Dressed for Christmas

Hi there. I have been having a bit of fun making some Christmas Tags for PaperArtsy. I have used non Christmas stamps and tried to 'dress them for Christmas'. All the details over on the PaperArtsy blog.

Nikki

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Gell Plate Tape Embellishments for Christmas

Hi everyone. It's my final week in the Designer Spotlight at Simon Says Stamp. Thanks to the team for having me, it has been great to be back! This week the theme is Tape. I decided to try an old technique using a Gelli Plate and Sticky tape to create some embellishments for Christmas cards.

 There are quite a few videos out there on this technique - most recently from Birgit Koopsen. I used both normal sellotape and also clear parcel tape so I had different thicknesses to work with.

I started brayering bits of paint (I used Dina Wakley) onto the gel plate, followed by stamping in both paint and archival ink. I predominantly used Psychedelic Grunge from Tim Holtz. It is important if you want to use Mica later to leave some space on the plate - just random gaps that will be filled later.

I then took my selected tape and placed across the plate in strips - ensuring it is lightly burnished to remove any air. When you remove the tape the paint and mark making is transferred to the tape. I then brushed mica powder into any spaces - its hard to see in the photos but it adds some Festive shimmer sparkle!

The mica removes the stickiness that is left on the tape so I used Matte medium to adhere to white card before die cutting or hand cutting shapes for my Christmas cards.

I cut my tree and presents by hand and punched a little star for top. The greeting is from Tim Holtz Scribbly Christmas.

The bauble was cut with a die from my stash and the banners hand cut.

Again simple shapes were hand cut to create my present.

I hope you like my little cards. Thanks again to the Simon Says Stamp team for having me for the month! 
Nikki
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Vintage Easel Card with Tim Holtz products

Three posts in a week for me! Haven't done that in a long time. Over at A Vintage Journey I am sharing a tutorial on this Vintage style Easel card today.... lots more details and photos here!

Nikki

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Ooooh Shaving Foam!

Oh yes I have tried paint marbling with shaving foam! Very messy! To see more I am over at PaperArtsy sharing my attempts!

Nikki

Recycled Cardboard Mini Book

Hello! Hope your weekend was good. I am back for my third week as a guest designer over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge blog. This week the theme is Recycle.

 As I was thinking what to make I noticed an empty cat food box waiting to go to the recycle bin - so I decided to create a mini book out of the packaging.

I started with five 2.5 inch squares (quite roughly cut) from the box and stripped them of the glossy marketing. I created little tabs to join them together and added extra glue along the spine. 

I used old book pages along with Gesso and Distress paints in Black Soot and Walnut Stain to paint the surfaces.

I then started collaging scrap of materials and paper to the pages - including Dina Wakley collage paper and left over bits from Tim Holtz Journal cards. I finished each page with a quote from Tim Holtz Theories stamp set.

As always, there is a $50 voucher for one lucky winner each week - so do join in for your chance to win.
Back next week for my final week!

See you then
Nikki

Tim Holtz Large Stems - Thinking of You

Hi everyone. Today see's my second week in the Designer Spotlight at Simon Says Stamp. Our challenge this week is Thinking of You.

I decided to make a card using Tim Holtz Bigz die - Large Stems as my focal point. However I started with the background, as I often do to ensure I get the right balance of colours. I added some Transparent texture paste in places through Tim Holtz Latticework stencil on my card and sprinkled lightly with Seth Apter Baked Texture. Once the paste was dry I heated the embossing powder. I then added Distress inks in various blues to the surface, followed by some stamping with the Lattice stamp from Tim Holtz Lattice and Flourish. 

I die cut my flowers and used Distress Paints in Hickory Smoke, Blueprint Sketch and Tumbled Glass to colour. I added some random stamping and splattering too! I die cut again in black to create the shadow. Mt words are from Simple Sayings (Tim Holtz).

Thank you so much for your visit, see you next week!

Nikki 

Flourishing Vases Thank you card

Hi everyone. I am very pleased to be back on the Simon Says Stamp Monday blog in the Designer Spotlight this month. For my first week the theme is Thanks / Thanksgiving - featuring products from AALL and Create.

I used Flourishing Vases stamp set by Tracy Evans and the Digital Bubbles stencil along with paints from PaperArtsy  (I used Bougainvillea, Forget Me Not and Mulled Wine.)

For the background, I add a couple of colours to my Gel Plate and brayered. I placed the stencil on top, lightly pressed and then removed. I then took my print off the plate. I used a similar background for the vase and flowers but in lighter colours.

I fussy cut the flowers and vase so I could raise them slightly.

'Thank you' was stamped in 2 colours using my stamp platform.  The stamp is from Darkroom Door.

Do pop over to the Simon Says stamp blog where there is, as always, loads of inspiration from their talented design team. And if you join the challenge there is a $50 voucher for one lucky winner.

Thank you so much for your visit, see you next week!

Nikki 

Medallions and more.....

It is another of those redirects from me tonight - over at PaperArtsy using some newish stamps from Gwen Lafleur along with my Gelli Plate.
Happy crafting
Nikki

New stamps - Christmas with PaperArtsy / Sara Naumann

I am sharing some ideas over at PaperArtsy this evening using the new stamps from Sara Naumann. I have also used some of the new colours of Fresco Finish Acrylics creating my background.

There are also a couple of quick videos demonstrating the background creation  (using a gelli plate) and also two tone image stamping. 

Nikki xxxx

An Inchie and a Half

Hi - I am over at PaperArtsy with a quick post on this simple card on the theme of inchies and twinchies! Love a bit of geometry to added some circles to the mix!

Loving these stamps from Courtney Franich and was happy to do some samples for their release back in July. You can see the original post here or take a peek at the photos below!

Back soon - hopefully

An erratic blogger these days!

Nikki