Sunday, November 26, 2023
Alison CT - Sassy
Friday, November 24, 2023
Lynne Guest CT - DIY Washi Tape
Hi everyone, here's my second Guest CT post!
I began by laying a strip of the stamping tape across my non stick craft sheet and brushing on various colours of Distress Oxide inks through a stencil from the Dinkables Set 11. (I took the photo before adding the green ink!)
I then made a second strip, this time using the same ink colours but stamping the leaves from the Journaling Essentials 2 stamp set.
My intention was to fill the aperture of the Maple Easy Frame (6”) with strips of the washi tape, so the next step was to cut a piece of orange card to the size of the stencil, draw around the aperture lightly in pencil and cut it out. I cut the leaf stem slightly wider than its actual size , ie. outside the pencil line, as it is very fine and I wanted a bit more of the washi tape to show through.
I stuck sections of the washi tape on to a piece of scrap card, alternating the two patterns and making sure to cover an area larger than the maple aperture to give room for adjustment when placing it over the tape.
Once I was happy with the placement of the aperture panel I adhered it to the washi background (using Distress Collage Medium) and cut away the excess white card.
My base card was 7” by 7” and I stamped a border around the edges of it using the small leaf from the Journaling Essentials 2 set and Bundled Sage Distress Oxide ink. I also darkened the edges slightly by brushing them with Rustic Wilderness ink but without reinking the brush I’d used to ink up the washi tape, as I didn’t want them too dark, just enough to define them.
I trimmed about half a centimetre from each edge of my maple panel to allow more of the base card border to show and then embossed around the panel using a Distress Embossing Dabber and gold embossing powder.
I hope I have inspired you to have a go at making your own washi tape! If you decide to try it, please share your creations in the Bee Crafty Facebook Group!
Thanks for looking!
Here are the links to the products I used:
Bee Crafty Stamp & Stencil Tape 22mm x 25m
Bee Crafty Non Stick Craft Sheet 15" x 18"
Rustic Wilderness & Crackling Campfire Distress Oxide Inks
Spiced Marmalade, Bundled Sage & Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Inks
Dinkables Set 11
Inkables Easy Frame - Maple 6"
Journaling Essentials 2 Stamp Set
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Sally CT - Tangled Tinsel Journal Page
Hi There! Are you feeling a bit frazzled at the mention of Christmas? Me too! This journal page is a reminder to me to not get my tinsel in a tangle with the preparations! Here is how it came together.
I began by painting a section of the page with black gesso.Once this was dry, I used stickles gel through the star Dinkable from set 1 to add to the background.
On a scrap of white card, I painted lines of the Dina Wakeley gloss drops in blended stripes.
When this was dry, I stamped and clear embossed the Christmas tree on to it, cutting it out carefully.
I attached it to the page using matte medium.
Using a scrap of the painted card, I stamped the tinsel mixed message, then stamped It's Christmas onto a piece of white card. I trimmed both carefully with scissors and added to the page.
Finally, I added some more stickles along some of the tree sections and onto the star.
Here is the finished page once more.
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Alison CT - Three Butterflies
Then I used the dots and lines texture disc, from set 4, with salvaged petina distress oxide to add more to the background.
Friday, November 17, 2023
Lynne Guest CT - Not A Stamp In Sight (well, unless you look very closely!)
Hi everyone!
I was thrilled to be asked by Bev and Sam to do a few blog posts for them as a guest CT, and here is my first post!
I’ve been stamping and cardmaking for well over 35 years, but never really did much with stencils. My early experiences with stencils were the sort of basic designs made from a type of oiled card or cut from thin flimsy acetate, such as you’d find in a child’s drawing and painting set, and I really couldn’t see where they would fit into my cardmaking.
However, that all changed when I discovered the gorgeous Inkables from Bee Crafty, and all the possibilities they offer! So for this post I decided to see what I could do just using Inkables, the only stamping to be the sentiments.
For my first card I made a background on mixed media paper (Talens Art Creations) with Dina Wakley gloss sprays. I didn’t want the characteristic speckled effect, though, and I don’t (yet!) have the new Gloss Drops, so having first lightly misted the paper with water, I used a paintbrush to apply the paint. When it was dry, I stencilled on top with a dinkable from Set 12, using a fine tip pen to draw round the outlines in one corner, and colouring through it with waterproof brush pens in the other (water based pens won’t dry on top of the gloss paints). The flower, from Inkables Texture Discs Set 4, was outlined with the fine pen, then I added some extra shading around the outside to make it stand out better. The sentiment from Mixed Messages 1, embossed in white, completed the card.
My second card uses the Botanical Gardens Inkables Big One which I dry embossed on to the purple panel by putting it through my die cutting machine, and then sponged through it with various Distress Oxide inks to make the background for the dragonfly. I drew around the mask part of the Dragonfly Easy Frame (4”) set on to a scrap of Catalyst Paper and cut it out. The Dragonfly sentiment is from the Dragonfly stamp set
My final project is a page from my Grafix Mixed Media Journal. My very first Grafix page, as it happens! I’ve had the journal for quite a long time, and although I loved the idea of it I was quite nervous of actually doing anything with it! The crafter’s advice “have a go, experiment, it’s only a bit of paper” didn’t work here, as the journal pages aren’t paper, they’re plastic! However, I told myself that if I didn’t have a go, I’d have wasted my money buying it anyway, so I bit the bullet and got out my alcohol inks.
I chose the Dura-lar Matte page for my first attempt, as it seemed as though it would be the most forgiving. I dabbed the ink on to the page with felt pieces attached to a blending tool, and found that the colours merged beautifully. Then, having watched a very helpful video by Kate Crane, in which she showed a couple of different techniques, I drew round a few of the motifs from the Botanical Gardens Big One with a Sakura Micron Fineliner pen which is waterproof and writes on plastic. Next (and this was the magic bit!) I removed the ink from the motifs with alcohol ink blending solution (isopropyl alcohol does the same job). I drew sketchily around the flowers with a white Posca pen and added a few details with the Micron pen.
I followed the same method for the two butterflies, which are from the Butterfly Away Inkable and finished with the sentiment from the Doodle Art Dancing Daisy stamp set which I diecut and attached to the page with Distress Collage Medium.
I was quite happy with the page, but felt it really needed something more. The beauty of the Matte Dura-lar is that it is translucent, so I made a second page by cutting one out of a piece of ordinary card, to which I adhered an old book page, sponging lightly over it with Distress Oxide ink. I placed it behind the Dura-lar page, and the book print shows through the areas where the ink was removed, as hopefully you can see in the photo.
I hope that I’ve provided some inspiration for some different ways to use the brilliant Inkables, with (apart from the sentiments) not a stamp in sight!
Thanks for looking!
Here are the links for the products I've used:
Talens Art Creations Mixed Media Paper
Inkables Big Ones Botanic Garden
Grafix Mixed Media Journal 6"x6"
Lynne
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Sally CT - Cool Colours Christmas
Hi There! Thought I would show you how I made this simple Christmas card this week. I began by blending Salty Ocean and Dusty Concord distress ink in the inkable. Then I splattered it with water and blotted it to get the snowy effect.
I used the small snowflake stamps from winter journaling girls and small words- winter around the frame using memento inks.
I inked up the doodle art Christmas tree using the memento inks with purple at the top, blue in the middle and teal at the bottom.
I used the same inks to watercolour some of the pattern and fussy cut around it.
I matted and layered the panel to a 7x7 card and used sticky pads to attach the tree to the bottom left corner.
Finally I added a sentiment to the bottom right, also on sticky pads.