Heidi Swapp Stencils...

 When I was in Florida, I picked up some Heidi Swapp stencils in Michaels, together with a suitcase full of other stuff, most of which I still haven't used. I found the stencil the other day - it's a three part stencil, a background, the bird and branch and a mask. 

So for this card, I put the bird branch mask onto a panel of white cardstock, popped the background stencil over that and used distress inks for the background. When I took that away, there was a crisp white branch, so I positioned the branch stencil carefully over that and dabbed it with black ink - being quite light with the dauber, I wanted a faded look - I rather like it. The chalkboard thank you was in a pack I picked up in the dollar bin. I dotted a few clear sequins around for a bit of sparkle, but the camera hasn't picked those up

Now take a look at my other accomplishment for today. Ta da.........

With the help of you tube videos, a bit of arm wrestling and some brute force, the monster cube has been tamed. I took the photo of the card above 'in the box' (notice I'm getting a bit arty with some background flowers....). I don't have a big enough space to put the monster on a table so I had to lie full length on the floor to take today's photo, quite ridiculous for a woman of my age, and probably risking never being able to get up again....  I do like the seamless look of the background, but I really can't go through that wrestling match with a bit of nylon and some stiff wires every day, so I must have a new work regime - make the cards and have a weekly photography session. Only time will tell if this is a sensible decision

See you tomorrow x

Stamping though stencils...

 Here's my stencil 'homework' for today, and I can't tell you how much angst I suffered getting to this point...

Firstly, I needed some white embossing powder. I had it yesterday, I USED it yesterday, nowhere to be seen, vanished, disappeared in a puff of powder. So I thought, black will do, but the next problem was finding a sentiment to emboss. Now I don't know about you, but I tend to go for simple sentiments, you know the type of thing - happy birthday, get well soon, good luck.....and so on. These flowery sentiments just aren't me, and I particularly hate the ones that would come under an 'encouragement' heading:

Don't let your dreams pass you by.......

Live life to the full with a smile on your face......

I have a feeling that if I sent cards to my friends with instructions on how to live their lives, they would fall about laughing

So I eventually found a nice simple little sentiment and set to stamping and stencilling (I used Tim Holtz ink splatter stencil), and got into a terrible inky mess. I won't bore you with that. Let's just say that this end result was about the sixth attempt I made. (It's so irritating to have almost finished a card and then drop an inkpad on it, or accidentally put the wet stencil face down on the card, or...................well, you get the picture)

So I hope you enjoy this one. It's the result of blood, sweat and tears....(I love it, which is just as well after a wasted afternoon!)

A day off for me today, I'm off to see my sister, lunch and a good old chin wag. Perfect, I'm glad to be getting away from the inks...See you tomorrow x

Stencils and ink - lots of ink.....

 It must be past time for me to practice some of the techniques shown in the online stencil class I took - the trouble is, none of them turned out anything like the instructors gorgeous samples. As I have a kamikaze compulsion to share everything with you, here they are - warts and all....

I had bought some stencil brushes at the NEC in November, but never used them before, I must say, I really like them, they give a much softer effect than the blending tool I have been using up to now....

My first disaster venture into the world of stencils was supposed to use one stencil and layer it. I didn't have a suitable stencil, but dug out this Union Jack one that I bought in a fit of patriotic fervour at the time of the Olympics, and never used....

It was supposed to be a controlled layering, but I soon lost the plot and it ended up as a random frenzy of colour - I quite like it funnily enough, I think a teenager would like this card......

The next one is using glimmer mists through a stencil. This worked quite well, but I was instructed to spray inside a box to catch the mist. Well, I couldn't find a box, so in my usual gung-ho fashion I sprayed away regardless, and now my desk and the wall behind are glimmering.....

I couldn't catch the pretty sheen....this one shows it a bit

Happy mail today from the Ribbon Girl, doesn't it look pretty? the white fabric is cheesecloth, I have plans for that, I am doing a guest designer spot for them in March, so you will have to wait a while....

That's it for today, I'm still getting inky so I'll see you tomorrow with some more stencilled cards, but before I go, for those of you in the UK, this might be of interest to you, it could be fun and an easy way to build up your collection of markers if you live close to London

Become a Letraset Product Tester

We're looking for keen users of the FlexMarker to do some product testing! The testing will take place during office hours at our offices in Shepherd's Bush, West London (easily accessible via public transport) and will take about an hour. As a thank you for your time and participation, you will receive approx. £30 worth of free Letraset products.
Please note that we will not be reimbursing any travel costs. If you would like to participate or for more information, please emailresearch@letraset.com by 21st February and quote “nib research” in the subject line.