Inspired by stamps

No more post on here

2010-09-26T17:42:00.003+01:00

To see my new postings please go to my new blog http.//www. sandrataylor-cards.blogspot.com

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blogs.

Where can you buy 'melt dust' and paper?

2009-11-18T09:23:00.002Z

At the moment it is only available through C & C, however I am sure that in the near future you will be able to buy directly from My Craft Studio / Crafting UK. The paper is specifically designed so as to keep the ink wet but does not bleed therefor giving a very neat finish. I don't think that any other paper would work.

The best of it all is that once you have these products you will be able to use any of your CD's with them.

I think there are more exciting things to come in 2010

MCS 'Melt Dust'

2009-11-17T14:56:00.008Z

I've been waiting to update my blog with information about the new MCS 'Melt Dust' which was launched last night on I.W. I have been very fortunate in being able to trial this new product and have to say that I was very impressed.

I have sampled the 'original' gold pearl and silver pearl all of which gave excellent results. I was given the vellum type paper to try and this has a slight shimmer on the printing side. The ink does stay wet for quite a few minutes giving plenty of time to apply the 'melt dust'. The 'melt dust' is a lot finer that normal embossing powder and requires a gentle heat. I found it best to heat from underneath. I used the 'hairdryer type' of heatgun.

The above projects were taken from MCS Wings & Things and Flourishes CD's and have been shown on I.W. today. (Some of you may have seen them on the MCS stand at the NEC recently)

One for the men

2009-09-17T14:48:00.003+01:00

I've had these stamps 'create a scene' from Creative Expressions for a while but have never used them. The pub has been water coloured. The barrel was stamped using water colour pens. The sign has been triple embossed with UTE and then cracked to give an aged feel.

By the sea - Graphicus Guild ATC swap

2009-09-16T15:55:00.003+01:00

This is one of a pair of ATC's for the Graphicus Guild swap. Although I have to admit that the stamp is not from Graphicus this time, it is a very old one, one of the first stamps in my collection but I felt that it suited the theme for this month.

I stamped the lighthouse first, then made a mask to cover the lighthouse. I used cut & dry foam to sponge blue dye ink to make the sky. The rest was then watercoloured. A small amount of glitter was added to the sea for a bit of sunlight sparkle.

Busy Busy Busy!

2009-09-16T15:46:00.002+01:00

I've been so busy for the last few weeks, I have been up and down the country both for business and pleasure so crafting has had to take a back seat for a while. After next week I am hoping to settle down and get back into my craftroom and try out a few new items I've purchased on my travels. So hopefully I will get back to posting on a regular basis again!!

You can see from the last post though that I have been making cards for MCS Cd's, I have made some for the last couple of CD launches but have been on such a tight deadline that unfortunately I did not get chance to photo them. Working with the CD's has been a good experience as the graphics program is so easy to use and I find that I can spend ages just going through the images altering and changing them. For anyone who has problems with graphics programs for photo's etc. I would recommend buying one of these Cd's just for the actual program, it's well worth it.

As seen on TV MCS 'Secret Hidaways'

2009-09-16T15:38:00.006+01:00

some of the samples I have made for the launch of the new MCS 'Secret Hidaway' CD's.

Charity Cards

2009-08-13T13:04:00.003+01:00

A small selection from some of the cards I have made to sell for our local animal rescue centre.

The top card is from Joanna Sheen's 'Eastern Treasures' CD. The other two are stamped images coloured with Copic / Pro-markers ( I mix the two) which are currently my fav. colouring medium. I just love the 'Fairy Doodle' stamps.

Tag Card

2009-08-12T10:51:00.005+01:00

I should have posted this card a couple of weeks ago but I mislaid my camara! The tag was inspired by Lynn's demo at Graphicus a few weeks ago.

The technique using distress inks, then overspraying with gold glimmermist. I then stamped the swirl design using one of the distress inks and then again using gold embossing powder.

Copyright

2009-07-26T09:53:00.002+01:00

Since reading Glenda's blog (artylicious) I entirely support her use of copyright and having been subject to this abuse in our own business I know how upsetting this can be. I recently noticed a card which was published in a craft magazine which was very similar to a sample that I made last year. Therefore I regretably have added a note to my blog with regards to copying my work.

I now photograph my work with a date on it, which in itself is a type of copyright.

Black & White

2009-07-26T09:32:00.003+01:00

This is a very simple monochrome 8 x 8 card. The flower idea I got from seeing a magazine article on making flower designs from a simple shape. I cut out the petals and them stamped on them using the tale design from one of the E.I. peacock stamps sets. The corner stamps were from E. I. collage butterfly set. I have added some glitter to the swirls and some black pearl gems.

Vellum Butterflies

2009-07-12T13:22:00.002+01:00

I keep being drawn back to using the 'butterfly collage' stamps from I.E. I stamped one of the collages onto a background I had made using distress inks directly onto my craft mat, then a light spritz of water to blend the colours. A piece of card was then laid on top of the ink and lightly pressed down. The result is a lovely watercolour background. This was then the basis of my colour scheme.
The butterflies were stamped out onto velum and embossed with gold. They were then coloured on the back using brush pens.
The yellow background was stamped with versa mark and then a gold pigment powder brushed over for a subtle effect.

The new garden

2009-07-09T16:42:00.004+01:00

From this

To this

Some of you may recall the top photo that I posted last year. We managed to secure an extra piece of land at the back of our house to extend the garden. Well after quite a bit of work we now have a very pretty garden which I love to potter about in. I think I get my green fingers from my late grandad who I always remember as having a very colourful garden with wonderful scents. When I planted this I wanted to get as much colour in as possible just to see how it worked out and I am quite pleased with the result. On the trellis to the right I have sweet peas some of which I have cut today and brought indoors, they smell devine!

Crafting again

2009-07-05T13:51:00.003+01:00

Well after a long spell of not being able to use my craft room I am at last crafting again.

On Friday I went to the Graphicus open day to catch up with all the new products and see the girls demonstrating. I was really inspired by Judith's bead making with the melting pot and UTEE. I have had one of these pots for years and have done very little with it but think it will be getting brought back out of the cupboard and dusting off!.

Glenda was using some of her older stamps as well as new ones, and that has inspired me to make this card using some of last years stamp sets. I think we're all a little guilty of buying new stuff and playing with that, the older stuff gets forgotten but I think I will start going through all my older stamps and try out some new ideas.

So when I've finished this post I'm back to the craft room.

Flight of Fancy

2009-05-08T11:16:00.004+01:00

These are three of the cards that were made for Glenda's Flight of Fancy show which went out on Create and Craft on Wed. I have been waiting patiently to upload these as I made them around easter. The stamps were lovely to work with and I especially liked the patchwork ones.

Take a look at E.I. blog for more ideas using these stamps.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T14:40:00.005+01:00

Happy Easter. I hope everyone is enjoying the break, we have been very lucky with the weather in this part of the country and so we have been out catching up on some gardening.

I've been so busy this last few weeks, I have been away from home quite a lot, both on business and pleasure. It was my birthday last week and I was very lucky to get quite a lot of crafting goodies!. So this weekend I have had chance to have a play with some very different stamps from those that I would normally use.

These stamps are from 'Murray & Ethel and I think they are very amusing, I can think of a few people who would appreciate the sense of humour.

These cute stamps are from 'Stampasaurus'

All the images were coloured in using my new Promarker pens, they just lend themselves to these type of images.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge 52

2009-03-22T19:26:00.004Z

A birthday card for Rainbow Lady's Challenge.

Having bought some new 'promarker' pens last week at the NEC I thought I would try them out on these lovely lady stamps which came from C & C. I just love the pens they are so easy to work with.

The background was made by wetting a piece of hammered card and then painting with three shades of 'glimmer mists' which blended together.

3 ATC's

2009-03-11T11:05:00.003Z

I like to make ATC's when I am playing and trying out new techniques. The first one used lots of layering. I brushed a green inkpad lightly over the card, then used a chipboard swirl for a mask and oversprayed with a couple of colours of glimmer mist. I then roughly filled in the swirl pattern with gold leaf. Overstamped using black ink with another swirl pattern. Then dabbed a little gold leaf from a gold leaf pen onto some plastic and used up another piece of scrunched up plastic to pick it up quickly and dab around the edge.

The exotic lady background was sponged with pale pastel inks and lightly oversprayed with a pale glimmer mist. The background was then stamped and embossed in silver. The picture was watercoloured and a small amount of glitter glue added to the jewels.

The forna card was made in the same way and overstamped with a cube stamp to give an interesting tile pattern. I used very fine glitter in different pastel colours to emphazise the tiles. One of the designs was then stamped onto shrink plastic and coloured with pencils.

Arty Girlz Challenge - Yellow & Blue

2009-03-08T16:38:00.003Z

Arty Girlz challenge - blue & yellow. Having been reminded (by C & C today) that I had a flower fairy stamp from Joanna Sheen, I decided to use the blue theme for a blue poppy flower fairy.

Just a thank you

2009-03-05T11:34:00.002Z

Just saying thanks for all the recent kind comments on my postings.

China Blue

2009-03-04T14:24:00.004Z

My packs of the new 'flower soft' arrived this morning and I have waited so long for them to bring out blue (would you guess this is my fav. colour?). I used two different oriental style stamps and cobalt blue stazon ink for the backgrounds. The background to the vase was a piece of pale blue foil card put through a cuttlebug embossing folder. The vase was from a new sheet again from 'flower soft'.

Rainbow Lady's challenge - people

2009-03-01T16:12:00.002Z

Rainbow Lady's challenge for 'people' had me looking through my stamps for something suitable. I found this stamp from a set of four unmounted ones I bought a long time ago. I took inspiration for the colour scheme from a piece of scrapbook paper (part of my huge stash which I look at but never use!). The tulips were cut from the same sheet. The music seemed appropriate as the lady looks to be dancing.

Arty Girlz Challenge - Butterfly's

2009-02-25T10:42:00.003Z

With Arty Girlz challenge this week being on butterfly's I just couldn't resist.

I have used E.I. Butterfly Daisy themeplate, stamping with 'versa mark' then using chalks for a delicate coloured background. I then stamped another butterfly onto vellum embossing with a white powder. The butterfly was coloured on the back with water colour pencils.

Create a scene - Ready to plant the garden

2009-02-23T14:56:00.002Z

I've made this card for this weeks Rainbow Lady's challenge. Wishing for spring to arrive after what looked like a promising weekend it inspired me to bring some spring colour into this card. Using several stamps, a masking technique and water colour with a touch of flower soft for texture.

All Swirls

2009-02-22T18:31:00.001Z

Having lost a bit of inspiration I started to go through some of my stamps and came across this swirly stamp. Having bought a tin of chipboard swirls (which had never been opened) I decided on something simple but with a good contrast of colour. I randomly brayered the background in turquoise, then inked the stamp with an Adirondak cranberry inkpad. The band of cranberry coloured card was put through a cuttlebug embossing folder and then lightly sanded to show the white core. The swirl was painted with 'pool' Adirondak dauber. The flower was water coloured using ink from the cranberry ink.

Glenda's colour challange - Teal and brick.

2009-02-14T15:24:00.004Z

Although I'm not officially able to enter this challenge I thought that the colour combination was very interesting and not one that I would normally use, so I decided to have a go for myself.

The stamps used were from the new E. I. theme plates butterfly daisy / poppy sets.
The background was done on a white glossy card and lightly brayered with 'tea dye' & 'marmalade' distress inks. I then stamped the large background stamp with a teal stazon ink.

The flowers were stamped onto glossy white card with the teal ink.

Romance - January swaps

2009-02-10T14:55:00.003Z

My two ATC's for the Graphicus Guild January swap. Both have used stamps from the H.Rose themeplate.
The images were stamped first with a clear ink and embossed with black emb. powder. The backrounds were coloured with distress inks. The large rose was coloured with the same inks using a damp brush to pick up the colour. The second rose was coloured with pens and a touch of gold leaf pen added to hi-lite.

2 ATC's

2009-01-26T10:53:00.003Z

A couple of ATC's I made yesterday. I find when I havn't been in my craft room for a while and inspiration has deserted me, it helps to make ATC's.

The bird was stamped onto stampbord. I first stippled colour on with chalk inks in dark yellows and greens. Stamped the bird with a permanent dye ink, then just added a touch of colour with pencils. The background was embossed first and then colour added using by sponging, using distress inks.

Oriental flower and text was stamped onto white shrink plastic and coloured in using pencils. Background was from a piece of paper from my stash.

Chinese New Year

2009-01-25T16:29:00.003Z

To celebrate Chinese New Year I have made an oriental themed card. The background was made using a mustard coloured card and painted over with copper & gold glimmer mists. Then a light sponge of old paper distress ink.

The main pic, was coloured with water colour pens and when dry I went over with a clear gel pen. The background was coloured in with a water colour wash after the gel had dried.

The stamps are unknown origin, they are from a clear acrylic set I think bought off C & C.

Dec ATC swap

2009-01-18T12:19:00.004Z

This is one of my ATC's for the Graphicus Guild swaps (December). The background was made by painting glimmer mists in thee colours and then over spraying with gold to blend together.

The square piece was made by using three layers of UTEE in black and then stamping in to it whilst still hot using a clear inkpad to ink the stamp. I then brushed pigment powders over the inked areas. I then added a touch of platinum glitter glue to the stems, this is one of my favourite colours of glitter glue as it is so versitile.

Part of a swirl stamp was used in the corner with black ink and then hi- lighted with a white gel pen.

May I add thanks to those of you who wished me well. Having had a lovely holiday I have returned at least 50% recharged, could have done with a bit longer!!!.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T16:41:00.005Z

Hi, just like to wish anyone visiting a Happy New Year.

Unfortunately it has been some time since I have been able to access my blog, I spoke too soon when I said I was on the mend and had serious set back which left me completely bed bound for nearly three weeks but hopefully I am at last on the road to recovery, although was hit by this awful cold bug just before Christmas.

I am looking forward to this new year as last year was a very difficult one for me. Will be off to sunnier climes shortly for recuperation! Then hopefully will be back into my crafting very soon.

Took these photos this morning of Tommy skating on ice!!!! He actually was trying to get at the fish underneath the frozen pond. Fortunately there were no disasters.

Back on blog

2008-11-16T11:32:00.002Z

Hi to all my blog friends, I am at last able to sit at my computer, although I still have not done any crafting for at least three weeks. Thank you for your messages you are very kind.

The two cards I have posted to day were made several weeks ago but I have had to keep them to myself until they were due to be presented on Ideal World at 2pm today. There are theme plates with fairies, unicorns, wild flowers and nature. I am looking forward to watching the show with Glenda & Lynn this afternoon.

New Elusive Image Unmounted Stamps

2008-11-16T11:09:00.006Z

Using the unicorn theme plate I stamped the unicorn onto fuseable film. The background was sponged onto a glossy card and then overstamped with shades of green.

for this card I have used glimmer mist to colour the background. The leaves were coloured with pearl lacquer. The scroll design on the corners were part of a christmas tree stamp

Still here!

2008-10-28T10:06:00.002Z

Just letting you know that I am still here. I have been troubled with a really bad back and not been able to do very much at all lately. Frustrated that I can't get in my craft room or on the computer much, but will join in again as soon as I can.

Sandra

Black & Blue

2008-10-05T13:45:00.003+01:00

Trying a new technique for 'rainbowlady's' challenge. I used a multi coloured inkpad to brayer onto white matt card, I then spritzed the brayer with water and brayered again to soften all the bands of colour. Then I used 'jazz blue' glimmermist and sprayed over the top and immediately used the clean brayer to blend the colour in.

I stamped with black ink and then highlighted with a white gel pen. The background paper is from Damask Delights CD.

Stamp used from E.I. Damask squares unmounted theme plate.
CD: Artylicious Damask Delights

Atumn ATC - Sept. swap

2008-10-03T10:58:00.003+01:00

This is 1 of 2 ATC's for the Graphicus Guild Sept. swap. I used:
Butterfly Bliss CD for the backing paper.
E.I. unmounted stamps from 'Wild Meadow' and 'Diamante Delights' unmounted theme plates.
White opaque pen and black gel pen. Acetate, gold leaf.

Mackintosh Bauble

2008-10-02T19:24:00.002+01:00

It is nearly two weeks since my last post, I have been away on holiday and then on a business trip so this is the first chance I've had to catch up. Thanks for the comments posted while I've been away.

This card is for the papertake weekly challenge this week for a charity event. I have kept this in simple monochrome using IE Mackintosh Bauble stamp, which as you can see is not just for Christmas. Apart from stamping in black ink I have added a bit of glitter glue.

Autumn - challenge

2008-09-16T10:47:00.005+01:00

This autumn theme has been done on a large piece of stampbord, rather than a card. I coloured the base with mustard, green and red dye ink. Then I used EI stamp on top but only lightly inked the stamp so as not to cover the background too much.

Then using an homemade mixture of UTE clear which was mixed in three batches with butterscotch, lettuce and red pepper alcohol inks to make a transparent coloured UTE. I inked the corners with versamark and then just added layers of the above embossing powder to give a deep cover, into which I stamped the chrysanthemum EI stamp coated with a copper brilliance ink.

I then went over the leaves and flowers with pigment powder to give some definition and sparkle.

This artwork is for rainbowlady's autumn challenge

Geisha -Sketch Saturday

2008-09-12T08:39:00.002+01:00

First of all thanks to those of you who posted comments on the ATC's, sorry I've been a bit late in getting to them but had a few problems with Internet, your comments are very much appreciated.

I've been a bit pre-occupied with other things this week so have not had chance to get into my craft room. However this is my first challenge this week for 'sketchsaturday'. Having had a slight tidy up of my craft room!!! I found some clear acrylic stamps that were in the bottom of a draw and took the inspiration from them.

Light - Graphicus Guild ATC swap

2008-08-31T15:26:00.004+01:00

This months theme for the Graphicus Guild Swap (of which I am the hostess) was Light. The theme is set by Glenda so I have no forward planning on the idea's.

I must admit I found this theme a little challenging this time but having played with my 'glimmer mists' to make some backgrounds I decided to use a couple of pieces for my ATC.s.

Rather than spraying the mists I painted the backgrounds using a large soft brush, blending two or three colours. The effect was a lovely soft watercolour with shimmer, which unfortunately dosn't show up too well on the photo's.

This colour made me think of the garden after a shower when the sun comes out. Still droplets of water on the flowers but a lovely light fresh feel.

Not much else to post this weekend as I have been working on some new samples for E.I. so will have to hold off posting them for a little while!

A bit of summer

2008-08-27T17:46:00.003+01:00

I've been feeling a bit down today, the weather has been really dull and grey here for the last 3 days. So to cheer myself up I decided to go and look through all my paper and find something bright and colourful. So here it is, quite simple just using turquoise and golden yellow papers. Stamps used are from Elusive Images. Now I really must tidy my craft room!

Lavender

2008-08-24T16:15:00.004+01:00

My entry for this weeks papertakweekly challenge. Using patterned background papers. The stamps from an Elusive Images set. I coloured the stamp using brush pens and then added lavender flower soft to give dimension.

Childrens Card No 2

2008-08-24T13:04:00.003+01:00

This time a boy's version with the Cute Companion stamps.

Cats in the garden.

2008-08-24T10:43:00.004+01:00

Tom is eyeing up the fish in the pond for a little snack. Mum Tilly is a bit annoyed with him this morning as he has been attacking her quite a bit.

Tom finding another route to get at those fish, or perhaps there is a big juicy frog on those lily leaves. I must have rescued about 3 this week that he has brought me. Fortunately most of them he just brings in to play with and I managed to get them back to the pond. However we were not too happy last week when they both brought in a couple of baby birds, which unfortunately died the next morning. Although we love the cats it is always sad when they kill another animal.

Tom helping his dad in the garden. I don't think thats quite level!

I have posted these photo's mainly at Glenda's request, hope you enjoy. (click on photo to enlarge)

Childrens Card

2008-08-23T18:04:00.003+01:00

This is a card I made with the thought of putting it in to crafts 4 charity. They are looking for childrens designs and I just love these 'Cute Companions', Ihave bought all the sets and the CD. I think they are so cute and just waiting to be watercoloured!

I find that the stamps are very easy to position, a lot of thought has gone into the design by Jayne Nestorenko.

Thank you all for your comments on previous posts, they are much appreciated.

My Time To Craft Challenge

2008-08-22T16:53:00.005+01:00

Being new to blogging this is my first attempt at a challenge. I have picked 'mytimetocraftchallenge' 2 buttons, ribbon, flower and glitter.

Having recently bought Cute Companion stamps and never had to make a baby boy card before I thought that this would be a good time to try it out. So this is my first entry.

The image was stamped with black ink and coloured using a blue and silver Sakura pen and washed out with a damp brush. Glitter glue was added to the moon. The 'wonderful news' was stamped using a blue Brilliance ink. The textured background was done with a Fiskars background plate (have had this for a long time and hardly used!).

Slide Mailer

2008-08-21T17:42:00.007+01:00

This is the slide mailer that I promised myself I would do one day. I think I have had this in one of my craft drawers for about 3 yrs!

Anyway some new Adirondack acrylic paints and Butterfly Bliss CD inspired the colour scheme. The stamps are mainly from Elusive Images except for the swirly ones which came from I don't know where. They are a clear set but have no name on the package. Must have got them from a show.

If you want any more info on how I have done this just ask.

Exploding Flower

2008-08-17T18:15:00.005+01:00

Items used: exploding flower template, stamps from Elusive Images, fantasy floral theme plate and big flowers theme plate. CD butterfly bliss for the butterfly's

I coloured the outside layers by using a stipple brush and just a slightly darker tone of ink than the card colour. Then I over stamped with the flower stamps.

Centre flower is a fabric flower.

Sister's Birthday Card

2008-08-13T16:43:00.000+01:00

It's my sister's birthday this weekend and she is really into pink and black at the moment. So I thought I would make a card using this P.M. paper ( I have bought her some elements of this for her birthday). The card is A4 in size and I have printed out an acetate front with swirl elements. I used some chipboard letters as templates to cut out SISTER from the patterned paper and glued them to the base card. The pink flowers are chipboard.

Busy Weekend

2008-08-11T08:36:00.002+01:00

More cards from my busy weekend crafting

From a new set of stamps from Elusive Images. Posies.

These stamps are just fantastic for stamping on parchment. I stamped the large posy stamp 4 times with white stazon onto parchment. The roses have been coloured from the back with Inktense colour pencils. I have embossed the frill on 2 layers alternating from front to back, this gives the impression of a frill.

This heart stamp I thought ideal for a wedding card. This time I stamped onto shear heaven paper which is similar to parchment but has different qualities in that you can paint onto it without it warping. I have used twinkling H2o's for colouring. Also a little glitter glue was painted onto the bells.

Similar technique to yesterdays card, using glimmer mists for background. This time I sponged an oval stampbord with die inks then over sprayed with gold. Then stamped and embossed with gold one of the elements from the background.

2008-08-10T17:34:00.001+01:00

This is a card I have made today using a new set of stamps from Elusive Images.

The background was made with 'glimmer mist' spray inks. However instead of spraying I painted a peice of A4 white card with two colours of pink and then oversprayed with gold. I then cut out the area I found most interesting.

The background was stamped using a dark pink chalk inkpad. The front image was embossed in gold and coloured in with Sekura metalic pen. The embelishment is a circle of pink shrink plastic stippled and stamped using a stazon ink.