Julie: Light,lacy,stencilled and spritzed!

Hello there.

How's things in your corner of the crafting world? Have you got any holidays planned?

As I'm off on a little city-break soon, I thought I'd get on with scrapping some photos of my last trip ... they won't stand much of a chance once I have some fresh new photos to work with! So I set to work with a few things from 3DJean:

.... to create a page documenting some of the beautiful lacy effects we spotted in the V&A Museum London: To mirror the laciness of the photos I layered up two paper doilies, one red and heart shaped and the other [one of these ] which I sprayed blue using a Vibez spray ink.
The photo below shows how I used another heart-shaped doily behind my title, only this time U used it as a stencil. I spritzed ink through it to create my own soft, subtle lacy effect:I experimented with another texturing technique too, this time adding interest to the plain card alphas I used for my title:

• First I painted quite a rough, thick layer of Shimmerz Pearlz [I used 'Grey Flannel'] across the lettering;
• When it was almost dry I spritzed it lightly with a spray ink;
• Then, using a scrunched-up sheet of kitchen-roll I pressed directly on top of the ink I'd just sprayed then quickly lifted the paper off.
• This action removed most of the ink and also took away spots of the paint - leaving behind a soft, dappled, marbling effect .... for very little skill!:

Another main feature I wanted to add was the clusters of Dew Drop gems scattered across the page. Because there are so many Dew Drops in the jars I could carry on adding more and more until they made a real impact ... and I've still got lots left over!

Lastly, I dotted around a few ArtChix collage images here and there, can you spot them hiding amid all of that laciness?I hope you've enjoyed this whistle-stop tour around my lacy page, if you try any of the techniques I've used remember to give me a shout, it'll be lovely to see.

I'd better go and get on with all my important holiday planning ... like working out which shoes to take and how many dresses I'll need for 5 days away ... oh and not forgetting planning what I'm going to do with all the photos I'll be taking while I'm away!

I'll be back very soon, but in the meantime, pop over to my 'notes on paper' blog where today I'm sharing a few more ideas using items if ephemera from 3DJean.

Hopefully I'll see you there ... I'll just run on ahead of you and do a quick tidy round .....

Julie :)

The Finger is Back!

A quick post.... those fingers are back!... a few note cards.... I don't think they need much explination. You can find the stamps here and the paper here.

Add any small butterfly or insect stamp! If you haven't got the right sentiment... print it out on your computor and cut out the individual letters!
Hope you like it
Effie
XXX

All Sorted!

You can never have enough rubber stamps........
I love this French Flea Market set from Purple Onion, perfect for making vintage labels to transform your everyday glass jars!
Just stamp onto scraps of paper...I used scraps of Basic Grey Koshi and a brown pigment inkpad to distress the edges.

Just how cute is that small pin stamp! I love the way it looks like it's through the paper!

There's a few more ideas in the pipeline for this set so keep looking!

Hope you like it!

Effie

XXX

Speedy, Quick and Easy ...

Hello, today I want to share a couple of cards for those moments in life when you realise you have less than 20 minutes to make a card for someone because you forgot all about it. I can't possibly be the only one who has those 'panic panic, what will I do?' moments. No? I didn't think so :)

The first card is super simple to make. Everything I used came from Jean apart from the pens and border punch. Have a dig around in your scrap box (or like me use a couple of brand new sheets of paper) and select a couple of coordinating patterns. Trim paper to fit a blank card, cut a paper doilie in half and glue onto both sides of the papers, attach to the card with dimensional foam pads. Cut a strip of paper and add a decorative edge with dies, punches or something frilly, add this to the card with dimensionals. Stamp the doodled frame, cut out and colour with a marker, use a fine tip pen in a coordinating colour to fill in the spaces in the doodled lines. Stamp a greeting onto the frame, add a couple of pretty dewdrops, attach with foam pads and your card is done.  Time taken - 15 minutes!!

I used:

DeLovely 6x6 paper pad

Small paper doilie

Doodle frame stamp

Happy Birthday stamp (may be out of stock)

Dewdrops

My second card is just as quick. On your computer print a sentiment close to the bottom of the paper, trim to fit a coloured cardblank, adhere and attach a few sparkly gemstones. Use the Doodled Heart stamps to stamp a pattern block in coordinating ink, add glitter to some of the hearts and trim. Mat onto coordinating card and add a frilly border to each long side with a die, punch etc. Tie a matching ribbon around the pattern block and attach to the card with foam dimensional pads.  Tada! one finished card in no time at all :)  This card made, written and on it's way to the post office within 20 minutes. It was only after I popped it in the post box that I realised I hadn't taken it's photograph so I had to ring the recipient and ask them for it back!!

I used:

Doodle Heart Set stamp (I think it was probably designed to cut into seperate stamps

but I love using it as a large block so have kept mine in one piece)

Kaiser Rhinestones in Hot Pink (gorgeous!!)

I Dont Only Bake

No sometimes I actually craft and to prove it here are 2 cards I made with the lovely Lost Coast Design stamps from the Mother Goose range.

For a change I have stamped the image in a lovely pastel pink. If you know my style you will definately realise that pastle pink it not my normal stamping colour choice. But sometimes it's good to work with something realy different.

More Pointy Fingers.........

I still love these stamps..............and there's more ideas to come!

I wanted to make something to display all those ATCs that were stashed away in plastic folders so this is what I came up with..

You will need..

Small pegs... mine were about 2.5cm, scraps of patterned paper and some twine.

Stamp a medium size hand onto your scraps and cut out.

Thread the twine through the spring of the peg, secure on each side with a knot... do this one peg at a time... space your pegs approx 10cm appart

Glue your stamped hands onto the pegs.......

Hang your ATCs!

Hope you like it!

Effie

XXX

It's Rude to Point!

I just love this set of stamps from Purple Onion Designs.... I have lots of ideas.. but here's one of them! You'll need a piece of florists wire, a peg and a square block of wood and patterned paper, Basic Grey Basics

Take the peg appart... Twist the wire through the spring of the peg. Stamp your pionty finger and glue to a scrap of chipboard, cut out. Cut a small circle of chipboard and cover with paper, stamp a design on...one of the Purple Onion date stamps would be perfect...................wish I'd thought of that before!
Drill a small hole in the block of wood. Cover the block with paper. Reassemble the peg

Glue the finger and the circle to the peg, glue the wire in the wooden block.... use Diamond Glaze or similar. Cute!

Hope you like it

Effie

XXX