Sunday 30 November 2008

18 Marilyn Monroes?

You got all the stamps for the last post except the feathery bits which actually came from here! I cut the stem leaves off the two flower stamps at the top - it was just lucky that they curved different ways!

Here's the latest card I've made, this time for my niece's 18th birthday:Again this uses the Time to Stamp Glamour Girls plate and I've layered it onto K&Co paper. The date uses Fancy Pants Calendar stamps and the corners are Prima. I've coloured them in with coloured pencils. The little candle is from the Stampendous Fifteen Candles set. In actual fact I made the card double sided so that I could have 18 Marilyns with 18 candles! Of course the card was so big it didn't fit any envelope, but then my cards often don't! If I had the time I'd do really fancy envelopes as well, but I'm usually very last minute.

Enjoy!

Helen

Friday 21 November 2008

What a Hoot...

I love this owl stamp from Elusive Images. I 've made four different cards with the owl as the focal point and created backgrounds in different ways.
This first card is a traditional brown and I've punched out the eyes and layered onto brown paper to give a more 'googly' effect. The circles round the edge are the eyes stamped repeatedly and the background paper is a download from Glenda's blog:
This turquoise and orange card used Patina and Peach Delight Glimmer Mists (two of my favourite colours!) I've overstamped a piece of Graphicus Guild paper with the Damask Background stamp and added scrolls from the Ruby Tuesday plate.Which plate do you think the moon came from?
This card has the owl sitting in a hole in a tree. I've stamped the owl onto glossy white card and coloured him with dye inks, layered onto a piece of Artylicious paper. The hole is stamped with branches from the Design a Tree plate and the feathery trim is from ... guess where? This last card goes back to more neutral colours with a feather or two added for fun! This time the feathery trim appears again, as feathers! See if you can find the stamp I used to create the bark effect on the tree - it's on an unmounted plate again.

Have fun!

Helen

All stamps and papers from Elusive Images.

Saturday 15 November 2008

A Fairy Tail!

I've called this 'a Fairy Tail' as I realised when I'd finished that that's exactly what it looked like! One of the leaves was unfortunately placed, but I thought never mind it's good for a laugh!
It 's also very easy to make and uses some of the new Elusive Images stamps that are going to be on tomorrow's show on Ideal World at 2pm.
Stamp the fairy in black on glossy cardstock, mask and then stamp the plants and flowers in the background:
Add some colour using dye based inkpads.Colour in some of the flowers and edge the panel in the darker red ink:
Layer up onto card:Easy, but effective! You could also use this idea to make a bookmark, which I did think of but I'd run out of time!

Cheers!

Helen

Wednesday 12 November 2008

A touch of glamour!

This is a card I made for my niece's birthday - Happy Birthday, Mari! - she's going to be 14:

It uses the Marilyn Monroe image from Time to Stamp Glamour Girls. I used these in October's Craft Stamper and enjoyed using them so much I got them out again! The frame stamps are from Prima Build a Frame and Sassafras Lass and the paper is K&Co.
I also used my fastenator which I've had for ages and am ashamed to say I hardly ever use - I hadn't realised the staples would be so wide! However I might use it more now as it's occurred to me I can stamp on the staples themselves! (Bit slow there!)I do need practice getting the staples in the right place though - it was very hit and miss.

Cheers

Helen

Sunday 9 November 2008

Christmas is coming....

Far too soon if you ask me!
However if you're wondering why I've been a bit quiet, it's because I've been making Christmas cards, lots of them, nearly 70 in fact! With that many to make they have to be quick and easy. Sometimes they work out well, sometimes they don't! I'll never forget the year I stuck some red berries on all tied up with ribbon, stood the cards up and they all fell off! I wasn't feeling very Christmassy by the end!
Anyway this year nothing should fall off hopefully. I've gone for red, green and gold - I've even embossed which I always swear I'll never do as I always think it takes longer.
On the first two photos, I've used some trees from Elusive Images which emboss wonderfully and a really elaborate swirl from Stamp Attack. The green background trees are stamped over the Paperartsy Christmas text (really useful stamp):
On the next cards, I used some vintage Santa images that I cut out of a Papermania pad:
My favourite santas are the bottom two - I don't think the colours work as well in the first two (whether it's the blue santa or the chimney, I'm not sure), but I used them anyway as inspiration was running out and desperation setting in!!!! I used up nearly every piece of red, green or mixed paper I had to create the backgrounds.The 'Be Merry!' stamp is Elusive Images again - I find myself using this again and again, it just seems to fit.
Well that's the cards made, the next thing will be writing them, but I think I'll put that off for now!

Cheers!

Helen

Saturday 8 November 2008

Blog Candy!!!

Just a quick note: Craft Stamper has set up a blog and has got some blog candy to give away, so scoot on over to the blog and leave a comment on the post for Tuesday 4th November. You never know, you might win! There are also some lovely Christmas cards that Katy's made to have a look at.
Cheers
Helen

Saturday 1 November 2008

The big day.

Well, the great day has arrived. Katie is now 13 and she loved her card - she saved it to last to open. I meant to put up a picture of the bag charms I made, but I forgot to photograph them and she tied them all onto her bag. I'll have to see if I can get a pic later.
They've all trekked off to Thorpe Park Fright Night and the weather is AWFUL!!!!!! I don't know how long they'll last.
They're staying at my son's uni flat tonight which is freezing as they haven't put the heating on as they're trying to save money - I think the girls might have something to say about that!
This is a quick photo of a card I made for my niece - she loves singing:and in full: The bird stamp is from Elusive Images, the extra flourishes are Basic Grey and the edging is Autumn Leaves.

Cheers!

Helen