Shake your tail feather!

Hey!

Eeek! Friday-Eve already?! Well I hope it's a good one for you, and that the weekend is approaching at the same super-fast speed as it seems to be doing so here....

Friday-Eve means a shiny new CASE Study and one that you're really going to want to play along with I'm sure, as we have our final week CASEing Maile Belles. Yup, make the most of it and check out this beauty of Maile's up for CASEing this week:

Check out the original post of this card here.

I was taken by Maile's use of feathers. So on trend. So Maile! My feathers took the form of peacock feathers. But not only that, I loved the way that Maile embellished the tips of her feathers so I did the same with some gold embossing on the tips of my peacock feathers. Those tips shine soooo much in the sunlight, you'll just have to trust me on that! *wink*

• Make sure all the ink is dry from stamping your feathers before stamping the feather tips ready for embossing. I like to use my heat gun to blast any ink dry.
• When stamping a background on a design like this, I like to lightly trace where my panel of white card will cover. This then helps in stamping and spacing out the feathers evenly (and it doesn't matter if what's left under the central panel of card is a mass of overlapping feathers - no-one will ever see it or need know!)
•  When working with grosgrain ribbon in this way I apply a strip of sticky tape across the corner of the card, tie the ribbon in a bow and manipulate it to sit nicely. If you don't want the ends showing on the reverse side of the card, create a separate card front to adhere to cardbase at the end. 

I hope you'll check out the goodness from the rest of the CASE Study DT too:

Amy Wanford (That's me!)
Erin Schulte (Guest DT)
Andrea Ewen
Clare Buswell 
Debby Hughes  
Iwona Palamountain (Chupa)
Jean Martin 
Jeanna Jachna  
Maureen Plut
Teneale Williams
Maile Belles (May's Muse)

And as always, join in the fun with us! After all, how many opportunities are you going to get to legitimately CASE Maile Belles?! *wink*

Right, in the spirit of this card, I'm off to go and shake my tail feather...!








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Pretty Water Lily

Hey!

Happy Wednesday! Can't quite believe that it's Wednesday already...I do love a Bank Holiday, but it's makin' my week off zoom by before my very eyes!

Today's card is not one I've created recently. In fact, I'd give anything to go get inky as it's been about 2 weeks since the stamps have seen the ink. Instead, today's card is one that I shared on my Featured Artist post on Paper Crafter's Library. 

Whenever I play with vellum I find myself saying "Why don't I play with this stuff more often?" I love how deceivingly delicate it looks, whilst it's a material that can really take a beating. I decided to stamp and emboss on this piece of vellum and colour that stunning water lily with some basic pencil crayons (no fancy schmancy pencil crayons - I don't own any...yet!)

• Try not to handle vellum too much before heat embossing on it. It increases the chances of stray powder sticking where you don't want it.
• For a more subtle effect, colour on the reverse side of the vellum.
• When using an adhesive with vellum I like to apply a dry one sparingly under the more intensely coloured areas of the vellum to prevent it showing through.

For a final touch, I covered my vellum water lily with a clear Sakura glitter gel pen. It makes the water lily shimmer and sparks so much! My pic doesn't capture it, but I'm hoping you can imagine just how pretty a sparkly water lily is.  :)

Right then, it' already Wednesday so I've gotta get movin' if I'm to tackle any of my to do list during my week off! But before I dash, I have some news for you Clearly Besotted Stamps fans AND Uniko Studio Fans:

• A selection of Clearly Besotted Stamps goodies are now available at Simon Says Stamp! Brilliant news for you US peeps who want to get your hands on the goodies quickly. You may also find a few sets that are out of stock on the CBS store available over there too....*wink*
• Uniko Studio made last Saturday a 'Free Saturday' which means that this gorgeous digi set is up for grabs, for free!

Enough of the stampy news updates for now, this gal has got to get busy (and, fingers crossed, inky too!)

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My kinda maths....

Hey!

Happy Friday! Happy half-term (for me anyway!) :)

Today is my spot as a guest designer over at the Sweet Stamp Shop. I'm sharing a few extra projects made with the new stamps from May's release.

Now Maths was never my strong point, but today's card is the kinda maths I likey! Admitedly my guy hasn't got a mustache though...I wonder if I should persuade him to grow one so I can give this card to him?!

• Add little details to small images to give them more 'oomph'! I added glossy accents to the lips, white lines to the mustache and a mini-gem to the heart. 
• I used an impression plate on my card base to add more texture (it's hard to see in the pic), but I always stamp my sentiments before impresing my pattern so I have an even texture to stamp on.  

Next up is a fun (well, it's fun to me!) interactive card. I do love to make them when I've got the time, and it's even better when it's a super easy one to make.

Simply lift up the lever to reveal the message this card conveys in two simple words:

Hee! So simple! Just thread a brad through a strip of cardstock (I folded mine over so it would hide the brad) to create a lever and have a little message/image waiting behind the object your moving.

• I was originaly going to stamp the eye chart in a grey ink, but it was too dark and took the focus (pun not intended there, but I'll take it anyway - ha!) from the 20/20 sentiment. So cue some clear embossing - works like a charm for subtle elements.
• Stamp anything you want to sit on your embossed elements in black/coloured ink first and let that ink dry before embossing larger elements on top with clear ink and powder.

That's all from me today, but before I scoot I just wanted to give you a heads up that the Sweet Stamp Shop is having a DT Call. Take a peek and get that sweet application in! Oh, and one more thing: A big thanks to Nicole for having me as a Guest Designer this month. Thanks, Nicole I had a super sweet time! :D

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a great weekeend!

One card, three stamp sets!

Hey!

Happy Friday-Eve, peeps! Before I start babbling about today's card, can I just express my sincerest thanks to you all over my Moxie Fab news. I was really touched to see such lovely words from you all, both here and on Moxie Fab World too. You sure know how to make a gal blush....*blush*!

But enough of the gushing and blushing, let's get this show on the road with a new CASE Study from our fabulous muse, Maile Belles!

Now my technology is having a hissy fit experiencing some technical glitches so please head on over to the CASE Study blog to check out the beauty of a card from Maile that's ready for us to CASE. Or you can check out the original post of Maile's card here. :)

My take on this week's CASE Study was inspired by Maile's beautiful pink flower and the technique of painting. Maile painted with Glimmer Mist (something I've just got to try out at some point!) whereas I went for good ol' fashioned watercolours.

• When painting with watercolours, it's much easier to add more than take away. Start light and gradually add more colour. Wait until the paint is dry and then add any intricate details after.
• Add a slight shadow to elements to make them appear more 3D. I simply used a very light grey marker at the base of my vase to give it a shadow.
• To make the orchids appear like they're actually in the vase and not behind it, I marked on my die cut vase where the stem met the vase and cut a little notch out. It's a tiny touch, but makes quite a difference!

Please be sure to take a sneaky peek at what the rest of the CASE Study DT created - they never cease to amaze me with their talent!

Amy Wanford (That's me!)
Erin Schulte (Guest DT)
Andrea Ewen
Clare Buswell 
Debby Hughes  
Iwona Palamountain (Chupa)
Jean Martin 
Jeanna Jachna  
Maureen Plut
Teneale Williams
Maile Belles (May's Muse)

Here's hoping that you can play along with us this week! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by this little corner of Blogland today and have a great weekend! My weekend is the start of a week's holiday - hoooray!







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Moxie Fab? Moi?! ;D

Hey!

Happy Monday! I hope you're all OK. I've been MIA as I'm buried deep in paperwork right now, but I'm just squeezing in a few spare moments to share some pretty cool news that I've been sat on for what feels like an age. Oh and I'm also sharing a card with you as well of course - what else?! Today's card was created a while back for a Passion for Papertrey challenge that has now ended (sorry!).

The challenege was to create your own background and I couldn't resist giving some inky love to a much neglected PTI set: Studio Style. The buttons in the set just called to be used as a background in one way or another.

I also added a bit more interest to my design by clear embossing a jar of buttons. It looks way more effective for real, you'll just have to take my word for it!

•  I added a few dots of Glossy Accents to keep the twine flowing in a whimsical kinda style. Do the same to yours to make it behave!
• When embossing over a sentiment, be sure to stamp your sentiment first and let that ink dry thoroughly before stamping and embossing any images over the top. If you don't, embossing powder could stick to your sentiment or if you emboss first, you won't have an even surface to stamp your sentiment on.

Before click away and I dash to hit the folders of work again, it's not only a super busy Monday here but a super happy one too: I've been honoured with the title of Moxie Fabber of the Week! Check it out if you're interested. I owe one mega-HUGE thanks to the amazing and totally Moxie Fab Cath for the shout out! Thanks Cath, you rock! :D

And you rock too of course! Thank you so much for visiting today. Cue normal blogging schedule and visits around Blogland after this final week of term - I promise! :)







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