Stamps Ahead

Cold here today, maybe the coldest day of year so far, so why not spend time inside and get my mixed media on.   I am participating in an Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap with Mixed Media as the guideline. Here are my ATC cards. I had fun creating these. How did I make them?  The first thing was I brayered acrylic paints onto old book pages. I have not used brayer for a long time - good to get it out and use it.  The book was old, brittle and showed signs of age. The book "Travels with Charley" I got it for 20c at a flea market.  I have used it on cards previously. Do you see my reference to my title of this post?  A love that it says a "vivid kaleidoscope" so this was what aided my search for just right colours of paint. Next, I made my own tape - washi style.  I found this fabulous video by Mixed Media Morsels on how to make your own painted tape.   I watched the video, was captivated and decided to give it a try. You lay strips of masking tape down on

Settle back this is going to be a long post.  My sister is currently in France and she emailed me saying she had found a scrapbooking magazine (all in French) and she loved one of the layouts. So she set me a blind challenge to replicate the layout.  She will send me photo of the one in the magazine when I send her these.  Yes I did two layouts - let me show then and then I will set out the instructions she sent. Both photos from our holidays last December.  Can one have too much of Paris? The email instructions and my asides: 1. Imagine a white textured page e.g. raised dots (now I did not have this so I have gone with plain white) and in your mind divide it into 9 equal parts 3 x 3 2. Sew a line of 5 rows (2 to be zig zag) down approx. right 3rd of page.  Note : not all lines have to go to the bottom, at least 2 shorter. (I left some threads dangling) 3. in the middle going across the pages use the gold paint I gave you from Singapore, was it called dimensions, and cover ro

For quite awhile I have been getting emails from Splitcoast Stampers (SS), I must admit that I usually just quickly peruse and think 'one day'.   Well, that day has come.  They are currently have some challenges running and this card is for one of them - Watercolour technique must use gold on your card.  Here is my card. It is similar to the one I posted earlier today - of course it is.  I made that card for SS challenge only to realise when I went to upload it to their blog I HAD NOT USED GOLD.   Okay, back to the paint and brush I went.  This time I have used gold embossing - challenge met (tick). It is wet here today so a great day to spend indoors creating cards and scrapbook pages. Thank you for looking, Margaret :)

I have decided to play along with a challenge over at Pixels and Paper challenge blog  - here is my layout.  The challenge was to use distressing in some form on your layout. On the recent long weekend I travelled up to Brisbane to Scrapbook and Paper Expo and one of the classes I did with Beck Beattie was playing with all different backgrounds using watercolour paints. This background was made by sweeping 3 colours from a palette of watercolour paints across the white background. See photo below for what I mean by a palette.  I think I got these many years ago in America and have never used them.....until today. The photo is of Beck Beattie and I taken on the weekend. I then coloured some whitecard stock with the colours I used for background and a green to make the flowers and leaves and to embellish the title "Make Amazing Happen".  I used my scissors to distress the edges, then scrunched them up, then sprayed with water and allowed to dry. Some random inking and

A couple of cards I have made recently.  The first, below, is a technique called "Cracked Glass".  Now, I first saw this done many years ago, it one of those techniques that I kept on the back burner, I tried several times to get a result I was happy with.  This card I am happy with!!!  Glossy paper, distress inks, low tack tape and cotton balls to apply the coloured ink and a few stamps.   The card below is super, super clean and simple - bubble wrap inked up and applied.  How easy is that!  You could vary it by using another colour ink with it or even cut the bubble wrap into a heart, oval etc etc. Thank you looking. Have a great weekend, Margaret :)

A layout I created for a mood board challenge at Shop and Crop Scrapbooking. Click on the link and join the Facebook Group and get involved in challenges that they will post.  This week I got an email from Splitcoast Stampers and they had a tutorial on how to complete a starburst card.  I thought why not try as a scrapbook layout.   I loved the colours on the mood board below (unfortunately the colours on my layout do not look as bright due to light when I just took the photo - I will try again in the day tomorrow).  The photograph was taken when my sister and I went to a high tea and as I stood up it was the right angle to show the entire plate of goodies. A close up of the Glimmer Mist I applied to the layout.  There are a lot of mists around these days and since I purchased this pink mist but I always seem to come back to this one. The mood board for inspiration. Definitely celebrate your life with colour everyday. Thank you for a great challenge,  Margaret :)

This past weekend in Australia was a long one - Queen's Birthday - and I decided at relatively the last minute to go to Scrapbook and Paper Expo in Brisbane, Queensland.  I took the train on Friday - it left Gosford at 4pm and got into Brisbane at 5.30am.  A taxi to my accommodation in South Brisbane, a quick nap, shower and some breakfast I was off to the Convention Centre.  I had booked into several classes and here is some of what I created: I did a class with the fabulous Fiona Paltridge "All my heart" - here is my heart. Great techniques and lots of layering,, gessoing (if there is such a word), spraying, etc - so many techniques thank you Fiona.    Layout created with Colour Blast product.   I need to add a photo and a title. Close up of the cheesecloth that we coloured with Colour Blast Spray - I love how you can see the layers underneath the fabric it really 'popped' the colour. I did two classes with the equally fabulous Beck Beattie - her

I was recently asked to lead a class in covered notebooks.   It was for a fundraising event and all proceeds from the night are donated to an identified charity.   Here is the notebook I designed. Lots of shabby chic elements on it. The ladies enjoyed making it and I have been asked to run the class again in August, as so many people saw the ladies making it on the night that they too want to make one.  Thank you for looking, Margaret :)

For sometime now I have been playing with the idea of using my old tracing wheel on a card.  Today was the day.  Here is the card I created to share with a group of ladies at a local community craft group: A close up of the detail of lines created using the tracing wheel. This card is clean and simple and you could easily add more detail if you wanted - why not inks and ink splatters, a scissor charm, more stamping of a ruler or sewing lines - the opportunities are endless. My mother was a tailoress/dressmaker and she passed on her skills to me as a young child. I would read her Ladies Home Journal magazine from cover to cover many times over the years - the lady image reminds me of that time.  These magazines came complete with paper patterns and I recall that Mum made several of the family's outfits from them. I loved the stories that were of the film stars and the clothes that they wore.  I did sewing/needlework as a subject a school where we were taught to make our ow