Embossing Queen

Before Christmas I made a birthday card for my eldest niece using a Kenny K stamp that I had bought at Paperific earlier in the year. As soon as I saw this stamp I knew that it would be perfect for my niece. The stamp is called Rock Chick by Whimsy Stamps and she is part of the Kenny K collection. I stamped her on X-Press It Blending card using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then coloured the image using the following Copic markers:- E21, E00, E000, R20, R30, B05, R37, E37, E35, E33, C3, C5, C7, V05, V09, BV00, BV02, RV29, B00, B02 and C1. I have included a photo of the coloured image for you to see.

To make the card I made a base card out of white cardstock and covered it with some Asian inspired design paper. I then added my coloured image to the left hand side of a square piece of purple glitter card. I wrapped the right hand side of this with bakers twine several times and secured the twine at the back. The next step was to cut two strips of lilac cardstock and mount them at the back of the glitter card. I then attached this whole piece to the base card and embellished with several sizes of pearls that I had coloured with a black (100) Copic marker. I also added a purple and a lilac Prima flower to the left hand side of the card. I have included a photo of the finished card for you to see.

I really enjoyed colouring the Kenny K image and love the different designs available. I am sure you will see more of these images on my cards through out the year.

Happy New Year everyone! I am still alive and haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. Life got in the way a bit over the last couple of months and so my blog didn’t get the attention it deserved. I am back and I promise to get back on track as quickly as I can.

Today I am going to tell you about a birthday card I made for my youngest niece’s birthday. The card started out as an entry for a challenge at Copic Oz to use complimentary colours. I didn’t get the card finished in time to enter, but thought it would make a great card for my niece. The image is from a Kanban set called Lucy which I stamped onto X-Press It Blending card using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I then coloured her using the following Copic Markers – E50, E51, E53, V05, V09, Y11, Y15, Y17, C1, C3, C5, C7, RV10, B00, Bo2, B05, B24, B29, BV00, BV02 and BV04. I have included a photo of the main image coloured in.

Once I had coloured the balloons on the image I coloured over the top of them with clear (0) Spica pen. I then cut around the image leaving a small white border. I cut the balloons off the main image and trimmed them separately. I added the main image to a piece of mauve cardstock, adding the balloons to the top left of the piece and joining them to the main image using twine. I then mounted the mauve cardstock onto yellow cardstock leaving a small border. I then made my base card out of the same yellow cardstock and added some floral design paper on the top, again leaving a small border. I added a strip of blue cardstock to the top and bottom of the main image and added it to the base card. I then added a Happy Birthday sticker and some flower stickers to finish. I have included a photo of the finished card for you to see.

I have been promising a belated Birthday card in the last two posts, well here it is finally! With everything happening in my life lately, an important milestone went past without a celebration. I have been blogging for a year now and on the 24th of October Embossing Queen turned one year old! I made a birthday card to celebrate and share with you and here it is.

I am also entering the card into the Friday Sketch Challenge. To make this card I stamped Birthday Marci from La-La Land Crafts onto X-Press It Blending card using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I then coloured her with Copic Markers, I used E50, E51, E53, R20, RV34, R35, RV29, R37, R59, C1, C3, C5, C7, BG15, BG49, BG09, BG23 and BG13. I used the Pitch Black (23) Spica pen on the Panda’s nose and on Marci’s belt. Here is a close up to show you the colouring.

The next step was to cut all the pieces for the card. I trimmed around the image and then cut a piece of teal/aqua cardstock to 14cm square. I cut some black/white polka dot paper into four lots of 6.4 cm square. I then added the four squares of polka dot paper to the teal/aqua cardstock. I then edged the image with Fired Brick Distress Ink and added it to the left hand side on top of the polka dot paper.

I then added a large red flower to the bottom right of the main image. I added a medium sized black flower over the top of this and then a teal/aqua rhinestone to the centre. The next step was the Happy Birthday. I coloured a Happy Birthday chipboard with VersaColor white ink. I then dried this with a heat gun to make sure it was quite dry before the next step. I then coloured it with a Turquoise (08) Spica pen. It didn’t have enough sparkle for me so I then added some Crystal Stickles over the top. It was hard to show in the photo so I have added another photo showing the sparkle a bit better. It looks a different colour each time you change the angle you hold it. Here is the other photo for you to see.

I then stuck the chipboard to the top right using Pritt Gel. I added the entire thing to a white base card leaving a 1mm border. Thanks for dropping by to see my very belated Birthday card.

Hi everyone. I am sorry it has been such a long time. As I said in my last post I came down with a Sinus Infection which knocked me off my feet for a while. I am happy to say I am feeling more myself now and actually have a little energy, so before it runs out I thought I had better get a post up.

I went along to the Picture to Page show in Burwood (Melbourne) a couple of weekends ago. I went on both Saturday and Sunday as I wanted to watch a lot of the demonstrations, plus do some shopping. I caught up with Zoe from Make It Crafty on the Saturday. This was an unexpected surprise as she had said she would be there on the Sunday. I got a chance to sit with her and do some Copic colouring and she gave me a few tips on how to colour pleats and folds. I took the picture home and finished colouring it and brought it back the next day to show her. I have taken a couple of photos for you to see the image. The first picture is the whole image and the second photo is a close up to show you the folds.

They are not perfect but I am quite happy with them and with a bit more practice mine may one day look like Zoe’s.

The other person I caught up with was Cathy from Eclectic images and as always she was full of inspiration. She had new stamps to show me and even did a sample for me using several of her stamps, it is gorgeous! I have included a photo to show you, the car in the background has been done with a shimmer paint and looks fantastic. The shimmer hasn’t shown up in the photo which is disappointing.

I bought lots at the show including lots of new stamps, some Copic markers, trims, glitters, papers, and a fantastic book on colouring shadows. It is called Shadows and Shading and is by Marianne Walker. I have already finished reading the book and now look at everyday objects differently, as I am looking at where the light hits the object and how that affects the colour.

If you haven’t been to a craft show I encourage you to go along to one. I always find so much inspiration and so many tools and bits and pieces that I absolutely have to own. Even if it is a smaller local show, like Picture to Page, you still get so much from the show. Sometimes I get even more inspiration from the local shows as most of the exhibitors are local and you can go and visit their stores for help, advice and more inspiration if you need it. I will be back in a couple of days with a belated birthday card to share with you.

I have been unable to post due to our hosting site being down and then when the site came back up…..I came down with a Sinus infection. This has pretty much knocked me out for the week, but I will try and post over the weekend. I still need to tell you about the Picture to Page show I went to a fortnight ago and I have a belated birthday card to show you as well.

Hope to catch you all soon,

EQ

I went to another papercraft show over the weekend to do some shopping and to get some inspiration, but more on that in my next post. I promised you, in my last post, that I would share a special card that I made for a friends birthday. She loves anything with strawberries on it. I saw a gorgeous strawberry stamp at Paperific last year that I just had to get. I decided when my friends birthday was coming up that I would Christen the stamp with ink. The stamp is a House Mouse stamp from Stampabilities called Strawberry Fields.

I inked the stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and stamped it onto X-Press It Blending card. I then coloured the image using the following Copic markers (G05, G17, G28, YG17, RV000, R20, W1, W3, W5, W7, R14, R27, R29, YG06, E33, E35 and E37). The ground was coloured using Antique Linen Distress ink and a foam applicator. The sky was coloured using Broken China and Tumbled Glass Distress ink using an Aqua brush. The image was then trimmed around the outside leaving just a small border around the main image. I ran some Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink around the very edge of the image and then mounted this onto red paper leaving a thin border. I have included a photo of the finished image for you to see.

I wanted to frame the image and tried out my different border punches, but none of them were quite right. This gave me a good excuse to go shopping for a new one! I found a great border and corner punch by Fiskars called Lace and Lattice. Using this punch and champagne coloured Fanfare paper I created a border for the image. I punched around the Fanfare paper and then trimmed the lattice section off. The leftover piece was then mounted onto a green base card leaving a small border. I then added the main image to the centre of the card. I have included a photo of the finished card front for you to see.

For the inside of the card I used the champagne Fanfare paper and the punch again. This time I left the lattice section on the border and then stuck this inside the card. The next step was to cut a piece of red paper to fit inside this border. I then took a piece of white card to fit inside the red piece leaving a border of red around the edge. On the white card I stamped a sentiment from Stamp-It set (siset046) using Versafine Onyx Black ink, and then embossed this using Hologram Clear embossing powder. I then used Hero Arts Buds and Stems stamp set and stamped a stem across the top and bottom using Stampin’ Up Glorious Green marker. I then ran some Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink around the edges of the piece and added it to the centre of the red paper. I have included a photo of the inside of the card for you to see.

I have entered another sketch challenge at Sketches by Carly. Here is a photo of my card that I have entered.

I have included a copy of the sketch that I followed at the right. For the image, I used a Sarah Kay 3D picture that I had made up a while ago. I had not decided what to do with it and thought it would be perfect for this sketch. I have no idea what the name of the image is as I made it up a while ago and have lost the details. I used a Spellbinders Nestabilities die to create the frames for the image. I used the Classic Scalloped Circles Small and cut two shapes. I stuck these together and then added my 3D image to the centre. I then ran some white VersaColor ink around the edges of the larger die cut.

I used an orange base card and then cut some coordinating design paper to place across the bottom of the card. I used a corner rounder punch on the bottom corners of the design paper. I then ran a strip of ribbon across the top of this paper and added my image over the centre of the ribbon using foam dots. I then cut out three sets of triangles for the top to match the colours of the die cuts on the main image. I added these to the top of the card with a couple of Vivaldi 10mm Satin Roses with bows. I coloured the roses with a Copic Marker (RV000). I wrote on the first and last triangles using a white gel pen and stuck a heart charm to the centre triangle.

I hope you like the card and I’ll be back in a couple of days with a special card I made for a friend for her birthday!

The first I need to tell you is that the card I showed you in my last post, won the challenge at Sketches by Carly. I was very happy and can now add another La-La Land Marci stamp to my collection!

The card I am going to show you today is another anniversary card. My husband and I celebrate our anniversary twice a year. We got married when we were travelling overseas and then married again in front of family and friends when we got home. Therefore in the space of a month I need to make two anniversary cards. I posted the first card to show you a couple of months ago here. Today I am going to show you the second card.

For this card I used a 3D image out of a Le Suh book of bear images. I cut each piece of the bear image out, and then edged each of these pieces with a Copic Marker (E31) to cover the white core. I used an embossing tool to round the top layers of the image and then stuck the layers together using foam squares. I wrote on the tag above the bears head using an extra fine black Sharpie marker. I drew a love heart with our initials inside it. The last thing I did was to add a layer of Dimensional Magic over the top except the tag section. I then left the image to dry. I have included a photo of the finished image.

When the image was dry, I mounted it onto a piece of Brilliant Blue Stampin’ Up cardstock leaving large borders. I then mounted this onto a background of light blue gingham paper. Next I cut two strips of design paper from My Mind’s Eye Lost and Found 6 x 6 pad – Sunshine. I added the strips across the top and bottom of the Brilliant Blue panel and added a small brad in each end of the two strips. I changed the colour of the brads using a Copic marker (B29).

Using an alphabet sticker sheet I spelt Happy along the top strip of paper and Anniversary across the bottom strip. Before sticking the letters to the paper I coloured them with the same Copic marker as the brads (B29). I have included a photo of the sticker sheet and brads before being coloured for you to see.

I then mounted the whole piece onto a base card made from Stampin’ Up Brilliant Blue cardstock. I have included a photo of the finished card for you to see.

I am entering one of my cards into a sketch challenge, which is something I have not done before. I will show you the card first and then give you details on how I made it.

The idea of a sketch challenge is that you are given a sketch which you follow to make your card. Some cards look exactly like the sketches, others are based on the sketch and are more embellished. My card is based mainly on the sketch, I have changed it only slightly so that the card was not too big. Here is the sketch I followed from a blog called Sketches by Carly.

I started the card with the image. I stamped Darling Marci onto X-Press It Blending card using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then coloured her in using Copic Markers – E50, E51, E53, B00, BG01, BG05, RV13, RV14, E31, E33, E35 and E37. I then restamped the image on some scrap card and cut around the lower section of the image from her hands down. I then used this image as a mask and added Milled Lavender Distress ink to the bottom area to give her a bench to sit on. To give the image a bit more depth I added shading around this bottom area using Copic markers BV00 and BV02. I then shaded around the top section using C1.

There is a lot of layering on this card, so excuse me if I repeat myself too much. I trimmed the image to a shape similar to the sketch and then mounted it onto some gold card leaving a thin border. Then using a square punch, I punched out five squares of green floral design paper and then mounted each of them on gold card leaving a thin border.

I then mounted the squares and image onto pale blue ribbed cardstock. I let the Marci image overhang the edge by 8mm. I then mounted the blue card onto gold card leaving a thin border. I then mounted the whole thing onto mint Perla card leaving a 6mm border and then onto more gold card leaving a thin border. The whole card was then mounted onto a white base card with no border.

The final step was to add the sentiment. I stamped Thank You from Stamp-It set (siset010) onto white cardstock using VersaColor Heliotrope ink and embossed it with Hologram Clear embossing powder. I then edged the piece lightly with Bundled Sage Distress Ink and mounted onto gold card leaving a thin border. This piece was then added to the top of the card over the punched squares.

If there are any questions about the card or the techniques I have used please leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.

I recently made a birthday card for a friends daughter with an image I had coloured a while ago. When I bought some Sarah Kay stamps earlier in the year I stamped the images onto some cardstock and gradually coloured them in.  I had no one in particular in mind when I coloured them so when this birthday came close I decided to use one of these images.

The base card was made from AC cardstock in white. I then cut two strips of mauve paper with silver embossing and one strip of lilac rose print paper. I ruled a border around the edges of these papers with a Lavender (01) Spica Pen. I added all three strips to the card leaving a 2mm white border between each. I left the outside edges of the mauve strips loose so I could add some ribbon. I then added some purple ribbon across the centre of the card and concealed the ends behind the mauve strips, which I then stuck down.

The main image was stamped on X-Press It Blending card using Memento ink in Tuxedo Black. The image is Sarah Kay – Fleur gathering flowers with Manon. I coloured the image using the following Copic Markers – C1, C3, C5, C7, V15, V17, E31, E33, E35, RV02, RV34, YG17, E37, E50, E51, E31, R20, B05, G05, G07, B23, B24, B45, Y17 and Pink (02) Spica pen. The image was cut out using the largest size Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 11. It was then mounted on purple glitter card leaving a 3mm border. I edged the glitter paper with Lavender (01) Spica pen to conceal the white core of the card. The image was then added to the card using foam dots.

I then stamped Happy Birthday greeting from Kanban Lucy set onto X-Press It Blending card using VersaMagic ink in Purple Hydrangea. I then embossed it using Hologram Clear embossing powder. It was then cut out using the second smallest Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 11. I trimmed the top edge off and mounted the greeting on purple glitter card leaving a 2mm border. I edged  the glitter card with Lavender (01) Spica pen to conceal the white core. I then added the finished greeting to the top right of the card using foam dots. I have included a photo of the finished card for you to see.