Off with your head

I still love the Alice In Wonderland sets from Visible Image, but the Queen of Hearts has always been my favourite.
I coloured her using Promarkers and a gold pen to highlight the crown and jar lid. I mounted pieces of gold, red and white card with red hearts on to a 6x6 card blank.

I fussy cut both the Queen and the jar, then stuck them to the front of the card.

Finally I stamped the words from the set onto white card, cut them in odd shapes, then mounted them onto red and gold card before sticking them to the top of the finished card.

A little jar of Christmas

This jar was originally a tea light holder, it's glass and has a metal screw lid with a star shape cut out of it. It had a wire 'swing' connected to the lid with a tea light holder on it, I took this out before I started.

The first thing I needed to do was paint the little sledge and set it aside to dry. Then I filled the base with white modeling paste, which was a task and a half, being thick it didn't exactly run off the spoon. While the paste was still wet I had to push the sledge, tree and snowman into it, then sprinkled glitter over everything.

A little stroll among the toadstools

I love creating art with Lavinia Stamps, Tracey Dutton produces some amazing stamps that make cardmaking fun and easy. I started by inking the background card, I used several shades of pink Distress Inks. I then used grey ink to stamp the Fairy Buttercups and the Ink Caps, this gave the illusion of a misty background.

Next I stamped the fairy (Make a wish), the bubbles and the Spotty Toadstools. I added Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen in clear to the fairy, the dandelion and the bubbles.

Finally I coloured the Spotty Toadstools using Promarkers and a white gel pen to give the card a bit of a pop.

The strange thing was after I had finished the card I took a few pictures (three of which I have used here), I took the first picture about 24 hours later because I noticed the change in the sections painted with the Sparkle pen, almost like bleaching.

Pirate Captain

This adorable stamp is Little Pirate designed by Samantha Rawlings and originally available from Sweet Pea Stamps, who have sadly closed up shop. I stamped the image onto white card, coloured her in using Promarkers, then mounted the image onto a piece of blue card and a piece of silver card.

I cut a piece of the same blue card to use as the background and used Versamark ink to leave the watermark tentacles on either side of the image.

I just couldn't resist the quote from Margaret Atwood as this card was for my Mum, she might be a Granny but she's not an adult.

Tea For Two

I know this may seem a bit late but I totally forgot to post this box, which was actually a Christmas present for a friend who I work with.

She is a very talented artist and is really making a name for herself in the crafting world, including getting her work onto the television as a designer for Visible Image.

This is an Artist Trading Block and is another piece from the brilliant Calico Craft Parts it measures 4" square.The first thing I need to do was glue together the bottom and three side pieces, I couldn't attach the front and top because I needed to get my hand in to glue everything inside.

I painted the outside of the box using Turquoise Dylusions paint before lining the inside using Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland papers.

I used three cotton spools and circles of card to create the table and chairs, adding cups, a teapot and a potion vial to the 'Tea Party' scene.

I attached the front and top, then added the drawer hand onto the top and the charms on the front.

Pretty Little Mermaid

I love the combination of these stamps, the mermaid is from the now closed Sweet Pea stamps and was designed by Elaine Cox. The net behind the mermaid is a Kaisercrafts stamp and the mermaid tails in the background is a Stamp Press stamp.

The first thing I had to do was create the background for the net so it had time to dry off before I stamped onto it, I used the shaving foam and ink method, after a few minutes it was safe enough to stamp the net in a mid green ink.
Next I stamped the mermaid onto a piece of white A7 card and coloured the image using Promarkers in various colours, finally adding a touch of shimmer using a clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen.

Finally I stamped the mermaid tails onto a piece of 6x6 green card using versamark ink to give it the watermark finish.

Teen Queen

This is a birthday card for my beautiful niece Hannah, she's a typical moody teen so likes black and purple, and I thought this Stampotique stamp suited her.

So the first thing I did was stamp the image onto a piece of white card and colour it in, I then cut a piece of purple/black print paper and a piece of purple card cutting them each slightly larger than the first.

Next I used a mask to create the heart background on a 6x6 white card and added a rough border in the same ink.

I started putting the card together adding two Bo Bunny thick card flourishes, brushing a little stickles onto each one, then I added three glittered black flowers to two corners.

Just for Mum

I was desperate to get my hands on this gorgeous dragonfly stamp (Live In The Moment) from Visible Image, so when I won the monthly challenge it was the first thing that went into the basket.
I had a few ideas about how I wanted to use it but this was the first quick card make (yes I know I'm very impatient)

I started with a piece of 5.5" white card, I used the free mini grunge flower stamp from Craft Stamper (also design by Visible Image) to create the perfect background. I used a pale green ink to give a subtle flowery finish. I then used a much darker ink to stamp two dragonflies traveling in opposite directions.
I then cut the cut the card into three equal pieces and mounted them onto a slightly larger piece of green card, I then mounted those onto a 6x6 white card blank. Finally I added a silver gem onto each outer corner and using Thickers stickers I wrote the words 'For You Mum'.

Halloween Cupboard

I few months back I found a fantastic company called Calico Craft Parts they sell wood and MDF shapes, plaques and craft blanks. Not only are their products excellent quality they are also really inexpensive.

I started by gluing most of the pieces together before painting the outside with green crackle paint and the inside with matt grey acrylic.
I wanted to add lots of "mystical" items to create a wizards cupboard, I struggled a bit because I had an idea of what I wanted and I needed it to be just right.
The crystal ball is actually a glass marble stuck on top of two metal bead caps, the glass jar is full of plastic skull beads, the large skull bead has a painted mdf crow on top of it (also available from Calico Craft Parts)

I toyed with the idea of books on the top shelf and even printed off some mini book covers, but I had a sudden flash of inspiration and thought scrolls which much more fitting for a wizened old wizard.
All I need now was the front of the cupboard, this had been painted black and the spider and webs touched up with a bit of silver gilding wax. The 'spooky' was a separate word that I painted silver so it wuld stand out from the rest of the front.

This now stands pride of place on my mantle at home.

Achieve Greatness

This was a little experiment I tried with a shaving foam background and some of my more unusual stamps.
I started with a tray of shaving foam and added a few different coloured mica sprays, I then dropped my watercolour card onto the top of the inky foam. I love messy crafting and this is one of my favourites, not only do you get a fantastic finish on your card but it smells quite nice too.
Next I used black archival ink to stamp the Grungey man from Viva Las VegaStamps, I wish he had come out blacker but because it was on watercolour card the uneven surface didn't take the ink to well.
Finally I used the Banksy Greatness words from the fantastic Bee Crafty who have a brilliant range of Banksy art work stamps.
I really like how this card turned out even though I would have liked the stamp images to be darker.                                                                                                                             

Little box of secrets

This is an older piece that I had totally forgotten about. Once again I have used an Alice In Wonderland stamp from Visible Image.

The box top is a piece of square Stampbord, I lightly inked the whole thing using various blue Distress inks, then I used a keyhole mask with a darker blue. I stamped Alice onto the dried background, then took the colour back on her tights, apron and skin, I finally added a pale pink onto her skin to give her a bit of colour.

I painted the entire box pale blue and added the Good Times onto the side using another Visible Image stamp and some white WOW embossing powder.

.....and they lived happily ever after

I was asked to make an engagement card for a couple at work, wow was that difficult.
First of all it needed to be pink and girlie, these people have met me right!
Ok so I started with the big pink heart with the wings on, this is a Marianne die set that comes with both the heart and wings.

So I cut the heart in pink pearl card and the wings in white pearl card.

Next I cut a piece of pink pearl card slightly smaller than 7x7 and a piece of white pearl card slightly smaller than the pink. I used a heart design embossing folder on the white card to create my background and mounted both pieces onto my card blank.

Finally I stamped and embossed the words onto another piece of white pearl before mounting that onto a piece of pink pearl. After assembling my card I locked myself in a dark room to recover from all the pink and romance.

Victoria and her octopus

I had some fantastic stamps a while back and have finally had the chance to use them on a card. May I introduce Victoria and Otto from the brilliant Brian Kesinger.

This steampunk card was made for a friend of mine who has very similar taste to me so I knew she would love it.

I stamped each image onto white card and gave each image a wash effect colour using distress ink, then mounted them onto purple card.

I cut a piece of the same purple card slightly smaller than my card blank, then a piece of green slightly smaller than that. I stamped the tentacle onto each side of the green card using Versamark and embossed with clear powder, this made the image slightly darker than the background card without overtaking the whole card.

After sticking the two pieces of card to my blank I placed the stamped images in the centre so the tentacles appear to be slithering out from behind them.
Next I cut two Cheery Lynn steampunk corners from white card using Versamark ink and metallic brass WOW embossing powder to create the metal effect.

On the top right hand corner I stuck three metal cogs and on the bottom left hand corner I stuck two metal cogs and three paper flowers.

For more adventures of Victoria and Otto you can visit Brian Kesinger's website here

Beautiful butterfly

This is a simple but very effective card using the two different size butterfly stamps from Visible Image.

I stamped the two butterflies in Versamark ink directly onto the card blank, which was the most difficult bit because it's really hard to see where you have been. Next I used several colours of Cosmic Shimmer mica powders to create a rainbow effect over the stamped images.

I stampedand embossed the words using WOW embossing powder, then mounted the words onto a small piece of lilac card.

To buy more Visible Image stamps why not visit their website

Just the way you are.

So I'm beginning to think I only use one brand of stamps now, yes here's another Visible Image stamp.
First of all the background was done by spritzing a piece of water colour card then sprinkling with different coloured Brushos. I love Brushos because no two pieces ever look the same and you can get some brilliant effects with the.
So this is an easy card with just two stamps, both from Visible Image, stamped straight onto the water colour card and embossed in black WOW powder.

For more Visible Image stamps why not pop over to their website here

The course of true love.

I find making wedding cards a bit of a trauma to be honest, I don't like fussy cards so none of the frills and fluff for me.
So two lovely people were getting married and they just so happen to make some of the best stamps ever. Helen and Mark owners of Visible Image got married last year and for some reason I haven't posted an image of the card I made them, until now.
All of the stamps used are from Visible Image, however some of them have now been retired unfortunately.

I started by stamping the Heart INKognito stamp onto my card blank in Versamark, then I lightly dusted of the images using a pale pink Cosmic Shimmer mica powder.

 The two characters were stamped onto white card and coloured using Promarkers, then I used stickles over the cloak to give it some sparkle.

This is Edward who was retired last year.

This is Isabella who was also retired last year.

The roses, which are part of the Isabella set, have been stamped several times, cut up and layered to create a 3D flower, I then added stickles to the edges.

Finally I added the Love from the Isabella set and Is Forever from the Edward set, thus creating the perfect partnership.

Although only the Heart INKognito stamp is available now Visible Image still have a fantastic range of stamps in their shop.

All of Santa's reindeer.

I spotted this Sizzix die at work just before Christmas and just had to make something with it. So I used a piece of white card for the die cut and mounted it onto a slightly larger red piece. I didn't want this card to be too fussy so I put the finished piece onto a plain white DL card and added three reindeer buttons just to give it a little something.

For you Mum

It was Mother's Day in the UK earlier this month and it just so happened that I received my fantastic prize from Helen and Mark over at Visible Image stamps. This dragonfly was one of four stamps I picked with my voucher.
The set is called Live in the moment and includes the dragonfly and the words in the title.I also used the free Visible Image mini grunge flower stamp from the April issue of Craft Stamper.
Firstly I stamped the two dragonflies onto a piece of 6x6 white card which I cut into three equal pieces.
Next I mounted the three pieces onto a piece of turquoise card and added four silver gems on the corners.
Finally I added the For you Mum words using turquoise thickers.

For more Visible Image stamps and ideas why not visit them here

Down to earth with the bumps

This is another fab stamp set from Visible Image, once again they have created a small but perfect set of matching stamps (the others are a robot and a space explorer)
This is the Alien Invader, which comes with all of the images used on my card plus a ringed planet and the words You're out of this world.
I stamped my alien and used Promarkers to colour him, I then mounted him on purple card, then silver mirror card.I used the flying saucer stamp from the set straight onto my card blank to create the background.
Finally I stamped the greeting onto white card and mounted this onto purple card.

Why not pop over to Visible Image to see the rest of their amazing stamps.