I made a Birthday for someone special recently. I wanted it to be flat and have a kitten theme to reflect the card was from us all.
I used my Cameo Silhouette to make stitch markings on my Craftcard and Sketch Pens to write Happy Birthday. I then cut some cardstock to make part of the balloon to which the kittens are holding onto. The kittens were cut out in black cardstock with dies from my crafty stash.
Everywhere you look at the moment you see products with skulls on. Handbags, phone covers, t-shirts, you name it including stamps.
I have some Sheena "Day of the Dead" stamps and also some skull stamps from Stamp Addicts "Skull-tastic" stamps.
I didn't realise that the Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated in central and southern Mexico during the days of 1 and 2 November. This also coincides with the Catholic holiday called All Soul's and All Saint's Day, the Mexican people have combined this with their own ancient beliefs in honoring their deceased love ones.
They belief the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31, and the spirits of all deceased children are allowed to reunite with their families for 24 hours. On November 2 the spirits of the adults come down to enjoy the festivities that are prepared for them.
Apparently it is a very expensive holiday time but outweighed by the belief that happy spirits will provide protection, good luck and wisdom to their families. I particularly like the multi coloured skulls such as this one.
So here are a few cards I have made using my Skull-tastic stamps by Stamp Addicts.
They lend themselves to any occasion!
Including making fun Christmas Cards!
Today I have been watching recordings of Andy Skinner demonstrating how to do mixed media with Deco Art, Tando Creative and Stampendous products that I recorded from the Hochanda shows I watched in August.
I started with a simple technique of decorating a greyboard heart. This greyboard is really nice material and takes paint well.
First I use a single coat of Deco Art grey paint on both sides.
Once dry I used some candle wax to create a resist where I wanted to create the aged weather look.
Then on went a coat of chalky white paint.
A little scrapping off the paint around the ages revealed the undercoat.
I then used a weathered wood effect stamp by Stampendous.
Followed by overstamping it with another stamp in the second stamp set I had.
Finally the last job was to dilute a little Quinacridone Gold and Paynes Grey paint and produce a light wash over the surface.
I don't know what I am going to do with it but really it is all about learning different techniques and building confidence.
The next project I did was more impressive. I have made a rusty looking piece of door garniture similar to one in this screenshot from the show.
Here is my piece of artwork. I quite like this but what do you think? Again, I don't know what I shall do with it but it is about learning different techniques.
No not me silly! Having said that I do have two adorable 4 month old kittens. Bamboo and China were rescue kittens and we adopted them from the Cats Protection Axhayes Centre, near Exeter. They are beginning to settle into their "forever home" with us.
Both are very timid but will eat out our hands if we offer a treat in the form of a biscuit. We renamed our kittens Misty and Milo. At first Misty would snatch the biscuit with her paw because she didn't want to get close but now she takes the biscuit from my fingers. Her brother Milo is a little less timid although neither are ready to be picked up.
When they are both distracted with bowls of food we sit on the floor next to them and stroke their backs. They don't seem to mind this and hopefully it is having some affect in socialising them.
In fact today has been a breakthrough for Milo. I came down to give them their lunch and they were both sleeping in their beds. Milo woke when I got close to him and rolled over and allowed me to gently stroke his tummy. Then after feeding them both Milo stayed by my side and allowed me to stroke him for a few minutes.
 |
| Milo |
The strangest thing happens when we feed them something other than cat food. We have cooked them chicken and they both produce a very strange growl in excitement. We know this isn't aimed at each other. It is rather quite odd!
 |
| Misty |
So the real reason for naming this post "New Baby" is that I am going to share with you cards I am making which have a "new baby" theme.
I have some new dies from the Signature Collection by Sara Davies at Crafters Companion that are perfect for this called "Little Angel". They even match a paper pad that I have had for several years that has elephants and giraffes on too. I have been wanting a giraffe and elephant die but until now had been holding out for ones I really liked.
I am going to challenge myself to see how many cards I can make from these dies before I get bored and post them on this page as I make them, starting with the first which is this one.
Crafters Companion's gallery of Little Angel sample cards can be viewed here . The other day I made washing line cards and today it was chests of drawers.
I used my Cameo Silhouette to produce the card templates from a template I downloaded from the Silhouette Design Store. I also downloaded a coat hanger and resized it to fit my clothing I cut out from the dies.
I really want to have a go at a wardrobe next based on a stepper card design.
For this washing line card I used a peeloff sticker and had some leftover peeloff bits that worked well as pegs. It made the card less bulky than using tiny small pegs.
Be sure to let me know what you think.
Sunday 16th October - here are a few cards I have made during the week/weekend along the same theme.
This embossing folder by Crafter's Companion reminds me of a baby blanket.
This background has been created using an embossing folder with clouds on by Crafter's Companion. I chose yellow to match the paper's background.
The long awaited baby's wardrobe card!
Combining my new dies with existing card stock to make fun cards.
This is a tri shutter card I have made using a template and cutting it out on my Cameo Silhouette.
If, like me, you are not good at drawing, an alternative is to use stamps then colour the image in with either water colour pencils, colouring pens or water colours.
Today I am sharing with you a card I made doing just this, using my water colours.
The image is a stamp from Sheena Douglass floral stamp sets that I have stamped using embossing ink, then embossed. This was done on watercolour card because the next step was to paint with my watercolours.
It makes a pretty with sympathy card.
And here is another using the Lily stamp. It was fun blending the colours on the petals.
I hope you like them.
