams).

2) Using the Art Journal Elements 2 stamps with the distress archival inks I stamped the background.

3) I then stamped a sentiment from Handwritten Words 1 in black archival and layered the card onto black.

Here are the products used:

* PGG Amazing Sprays - https://www.beecrafty.net/pretty-gets-gritty.irc?pg=1

* Art Journal Elements 2 - https://www.beecrafty.net/art-stamps-journal-art-elements-2.ir

* Handwritten Words 1 - https://www.beecrafty.net/wordage-sets-handwritten-words-1.ir

* Archival Ink pads - https://www.beecrafty.net/archival-ink-hero-arts.irc

Thank you for looking and happy crafting!

Jane xx

12 days of December by DT Ann

12 Days Of December 

By DT Ann 

It’s the first of December one of the busiest months on the calendar, to keep note of everything I created a journal page for this weeks blog … 

Journal/Bullet Journal 

Stamps: Yuletide / Botanical Sprigs/ Days & Dates

Bujo Templates

Ecoline Brush Pens 

Versafine Inks : Smokey Grey & Tulip Red

Distress Oxide Ink: Iced Spruce

Sakura Micron Pen (Green)

https://www.beecrafty.net/

I started by stamping one of the sprigs in Distress Oxides Iced Spruce Ink, from the top corners of my page… 

Then using a slightly damp brush pulled some of the colour into the leaves…. 

Next I placed the 12 squares Bujo template length-ways lower down the page & drew inside each square, with a dark green Sakura Micron pen… 

Using Versafine Smokey Grey ink I added 3 vines (the lights from the Yuletide set) coming down from the sprigs… 

In the same ink I added a bauble at the end of each “vine” … 

Then used the lights (vine) across the bottom of the page…

Some baubles, a mug & a bow, all from the Yuletide set… 

I added numbers from the Days & Dates stamp set again in the Smokey Grey & the word ‘December’ in Tulip Red … 

I used Ecoline Brush Pens 640, 661, 318, 337, 422 to colour in each element & a Silver Gelly Roll pen… 

 I finished with some red  Stickles & white Enamel dots … 

Thank you for stopping by… Ann xxx

Sally DT - Chocolate and Cash!

 Sometimes we want to give a small gift to someone either as a thank you or for a special occasion. Sometimes this might be a little something to accompany a gift card or some cash. My friend Valerie came up with this lovely idea which I have adapted slightly, and it could be adapted for a gift card too. 

I began with an A4 sheet of  200gsm kraft card, which I measured and scored as follows:

In landscape I scored down at 8cm, 9.5cm, 17.5cm,19cm and 27cm. I also scored along the top and bottom 1.5cms from the edges. 

I cut off the remaining piece of card to the right, along with the 9.5 cm strip along the top and bottom edge from the right hand end. This is what I was left with.

I rounded the corners of the flap and cut from the edge to the first fold top and bottom.

Next I randomly stamped snowflakes in white and chianti ink all over the card.

I used pva glue to attach the small flap to the inside-front of the box then stuck the sides together, making a 3d envelope. 

I used another piece of Kraft card, measuring 16x7.5cm to make a separate pocket, using a circle punch to make a semi-circular indent on one edge.

 I stamped this with snowflakes too, rounding the corners and adding a little brown ink along the edges.

Using double sided narrow tape around three edges I attached it to the front of the inner box.

I added the bar of chocolate and the cash into the pocket. If I was giving a gift card I would make a pocket smaller to fit it.

I created a belly band for it's closure using a ribbon, measured to be the correct length (approximately 22cm allowing for overlap) and secured with Gel medium. To cover the join in the middle I added the smaller nutcracker which had been stamped and coloured whilst I was making samples. 

Here is the finished gift.

This was made to fit a 110g bar of a well known brand in a purple wrapper and cash, but could easily be adapted to fit other brands and, if needed, a gift card. I am sure it would be useful for gifts at other times of the year too. 

Here is another without the money wallet and just using the snowflake border set. 

For this one I used the strip of card from the end of the A4 sheet, painted with Polished Jade Dylusions shimmer paint for the belly band. The inks were Versafine Clair Warm Breeze and the Hero Arts unicorn white.

For the first I used:

One and a half sheets of A4 200gsm Kraft card

Snow border flakes and words stamp set 

Versafine Clair Chianti

Hero Hues Unicorn white ink

Approximately 22cm of coordinating Ribbon 

Nutcracker stamps

Versafine Clair Black ink

Coloured pencils

gel medium

Thanks for looking! 

Jane DT - A Nut Crackin' Christmas!

 Hello!

This week I have made a fairly quick and easy card using up a background created by mopping up some ink!...

1) The background had been created by printing off the distress oxide spray from the snowflake inkable.

2) I stamped out the nutcracker and the baubles onto watercolour card using archival ink.

3) The images were cut out then coloured using ecoline markers.

4) I stamped the lights across the top of the card, lining them up to get a continuous string, then coloured them with the ecoline markers too.

5) The baubles and nutcracker were glued onto the card, then I used a fine liner pen to draw in the strings and a shadow under the nutcracker.

6) I stamped out the sentiments and edged the piece of card with black ink before attaching to the card.

7) Finally the card was matted onto black card then a 7" x 5" card blank.

Here are links to the products used:

* Nutcrackin Christmas Stamps - https://www.beecrafty.net/bee-crafty-yuletide-doodle-art-stamps-nutcrackin-christmas.ir

* Snowflake Mask - https://www.beecrafty.net/inkables-template-snowflake-mask.ir

* Ecoline Markers - https://www.beecrafty.net/ecoline-brush-pens.irc

* Distress Oxide Sprays - https://www.beecrafty.net/tim-holtz-distress-oxide-spray.irc

Thank you for looking and happy crafting!

Jane xx

Nutcracker mdf by DT Ann

Nutcracker MDF 

By DT Ann 

https://www.beecrafty.net/

Hope you all enjoyed the shows on tv last Friday, sadly we didn’t get the stamps in time to make samples but here’s my mdf ones… 

•••

This one I painted in a turquoise & vanilla on the bottom piece & similar on the top. I  then added embossing powders in turquoise, gold & white to the top piece… 

For this monochromic one I painted it with black gesso & dried it. Then using a white Gelly Roll pen & the top piece as a stencil, I drew on to the bottom piece. Once traced I coloured in the large spaces & added a few doodles, again with the white pen.. 

This left me with a top piece which I traced the outline of onto acetate & cut it out just on the inside of my marks. Then I painted the mdf with black Gesso, dried it & glued the acetate to it. I coloured each section with alcohol pens… 

This next one was mainly painted but used crackle paint on the top piece to add texture.. sadly it doesn’t show up on the photos. I dry brushed with some Dina Wakley Sterling paint over the crackled bits.. 

This next one was painted with Dylusions paints colours: London Blue, Postbox Red, Black Marble

& Pure Sunshine adding a little bit of grey to his hair… 

Thank you for stopping by… Ann xxx 

Sally DT - Bold Colours and Nutcracker samples

Hi There! I have been enjoying getting inky and combining some different colours into a simple card where the sentiment is the focus. Here is how I made it.

I began by blending seedless preserves and faded lilac distress oxide inks onto a 14cm square of mixed media paper. 

I then placed over the mandala 4 inkable and blended prize ribbon ink through it 

Next I splattered it with water...

...and some Pretty Gets Gritty Artemis Explosion powder mixed with water. I set it aside to dry. 

I stamped the sentiment in versamark ink and embossed with gold embossing powder before matting and layering it to the card on sticky pads.

Here is a closer look at the finished card. It makes me think of batik fabric. 

I used 

6 x6" blank card

Black card

Mixed media card

Distress oxide inks in Prize Ribbon, Shaded Lilac and  Seedless Preserves

Inkable Mandala 4

Pretty Gets Gritty Artemis Explosion powder

Wordage Moon and Stars sentiment set

Gold embossing powder

Sticky pads or 3d gel for attaching the sentiment

Before I go here are my Nutcracker samples for the Craft Store show last week

I decorated 4 of the regular sized mdf nutcrackers

For this one I used alcohol pens on parchment paper stuck behind the front piece

This was the same nutcracker but not backlit

I also made a couple of cards combining the stamps with some older stamps...

Next week's project may well involve a nutcracker too! 

Thanks for looking and I hope you can join in the challenge over in the Bee Crafty Facebook group where the theme is Stay subtle or Be Bold with your colours!