Rubber Stamping - North Wales

Hi everyone Ooh I did enjoy that play & can't wait to have another go.  The faux leather (for those who haven't seen it on C&C with Sheena Douglass) starts off as a piece of kraft card which is then treated with a water & glycerin mixture.  This is followed by being embossed in an embossing folder then treated with inks I didn't have any proper kraft card - but I do have a pile of kraft thin card folders - so I cut up one of those. Here is my play All set up ready to go The card after being sprayed several times, both sides, with the glycerin water mix, scrunched - then put through the E-bosser in an embossing folder. after being inked with Vintage Photo & Spiced Marmalade then inked with Fired Brick & Black Soot. The Black Soot was used mainly to highlight the embossed image After the final stage of being sprayed with Crafter's Companion - Spray & Shine. When I showed it to Bob - as I do all my ...

At the Mold II meeting on Tuesday Betty told me the story of Mother's Day cards she has been making.  It would appear she made a couple - they were seen - & more were ordered.  I asked her to send me photos to put here - & here they are; Well done Betty.  They are lovely. It is so good to see the cards you make - so come on ladies - send me photos.  Boast about your efforts.  That is what the blog is for. Back later.

Hi everyone - here is the photo of the birthday card I made last week for one of our club ladies - Liz in fact from Mold II. I couldn't show it before her birthday in case she popped in to have a look at the blog.  I don't think she bothers with the Internet but you never know & I didn't want to spoil the surprise. The stamps are from Lily of the Valley & are quite detailed - so I stamped them in black archival ink onto white card & managed to emboss them with clear EP.  I then used pink, blue & green shades of Distress Inks to lightly colour them.  A little 70 on the tag & a small Happy Birthday peel off to finish. The card is a 5x5 square card & I rounded the 2 outer corners & covered with the blue floral paper.  Next I cut a smaller square of the pink floral & placed a strip of matching paper down the back on the left & right side.  This allowed me to roll the corners without having white paper showing. Thi...

This will probably be my last visit today & I am back with the project photos from last nights Mold II meeting where the theme was Four square. As I said in the last post - I didn't lay down any restrictions & just waited for great ideas & as I also said - I was not disappointed; A lovely clean & crisp design, & exactly as someone from Mold did - tried to catch me out  - as at first I though - hmm, only 3 squares.  No there are definitely 4 & very clever design it is too. Another delicate design - makes you think of spring. Delicate again - spring must be in the air. A lovely clean & crisp design. Isn't that sentiment gorgeous. Seems like this evening is staying with the more pastel shades - or will that change shortly. Lovely layout & design - I like the little ribbon hangers on 2 of the squares I love the little buttons that give texture & interest to this lovely clean design Oops - I am rea...

Hi - Yes it is me again, this time with the photos from the Mold project on 16 January.  You may remember I held them over until Mold II had also tried this project.  CSNW are not doing this project until March - but I didn't like to hold the photos over that long. So here they are - the project was - Four Square.  The idea to use four squares in the design.  I didn't put any restrictions on what could be done & how - so was looking forward to some great ideas & was not disappointed from either club; A lovely clean & crisp design adorned with one of the paper bows we made that night too. Sorry this is a little fuzzy but I think you can see the great design & layout.  Love the colour scheme. Well! definitely 4-square on this design (twice) a great layout & there is that colour scheme again. I love the shaping on these squares - very complimentary to the base card.  Great design. Those stamps are brilli...

Last night at Mold II club Betty brought in the latest copy of Papercraft Inspirations (or it might have been Papercraft Essentials) - but in any case one of her cards had been showcased. Well done Betty - am I correct that you won a prize too? The other piece of member news is a photograph of Liz at last night's Mold II meeting showing her with her birthday flowers. It is a special birthday for Liz & it is actually today - so very Happy Birthday Liz.

Good afternoon everyone Well, as promised here I am with the start of quite a lot of photos to show you. First, in this post - the Show & Tell from last night's Mold II meeting, where the theme was a card using the Ghosting technique learnt at the November meeting. A lovely card - this technique is so clever - it looks like it has been dry embossed. This card didn't photograph too well - I should have taken a couple of closeup shots. It was unusual to have used an outline stamp - but it shows that the technique still works. See what I mean about the dry embossing - it is almost as if it has been through an embossing folder.  It's a lovely technique. So there were only these 3 cards for the Show & Tell but what great designs.  I will be back shortly with some members news.

Hi everyone Well, we had a very pleasant meeting of Mold II club this evening - the first one of 2014.  Lots of chatting & catching up to do. I took photos of the Show & Tell & also the project which I will be able to start loading tomorrow. As the project was the same as the one that Mold club did for their January meeting I will show Mold photos first then those from Mold II. There is also a members news photo to show, & one of the Mold II ladies - Liz - is celebrating a big birthday tomorrow, so I have a photo of her with the flowers the club gave her. But first I have to get them all loaded on my computer which I will do in the morning. That's it for tonight.  Lots ore tomorrow.  'Bye for now.

Hi everyone I had quite a good play day today.  It started with making a special birthday card - which I won't be able to show you for a day or two. Then - whilst having my lunch & watching Sheena Douglass on C&C I discovered something else to try.  I really only caught the tail end of the programme - but as she is the Four Day Deal this week I have gone ahead & set all the programmes to record.  Hopefully they will repeat today's programme & I can see the bit I missed. Anyway at the point I watched she was taking embossing folders a stage further.  After watching I just had to have a try & here is the result of my play; A piece of card is embossed in an embossing folder (the piece on the left), then the raised areas (as much or as little as suits) are coloured with pens.  I used Promarkers.  This looks good in its own right but the colours I used were quite bright - so if I hadn't been going on to do the next stage I would ...

Hi everyone. Earlier today I took some time out for a "me time" session & worked on another mixed media card - this time with some stamping.  I suppose it could be described as mixed media & collage.  Here is the card; It started off as a 12x12 patterned scrap book page which I cut into four 6x6 pieces.  I decorated one & have 3 pieces left for more cards. I have posted this card along with a very detailed description of how I made it on my Rubber Stamping blog which you can get to by clicking on the link at the right hand side of this page. I used various media & elements - mask with Distress Ink, sequin waste with filler paste, watercolour paints, sequin waste, paper topper, background stamps, paper flowers & flourish, flat backed gems. At the moment it doesn't have a sentiment on the front - I am looking for the right stamp. The finished page was layered onto black card then onto a white base card.  I really enjoyed doing th...

....... yes, I have found those stamps with the dies & all the other stamps & things I bought at the last Port Sunlight Stamp Festival. Having sorted a book-case & some boxes yesterday - today I tackled my crafting desk.  I didn't find what I was looking for - but oh do I have such very tidy desk drawers now.  It was a great opportunity of getting rid of unwanted things that had just been pushed into them.  Under that desk is a wire-mesh 4-drawer unit.  Two of the drawers hold cards & envelopes & the other two hold stamps.  So! out came the drawers & they were thoroughly sorted - no, my items were not in there either. In frustration I sat in my chair & looked around the craft room.  Was I going to have to open every box that were on the shelves in order to see if I had somehow put them into a box they shouldn't be in?  Well, it wouldn't be every shelf as some hold folders which hold other things.  As I stared at one...

............... not mine. I didn't write anything last night because there wasn't really anything of interest to report & I had not got around to making any cards.  Although one side of my craft room has been searched for those elusive items. But I did get an email from Betty of the Mold II club (apologies Betty I did say I would blog it last night) - this is what she had to say; "Hi, Just thought I'd let you know about my "fab day"!!.  After cutting a very small Tattered Lace die on my Cuttlebug, I couldn't find thee die.  Later I found it had vanished into the Cuttlebug. Now my Cuttlebug is unusable.  My first crafting disaster.  Let this be a warning with tiny days. An unhappy crafter (temporarily). Betty." This morning I had another email from Betty which read - "Hi, I had a thought.  I should have used a magnetic sheet while cutting, then the die would be secure.  Bob is working on the Cuttlebug with a screwdriver, trying to...

....... but perhaps not quite so lengthy as yesterday. A pretty ordinary day today really - my first bit of excitement was a trip to the chiropodist, then some shopping - then I realised I needed to sort out my crochet workshops folders.  I have a crochet workshop tomorrow which includes 4 new ladies, so I had to make sure I had all the necessary notes for them. As well as notes & samples I also take along balls of wool for their first lesson - so I had to make sure I had enough balls of wool too.  Then I noticed I had lots of repeats amongst my samples due to the fact that I often work with them when doing something specific like making a flower motif or a granny square & so on.  So I had a little clear out of those too. Then I did some You-tube watching - some tutorials to help me work on some new workshops at the garden centre.  I was also gathering ideas for the workshop we will be doing with the clubs. So! that was my day.  But popping back ...