Saturday 21 April 2012

Bella's Birthday

Good Afternoon Bloggers,

Today I have a card I have made for my friend Jess' 30th Birthday.  I picked up this cute stamp from the craft fair last weekend and was itching to ink in the little cutie.

So the stamp is Bella's Birthday from Wild Rose Studio and the paper is from the Bella's Birthday paper stack.  Love these papers, they are all just gorgeous!!

I have actually taken a few photos through the colouring stages this time so that you can see how Bella comes to life as I slowly layer on more colour.

So first of all we start with the plain outline stamped in Black Staz-on ink - 


It stamps a beautiful clear crisp image.  First of all I started with Bella using Distress Ink Refill Pumice Stone


Slow and steady certainly wins the race, so I start with a very light layer, but still trying to keep a bit darker around the edges for the shadow.


As you can see from the top of her head, I go back and slowly layer over colour until I am happy with the result.  Pumice Stone is the perfect colour for Elephants.  I have used Black Soot in the bottom of her feet.

So next is to work on adding some pink in the ears and some rosy cheeks :o)


Sorry about the photo being a little fuzzy!  So the ears are coloured with some Spun Sugar and then Worn Lipstick where I needed it to be darker.  Bella's cheeks are Worn Lipstick, layering on colour very slowly as it is very easy to overboard why such a strong colour!

I then finished painting the rest of the image, and we have one very VERY cute little Bella!!


So for the present I have used Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord and Black Soot, the Present Bow and the Balloon are Victorian Velvet, and Stormy Sky for the butterfly.  I love this image, I can see it being used for boys or girls depending on the colours you choose :o)

Last but not least the finished product :o)


Happy birthday Miss Jess, hope you had a wonderful day :o)

Thanks for looking

xx Milly

Sunday 15 April 2012

Gumnut Flower Girl

Good Evening Bloggers,

So I actually switched the computer on a couple of hours ago to make this post...detoured past Simon Says Stamp and there went two hours...and more money!!  Its dangerous being able to shop so easily lying on your couch in the comfort of your pyjamas!

In my last update I mentioned that I had celebrated my 30th Birthday recently.  My friend Nicky came over the night of my birthday and surprised me with the most awesome cake - one that Magnolia followers will love, and I must say - it tasted as good as it looks!!  and yes that Tilda was all chocolate!!  (you can also just see behind Tilda the awesome card that my Ma had made for me for my birthday xx )



Last week in the mail we received an invite for my Great Aunts 90th Birthday party.  I had inked this little Tilda in near Christmas and hadn't had a card for her to star in yet... the card formula will look similar to the one i made for a mate just recently, but i loved the design so decided to keep with something that worked, but change up the paper and the colours.




So today in Adelaide the weather was just beautiful, and Ma and I ventured out to the SA Papercraft Fair.  Both of us went hoping to pick up some bargain flowers, most definitely of the Prima kind if we could find them, and I have to say, mission accomplished!!  I also came home with two of the most gorgeous stamps from Wild Rose Studio.  I have only just come across this stamp range recently, and just love their cute little characters.  There were many to choose from, but in the end I bought Fergus with Tulips and Bella's Birthday (you can see them in the photo on the far right below).

So a picture of my spoils from today's fair :o)


When we got back to Ma's I finished up a project I have been working on recently.  As I use distress inks to colour, I didn't think I could use digital stamps.  I have found so so many lovely images, but thought I just wouldn't be able to use them.  However with a bit of research I came across a technique that may allow this.  Print the image, and then just as it comes out of the printer, cover it with clear embossing powder, heat and set and away you go!

So I got out my old printer to have a go - as you will see by the image I printed, it unfortunately didn't come out as a true black, but I persevered.  (note to self - 300gsm water colour paper is just to thick for most printers...and will result in you breaking your Ma's printer and having to buy a new one!!!)

So the image I worked with was from the Make It Crafty Website and called Gumnut Flower Girl, a gorgeous Australiana Anime Character.  I wanted to keep to what would be the true colours of the Eucalyptus Tree with the greens and yellow tones.  So here is a few photos of my image through the different stages...(my apologies for the fuzzy photos!!)





In the photo above with the flash on you can see the white speckle dots from the clear embossing powder reflecting with light.  A static pillow is absolutely essential to use before you print your image so you can ensure that your embossing powder only sticks absolutely where it is supposed to!!  However as you will notice in the photo below without the flash, it isn't actually as noticeable in normal light.


To make the card I bought some of the Kaisercraft Great Southern Land Range of papers, and used NSW.  On the way out of the fair today there were many flowering Eucalyptus Trees and I stole some of the gumnuts to use on my card.  I sprayed the flowering ones with lots of hairspray, and hopefully that will help them keep their colour.  The gumnuts stuck on the card beautifully with just a little glossy accents.  

The finished product - nothing too fancy I have let the picture speak for itself, and I love the use of the real gumnuts (rather than the picture I had intended to use)  It adds another different textural element.



I would love to hear what you think...

I would like to enter my Gumnut Flower Girl Card into the following challenges - 

By The Cute And Girly Once Upon a Time Challenge - I was a lover of the May Gibbs Snugglepot and Cuddlepie book when I was a little girl - and loved all the beautiful images of the gumnut babies, and this image just transported me back as soon as I saw it.

Cute Card Thursday Challenge 212 - Spring Flowers

2 Sisters Challenge #87 ~ Flowers

Now it seems digital images are not off limits as I had previously thought, and I have opened up a whole new world of pain for my bank balance :o)

That's all for me tonight, coffee and my book I think.

Thanks for looking.

xx Milly

Sunday 1 April 2012

It's been awhile....

Wow, well it has been almost 3 months since I have been to Blogspot... and a lot has happened in that time!!

Some highlights... My sister's birthday at the end of January, I had my 30th birthday in February and we welcomed a new family member on 20th March with the birth of my 3rd nephew Alexander Lucas.  

Even though I haven't been on blogger the crafting has still been happening, and I will share some projects with you that I have worked on in my absence from blogging.

First up it was my friend Nicky's birthday and i made this for her.  Definitely very different colours from what I would normally use but very striking, and of course I wanted the image to be the focal point of the card...  This image is called Rose of Fire by Molly Harrison.



So next up is the card I made for my Sister for her birthday.  I wanted to try and ink in subtly..for once and i was really happy with the result.  I used two stamps for this - first up is the Tilda Sending Love from the Sweet Crazy Love collection and I have masked her over a Kaszazz stamp - Daisy Garden Edge.



The next two cards are simply beautiful.  First up is a card that my 3 and a half year old Nephew made for his mother.  With only a little help and guidance from me this is what he made - 



William tells me that is HIS motorbike ;o)

Next up is a car made by my 7 and a half year old Nephew James - also for his Mum's birthday.  I helped by painting the image, although he picked it out and told me exactly what colours he wanted me to use.  Everything else though was pretty much done by James with a little help from me.  You should have seen the concentration on his face when he was putting the smooch and glitter on the die cut frame!!



Pity Aunty Milly couldn't take a crystal clear photo for him!  Here's hoping me might have another Tim Holtz in the making!!

Next up we had a "we're not having a baby shower, baby shower" for my Sister.  Being pregnant with her third child she didn't really want a huge fuss made, but my Ma and I had to do something for her.  So one Sunday afternoon we sat down together to make cards for her.  First up is a card I made for her, it has both pink and blue on it as we didn't know what my Sister was having.



I love the little Chipboard teddy - she reminds me of Popcorn the Bear. I also used my gorgeous new Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set called Flower Bunch.

I also made a cute little gift tag for her present - written on the back is "Welcome to our newest little cub" ;o)  Wild Tilda is also part of the Sweet Crazy love collection and simply adorable!!



Next up it was a good friend from work's birthday.  I've said it before and I will say it again, I find boys cards difficult!!  However I had my new Distress Stains in Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap and Weathered Wood I wanted to try, so I decided to make my own patterned card and tag to add.  I used my Kaszazz Compass Stamp, and my Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set called Ribbon Loop.  The shiny edge on the tag was achieved with the Pewter Distress Crackle Paint.



So baby Alexander made his way into the world at 8:52 am on Tuesday March 20, weighing in at 9 pounds and measuring 53cm.  My sister had seen this stamp and told me she would like this inked up for the Baby's card.  Easy done - saved me having to decide which one of my stamps I was going to pick!!  Once again I have used Blues and Pinks as we weren't sure what flavour baby was going to be.



 The "Welcome Little One" is part of an uncut Kaszazz set called Adorable Friends.  The Unique wording is part of a Kaisercraft rub-on set.  The little metal charm was given to me by my friend Sammy and has Hugs & Kisses written on it.

Finally, I have a card I made for my mate to give his Mum for her Birthday.  I used my new Prime Nature Garden paper, a stamp from the Kaisercraft Chapter One Collection embossed with Kaszazz Coffee Bean, flowers from Prima and some I had in my stash and Tilda with Hawaii Flower from the Butterfly Wishes Collection.  



I was really happy with this card, I have struggled of late to put my pieces together and this one just flowed.  Everything just seemed to work and was easy, I finally feel like I might be back in the zone.  

So there we are - up to date and ready for me to share with you what I am working on next.  Here's hoping I don't leave it another 3 months!!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks for looking

xx Milly
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