Friday 27 November 2015

Starlight Tree



Hi there crafters, I hope you're all well and doing ok.

This week's inspiration is from the web, I adapted it so I could use the Starlights and Texture Paste through a stencil.

I took a piece of acetate 11.5" x 6" and folded it in half, then cut a piece of white Super Smooth card the same size as the acetate folded and stuck it on the back of the card behind the acetate, the reason for that is so you can write your message on the back.  As you can see I marked the white card so I knew were to put my tape for the patterned card to cover it.



I cut a piece of Imagination Craft Purple Snow card slightly smaller than the acetate and taped that on the inside of the acetate to cover any workings from sticking on the white card.

Next I taped the acetate down with stencil tape ensuring that it was a very tight fit.

Then taped down the Imagination Craft Christmas Fir Tree Stencil (Sorry forgot to take a picture of that).   I mixed some Transparent Texture paste with the Cyclamen Starlight paint, and smoothed it over the tree using the Sweet Poppy Spreader.  I decided at this point to spread a little glitter over the tree while the paste was still wet, putting it on with a couple of sweeps with a straw.  Left it to dry for about an hour.

I wanted a sentiment inside the card so found a Let It Snow die from my stash, which I cut twice, once in white and once in a dark mauve to match the paint.  I pasted the white die cut on top of the mauve to create a slight shadow then stuck that on the inside of the card.

Then finished off the front with a few gems, quite a simple little card so hope you like it.

Here's a photo of the inside and the finished card again.............




Take care all and see you soon.
Love Jan -x-


  

  

Thursday 26 November 2015

Using Starlight Paint with Stencils and Dies

 
Good morning crafty friends! Back to my roots today with a theme that features a lot in my cards: fairies. A perfect theme to pair with Imagination Craft's Starlight Paints, as you can't have fairies without a little glitter!
 
Starlight Paint is a very versatile medium and I thought I would test it further and try using it for yet more applications. The encapsulated sparkle contained within the paint seems to lend itself to stencilling (when used sparingly), and also die-cuts really well. The metallic flake contained within the paint bends and cuts without shedding at all. There is no cracking or flaking and you can apply heat (heat emboss on top of it) without it bubbling or distorting. Have a see what you think...
 
 
The first stage of my card was to choose a stencil (this one is from Sweet Poppy) and place where I wanted it on my card stock. I also masked off certain sections as I did not want to use all of the stencil. I used a palette knife to take a little Dark Orchid Starlight Paint and place on a Heat Resistant Craft Mat. Using a Blending Tool and sponge, I then worked the paint deep into the sponge so that there were no 'blobs' and it almost looked too dry. Tip: don't let your paint dry on the sponge when you're done, be sure to wash it out for its next use!

 
Using gentle pouncing motions, I applied the paint through the stencil. You can see in the picture above my first attempt was fine at the top, but I was too heavy with the paint at the bottom and it seeped out and made a mess; be patient and you soon get a feel for it! Once dry the paint gives an almost sparkly ink effect.

 
My next stage was to stamp the Lavinia Fairy Dust stamp into position with Versamark Ink. I then heat embossed the sentiment using Wow Metallic Silver Powder. I also applied more Versamark Ink all around the edge of my topper directly from the pad, and heat embossed this as well. I like the 'randomness' of this look for edges of cards!

 
The next stage was to paint some Cyclamen Starlight Paint and Dark Orchid Starlight Paint onto Super Smooth card using a paintbrush. Once this was dry I stamped some flowers using Versamark Ink and heat embossed in the same way as before. I used a die to cut out the flowers out.


 
Once all the flowers were cut out, I used an embossing tool to add some dimension and layered them up onto my finished card with a pearl middle.

 
To bring the two main paint colours together I have used the end of a paintbrush to randomly dot small amounts of paint all around the main swirl. I also die-cut a Tonic fairy from my Starlight Cyclamen painted card and added some Silver Halo Glitter to define her dress before mounting her into position with foam tape.
 
Very girly, pink and glittery!
 
Thank you for reading
Love
Martina
xx
 
Dark OrchidHeat Resistant Mat Mini Ink Blending ToolFairy DustVersamark Ink PadWC05 Metallic SilverSuper Smooth WhiteCyclamenHalo Glitter - Silver
 
 
 
 
 


Wednesday 25 November 2015

Sweet Poppy Poinsettia and Starlights........



Good morning everyone,

Boy hasn't the weather changed in the last week, brrrrrrr!
I really don't like the cold and was gutted to give up my flip flops but chilblains are not a good look really are they???....... lol!
I do hope that you are all keeping yourselves wrapped up and warm, I even have a hot water bottle in my studio with me whilst I am crafting!

Anyway on to more crafty things........

So today I thought that I would show you a make that I did last week using the gorgeous Starlight Paints along with some other mediums that I will list in a moment. I apologise as I meant to do a tutorial on this but got so carried away with making the card that I forgot to take the photos in between!!

Here is a list of what I used:


So this is where it began......
I started by adding some Pearlescent Dimensional Paste through my Sweet Poppy metal stencil on to black card. (I have to say this is a gorgeous stencil and I love the way that you can use it flat to create a background or you can cut the poinsettias away and create these amazing flowers.)
Now this next technique is fab and I first saw by buddy Sue doing it with Sparkle Gel over at Imagination Crafts and then the lovely Lou from Sweet Poppy and I loved both results.....
I then used a large flat brush to pick up some mica, I used the gold and bronze colours and sprinkled them liberally on to the wet paste ( once you take off the stencil ). Then take a heat gun and heat the card from below first and then above and watch the paste bubble and form a fantastic texture whilst melting in the mica to the paste, it is just so fabulous to watch and gives such a great effect each time.
Just a little tip that I picked up from Lou DON'T use her Translucent Paste, it doesn't work but you can do it with all the others White, Pearlescent and Black.......

I put this aside to totally dry whilst I then went about my die cutting. I used my Grand and Standard Spellbinder Nestability Circles and die cut a large aperture that I then embossed with a folder from my stash ( we all have lots I am sure ), then a circle that fitted inside the aperture in black and then a white circle to go on top.

Next I die cut a set of holly from my Sue Wilson Holly Sprays Die, one set of cones form my Leanne Creatief 3D Pine Cones and three Pine Branches. Next I started to paint them with the Starlight's. I painted the holly in antique gold with orange oxidized berries, I did the spruce with orange oxidized and then the pine cone with topaz tipped with orange oxidized. At this point the colours were really coming together nicely with the poinsettia......

I painted the aperture circle with the bright gold Starlight's and then I decided to tone it down my rubbing over it once it was dry with a little Inca Gold- Gold and it looked lovely. Now I was ready to start to do some placement on my card with my pieces.......

 I took my 7" square white card and laid the circle pieces on to the card slightly to the top right to give enough room for my die cut pieces. Next I cut out my three poinsettias from the black card and cut a little in between them so that I could add shape and dimension to them. I then arranged all the pieces on to the card until I was happy where they were going to go and then attached them with Cosmic Shimmer Glue.....



It just needed a little sentiment so I stamped the Noel on to a piece of white card with Versafine Black Onyx and matted it on black card and then attached it to the card. Lastly I added a little Gold Stickles around the sentiment and the centre of the poinsettias to add a little bling and I was done.......



I apologise for the shadow in the photo, it was getting a little late when I took it. This card really does look lovely in the flesh and will be at the Christmas Party Class next week. The mica and Starlight's look amazing in the light.......

Well that is all from me for now, I am really busy getting all the preparation's done for the party class next week, we have a lot in store for you???

I hope you like my little make and I will be back next week with some more.....

Until then, have a great week.....

Big hugs Lisa B xx


Poinsettia Holly Sprays   Holly Leaves & Pine Branches   3D Pine Cones

  Orange OxidisedAntique Gold TopazRich Gold

   Dimension Paste - Pearlescent       Inka Gold - Gold     Pointy Baubles

      Mica Powders - Starlight     VersaFine Ink pad - Onyx Black   Glitter Glue - Gold