Friday, April 29, 2016

Colour Bleaching with Distress Crayons...

Hi folks...I'm back with another colour bleaching card...same image but an entirely different look using Distress Crayons...
I stamped the image on to watercolour card with Ranger Black Pigment Ink...sprinkled with clear embossing powder and heat to set. I then applied Distress Collage Medium Matte over the entire card in a cross hatch manner and left to dry.
I coloured the card with the Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress Crayons...blending them with my finger and you can see the textured effect that the Distress Collage Medium creates although the surface is entirely smooth to touch. I used a small paintbrush to wet each flower and removed the Distress Crayon by dabbing with a slightly wet paper towel to create the bleached effect.  I laid the Mesh Mini Stencil from Set 12 on the card and removed colour in small areas by rubbing over the stencil with paper towel. I created darker stencilled Mesh sections and the numbers by rubbing Black Soot Distress Crayon through the stencils with my finger and stamped the sentiment from Random Quotes inked with Black Archival. I used Picket Fence Distress Paint and a splatter brush to create the snowy effect.
I coloured the Idea-ology Word Band with the Picket Fence Distress Crayon...wiped off the excess and fixed to the card with Idea-ology Paper String Solids. I added Mirrored Hearts to finish off.
And hey it's Friday and I'm looking forward to a fun Bank Holiday weekend with the Friday girls...enjoy your weekend whatever you've got planned.
Hugs Kath xxx

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Having fun with watercolouring...

Hi folks...today I'm sharing one of the "having fun with watercolouring" cards I made last week...using a simple bleaching technique...
I scribbled the Evergreen Bough Distress Marker on to my non stick craft sheet, spritzed liberally with water and painted a wash on the card using a large flat brush...once it was dry I picked up the remaining colour on a smaller brush and tapped the brush to create a splatter effect...
I stamped the beautiful Rose image from Tim Holtz Lady Rose Stamp Set with Black Archival Ink and coloured the leaves with the Evergreen Bough Distress Marker. Then using a small paintbrush...I wet each flower and dabbed with clean paper towel...removing the colour to create a bleach effect.
 I stamped the sentiment on the card with Archival Black and again on white cardstock and cut out sections
finishing off with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins and oh my giddy aunt...how did I ever manage to live without this great precision tip from Ranger...it dispenses just the right amount of adhesive to fix down teeny weeny embellishments.
I'll be back tomorrow to share a Distress Crayon Bleaching Technique Card with the same image.
Toodle-oo for now
Hugs Kath xxx

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

A "Left-overs" Card

Hi folks...crikey the weather's gone crazy in my neck of the woods...we've had the "all seasons in one day" weather for 2 days in a row...brilliant blue sky sunshine...freezing cold winds and horizontal huge snowflake blizzards but hey it's a great excuse to hunker down in the cubbyhole and finish off my felt project. I can't share it with you just yet but there were some left-overs so rather than waste them...you know what us crafters are like...I've made a quick card...

and it was also a chance to play with the "You Are My Favorite" die from the MY FAVORITE release of gorgeous stamps and dies from Simon Says Stamp...
I covered an A5 card with paper from Prima's Timeless Memories 6 x 6 Pad and used Stitched Rectangles and You Are My Favorite dies to create the front panel which I popped on to 3D Foam to create some dimension. I die cut extra "MY" letters from white cardstock and Peach Felt...glued them together and popped the letters back into the negative space and stamped the sentiment from Butterfly Friends with Black Archival.
Then I added my left-over flowers and leaves die cut with the Plush Blooming Heart set and decorated the flowers and panel with sequins.
See you all tomorrow
Hugs Kath xxx


Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Something Entirely Different...

Hi folks...I'm back in the cubbyhole after playing truant last week...2 days gardening...one day gallivanting with the Friday Girls and a "just couldn't gee my ginger" weekend...has left me way way behind with the crafty list and this week I really really need to get ahead of the game with some DT projects...ably assisted by the "supervising from a safe distance" Furry member of the crew...any minute now that head will be down and he'll be snoring like a train...
while I have fun with something entirely different from yesterday's all things metal project...namely the gorgeous colourful bundles that arrived in my DT parcel from Simon Says Stamp...
and for those of you who were a little puzzled and contacted me last week...it's time to solve the mystery...they are bundles of  Taylored Expressions felt..."high quality wool felt...fabulously soft and available in delicious colours" perfect for using with the Plush Blooming Heart dies from the Simon Says Stamp Spring Plush Release...if you've been bitten by the felt bug...you can also find a selection of individual sheets of Simon Says Stamp Wool Felt HERE
easy peasy to die cut and if you place your dies carefully...you can get loads out of a small piece of felt...
 and how cool is this...ready made stitching holes...
But I must away...I need loads more for the project I'm planning and tonight I'll be threading up my needle for an evening of stitching while watching TV.
Toodle-oo for now
Hugs Kath xxx

Monday, April 25, 2016

Show Us Your Metal...

Hi Everyone...and before we know it's Monday again and that's means it's time to play along on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog...thank you for joining us for last week's Butterfly Beauty challenge...we hope you can join us this week too because...

and the theme for this week is...
SHOW US YOUR METAL

I made a cover for a photo album and quickly discovered that my camera is not happy with anything that is shiny or metallic so it was a bit of a challenge to capture the metallic sheen without the glare...

I started off by matting paper from Tim Holtz Regions Beyond Paper Stash Pad on to Ranger Black Cardstock. I dabbed the Orange Blossom Archival Ink Pad (Distress Rusty Hinge would work too) around the edges...sprinkled my mixed to order Rust Embossing Powder (not my recipe I hasten to add but one from the fabulous Wendy Vecchi which you can find HERE) and heated until it melted. The camera doesn't really pick it up but it's a great rusty metal effect.
I attached Ranger Foil Tape Sheet to black cardstock and used the Tim Holtz Gears Texture Fade to create some metallic texture. I generously applied Vintage Photo and Black Distress Crayons and used my fingers to rub the colours in to the detail...
and then used a paper towel to remove some of the colour and let the metal shine through
I made a frame for my gentleman who by the way features on one of the papers from Regions Beyond using Idea-ology Industrious Stickers...don't look too closely at that badly mitred corner...
and inked up a scrap of manila cardstock to use with the Rust Embossing Powder mix to die cut lots of gears using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Thinlits Gearhead ...
I decorated the gears with Idea-ology Nailheads and Gears

I coloured a Flashcard with the Vintage Photo Distress Crayon and used the same technique as before to create the rusty look and finished with Dapper Design Tape around the edges and some Big Chat and Small Talk Stickers for the sentiment...
You can find all the products I used over at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp online store...just click on the links below...


Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you all have the chance to win a $50 gift voucher to spend at Simon Says StampYou have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2 pm CET to join in...

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

And now it's your turn...I'm looking forward to seeing what you all create this week
Have Fun and Happy Crafting
Hugs Kath xxx