Monday 29 November 2010

That Lavinia Stamp Again ...With Little Claire.

 Good morning, It's a lovely day here in a very sunny North Kent.

When Daisy and I went on our walk over the fields it started to snow but we enjoyed looking at the huge flakes and kept all warm in our winter coats. Daisy was a joy to watch as she chased after the 'Snow Fairies'

Today's card is a sort of 'carry-on' from yesterday as I have fallen in luv with the small Lavinia leaf stamp and the 'wreath look' thanks to my friend Melissa!

I stamped it again using my Adirondack, Lettuce and Bottle Green inks and teamed it with a Poinsettia flower from the little Claire Christmas range.

I coloured it in with my Copic Pens and cut the image using a circle from my Nestabilities.


A few beads, gems and a ribbon ...job done.

Thanks for popping by, see you soon and watch out for the wreath again.....in blue!!

Eileen x

Sunday 21 November 2010

Nestabilities Snowflake Decoration.

Hi , It seems I am always dashing around at the moment and today is no exception!  I am off to London in a while to see MIL who is still in hospital but is slowly getting better thank goodness. However, it seems to be one step forward and two steps back!
I went to the Allhallows Crop yesterday and had a wonderful time with my crafty mates. Thank you ladies for a great time, it was a real stress buster!

The project shown today is from a design from this SUPER blog by Yvonne  This ladies blog is so beautiful you must have a look. I just had to make this because I love her work and it's easy to do!



Three sets of Nestabilities here! Lacey Circles. Large Standard Circles and the Snowflake Die.
Cut and Go!
Thanks for popping by today.
Eileen x

Tuesday 9 November 2010

A White Christmas..... With a Crealies Template.


This card started off as a wedding card! Now it's a Christmas card ...!

I used the Crealies Template  again. This template is so versatile you can use it for any occasion you like, look on the site under Simple Shortcuts!

White and Cream card ( not a very good picture, sorry) The flowers and 'hat pin' came from an on line shop called Wild Orchid Crafts  A super site for flowers and ribbon ...quick service too! I mostly just buy white organza ribbon now and colour it with my Copic's... any colour I like. Good even coverage, NO streaking .

The Metal 'Merry Christmas' was in my stash. A simple card, too simple do you think?
Thanks for popping along to my blog today.
Had a new Clarity stamp delivered last week...gonna play with it tomorrow !
BTW my Daisy has her own blog now Daisy's Diary ...when you get a minute have a look !!
See you soon
Eileen x

Sunday 7 November 2010

How To Blend With A Brayer...... Part Three.


 Hi, this is the last part of 'How To Blend With A Brayer'....Huh! who said thank gawd for that?

I've  received hundreds of emails (well a couple) from Speedball brayer owners who have been following the posts and they have succeeded in beautiful blending!
Most rewarding to know you can understand what I am talking about cos sometimes I get in a muddle and I am writing the blooming thing.

Now....before I take you into the land of part three I just need a little word with....VAL!

Val is good friend ( or was ) and we both attended a crop on Saturday in Faversham. I had the most super time ...thanks for your company ladies.

I digress....Val told me how she had enjoyed reading these posts. I was flattered, not for long through!

"Yes" said Val  "I found that if I kept a pin beside me I was fine"  "A PIN ! what the heck is that for " said I  "Well" she replied  "When I found I was NODDING OFF I stuck the pin in my hand, woke up and carried on reading your blog"..... I sobbed!

 Get yer pin ready Val cos here comes another 'chapter'!


At the top of this post is the card I finished at the crop yesterday with the blended background of Adirondack inks, a stamped swirl, a few poppies and a white gel pen to doodle with.

Today I swapped my Speedball brayer for one of my other brayers with the hard plastic roller.

Using a Rainbow Vivid dye ink pad and Glossy Card stock I have produced the two small backgrounds shown here.

I stamped some white glossy card with a Clarity Stamp and Versamark ink, then loaded the brayer, taking care not to run the colours into each other and without taking any excess ink off I ran the roller over the card (this is the orange/yellow card)

I used a fairly light touch to begin with, then applied more pressure as I loaded up the brayer with more ink to add other layers.  Some kitchen roll was then employed to 'polish' the card, this removes any excess ink and reveals the  leafy swirl image ...this is called the Resist Technique.

On the blue card the process is the same, except, I heat embossed the image after stamping with the Versamark ink and covering it with white embossing powder. Again it needed a polish.

Well, that's it ...I hope it has been of some use to you.

Val, I hope you have a plaster cos blood on your cards is 'not a good look'!

Thanks for dropping by today...Wedding cards later this week. Please visit again if you can.
Vivid ink pad link!
Eileen xx


Friday 5 November 2010

How To Blend With A Brayer .... Part Two



Pic 1
All ready to go now? Wrists all relaxed  and floppy? Okay, lets roll.

As you can see from Pic1. Adirondack ink pads have an easy peel label on the back that gives you  advice regarding colour combination's to use for a 'tone on tone' look. I find this useful and I am going for the Willow,Citrus and Lettuce option with Pitch Black to shade the edges.

Pic 2
Pic 2 shows all the 'kit' for today and I remembered to lay my brayer on it's plastic frame not on the rubber roller!
I have cut a DL strip from my Lavinia Smooth Matt card stock and placed it on a pile of cheap copy paper. Next to this is another stack of cheap copy paper that I will use to take off the excess ink from my brayer.

Pic 3
Load your brayer with the lightest shade of  ink making sure it has even coverage right across the roller with NO gaps. (See Pic 3) Uneven coverage leads to lines and 'messy' blending
Flick your brayer three or four times over the cheap copy paper to take off most of the ink.

Pic 4. cheap copy paper on right!
All the time you are using your brayer, to take off ink, or to blend on your card stock use a QUICK FLICKING movement and be gentle!
Also, it is vital for the blending process that you just 'kiss' your card stock with the brayer. If you press too heavily your brayer will 'bite back' and give you unsightly lines...not nice!
After removing most of the ink go to your card stock (which is placed in a vertical position) and starting 'off  the page' from the copy paper, go across your work from left to right using the light flicking movements.
You should hardly see any colour!
Ink up the brayer and take off the excess ink and do the same again......repeat this over and over until you are happy with the depth of colour of your background. Pic 4 shows the pale background and how much ink is on the cheap copy paper.
Change ink pads to the next shade up and with fresh copy paper in place, ink up just half of the roller (see pic 5) Take off the excess ink by rolling across your copy paper FOUR or FIVE times. Yeah I know it's a lot but trust me I'm a card maker! You will get lines if you rush this or leave too much ink on!

Still keeping to the same 'light touch flicking method ' Brayer across three quarters of  the card.
REMEMBER to keep an eye on your copy paper as you must not allow any ink from this paper to taint the clean area of your brayer.
Picture 5

Repeat over as before until you are happy with the blending and depth of colour.

As long as you are gentle you should not get any lines as you 'blend' into the lighter section.
If you do, then don't panic, ink the roller again and take off the excess, brayer again going from left to right   until it smooths out! If you are left handed do you go from right to left.

Always, always, brayer from the beginning of your work each time. The very edge... 'off the page' and go from left to right. Please do not start from  'where you left off' or the middle. I hope that makes sense!
Repeat all of  the above using  your final darker shade.Take your time it's worth it.Once you have got the 'knack' you can blend colours very quickly. Are you asleep yet?
Part three tomorrow !
Eileen x

Thursday 4 November 2010

How To Blend With A Brayer...... Part One.

I have a few of these
This post is one of three that I hope will help if you are having problems with 'blending' while using a brayer and your dye based inks.

Part One shows you all the equipment I use to achieve the results that I like. There are other products, however, those shown here are the best ones for me.

My Brayer tree!
My brayer 'tree' is an old mug tree that I use to store and protect my brayers.

The brayers don't see the sun! (along with my stamps they stay in the dark) I never lay them down on their rubber edge as this can dent the surface of the rollers. So hanging them is tidy and saves them from damage.

You will notice I have three Speedball Brayers (soft rubber) and two hard plastic brayers with vivid red rollers in two different sizes.

I will talk about the techniques I use with this kind of brayer in part three of this tutorial.
My Favourite Card for blending
For now, I want to concentrate on the blending technique and I find I can only achieve the blending I like with my Speedball Brayer.
Next up in my equipment list of 'must haves' are the inks I use. Adirondack dye based Ink pads and Big and Juicy pads. I don't use ANY other inks on my Speedball Brayers.
I use baby wipes to clean my brayers or mild soap and water NEVER, NEVER solvent based cleaners!
Finally, the  paper I use is SO important.
Postcard size card from Clarity Stamps, Smooth 160gsm paper from the IQ premium range at Staples ( not cheap but lots of it and a cheaper way when you are learning!) and finally Matt card stock from Lavinia Stamps, most of my cards are made using this one.

You will also need piles of 'cheap as chips' copy paper... any brand will do.
When I started to brayer I got in a right old mess but after watching some DVDs from Clarity Stamps and Lavinia Stamps and getting the products that will produce the results you want, it is JUST a matter of practice and 'flicking your wrists!......
Part two ...How to Blend is.....tomorrow. Make sure all yours wrists are 'floppy' by then please!
Thanks for looking.
Eileen xx