The MISTI Tool

Well I hope everyone is enjoying this amazing weather!  It certainly has warmed up a bit - I'm afraid my horses are not overly impressed with it as their native Iceland is nowhere near as warm as this!

This week I had the opportunity to attend a workshop in Bath with Iliana Myska, the designer of the MISTI tool and founder of My Sweet Petunia.  Just in case you have not met this tool before, MISTI stands for 'The Most Incredible Stamping Tool Invented'!  Well I have to say that I was very impressed with it as it makes stamping so much easier.  If you are making large numbers of cards it is an absolute Godsend ;-)

I always found my stamping could be a bit hit and miss and this allows you to go back and restamp if you need to and you can guarantee it will overstamp perfectly.

We completed a number of cards on the day and used some large background stamps from The Ton and then heat embossed them - in the past this would have given me palpitations but with the MISTI is was a breeze. 

Of course, I had to have one so got to bring one home with me, so you may get to see more stamped cards from me in the future!











Anyway, that's all from me for now but I hope you all have a great Bank Holiday weekend and lets hope the weather continues to shine on us all.

Until next time

Ginny x

Stepped into a whole new world!

I'm afraid I haven't posted for a while as I have been away on holiday - a few days in North Wales visiting my daughter and her husband, along with her menagerie of animals ;-)

Well today I stepped into the whole new world of jewellery making!  It was nice to do something totally different but am not sure its for me.  Anyway I thought I would share a couple of the items I made - I haven't taken photographs yet of the necklace and bracelet so may post those at another time.

Well here goes, hopefully you will like them!

I have made a few more cards and also done some mixed media, so watch this space and hopefully I will get some time to post them soon.

Until next time, take care

love

Ginny x

Antiquity Book Box

Well this weeks post is once again something a little different.  I attended another workshop where I had my first attempt at working with MDF.  We used the MDF Antiquity Book Box which  is a really useful storage space

Firstly we started by painting the box with Americano Décor Chalky Finish paint.  I think it was the Yesteryear shade but cannot be 100% sure as I did this a while ago!  We did this before assembling the box as this made it so much easier to access all the nooks and crannies.

Once the box was dry we assembled it before we started the decoration.  Firstly we stamped on the base of the inside of the box just to add some additional interest on what would have been quite a large blank space.  This was done in a pale colour cloud ink to add a slight vintage feel.

After this we started working on the outside of the box.  We used Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Polish in pearl lustre and colour cloud to soften and distress the corners, using the same colour cloud colour to do some messy stamping on the box using a word stamp - this really is not that visible from the photo's I'm afraid.  Pearls were also added to the base of the box to add additional interest.

Once this was all done we were able to start adding the embellishments.   Now we got to play with the flowers, leaves and raffia which were all secured using silicone glue.  Once these were set we added the MDF items (hearts and gate) which were again highlighted with the CS pearl lustre gilding polish.

I was really pleased with how this turned out and ended up giving it as a birthday present for my mother.  Hence why it has taken me a while to post it!

Anyway I hope you have enjoyed this little project and it inspires you to try out working with MDF!  I so enjoyed doing this that I have booked myself on a course with Anna-Marie Designs later on in the year, so watch this space for some more samples!

Until next time.

love & hugs

Ginny x

Under the Sea!

Over the weekend I attended a workshop in Bristol and had an amazing day - really relaxing which is just what I needed after a busy and stressful week at work!

There will be picture overload on this post as the amount of detail that went into the bag was tremendous.  The dies are from Heartfelt Creations which was the first time I had worked with these, and have to say that I was impressed.

Oh well, here goes:

Each piece of the bag was cut in card and then we assembled it and was covered in the Heartfelt Creations paper.  I loved the colour combo of turquoise and peach.

There were lots of different elements included, from shells, sea horses, jelly fish and even the odd tortoise gets featured!

                               

I particularly like the seahorses and I added a couple in different colours!

And how about the jellyfish - these were just adorable!

All the elements were stamped onto cardstock and coloured in using watercolour pens and also aqua pencils, which were just lovely to work with.

I have also been playing with some MDF items so may share those with you next time.  Then I must get back to making some cards;-)

Until next time, take care.

love

Ginny x

Motorcycles!

For this card I have used an old (and retired I think!) Stampin' Up! stamp which is of a motorcycle.  Obviously a mans card and a stamp that is really useful!

I used a white card base and layered up with black and an olive green cardstock, and then hand tore the top layer of white card.  I stamped the motorcycle and heat embossed it in black and then painted elements of the motorcycle with a watercolour pen.  Lastly I used bakers twine to pull the layers together.

Another very simple card and not overly fussy, which for a man is ideal.

I used the following on this card

Black, olive and white cardstock

Stampin' Up! Motorcycle stamp

Black embossing powder

Watercolour pen

Bakers twine

I hope you like this and until next time

Ginny x

Playing with Alcohol Inks!

Last weekend I went on a workshop with Julia Watts and had a really great time.  The day was spent playing with alcohol inks, which is not something I had used before.

For this card we started by placing 3 different coloured alcohol inks onto the felt and attached it to the applicator tool.  I used botanical, indigo and stream inks.  Using the applicator tool the ink was applied to gloss card by dabbing the ink on and doing this across the whole sheet of cardstock, and reinking when necessary.  This was then left to dry.

Next I cut the Sue Wilson Birthday Shadow Box in coconut white cardstock. 

 

The very small elements (balloons, cake and present) I inked up with distress ink whilst in the die to add some definition.

Finally I made a frame from the Stitched Lattice frame and then assembled the card, layering it up with foam pads to add extra dimension.  As I had a slight mark on the left hand side of the frame I decided to add a flower which hides it well!!!

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed playing with the alcohol inks and how different everyone's cards looked in different colours.  I think you may see me using this technique quite a bit, as it was so fresh and the glossy card added a lovely sheen.

Until next time .........................

love

Ginny xx

An Easel Card

Today I have made a very simple card, which really is far simpler than you would think!  Again I have defaulted back to my comfort zone with a white and burgundy cardstock.

I cut my base card from foundation cardstock with a circular die that was placed slightly off the card, which gave me a a circular card.  The top part of the card I folded in half and scored it and then placed some ribbon and bow on the bottom section, which formed the base of my easel card.

I then cut a further 4 circles, each time making each layer smaller.  The largest layer was used as the part to fix to the part of the card that stands upright.  The other 3 layers I then cut into quarters and stacked them up, each time using foam pads to add depth.  I then cut the Spring Wreath die (by Tattered Lace) twice once in white and again in burgundy.  I cut the flowers out of the burgundy cut and layered these up on the white cut before placing them onto the card base.

It was not until I started to type all that out that I realised that it does look complicated, but I can promise you that it is not!

The recipe for this card is as follows:

Foundation cardstock
Circle dies (sorry cannot remember who made them!)
Tattered lace Spring Wreath die
Tattered lace Bow die
Ribbon

I hope you have enjoyed this card, I certainly enjoyed making it!

With love until next time

Ginny xx