Stamping Workshop #139

I've had such a great day today at our all day stamping workshop.  This lovely deer card was my creation for today (I was too busy teaching to finish my other project!).  This deer stamp is a Stacey Stamp.  I've stamped in archival black and coloured using Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks.  The background has been created using the Tim Holtz Shattered Mask and Gathered Twigs and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks.  It has all been mounted onto an 8x8 card blank.

These are the fabulous creations of Laura and Lisa who joined me at today's workshop..

Aren't they fab!

Lisa's Steampunk card (Creative Expressions Stamp)

Lisa's Daisy Card (Stampendous Jumbo Daisy Stamp)

Laura's Lighthouse card (Crafty Individuals stamp)

Laura's Peacock card (Chocolate Baroque Stamp) coloured with Cosmic Shimmer Watercolour Paints

Got just a little soggy getting to and from the car with the torrential rain - but it was certainly the day to stay indoors crafting!

hope you got to have a crafty day too

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

A little wine? #119

Today's creation features a stamp from Indigoblu - the BFF set.  I started by creating a bold background using Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean and lots of blending. 

I stamped with my bubble stamp (creative expressions) using both inks and then again using some black archival.  I like to work with this type of stamp off the block, wrap it around my finger to give greater control over where the image is positioned.

I next stamped the wine stamp using Archival black and added a few white gel pen highlights.

I drew a line across the top with a fineliner pen.  I then drew vertical lines down at different lengths.  I next drew lots of little circles and a star at the bottom.  I added some white highlights to this too.  It makes a nice efective zentangled border.

i hope you've all had a chance to enjoy some time with your families this weekend, I have had a lovely weekend catching up with family - and fitting in some very long overdue time sorting out the garden... although I think the nettles won today... they may now be on the compost... but I have gained lots of stings along the way!  Those Norfolk nettles sure do pack a punch!

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

Blue lady for a happy day!

It's a good day today.  This post is scheduled as I'm off to visit my in-laws for a family lunch.  It's my father in-laws 80th birthday tomorrow... and it's my birthday today - hurrah!...  so it's going to be so nice to catch up over a meal. 

I chose this project to share with you today... because that's just the sort of dress I would love to wear!  Such an elegant shape and she looks lovely in her flowery fabric too!  She is called Pure Elegance and is a stamp from Creative Expressions.

I've see a lot of projects lately working on textured card and it's something I keep meaning to do... but forget!   Then I see another project pop up on Pinterest or on someone's blog and I say.. oh yes.. meant to get out my textured card!  This is a perfect project to work on too.. as I have a big kit of matching papers, card blanks, embellishments and ribbons that I ordered of the shopping channel many moons ago.. and whilst I've dipped into everything, the card blanks aren't really my cup of tea as they are bold prints and not always easy to make into a card, however they are lovely textured cardstock so perfect to cut apart and work onto!

This was a pastel blue card blank, so I worked around the outside with Salty Ocean Distress Ink with blending foam and then added a little walnut stain to give a dark edge.  I then applied the walnut stain ink using foam through my dotty border stencil (which is from crafter's workshop).  I stamped and embossed my lady and painted in some of her details with the salty ocean ink.  I then stamped and embossed her onto my blue floral paper (which is from a papermania pad).  I cut out the dress and hat and then stuck them over the top of my stamped design - voila... pretty floral dress!

I kept it simple and just mounted onto a black mount and then onto a 5x7 card blank.

And as it's my birthday... you are all encouraged to have cake on my behalf!

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
Shop for Elegant Lady stamp

A bit of doodling...

Today's project is using more prepared backgrounds...  you may remember this background from a few days back, well this is the other half of the cardstock that I had already painted with Distress Paints - Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Salty Ocean with a little white applied through a mask. 

I've used stamps from two sets today - both Creative Expressions - Art Houses and the border is from Art Flowers.  I stamped and embossed the house using black embossing powder and then stamped both my border and the postmark using black archival pad.

The rest of the decoration is all entirely doodled on using either white gel pen, or black fineliner pen.  I went with diagonal dashes at the bottom.  The house was floating a bit so I added some dashes underneath it.  I then with a cross hatch pattern to the left and bubbles to the right.  Finally a few highlights here and there with the white pen and I was done!

I couldn't decide whether this piece needed some wording or not... but everything I tried, just seem to make it look cluttered, so I left it as it was.

happy crafting

Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
Shop for Creative Expressions Stamps
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Dream Big!

I've gone for warm pink and orange tones on this tag.  Working onto glossy cardstock I first brayered with a Big N Juicy pad.  Once dry I firstly stamped the Art House (creative Expressions) in Plum Archival directlly on the tag... but the background colour meant that the detail of the design just got lost...  so I stamped again onto white and then traced some of the detail with my black fineliner.  I then cut out and mounted over the top of my first stamp attempt.  Having learnt that perhaps plum wasn't the best colour to show up - I switched to black to stamp the Dream Big and the postmark (both from the Art Houses set too).  I added a few hand-drawn cross-hatch marks with my fine liner and after rounding the top corners with a punch, I added my dash line border.  As a final touch I worked with my Crafters Workshop Mask and my white gel pen to add a few circle details - it was just enough to give it the oomph it needed!

This was another result from my (not so) grumpy crafting session... More tomorrow!

Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
Shop for Creative Expression Stamps
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Firey Lady

Todays project features a stamp from Creative Expressions.  I've created the background using distress inks and then stamped over the top with the chicken wire stamp and also with a bit of bubble wrap (always good for a bit of texture!).  I've used a mask too to add lots of layers of texture.  I've stamped a couple of borders along the bottom in a black archival ink and then added some highlights using a white gel pen.  The greeting is from Chocolate Baroque and the lady has been stamped in archival black.  I've then used a waterpen to colour in the lady and lift the colour off with a cloth.  Just keep repeating this to tone down the background colour, and then you can pick up some distress ink with your waterbrush and re-colour back in to give the definition from the background.  Again a few white highlights make all the difference!

This was a piece I created a while back.. I had a different project lined up to show you today...  but unfortunately my photography skills last night were not up to scratch... so I will re-photograph tonight to show you less blurry!  Fortunately I had this sample at the shop and thought it might be one you would like.

I get to be creative again this evening as I have the heart card workshop - always fun to get out those misters!  If you read this early enough.. there are still a couple of spaces so if you fancy joining me, just give the shop a call 01953 454976 - the workshop starts at 6pm

happy crafting

Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
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Follow your dreams tag

See... I couldn't stop with these stamps!  These are the Art Flowers set from Creative Expressions.

Today's project starts again with the blank white tag.  I sprayed the cardstock with Cosmic Shimmer Misters - Bilberry Crush (My favourite!) and Red Firefly.  I wanted the colours to be really firey and intense.  I left this aside to dry thoroughly (give it a blast with your heat gun to encourage it) but don't blot it dry as you'll remove the intensity of the colour.

Once thoroughly dry, stick your piece of washi tape along the side.  I liked the idea of the simple black and white pattern so it wouldn't distract from my background or flower.  I next stamped and embossed in detail black both my flower and my greeting onto separate white card.

I coloured my flower using my Drawing Inks (yippeeee... I've finally found which box they've been hiding in for the past few months!).  I cut out my flower and my greeting ready to mount onto my card.  I decided I wanted to add a little charm by my greeting, but it looked odd because the greeting was cut out, so I cut out a little bit of card the same width of my banner and embossed it with detail black and stuck it to extend my banner, this meant I then had something to stick my charm onto.  I stuck the pieces on and then stuck on the heart charm and the flower centre (a gold beadcap) with glossy accents.  The final detail was three little black peel-off dots along the bottom and some black and purple ribbon at the top.

I love the vibrant colour of this tag - it has a real wow factor!

happy crafting
Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
Shop for Art Flowers Stamps
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Dream in Colour Tag

I have had such fun this morning!  I have a busy few days lined up so today's mission was to create enough projects to share with you over the next few days.  I was lucky enough to be lent some different stamps from my good friend Sarah, so I started with the usual excitement you have of using new stamps!!

For this set I have used the Art Flowers from Creative Expressions.  These are a fab set for anyone who likes the artsy style (why haven't I got these in my stash already...!)  I thought I would have a play with the Distress Paints for this project and as they are quite a new product, I'm still learning my techniques and thought you might like to share the process!

 I started with a plain white tag - normal mat cardstock - nothing special!  I stamped and embossed the three ribbons with a silver detail embossing powder and then the create art stamp in black (it was supposed to be silver too... but threw over the wrong colour powder .. oh well.. happy accidents and all that!!).

 I then selected my paint colours (sorry for the blurry pic!)... Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean and Crushed Olive.  I wanted the blue to be the most prominent colour as I thought it would combine well with the silver embossed detail.  I started by spritzing the tag with water so it was quite wet.  I then used the sponge top to apply my colour all in the same direction.  Work onto a non stick craft mat because you can then use it as a paint palette so as not to waste your colours.  Once you have swiped over your three colours, take an old cloth and wipe your tag.  This helps to blend the colours, but also wipes the paint away from the embossed areas.  If you then need to apply more colour (I needed more blue) - just add it on, or pick up from your craft mat and use your cloth to apply more colour and blend.  Once you are happy, give it a very quick blast with the heat gun (not too intense as you don't want to further melt your embossing powder) just enough to 'warm' the card to help it to dry quicker.  This is what it then looks like.

 It was a little bare in the background so I took the flower stamp from the set and stamped it using Versafine Smokey Grey.  Just enough to give a little detail.

 I then stamped and embossed the flower and the greeting in black detail embossing powder.  I applied colour with the Distress Paints again- this time with more colour applied and I added in a little Picked Raspberry around the outside of the petals just to give a little contrast.  Again wipe away and blend with your cloth.  Cut out your pieces and stick on.  Finally I punched a hole in the tag and added a blue and green ribbon!

I had so much fun creating this tag... just love the finished tag!  I've so far managed to complete tomorrow's project, and a jewellery project for Friday... and I have the rest of the afternoon to create more - I definitely have my crafting mojo today!  hurrah!
happy crafting
Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
Shop for Art Flowers Stamps
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Acrylic Paints with Stamps

I'm all out of sync today!  I thought I had a blog project finished today.. only to find out I haven't!  So I've been browsing through old creations to find some that I don't think I've shared with you before (forgive me if I have!).

These were all made using rubber stamps together with Acrylic Paints.  I've used Eco-green paints here - which are a really nice creamy consistency paint to use, and have the big plus of having a wax content so once dry you can buff them to a high shine!.

 This first design is a nice way to start working with Acrylic Paints and stamps - no skills required!!.  I took a good weight cardstock (or use the grey board off the back of your paper pads!) - and using two colours simply paint on.  If you paint one colour first and then use the second colour onto a dry brush and lightly paint over the top you can achieve these whispy lines.  I've then stamped my Pure Elegance Stamp (from Creative Expressions) and some swirls in black ink.  Finally I've added some white gel pen highlights so she stands out from the background.  Then simply mat and layer onto a card.

 This design is using the same stamp again but this time I painted the background in gold and allowed to dry.  Then I have stamped the lady again in black and then painted her in using the eco-green paints.  Again some white gel highlights lift the design and you may need to retrace some of the black outline with a fine-liner pen if it's lost some definition.  The flower is from Marianne Designs. 

I think sometimes crafters are a bit hesitant to work with paints as they feel its more of an artists thing and you need to have skill to use them, but I love working with paint and you can achieve some very effective finishes with very little skill needed... go on give it a go!

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
Shop for Acrylic Paints