A Birthday Card.

Hello!

I just used this gorgeous So Suzy Stamp in my earlier card where I had said that I was in the process of making a few more cards using this stamp... (Stamp name - Phineas the Peacock)

This time I decided to go for a different color palette... pink and peacock blue... :)

Also, it is a birthday card for a dear friend, so I wanted it to be all sparkly.

So, lets get down to basics...
Here is how I made it :
1. Created background using 2 distress inks alongwith 2 stencils.
(I picked honeycomb and Art is.. designs but you can pick any that you love, with this color combination, all patterns look gorgeous!)
2. Stamped Phineas the Peacock and Birthday sentiment (From a wplus9 set) in black archival ink.
3. Now this is the tricky and time consuming part.... I took a toothpick and some pva glue and bit by bit, coated Phineas in glue and covered it in super fine glitter... (It might not be so oooh... in the pictures, but in actuality, when light hits it, it sparkles crazy... like a diamond!).

Step 3 was major, and post that, the card was almost complete.

After this, since I had opted for peacock blue as my base color, I wanted the embellishments to be close to the colors in a peacock's feather.
The super pretty round bead like objects you see are called "skittles", available in loads of colors and sold by So Suzy Stamps.
Turns out, skittles get along fabulously well with rhinestones.... :) so I paired them up!

After that, I cut it into a square, distressed it (yes, using my humble little paper cutter) and set it onto a black cardstock.

How could I not make a matching envelope? It is a fun habit..  so I whipped out my honeycomb stencil and made one super quick.

P.S. I don't think it is quite visible in the photos, but I used super fine white glitter in some places covering up a few honeycomb cells. :)

I'd love to hear what you think about this project.
Have a happy sparkly day!

Linking this to :
So Suzy - April Challenge - Birthday 
Lulupu Challenge #48 - Watercolors 

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My new stamps!

This post is long overdue... :)

A couple of months ago, my wait for So Suzy Stamps finally ended when Maninder Kaur (owner of Rainbow Craftykari)  graciously offered to have them imported for me.

I was delighted... :) and I would like to take the opportunity here and thank her. Loving the stamps! Thanks so much Maninder!

This time I took a lot of pics... right from the stamp that I used in the card, to what it looks like on the reverse and what my background looked like before stamping.

This is a pretty simple card, made using three colors : Black, Yellow and Pink.

Background is created using two stencils alongwith pink and yellow distress inks.

I stamped the gorgeous So Suzy Peacock stamp using archival ink and I here have to admit that I was a little worried while stamping because, I did not want the impression to be blotchy and mess up my background. However, I was pleasantly surprised...

These stamps give a perfect image with beautiful crisp finish, every single time! :) (I am in the process of making a few more cards using the same stamp so I can tell, perfect impression, every time...)

(I used a generic  6" acrylic block for stamping this.)

The sentiment is a part of word phrases from Itsy Bitsy.
The pretty washi tape is from Priya's store. (Thecraftshop.in) Rhinestones, pearl and ribbon from my stash.

Thanks for visiting! :) Have a happy day! 

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Steampunk Inspired...

I was really inspired with all the steampunk projects that I had the opportunity to see of late. :)

So, I grabbed my gelatos, perfect pearls, distress inks and came up with this... my first ever masculine, steampunk inspired card.

The background is a blend of two stencils alongwith some salt.

Yes, you heard me right, common table salt.... :)

Here are the steps :

1. I used gelatos and created the base using my TCW - Mini Cubist Stencil.
2. Using a lot of water to blend the gelato colors, on the super wet surface, I put pinches of salt.
3. Now when the project dries, the salt falls right off, but it leaves behind a beautiful coral-like texture in the areas where it was sprinkled.
4. At this stage, I also gave it a light coat of perfect pearls (perfect pearl and gold shades) to seal the work / minimize color bleeding.

After this,
I picked up distress inks, black soot and vintage photo and used the gears stencil by MFT and thus my background was complete.

Then I shaded a few paper gear die-cuts in brown and black and added them to my project.

One important thing, that silver thread-like object linked to gears is actually a very thin wire which is used for jewelry making. :) I didn't use any glue / tape to keep that in place, I looped it such that a pewter brad was enough to prevent it from moving and losing its shape.

The stamped sentiment is from a set by 'inspired by stamping' and is stamped in black archival ink by Ranger.

The purple cardstock on which this hand-torn background rests has also been distressed at two of its sides, using my simple locally bought cutter. (Just move the cutter blade slowly over the paper edges, it distresses the paper just fine.)

As usual, I also made a quick matching envelope to go with the card.

I know the post is long et al, but I hope it helped and inspired you to create something new and different!

Have an awesome day!

Linking this to :
Lulupu Challenge #48 :  Watercolors 
Catchy Challenges #13 :  Anything Goes 

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Faux Pressed Flower Look

Hello!

I love pressed flowers, don't you? :)
However, as much as I love them, and try to make them at home, all my pressed flowers end up turning dark brittle brown.

This time, I was determined... to make pressed flowers that well, stay.

I experimented and came up with this technique of making a stamped image look like a faux pressed flower. Pretty neat huh?

This is also my first, vintage / victorian inspired project, so I hope that I have done justice to the themes.

I was experimenting, and working within a set timeline so unfortunately I did not have enough time to click photos, but here is what I did...

1. Took a rubber cling stamp and put colors using gelato sticks... two colors for flower and one color for stem.
2. Dampened the stamp a bit using my mini mister and pressed the image firmly onto paper.
3. After it dried, I picked up the same gelatos with my brush and applied color wherever required.
4. After the image dried a second time, I put a coat of glossy accents over it.

The key is to getting the colors of the flowers right. To get that pressed flower look, I did go through a lot of images.
This was my first try, and I do hope to get better...  (will experiment with each large flower stamp that I have!) ;)

Hope this was able to convey how I created the look.

Background was with stencils from The Crafter's Workshop and Tim Holtz using distress inks. I have used black soot on the edges of the hand-torn paper too.

The tiny butterflies are from Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch.

The stamped sentiment is from a set by 'Inspired by Stamping.'

Brads are from HOTP Pastel brad pack, and rhinestones are from my stash!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking this to :
Lulupu Challenge :  Watercolors #48 

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Fun with Krylon!

Hello! :)

I recently bought a krylon gold leafing pen so I put it to some good use with this simple little card.

The background is hand-written (with Krylon) and I put in all the adjectives to describe the person this was going out to.

The part where I put down the name, I have covered in this picture.
The stars are gold and silver confetti stars, but if you don't find them, you can stencil some with your krylon (I don't know if it is visible in the picture, but the pen is super super shiny, like liquid gold..)

The chunky glitter is gold and silver bits of the heavy glitter that is sold in tiny bottles and used by the people to sprinkle over their rangoli.

I initially thought it was too simple, but any element that I added only killed the look so I thought, sometimes simplicity is the best option. :)

Okay, now on Krylon... I bought it because there are not a lot of gold color pens out there which look great on black and white cardstock  equally. This one looks great on both plus on vellum! Runs like butter...

I bought mine from here.

I was in a rush so was able to take just one picture which so does not do justice to how pretty the gold pen looks but well, you get the idea...

If however you don't want to invest in one, I would suggest, go for a uniball silver pen. This would look really pretty in silver too and the uniball pen writes beautifully. Plus with a finer tip you would be able to add a whole lot more adjectives! ;)

Having said that, I still wouldn't trade my Krylon for anything else... it's a fabulous investment. There is no substitute that would look half as good and shiny as compared to a Krylon with smooth, even results on a lot of objects.

Thanks for stopping by! Have an awesome day!

Disclaimer : Views expressed are of my own and I was not influenced to write this.

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Our little ATC club!

Hello! :)

A while back, I realized that we didn't have an ATC swap club in India....

So.... we (me + friends) rolled up our sleeves, gathered a few like-minded people and created one on facebook! :)

This is my first ATC for the swap. Pretty excited... we are barely a group of around 26 people at present, but I sure do hope that the number only grows and more people in India welcome and warm up to the idea of swaps... afterall, its a great way to make new friends and collect little pieces of art!

We started functioning this month and are working with a size of 3 inches by 4 inches postcard.

The theme for this month is Summer so I picked the warm sunny colors for my background...
It is created with distress inks alongwith stencils and upon drying, I have given it a coat of perfect pearls (gold).

The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch... I added a bit of glossy accents to them to give a little height and then coated them in silver sparkle.

Button, ribbon, the silver butterfly charm, rhinestones are from my stash.

Thanks for visiting! :) Till next time!

Linking this to :
Catchy Challenges - #13 (Anything Goes)
Try it on Tuesday - They who have wings
The Stamping Boutique - Spring

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