Stars & Stripes

Hey!

Just a quick card I thought I'd share with you today!

I made this for my brother's birthday (it's tomorrow and I confess that I nearly forgot!) with a bit of inspiration from Kate (aka kraftykate on ILWS forum). She set last week's inspiration and themes challenge to create a masculine themed card. I usually really struggle with masculine cards and put them off until the last minute! I don't really have any stamps that are masculine themed so this is a stamp-free card.

The stars are made from glass. I've had them ages and had kinda forgotten about them! As soon as I discovered these little treasures I knew I had to use them somehow! After a good root through my dp, I discovered half a double-sided sheet of dp that fitted perfectly for the background and with enough spare to mount the stars onto! The sentiment is from a pack from craftwork cards and says "Best Wishes" sorry you can't make it out too well on my pic! It was originally white but I used my chalk inks to help it match the rest of my card.

Overall, I'm quite happy with it, especially as I've managed to use scraps to make the majority of it! I just hope my brother likes it tomorrow and doesn't read my blog beforehand to spoil his surprise LOL!

That's all from me for now. I do plan to post this weekend as I've nearly finished a brayering tutorial. I've done what everyone would probably think the hard part would be (creating the scene) and I'm now struggling on how to mount it onto a card to do it justice!

Thanks for stopping by!

Aimes

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I couldn't resist!

Hey!

I hope you don't get used to the idea of me posting so often (I already have a full time job!) but I just couldn't resist the urge to post one more creation!

I loved last week's layout challenge over at splitcoaststampers so much that I had to have another go!


I just love these Basic Grey Blush papers and Hero Arts stamps together, it's like they were made for each other LOL! This card is slightly different from my last attempt. I found some flat-backed pearls lurking in my buttons. I never thought I'd find another use for them apart from to create the centre of flowers but they do look kinda cute, plus I didn't have ANY buttons to match this paper (Note to self: must purchase more buttons!)

Again I used my Promarkers to colour the doll, but as a little twist I punched a flower out for the doll's hair and then thought she deserved a little 'bling' too. After all, diamonds ARE a girl's best friend aren't they?


I also decorated inside my card. I never used to do this; I'd just leave it blank or stamp 'Happy Birthday', but as I had some scraps of gorgeous paper left I thought I'd try paper piecing the smaller stamps in my stamp set. It's a fab way to use up those scraps that I keep and promise to myself that I will find a use for them!

Well that's all from me today but on different note: Thanks so much for the positive comments! It encourages me more than you could ever imagine! I was kinda scared starting my own blog so it's lovely to receive such comments from such lovely people!

Thanks for stopping by!
Aimes
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Loving my new Hero Arts stamps!

Hey!

I'm actually posting some of my crafty creations today. I'll admit I didn't make all of these in one afternoon but I have made them in the last week and I figured that my blog needed a 'boost'!

I am loving the new Hero Arts stamp collection! I treated myself to two sets - four dolls and so sweet. Four dolls has to be my fave set - I just can't stop stamping these cuties!

The first two cards I made whilst playing with my brayer. I feel sorry for my brayer, I confess it hasn't had much love since I bought it over a year ago! A simple trip over to Michelle Zindorf's blog soon inspired me though, and my little brayer is on a roll! Sorry for the pun - I couldn't resist ;)

I now love my brayer LOL!
I used clear embossing powder to protect the doll and lanterns when brayering my ink and a mask (post-it note in the shape of a circle) to create the sun. You can't tell on the picture, but the doll has a cute orange gem on her dress - by chance this was a gem that was lying alone on my desk, in my bits 'n' bobs tray. It was urging me to use it on this card by catching my eye with its sparkle as I was brayering!

My second card has a cooler colour scheme. Again I clear embossed the fan and doll to protect it from my brayering, wiping off the ink with a piece of kitchen towel. I created the mountains by tearing paper as a mask and sponging ink up to the teared paper in different shades of purple. Final touches were added with my trusty white gel pen to add the detail to the mountains and the highlights on the doll's hair. I LOVE my white gel pen, it's definitely in my essential items tray!

To colour in the dolls I used Letraset Promarkers. I love my markers, they blend fantastically well and are capable of both bold and subtle shades. I would love to invest in Copics but I just haven't got the budget or talent to do them justice quite yet...

I found the hardest part of making these cards was mounting them! I could happily create little scenes like this forever but deciding how to mount them on a card was another matter! In the end I decided to simply mat and layer with a couple of felt flowers attached with eyelets - I think it looks OK although I'm not entirely satisfied...

Last but not least, I took part in the challenges on Splitcoast Stampers this week. I've been on half term (I work as a teaching assistant in a secondary school) and have loved the time I've had to play in my crafty corner! This card was for the Sketch Challenge as well as the Ways To Use It Challenge (ways to use stripes this week!)

I love the layout, it was challenging but my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug saved the day! I also tried a new technique - paper piecing. I've never done this before but it's really effective. The dolls outfit was stamped onto the same designer paper as the background. She looks a bit more fashionable now I think! The paper used is Basic Grey's Blush Collection.

Anyways that's about all from me for now, hopefully my blog is looking a bit more interesting! Now I have to prepare for going back to work tomorrow : ( I do love my job but I love crafting time even more LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

Aimes

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Time to start confessing!

OK, so I've FINALLY been bitten by the 'blog bug'! I've admired so many other blogs that I've been inspired to start my own. I hope that by airing my crafting confessions I can feel slightly better and also hope I'm not the only one out there who does the same!

So my main crafting confession is that I hoard. I confess that I have a stash of papercrafting goodies and instead of using them I stare in admiration at them! I hope it's not just me who buys sheets of paper only to get them out and then decide that I couldn't possibly traumatise the paper by administering scissors to it! I've decided that I'm going to bite the bullet and actually use the goodies I possess. I am going to cut that paper *gasp!*, I am going to use that gorgeous embellishment *double gasp!* and I am going to buy lots more to replace the lovely things I use LOL!

So I hope you can stick around...I can't promise to post everyday or even claim this blog will be half as amazing as the lovely blogs I admire but I will post when I can and who knows, perhaps you'll grow to like it!

Aimes
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