Bouquet - parchment lesson

Our March parchment lesson was last night and we had a dry colouring project to master.  I must confess that my heart sank a little as sometimes I find this discipline a little difficult but this time I was pleased.  It just needs the first few strokes to go right and somehow it falls into place. You place the blank parchment onto the outline drawing of the flowers etc and then colour the flowers directly over the pattern.  No outline itself is drawn on the parchment.   We also had a scan of the finished article to copy and a list of all those pencils that were used  by our Tutor in the making of the sample.  The whole project used about 18 different colour Faber Castell Polychromos pencils.  They all have to be kept incredibly sharp as you use very fine individiual strokes to build up the shape and colour. It takes a lot of concentration and tongue biting.
After the colouring we did some embossing to the flowers to add dimension and then we embossed the 'cellophane' wrap to the bouquet.  Some of this is done on the front as well as the back to again give the right feel to the shaping.  A real piece of cellophane is used when embossing on the front - between the picture and the embossing tool to prevent the parchment getting shiny.
I finished it off today using an oval decorative grid and stitching to the background with beads.  The card wrap is from Joanna Sheen's Jane Shasky Cd.

A parchment mask

Debs and I had our first trip of the year down to the New Forest to Judith Maslen's workshop on Saturday.  As always we thoroughly enjoyed the day and came back tired but contented with our efforts.

As always we had two brand new patterns to work with and here is the first one completed.  I am still working on the second pattern.

Judith showed us a slightly different way of colouring which she had seen demonstrated. I was pleased with my effort on the rosebud but not so happy with the larger rose.  But let's face it - at least we weren't  using felt tips. Phew!!!

CD Sunday - Spring has sprung

I have been dying to post this card as I was so pleased with it when it was all finished. It was made for a special friend and I combined it with our CD Sunday theme.  My friend - Joyce - will have seen the card by now as it was her birthday on Thursday.

It was  one of those moments in card making when everything seemed to be just right.  I hope you like it too.

The Cd I used was Joanna Sheen's  'the heart of the garden' by Jane Shasky.  I printed out one of the backing papers three times.  First direct to 280gsm white linen effect card -  folded to make A5.  Then the same again on 140gsm parchment to make the wrap.  I added a strip of cotton lace down the middle.  Then from the sheet of toppers printed on parchment I made the 3 pink spot butterflies and added antennae and pink half pearls. From the third sheet of backing paper - printed on good plain paper -  I cut out the six smaller butterflies.  I used the  Happy Birthday sentiment  from a peel off sheet by Anita.  They are white glitter but I coloured them to tone with the butterflies.

We had another really good response last week to our 'Spots n Dots' theme.  Lovely cards.  I hope 'Spring has Sprung' will equally inspire you all,  and I know I will enjoy my visits to your Blogs.
xx

CD Sunday - Spots n Dots

Before I get to this weeks challenge - Spots n Dots - chosen by Jenny - I must say a big thank you to all our challengees for last week.  We had so many great cards to go and see and Blogs to visit. Thank you.

 Spots n Dots.  -  I went back again to one of my very favourite CD makers - Carol Ann's Studios.There is just something about the style and the exhuberance of colours on all her CD's
This Cd is CD 14 - Glitz 'n' Bitz - used  for the bp and toppers.  The Art of Craft for spotty ribbon and Bluewater Craft Show  for handbag charms.

 I hope we have as many - if not more  Blogs to visit this week and I look forward to browsing all the talented work  and picking up ideas.
Here's to a good week.
x

2nd part of new parchment project

Here is the second and last part of the pattern.  It might be a little while before I can finish it off as there is great excitement here (for me) as my new craft cupboard is arriving tomorrow.  I ordered it at the Bluewater Show and it is finally on it's way.  I now have to make a space for the many many boxes of flatpack I have been told to expect and space for my son to do the building and the wall space it needs. 

Here is the photo of the last pieces

Next parchment project

Readers will remember that I made all those miniature handbags last year using patterns from two books by Amanda, Ching-Hsiang Yeh.   You were all very kind with your interest in the project as it went along so I want to share this one with you.  Amanda has  written and produced a third book which I purchased at the end of last year.   Until now I haven't had time to really decide where I was going to start with her new patterns.  They are all very different to her previous projects.

Here is the first stage

of the first one I have chosen to do.  Any guesses as to what it could possibly be?  If you happen to have the book please don't spoil it.

CD Sunday - From me to you

We had some great entries in last weeks challenge for which we thank you all and I am sure this week's theme is going to be just as popular.
For this theme I have chosen to make a little gift box which I thought very appropriate, and it is from Joanna Sheen's 'Dancing with Shadows' CD.  The only thing I have added is the spotty ribbon from my stash.
There isn't much more I can say about it except that I think it looks chic and unusual.
I look forward to viewing the many entries I am sure there will be.
I really enjoyed reading all the lovely comments about my parchment card last week.  Thank you.

CD Sunday - Imagine

As I write this the sun is shining and hopefully Spring must be in the offing by now.  Thank you all for your great entries in our 'Recycling' theme and we will be posting my choice soon.   I did get a little something at the Make-It Show - so it won't be a recycled something.  That would be taking it too far.

On to this week.  As a team we have been using images from the new CD from Elegant Inspiration - 'Imagine'.
I chose Pegasus.  I knew as soon as I saw this one I could use it on parchment so here it is.

I have a brass stitching and embossing stencil that I bought some time ago but not used and somehow it seemed right for this image.  I measured the centre square so that I knew the image size to print so that it fitted perfectly. I embossed most of the pattern and Pegasus and then used the stitching holes to add some pretty blue beads.  I printed out Happy Birthday in some fancy fonts until I found one I liked and then traced and embossed.
I always enjoy making these sorts of cards and I hope you like it too.

It is a new month so as well as welcoming our Sponsor - Elegant Inspiration we are welcoming Pamela again as our Guest Designer.  I know how much Pamela enjoyed herself last time she was with us and I know you will enjoy seeing her great contributions to our challenges

Thank you to Jen for all your wonderful creations last month.

Please visit the Blogs of my  fellow teamies  - they would love to see you and I always appreciate any comments you may make on here.

Debbees Cd Challenge - March 2012

Good Morning - and a very late one at that.  A combination of Debs having problems loading pictures on to the Challenge Blog and me having a bad night means that I am only just loading up my DT card  for you to see.
Here it is.

From the papers that Debs gave us I have used the topper and one of the bp's.  I printed out the topper on parchment and embossed the two fans  and pricked out the immediate area using a PCA bold grid.  On the border which was 'pretend' ribbon threading I 'took out' the squares of ribbon so that I could thread some real ribbon.  The matt layer is a toning crackle design from an Ooh La La CD and the card is the  sheet of Deb's bp
printed on 280 gsm linen effect card.  The gems are some very sparkly holographic peel off gems.

We have chosen a winner for the February Challenge and that is Pamela .  You see Pamela we weren't upset that you had 'chopped up' Deb's papers. Rather the opposite. Congratulations.

Please have a look at what my fellow teamies have produced and take part in the Challenge.