Spooky skull

I used a manila tag for this project. I stamped the skull in black archival ink and coloured it in with frayed burlap and picket fence for the teeth. Then covered it with a mask and put brush strokes over it with twisted citron, carved pumpkin and dusty concord distress stain. The edges are inked with walnut stain distress ink. I splattered barn door ink over it and stained the crinkle ribbon also with barn door distress stain. The sentiment is stamped with distress embossing ink and embossed with a halloweeny powder I made from Mardi Gras embossing powder from Emerald Creek Crafts mixed with a tiny bit of orange powder. For eyes I added chunky gem brads also by Emerald Creek Crafts...

Thank you for stepping by.

Until next time, take care :-)

Freddie
Xxx

Water colour card

I finally managed to have a play again, and get another idea out of my head.

Sometimes you get your hands on a craft item, whether it be a stamp or a die, and the ideas just keep pouring in your head.

This Koi stamp set by Nicolewrightdesigns.com is one of those items.... I got this set and the cherry blossom set, and the tags and cards just create themselves. In my previous post I used both of them. Feel free to have a browse ;-)

I am a bit of a koi fan and this is the first stamp set that really tickled my fancy.

Oh...hang on...another idea just popped in my head!! Will try and make that one very soon also...

This card was very easy to do. I stamped the images on water color card stock and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. After it cooled down I sprayed water all over it and started painting with my distress inks and my trusted water brushes.

After it all dried I inked the edge with walnut stain distress ink and stuck it on a card blank.

To finish it off I added some iridescent sequins here and there for the effect of bubbles. And voila!

Thank you for stepping by and I hope to see you again.

Take care,
Frederique
Xxx

Stamps by Nicole Wright Designs...

The other day I received two stamp sets by Nicolewrightdesigns.com, a set with koi fish and  set with cherry blossoms. I ordered them at emeraldcreek.ca and am in love.

I already had a few ideas in my head from the moment I laid eyes on the stamps... and today I finally had the time to get two of them on paper.

I made a black tag with a koi stamped with embossing ink and heatembossed it with sticky embossing powder. Then covered it with copper coloured gilding flakes. And luckily it turned out exactly how I envisioned it! I heat embossed the waves and sentiment. The edge I rubbed a little with copper gilding wax.
I stained a piece of crinkle ribbon and added the bow.

The card front is water colour card stock and I stamped the cherry blossom with stazon ink. After it dried I covered it with masking liquid and let that dry. Then stamped over it with the other koi fish and also covered it with the liquid mask.

I painted the background with distress ink and a waterbrush. I removed the mask and paibted in the blossoms. I stamped a few on a scrap piece of water colour card stock and cut them out. And stuck them on the branch I stamped and coloured. I coloured in the fish with distress ink and covered it with a wink of stella brush to give it a little shimmer. I stamped the sentiment and inked the edges of the card with walnut stain distress ink and stuck it on a card blank.

I can't wait to get my other ideas on paper!!

Thank you for stepping by and hopefully until next time.

Take care,

Frederique
Xxx

step by step tutorial for staining crinkle ribbon

Dear blog visitor,

Thank you for stopping by and reading my post.

The other day I was asked how I make my ribbons match my projects. It is a technique I learned watching Tim Holtz and various other artists.

So here a step by step explanation of how I do it.

I start by cutting a piece of crinkle ribbon, my favourite ribbon of all time.

I choose the colours I want to use, most of the time two or three different ones. You can also use distress stain or even distress markers.

I swipe some on my craft sheet. You can also use distress stains or even the markers.

You then spritz water on the colours until you have bigger droplets.

 This is the effect you are going for. If you want stronger colours, you just use more ink and less water.

 And then you just drop in your crinkle ribbon!

You play with it until you have the desired effect.

If you want it really crinkly you can squeeze the ribbon in your hand. Be careful though because if you squeeze too much you end up with one muddy colour....

If you like the colour effects you can dry it with your heat tool. Don't be alarmed when you see steam coming from the ribbon, it is heat resistant and will turn shiny once it dries. If you think the colours are too bright, you can squeeze the ribbon in a paper towel to get rid of some of the colour befor heating it.

And this is the end result. I didn't use much ink, so this is coloured very lightly.

So now you can always match your ribbon and bows to your project.

Thank you for your visit and keep your craft on.

Until next time, take care.

Frederique

A simple stamped tag

Welcome dear reader,

I decided to sit at my desk and see what happens...this tag happened....
I took a manilla shipping tag and inked it with pink shades of distress ink using the wrinkle free distress technique. I then stamped various textures on the tag with archival ink. I inked up the edge with walnut stain distress ink and my trusted blending tool.
The small tag is even simpler. I stamped the image on it with stazon ink and wrinkled it a bit and then inked over it with walnut stain distress ink and my blending tool. I distressed the edges and inked it again.
I punched some holes and added some eyelets with my big bite and the tag was done.
I stained some crinkle ribbon with peacock featers distress stain and dried it to make the bow.

Sometimes I get so caught up in embellishments and die cuts that I almost forget to stamp. In my heart I am a stamper....ever the stampaholic ;-)

I hope you enjoyed this written tutorial.

Have a wonderful day and take care,

Frédérique
Xxx

A grungy cupcake

Hello dear reader,

The other day a dear crafty friend of mine challenged me to make a card with a cupcake. I would get bonus credit if I made it grungy....
I stamped the cupcake on white card stock with embossing ink. I embossed it with Stampendous Frantage Shabby white embossing powder. I also sprinkled some on the rest of the paper. I heated it underneath to make sure the powder stayed put. I love the look of the frantage range.
After it cooled down I inked the card with old paper distress ink. Then I inked part of it with Brushed corduroy distress ink and finally with vintage photo, walnut stain and gathered twigs to get the "ombre" look. I added hints of colour with some adirondack acrylic paint. I stamped the sentiment on some other card stock amd cut it out and inked it with old paper distress ink and stuck it to the card with 3D foam. I distressed the edges and inked them with gathered twigs distress ink. Then stuck the whole thing on a beige card blank and this is the result....

Until next time, take care.

Frédérique xxx

Halloween mayhem

A few new projects I created.

Dear Bloggers,

I'd like to share a few of my projects I made the last couple of weeks. I am working on various big ones so you will have to bear with me and these will have to do for now. As soon as my other projects are done I will share them with you obviously.

Enjoy what I have sofar.....

Just a simple stamped card with a die cut crown embellishment.

 

This is a huge tag I made for my aunt. She broke her leg on her skiing vacation....

 

The various elements highlighted...

A fun card made for my cousin

Just a few cards for my stash in case I need one quick....

This card I sold to my mum. She needed a card for an aunt of hers.

 

Well that was it for now, I am going into my craft room now to work on some of my projects again. I will show you the results very soon.

 

Take care for now and hope to see you again soon.

 

Frederique

Birthday card

Hello bloggers,
In this post I would like to share another birthday card I made.
I will post more very soon.
Take care
Frédérique

Various new projects

Welcome dear reader,

in this post I want to share some of my new projects. I will not bore you with the process of how I made them like I did in the previous posts but just show you what I made.

If you like to know how they came about just drop me a comment and I will let you know.

Enjoy!

Frederique

 A simple tag with letter tiles.

 

A pocket made of a giant tag.

 

 

 Again a pocket made of a giant tag. Stamped with stamps given by Tim Holtz as a thank you for my letter donation.

 The pocket....

 The tag.

 A birthday tag for my auntie who lives in french speaking Belgium.

 A thank you card for an aunt who gave me these stamps. Well she gave me an envelope with cash towards my hobby and I bought these stamps, amongst other things.

 A birthday card

Highlight of the card so you can see the crackled effect.

 

 

 

And that's all for now folks!

Please visit my blog again and feel free to comment.

 

Take care.

Frederique