Messy Mesh Abstract Stamp from Darkroom Door

 Another handy Abstract Stamp from Darkroom Door in their latest release - Messy Mesh.

This is an awesome image to lay down in the background and then go to town adding a focal point over the top.

Here's my first card - a bright happy hello:

I created a background on thin Yupo paper using alcohol inks, then flipped it over and stamped the Messy Mesh and embossed it with gold embossing powder. The word comes from the Whimsical Words Stamp Set, and the circles from the Simply Circles Stamp Set.

I added some star sequins and pink diamantes together with some purple thread to complete the card.

This next sample is far more subdued:

The background was created the same way on thin Yupo paper with alcohol inks, but this time I added a Poppy from the Poppies Stamp Set and a word from the Everyday Life Stamp Set over the Messy Mesh that I embossed with copper embossing powder.

Thanks for looking!

Moroccan Tiles Background stamp from Darkroom Door

A simply divine background stamp from Darkroom Door's latest release - this one is called Moroccan Tiles. I used it to create this card:

As soon as I saw it, I though of a vintage tin tile roof. I embossed the image with silver embossing powder, then covered the entire background with Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Spray. Once dry, I spattered some water droplets over the top and let the Distress Oxide to its thing and give me lovely variations in colour:

I stamped and embossed in silver the words from the Follow your Heart Quote stamp, then fussy cut them and adhered them onto the background next to a cluster of cream flowers.

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to check out the rest of this awesome release at Darkroom Door.

Made for You Small Stamp by Darkroom Door

 Darkroom Door's latest release includes four new Small Stamps. These are well-priced, super handy little sets of words, and this one is called Made for You. While I know this will come in handy for the back of cards and projects, I thought I'd extend it's use to create some faux metal gift tags:

I grabbed some thick kraft cardstock, and stamped the Made for You stamp and embossed with silver embossing powder.

I then applied some cheap silver paint over the top, added an eyelet and sponged a little brown Distress Ink over the top to give a worn, rusted look:

I used some ball chain to attach one of the tags to a gift:

Thanks for stopping by!

Word Labels Stamp Set from Darkroom Door

 Now this is a useful stamp set! Word Labels are just that - labels with words on them. Simples!

The very first thing I did was stamp the whole thing onto mixed media cardstock, then cut each one out during a boring Teams meeting for work. I now have a lovely dish with words that are ready to roll when I get the crafting urge:

Here are a couple of projects I completed with some of the words from my dish:

I created an alcohol ink background on a piece of acetate, then attached that to a piece of cream card that had the World Map Background Stamp on it. I chose the word 'journey' on this card that is going to a friend who is about to embark on some travel. A little orange thread and some gold pearls to complete:

The next project is a tag using some of my stash of tea bag paper and tea-stained fabrics:

I started by stamping the new Small Vintage Label Eclectic Stamp to frame the focal point, then stamped Messy Mesh in a couple of spots.

Layers of fabric and tea bag underneath a Swiss stamp I bought from a grab bag on Etsy (love vintage postage stamps!).

I then added some Word Labels and some stitching with orange thread. This tag can be adhered to the front of a card, but I think it will adorn a vintage frame on my craft room wall.

Thanks for looking, and don't forget to visit Darkroom Door to see the rest of this wonderful release!

Lattice Background Stamp from Darkroom Door

 Darkroom Door have an exciting new release happening, and it includes a beautiful new background stamp I used to make this card:

I stamped the Lattice background onto some sturdy multi media cardstock (torn from an art journal). I then ran a white crayon over the lattice pattern to protect it from the next layer of ink:

Some spattering of ink, and a few flowers from the Fine Flowers stamp set, and a couple of words from the Word Labels set, and card almost done.

I added some gauze dyed with spray ink and some sparkly diamantes to complete the card.

Thanks for looking! 

Snow Globe Christmas Card

Hello again!

Here's a card I made with the new Snow Globe stamp from Darkroom Door:

The window gave me an opportunity to create a shaker card and use some of my sequin collection.  Here's a close up:

The reindeer and most of the stamps in the background inside the snow globe come from the Christmas Reindeer stamp set.

It was so easy to cut a window from this stamp, I can see myself creating a few more shaker cards in the near future. I'm not limited to Christmas themed cards - I'm thinking a terrarium or fishtank might be cute......

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Hello Wild Things!

Has it really been over a year since I last gave this blog some love???

For those who don't know, I returned to work full time a couple of years ago, so crafting has definitely fallen by the wayside. 

And then I ran into Rachel from Darkoom Door at a craft show (because crafting and shopping for craft supplies are two separate hobbies), who told me about her upcoming release, and well......it got me crafting again!

This is a card I made using the new Cheetah Texture Stamp:

I stamped it in black to create a background, then again in pink over the image of the vintage car to add some wild detail to the white space.

The car and words are from the Classic Cars Vol 1 set, and the hearts were made with the Arty Hearts Collage stamp and coordinating stencil. I also added some ink splats in pink to the background from the Paint Splats stamp set, and some marks using the Crossed Off Abstract stamp.

I will have some more samples using other awesome products from this release. In the meantime, check it out for yourself on the Darkroom Door website.

MIchelle Lupton's Case me a Christmas Card Challenge

 It was lovely to get a message from Michelle Lupton asking me to once again be part of her annual challenge.

Michelle creates a card inspired by one of mine and vice versa. I love seeing all of her invited guests in the build up to Christmas.

This is the beautiful card of Michelle's I chose this year:

I loved these elements especially:

- ink blending (Michelle's is seamless!)

- stars/sparkle

- the strip of intense colour across the card with all of that gorgeous white space to emphasise it.

Here's my spin on it:

Instead of stamping and embossing the stars, I chose to stamp using Darkroom Door's Starry Night Background stamp and use a mist of water instead of ink. Because I used Distress Oxide for the ink blending, when I stamped with water it dissolved the ink and I was able to lift it off with an absorbent paper towel.

I found a scrap of holographic cardstock and cut the words (Simon Says Stamp die) and the strips, then added some adhesive gems for extra sparkle.

And because I can never stop at just one when I'm inspired, here are another couple of cards:

Here they are all together:

Thanks for looking, and don't forget to pop over to Michelle's blog to see which card of mine she cased and to follow all of her wonderful crafty happenings.

Smile Stencil by Darkroom Door

 Another handy stencil from Darkroom Door's new release - the Medium Smile Stencil has all sorts of words to lift the spirits and put a smile on your face.

Here are a couple of cards I created with the stencil:

After creating a couple of watercolour backgrounds using Distress Oxide inks and a couple of Abstract stamps (02 and 06), I spread some Decofoil Transfer Gel through the stencil, then adhered some holographic foil to it with a laminating machine. The effect is spectacular!

I added a couple of embellishments to the card fronts using a butterfly from the Spread Your Wings Stamp Set, the Stars Stamp Set and the Simply Circles Stamp Set.

Thanks for stopping by today!

TALL Flowers Stencil by Darkroom Door

 The new release from Darkroom Door contains a number of gorgeous stencils. Here is the Tall Flowers stencil on an art journal page I created:

Using a gel plate, I created a background using a number of blue acrylic colours. I then cleaned the gel plate, placed the stencil down, and added pink, yellow and burgundy paints through the flower outlines, then printed the flowers onto the blue background. When the paint dried, I replaced the stencil and added some paint to the tips of the flowers, then sprinkled embossing powder to these areas. The embossing powders give a nice opaque coat of colour over the acrylics.

I sponged some paint through the small Wildflowers Stencil, then sprinkled some purple embossing powder onto the tops of the flowers to highlight them, and then grabbed some gel pens and outlined the different elements of the page in different colours.

I stamped the sentiment from the Botanical Script Stamp Set onto cream paper, mounted this onto some boxboard, then trimmed it out into strips. I inked these with brown ink to help them look aged, then adhered them to the page. I added some bright orange stitching around the border with my sewing machine.

One of the things I love about Darkroom Door stencils is that the mask is included in the pack, and that opens up so many more exciting possibilities!

Thanks for looking!