SplodgeAway High Res Elegance Card Review.....and Giveaway!!!

Hi all,
Well today sees my first project over on the SplodgeAway Blog. The remit was to give my opinion of their new High Resolution Elegance Card stock, which is ideal for stamping and colouring ........as I discovered!
Here is a card I made for this.

This card was made to using the wonderful Bamboo mask as the background, coloured in various Distress inks and using the SplodgeAway mat which is now an essential for blending inks!!!

I die cut a scalloped circle from the High Res Elegance card and stamped the beautiful B line stamp onto it using black versafine ink. This card is super smooth and the image was really crisp and clear. I then embossed it with clear embossing powder as I wanted to try out my Promarkers on the new card.
Brilliant....the card allowed the colours to blend beautifully, there was no bleeding and the colours really stayed true. Added the flowers and sentiment.

I am out of my comfort zone in colouring really, but this card did make it easier .For stamping and colouring this is what I will opt for in the future too!! Do pop over to the blog to see my whole review and that of the others in the Design Team and the wonderful projects they have created to review this card.

This is the mask I used.... Bamboo, I love this one.
Well do pop by the Blog, link above as there is also a great giveaway too!!!!!!!!!!!!
BLOG GIVEAWAY

BLOG GIVEAWAY..

To celebrate all the new followers on the blog Tom has asked me to do a giveaway on the blog. All you need to do to win these goodies is comment on this post and follow the blog.
Tom will be back on Create and Craft on Friday so a winner will be drawn at random on Saturday 25th May.


This giveaway consists of
12x12" SplodgeAway Mat
x25 Sheets of SplodgeAway Elegance High Res A4 Card
Penny Farthing Mask
Gothic StenSkape
Twit Twoo StenSkape
Nevada Desert StenSkape
3 Kings StenSkape andast

Fantasy Unicorn StenSkape.

Happy crafting
Carol xx

Cracked Clay and Egyptology....inspired.... me....... BIG TIME !!!!

Hi All,.
For the first time in a long time I have  created a card that was actually inspired by 2 things in particular, rather than just letting things happen. I found a long lost postcard bought at the Tutankhamun Exhibition in London, some years ago in an old box of memories and have just received a new Cracked Clay Mask from SplodgeAway. These were the basis for my make.. Here is my inspiration!!!!

For those of you who know me it will be no surprise to hear of my fascination with Egyptology....this has been the case since I was very young and oh did I want to travel there and join a dig and discover new mysteries!!1 In a way I still do, but mostly in my dreams as I hate flying and have never been there, but when asked, yes I can help you out with most questions about the Old Kingdom.
I wanted to create my own Relief and feature it on a card. It set my mind thinking of the craftsmanship and the sands and the dry heat and the cracked earth after the rains......I knew exactly what I wanted to do!!! and I had the PERFECT mask to help me out!!
So here is the finished result which I will run you through.
I have entitled this A Key To The Past

I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the result. This is made on a large 6x6 size white card. I began with the background and used Scattered Straw, and  Aged Mahogany Distress Inks to create the mottled background, using a SplodgeAway mat. Using the mask I added Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink to create the cracking effect. I was pleased with how it looked, but wished I had given it texture, so hence the background for the  central panel. I used Terra paste in Moroccan over the mask removed the mask and washed in warm water quickly!!!!. Dried the paste off gently with the heat gun and VOILA....brill textured cracking.

Now from my postcard inspiration I wanted to think of the way to create a relief........several aborted attempts and then EUREKA!!!. Decided that white air dry clay would give the right feel and texture. Rolled some out and then Stamped it with a beautiful Egyptian Elusive Images Rubber Stamp Plate. I tore the pieces apart that I wanted, guessing if I smashed it when dry I might ruin it!!! The impression is obviously indented not in relief, but looked pleasing. The worst part was waiting overnight for it to dry!1 Patience is not one of my virtues.
Gently rubbed Scattered Straw and aged Mahogany over the clay and because it was indented it left the images white so they really were clear.

Thoughts next turned to papyrus and hieroglyphics, so whilst waiting for clay to dry, made the border......out of papyrus unfortunately, but had some woven trim I thought was in keeping and some Egyptian text paper. Coloured the paper with Scattered Straw and then crumpled the paper up. Unravelled it and swiped Aged Mahogany over it and ironed it all flat. What next still waiting!!!!!!......... clay not dry.  Mmmmmm..........MELTPOT !!! Haven't used this in a while and it has been on with Hels, so got out my moulds and of coarse had some Egyptian ones ,... that goes with out saying and that are among my favourites.

Made the Tutankhamun Head, the Mummy, key to the Kingdom and the little blocks in the melt pot....( The blocks were to signify the blocks used in the building of the Great Pyramids) Love this Mummy and have used it often, but can't remember the maker....apologies.
All that remained was to attach everything to the card. In fact I am keeping this for myself and putting it in a frame to remind myself of that wonderful exhibition and my on going love of the Old Kingdom.
Thank you to SplodgeAway for inspiring my initial thought for this and af course to Tutnkhamun.
hope you enjoyed seeing this I had so much fun creating it and will have so much pleasure in looking at it.
thanks also for any comments you choose to leave they are so appreciated.
Carol xx

Shaped Crads..New Challenge At Anything Goes Challenge Blog

Hi Everyone,
Firstly apologies for the lack of posts recently!!!! Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Anything Goes Challenge Blog. This fortnight we are looking for shaped cards...NO SQUARES!!! That leaves you all with a really vast choice of what to create and I can't wait to see what you all come up with. To join the fun click HERE.
Thanks to everyone that joined in with the Birthday Blog Hop too .....great fun as you all said.!!
My teamies have been really busy creating some inspiration for you all so please pop by their blogs and see their work, I know we all appreciate comments!
 Well, without keeping you any longer, here is my design team project/card this time. An exploding handbag. I so loved making this, but you will have to excuse the photography, it was one of the most difficult things to photograph without getting other sections in the way!!!
This was created using a template for the handbag, which allowed you to have 4 smaller handbags within it. I chose a Nature theme for this and added flowers, tags, butterflies and lots of stamping too.

This is the front view.

This picture shows the view from the back.

 Here is the one side of the inner section, which shows all the layers and which appear below individually.

 Smallest section.

 The inner sections of the opposite side if the handbag. All other sections are shown below. I won't go into great detail but hope they explain themselves.

This is one of my favourite sayings so just had to use this!! Pop along to the Craft Den and stock up on all your crafting goodies.....there is such a selection on offer. Hope you enjoyed seeing this as much as did making it. Thanks for any comments you choose to leave they are so appreciated.
Carol xx

Anything Goes Birthday Blog Hop !!!!

Hello all, today over on Anything Goes Challenge Blog we are celebrating a Birthday.

Craft Den Studio has been trading for 5 years this month and to celebrate the DT would like to take you on a Blog Hop. We have two prizes to giveaway to two lucky hoppers

1st Prize

£20 Voucher to spend at Craft Den Studio

2nd Prize

£10 voucher to spend at Craft Den Studio

In addition to those I also have a small prize to giveaway to one lucky commenter..

Cheery Lynn Die - Flower
 

Famous Male Crafter!!!

 

The Order of the hop is

Anything Goes Challenge Blog - Start

Annette

Cheryl

Christine

                         Carol  ( You are here)

Lynne

Nikki

Janine

Judy

Joanie

Tamara

Anything Goes Challenge Blog

If you are here you have just come from Joanie blog if not head back to Anything Goes to start from the beginning.
Now head back to Anything Goes Challenge Blog to leave your birthday message..
Good Luck all and ENJOY!!!!

Carol xx

Birthday Blog Hop Wth Anything Goes Challenge Blog!!!..........prizes up for grabs!!

Hi All,
Just a quickie today to give you some advanced warning of a Birthday Blog Hop being run with Anything Goes Challenge Blog.This will begin next Tuesday and there are some great prizes to be had for the lucky winners!!!!!

The Craft Den is celebrating its 5th Birthday so please ccome along and join the fun. Mark it in your diary and on Tuesday pop over to the blog, or link HERE. to see what you have to do. All very simple and fun.
Hope to see you then
Happy Crafting Carol xx

SPLODGEAWAY

Hi All
Well, today I have some really exciting news to share with everyone!!!! I have been invited onto the design team for SplodgeAway!!! I know, I can hardly believe it myself. I am so thrilled to be working for a great team with such brilliant products.You can catch Tom on the Create and Craft Channel @10.00 tomorrow...12th April, with some great new products. I wasn't able to design for this show but next time..........YES!!!
So for now thought I would show you one of the pieces I sent in for the Design Team call. An Altered mirror. I loved using loads of the masks for this project and hope it inspires you in some small way to have a go at using the masks in a different way.

Here is how it was made.....

I measured the mirror and cut 8 pieces of chocolate brown metal sheet from t.s.s., These were cut slightly larger than needed as it allows a little "play" when butting the pieces together. Humungo tape was adhered to the back of each piece and the backing left on. I chose a mask and then ran this and the metal through a cuttlebug.

Next I swiped blending solution over the surface to carefully remove the chocolate brown coating, leaving it almost silver. Two contrasting colours of alcohol ink were then chosen. The first and darker colour pounced quite firmly into all the nooks and crannies created by the mask and then the blending solution was again swiped over the surface to remove the surface ink and allow the paler shade to be applied.. I continued like this till I was happy with the colours.

This method was used for all 8 sections, using different masks and different finishing techniques.

Here I have used the lovely flower mask. Once embossed I used T.S.S. tool and a foam mat to redefine the outlines and and for contrast added some vertical striations. The metal embellishments were from bargain jewellery bits I had bought in the charity shop!!

Very little was neede to highlight this beautiful mask, just the alcohol inks and a gorgeous butterly from my stash!!! Painted in alcohol inks and beaded.

Roses and inks. This image really shows how some of the chocolate finish has been left on the metal to give it an aged feel and how the two inks sit on the lowersectios and then on the surface....sorry for the glare here!!! LOL

This mask worked wonders in the cuttlebug and the redefining really enhanced it. Again for added texture I used the pointed tool and squiggled away in the centres. This really allowed the alcohol inks to get in to all the areas and picked up all the highlights of the scribbles.

Here after the embossing I decided to run a wheel between the squares and also redefined the centres of them, adding some little circles for some added intrest too

This is a section of the gorgeous bamboo mask, which I love!!!! Again the bamboo was defined both inside and outside of the shapes and the centres dotted with a pointed tool for texture. I used a series of mini wheels for the lines in the centre of this panel and some jewellery bits were added with glossy accents............love turquoise.

This is my fav mask of the moment. Again lots of re defining and dotted centres, to really accept the alcohol inks. Little gems were added as shown.

Finally, I left the final piece without any embossing!!1 Just used the mini wheels for texture, These metal jewellery pieces were also treated to some alcohol inks....well it would be a sin not to!!! I was so pleased with the effect of the inks on these beauties.

Once everything was done it was just a matter of assembling. I chose to do the right and left centres first , cutting the pieces to the same size as the interior section of the mirror and then progressed round from there. when I was happy all would fit I removed the backing and adhered to the frame. To merge the joins, I ran a large T.S.S. wheel over the ares. All other additions were added with glossy accents.

Hope you enjoyed seeing this as much as I did making it and that you will have a go at the masks and metal.

Thanks for popping in and any comments you leave to make, which are always so appreciated!!

Bye

Carol xx



HEAVY METAL New Challlenge At Anything Goes Challenge Blog

Morning everyone,
It's that time again for a new challenge, Challenge 90 over at Anything Goes Challenge Blog. This time the theme is HEAVY METAl, so get your thinking caps on for this one!!!! The design team have come up with some great inspiration for you , so do pop over to the blog and see what they have been up to and maybe then visit their blogs too. For this theme think about using some metal, adding metal embellishments as a main feature, or how about getting really creative and making something 3D out of metal.....I'm sure there's lots of things to spark your imagination in your garage and your craft space!!
Do pop over and join the fun. We love to see what a creative lot you all are.

Well here's my inspiration for you, a card and yes a lot of metal!!!!!!

 

Made the card from a sheet of A4 cardstock from my stash, I love the texture on this card and the dimension it gives as a background. I really felt I wanted to highlight the main metal piece, so have kept this design all quite neat and simple, just adding the silk flowers with the little metal flowers and gems and parts of TH flourish dies.

 

This section hopefully shows a little more clearly the metal centres to the flowers, which have been hand cut and then coloured using Stream alcohol ink, while below is the close up of the metal work which is described beneath the photo.

 

This centre piece was made using silver Ten Second Studio metal sheet and a Ten Second Studio embossing plate. This was one of the early ones they produced and does not have a solid back to it so does not go through an embossing maching. The only way to reproduce this is by hand!!!!! but I find doing this so therapeutic and my mind just wanders while I do it. I used masking tape to adhere the metal to the plate and gently rubbed over it all with a large paper stump, to give the general outline. Gradually, moving to smaller and smaller paper stumps and then refining tools to complete all the intricate details. I painted the entire piece with a black paint dabber, making sure to get in all the nooks and crannies and then wiped some off with a paper towel to give a bit of an aged look. Next I dabbed on Stream alccohol inks onto the raised areas and dried everything. Blue stickles was added into all the indentations and the whole piece then matted onto several layers of blue and black cardstock and assembled.

 

Well that's my offering for the challenge, I really do hope you will join us.

Many of the items I have used are available from the Craft Den, so pop in there to stock up on what you need, there's a great selection.

Hope you enjoyed seeing this and thanks for any comments you choose to leave they are always much appreciated!!!

Bye for now

Carol xx