Fun fold Friday Friends are like Seashells

 The sunny if finally shining here in my part of the world and playing with the Friends are like Seashells stamps and the Sand and Sea suite of products has made me think of beautiful days spent by the sea with my family and friends.  How does this relate to my project for today you may ask well.....

...I have created a concertina card that has lot's of surfaces to decorate that would also make a great mini album or brag book!!

The version I'm sharing here has a gift card holder on a pocket but you could use it for journaling or extra photos if you wished to.

So the basic card base requires 2 parts. Part 1 measures 14.85cm x 29.7cm and is scored at 9.5cm and 19.5cm. Part 2 measures 14.85xm x 20.5cm and is scored at 10.5cm.

Now take part one and place it landscape in front of you with the smallest panel, the one that measures 9.5cm, on the left hand side. Next you take panel 2 and place the largest panel, it measures 10.5cm, over the 3rd panel of part 1, the right hand one as you look at it. There is a slight gap on the reverse. But not to worry pattern paper can cover it 😉.

That is the basis of your project! 

Now decorate as desired and fold up. The folds staring from the left hand side are mountain,  valley and valley.

Well I hope you've had a good week and are looking forward to a great weekend. My weekend will be spent attending a virtual business retreat and preparing for our very own virtual crafting retreat the following weekend!  

Please join us next week when Gill will be sharing her inspiration. 

Have fun 

Cary xx

Throwback Thursday Sand and Sea suite

 Chatting with some fellow craft addicts at the weekend the subject of one sheet wonders, OSW, came up. Nothing special there I hear you say but it was because amongst our gathering were several crafters who are relatively new to the world of craft. They didn't have a clue what a OSW is! Ohhh thought I a perfect project for my blog post this week featuring the Friends are like Seashells stamps!!

Now this is where it got a bit controversial.  To some a osw is where you follow a cutting guide for a piece of  12x 12, 6x6 or A4 pattern paper to create a significant number of cards. Just Google one sheet wonder template to see lots or click Here for one I created a few years ago.

But there is another explanation of the term OSW,  one that Gill is particularly fond of and the first type I came across years ago... that of the making your own pattern paper type. And it's this style that I'll be using for the gorgeous seashell stamps for!

So I grabbed my blocks, inks and stamps and clean sheet of white A4 cardstock and set about stamping! 

I stamped the large images first then filled in the spaces with the small ones. Finally I used the splatter stamp inked then stamped off onto scrap paper then stamped randomly, going over parts of the previously stamped images in a variety of colours. This gives the project some depth which I find pleasing.

I then cut my A4 piece into 4 panels and set about using them . 1 piece I did a little ink distressing around the edges once I'd cut the panel to fit the mat for my card. A simple message and that was 1 done.

For the second panel I decided to have a go at giving my panel a pearlescent shimmer. I took some of the frost white shimmer paint and using a blending brush gently blended it over my panel. Now this does have a draw back, or positive depending on how you see it, that the paint is a waterbased one so will reactivate the ink on the page and the colour may spread.  In the photo below you can see the difference it makes to the card 

 Again I cut the panel to fit my mats and made my card. The subtle shimmer real look far better in real life.

For the next 2 cards I cut  the panels into strips and set them onto mats. The effect works both horizontally and vertically.

So there you have it 4 cards from 1 background sheet. A one sheet wonder is a great way to get the most from your stamps and spark your creativity.  So have a play and see where it leads you on your crafting journey. 

Watercolour Wednesday sand and sea suite

 Today is a a watercolour card..... promise 😉 It envolves ink and water so that makes it a watercolour technique for sure 👍 I know that the seashells in the Friends are like Seashells scream to be water coloured but I wanted to use the die cuts.

So in the stamp set there is a speckled background stamp that inspired me to create the splatered style background.  First I cut my watercolour paper to size and spritzed it lightly with water. Then I smoshed some ink onto an acrylic block and added a couple of drops of water.

Now the fun began! I used my brush to pick up the watered down ink and splattered it across the watercolour paper!. I also blew across the paper to create some movement of the wet ink across the paper. All in all a quite satisfying play with water and colour 😉

I then decided to add specks of gold to tie in with the gold die cut. I mixed a little water with some tombow glue on an acrylic block and using a clean brush splattered that across the piece. I then took some gold guilding flakes and rubbed them across.  They caught where the glue was and rubbed off the rest . 

Once the background was dry I finished my card off with gold foil die cut and embossed and cut apart elements. A simple gold heat embossed sentiment and gold foil layer and voilà 

Make it simple Monday Friends are like Seashells

 What colour is your go to card base? Mine is white especially when I'm keeping it simple on a Monday after a busy weekend!. This last weekend we ran a fun mystery stamping videoconferencing fun event on Saturday and here in the UK Sunday was Mothering Sunday. So all in all very little time to create projects for this weeks blog post! I  will be sharing projects featuring the Friends are like Seashells stamp set. And for today's cards I have kept it #simplestamping. 

Now back to my original question what is your go to card base colour? Like I said mine is white especially for #simplestamping projects. But for today I've  gone a bit rouge.

I've  created the same card using the same colour ink and colouring pencils to make a simple card but using 3 different colour card bases.

The first is white , of course,  the second is a kraft colour called Crumb Cake and the final colour is a peachy pink called Petal Pink.  

All three cards are stamped in a coral colour ink and coloured in with a coral pencil. I then took a white pencil and went around the starfish on the Crumb Cake and Petal Pink cards. For the white card I used a light yellow pencil. I think that by outlining them they sit better on the page so to speak.

There are lots of lovely things that are part the Sand and Sea suite that the stamps are a part of. I shall be sharing projects using them this coming week so please join us for a week of sand and sea fun what ever the weather!