How To Make A Distressed, Vintage Style Card

Hi Guys, hope you enjoyed the new Natural Beauty Stamps illustrated by Carmen Medlin for SCACD blog hop yesterday. If you are interested here is how I made the card from yesterday's post.

Inspiration note: When I first saw this fabulous stamp the idea of making the image look a bit ethereal immediately jumped out at me. The layering of this delicate looking image onto a 'decayed' background grew whilst I was working on the image. The overall effect puts me in mind of Estella from Great Expectations for any of you Dickens lovers out there (more from the 1946 movie perhaps than the book).

Materials:

Stamp - Carmen Medlin SCACD Naturally Styled

Papers - Prima Melody; Kraft Card (make a card blank); Book page; Vellum or Tracing paper

Inks - Archival Jet Black; Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Inks Vintage Page

Colouring - Caran d'Ache

Usual Suspects - Glue; Double-sided tape

Tools - WRMK Sew-Easy;  WRMK Sew Easy Piercing Mat; Brayer; Paint brush; Heat tool; Paper piercer

Other - Make It Crafty Lasercut chipboard Filigree Jewels; Calico Fabric; Thread; Gesso; Scotch tape; nail file; Perfect Pearls; Golden Gel Medium

Making The Image Background

I started by glueing a book page to a Kraft card support and brayered it down for a to get rid of any winkles then set it aside to dry.

I then covered the old book page with some diluted Gesso, dried it with the heat tool (too impatient to wait!) and added another layer of Gesso.

Stamp Out The Image

I then used Archival ink to stamp out the Carmen Medlin SCACD stamp onto the book page and on a piece of vellum, but I didn't have any vellum so I've actually used tracing paper. Allow the ink to dry then line up the two images and tear to the size you want the image to be on the card. Also tear the edges of the Kraft card blank.

TIP - Be very careful not to move the stamp on the vellum / tracing paper otherwise it will smear and smudge.

TIP 2 - When using unmounted rubber stamps use a little bit of glue stick to stick the back of the stamp to the acrylic block, you can use other products such as Tack n' Peel, or sticky sprays instead, but glue sticks like Pritt stick work just as well and wash off easily. I then use a foam mat under the item to be stamped to get a good image. Practice on spare paper first to find out how hard you need to press to get a clear image.

Colouring On Vellum / Tracing Paper

I then used coloured pencils to colour the stamped image on the tracing paper, pressing lightly and building up the colour in layers.

Distress The Designer Paper

Next might not be for everyone, I know many of you might feel it a bit of a crime to distress those lovely designer papers, but sometimes a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do! Don't judge me too harshly!

So a bit of paper distressing. First get those rips in the surface using Scotch tape, torn in thin strips, burnished onto the paper with my nail and pulled up, practice on a spare piece or in a place that won't show to see how hard you have to burnish and pull to get the effect you want.

I topped this off with some sandpaper distressing and then lightly inked with the Distress ink and added a touch of Perfect Pearls in some areas. Also use the Distress ink on the edge of the book page, Kraft Card blank and a small torn strip of spare book page.

Prep The Papers For Sewing

Using the WRMK Sew-Easy tool pierce some sewing holes in the small strip of spare book page. Tear a piece of fabric and layer them on the distressed designer paper and stitch them in place. 

Stick the book page image to the designer paper with double-sided tape. Carefully line up the two stamped images and prick holes to stitch the image down.

Finish With Embellishments

I added a bit of Distress ink to the Make It Crafty lasercut chipboard then brushed with Perfect Pearls and used Golden Gel Medium to stick the embellishments down.

There you go, all distressed and vintage-fied! 

Enjoy.

Kimx

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BLOG HOP - Natural Beauty Collection Illustrated By Carmen Medlin For SCACD

The Quixotic Paperie design team have once again joined forces with the SCACD design team for a blog hop to celebrate the release of the fantastic new NATURAL BEAUTY COLLECTION illustrated by Carmen Medlin. 

 We hope you'll agree that these are images to fall in love with.

There are SEVEN stunning images in this release, and they are available either individually or as a full set at a special discounted price!

If you’re in the UK/Europe you can buy the stamps NOW at Quixotic Paperie.

There is a special offer on SCACD Stamps during the next week - buy ANY FULL SET or FOUR OR MORE individual stamps from the SCACD Stamps range and receive a FREE STAMP (free stamp will be selected at random by Elaine)!

If you’re in the US you can buy the stamps NOW at Susana’s Custom Art and
Card Design.

Susana is offering a Prima freebie to anyone purchasing the full set - see the SCACD Store Blog for full details!

On to the hop!

If you have hopped on over here from Alex's blog Paper and String then you are on the right track, if not then start your journey at Elaine's Blog - Quixotic Cards.

The stamp I've used from the NATURAL BEAUTY COLLECTION illustrated by Carmen Medlin is called Naturally Styled

I've matched the image with Kraft card and Prima Melody Paper.

Used the Make It Crafty Lasercut Chipboard Filigree jewels to embellish.

Thank you for hopping with us today! 

I hope you are enjoying the journey.

Your next blog on the hop is Melanie's blog Paper Blessings.

Pop by tomorrow if you want to see how to make this card.

Kimx

Cute Card Thursday - Kraft

Yep it's Cute Card Thursday and this week it is all about colouring on Kraft and the sponsors are the lovely Some Odd Girl with their gorgeously cute stamps. 

I've used the super cute Snuggle Tiny Tia digi-stamp - isn't she adorable? I'm such a sucker for kitty cats.

Some Odd Girl has recently released some of their stamps as clear stamps and you can get them from Some Odd Girl directly or if you are in the UK/EU you might like to know that they are also at Quixotic Paperie too.

Have fun with your Kraft colouring and don't forget to pop on other to Cute Card Thursday to see everyone's lovely work. 

Kim

Making It Clean And Simple - Notes On Designing

I don't know about you guys but I think that clean and simple (aka CAS) is quite tough to do. Actual there are two things I find hard to do and that is the highly embellished designs and the clean and simple designs.

Ok so they sound like they contradict each other. 

If I find one hard to do then surely I would find the other easier to do? 

On the great 'Design Continuum' where highly embellished is at one end of the scale and clean and simple is on the other end, I would place myself nearer to the clean and simple side I
will admit.

But that doesn't mean that the clean and simple designs come easy to me, I do still have to work at them and the more I practice the more I'm happy with the designs I come up with.

But for me that is all part of the journey, learning how to create, design and express myself through what I make. Looking at my early work you can see that it has been a rather long journey so far! But I'm still loving it and learning all the time.

My most recent practice in clean and simple design, above, uses the wonderful Unity All About The Journey which you can get over at Make The Day Special. I've coloured the stamp with ZIG Art and Graphic Twin pens. 

So which are you? Do you lean towards the clean and simple or highly embellished designs? I'm so nosey!

Happy designing!

Kimx

Carmen Medlin for SCACD Stamps - Previews!

A heads-up for you all:

Pop on over to ELAINE'S BLOG today to check out a preview of the upcoming Carmen Medlin for SCACD Stamps release.  The new stamps are STUNNING, and there is a prize up for grabs!

Monday Butterfly

Happy Monday to you all! I've got a cutie for you today - the lovely La-La Land Crafts Sweetheart Marci. I thought I would do a bit of paper piecing as I haven't done any for ages!

 

You can get her as a digi-stamp or a rubber stamp so lots of choice and paper piecing with digi-stamps is as easy as it is with rubber stamps!

I've matched her with the yummy Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage paper - I love the colour combo of blue and black with a touch of lime - yum! Thanks Irina :)

I've been trying a different colouring method with pencils and playing with different paper textures, so my last couple of coloured images are perhaps a little more subtle in look than others I've done - what do you think? 

Have a fabulous week.

Kim

Sunday Round-Up

Hey Guys how are you all doing this week? 

I had a bit of quiet week creatively speaking. For some reason I was finding it hard to create, just one of those weeks when the ideas just weren't flowing so I didn't manage to achieve my goals for the week.

But I have got some Sunday Round Up news for you today. You guys who get Papercraft Essentials will have spotted something from me on page 24 in the new issue just out, Issue 68.

Oh boy did I have fun with this one! I got a little carried away with the commission remit which was '5 Quick Tips with Distress Ink' and if you have a look at the article you will find it crammed with a lot more than 5 tips and ideas!

Here is just a little sneaky peek of some of what you will find:

Sorry guys that is all I can show you! You know I would love to show you more but you will just have to buy Papercraft Essentials to see it! 

Before I go today I have another lovely blog to recommend to you this week it is the beautiful blog of Janine - Jeany's Brunnen. 

Janine has been making good use of the circle flower tutorial I post and has made some gorgeous variations of them. But have a look at what else she is up to in this post. I just love those bubble backgrounds - so going to have to try that! Thanks Janine!

Right I'm off to do some creating (I hope). 

Catch you guys later and hope you have a creative week!

Kim

Are You Distressed?

Well don't be - it is Cute Card Thursday! This week it is all about distressed and vintage cards and you can used any type of distressing - ink, tearing, scrunching, scrapping, sanding, the list is endless! Visit Cute Card Thursday to learn more about our sponsors this week.

I've used all sorts of distressing for my card. I've distressed the gorgeous Pink Paislee Sweetness and Old School papers available over at Quixotic Paperie with Tim Holtz Ranger Distress inks, added a bit of sparkle with the Prima Marketing flower centres.

The image is from the SCACD Victoria Case Bonita Collection - She is Victoria Bonita. 

I've used one of the Artistic Outposts Ephemeral Background stamps to add a bit of a background to the distressed image and I've added more distressing with the new The Greeting Farm Splotchy background stamp with Wild Honey Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain.

The sentiment is from the Artistic Outpost Windows and Doors Stamp set. Think that about covers it!

Looking forward to seeing all your distressed and vintage pieces. 

Kim

Tag, Tag, Tagarty Tag

It's Tuesday Tag day, well ok, so that isn't a thing but perhaps it should be? Today's post is my DT make for the Make The Day Special Blog.

I've used the Layers Of Colour Joyful Noise which is back in stock over at Make The Day Special.

I've added colour using a mask to a background that I textured using the PVA Crackle technique.

Have a wonderfully colourful day.

Catch you later.

Kim

Start The Week How You Mean To Go On...

With some elegance!

A bit of La-La Land Crafts elegance for you this Monday and slightly different from the cute Marci and Luka you are used to seeing here on my blog. This is the very elegant Jesalyn and you can find her as a rubber stamp or as a digi-stamp.

She strikes me as the sort of woman who has everything under control and still has time to look gorgeous too, just like me (erm?) Tee Hee!

Don't forget the La-La Land Crafts DT call is still open and the May Customer Gallery is in full swing with a chance to win a yummy prize at the end of the month.

Have an ultra-elegant day.

Kim

Cheeky Cherry Pie

It's Saturday! Wahoo and I'm running just a touch late with my Quixotic Paperie post today. Usually I like to have my post all scheduled and ready to go in the morning but this little lady was still uncoloured and the layers unstuck this morning.

But I'm here now and I've got a Little Cheeky Cherry for you today and she uses all sorts of goodies you can find over at Quixotic Paperie.

She is my favourite of the Greeting Farm Cheeky range - Cheeky Cherry Pie. I've coloured her with pencils and layered her up with lots of fabric and paper textures.

The papers are from the Prima Melody collection and I've got my Shimmez Spritz out and added some sparkle. You might like to know that all the Shimmerz paints are on special offer at the moment.

You might also recognise the background to the stamp? It's one of the Artistic Outpost Ephemeral Backgrounds stamps - see how versatile these stamps are :) Love them, you might have noticed that!

Right catch you guys later, have a good Saturday.

Happy crafting.

Kimx

DT Call - La-La Land Crafts

Hey guys, guess what?

La-La Land Crafts has a Worldwide DT call open! 

I've been working with La-La Land Crafts since November 2010 and they have the cutest images that are an absolute pleasure to colour. If you have enjoyed seeing the samples I've been putting up on my blog well now is your time to join me! 

The call is open until the 18th May and you can find all the details of what you will get as DT, what is expected of you and how to apply on the La-La Land Crafts blog.

Good luck!

Kimx

Cheating?

Is this cheating? A post containing something I've already shown you? Well this was originally an ATC that I posted for my DT make for Quixotic Paperie a week or so ago.

I thought I would make it into a card with a bit of fabric and my favourite corrugated card texture.

So just to remind you the image uses two of the the Artistic Outpost stamp sets The Ephemeral Background set and the Steampunk Stamp set.

I thought that I would link it up to Hels' Sunday Stamper challenge which is 'Men' this week. 

Sorry if you feel cheated for a make you have partly already seen. Pretend I showed you a work in progress before!

Have fun.

Kim

Inky For You

Been getting a bit inky with my Make The Day Special and {Ippity} Inspiration stamps this week. This make is part of a series of ideas based around an ATC I did for the Idea Gallery in the Craft Stamper recently.

I kinda liked it so thought I would explore the design a bit more and on a bigger scale!

The grass is from the Unity Insightful Meadows stamp set and the 'For You' sentiment is from the {Ippity}Totally Happy stamp set. The colouring used ZIG Art and Graphic Twin pens and ZIG Calligraphy pens from Kuretake.

Have a fabby inky day!

Kim

May Bank Holiday

For all you May Bank holiday-ers time to catch up on all the blog challenges! Wahey!

Cute Card Thursday has a fun challenge for you this week - it is an open sketch and you can re-use an old Cute Card Thursday sketch or any other favourite you have. As it is a sketch it is sponsored by Kraftin' Kimmies Stamps (which you can get in the UK/EU at Quixotic Paperie)

I've used the super cute Fireman Luka from La-La Land Crafts and you can get him as a digi-stamp or as a rubber stamp.

Isn't he a cutie? The sketch I've used is Susan's fabby sketch from the Cute Card Thursday challenge 139.

Perfect birthday card for a little nephew!

Have a great and crafty Monday.

Kim

Sunday Round-Up

Well would you believe it, May 1st is with us and I'm starting to wonder how my goals for this year are going. So I thought as well as Spring cleaning my workspace I might Spring clean my mental space too!

Mmm this might take a bit of doing as it requires me to set some time aside to actually do some thinking and reassessing. Ok so this is going to be a work in progress as there always seems to be something around to distract me. Like Pinterest for example.

Oh boy a new online obsessions for me to procrastinate with and I thought that Twitter and Facebook were bad enough! But now I get to keep all of those piccies that make my heart sing in an easily accessible place. Which means I'm spending my time searching for gorgeous inspiration and not actually working on my goals. Hey ho! 

...................

I need HELP! Got any tips for keeping away from the procrastination? 

Wot? Turn off the computer you say? B-U-T  I  C-A-N'T! NOT THE COMP-U-TER!

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Before I go a searching for more piccies a little shout out to the guys over at Deze is Ook Leuk:

Which I think means 'This Is Fun' (thanks Google Translate!).

If you haven't checked these guys out it is well worth a look-see as they have a fabulous collection of crafty tips, tutorials, ideas and inspiration links all in one place - very useful.

They were kind enough to pick my tutorial for the Circle Flowers to add to their link collection - thank guys! I'm honoured to be in your group!

Well the photos are calling...catch you on Pinterest!

Kimx