Further Adventures In Wonderland...

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and had a wonderful time, even if the sun didn't shine.

Me? It's been a long weekend of crafting...I haven't stopped and still, I'm nowhere near finished. Where did all this work come from?? I've never seen so many boxes full of paper, adhesive and stamps...I haven't got time to breathe!! lol

So, because I'm so busy making lots of lovely things to show you all, asap...today, I'm showing you more of my magazine cards that have been featured over the last few months in Making Cards. And here are the next ones that complete the Alice In Wonderland set, using those fabulous Leanne Ellis stamps from Funky Kits. Hope you like them...

This card features the Mad Hatter and The Cheshire Cat and for this one, I chose to make and use a giant teapot as the backdrop to the whole design. The teapot is cut out from card and decorative paper, using the teapot template from Craftwork Cards.

The images are all coloured with Promarkers and I carried on the theme of handmade flowers, throughout all of the cards.

And the complete set in all their glory!!

Well, it's time for me to try and find some "me time" and collapse on the sofa, with Poirot or the inmates of Celebrity Big Brother. Who said I don't know how to live the high life on a bank holiday Monday!?! lol

Hope you all have a wonderful evening and I'll be round to comment on all your lovely creations, later tonight!

See you soon with some more cards from my "ones that I did earlier collection"!!!

Love Emma

xxx

Dreamer

Well, it's Friday night and I'm watching Coronation Street as I write this post...don't ever let it be said that I don't know how to start my weekend in style!! hehe...

For the last three days, I've done so much die cutting that I think my Cuttlebug is on fire and my right arm is definitely getting the workout of the century...at this rate, I'll end up resembling Rocky's next opponent!!

Anyway, I must admit I'm absolutely shattered but before I retire for the evening...I wanted to share today's card and the final card that I made for the Kuretake shows on Create and Craft.

This card features a stamp from Funky Kits by the wonderful Leanne Ellis. I just adore Leanne's style of artwork and this is just such a fabulous image which I handpainted using the Zig Art and Graphic Twin Pens. I then highlighted some of the areas, using Wink of Stella for a shimmery effect to the wings and clouds.

And if you love this stamp, then you might like to check out my cards in the latest edition of Making Cards magazine, using the Alice In Wonderland set of stamps by the same artist. Let me know what you think of the card set and if you do buy the stamps...I'd love to see what you make with them. Pop back and leave me the link and I'll come and take a look. And if that's not reason enough to go and buy the magazine, there are also some gorgeous free papers and card ideas, from my friend and their guest designer, Sarah Hurley.

Anyway, I think it's time for me to say goodnight and I'll try and get round to all your blogs before I go to bed, that's if I can keep my eyes open!

Hope you all have a great weekend and it's promised that the sun is going to make an appearance, so...hope the weather is good wherever you are!

See you next week.

Love Emma

xxx

Single Rose...

Yay! It's Friday, it's sunny and to celebrate, I thought I'd share another card, that I'm so proud of! Once again, it features some of my craft obsessions of the moment, including the Spellbinders Flower Creations, Tim Holtz's dies and Grungeboard and the beautiful illustrations by Leanne Ellis.

Another thing that I love at the moment, is the natural look and these corrugated cards are perfect for that. As soon as I saw them, I knew I had to have them and combined with some beautiful backing papers and these dusky pink tones with a hint of sage green, I think they work perfectly!

Another element that I'm using more and more in my crafting is Tim Holtz's Grungeboard...which is fantastic. It's a very strange product and unlike any other papers or card that you will use, it's flexible, doesn't break or tear and if you haven't used it, you must. Combined with other products in his range, it really can be an essential product in your craft cupboard.

SO, WHAT DID I USE?

Dies: Spellbinders Shapeablities Flower Creations 3

Natural Cardstock: Kanban

Rubber Stamp: Funky Kits

Ribbon: QVC

Papers: K & Company

Tim Holtz Grungeboard: Flourish painted with Crackle Paint

Colouring Mediums: Promarker Pens, Stickles Glitter Glue

Inks: Distress Inks ~ Brushed Corduroy, Memento ~ Tuxedo Black

I hope you all have a great weekend and the sun is shining wherever you are!!

Happy crafting...

Day Dream Believer...

The sun is shining and spring is in the air ~ it's the perfect Sunday!

And here's another little creation that I've made...

Once again, I used Leanne Ellis' ~ beautiful and by now, one of my much loved and used, 'Dreamer' rubber stamp from Sugar Nellie at Funky Kits. This time, I stamped it up the image in brown and used various shades of pinks, browns and neutral tones to colour it in. The backing papers by K & Company, are the perfect match to compliment the colours that I chose for the main image and they work so well with the ribbons and the gorgeous Petaloo flower, with the little button I popped in the middle. I colourwashed the greetings plaque with a Brilliance Dew Drop ink pad, pearlescent orchid, to give me the right shade of pink and then adhered all these elements to the matts and layers, which I'd already stuck to my card blank. Some of the matts, I had already embossed through the Cuttlebug using the script embossing folder and some of the paper, I tore and then used distress ink on for an aged feel.

Just dropping by...

It's been a very busy and extremely eventful week and I haven't managed to drop in very much but I just wanted to say hello to everyone and wish you all a very happy weekend and let you know that whatever you're doing, never let go of your dreams ~ they can come true...

....and whilst I'm here, I also thought I'd share a card...

This is a variation and different colourway, of the "Moonbeam" card that I've previously posted. It's made in exactly the same way and once again, I used Tim Holtz's wonderful distress inks on the background of the main stamped image and yes, I flicked those droplets of water all over it to get that starry effect. The papers are by the wonderful K & Company and I used Martha Stewart's border punch for a decorative edge. Finally, I stamped a message on the tag using a sentiment from American Crafts, added a silk flower and little ribbon to complete the card.

Anyway, I hope that you all have a great weekend and that most of you can enjoy this beautiful, yet cold weather that we are loving in London at the moment...

Dreamer

"You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one" ~Imagine by John Lennon

John Lennon's ~ Imagine, happens to be one of my all time favourite songs and when I sat down to write the title of this post, that song instantly is what came into my mind and I'm sure that for the rest of the evening I'll be humming the tune, as it whirls around and around in my head.

And so to the card...well, how could I go wrong with such a gorgeous image, which once again is part of Sugar Nellie's rubber stamp range featuring the wonderful Leanne Ellis.

The image was stamped onto cream card, using an Archival ink pad in black which together with Memento ink pads is the perfect ink to use with Promarker pens. For this particular image, I used a selection of colouring mediums, including the Promarkers, metallic pencils for the wings, buttons & clouds, and watercolour pencils for her jacket. Once I was happy with that, I aged the edges of the card with distress inks and then matted and layered onto matt gold card and a piece of cream card that I had previously run through the Cuttlebug in an embossing folder.

The backing papers that I used on this particular card are by Brenda Pinnick from her Sucerie collection and on the plain piece of paper, which I adhered down the edge of the card, I used a Martha Stewart deep edge punch for that wonderful scalloped finish. All the papers and matts have been aged using distress inks. To complete the card, I added a small tag with a jute bow tied onto it and handstamped the message in black ink. As my final touch to the whole design, I attached one of these beautiful glittered silk flowers by Petaloo with a small co-ordinating button inside it. 

Moon Beam

As soon as I saw this stamp, I fell in love...this cute little character by Leanne Ellis is just adorable. And I also knew exactly how I wanted to create a card using the image and I'm really pleased with the way it's turned out.

The first thing I did was cut a scalloped die-cut shape from white card, using the Cuttlebug. I then stamped the image onto it with an Archival Ink pad in black and coloured in the little girl using Promarker pens. For the moon, I used a Sakura metallic stardust pen, to give a glittery, sparkly look to it.

Now, comes the fun part....using a blending tool and my beloved Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Broken China, Faded Jeans and Dusty Concord, I blended the inks working in from the edge towards the image, until I got this dusky blue sky. When I was happy with the colour, I used a water mister and lightly sprayed the whole of the image and then flicked just the tiniest amount of water with my fingers onto the card, to give me the starlight effect.

So, the hardest part is really done...once that is dry and I found the perfect match in backing paper, all that I needed to do was assemble the card. I matted the scalloped die-cut using 3D foam to give some height and I also wanted her to look as if she was floating in the sky. I highlighted the flowers on the backing paper with Stickles Glitter Glue and then used some glitter flowers, which I'd popped a crystal stone in the centres of, for more definition and texture. A red ribbon and a greetings plaque were the final touches, to a card that I was really pleased with.

More Love....

I know that I've already posted a card earlier this month, using this fantastic Sugar Nellie rubber stamp, featuring the wonderful illustration by Leanne Ellis but because I love them and Leanne's work so much, I couldn't resist. And prompted by Leanne's recent blog post, I thought I might as well show you the other designs I made using this image. I stamped these images using a Memento Dew Drop ink pad and coloured it in using Promarkers but kept them more subtle and muted than in my previous post. I love brown and pink together and I think the backing papers I used from Brenda Pinnick and Kate Knight, together with the beautiful flowers and raffia ribbon, all lend themselves perfectly to the image.