Red ....

.... Good Afternoon from a bright, sunny and very cold Northville!  I lost yesterday to a day of tidying and filing - no crafting at all!  So, after my chores this morning, I made sure that I got some time in my craftroom.  This week's challenge at CASology - CAS31 has the cue word RED.  As soon as I saw it an idea came to me - no hearts, flowers or chocolate in sight.  But it does relate to love; love of country.  Here's my card:

 
Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Feeling Sentimental (Sale-a-bration set); My Favourite Things - Western Sentiments
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: SU Card - Real Red; Promarker - Ruby; Clear embossing powder; White lustre card

One of the most iconic images from Great Britain are our red telephone boxes, sadly they are not as common as when I was a girl.  My father was in the Royal Air Force and was often away when I was a girl, and before we got a phone at home we had to go to the phone box at the corner of our street to call him.  So this image conjures up feelings of love of home - my family and Great Britain.  The card was really quick and easy to make.  I cut the red and white panels to size, stamped the phone box in Versafine and embossed with clear powder.  I then coloured it RED!!  I finished wish the single word home.

Here's a close up of the phone box where you can clearly see the nicely embossed image. 

Photo Credit

When I was little this was a common sight in most English villages and towns.  A telephone box next to the mail box.  Sadly, as more and more people have cell phones, these boxes are disappearing.  But they haven't gone completely, and they are recognisable the world.

Do you remember the film ET and the line "phone home"?  This was part of my inspiration too!



That's all for now.  See you soon.

Uniko Studio - February Release Blog Hop ...

.... Good morning.  I've got some really exciting news - Beverley of Uniko Studios invited me to be Guest Designer for her February Release - it's been so hard to keep this secret.  But I can tell you today!!  Squeal!!!!  You should have arrived here from Stacey's blog.  If you haven't - go to the start at Beverley's blog to see what the team have made to share.  As well as the release, today Uniko Studio is a year old!  Congratulations Beverley!

 
Beverley is releasing two stamps sets and four sets of digital papers.  The stamp sets are Bright Butterflies and Label Love: Birthday, and the Digital Paper Collections are Big Birthday Wishes, Bright Butterflies Additions, Eclectic Mix Spring and Classics Spring.  I've gone slightly mad and made five cards!!  Well, I couldn't decide which is my favourite :) 


Here's my first card:

Stamps: Uniko Studies - Label Love: Birthday
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: Uniko Studios Design Paper - Big Birthday Wishes

The great thing about digital paper is that you can alter the size.  The papers come in 12" × 12", US Letter and A4 jpeg files - but when you print the paper you can size down to smaller.  So I printed the colour block paper at full size (A4) and the outline paper at half size (A5).  I stamped the parcel onto some plain white card and stamped the sentiment in the label area.  I stamped the parcel again onto the colour block paper and cut out the label area and adhered the two parts together with dimensional tape.  The is a square card measuring 5½" × 5½".

Next I decided to go for something a little more feminine and I used the Bright Butterflies stamps.

Stamps: Uniko Studies - Bright Butterflies, Gerbera
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Rose Red
Accessories: SU Design Paper - Daffodil Delight, SU Card - Crumb Cake; SU Markers; Staedtler Ergosoft Pencils; Gems from stash

I mixed one of my favourite sets - Gerbera - with the butterflies.  I stamped the outline flower in Crumb Cake and coloured it with pencils.  I stamped all three butterflies onto white card, cut them out, added some gems to them and attached them to the card - they are flying from the flower to the sentiment.  This card is 6¼" × 4½".

Accessories: Uniko Studios Design Paper - Big Birthday Wishes; SU Card - Pacific Point, Rose Red; SU Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

These cards really are simple to make.  I simply printed off one of the pages from the Design Collection and cut between the panels and then mounted the panels onto coordinating card.  I decided to add some glitter to the centre sections - horizontal on the blue card and vertical on the pink card.  This does take some time, but is really worth it - the stripes sparkle so much.  These card measure 8¼" × 41/8".

My last card used the Eclectic Mix Spring papers.

Stamps: Uniko Studies - Gerbera
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze
Dies: Marvellous Squares (S4-383) # 5 & 6
Accessories: Uniko Studios Design Paper - Eclectic Mix Spring; Sakura Stardust Pen Clear; SU Card - Baja Breeze, Bashful Blue; Card from stash

I printed these papers at half size (A5) and stamped the outline flower and leaves from the Gerbera set, and then cut them all out.  I coloured the centre of the flower with Sakura Stardust Pen.  I inked the edge of the card with Certainly Celery and adhered the bottom square, then stamped the sentiment in two colours.  I used dimensional tape to attached the top die cut square and gel adhesive for the flower and leaves.  This card measure 5½" square.

Before I go, I should mention that Beverley is offering a prize of the whole February 2013 Release (fabulous prize) - all you have to do is leave comments on the DT blogs - the more comments you leave the more chances of winning this super prize - the Blog Hop route is:

Beverley - Uniko Studio

Aimes - Crafting Confessions

Amber - Bella Rose Cards

Erika - Erika Photography

Gayatri - Handmade by G3

Kerry - Pawpads and Inkpads

Nicki - Dream Create Inspire

Ren-Yi - Small-handed Creations

Stacey - Stacey's Stamping Stage

Deborah - that's me!

Do make sure you've visited the whole team! That's it - thanks for your patience!  Thanks again to Beverley for inviting me to join the Design for the February release - I've had such fun with these sets.  See you soon.

WMS February Christmas hearts ....

... Good afternoon - I'm late posting today - I've been playing in my craft room.  I've made a card for February's Waltzingmouse Christmas Card Challenge - WMSCCC02-13.  This month the challenge is being hosted by Lynn and she has asked that we make a Christmas card but, as it's February and Valentine's is just round the corner, include a heart or two!!  Seems a perfect combination to me.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Nordic Winter, Ornate Ornaments, My Heart, Seasons of Love - Tags
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Early Espresso; Distress - Fired Brick, Evergreen Bough, Antique Linen; Versamark
Dies: Hearts - Cameo die cuts by Lori Whitlock
Accessories: Design Paper - My Mind's Eye Snowed In (Free with Cardmaking & Papercraft); White Lustre card from stash

 

For the layout I used this week's sketch from Mojo Monday - MOJO279.  I decided to try and use some of the designer paper I have in my stash cupboard and I'm really pleased how it turned out. 

The pad of My Mind's Eye paper was free with a UK craft magazine last year and this is the first time I've used it!  I used a sheet of the robins and sentiment as the backing paper.  The red paper actually has some very subtle snowflakes on it, but I decided to over stamp with these sweet little hearts from Nordic Winter.  The banner was cut from another sheet in the pack - I cut around the scallops and used my hole punch to cut the holes!  The hearts were die cut on my new Cameo (which I think is wonderful!).  I shaded the large heart with Evergreen Bough and over stamped (second impression) with another of the border stamps from Nordic Winter.  I kept the greeting very simple inking it first with Versamark and then Fired Brick which allowed me to clear emboss the sentiment - you can see the shine in the photo!  I finished off with a couple more die cut hearts which I covered with the red paper.  I finished the front with this sweet robin cut from another of the papers in the pack. 

For the inside I cut another sheet of paper to make the backing mat and a piece of plain white card for the greeting.  I stamped the lovely wood grain leaf heart in Antique Linen and this gorgeous sentiment in Fried Brick.  I just love the way all Claire's stamp work so well together.

I know it might seem strange making Christmas cards in February, but it really does make sense to try and get ahead.  I don't want to have to spend most of November rushing around making cards like I did last year (and the year before!).  So do try to join the fun!!

I'm off back to my craft room to make a few more cards - I might even do another Christmas Heart card!  See you tomorrow.

Shabby Chic Layout .....

... Just a quick post to show you what I made today.  I attended a class to make a Shabby Chic Scrapbook page; our teacher was Valerie Brincheck.  I had such a fun day - lots of super ladies attended and we all came away with some beautiful pages. 

I used a photo of my Great Grandfather, Ernst Theodore Lobek, and my Great Grandmother, Isabel Denning - it's their engagement photo.  I never met them, but I'm so pleased to have a photo of them.  Here's the layout before adding colour.

And here's the same page once it had been spritized with a few mica sprays - so pretty!

I normally go for shades of blues, greens and purples, so this was a total change for me.  To be fair, the whole class was right out of my comfort zone!!  But I had so much fun.  We started by stamped a selection of images around the edge of the cream card and embossing them all with clear powder.  We then selected all our embellishments and did a layout - the cream one above.  Then I took a photo of the layout, as the next stage was to disassemble the page and start to glue and reassemble it!!  My finished page is pretty much as I wanted.  I'm so pleased how this turned out!  I think I'm going to have another go at this type of art!

Cranberry Sauce hearts ....

... Hi - I didn't expect to post again today, but I realised if I didn't, I'd miss the deadline to submit my card for this week's Retro Sketches - RS49 challenge.  I've combined the sketch challenge with the delicious colour challenge over at Waltzingmouse Stamps - WMSMMM3.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Text-It, Off Beat Backgrounds, Faux Fun, Pic-Nic Patterns, Nordic Winter; My Favourite Things - Lovey Dovey Sentiments
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, Raspberry Ripple, Real Red; Memento - London Fog; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Spellbinders - Hearts (S4-136) #1, Scalloped Hearts (S4-137) #1
Accessories: Cuttlebug EF - Love's in the Air; SU Card - Black, Rich Razzleberry, Raspberry Ripple, Real Red; White Lustre card and Grey card from stash

I think these colours are just fabulous and perfect for a romantic themed card.  I started off by stamping a selection of WMS patterns onto white card and cutting out little hearts.  I made coordinating mats for each heart.  Next I cut a panel of Real Red card onto which I layered a panel of white card which I embossed with these sweet love hearts.  I finished off with a bold sentiment stamped in Versafine.  A clean, simple and fun Valentine card.

Kathryn had a Snow Day today and she invited one of her friends over in the afternoon.  They spent most of the day inside, but for a mad 15 minutes they went out to play in the snow!!!  I got out my camera to capture the fun and took a few more of the area.  Here are a couple of photos taken this afternoon; if you want to see them all - click on this link.

That's all for now - it's almost time for bed.  I'm off to a craft class tomorrow - making a scrapbook page that has a shabby, vintage look - completely out of my comfort zone!!!  Should be lots of fun!

Snowflakes and holly ....

....  Morning all - it's a very snowy morning today.  Kathryn has a Snow day - she's delighted and Jonathan has, wisely I think, decided to work at home.  So we're all safe and warm in the house, looking at a winter wonderland all around!!  All this snow is keeping me in Christmas mode!  Here's a card for this week's 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - 52CCT05-13 - the team have a sketch for us this week.  I've been pretty faithful to the sketch; here's my card:

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Festive Foliage, Twas the Night Before Christmas, Compliments of the Season
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Gumball Green, Real Red
Dies: Spellbinders - Fleur De Lis Squares (S4-318) #2
Accessories: SU Design Paper - Real Red; Gold Linen Texture Card; Cuttlebug EF - Winter Wonderland; Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch; Gems from stash, White Lustre Card

I started by embossing the front of the card with snowflakes.  Next I cut three gold squares using the ornate Fleur De Lis dies and a gold panel for the sentiment.  I stamped the holly leaf trio and berries three times and cut them out (didn't use the Cameo this time).  I stamped the sentiment in the centre of the panel, attached it to the gold mat and adhered it to the card base.  I glued the two other squares directly to the card base and used dimensional tape on the middle square.  Then I simply adhered the holly leaf trios and the berries.  I finished off the front of the card with a couple of snowflakes punched from patterned paper and added a gem on each.

For the inside of the card I cut a mat layer in the gold linen texture card and a white panel for the sentiment.  I stamped the sentiment in red and added some holly leaf trios at the corners.

I really like these colours - they are bright and vibrant - perfect for a Christmas card.

That's all for now - I'm going back in my craft room to make a few more cards and then I'm going to play with Cameo.  Wherever you are, be safe.

LIM - Take Two .....

.... Good afternoon - I've had such a fun day playing with my new Cameo - it's brilliant!  And I'm here to share my first card made using some die cuts from my Cameo.  It's my second card for this week's Less is More - LIM105 where the challenge is to use Kraft and Kreme.  Here's my card:

 

Stamps: My Favourite Things - You Make My Day
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Crumb Cake
Accessories: SU Card - Crumb Cake; SU - Antique Brad; Cream Lustre card; Silhouette - Dandelions by Snapdragon Snippets; Cuttlebug EF - Diamonds in the Rough

I'm really pleased how well this has turned out.  It took me a few goes to work out why my cutting mat kept slipping, but once I sorted that I was able to cut out these lovely dandelions; there are so many lovely images at the Silhouette shop!!!  I cut the dandelions in cream card and attached them to some Crumb Cake card which I embossed and inked over to highlight the pattern.  I made the sentiment banner by stamping the sentiment, adding a brad and adhered it to the card with dimensional tape.  I think this really is a clean and simple card.

That's all for today - off to play some more with the Cameo!

Cards for fun and a bowl ...

... Hi - it's a beautiful day today; doesn't that always make you feel good?  Well, it does me!  I've had a fun morning at a Stampin' Up! class run by my up-line, Karin.  We made some gorgeous cards and had a really good time.  We had a go at a the chalkboard and triple stamping techniques.  Here's the card we made using the triple stamping technique - it's entirely Karin's design and is just so pretty;

 

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Betsy's Blossoms, Petite Pairs
Inks: SU - Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo, Old Olive
Accessories:  SU Card - Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White

This is such a bright, cheerful card - and it's lovely to be able to play with stamps that I don't have.  Our next card is quite clean and simple (and very easy to make).  Actually it's a good card for men.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Make a Wish
Inks: SU - Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  SU Card - Whisper White; Linen Ribbon and brad

The distressed areas of colour are simply the acrylic blocks inked and then stamped (second impression) directly on to the card.  We added the linen ribbon and brad for texture.  The panel was attached to the card base with dimensional pads.   

Next we made a really fun card and had a go at the chalkboard technique.  We CASEd a card originally made by Angie - it's such a fun card and I can see it working for children's birthday cards.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Woodgrain, Vintage Verses
Inks: Versamark; Whisper White
Accessories:  SU Card - Shara Sand; SU Design Paper - Sycamore Street; SU - Petite Curly Label Punch; SU - Ribbon & Buttons Sycamore Street

And the final card I made this morning is this:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Swallowtail, Petite Pairs
Inks: Versamark; Staz-on - Jet Black
Accessories:  SU Card - Pool Party, Basic Black, Whisper White;  Diamond Dazzles Glitter

The example card had the butterfly - which is enormous - stamped and embossed with white powder - all the fine details are just lovely.  But we decided to see what it looked like stamped in Versamark and then embossed with Heat 'n' Stick mixed with Diamond Dazzles glitter.  It looks wonderful and in real-life the butterfly shimmers with a rainbow of colour.  However, the image does lack some of the detail and (as I discovered) if you don't heat set it properly the glitter comes off!  As a consequence, I attached the image towards the right of the card and added a sentiment to cover the oops!!  I've taken a another photo of the butterfly - showing the colours and a shot of the inside.

A couple of weeks ago Kathryn attended a birthday party at a local ceramic workshop.  As I had to wait for her, I decided to make a bowl for my kitchen.  I picked a simple bowl and opted for deep jade, pale yellow and a pattern in a mixture of light jade and greeny blue.  This is result and I'm thrilled to bits with it.

I hope you like the cards - I had such fun making them. It's always nice crafting with friends :)

Sympathy in kraft ....

.... Hi - I seem to have lost Monday!!  Actually, I spent the morning sorting out insurance information and arranging for repairs on Jonathan's car.  I found a local firm that, conveniently, has a car hire company next door.  Then I had to drive the car to the repair shop - it was horrid!!  I don't much like driving in the snow, but I did it and got home safely in the borrowed car.  It's nice too.  Then, as it was snowing, I settled down with a coffee and a book - only surfaced in time to get dinner for the family!! 

And today has been busy too.  I was out first thing shovelling the snow off the drive and paths - I've realised that this job is much, much easier so long as I don't allow the snow to build up too much.  Then it was on to more housey stuff!  But I've just managed to get an hour in my craft room and have made a card for a few challenges:

• Less is More - LIM105 where the team would like us to use Kraft and Kreme on our card
• The Paper Players - PP131 - where the theme is to make a sympathy card
• Clean & Simple Stamping - FTL226

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Thoughts & Prayers
Inks: SU - Crumb Cake
Accessories: SU Card - Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla; SU Design Paper - Crumb Cake; SU - Paper Piercing Essentials

I decided to make a sympathy card because they are so hard to make when you actually need one and the challenge at The Paper Players is to make one to have it ready for the time when it's needed.  I used the sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping, but I played a bit with the actual layout.  I made the card base from Crumb Cake card.  The stamps worked better on a landscape layout, but I'm not too keen on folds at the top (I find they tend to slip), so I made the fold at the side.  I cut a mat from Crumb Cake design paper using the stripey side.  I cut a panel of Very Vanilla card and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the tree in the top left of the panel and the sentiment in the opposite corner.  I used the paper piercing guide to make the corner decoration. 

The inside is quite simple - a piece of Very Vanilla card onto which I stamped the leafy branch (using the second impression) and a simple sentiment.

Less is More is 2 years old - I've managed to play along with most of the challenges.  I'm working really hard to earn one of those coveted Showcased badges and I'm not sure whether this is clean and simple enough for Chrissie and Jen, but I'm submitting it anyway!  Here's hoping :)
 
Kathryn has just arrived home and I found a couple of boxes from Amazon on the doorstep!!!  My new Silhouette Cameo has arrived!  Off to unpack it and set it up - not sure when I'll be back :) :)  See you soon.

Faux artist ....

... Good evening - it's been a busy day here at Chez Frings!!  I had to go out to get the grocery shopping this morning as Jonathan will have the car for the next week while his in the repair shop!!  But since getting home I've been working on some "homework" for Clean & Simple Day 2; the theme being one layer cards.  I decided to have a go at the Faux Artist technique that Jennifer McGuire showed us.  This is the card I made:

Stamps: CAS-ual Friday Stamps - Truth Is; PTI - Signature Greetings; Stampin' Up! - Flight of the Butterfly (discontinued)
Inks: Staz-on - Jet Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: Staedtler Ergosoft Aquarell Pencils; Sakura Micron Pigma Pen; White card from stash

Jennifer showed us various methods of using watercolour pencils on stamped sentiments to make them look as though they are drawn by hand.  I did have a go at stamping this sentiment in a pale ink and then going over it with watercolour pencils, but it didn't work for me. 

I decided to stamp the sentiment in Stazon and go over the letters with a rainbow of colours.  I also stamped these lovely flowers coming out of the top of the "Y".  I used my aquabrush to pull the colour out from the sentiment.  I started off by rubbing the aquabrush over the purple pencil and painting on the card, moving to the left.  I paused between the green and yellow to remove some of the green (in my test run the green went on forever) and then continued to the red.  I carried on across the card allowing the red to fade to pale pink.  I coloured the flowers with the Aquarell pencils.  I finished off with a tiny butterfly (covering an "oops" moment) - thanks to Jennifer for the tip. 

The large photo above was taken on the windowsill in my craft room in natural daylight (5.00pm), this smaller photo was taken under the daylight bulb at my desk - the colours are a bit more vibrant under this light.  Which photo do you prefer?  I'm really pleased with how the card turned out. 

That's all for today.  We are getting ready to sit down and watch the Super Bowl - a huge event here in the States.  The match is between Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers.  Obviously as we are new to the States and know next to nothing about American Football, we will be neutral - but it should be good fun!  As an aside, it's snowing again!  I'm officially fed up of all the snow and yes I know that we haven't had as much as in previous years, but it's enough for me :)  See you tomorrow.