Crafting on the Wild Side

It was time for a bit of fun crafting time and getting out my beloved Clarity tiger stamp. These big cats are so beautiful, powerful and majestic - although I prefer to keep a bit of a safety distance once they are no longer cubs ...

I stamped the image onto a piece of kraft cardstock using black VersaFine ink and coloured it in with Derwent Coloursoft pencils before mounting it onto black cardstock. I combined the tiger with Kanban Safari cardstock, tiger Card Candi and foliage die-cuts from Tim Holtz Kraft-Core cardstock that I created with a Marianne Design die. All these are arranged on a square kraft card blank and layers of textured black cardstock and embossed kraft cardstock.

I hope you like this different style of card.

Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show 21 April 2012

It was a long and busy day at the Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show in Edinburgh yesterday. And the place was buzzing with crafters.

It was a great experience, but I must admit that my feet are still recovering a bit. And when it comes to the preparation of yesterday's dinner I did not manage more than shoving a pizza into the oven and opening a bottle of wine ... But it was well worth it. And thankfully I still found the time to treat myself to some goodies, so unpacking and playing with the new toys is on the agenda for today.

Here are a couple of photos that I took of our stall. It was lovely to see so many of my cards on display.

Only one more sleep ...

... until the Sincerely Yours papercraft show in Edinburgh. We do not have many of these events around here, so it is really something to look forward to. A good craft shopping spree, soaking up new ideas and inspiration as well as meeting other crafters that is what I call bliss.



And I even found the time for a card with the small Scottish wedding couple stamp by Crafty Stamps last night. For the groom's kilt I inked up that particular section of the image, stamped it onto tartan paper, cut it out and fixed it to the image.

Here is what I used to create the card:

• Scottish wedding couple (small) by Crafty Stamps
  
• White textured cardstock
• Lilac pearlescent card
• Tartan paper
• White glass-smooth cardstock by Southfield
• Black Memento ink pad
• ProMarkers
• Darice embossing folder
• Marianne Design die
• Ribbon
• Adhesive gems
• Adhesive
• Die-cutting machine
  
• Toolbox essentials
  

Thistle & Rose

The new Crafty Stamps collection of romance and wedding themed stamps also includes a few beautiful floral images. For the card featured in this post I used their Thistle and Rose stamp (SC151HF).

I coloured in the image using ProMarkers in Crimson, Aubergine, Forest Green and Pine. To lift the image I surrounded the outlines with Ice Grey 1. I also used:

• Textured cardstock in white, beige and purple
• Glass-smooth white cardstock from Southfield
• Oval and scalloped oval dies
• Heartfelt Creations die set 'Bella Rose'
• Tea roses and rose buds
• Decorative pins
• Purple adhesive gems
• Darice 5" x 7" embossing folder 'Plaid'
• Stickles glitter glue in Crystal
  

And if you are near Edinburgh, the Crafty Stamps/Stampers Grove team will be at the Sincerely Yours show at the Royal Highland Centre on 21 April 2012. So why not say hello in case you are going to the show.

Little Drummer Boy

What a day! I assume it will be noisy here tonight considering that the Scottish cup final is turning into an Edinburgh derby in Glasgow. Football fans will probably party everywhere - especially as this is the first cup final between both Edinburgh clubs since 1896.

Unfortunately I am nursing a very sick QuicKutz Epic Six that suddenly only wants to work with Cuttlebug plates (and that only with the stick and carrot approach) and seems to be allergic to QuicKutz plates. Something is telling me that I will need to think about replacing it at some point. But at least I managed to convince it to produce the die-cuts for today's card.



I used Marianne Designs button dies and the Tim Holtz Alterations washer border die, which I combined with textured cardstock in three colours, tartan paper as well as black and white baker's twine.

The image is created with the Scottish Drummer stamp by Crafty Stamps. I coloured it in using ProMarkers in Almond, Satin, Sandstone, Umber, Burnt Sienna, Burgundy, Black, Cool Grey 5, Ice Grey 2, Warm Grey 3 and Warm Grey 4 plus Spectrum Noir pens in DG4 and IG1 (the last one for the shadow around the drummer). For the kilt I stamped the relevant section of the image onto tartan paper, cut out the kilt and added it to the stamped drummer.

And another week is nearly over ...

Gosh, what happened to this week? It has just been flying by.

But now is thankfully the weekend, i.e. I have a bit more crafting time again. And that is just the best part of the week. And my five weekly sessions at the gym are also lying behind me, so more crafting opportunities are coming my way for tomorrow.



Here is now the first card of the weekend. I created it around the Celtic Corner stamp (CT172F) from the brand-new Crafty Stamps collection. Further products and tools I used are white and brown textured cardstock, patterned paper, a sentiment stamp, a black VersaFine ink pad, paper flowers, two baby spray stems, brads, a piece of lace, white thread, a Darice border embossing folder, adhesive and toolbox essentials. When I pierced the holes for the stitching my Tim Holtz ruler came in very handy.

If you are interested in any products by Crafty Stamps, you can also order over the phone by calling their shop Stampers Grove. Emma and James are very nice and extremely helpful and would process card payments for you. And next Saturday (21 April 2012) they will also by at the Sincerely Yours show in Edinburgh.

I Do ...

As mentioned yesterday, I have spent a bit more time on wedding themed cards. And I could not resist the temptation to get a bit experimental.


What about a wedding card in the distress look? For this card I paired the small wedding couple stamp by Crafty Stamps with Tim Holtz Kraft-Core cardstock by Core-dinations. The image is stamped onto Crafter's Companion parchment paper using a Memento ink pad in Rich Cocoa and the coloured in Spectrum Noir pens as well as a ProMarker pen in Almond for the skin tone.

But the stamp is also brilliant for more traditional wedding cards like the next one. The image is again coloured in using Spectrum Noir pens and a ProMarker in Almond, but this time I added highlights with a Sakura Gelly Roll Pen in Clear Star. For the matting and layering I used pink parchment card that I found as special offer at Southfield Stationers a while back and pink pearlescent card.


Crafty Stamps also have an image that would be perfect for engagement cards. It is called 'wedding ring (heart)'. For the card below I stamped in image using a Memento ink pad in London Fog and coloured in the image with Spectrum Noir pens before adding accents with a clear Sakura Glaze pen and a Sakura Gelly Roll pen in Clear Star. I teamed up the image with textured pearlescent paper and pleated tissue tape. I opted for an embossed background and flower embellishments created with Crealies dies.