Dragonfly Days

When I went to the training day with Kuretake they kindly gave me some of their 12 x 12 white paper to play with. This has a finish almost like water colour paper so I decided to use it to make the same effects that you can get with regular watercolour paper and at a fraction of the cost as well.

I started by cutting out a piece of the paper to the size that I wanted. It doesn't matter if it's too big as it can be trimmed later on.

I put the paper on a piece of cling film to protect my work surface and used an old watercolour brush to wet the paper thoroughly. This is because I wanted to do something which is called wet-into-wet. Don't worry about the technicalities. You only want to know that it works.

When the paper was wet I touched the surface with two of the pinks that are shown in the photograph. They are the TUT 80 Art and Graphic pens 202 and 20. If the paper is wet enough the colour should spread over the surface of the paper. If it remains too close to the point where you touched the paper is too dry. Wet it again and add more colour. You want a soft mottled effect.

Now put the paper aside to dry.

You are probably thinking that it looks nothing at the moment and you might even be right but you don’t want the surface to be full of colour as it will mean that the stamping will not show up well later on.

When it's dry you can use the narrow end of the pen to draw some swirls and then ink up a small stamp, I used a dragonfly in this instance and I stamped over the base paper as seen. I used both pinks to ink up the stamp.

I then cut a length of white grosgrain and stuck it to the front of the paper. The paper was then stuck to the front of a base card.

I then stamped a large dragonfly on to pink card and embossed it with a silvery white embossing powder. I cut out the dragonfly.

I stamped the message on a piece of white card and mounted it onto pink card which I then trimmed to leave a narrow border. I Used 3d foam pads to stick the message to the front of the card as shown.

I stuck the dragonfly to the card with 3d foam pads and the card was finished.

Big flower card

The trend these days seems to be for big flowers so I though that I'd have a go. I've seen lots of the cards made with flowers that have been cut in half. Considering the price on the silk ones I'm not surprised that the people making the cards cut them in half as you get two for the price of one that way. So following the trend, this is a big flower card even if the flower is cut in half.

I used:

A 14cm x 14cm base card in pink.

1 piece of white card 13cm x 13cm

Kuretake calligraphy pens in Heart.

Art and Graphic pens in light Olive (number 56 ) and pink (number 202 )

Half a white die cut flower.

A strip of olive green paper

Sentiment for the Inspiration plate from I Brake for Stamps

Scraps of pink and white card.

3d foam pads

What I did:

Now before you throw your hands up in horror at what I'm going to tell you it really wasn't hard to do this but I did the background freehand. All you have to do is a few flowers with the calligraphy pens some scrolls with the thin end of the Art and Graphics and join them up. I will put an example on U-Tube soon.

I stuck this to the base card and then cut a strip of green paper and dotted along the edge to give a stitched effect.

I coloured the flower with water and the pink pen and then used the green pen to draw some lines around the petals. I stuck a green circle on the petal and then a small white dot. I aded some pink to the dot. I trimmed it and stuck it to the card.

Then I stamped the sentiment in a sepia brown and trimmed it to size. I backed this with some pink card and stuck it to the base card with foam pads.

New Calligraphy Flower Projects

Recently I managed to buy some beautiful card and heavy paper that has a pearl finished with a sheen of gold so I decided to put it together with the calligraphy pens and this is what I've come up with.

The first little card is using the blue set of pens and a small scrap of card. I did threee different flowers to give the card a bit of an edge.

This second card is made with the pens again but this time I drew lots of different flowers with each of them at different heights.

Next I made a simple tag with the technique that I call 'shaky hand'. This is very quick as it is only one flower and little else.

My final piece is this gift bag which is the one that I made in my workshop.

I hope that you like thm too.

Fun and Funky

When Della, from 'I Brake for Stamps', told me about adding hair to the images, I couldn't wait to try it out. This card is the result and I hope that it will be the first of many. I used the cord that we sell and teased it out to make the hair. The stamp is from the new range from the Merry Stamper. Don't you just love it?

I used the Art and Graphic pens to add colour and the hair is from the cord that we also sell on the site.

The paper beneath the image is good quality wrapping paper.

Have a go yourself. You'll love thsi technique.

This is the whole sheet of stamps:

I'll be demonstrating at the NEC this week so please come along.

Tiny Stamps to Make Lovely Cards

My latest stamps from I Brake for Stamps have really inspired me and, if time allows, I intend to make lots of cards from them. Here are another two cards from the Cartes Postal sheets. This sheet comes with large and small stamps that can be used together or just by themselves. I’ve made cards with two of the smaller stamps to show you what I mean. They may be tiny but they are so beautifully crafted that they can stand alone. See if you agree.

To make this card you will need:
1 White base card. Mine was an A5 card scored and folded in half.
The small Cartes Postal lilac stamp from the Cartes Postal sheet
A small piece of silver card
A small piece of white card to stamp the image
A small piece of lilac card to mount the stamped image
A sentiment stamp of your choice
Art and graphic pens in lilac, green, and pale brown
A H2O waterbrush
3D foam pads

This is what you do:
Colour the stamp directly with the chosen colours of Art and Graphic pens. I used brown on the edges and lilac and green for the flower and leaves.
I lightly went over the image with the water pen to soften it and give it a more watercoloured effect.
I then mounted it onto lilac card and silver card as shown which I trimmed to size.
I stuck it directly onto the card as shown and stamped the sentiment in place under the image. I rather like this wishing you sentiment as it allows you to put whatever you like inside the card.

Here's the second card that I made. Same principle as the one above but using ribbon to add emphasis.





Here's this fantastic new sheet in all its glory:

Don't you just love it!

The stamp that I used was the small one at the bottom of the sheet. Let you imagination run wild.

Anniversary Card

Now that the wedding season is with us we shouldn’t forget that the anniversaries that are also prolific. So to celebrate that special anniversary with humour I’ve made a lovely card that your friends and relatives will love to get.



For this card you will need:

1. 1 DL card in pale blue.
2. The loving couple stamp from our new Flaunt it sheet of unmounted rubber stamps.
3. 1 sheet of white card for stamping the image and the background paper.
4. Youth is a State of Mind Stamp from the Funny Ladies sheet of stamps.
5. Art and graphic pens from Kuretake in Pink, Skin Tone, Grey and Blue
6. Stazon in Stone Grey

What to do:
1. Use Stazon in Stone Grey to stamp the image on to a piece of white card and trim to size. Colour the image with the pink and blue pens and use a little water to thin the paint to give a paler colour where needed. Edge the card in blue.
2. Decorate a piece of card with the pink calligraphy from the Heart set that you have edged with the blue pen from the Art and graphic pens from Kuretake. Trim to leave a fairly wide border as seen in the example. Edge the card in blue as you did with the earlier card.
3. Stick to the base card and use 3d foam pads to stick the loving couple sheet to the card.
4. Now, use Stone Grey Stazon to stamp the Youth message and again edge in blue. Yes, lots of blue edging here I know but it helps to harmonise the Images.
5. Use 3d foam pads to stick to the card. Your card is finished.

Tulip Card

Just when you thought that I had finished with the tulips up pops another card. well, you can't keep a good stamp down.

This is made using the method that I explained in a previous posting and then cut out and mounted on the card. I used yet more papers from my Take out the Stash box and spring green ribbon. the sentiment is also one of my stamps and it's from the Stained Glass sheet.

Do you like it? Leave a comment, do!

One Stamp, Lots of Cards

You will no doubt see from the following cards that I seem to have become obsessed by one stamp. I think that you'll have to agree that this is a lovely stamp and by ringing the changes with the background papers and colours used to ink the stamp, you can end up with some very different cards.








I've used it with the Brushables and the Art and Graphic pens to create the different effects. The papers are from the Take Out the Stash boxes which are lasting me an age. I don't think that I've even used 10% of the papers as yet.


Card 1 is made with the tulip in a pot from the Flower Power set of unmounted stamps from I Brake for Stamps. I inked it in with the pens from the Christmas Colours set and used the H2O pen to make the inks flow. I used the tulip head alone to make the background of tulip heads at the bottom of the page.


I then inked up and stamped the image on to a spare piece of white card and used the H2O brush to spread the colour. I darkened the edge of the card with both the brown and the red pen.


I Tied a bow in the sheer red polka dot ribbon and stuck it to the card about 1/3rd of the way up the card.


I used foam pads to stick the image to the base card as seen. I then stamped the message onto another piece of card and darkened the edges as before. This was also stuck on with foam pads.


I just love the vivid colours of this card as I hope, do you.



Here's number 2

This is another quick and easy card.

It's made by sticking a piece of decorative paper to the bottom third of the base card.
I tied a bow, using the bowshaper, in a piece of toning ribbon, I used the spring green in 9mm width for this card.
The image is coloured with the pens from the Spring Selection of Kuretake Art and Graphic pens and then it is stamped and cut out.
Stick the image to the base card with 3D foam pads and stamp a message of your choice at the side.

This is the next card. I'll write the instructions as soon as I can.