Winterland Woods Continued

I am now trying to get my own Christmas cards made. So to make it easier on myself I thought I would batch some using the gorgeous stag from the Winterland Woods set. I had also bought a while ago some of the new deep embossing folders from Tim Holtz. And they are fantastic!! I especially love the floral one as it reminds me of old damask material. And the lumber one worked really well with the stag. 
Next time my son is home I will get him to show me how to put images of products onto the end of a post. But sadly that is beyond my limited IT skills at the moment.
Anyway here are some of the cards I have been making!!

Once my Christmas cards are finished I will be working on samples for new workshops at McOyster Crafts for next year. I have some ideas floating around.

Thanks for all of you who came to my workshops this year. I have enjoyed dipping my toe back into the craft world and hope to see some of you next year.

I also want to thank Sue who gave me my very own storage box for my round applicator pads. All the Distress Oxide ink colours on sheets with velcro strips - perfect!! 

Winterland Wood Workshop

I am now all ready for my workshop this Saturday at McOyster Crafts in Cupar. I have enjoyed playing with this set of stamps. They stamp beautifully and are perfect for creating winter scenes. As this is a special workshop which includes the stamp set I have put together a display board with some other ways to use this set. I will leave the board in the shop after Saturday's workshop. 
All I have to do now is to persuade Adrian to stock Bazzill card and I will be a happy bunny!!

Here are the cards from the board.

Christmas Workshops

I have finally finished my samples for the Indigo Blu "Winterland Wood" workshop I hope to do at McOyster Crafts in Cupar.
We have two dates:
Saturday 13th October and possibly
Saturday 10th November if there is enough interest.

We will be making 3 cards and a small gift bag: 

1. 

 I love creating little scenes and the tree in this set is just perfect for this.

2. 

Another scene, another chance to use the adorable little rabbits!!

3.

I just love this snowflake engraved reindeer. I wanted a scandi feel to this one using kraft card.It looks great in red or navy as well. 

4. 

And finally a little gift bag. This is a perfect size for small gifts like jewellery, gin miniatures (or any miniatures!!), sweets, tablet, fudge etc. It's also a nice size for a Christmas table gift instead of/as well a cracker.

The price includes the set of stamps. 

If you are interested please get in touch with Adrian at McOyster Crafts in Cupar. Check out their Facebook page for contact details.

Christmas Workshops at McOyster Crafts

I have been asked about doing some Christmas workshops at McOyster Crafts. I have discussed with Adrian the idea of doing a special workshop with a set of stamps from Indigo Blu. The cost of the workshop will include the stamp set. So as well as having your own stamps to work with, we will make at least 4 projects to give you loads of ideas to try at home!!
Here is the set I plan to use:

This set would be lovely for lots of occasions, not just Christmas. Once I have finished making the samples I will post them on my blog. 
Dates have yet to be arranged but there will be a Saturday in October and again in November if there is enough interest. I think the cost will be around £30 which is great value as the stamps are nearly £20 and we will make at least 4 projects. I am hoping to get the samples finished in the next couple of weeks.
Please message Adrian at McOyster Crafts if you are interested just to help him plan for ordering stock.
Have a good weekend!!

Just adding to this post.... I have been playing this afternoon and have my first sample done!!

I love the two little bunnies, I think they just finish off the card!!
Siobhan x

Workshop coming up!!!

Hi 
My next workshop at McOyster Crafts in Cupar is this Saturday 11th August. There is a morning class from 10am to 1pm and then an afternoon class from 2pm to 5pm. 
The cards for this class are shown in my previous post. We will be using plastic stencils/masks to create different backgrounds. Three cards, tea and coffee and lovely crafty ladies to blether to .. what more could you want!!
If interest please contact Adrian at McOyster Crafts. Details are on their facebook page.

I have been playing with some of my new Visible Image stamps to make up a sample board for the shop. I am loving them!! The hummingbird set was my new favourite "Life is Beautiful"

Then I bought "Dare to Swim" and "Create Your Calm"...... what can I say!! They are all lovely, great quality polymer stamps.

I also recently bought "Jazz it Up" thinking it would be great for masculine cards. Teamed up with Visible Image stencils, I love it too!!

McOyster Crafts have a great selection of Visible Image stamps and stencils. No doubt my collection will continue to grow.

Using Masks for Backgrounds

With all this amazing weather it has been difficult to tear myself away from the garden to craft!! But I have finally put together my samples for a 4th workshop at McOyster Crafts in Cupar. 
I have called this one "Using Masks for Creating Backgrounds" Masks are fairly inexpensive and can be used in so many ways. I use them a lot in my own card making and thought they would make a fun class. This workshop explores 3 easy techniques that would be ideal for crafter's who have bought masks and then not really used them. 
I hope to follow this with a more advanced class.

The first technique is just using inks through the stencil to create quick and easy backgrounds. 

The first two cards are made using a plaid mask to create quick backgrounds that can be used for girly or masculine cards.

The next two samples use a water lifting technique. I used this technique before in a previous workshop but took it one step further using a glimmer spray.

 The final sample uses embossing paste and glitters to create a pretty background to please anyone who loves a bit of bling!!

This class will be most probably be in August. So keep an eye out on McOyster Crafts Facebook page or contact Adrian for details. 

Siobhan x

New Workshops for McOyster Crafts

I am starting to put together some samples for a couple new workshops for my local craft shop McOyster Crafts in Cupar, Fife.
I am repeating the first workshop I did called "Distressed Background Techniques" which will be on Saturday 28th July. 
Then in August I plan to do a class using masks and stencils. Here are samples for the first card using stencils to create a basic plaid background. 

There will be two other cards using different techniques.

Then I thought I might design a workshop called "Scenic Stamping". I recently bought a beautiful new set of stamps from Visible Image" called "Into the Woods" and think this would be a good card for a workshop. 

I have already done a workshop on resist techniques which I will repeat at some point but also plan "Resist Techniques II". I still have ideas that I would like to share. Here is the first idea: This is an easy watercolour effect using white resist on watercolour card.

If you would like to join us for a workshop then please get in touch with Adrian at McOyster Paper Crafts for details. 
Siobhan x

Georgie Girls Frame Project

I promised I would post pictures of the frame project we did for our craft group “The Georgie Girls”. We all bought one of the popular multi-frames that you can pick up in places like The Range, Dunelm Mill and various bargain stores. We all did a panel to fit each other’s frame, following a theme and colour scheme of our choosing. This generally takes us most of the year as we meet up every 4-6 weeks.
Lin was the first to send me her images. She actually had 2 frames with 4 apertures. Lin loves soft and gentle colours. But I think you will agree both her frames are lovely.

I hopefully will have more to post as the girls send them in to me.
Siobhan 

Resist Techniques

I have now completed my first two Saturdays of workshops at McOyster Crafts in Cupar. It was lovely to see a few familiar faces as well as some new ones. Although I had forgotten how tiring it can be. I was certainly ready for a gin or two when I got home!! But well worth the effort!

The workshops seemed to go down quite well. So I am going to do my next workshop on Saturday 12th May. The samples for this class are shown in my previous post. I love techniques so this class is all about resist. This class is based on embossing powders but I will probably put together another class to explore this technique further as the possibilities are amazing!!

I haven't had so much time for crafting lately. I am however loving my stamping platform. It has enable me to revisit my Penny Black "Brushstroke" stamps. I made this card recently for someone who loves birds. I intend to do lots more of this type of card for my stash!!

I love the way you can gradually build up the colour to get a beautiful watercolour effect. Before I had my stamping platform I would apply inks directly to the stamp, spritz with water and hope for the best. Sometimes it would work quite well but more often than not it was a bit hit or miss. Now I get beautiful images every time. I adore this Penny Black stamp with the two birds sitting side by side. Perfect for several occasions.

Workshops at McOyster Crafts

Well I am finally ready for my first workshop in quite a long time, almost 8 years. Everything is prepped and ready to pack tomorrow night for Saturday's workshops at McOyster Crafts in Cupar, Fife. 
I  have also been coming up with another idea for a workshop on resist techniques. This is a technique I have always loved myself so thought it would make a nice workshop. 

The first card is just a basic resist using a beautiful Here Arts flourish stamp. My friend Linda has been using it recently and that reminded me what a perfect stamp it is for this technique!!

I used Distress Oxide inks to blend over the top and a little sparkly butterfly to finish off.

For the next technique I stamped and embossed floral images, blended distress inks over the top and then a wet paintbrush to lift off colour. I love this technique so it was fun to do a few examples, although the blue one is my favourite!!

The final technique uses the resist and blending of inks as in the previous samples but spritzed with a pearlised spray and then uses a hot iron and paper to melt the powder. This is perfect if you want to over-stamp with text or sentiment stamps.

I did these techniques years ago at my own workshops at Stampaholics and they always seemed popular. Hopefully they will be again!!

Valentines Day Card

I thought I would try something different (for me that is) this year for my Valentines Day card for my husband.
I love the trend at the moment for stitched edged dies. Although I have stitched circles and squares etc, I decided to add to my collection. I recently discovered an online shop that sells a lot of American brands like My Favourite Things, Lawn Fawn, Neat and Tangled to name but a few!! The shop is Seven Hills Crafts and is well worth a visit. I have a wish list as list as my arm. 
I bought snow capped mountains and some stitched hillside borders as I love doing landscape style cards. And this is what I made.

I hope he likes it!!

50 ...and fabulous!!

It's another wintery day here up in Scotland. I am meant to be writing up instructions for a magazine commission but decided to have a break and finish a card for a work colleague who is about to turn 50. She is quite girly and loves pink. On these occasions I often turn to an old Hero Arts set of stamps with a selection of shoes. What woman doesn't like shoes!!

The background was made using a Tim Holtz plaid stencil and pinky tones of Distress inks. The numbers were die cut from white card stock that I attached some double side sticky film to before hand. Once cut all you need to do is peel off the backing and cover with a fine glitter. Remember to rub it in well to get even coverage and to stop it falling off. I just computer generated the sentiment and cut it out to finish the card!!

Oh well back to work tomorrow!!

Siobhan 

Time Flies

I can't believe it's been over two years since I last posted anything on my blog!! I had a long spell where I wasn't crafting at all. Since going back to work in the NHS I lost touch with what was going on in the crafting world. I think most of my attempts at making something ended up in the bin and I began to feel that I had lost any creativity I may have once had. 

Then I got asked to contribute to a stamping magazine and that forced me to sit at my desk and try and come up with some ideas. There is nothing like a deadline to help keep you focused!! And so gradually I began to enjoy crafting again. And now that I am about 3 years away from retirement I am looking forward to having more time to do all the things I love!!

The thing I enjoyed most when I had my shop was teaching techniques in workshops. I met some great people and made some good friends.  A group of us still meet regularly for a craft swap and a catch-up. 

I now buy most of my stash on-line or go to Cupar in Fife to McOyster Crafts. The owner Adrian has kindly agreed to let me do a few classes for him in March. So I thought I would put a little plug on my blog in the hope it might help fill a place or two. 

I am starting off with a class called "Distressed Background Techniques". I love Distress inks and now that the Distress Oxide inks have arrived I love them too!! This class will explore a few ways to create backgrounds for stamping on. 

 Wrinkle free distress with stamps from Visible Image

Blended Distress with stencils and water

The last 3 all use stamps to create the background and the focal image.

The second class is called "Cards for Men". I am sticking to distress inks with more techniques for making backgrounds and a travel theme. 

If these classes work out I hope to carry on and do more classes now and then. These first two classes will be on the last two Saturdays in March for anyone who might be interested. I always try to support my local shop. I remember only too well what it is like trying to compete in such a big market place.