Going Back to Bed

Nothing is going right so I think I should go back to bed!

First of all I wanted to do a wedding card and had not a clue what to do.  At my age there is not much call for me to do wedding cards so inspiration was lacking - then I found the stamp that said "perfect" to me.  Stamped and embossed in gold, found words that were suitable  - all assembled - then messed up.  I wanted to use one of my MS punches down the side - it jammed - and ripped the card.  Back to square one minus the MS punch.

A bit plain, but then she is a young girl so wouldn't want anything over the top.  Determined MS had to feature somewhere I made an insert but found it wouldn't go round corners and couldn't get it to match up so punched some flowers out for three corners and those gorgeous little butterflies from my die.  Ok, she got over the top inside her card.

Next thing:  Lots to Do challenge - "The Scenic Route" - got just the stamp.  A huge Magenta one with an Edwardian couple cycling down a lane.  Could I find it - could I heck!  Come to think of it where is the other one with the little girl, and the one ....  How can someone lose such big stamps?  After temper tantrums (only kidding) and ages of searching I gave up.  

Used this one from my Scenic box and decided to watercolour - then changed my mind and got my stick chalks out.  Not done colouring like this for ages so not sure what anyone will think of it.

That's it from me today - hate to say but got housework to do.

Another Splash of Green

Got my free stamp yesterday with CS and loved it so just had to use it.  it was designed by Tracey Coates (designer for The Stamp Man - and check out Jill's  fab clock in this issue).

I made this card yesterday as soon as I got the stamp but decided to leave the uploading until today as I will be out for most of it and no time to blog later (well, make anything to blog).

Felt the image really lent itself to black and white so decided to do another entry for PDC.  Consequently I had to include some green in it so again I used it for part of the mount.  Don't know who the swirls are by but thought I would make my own patterned paper and they seemed to work.

Think I have gone a bit mad with the black and white - thanks Sarah for helping my mojo.  See you later!

Black and White

Couldn't sleep, eyes tired but mind too active so I got up and made Chas his birthday card.  I am entering this into the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week, set by my friend Sarah.  It is Black and White with a touch of green.

Not a clue when I started which stamp I was going to use so went in my drawer marked "men" and found this one from Art Journey which I bought at Stempel Mekka a couple of years ago.

Stamped it in Archival Black and embossed with clear ep then mounted on some black cs and then on another white piece which I stamped randomly with some leaves from the same plate.  Next I mounted it on more black with bits cut out and then on green cs.  A final mount of black and it was finished apart from the "Happy Birthday" which again was stamped and embossed in black.

So that is it - got to hide it away for another week so he doesn't see it, now to find him a present.

WOYWW

Ok so it is Thursday but I have decided to follow loads of my friends and join in WOYWW - a day late - does it matter?  Hope not.  Here is my desk last night:

You can see my spray booth (love it - it is by Colorbox and folds up to nothing.  There are several pieces of lace hanging from it drying in readiness for attaching to my album for Chloe.  The pasta machine is to the right (waiting for me to get going on my claywork) and the box to the left with the brown edging is full of clay stuff too.  You can't really see but in front of that is a tile with some half finished clay pieces on - I really must get on with them.  The rest is just some of my drawers of rubber stamps and general stuff - bit of a mess behind the spray booth to be honest.

Well, this morning I put my lace ties on the album and did a bit more titivating on it - this is the result:

As you can see I have put some pearls on and a little charm which says "dream".  I then proceeded to use the four photographs her mummy had sent to me (remember?  "so you don't forget me") on the inside pages.  Might still add more in the way of pearls down the side and some charms - haven't decided yet.  Now I am not sure whether my friend would agree to me putting photographs of her little treasure on the internet so I have put paper circles over her face to preserve her anonymity.  

These photos are of her on a Ladybird ride - I wanted to put them both on a page so made a pocket, with MS punched lace border, and turned one photograph into a tag.  The letters are cut out with Spellbinders dies and were cut from some dark blue scrapbook paper which I dabbed all over with three or four colours of Ranger Dabbers.

Now a question for all you scrappers out there - what glue do you use for adhering your photographs?  I have been using Tombow but it has run out now luckily had another that said "acid free" but wonder what else I can use as I get in such a mess with glue sticks.

Domino Stamping

To begin - prepare dominoes:

Either bleach overnight in strong bleach (careful not to get spinner immersed or it will tarnish) – wash well in clear water afterwards OR Use Gesso artists medium (gives a good base on which to colour).   OR Use a nail sanding block (available from good Chemists).

You can stamp direct to domino with Pigment or Solvent Ink Pad.

Stamping on Dominoes

I think the best Ink Pads to use are Brilliance (you must heat set first and allow to cool) or Stazon, but you can also use Memories, Ancient Page, Colorbox Chalks

Take domino to stamp rather than stamp to domino – heat in well-ventilated room.

Colouring Mediums:

Lumieres, Drawing Inks, Watercolours or Watercolour Pencils/Crayons, Pencil Crayons, Gel Pens, OHP Markers, Adirondack Pens, ,Chalk Ink Pads, Dye inkpads.  Always heat set between each stage.

Seal (takes 10-15 mins to dry) with:

Anita’s 3-D Clear Gloss Finish, Glossy Accents, Mod Podge, Diamond Glaze, Crystal Lacquer, Humbrol Acrylic Varnish

Before varnishing you can seal with a Fixative Spray (especially for inks/felt tips etc) but the only one that I found works does not seem to be available in the UK  – Krylon Fixatif – available in America.

Finish off with a border and edge the domino using  Edding paint markers or Krylon Pens.

Make into:

Pins, Pendants, Bracelets, Fridge Magnets, Keyrings,  Use as embellishments for cards and boxes, Use as spotlights for cards, Make a picture using several dominoes placed together and the masking technique or as large stamp.  Cover a flat clock face or old tray .....

If you are going to drill use  a low speed drill or Dremel (cheaper versions are available) or the domino will shatter – wear eye protection and put a piece of masking tape on first to stop the drill bit slipping when you start off.

Also use:

Trionimoes, Poker Chips, Check Its, Majhong tiles …….. most of these are available in America if you don't find them over here – www.SkyBluePink.com is a supplier I use.

(some people leave the back showing the domino, some paint the pips, some paint the whole back and some cover in felt/velvet.  I like to leave the back to show it is a domino, nice gift for a special birthday if the pips reflect an age.)


The above are notes I used to issue at my workshops (way back in 2003/4).  Sid asked me why I stopped doing dominoes - well, I guess I got so many I did not know what to do with them.  Towards the end I bought a tray from somewhere and lined the base of it with lots of my dominoes.

Can you see Elvis?

and there's Marilyn top right

I once did an article for Craft Stamper on dominoes, here are a couple of the things I included in that particular article

A couple of Coasters

Wine charms to go with them

and a cuff for the bottle of wine

There were also some Christmas tree decorations but they are away with all the other Christmas stuff so not easy to get to for the blog at the moment.

If you look on my post of the 20th April you can see the domino (tiled) picture on my cutlery box which I did.


I hope you enjoyed my nostalgic look back on my dominoes.  Now what can I think of to make with them next?

Back in Domino Land

I used to do lots of stamping on dominoes but haven't been there for a while.  Recently Leigh (Sharpie Domino Queen) got back in touch and I have decided to do some more.

I used to love doing faces on dominoes and here are three quite different ones.  The first one has a Brilliance background - love using the tri-pads - this one is Aurora - with the image stamped in black Stazon and a little colour added with a Sharpie pen.  The second one was coloured firstly in Black Stazon, the image stamped in Versamark and then gold ep put on and heated.  This was an experiment to try to do something different.  The last one is stamped and coloured with watercolour pencils.

this is a Tri-onimo

The first one above is coloured with Alcohol Inks to give the background (Lettuce and Butterscotch) and then stamped and coloured with Sharpies.  The second one has a bead at the top to act as a bale for using as a pendant and again is coloured with watercolour pencils.

My last showing are two dominoes using the "kissing technique" where I used Lumiere paints.  I cannot decide whether to leave them or stamp over them with something - maybe another day you will find they have changed.  If anyone is interested I can put up some of my notes for stamping on dominoes - do any of you remember when I used to demonstrate the various techniques at shows?  Remember my jacket full of them and my "tiara"?

I Love Neutrals

I love all the beigey colours so when I saw the colours on the Play Date Cafe Challenge I just had to do something.  Besides which I had this image on my desk and the colours were just right.  Can't remember stamping this but I know the stamp is from Butterfly Kisses.

There are some fabulous samples on the blog done by the design team so I suggest a cup of tea and a sit down - you'll be there a while.  I might even do another as I love these colours so much.