Bleached Daisies

 Hello again,

I have made a card following this month's Group of Cardmakers, using the bleaching technique. I have used a scrap of water colour card which I used dylusions Funky Fuchsia and crushed grape spray inks and one of my potluck stamps from Darkroom Door that I bought before they closed down in Australia and recently re-opened in the UK. My potluck stamps are from the scraps, when the rubber had not quite made a full set, they saved the stamps that they could and sold them at a discount.

My stamp comes from the set called Viva la Flora Vol.2 it has a script background which doesn't show on my card as the texture of the water colour card comes through. Stamped in clear ink and heat embossed in black powder. Using bleach-soaked cotton buds on the flowers, I have added a sentiment from Art Stamps Australia.  

What I used

White card blank 10.5x14.8cm

Watercolour card (Micador from Big W)

Darkroom Door Daisy stamp 'Viva la Flora' Vol.2

Clear embossing ink

Black embossing powder

Art stamps Australia Sentiment stamp

Dylusions Spray ink Funky fuchsia and crushed grape

I would like to enter this card in:

Group of Cardmakers Bleaching Technique

Allsorts 847 In the Garden

Beautiful Blossoms Anything Floral goes optional mood board

Daisy Chain Challenge #106 No Design papers

Aud Sentiments Watercolour and/or Spring + Sentiment

NBUS Challenge #85 Daisy stamps first outing

We Love Stamping 'Spring' We already have one jonquil and anemone in flower, whilst all the trees are still only just starting to get their Autumn leaves changing colour her in Aus.

We are starting to get Autumn leaves in our area, which I fully expect to be overrun with tourists as they change as some of the elegant gardens in our area are cut off after several years of extreme weather has caused damage to the roads, some are required to get permits to enter their own streets some of which are several kilometres long, some people have had weddings cancelled as the venues have had to close to the public, some are used to getting 1000+ visitors each day over Autumn. 

That does not include the still cut main highway between Sydney and greater west New South Wales where convicts built the road in 1832 and it has recently failed, almost 200 years and used to transport B-double trucks laden with coal for export or quarry materials for construction. A Blog post from one of the local librarians shows a colourised picture and a story of a grisly murder from 1842, Caroline Collit's Blue Mountain's Local Studies.

Thank you for looking in...

Have a wonderful week...

Megan

p.s. Many thanks to my blogging friends and visitors who stop by and take the time to leave me a comment, I truly appreciate them all!

Embossing Paste with Stencils

 Hello again, 

We are enjoying some lovely Autumn weather here in Australia, clear blue skies, and great weather for the local fire brigades to do some preventative burn-offs of the undergrowth. We currently have three fires burning in the valley on the north side of the village, in our case the Grose Valley, which is more fire prone at least in our area due to wind and conditions in summer months. 

I am again joining in with the lovely ladies at Group of Seven this month's product is Embossing Paste, I have one art store nearby who knows how to charge accordingly, Christine had a recipe to make your own embossing paste which is very similar to the one from Shaz in Oz.

I mixed embossing paste

20g Baby powder
20g White Paint
10g PVA glue

mixed in an empty yoghurt cup until smooth, adding water as it thickened slightly. I used old plastic gift cards to spread the embossing paste over the stencil.

I did not plan on storing this so used it until it was gone. I managed to make 13 pieces and used some plain as is, and others used Distress Oxide re-inkers to add colour.

My first card has a mix of three distress oxide colours added over a leaf stencil from a magazine set called fabulous foliage. I added clear embossing powder after removing the stencil and heat set it a couple of hours later.  Sentiment layered in black and the same dark green cardstock.

What I used:

White 12.6x17.8cm card blank

Fabulous Foliage Stencil set from Magazine

Homemade embossing paste

Distress Oxide re-inkers, Mustard Seed, Festive Berries and Ripe Persimmon

Elizabeth Crafts Happy Birthday sentiments

Black, Orange leather-grained and Dark green cardstock

Green flat backed gem

PVA Glue, Double sided tape

I would like to enter this card in: 

Group of Seven Gallery Embossing Paste

Allsorts Challenge Blog Stencils or Masks

Aud Sentiments Challenge Embossing Wet or Dry and/or Flowers + Sentiment

Crafts Galore Encore 134 Anything goes

Creative Knockouts 544 Embossing Delights (Heat embossed over the texture paste)

Thank you for looking in...

Have a wonderful week...

Megan

p.s. Many Thanks for taking the time to stop by and leave me a comment, I truly appreciate them all. 

Floating Frames

 Hello again,

We are having a late heatwave here in New South Wales, this week has been 27C to 30C a little too hot for me. I am again joining the lovely ladies over at Group of Seven Cardmakers this month's technique is Floating Frames I chose some lovely new stamps for my Christmas present from Paper Rose called Sketchy Rose, I stamped them in Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and coloured them with Faber-Castell coloured pencils before die cutting them.

I rolled up pieces of washi tape (sticky side out) to temporarily position the flowers over a 12x17.2cm piece of white card stock.  I added foam circles to the backs and replaced each flower, before die cutting the hexagon from the centre adding the first piece to a card blank covered with black paper.  

The second card uses the die cut hexagon, I have added an Inkylicious sentiment which I won from Snippet's Playground on a snippet of black paper. Adding some clear (no silver backing) flat backed gems, packet says it is meant to be 'shaker mix' also from Paper Rose. The black layer behind the die cut was traced and cut by scissors.

The two cards together

What I used:

Paper Rose 'Sketchy Roses' stamp and die

White A4 cardstock

Faber-Castell coloured pencils

Memento Tuxedo black ink

Clear embossing ink

Gold and white embossing powder

Inkylicious sentiment

Kaisercraft Hexagon nesting die

Kaisercraft Roses embossing folder

MFT Happy die

Scraps of black and gold papers

Magazine freebie stamp 'birthday' and butterfly die

Flourish of gems clear silver 

Adhesives: Foam dots, Double sided adhesive, pva glue

Other: Stanley knife, scissors, steel rule, heat gun.

I would like to enter these cards in:

Group of Seven Gallery Floating Frames

First Card

Creative Knockouts #242 Birthday Wishes

Cut it Up Challenge #325 Happy Birthday 

Beautiful Blossoms #27 Anything Floral goes 

NBUS #72 Anything goes with Never before used schtuff (flower stamps and dies)

613 Avenue Create March Anything goes optional Any Occasion 

Second Card
Love to Craft Challenge Blog #84 Anything goes
Make My Monday Challenge #247 Use die or punch

Crafts Galore Encore #133 Anything goes

Crafters Cafe #317 Anything goes optional CAS

Can You Handle the Pressure? Optional Lucky, St. Patrick's Day

A Cut Above Anything goes with a die cut

Thank you for looking in...

Have a Wonderful Week...

Megan

p.s. Many Thanks to my kind blogging friends and visitors who take the time to stop by and leave me a comment, I truly appreciate them all!

Dry Embossed highlights

 Hello again,

Our weather has settled back down to our usual summer temperatures here, warm enough for us, as we get few extremely hot days, a visitor once asked us to put the air-con on, we may get 10-15 of the really hot days where I live so we and most homes in our region don't own air-conditioners... 

We have had a family of King Parrot's coming to visit, the male will eat from my hand... I will try to take a photo the next time they stop by...

I am joining in with the lovely ladies over at Group of Seven Cardmakers, this month the technique is Dry Embossed Highlights over ink blending. 

Here is my card:

What I used:

White 14cm cardblank
Black paper
Lisa Horton 3D embossing folder 'Fancy Foliage' (Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine)
White Cardstock (American Crafts)
Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Luck Clover Distress Oxide inks
Versamark clear and white ink pads
Fern Die cut (magazine)
MFT Essential Sentiments
White embossing powder
MFT pierced Fishtail flags
Silver glitter paper scrap

(edit) Adhesives Double sided tape, PVA glue

I have a Cuttlebug, if anyone else wonders what 'sandwich', white base plate, 3D folder and cardstock and 'C' plate... 

I would like to enter this card in:
Group of Seven Gallery Dry embossed highlights over ink blending
Can you handle the pressure? Optional 'Snow'
A Cut Above Anything goes with a Die cut (Fern and Fishtail flag)
NBUS #71 Anything Goes (NBUS is the 3D folder)
Creative Knockouts #539 'Something to Say'

Thank you for looking in...
Have a wonderful week...
Megan

p.s. Many thanks to my kind blogging friends and visitors who stop by and leave me a comment, I truly appreciate them all... 

Flower Power

 Hello again,

In my effort to join in some of the techniques shown over with the lovely ladies at Group of Seven, I have made a mostly white on white card for technique of Textured backgrounds using die cuts. I have used a floral die cut which had a variety of sized flowers glued them down to the card front and added triple cut sentiment dies inside a golden frame. 

What I used:

White cardstock

Mystery dark pink cardstock

12.6x 17.8cm card blank 

Cheery Lynn Shasta Daisy strip die

MFT Happy birthday sentiment die

Butterfly die (mystery brand- let me know if you recognise it) 

Gold glitter card stock

Stitched rectangle dies

Clear crystal flat backed gems

I am adding this card to 

Group of Seven Gallery Textured background with die cuts

A Cut above December anything goes

Allsorts Challenge Blog optional Use your dies

NBUS Challenge 69 I am not sure how long this flower die has been in my stash! First outing, it even left some of the colour from the metal die behind (Cheery Lynn purple)

I hope you are all recovering after the holidays, we woke to an early morning storm which has started a bushfire from a lightning strike a couple of hours away.... the middle of a heat wave and high winds make storms more dangerous to the Aussie bush.

Thank you for looking in...

Have a wonderful week

Megan

Bokeh

 Hello again, 

I hope you are all feeling warm, we have just spent over a week in Winter without a heater after the gas heater malfunctioned, first repair company said the wait was 3 weeks before they could come out... company number two came one week and one day later... the ignition part of the heater broke... 

I am joining in with the lovely ladies over at Group of Seven with this month's technique being Bokeh, I have used Candied Apple, Ripe Persimmon and Mustard seed distress oxide inks to create the background and I created my own circle template using the backing from Ezy-Mount foam and three different sized circle punches, largest is a Fiskars squeeze punch 1", adding layers of dots with some white pigment ink.

Here is my card: -

What I used
White Card blank 12.6x17.8cm (5x7")

White cardstock
Mustard Seed, Candied Apple and Ripe Persimmon Distress oxide inks

Colorbox White pigment ink
Memento Tuxedo Black
Kaisercraft Leaf die
Darkroom Door Sentiment (Full Bloom Vol.1)
Paper Rose Stitched rectangle die 

I would like to enter; - 

Gallery at Group of Seven - Bokeh
Daisy Chain Challenge Birthday
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes
Ally's Angel's Anything Goes

Thank you for looking in...

Have a wonderful weekend...

Megan 

p.s. a Huge Thank you to my blogging friends and visitors who take the time to stop by and leave me a comment, I truly appreciate them all... 

Cover Die Eclipse

 Hello again,

Twice in one week, very unusual for me. Today I am joining the Gallery of Group of Seven Card makers, with a technique challenge- Cover die Eclipse. I will admit the first one jumped in the cuttlebug and I have ended up putting one beautiful card aside, and trying again with a more simple stamped image. 

Darkroom Door African Tree stamped in Black soot Distress oxide ink, die cut with a MFT cover plate,  and sentiment stamp from Clearly besotted. I think I should have stamped the image a little higher on the card, then the image would have been more evenly centred within the cover die. Definitely a technique to come back too. Another layer was cut out of the waste from the other card to layer up the diecut background

The stamp was in a 'scrap' set, when the rubber does not make a full stamp set or something was wrong with some part of a set, they sell the stamps that are suitable for use at a discount. I think this might look good as a jacaranda tree in purple.

What I used

Blue Edge Crafts Top fold 12.3x17.4cm card blank 

MFT cover plate die 

Darkroom Door African Tree stamp

Clearly Besotted sentiment 'Sweet little sentiments'

Distress Oxide black soot, candied apple

fine tipped pva glue 

I am sharing this card with:

Group of Seven Gallery Cover plate Eclipse
NBUS today is the first time the tree has seen ink....
Crafter's Cafe #307 CAS 
Creative Inspiration Challenge #13 Anything goes  CLOSED
Simply Clean and Simple April Anything goes optional Weather

Thank you for looking in...
Have a wonderful week... 
Megan

p.s. a HUGE THANK YOU to my blogging friends and visitors who take the time to stop by and leave me a comment, I truly appreciate them all... 

Masked Stencilling

 Hello again,

I am trying out another new to me technique with the lovely ladies over at Group of Seven, this month it is Masked Stencilling, I tried out a few different stencils and masks and I think as long as the stencil reaches the edges of the masked shape and you can clearly see the masked area... 

I have made two cards, with many, many attempts that I have put aside for now....

Star Stencil with a curve cut from junk mail.

Bird in Mandala, part of me wants to colour the patterns on the bird, another part says leave it be... 

What I used

Star Stencil (Darkroom door, I think) 
Big W mandala Stencil
Magazine Stamp-Bird
Lili of the Valley Large Christmas Greetings
Distress Oxide inks- prize ribbon, picked raspberry, seedless preserves, wilted violet, cracked pistachio 
Memento Tuxedo black ink
Clear Embossing ink and pen
Silver embossing powder

Black paper, silver paper 

I am joining in:-
Star Stencil
Group of Seven Gallery Masked Stencilling
Rudolph Day March

Bird in Mandala
613 Avenue Create Anything goes optional  Diamonds and/or pearls

Thank you for looking in...

Have a wonderful week..
Megan

p.s. Many thanks to my lovely blogging friends and visitors who take the time to stop by and leave me a comment. I truly appreciate them all!

Torn Edge Scene

 Hello again,

I am again joining the ladies at Group of Seven Card makers with their most recent gallery calling for torn edges, I have used two of the Woodware Clear Nativity Silhouette set and a Distress Oxide blend from Kristina Werner, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Seedless Preserves, with Black Soot to stamp and ink in the torn edge. My torn edge is from the back of an old Christmas card, having used a tag die to re-use the card front for gift tags. 

Stamped images and sentiment are clear heat embossed, sprayed with a mini mister from Crafts-4-U from one of the big craft stores at the Aussie Shows, a few larger dots added.

Here is my card

What I used
White 12.6x 17.8cm card blank
Woodware Nativity Silhouette stamps
MFT Bitty Holiday Wishes (maybe retired) 
Distress Oxide inks Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Seedless Preserves, Black Soot
Clear embossing powder

Torn Edge (Christmas card back)

I would like to enter this card in

Rudolph day (Mo's Final)
ABC Christmas Challenge Anything goes Christmas or Berries
Group of Seven Gallery Torn Edge
Daisy Chain #81 No Design Paper

12 Months of Christmas Anything goes optional Die cuts and/or Embossing

(edit: remove link)

We have been busy, the ceiling inside my built-in-robe got a large back flow from the roof gutters, resulting in the too high to reach shelf being infested with mould. Ceiling is down and the roofing people are coming in a fortnight to repair the outside issues, before we can even attempt to replace the plasterboard ceiling. 

Thank you for looking in...
Have a wonderful week...

Megan

P.S. Many Thanks to all my blogging friends and visitors who take the time to stop by and leave me a comment, I truly appreciate them all.

Clingwrap Christmas Trees

 Hello again,

I am joining in with the ladies at Group of Seven Cardmakers, this months challenge is Smooshing with Clingwrap. I have tried just about every type of paper or card I have, I discovered some photo paper pre cut 4x6" from my old printer ink box, which worked exceptionally well with this technique. I also waited for a cool change, being the middle of our Summer. I used Dylusions Spray inks in Funky Fuschia and Crushed Grape, adding a few sprays of plain water to the sheet of store brand  cling wrap then smooshing it onto the photo paper, it took a couple of days to completely dry, that cool change lasted several days including one when we turned on the heater....

I have used this one 4x6" (10x15cm) photo paper to make two Christmas cards, Marianne Design Craftable tree dies, unknown star die cut from silver paper. MFT Sentiment in Tuxedo Black ink.

I am entering these cards in:-

Group of Seven Cardmakers Gallery Smooshing with Clingwrap

Crafting Happiness 154 Christmas Trees

ABC Christmas Challenge Y and Z Your Choice

Christmas Crafts All Year long, Anything goes

Creative Inspiration Challenge #9 Anything goes

Happy Little Stampers Water Colour Challenge

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

I hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year starting with a bang. 

Thank you for looking in, 

Have a wonderful week.

Megan

p.s. A Huge Thank you to my blogging friends and visitors who take the time to stop by and leave me a comment. I truly appreciate them all.