Hi there Gorjuss

Happy Tuesday folks.  Hope our UK friends aren't too windswept after the stormy weather the last couple of days.  We were quite lucky in our part of Yorkshire and missed most of the bad stuff.  It did rain and it was blowy but not nearly as bad as down on the South coast.  My London colleagues were nearly all having to work from home today due to a lack of trains!

Anyway today I'm using another of the images I coloured on holiday in Scotland.  This is another Gorjuss image, which I think is called The Fox, but I don't have the packaging so not sure.

I cut the image out with a deckled edge spellbinder and lightly inked the edges with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink.  I then layered two contrasting designs onto a purple card and mounted them on to a 6x6 card blank.  All the edges were distressed with the same Aged Mahogany.

The flowers are more of the large papers blossoms we bought in The Range - one is a creamy white and the other is dusky pink.

The sentiment was created on a Dymo hand held printer, using a white paper cartridge.  I just wanted something very simple and I thought this was just enough.

Hope you like my card.  I'd love you to leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

TTFN Jude xx

Boot-alicious

Happy Sunday folks!

I decided to have a break from Christmas cards today and share this multi-occasion card.

The boots are a stamp that came with the last issue of Get Stamping magazine. They are part of a Christmas set but I thought they looked good in shades of brown.

 I stamped the image twice, coloured both in and carefully cut one out.  I layered the cut out on top of the second boot using foam pads.  The edges of the topper were distressed using Scattered Straw distress ink on a piece of cut and dry foam.

I didn't have a sentiment that fit so I printed this one on to some textured card and inked it with the scattered straw.

I added them both to a piece of tan cardstock and then to a 5x7 card blank.  This one is smooth cream at the bottom but the top is ridged and white.  A ribbon, bow and a few pearls completed the layout. 

What do you think? TTFN Jude xx

Gorguss tag

A few days ago I showed you my wall art display and the bare bones of another tag.  Today I can share the finished article.

Isn't she Gorguss? [Sorry ;)]

Having coated the tag with acrylic and adding the script paper I stamped one of the Gorguss girl stamps and coloured her with alcohol markers.  The circle pattern down the edges is another stamp from the same set.  This set is called Ruby,

The bottom was calling out for flowers under the swing so I took some ready made posies and formed them into one large embellishment.  A few plain petals underneath provided a good background for them to sit on.

Once I was happy with the lay out I covered the image and spritzed the flowers with Cosmic Shimmer sprays in Marigold and Mango Blush.  This just gives a coloured sheen to them, which can't be seen well in the picture.

 

The top of the tag was wrapped with twine.  The word plaque is from a set made by Creative Expressions.  I chose imagine because Ruby looked like she was day dreaming.

A coloured eyelet has been fixed to the top so I can hang the piece with the others on my wall.  Hope you like this one as much as I do. 

 

TTFN Jude xx

Colour reference file

Morning all.  It was a funny day yesterday where it appeared I was busy all day but nothing got done!  You know the kind of day.  As a consequence last night when Jen said to me "have you blogged?" I had absolutely nothing to share with you.

 

I disappeared into the craft room to find something but failed miserably lol.  Instead I thought I'd show you a project we have started that will be a great resource for us when finished.  It is a colour swatch book.

 

We have loads of Promarkers, Flexmarkers and Spectrum Noirs and we wanted a record of what we have and what they look like.

 

This all came out of a tutorial Jen was following on how to shade skin.  The creator of the video had one of these reference files and we thought it was a really good idea so adapted it to use what we had available.

 

The base is a blank cardboard scrapbook and Jen created an A5 page of boxes for us to colour and name.

 

We have started with the Promarkers but will move on to the others soon.  Each page is actually too large for the book but we intend to fold the pages to fit.

I'm sure this will come in very useful as we try to learn how to colour our images better.  We'd love to know if any of you have a colour reference file also.

 

TTFN  Jude xx

Rainy days

Good morning crafty friends.

 

Jen told you yesterday about some of the things we purchased at GBCF on Sunday.  We spent fffaaaarrrrrr too much money, but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves lol.  The stash is now filling every corner of our craftroom/study and still we nnneeeeeeddd more ;)  I know you understand tee hee!

In spite of all our purchases my card only uses two new items - the pink and green spectrum noir pens used to colour Tilda - all the rest was in the stash already.

 

I started with an 8x8 card blank (my size of choice lately) and covered with 2 coordinating papers.  I covered the join with yellow spotty ribbon then layered my embossed card, the image and a paper pieced umbrella.

 

This is the first time I've attempted paper piecing and I'm happy with the result.

Tilda was coloured with the alcohol pens, inked with 2 distress inks and cut out with a spellbinder die.

I couldn't find a sentiment I liked in my ready-mades, so this one is printed from the computer.  I probably should have matted them, or inked the edges, but they work ok.

 

 

I like the implication behind the words.  Hope you do too.

 

TTFN Jude xx

Great British Craft Fair

Morning folks. We are off to GBCF at Stoneleigh Park today so later Jen and I will have lots of new stuff to play with [hopefully] lol ;)

I'm currently prepping for an exam and an assignment due on Tuesday. I am doing a Business Administration Level 4 qualification through work and it is taking a lot of doing.  The fact that I left school 30 years ago doesn't help!  Consequently I have been slacking in the creative department and it was late last night before this card was made.

 

Next week my granddaughter Keira will be 2 so I should get on with her cards.  This is the first one and uses another of the digi images coloured last week.

 

An 8x8 card blank was my starting point and using a Tonic punch I shaped the edge.  The same punch was used on my background paper which is another from the Indian Summer collection.  The centre strip is the reverse of this paper.

 

I drew the number freehand and cut it out of pink card stock.  The purple card is some shimmery stock from Hunkydory and I cut several hearts to use as embellishments.

 

The image is coloured with alcohol pens and matted on a different purple cardstock.

 

The inside needed something to show off the shaped edge so I added a purple liner using more of the shimmery card.  The picture isn't too good but it gives you an idea.

 

I also added some pearls to the centre of the flowers on the edging, and a few on the card front.

 

Hope you like it.  TTFN Jude xx

Green sleeves

Morning bloggers and a happy Wednesday to you all. 

I told you Monday about the various digi images I coloured at the weekend. Today is another of those stamps. 

I thought the composition called for green so I have used lots of different shades of papers and markers such as aniseed and lime. 

The papers are from my stash and layered with textured card stock.  

The flowers are made up from 2 ready made sets with some wired leaves. I thought these worked well. 

I added some floral strips, ribbon, organza and a couple of sentiments to finish. 

I thought this sentiment was just right for a 40th birthday and so this card is winging its way to our cousin, Sarah.

 

Happy birthday Smurf! Time to join the grown ups lol xx

Fingers crossed she likes it. 

TTFN Jude xx

Floral wishes

The past few days I have been colouring quite a few of the digi images we have purchased. These super sweet images really took my fancy so I have a stock now ready to make into cards or tags. 

Today's card is a simple image multi-layered with some freebie papers and green mirror card on an A5 blank.

The image is coloured with flex markers and I haven't bothered too much with shading. 

The sentiment is part of a pack which I think is Bo Bunny. 

The butterfly is cut with Spellbinders die Papillon 2 in a coordinating paper. 

Hope you like it. TTFN Jude xx

Captain Tilda

Thank heavens it's the weekend.  This has seemed a really long week at work! 

 

The last couple of days have been particularly bad given I had a fall in work on Thursday and am a bit battered and bruised.  It could have been much worse as I managed to throw the hot coffee I was carrying full in my face!  Luckily my team were with me and helped me clean up pretty quickly, so all I have is a tender patch round my nose.  It gave those sat close by a good giggle though lol.

 

After I completed the Tilda card earlier in the week using the Portobello Road papers I decided to use them again for a canvas.  I do enjoy these arty projects and you may see more of them in the next few weeks.

 

Here we have Captain Tilda coloured with alcohol markers, cut with a spellbinder die and inked with Chipped Sapphire distress ink.  I really like the colour combination and lots of others must also as they seem to feature in most nations flags!

 

The flowers are made using the Sizzix Tattered Florals die.  I really like what you can make with a few cuts and some glue - every flower is different.

I wasn't sure what to put in the bottom corner so the canvas sat unfinished on my desk for a couple of days.  Last night inspiration struck and the chipboard letters were added.  I think it finishes her off nicely.  What do you think?

 

 

TTFN Jude xx

Colourful camping

Morning bloggers - Friday at last ;)

 

This week has been a little calmer than the last few and it looks like we have a home and not a storage shed at last.  Most of the craft room is put away and now begins the job of working out what we actually have.  We have found lots of things along the way that had been forgotten in our stashes.  We intend to set a few challenges to use some things up.  Hopefully you will join us.

 

Todays offering is a Saturated Canary digi stamp coloured with alcohol pens.  I fancied something a bit brighter so went with oranges and yellows for a change.

 

 

I matted the topper on orange and layered over an orange floral background on a 5x7 cream base card.

 

I added an accent of blue gingham to hold the sentiment.  This was a piece of a larger sheet which co-ordinates with the orange floral paper.  I cut out the circle and edged with a co-ordinating pen.

 

I can't remember the name of this image but I thought it was fun for a summer birthday card.  What do you think?

 

TTFN Jude xx