THE ANTIQUED TAG

Hi All, today i haven't done any stamping, however last night i took an old cream coloured tag/label and made it look vintage with a few stamps from a stamp sheet by Sam Poole, that i bought from Crafters Companion.  I was drawn directly to this sheet as i love the vintage feel and wild flowers, and there is two very small stamps that i would have paid for on their own for what i paid for the whole sheet.......a 'cracked earth' look and a grunged dot like patch, they are so well worth what i paid for the whole sheet and i have used them on this tag as a background in a second stamping, by firstly stamping the initial on some scrap paper and then used the secondary stamp on the background, and then i have gone over the same area with the first stamping alternating the stamps direction as i go, i really do like the finished effect and this would look great on a card for male or female! for females you could pretty it up with some ribbon or lace, or use brighter colours, anyway, this isn't a finished card, its rather a finished technique, hope you like it xxx check back for more inspiration on this new stamp sheet from Crafters Companion (where i purchased it from )Who would have thought that this was a plain cream boring tag/label?

STAMPAVIE-MY SARAH KAY CARDS

Hi Crafters,
I don't know about you but i absolutely love Sarah Kay images, Magnolia and Elizabeth Bell designs, and i am slowly but surely collecting these stamps. I bought my first Sarah Kay by Stampavie stamp last week from CRAFTERS COMPANION and at £6.75, i could afford one a month to play with.  Anyway as most of you know i have been recently designing my cards for Sheena, so when the stamp arrived from Crafters Companion, i couldn't play with it. Boo hoo........anyhoo, after a rest over the weekend, (as i cannot craft too much due to illness)  i stamped and embossed it this morning..............i thoroughly enjoyed leisurely colouring it in this afternoon with my promarkers whilst watching tv from my bed, as my mobility became worse this afternoon so i'm bedbound at the mo! ......anyway, i finished the card 40mins later and thought i would share it with you, here on my blog......i do hope you like it, i love it and this stamp will definitely be used over and over again, it's gorjus!!!  hugs, Vick xxxxx

P.S   Don't forget, i love getting comments!!! Sorry if the card is darker than usual but the light nowadays isn't very good even in the afternoon!!

Ingredients i used to make this card

Stampavie Sarah Kay (clear) stamp 'Bernadette admiring the spring flowers' from CC HERE
A4 Centura Pearl card in 'Snow White' from C.C, HERE
Pink Coredinations card
Corner Rounder Punch (papermania)
MS punch around the page
Blueberry Hill DP
Ornate Circle Die from Spellbinder
Cherry Blossoms, pearl heart ribbon buckle, satin ribbon (orchid) pink/cream calla lilies, pink deep pikn and pink/white 25mm roses all from Wild Orchid Crafts, HERE
White embroidered rose ribbon trim from my stash
Lilac ribbon rose from stash
Lilac prima flower from Joanna Sheen, HERE
Irridescent Glitter spray from Crafters Companion
Versamark
Distress Ink (spun sugar and Victorian Velvet) around the ornate round
Black detail EP
Collall Glue Gel from Crafters Companion
Collall photo glue from Crafters Companion
1" wide DST from Poundland
Heat Gun
Heat Resistant/Non Stick craft sheet from Sheena Douglass, HERE
Promarkers used to colour:-
Jeans -Powder Blue
Jeans Patch - Orchid
Top and Hair Ribbon - Orchid and Amethyst
Flowers - Orchid and Lilac
Foliage - Leaf Green and Marsh Green
Skin - Satin, Blush and Dusky Pink
Watering Can - Cool Grey 1

Thankyou xx

DOWN THE PUB!!!!

So here is my final peek into my 'A Little Bit Sketchy, Vol2' range, i would have more but circumstances on this occasion slowed me down and prevented me from making more but i hope you like what i did make.......heres to the next sneaky peeks from my designed cards for Sheena!  In the meantime i will be posting cards that i have made for my private cardmaking and also some samples i will have made on Barbara's next live show (her last, before Christmas boo hoo) on the 5th December, so not too long to wait avid stampers!!! Hugs Vick xxx

Ingredients i used to make this card

Scene and sentiment from 'Cheers' stamp plate from Sheena Douglass HERE
MS corner punch
Black & White ribbon from my stash
Watercolour card
White base card
Beaded oval die from Spellbinder
Scalloped oval die from Spellbinder
Black card
'WOW' Black Glint EP from Sheena Douglass
Archival Inkpad (black)
Good quality tapered brush to draw out the colour with a little water
Distree Ink (black soot)
Border made by stamping from the curly flourish at the beginning of the 'C' in cheers
Collall Glue Gel from Crafters Companion
Collall Photo Glue from Crafters Companion
Heat Gun
Anti static bag
Heat Resistant Non Stick Craft sheet

BEAUTIFUL STREAM!!

Hi Crafters,
This is another card i made for the launch of Sheena Douglass stamps 'A little bit Sketchy...Vol2' i love this scene. and i think its clever how Sheena has drawn it to be open to suggestion, meaning it could be a spring summr card but with a clever use of colour and techniques, the scene could quite easily be turned into a wintery scene and adding snow! Hope you like the scene too and i hope i've done it justice! bye for now xx vick

Ingredients i used to make this card


Scene and sentiment from the 'stream' stamp plate available from here
Heat Gun
White base card
Coloured and stamped with various distress inks and aquamarkers
ferns embossed with a pine green embossing powder from my stash
'WOW' Black Glint E.P from Sheena
Archival Inkpad (black)
3d foam pads

CROCUS DOILY CARD

Hey there people, this is another designed sample card from the new "A little bit Sketchy"Vol.2 range from Sheena Douglass here.  I hope you like it, have a good Sunday evening.................x

Ingredients used to make this card


Sentiment and Crocus image from the 'Spring' stamp plate
Ivory pearlescent A4 card
Ornate Circle Die from Spellbinder
White flat backed adhesive pearls that i coloured Aubergine to match card with aubergine Promarker
Backing Paper and adhesive decoupaged lilacs from my own stash
All fabric flowers on this card are from Joanna Sheen
Doily is from Joanna Sheen
Lilac vellum from my stash
Aubergine Stardream card from Joanna Sheen
Sentiment stamped with Versamark and then embossed with Cosmic Shimmer (Blue Raspberry Aurora) E.P
Crocuses stamped and coloured with Big and Juicy (Hydrangea) embossed with WOW clear EP all from Sheena Douglass
Pearl brad from Papermania
spacer bead from stash
Collall Photo Glue from Crafters Companion
Collall Glue Gel from Crafters Companion
DST
Cut and Dry foam from Sheena Douglass
Anti Static Bag
Acrylic Block
UMount from Crafters Companion
Non Stick/Heat Resistant craft sheet from Sheena Douglass
Heat Gun from stash

any other questions relating to this card please do not hesitate on getting in touch with moi!!! xx

MY 8x8 "SNOWDROP" LOL.......... SNEAKY PEEK!!

Hello Everyone on this cold Saturday morning!!  Being Saturday, that could only mean one thing, Yes!!!!!.........Sheena is on C&C in 24hrs time, yippee.....cannot wait...........so to make the time go faster you could go around the DT's blogs and check out what they have made with Sheena's new stamp sets! and you could start here, on my blog! I stamped and embossed the snowdrops and i knew that everyone else would be leaving them white, but i thought i would do them whatever colour i wanted, that's the art of being a designer!!! LOL ........oh ok, you caught me out, i was so wrapped up in what i was doing, i finished the card and looked at it again to take my pics and realised that i had stamped the snowdrops and NOT the crocuses......"Oh No.....they are snowdrops!!! my card was ruined and then i thought......what is art all about? having the licence to interpret whatever, however you want.......so i'm sticking with my lilac snowdrops!!!  LOL..........., so what do you think? I hope it really doesn't matter...........and you like the card, hugs to you all and thankyou for passing by, see you tomorrow!! Vick xxx
P.S Don't forget to check out my fellow team mates blogs for their designs today, SHEENA, GILL and LIN xxx

Ingredients i used to make this card

'Spring' stamp plate from HERE
A3 Ivory Centura Pearl card from Crafters Companion HERE to make the 8x8 blank
Various flowers from my craft stash, Joanna Sheen HERE and Wild Orchid Crafts HERE
Silver mirri card from my craft stash
Bronze/Lilac paper from Crafters Companion
Butterfly from Marianne Designs
Fancy Ornate circle die from Spellbinders
satin ribbon in lilac also from Wild OrchidCrafts (link above)
clear diamantes from my own craft stash
Spun Sugar Distress Ink from Tim Holtz HERE at SD
Aubergine heavy weight textured card from Kameo Crafts
Lilac floral card from Hunkydory
DST
Collall Glue Gel from Crafters Companion
Collall Photo glue from Crafters Companion
MS punch around the page
foam pads
Snowdrops were coloured in using promarkers :- orchid, amethyst, lilac

NAUGHTY NAUGHTY!!! SNEAK

I know its only early, but technically it is the third day of previews even though it's barely Friday i knew i would be busy so thought i would post my sneak peek before i go to bed, i am naughty, but nice! Hope you like this card and check out my fellow teamies blogs of SHEENA, LIN & GILL and see what they're getting upto, feel free to post your comments on what you think of my cards, and i am thanking you in advance, lookout for my further postings! I am just about to start work on the next batches of Clarity stamps too so they will be on here first week in December too! Itssafe to say if you followme you won't miss all the previews and inspiration i'm hoping i am passing on to other crafters out there, cheers everyone and i hope you like this 3rd offering!! xx

Ingredients used to make this card

'Cheers' stamp plate from http://www.sheenadouglass.com/
Chocolate brown & gold leather effect card
Ivory card for matting & layering
Gold 6x6 base card
WOW black glint E.P from http://www.sheenadouglass.com/
WOW Gold E.P from http://www.sheenadouglass.com/
Alcohol inks from Tin Holtz in Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain
Leaves (card) from spellbinders die
other leaves from craft stash
Roses from Wild Orchid
MS punch around the page
Collall Photo Glue from Crafters Companion
Collall Glue Gel from Crafters Companion
Gold Glitter spray from Crafters Companion


I used a good quality paint brush and took the colour back out of the pub image so it stands out more from the background colours

Thanks for taking the time out to read this and comment

SNEAKY PEEK No2

Hiya Folks, hope you are having a good day, i thought i would post my next sneaky peek of my designs this time using Sheena's new stamps due out on Create and Craft 9am and 12noon this Sunday, dont miss it guys!!!! hugs for the day, Vick xx

                                                                                                                                                                        





Ingredients used to make this card

Bird and Sentiment from 'Faith' stamp sheet from http://www.sheenadouglass.com/
Ornate circle die from Spellbinders
Cappucino crocheted lace ribbon with satin ribbon threaded through
Vintage floral digital paper from Bearly Mine Crafts
Green Frame and Leaves from Marianne Designs
Distress Inks from Tim Holtz in Antique Linen and Vintage Photo
Cut n Dry foam
Aquamarkers to colour
Various leaves from craft stash
Various flowers inc roses of varying sizes and types, calla lilies & stamens all from Wild Orchid crafts
stamped and embossed butterfly onto acetate from my craft stash
DST
Foam Pads
'WOW' Gold E.P from http://www.sheenadouglass.com/
MS Border Punch (doily lace)
Pearlescent light green card for matting and layering
Ivory A3 Centura Pearl card  from Crafters Companion
Gold Glitter spray from Crafters Companion
Collall Photo glue from Crafters Companion

MY FIRST SNEAKY PEEK!!!!

Hi There Stampers,

Today is the day we can start posting our sneaky peeks of Sheena Douglass' new stamps that are due on Create and Craft this Sunday!!! at 9am and Noon12pm......i cannot wait and i'm not on my own am I crafters?......check out my first sneak peek and then bob over to the lady herself  SHEENA and see what little gem she has to show you, i'm sure its gonna be a beauty, as always!!!  and my other designer friends have lots to show you too, one sneaky peek every day until Sunday, so there's plenty of inspiration for you, for when you get your stamps through the post!!!! and of course you are getting an idea of what goodies Sheena will be bringing to the shows as well so pop along and check out GILL (who eerily has used the same stamp as me for her first preview,lol)  LIN my other fellow teammate, a great designer after another, after another!!! Hope you like.......hugs, Vick xxxx

By the way, I will add a rundown of ingredients i used to make this card later! xx thanks


Ingredients used to make this card

A4 piece of 'snow white' Centura Pearl card from Crafters Companion
A5 piece of card printed with own wood effect print, however, any obscure background print or stamping with do
Bronze Mirri Board from Joanna Sheen
Corner Punch (corneradorner) from my local craft shop
Spellbinders Labels Die
Sheena's 'Believe' stamp plate (Alittle Bit Sketchy Vol2) for the church and sentiment from http://www.sheenadouglass.com/
Distress Inks in Antique Linen and Walnut Stain were used to distress the card and colour the images with from Tim Holtz & Ranger
Cut and Dry foam from Ranger
WOW E.P Pepper Reg from http://www.sheenadouglass.com/
1" wide chocolate brown grosgrain which i made into what i call a chocolate box bow (now adopted by many)
DST (craftstudio)
Collall Photo Glue from Crafters Companion
Collall Glue Gel from Crafters Companion
 If you have any further questions about this card do not hesitate to ask them , Vick xx

MALE INFLUENCES

Well this stamp set screams 'MALE THEMED CARDS' at you and it would be pretty hard to make anything else from them cause they were so masculine that i thought to myself whilst working with them......."Great, something for men that are easy to work with!" A lovely large stamp in the shape of a 1st class stamp, that didn't occur to me until the shows, that it is an actual ATC size, "duh duh brain i am or what"? I could have done so much more with this, if i had only realised what it was intended for, but Hey! that's called suggestive and maybe being a designer i may have interpreted it differently anyhow, so it looks like i did.........even though i lost my lovely daddy when i was 15, i also tend to write DAD on all the male cards i have designed over the years for TV, i guess its wishful thinking, i don't have the need to make 'DAD' cards in my everyday life, as my husband's dad is no longer with us either, so i guess i indulge myself if i have to make male cards for TV, its got DAD on it!! Joys of being a designer, you can do what you want!!! LOL..........so thanks Barbara for letting me be a little indulgent! xx

I used in this card some alcohol inks on the gold mirri card that was then cut out from the beaded oval spellbinder frames. I stamped and embossed the 1st class stamp in black detail EP then coloured the stamped area in gold Sakura gel pens, i also stamped it onto an olde world map of the British Isles that i printed and also stamped the fob watch that also comes with this set to make my own background on the card, which gave me a great backdrop to the stamp and then i used the minature car stamp and embossed it in gold detailed EP as a travel aspect to go with the map, i thought it went well anyway! lol......maybe i have a different view on things to other 'normal' people LOL........i used male type colours but im female and i love the dark chocolate browns and burgundy's anyway, this is my 'DAD' card this year!!! hugs to all my followers xxxxx

THE SECOND SILVER/WHITE

This was the second card in these designs that i finished in Silver and White and its a lovely design of a snowdrops,birds and grasses round, with a clever corner and sentiment which is so true! hope you like it......it was heat embossed like the other card in silver sparkled EP i also added Stickles (Crystal) to the snowdrops themselves and added the few diamantes, this card didnt need anything else to make it special, the stamps did that for you!

SILVER AND WHITE

I really think there is something Classy and beautiful about Silver/White and Gold/Ivory designs and i seemed to get into the Silver and White this month very easily as i completed 2 very different designs in the same way, i loved working on them both and the wreath had a lot of cutting out as i used the initial wreath that came with the set to decoupage it but then stamped and heat embossed the single leaf too several times and added that to the already stamped and heat embossed wreath 3 times over and cut out, all onto mint scented white with silver cracked detail its gorgeous card, really special! And to keep that classical, elegant way about it i finished the easel off with the gorgeous, poignant verse from the great William Shakespeare that was cut and embossed with my spellbinders labels set and finished off with a round diamante buckle and black velvet ribbon! So Lush, i would be over the moon to recieve this at Christmas, hope you like it guys xxxxx

OTHER CLARITY DESIGNS

Another design that i thought would make a great male card was the tree and partridge, because Barb didn't have to state it was a partridge persay, it could have been any bird and therefore not a necessarily 'christmas' card, i feel that's why she probably left it open to suggestion, we don't all want to buy just christmas stamps, any stamper will agree, i presume, that we try to get as much out of a design as we can and if we can use it all year round, we will, its called value for money and crafters are very good at hunting out, 'value for money'!! so here it is, very moody, and not overly feminine with one bow that's chunky grosgrain in chocolate brown

I stamped around the card in versamark and used detailed clear EP and heated from behind to give that real glossy effect, i stamped the 'partridge' in versamark and used a bronze EP coloured it in with promarkers............i stamped the tree in Archival Black and embossed with a detailed black EP and that was stamped onto a masked off area that i brayered (speedball)with my foliage Big and Juicy Inkpad

DISTRESSED FEATHER

Well by now you know i loved this feather so i won't go on, here's the distressed, antiqued looking card, i just love this card, even if i do say so myself and it really would make a great male card too!! well i think so anyway.....................

MY CLARITY DESIGNS

Hiya Folks,  I'm a little upset as i didn't even see most of my creations on the show and the bottom of the pile was seen but hey! I guess they weren't right, but i loved them and other people who have seen them love them and might want to know how they were made so here is my rundown, thanks guys for always cheering me up on Facebook! without you there wouldn't be a point!!

so this is one of my favourites, i just adore that feather stamp its gorgeous and done in a dot matrix styley, which is (if you didn't know) a picture or form made up of tiny dots instead if brushstrokes or pencil lines, and i think that's why i love this stamp so much as it is very intricate and in the basic B&W the intricacy is very evident.  Well drawn by Barbara some years ago now, but one of those images that can never grow old, as it is natural!
I masked out a 1 inch border all the way around the DL card size and stamped out the smaller feather stamp that comes in the set of 3, i then stamped out the largest feather and did a complex crackle effect that took twice to make as i wasn't happy with the first attempt it wasn't cracked enough (does that tell you something about me? lol) anyhow here is a close up of the crackled effect on the card, this wasn't seen on tv so i thought i would showcase it here, this is my blog of stamped designs afterall!

Hope you like this one guys and thanks for stopping by, hugs Vick xxxxx

WOW!! SHEENA IS HERE

Wow.....I got some goodies via a courier from Sheena yesterday and will be designing this weekend and the best part of next week, for her show, date to be announced soon,  so stay tuned into my blog and i will let you know.  I will be posting sneaky previews of my designs in the days leading upto the shows, all i can say before then is they are fabulous, and very useable! Sheena's unique style of stamps are always easy to work with for beginners and still challenging enough for the old hand/advanced stamper such as myself! The stamps are sketchy and Sheena knows just what us crafters want and need and you will certainly NEEEEEED these, they are, in my humble opinion, suitable for any occasion across the board whether for a female or male there is something for all in these two sets of 3 stamp sheets, 6 in total, so watch this space for your previews and the finalised date for the shows! Hugs Vick xxx

DON'T MISS BARBARA

Hiya Stampers,

Just a heads up for people  so that they don't forget Barbara Gray is on our screens this Sunday, Yippee!!!! at 11am-1pm, so two hours of pure stamping indulgence. I have completed and sent Barb my designs and she has them safely tucked away ready for the show so i will be able to post them on here and my Facebook page on Sunday! I truly hope you like them and enjoy the shows as i know you all will, she is bringing some lovely sets of stamps, will be back on here soon with news of Sheena Douglass too! so keep posted, hugs to you, Vick

TIME IS MARCHING ON!!!!!!!

Oh heck! I've just realised how close we are to Christmas (sorry for swearing) and i haven't even thought about Christmas cards, luckily i don't have a massive family so thats all good but the ones i do have all know the calibur of my work and will be expecting out of this world cards, and why wouldnt they? they know me so well that i go overboard on family cards and nothing is too much for them so i'd better get my thinking cap on!!!
I did buy Sheena's Christmas stamp plates, the last ones she did for Creative Expressions prior to leaving in the hope that i would use them and only them for my designs this year and then whilst looking/scavenging for some glorious designer backing papers i came across some more christmas stamps i'd forgotten about, some embellies and papers and then thought, Hmm......maybe i will do something other than what was in my head earlier last month! Oh dear, ive rambled again, sorry guys......i will be putting a couple of cards up soon i promise, but in the meantime im sure you have plenty of your own things to craft for Christmas too.........if you have any ideas please leave me a comment, anything different this year that you might try? i am hoping to stick to one design idea that all my cards will be a classic White/Silver mix and/or a gold/ivory mix, anyhoo......bye for now then and stay safe folks, hugs, Vick xxxxx

WHAT I'M UPTO!

Hi Guys,  Well i know i've been a little quiet of late...yes me, quiet, shock horror!!! well its my darling husband's birthday today so we are spending some time together but i will be spending most of my time today in my craft studio, putting together some designs for the lovely Barbara Gray who is popping onto our screens very soon.....so watch this space as i will be putting my designs up on the same day, which should be a week today on Create and Craft, our two favourite hours of the month!!! Hope you are all well and ready for all the new things i have in the pipeline, lets just hope that they come from out of my brain onto YouTube and my website also this and my next blog which is swingin into action this coming week! its all go here, i just hope my disabilities allow me to have some fun with my stamps and inkpads!!! speak soon guys, stay safe, and keep well!!! love vick xxxxx