Playing with texture.

I've got myself all out of kilter with being off colour these last few days. I went to bed at 10 this morning and got up at about 5pm still feeling rubbish but as the evening has gone on I have felt better and better........just in time for going in to work tomorrow. Wouldn't you just know it......lol!!!

Despite that though I have spent this evening playing with some ideas for adding texture to card using adhesives and embossing powders. I expect most experienced stampers have done the Bondaweb background technique but I have gone back to it as it is one of my favourites and so easy that it may encourage learners to have a go at something a bit different.

I have also been experimenting with the blue glue that dries clear but remains tacky. I have a jar full of this because me and the pens that contain the glue just do not get on at all. Either the nib clogs up and refuses to be cleaned or it develops a flood and I end up with glue everywhere. I usually cut the top from the pen and pour the glue into a small jar intending to use it but I always forget it is there....until today:-)

With the glue I have been using a green kitchen scrubber as an applicator and have been very pleased with the outcome...........so here's what I did today. Starting at the top left is a lovely chocolate brown card textured with Bondaweb and Verdigris embossing powder. Next to it is the same card but this time I have applied the blue glue with a piece of the green kitchen scrubber which I attached to an old wooden stamp block with DS Tape. I let it dry before adding the embossing powder as I didn't want the wet glue bubbling up and spoiling the effect.

Next down on the left is burgundy card with a blue glue application and a Garnet Pearlustre embossing powder which gives a beautifully rich matt and gloss effect.

To the right of that is again the blue glue application onto gold pearlised card but this time instead of embossing powder I have dabbed over the tacky glue with transfer foil in blue and green. This gives a lovely raised foil effect that surprisingly is quite subtle.

Third row down to the left is gold embossing powder over blue glue on gold pearlised card. It looks so much nicer in real life than in the scan as it looks as if the shinier gold has worn away to reveal the duller gold underneath.

Finally we have a two tone Moonglow powder over blue glue on gold pearlised card.This again gives a quite worn effect but I did find it best to apply these powders over the Bondaweb for stronger colour.

The dragon card has used the Bondaweb

technique as follows.

Decide on the size you would like your finished background to be and cut a piece of card to that size. Here I used gold pearlised card.

Cut a piece of Bondaweb just slightly bigger than the piece of card to allow for shrinkage.

Place the piece of card inside a shallow baking tin. Remove the backing paper from the Bondaweb and and place the clear sheet of adhesive over the card.

Take a heat gun and start to heat the Bondaweb which will go clear and shiny. Allow the heat to create bubbles and keep the heat gun on them until they burst.

Once the Bondaweb is adhered to the card start to add embossing powder and melt with the heat gun. I put my EP into a shallow dish and sprinkle it on with my fingers rather than tipping a pile onto the card and this way you can control the effect better.

Once you are happy with the effect, turn off the heat gun and allow the piece to cool on the tray.

Any stray Bodaweb can be carefully trimmed from the sides with scissors.

You can now use this as a stunning background for any of your stamped images.

For the dragon sample I used-:

Moonglow EP in Holly Berry Red Gold

Chinese script paper is by Crafthouse Press

Dragon Stamp by TandaStamps

The dragon has been stamped and embossed and then coloured with a green glitter gel pen and a blue metallic gel pen which I then embossed with clear powder.......heating carefully so that I didn't spoil the first embossing.......this gives a beautiful enamelled look. If you have a go at these techniques I would love to see your work.............so point me in the direction of your blog or website and I will drop by to see you.......Have fun..........Sheila-x-

Stamping Day.......Hurray!!!

Well the monster was still in residence when I got up this morning but I think I sussed out that it is a migraine that just won't come out and declare itself properly. I have all the symptoms and do remember some visual disturbance yesterday although not the aura I usually get which is like a brightly coloured circular saw whizzing around in my right eye.I should be back to normal tomorrow I hope.

I can't be doing with lying about and moping when I'm not feeling up to scratch so I have had a very gentle day of stamping today joining in with a stamping challenge on Crafts by Carolyn.

The challenge was to use a stamp, ribbon and one other type of embellishment and I managed to do four cards for that......all very simple but sometimes it's nice to go back to basics.

I also did a copy of the card I did for the template challenge and changed the original photo I used for a stamp which I had totally forgotten I had. It's a Crafty Individuals stamp which I bought last March when I was demoing at Harrogate. I put it away and the poor thing has never seen light of day until now.

The papers are DCWV and 7 Gypsies

Using the stamp made me go back and have a look at their website and I came away with a wish list as long as me arm. There are some beautiful stamps on there and a fab gallery for inspiration. I saw some of the artwork in the flesh last March and it's the kind of stuff that gives you goosebumps, it's so beautiful.

Well I guess I had better put the stamping stuff away and concentrate on getting the Valentine cards ready to go to the local shop......that awful insert and packing job again.

Hope you all had a fab weekend.

Sheila-x-

Baaaaaaaaad Day!!!

For some unknown reason I woke up in a very bad mood today. Now this is not at all like me as anyone who knows me would tell you. If I drank I could blame it on a hangover but the nearest I ever go to anything alcoholic is a snowball on Christmas Day.........I think the effects of that will have worn off now though. It must have been bad because I love music and have my CD player on constantly but everything I put on today just grated on my nerves............even my beloved REM which was a bit of a shock.

So I remain puzzled and my poor family have escaped up to their rooms away from the monster that has replaced their usually cheerful wife/mother.

Hope it's gone by the time I wake up tomorrow..........I don't like it:0(

I made two cards today which is not good going for me as I usually do four or five new designs a day either for the shop where I sell my cards or for workshops at the shop where I teach. Out of the two one ended up in the bin. The other I used for the Template 17 Challenge over at Crafts by Carolyn.

So I have had to go back to my portfolio of older designs. I did find some though that would be quite fitting for the Metal Challenge for Daring Cardmakers. They use a metallic medium rather than an embellishment.

I have used Perfect Pearls on both of these cards but in two different ways. I love the look of them just brushed in their dry form over Versamark stamped images so that is how I used them on the first card.

The background was stamped and pearled and then allowed to set before overstamping with the phrase stamp and pearling in a different colour. I mounted it onto silver card before attaching to the card blank with foam pads.
The gorgeous face stamp has then been stamped and pearled in three different colours, mounted onto silver card and then arranged along the bottom of the background piece.
I did want to do something as a background on the card but I remember that nothing looked quite right so I just settled for the Perfect Pearls having the spotlight.


The second card has always been one of my most favourite of all the workshop cards I have designed.

I started off by masking off about an inch at the top of the card. The hearts from a set of Non Sequitur stamps was then stamped in black Stazon.

At the bottom I masked off about one and a half inches and stamped a text stamp from the same set.

The red inking was done with the masks in place using cotton wool to pick up the colour from the ink pad. I left the middle uninked to give the card a sort of a glow as on my practice card I inked it completely and it looked rather flat and boring.

The collage stamp from Hampton Art was stamped onto glossy card and ink was rubbed on again using cotton wool.

The embellishments used are a layered Quickutz heart with a peeloff swirl in gold, red tea rose heads and gold thread.

The Valentine message was created on the computer and embellished with a gold paper heart.

For an extra touch of glitz I decanted some pump action hairspray into a spray bottle and added gold Perfect Pearls, shook it up really well to mix and then sprayed over the whole of the card.

I'm not sure the scanner picks it up very well which is something I am finding with most metallic things.

When funds allow I will definitely be getting a Digital Camera...........any hints and tips on the best one to buy on a limited budget would be very welcome.

Well I think I will go and mess up my newly organised stamps and see if I can chase the monster away. A good stamping session should be just the ticket I think and hopefully I will have something new to share with you tomorrow.

Bye for now then

Sheila-x-

Whooooo.......I Dared again!!!

Had to have another go at a Daring Cardmakers challenge.......especially as this week the theme is Heavy Metal. I love metal as an element in cardmaking and I knew I had some real copper sheeting somewhere. I actually managed to find it and here are the results..................I rather liked the Wednesday Stamper challenge called Timepiece so I have sort of combined the two challenges into one.

Paper is BG Sublime......as if anybody wouldn't know that......lol!!! Background image stamps are from Stampington and alphabets are....large not totally sure....sorry and the small are PSX.Pocket watch is cut from the real copper sheet using a Wizard die and I have grunged it slightly with a Timber Brown Stazon ink pad.The wings are German Scaps from Paper Artsy grunged with a Saddle Brown and Timber Brown ink pad.A little more metal has been added with brads.

Second card is made using artwork from an online club I belong to. The grapes around the bottle neck are cut from thick metallic card and are attached to wire. I have also used brads.

Thanks Saffa for a fab challenge.

Sheila-x-

I love Blog time!!!

.........and why do I love Blog time? Well it means that everybody is either in bed or at work and the dog doesn't want to keep going out every five minutes so I get a bit of peace and quiet.........bliss!!!

Had a pretty quiet day at the shop today so I managed to make some sample cards up with some sheets of peeloffs that we seem to have rather a lot of and some paper that we also seem to have quite a bit of.

Sometimes all it takes is a made up sample to start a line moving that either hasn't sold particularly well or needs a little airing to remind people that we still have it.

I could have done with a lie down and a cold cloth on my head after using peeloffs, flowery paper and glitter all day........lol!!!

I was really touched by the lovely comments people left about the card I made for the Daring Cardmakers challenge. I really wasn't sure about it when I posted it and was a little bit nervous. So thanks very much to everyone who left a comment.

I have been very good today and turned down an offer by my DD to take me crafty shopping tomorrow. I'm still trying to wade through all this paper and stuff I have in a vain attempt to streamline my work area so I was strong and said no I would have a day at home working. She is still going out so I might get her to pick a magazine up for me so I can have five minutes with my feet up tomorrow evening.

Not had time for any stamping tonight as I have had a couple of orders to do so the card I am posting today is one I had forgotten about to be honest. It was in my portfolio which I haven't had out for ages.


The background paper was printed on my computer. I just typed New York, London and Paris over and over and printed off on copier paper.

I used a set of circle stamps by Hero Arts and Vivid inks in Turquoise and Orchid to do the over stamping.

The tag is stamped using black Stazon and a large background stamp of circles by Just For Fun. I then coloured with the Orchid ink pad, let that dry and then bleached out the colour from the small circles.

I stamped the face onto white card and then coloured with the Turquoise ink pad and after letting that dry I carefully bleached out the colour inside the eyes. This was then mounted onto black card.

The flower was punched from pink paper and jewel added to the centre.

The alphabet I used to stamp the words is a Retro lower and numbers set from My Sentiments Exactly.

Well it's a bit early for me but I think I am going to have to go and lay myself horizontal for a couple of hours and get some sleep........have to have a cuppa first though........can't go to sleep without a nice warm cup of tea inside me.

Happy stamping

Sheila-x-