SpecOwl Delivery

Today I am sharing a birthday card made for someone very special, so I decided to use this lovely image of a barn owl, which is his favourite bird.

For my 6.5 x 6.5 inch base card, I used the Dreamees 300gsm chocolate cardstock and then added a shimmery green layer which I created using the avocado sparkle dinky inkie ink pad from the new Shades of Sparkle collection.

I ran the avocado ink pad along the rim of a measured square of Dreamees kraft card to create the illusion of my shimmered layer of card and then added another layer but from the Totally Timber paper pad. 

For my next layer, I used the corrugated embossing folder with a piece of the wood grain design paper from the same pad to add some texture.

I printed out the matching charisma twice on glossy card, for  SpecOwl Delivery die by Tattered Lace which is from the Autumn Allure collection and decoupaged it using pinfair glue gel. I also die cut a plain panel of design paper fro the Totally Timber paper pad for behind the frame of the owl. The colour and texture of the paper seemed to tie in with the die very well.

I made a few flowers using the Build a Peony stamp which have been stamped and heat embossed with bright white embossing powder on pink card. I thought the flowers would tie in well with those on the image.  I also used the sentiment stamp from the Dreamees fire lillies stamp set.

Sometimes you can't always find the right shade of card to blend with your patterned papers when making a card so having these inks that tie in with the design paper in this Shades of Sparkle collection has been a real bonus for me as I can now create me own cardstock layers too.

Enjoy your day, whatever you have planned.

Happy Crafting

Dream Catcher

I have got a little collection of birthday makes to share today for one of my friends that I made for her just before Christmas and these are all gothic themed.

This is quite a large mdf dream catcher that I made for my friend from the Dreamees.   I didn't have black gesso so I used black acrylic paint, applied with one of those dome sponges shaped like an egg. Mine happens to be makeup sponges from Primark as they are cheaper than the proper craft ones you can buy, but they are great to apply paint to mdf like this as I find that you don't get brush/streak lines on your mdf when dry.

I found some go-to beads in my stash that have a good mix of black, silver, smokey and clear textured shaped beads for projects like this and threaded some onto some clear twine, using some large studded gems for the front of the feathers.

I decorated the dream catcher with flowers made from Fleurs flower forming foam using the Dreamees Sweet Sunflower dies. I used the crocus patch colourways for the foam and a purple faber castell oil pastel on the edges of the petals to add tone to the flowers before moulding the foam to give them some shape.

I used a mix of black and purple stamens in my flowers and added some foliage from the Fretwork Fronds also by the Dreamees in purple card and adding black feathers that I purchased from Hobbycraft.

I used a silver acrylic paint pen the mdf wording and added some black braiding to hang the dream catcher up.

To go with the dream catcher I also made a frame card using paper and graphics from the Beliza Mortals CD by  Magik Graphics. The flower was made using the Build a Peony flower stamp by the Dreamees, which has been heat embossed onto black vellum using silver Wow embossing powder.

The image on the inside has been decoupaged into the curtained disc on the topper.

To finish with, I added an 8x8 card to match which was printed onto glossy cardstock when I made it, hence the reflection on the card, which always makes taking photos a challenge when you have a light background also. 

Magik Graphics have some amazing gothic, pagan, mystical graphics and more and there is no loss of definition when you print your images and design papers off even on regular printer settings.

I really enjoyed making these and it's to have a change of genre to craft with.

Happy Crafting

Pretty Peonies.

I thought that this weekend was going to be a wet one, good for the garden, but today turned out glorious. Never the less I had intended to get another project shared, so today it's pretty peonies.

I made this card for my sister-in-law's birthday. Using a 6 x6 inch card blank and the Dreamees Love and Lace heart die to form the central focal point of my card to place my flowers around.

I stamped and heat embossed the Dreamees Build Peony stamps with bright white opaque white Wow embossing powder onto pink cardstock (approx 140gsm). I do love this flower stamp, which I also used in my get well card. 

To give my flowers some tone to them, I added a little of the Dreamees rose chalk dinky inky before shaping and add lots of layers to my flowers.

Some white pollen stamens in the centre and for the foliage, I used the Dreamees Beautiful Babysun dies.

A few pearls to finish my cards off and a sentiment and that's really all my card needed I think. I also have to make a good strong envelop box for my card to travel through the post.

I do love to make flowers and think I will have a go at cutting some out in fabric using the biggest stamp next time I use this set. Now that would be pretty and much better if I would actually sew!!

 Happy Crafting

Get Well Soon Margaret

I have a few makes that I haven't got around to sharing for one reason or another, so I am gradually trying to get up to date and share them. As the theme for our blog challenge this month at Daisy Chains is a sketch, I thought this would be an ideal card to share with you.

My get well card was made for the elderly mother-in-law for one of my craft colleagues. 

          

She had been extremely poorly for some time in hospital and my friend asked if any crafters in our craft group would be happy to make a card and send it to her to lift her spirits for when she came home.  Margaret had a wonderful array of cards from the Dreamee Catchers on our Facebook group which was lovely and bringing a smile to her face, to the delight of everyone.

I used a 6x6 kraft card blank with a layer of the Dreamees sage green card. I printed the backing paper of the Dreamees Sew in to you cd rom in a colourway to match my flowers. 

My flowers were made using the Dreamees Build a Peony flower stamp set, which has been heat embossed using superfine gold Wow embossing powder onto some mars red pearlescent paper by Chloe Endean. Some gold Dreamees 4mm pearls finished my flowers off nicely.

For the flower barrel, I used the Dreamees Endless Possibilities stamp set. To give it a little dimension, I decoupaged the panels and inked the edges with their sparkle dinky inky in walnut. I also added some moss for texture and foliage.

Just around the oval topper that my basket of flowers sits on, I edged it with my dinky inky sparkle ink pad in treasure, just to lift the layers of card a little.

I thought it made a sweet get well card and hope she liked it. This flower stamp was an easy one to cut out, even the small flowers. 

That is one thing I love about stamps that Hayley Bignall designs, they have that uncomplicated beauty to them that makes them so desirable and adaptable.

It's amazing how something as small as a card can make such a difference. Today we do that with a quick text but it doesn't have the impact receiving a little card through your door does that simply says thinking of you....

The rest of our design team have also been making some lovely projects this month, along with so many great crafters on our blog every month. It's always lovely to see the inspiration everyone shares. Please use the link below to take you to the blog challenge and thanks for the visit.

Happy crafting!