Orchid Birthday Card and WOYWW

I love orchids but real ones aren't for me - I can kill pretty much any house plant you care to name, but we have a cousin who has a beautiful collection of real ones and they seem to be always in bloom whenever we visit, so for her birthday card I dug out a never-used orchid die - I've had it for a while and I knew I'd need it one day!  
I kept the design simple with just a silver embossed border stamp so there was nothing to really compete with the ornate flowers.

So as you can see absolutely no Christmas cards made yet and not even a feeling of panic rising up in me either - I'm sure it will kick in soon!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Loving Ginkgo Leaves and WOYWW

It's that time of year again - time to gather up stray leaves that have fallen from a neighbours beautiful Ginkgo tree and press them for future projects! There's something so appealing about the shape of a Ginkgo leaf.  However they are rather delicate to work with so I needed a Ginkgo leaf die too! This one also embosses the leaf with veins but I've managed to completely erase them with my enthusiastic layering of crackle paste, glossy accents, antiquing cream and Metallic Lustre! 

They are both on MDF bases and the blue one is going to be the sturdy cover of a small journal I'm planning on making.  I had two ideas swimming around in my head so had to try both out - I think the blue one wins!

Happy mistakes - I accidentally dripped some dirty paint water onto the little pipe stems and I rather like the resulting splodges so I added more to both stems and leaves!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Textile Birthday Card and WOYWW

October is a busy month for birthday celebrations and this week it's my sister's birthday, so here is the card and gift bag I made for her.

I picked up some lovely tweed fabric squares from a charity shop a few weeks ago and decided they would go very well with the beautiful rusty orange coloured silk velvet.

I embossed the velvet with a leaf stamp, covered a couple of buttons with the same velvet, die cut some copper sheet and added some hand embroidery and beading.

I made the origami envelope but needed paper nearly A1 in width to get it to the correct size (6"x6") - it's open so the card just slips in, which is fine when it's not going through the post!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

A Birthday Card for my Nephew and WOYWW

With my nephew turning 16 and not surprisingly preferring money to anything I might choose for him, I decided to make him a card that presented the cash in a more innovative way than just popping it in an envelope!  

This card is soooo not me!  Apart from the fact it's not my usual style, the whole rigmarole of paint techniques is not my strong point either.   

I covered a piece of card with foil tape, embossed it and covered it with black antiquing cream - in my ignorance little did I know it would all come off in flakes with absolute minimal contact!  I 'glued' the remaining black bits onto the silver with varnish, while keeping my fingers crossed it would all stay on!  So far, so good!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW, and if anyone out there can advise on what I should have done to stop the black paint flaking yet control how much I rub off then I'd love to hear it!

Book Binding and WOYWW

I have long had a love affair with the art of book binding and over the years I've once or twice dabbled with very simple book binding techniques.  Recently I decided I needed a little sketch book for one of my projects so I decided to make my own.

This is a folded paper technique called Blizzard Binding and although fairly simple it's important to be very accurate with the folding - not so easy with big clumpy hands like mine, but I eventually ended up with a little book I was pleased with!

I decorated the front with pieces of hand-made silk paper, pressed Ginkgo leaves and copper foil.

As you can see below each page spread is one sheet of A6 Khadi paper folded in half and held in place at either end by the little folded triangles that flip open and closed - this means you can remove pages to work on, change pages around or replace them as required.

I am linking up with Julia over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday this week, and I am also linking up with the Mini Album Makers Challenge.

 Update: I'm so pleased to have been chosen as one of the Top 5 in this month's Mini Album Makers Challenge. 

  

Paper Hydrangeas and WOYWW

These little Hydrangeas are sitting on my desk at the moment - I've had this die for quite a long time and never got round to using it so I decided it was about time to use it or lose it!   I die cut all the petals out, found a polystyrene ball in the depths of my studio and had a go.

The first attempt is the blue one and I think I was a bit mean with the petals, so it's a little 'gappy'.  However, being a perfectionist I had to make another one that I was happier with - hence the pink one!

 They were rather labour intensive but I enjoyed the experiencem although it may be a long while before I get the die out again!
 I shall attach each one to a small circle of card and make them into gift tags.

 I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Playing with Texture Paste

I've had a busy couple of weeks where I just haven't had the chance to do much arty crafty stuff, but I needed a couple of cards for this month, so that made me sit down and do something!
While having a clear out recently I discovered a few pots of texture paste that I have never used so I thought this would be a good opportunity to try them out - luckily they hadn't dried out. 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Alcohol Inks and WOYWW

In my tidying and re-organising frenzy over the last few weeks I have been discovering stash that I had thought lost or had completely forgotten about. Having unexpectedly come across a packet of Yupo paper I remembered how enjoyable Alcohol Inks can be, so decided to have a little play with them. 

I know they are usually beautifully vibrant and rich in colour but I am still in a 'muted' frame of mind and enjoying late evenings in my garden - so my tags are along this theme.

I accidentally discovered that if I add blending solution to the stamped image and then rub it off gently I get a wonderfully faded image, so I was able to layer them and achieve more of a feel of insects at dusk.   

I'm linking up with Julia over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday this week.