The Wisdom Of A By-gone Flower OR Heck That Is Pink

Well I know I like colour but I don't think I have ever created a piece with mainly pink as its colour LOL.The words have a pearl blue and pearl pink wash on them and so are hard to read in the photo but it says "Being a Woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men".I'm experimenting some more with my Opals paper and this time instead of just ironing in bits of Fantasy Film into the Opals on the Vilene I used two 13cm lengths of the Fantasy Film and ironed them and Franklin Opals together to make a sheet of shimmery Fantasy Film Opals paper.I ran it thru the Cuttlebug in different directions and changed the embossing folder each time...the result was a gorgeous shimmery textured base that the camera does not catch.

The Vintage image was done using Lazertran water slide decal paper for Inkjet printers.It adhers wonderfully to the Opals paper.I used an Angelina fibre piece at the bottom that had been ironed while the fibres were sitting on an After midnight art stamp floral boarder stamp as it ties in with the shimmery background.To make this you lay Angelina fibres across a stamp sitting image side up on some baking parchment.Place more baking parchment on top and iron over the top with iron set on a hot dry setting.The Angelina fibres melt and press into the stamp.When cool peel the fibres up and the image of the stamp will be on the Angelina fibres.Lastly I added some fluffy and beaded ribbon trim,hand sewed on some beads to the trim all the way round and added "Le Fleur" page pebble.Here is the view from the top side

and from the bottom up

I only had today off so on my next day off on Tuesday I am going to play with the brand new Opals embossing enamel colour that came in the mail for me yesterday.It is called Abalone and it has a beeswax look but has irridscent effects(so it has blues, greens, reds andviolets in it), it is transparent and silky smooth according toNiamh and Sue.Think weddings,Christenings,Christmas and vinatge works

Textured Cuttlebug Card Made With Opals

My niece has just had a birthday and I forgot to make her a card so I quickly made her one today.I had some of my thinner Opals embossing enamel paper that I made in the past on my desk so I put it thru the Cuttlebug several times changing the embossing folders each time as I moved them around the Opals paper.The base size was wider then the Cuttlebug feeding slot so once I had the Opals paper inside the embossing folder I bent the excess over the top,hold in place and fed it thru the Cuttlebug.It pops and cracks but comes out the other side with no great problem.At times when I do this there will be a white fold line showing so I just match the colour of Opals I have used with Luminarte Polished Pigments,add simple solution for plastic into the Polished Pigment and paint it over the Opals paper mark to repair it
This will give you the textured Cuttlebug card effect without having to tear and glue the Cuttlebug embossed card back down and cuts out the need to then paint over it with gesso to make it seamless.On the card below I worked out what stamp I wanted to use and it's approx size and then painted over the centre area on the textured Opals Cuttlebug base with pearl white acrylic paint so the painted area was about the same size as the stamp I wanted to use.The After Midnight art stamps Annette face stamp was stamped on white tissue with Brilliance Graphite black ink,heat set with the heat gun and then stuck in place with watered down PVA glue.I painted more pearl white paint around the face,coloured the lips and eyes with Polished Pigments,highlighted the lips and eyes with Plaid Dimensional Magic,added some Polished Pigment painted flowers and some Collections words to finish it off

One More Textured Cuttlebug Card

Hi everyone....well I have about five more textured Cuttlebug cards done and then I think I have them out of my system LOL...well maybe.You see I have used stamped images here as I want to send these to a stamp company owner but you could easily change the centre image to a transfer of a family photo or vintage image etc.Hence (and with Celeste's and her friends Ok) I shall shortly share how I make these.Anyway till I get the time to put that up here is another stamped one.It's an After Midnight art stamp fairy image that I have used.This first photo shows the fairy with her wings flat.Luminarte Polished Pigments used on the Cuttlebug texture so it has super saturated shimmery colour all over.Shrink plastic After Midnight art stamps butterflies and Collections words

Next photo shows the fairy with her wings open...got to love cold laminate for wings

This is the view from the bottom up below....LLLllllove the texture

Next is the view from top left

and lastly from top right...you can see the colour under the wings here.I painted the fairy with Daler Rowney liquid Pearlescent acrylics

I have the how too still photos ready to load but I will also do a short video if I can get a few hours alone to upload as well...stay tuned.

Cuttlebug Textured Cards

Today is my eldest daughters 18th birthday.This After Midnight art stamp reminds me of her so I used it over the Luminarte Polished Pigments decorated Cuttlebug frame from yesterdays post to make her a card.
I'm loving the textures you get from these and have ordered some more folders.This photo below is taken from the bottom right side.The metal label was coloured with Alcohol inks and then hit with the heat gun till it bubbled.Gold pint was then dry brushed over the texture areas.I made her eyes and lips pop by covering them with a layer of Plaid Dimensional Magic

More from the top right

From the top left

This is the card I made for a male relative.I made this more subtle so the hunk stood out.It's painted with acrylics and then with gold paint dry brushed on to highlight the textured areas

The last card is a riot of colour and I again used black gesso over the Cuttlebug texture frame,then tapped on Stewart Superior Palette Stamp and Stick black Gluepad ink,heat activated the adhesive with the heat gun and dusted on Polished Pigments

I'm really tired today as my dughter went to town with friends so she could celebrate as she turned 18...like a good Mum I of course could not sleep and kept one ear listening for the phone.I suspect I have years of that sort of worry to come.Day three of days off today so I hope the coffee kicks in and I get some more creative work done

Playing with Palette Stamp and Stick

OH my I have had a busy week and a half.I do 8 shifts close together for work and then get three days off.Work is terribly busy at the moment and then the family life is too.I was feeling stressed and was so glad my days off arrived at last...time to get inky and de-stress(or for me it should be distress LOL).SSSooo yesterday was day one of my days off and I got three cards made for familiy birthdays and then last evening I had a play with the Stewart Superior Palette Stamp and Stick black Gluepad.I'm loving this pad.You just stamp an image with it,activate the adhessive by hitting it with the heat gun and then dust over Pearl-ex,Polished Pigments,foils etc.I like it best stamped on dark card as when you dust over it it really makes the colour pop.
Anywho I made the collage above last evening and got some lovely effects on the German scrap trim at the bottom by tapping the glupad directly onto it.Activated the adhesive with my heat gun and then rubbed on some Antique bronze Pearl-ex with my finger.I also swiped it across the Cuttlebug texture paste bit at the top and added the bronze Pearl-ex again...it gives a gorgeous old shimmery bronze look that the photos do not do justice too.I used a Vilene and tissue base that I painted over with Jo Sonja's pale gold paint with.Then I did a wash with the Golden Quinacridone Nikel Azo gold.This combo creates an antique gold effect.The vintage image is an inkjet water transfer onto calico.The words read left to right down the card on this one and reads "being a woman is a terribly difficult task,since it consists principally in dealing with men!"

On my desk I have several textured Cuttlebug frames I have made ready to turn into cards as I need them.This one is not finished yet but while I had the gluepad out I tried it on one of these pieces.I aagin tapped the pad firmly all over the textured area,activated the adhesive with the heat gun and used a soft brush in a swirling motion to apply Luminarte Primary Elements Polished Pigment powders..OH LA LA this is so pretty and shimmery...again the photos do not do it justice.I'm off to play some more today :o)

Bright Collages by Three

WOOPS I forgot to upload this with the cards yesterday so forgive me for adding it to that start and not the end....just go past it to the collages if you like.It is a Radiant rain sprayed and stamped envelope for one of the cards to go in.The Radiant Rains come out grogeous on the enve paper and although you can't see it in the photo it has a beautiful metallic shimmer to it

My hands are covered in inks and paints but I am happy with these three collages I got done today after lunch.The first one uses the base sample Celeste sent me so all I had to do was stick the image down,add the wire embellishment,flowers and word plus a bit more ink wash.I'm no where near as good at these as Celeste is but they are very rewarding

This is the same card taken at the top side...hope you can see the lovely textures

From the side bottom showing the three flowers and more texture

Once I was done I made my own version of the bases and used images from After Midnight art stamps.This Gypsy child from the Music plate is so lovely and quite a large stamp so was an excellent choice for this technique

From the top side view

Bottom side view

For the last collage I just had to use "the Hunk" LOL from the Lea Cioci stamp line at After Midnight Art Stamps

View from top side

and bottom up

Now I have been side tracked for half the day I had better get back to making my fabric ATC's...four of which are done....only 12 to go