FRIDAY FEATURE with VISIBLE IMAGE

Hello readers! Has it been a long week or is it just me? Seems like ages since my last Visible Image post. Must be the amount of work I have been doing! Sadly very little has been craft related. Anyone who guesses correctly as to how many boxes I have packed wins the privilege of knowing my pain!!

So, for today I have created a crisp little number using 3 of my all time favourite Visible Image stamps and a colour combination that I love.

I wanted to make something simple, clean and stylish and I think this card does just that. I say 'wanted' to make something simple, I didn't have much choice as I have already packed the more exotic craft items!! Simple Tim Holtz inks and white card were about all that I had left unpacked. Works though don't you think?

The front needed to fit the Create with your Soul script so I cut the card base from a piece of A3 card. I kept the remnants to stamp out the sentiment and the butterflies. I worked with the dimension of the sentiment panel when I folded the card, and then cut it along the diagonal to give this zig-zag effect. (A How2 seems in order I think!)  The main body of the card is decorated using the ink splats and Weathered Wood ink followed by the Bronte Script in Frayed Burlap. When the card is folded some of the blank back becomes visible so I stamped the back to match.

I distressed the folded edges and added the sentiment which was stamped with Chipped Sapphire onto a piece of card with only the Bronte Script as the background. This allowed the words to remain clear and easy to read. I then placed the butterflies, which are stamped with Chipped Sapphire, onto the empty spaces. 

Here are the stamps I used, click to link to the NEW web site.

Don't forget to visit the ALL NEW VISIBLE IMAGE web site. Same address, different look!

The blog can be accessed from there but HERE is the quick link for you. 

The Facebook Group is another great place to access all things Visible Image. See current and historical DT inspiration, chat with the Team, show off your own Visible Image projects and get to hear about things first!

This will be my last post for a little while as I dedicate my time to the move 100% now. I want to be in my new house and craft space asap; I have a lot of catching up to do. My head is crammed full of new ideas as well as a list of things I have promised to do as soon as I get settled in. Have a great few weeks and I hope to see you all again very soon!

Kim xx

NEW STAMP LAUNCH from VISIBLE IMAGE

Not the usual blog post from me today. As you know I am in the process of moving house and have not been able to craft very much. It also meant that I couldn't take part in making the samples for the launch of these fantastic new stamps from Visible Image. Rest assured using these lovely new stamps will be my number one priority. I can see it now, the removal men bringing in the furniture while I craft frantically to catch up on all those missed crafting hours!

Anyway, without further ado let me show you the packaging designs for these new stamps. Are you ready? Ready to be whisked off into a Hobbit like world of fantasy?

This is the lovely Fae. Look at those wings!
You need to see what the DT did with those wings! WOW!

An essential background stamp for all the lovely characters

Myrddin the Magick and some lovely rocks to create landscape features.
That sword can be used in his hand instead of the staff if you want.

The Mystical Map - where will you go on your fantasy adventure?

The Runes - another wonderful background stamp.
I can see this working as more of a main feature than a background........

And lastly Orin and his dragon.
Don't worry, his sword is full length!

 These stamps are available to buy TODAY from the Visible Image web site shop.

There will be lots of wonderful samples on the web site, on the Visible Image Facebook page and the DT blogs (links can be found over *there* in the left hand column) over the next few days so why not check them out, get some inspiration!

Friday Feature with Visible Image

A Little Book of Kindness.

Hello followers! Thought I would show you something a little bit different today. I am really partial to making books, especially little books! If you know the stamps I am using you will appreciate just how small this little book is. 

It all starts with a couple of pieces of firm card which are covered with a fairly flexible paper which has been stamped with the flower heads and the main sentiment. By using a soft, flexible paper you will find the corners are easier to get right. A thick, smooth paper doesn't work so well, the corners can be quite sharp. Something like 'sugar paper', you know the stuff that you can buy in the childrens craft section. 

Next is a piece of the same paper stamped with the verse. It needs to be the same size as the front and back covers. I stamped the verse out and then cut down the top and bottom. I then folded the verse in the centre, measuring this against the front and back covers to get the right size, then folding enough times to fit exactly between the covers. (That sounds complicated, it is actually easier to see it being done! I will do a How2 when time allows)

Some ribbon to tie it all up. I like used a brad to hold the ribbon in place. Be generous with the ribbon, it makes it easier to re-tie if there is plenty of it.

It doesn't take very long to make but it does give a very cute end result. Perfect for pressing into somebody's hand when you need to tell them you are thinking of them! You could use any of the other More than Words sets. 

Don't forget to visit the NEW VISIBLE IMAGE web site. 

Same address, different look!

NEW STAMPS BEING LAUNCHED SOON

The blog can be accessed from there but HERE is the quick link for you. 

The Facebook Group is another great place to access all things Visible Image. 

See current and historical DT inspiration, chat with the Team, show off your own Visible Image projects and get to hear about things first!

Have you entered the challenge yet this month? The theme is Anything Goes so what are you waiting for? Check out the details on how to enter HERE. 

Hope you enjoyed my little project today? I am in a right old mess at the moment! My craft room is no longer a place of crafty activity. It has mostly been packed away ready for the move. I can't wait to be in my new house. Why does it take soooo long???

May be back next week with another quick and simple project but IF you don't see me then you know what is happening.

Kim x

See you again soon - with Creative Expressions

Hello followers! Today sees a rather appropriate project from me for Creative Expressions. If you have been following my blog you will know that I am in the process of moving house. In the very near future I hope to be receiving a few of these cards myself! 

This project features a lovely new stamp from Creative Expressions. It is one of the foam mounted pre-cut grey rubber singles, Welcome Home. Deeply etched to give a great impression. I used black embossing powder for the image on a piece of watercolour card I had coloured using Cosmic Shimmer Misters. I just took a few complimentary shades and sprayed a slightly damp piece of card. Once the card was dry I selected a nice looking area and stamped the image in black and embossed it in black. 

I repeated this on another piece of the coloured card, cut out the 2 main areas of the image and mounted them slightly raised directly over the first impression. I added a key from the lovely selection in the Fancy Key Charms pack. There are 8 in the pack so I used one big one but was tempted to use 2 smaller ones as they are so pretty! Some matting and layering with a few little black gems was all that was needed to finish this off. How nice it would be to receive a card like this to display amongst all the packing crates and bubble wrap when moving into your new home?

I know this has been short and sweet, but time is racing away at the moment and I am reluctantly having to pack away my craft room. I will be taking a short break from crafting now. I might steal some time to blog but sadly the stamps and inks have to be packed! Rest assured they will be amongst the first things to be unpacked once I have moved!!

Thanks for stopping by, hope that you come back soon. I will return with more projects real soon. 

Kim xx

The Friday Feature with Visible Image

Hi there. Thanks for stopping by. I am in such a rush this week due to the move so I am sorry this is going to be short but hopefully sweet!

I am continually surprised by the diverse designs these fantastic Visible Image stamps let me make. From soft gentle colours to bold edgy pieces, natural delicate butterflies to funky characters. 

My piece today uses the Congratulations set from the More than Words collection.

I started with the background. I found an ink pad that I had never used, it had no label on it so goodness knows where it came from! It looked red and I was pleasantly surprised when I stamped the first flower to see that it was a beautiful magenta colour. Result!

As I am only able to use limited stash at the moment (most of it having been packed away)  my next choice of colour was black. It gives a nice contrast to the white and magenta. I stamped 2 of the flowers, one in black one in magenta onto a new piece of whit card. I just love the fact that the stamps are so flexible. You can twist the stems to get a more natural look. A little gem on the centre of each flower finished this piece off.

I wanted to keep the overall feel of this card edgy and so I masked and stamped each line of the sentiment onto a separate piece of card and cut it at an angle. These pieces were then mounted onto a piece of magenta coloured card and set over a black strip of card.

Not complicated really but very effective I think.

Hope you like this piece?

Have you checked out the new Visible Image web site yet? It is fantastic!

The blog can be accessed from there but HERE is the quick link for you. 

The Facebook Group is another great place to access all things Visible Image. See current and historical DT inspiration, chat with the Team, show off your own Visible Image projects and get to hear about things first!

Have you entered the challenge yet this month? The theme is Anything Goes so what are you waiting for? Check out the details on how to enter HERE. 

OK, need to dash, how many more boxes are there to pack .....................?

Kim x

Monday Make with Creative Expressions

Hello Followers! This is going to be a quick blog today. If you have been following me you will know that I am on the move! Well, the time has come to pack away my craft room. Most of it has been done already but I have kept out my essential Creative Expressions stash so that I could keep blogging, but to be honest the temptation to craft is distracting me and I really do need to focus on the move now. I have one more project for Creative Expressions up my sleeve for next week but that will be it until I get to the other side and can set up my new craft space.

My project today features 2 lovely stamps from the Singles range. They are ready cut, foam mounted and good to go! One is from the Daisy Spray set, 2 lovely daisy images, and the other is part of the Best Wishes stamp. Click on the images to link to the CE details.

   

My first task was to create a background. I wanted something that looked like a distant landscape and so I inked up an acrylic block with 3 Tim Holtz distress inks. Faded Jeans, Mustard Seed and Peeled Paint. I put the yellow ink on first across the middle then the other 2 colours at either end. I gave this a quick mist with water and then stamped the block directly onto some white water colour card. This was left to dry.

I then stamped the daisy stamp with black embossing powder onto white card and then cut it out. It was a little bit fiddly but the raised embossing helped. A good tip is to colour the cut edges with an appropriate colour, avoid any pens that tend to bleed as it will spoil the image. It hides the raw uncoloured edges. A little yellow ink taken from the distress pad was used to colour the flower centre. 

The Best Wishes sentiment was stamped and embossed in black onto a piece of card coloured in the same way as before. I had a few 'not quite right' experimental pieces and you may well have a couple yourself! 

The image was mounted onto a piece of black card and that then went onto a green mount before going onto a black card base. I did stamp the green card with the leaves from the FRAME stamp plate in Peeled Paint ink but the colour was so similar to the card it only just shows. In the flesh it is more obvious, honest!

Right, sorry that is about it for today. I hope you like the project and that you give it a go yourself. I will be back next week, fingers crossed, with that last project before the move gets underway.

Kim 

Teamies Challenge - Friday Feature with Visible Image

So if you have been following the Visible Image blog or been reading the Facebook group page you will know that this week the DT have been tasked with creating a project using colours and stamps chosen for them. I have been amazed at what they have come up with given the randomness of the choices made. Helen, one half of the magical duo that are Visible Image the company, did a draw of names from hats and as it turned out I was selected to choose for Kay and Kay was selected to choose for me! It seems that Kay, like most of the other DT members, responded well to bribery by cake!

Kay gave me a really nice colour palette, turquoise, pink and purple and the stamps were Bronte Border, Once Upon a Time and Butterfly. On reading this my first thought was "great the butterfly AND Bronte Border, how lucky am I"? Then with the colours I was a bit "Hmm, bright colours" and I started to think.................

     

  

Instead of using black as my stamping colour I thought that white would look good. What do you think? I wanted to keep the feel soft and elegant rather than bold an punchy. Does the white work?

I started by making my background using the Gentle Blend colours Teal (sorry Kay that is like turquoise isn't it?) Hot Magenta and Lavender. The moon is where the pink comes in as well as the mounting card. I stamped the castle images several times masking to give a BIG castle. I stamped and embossed all the images using white embossing powder. I thought it would be fun to use the Bronte Script as the words to the story. To finish I stamped and cut out both the large and the standard sized butterfly.

Here is what Kay did in response to my colour palette of grey, lemon and black and the Harlequin, Winter Tree and Rose stamps. Brilliant work don't you think? Check out her blog, click the picture to link straight there.

Don't forget to visit the ALL NEW VISIBLE IMAGE web site. Same address, different look!

The blog can be accessed from there but HERE is the quick link for you. 

The Facebook Group is another great place to access all things Visible Image. See current and historical DT inspiration, chat with the Team, show off your own Visible Image projects and get to hear about things first!

Have you entered the challenge yet this month? The theme is Anything Goes so what are you waiting for? Check out the details on how to enter HERE. 

OK, that is where I need to leave it today, busy times. See you next week.

Kim x

A Single Rose with Creative Expressions

Hello Followers! I need to apologize for the mix up with the link last week! I do hope you managed to see the Gilded Bee Box eventually? If not then HERE is a working link. Sorry!

Now that we are into May (What?! Already?!) I thought it would be rather nice to make some floral projects to inspire you. The card and tag that I have created feature a lovely stem rose which I think would be great for a Wedding don't you?

I started by stamping over a piece of grey card with white ink using the little patch of fabric stamp from the Sam Poole plate. I stamped the rose stem, embossed it with white embossing powder and did the same with the sentiment. After trimming these two images down I cut some yellow card to use as mounts. I am a little obsessed with tatty edges at the moment in case you hadn't noticed! It helps when the card is good and thick, I would be reluctant to try it with anything thin mainly because it wouldn't look good but also because I can sense a injury happening! I use a sharp blade from a DIY knife but you could use your scissors if you are a little bit more safety conscious than I am! PLEASE be careful however you decide to do it. I think there might even be a 'proper' tool for it.

I still have a huge collection of brads but to be honest any small embellishment would work. You could use dots of Cosmic Shimmer pearl PVA glue or flat backed pearls. I used some yellow twine and a couple of beads to adorn the sentiment plaque. The Tag was made in a similar way. The sentiment is part of the full stamp from the Garden Sayings plate. I carefully masked the stamp before inking it up and then removed the masking tape before stamping and embossing the phrase in white.

MAIN INGREDIENTS

• Foundations cardstock in Gunmetal Grey and Deep Apricot
• White ink, Adirondak Snow Cap 
• Linen patch stamp from Natures Wonders 
• Rose stem stamp from Floral Spray set 2
• Sentiment from Garden Sayings 
• Cosmic Shimmer White embossing powder

I think I might try this design of card with some different colour combinations, perhaps for a more classic wedding look it could be made in ivory and gold or white and silver. I feel another hour or so in the craft room is called for.......

Right, I need to wind this up for today, I could write for hours! I hope you have enjoyed my project for today? I love reading your comments and if you have any questions then I am happy to answer them for you.

Have a great week and I will see you soon!

Kim x

Visible Image Friday Feature

Hello Friday! What a week it has been. The move to Wales is proving to be very time consuming. My main objective is NOT to take anything with me that needs 'sorting out when I get there' as I want to be able to spend 100% of my free time crafting! I have a hoard of stuff that I have been meaning to sort through, like craft magazines, things to up-cycle, yards of material, and of course boxes of paper scraps. Somebody once asked on a craft forum what is the smallest piece of paper you would consider saving. Well, I seem to have saved anything larger than a postage stamp! What I do know is that despite all good intentions I rarely ever search through the scraps! I simply cut a new piece. After all who has time to waste looking for a piece of paper in the right colour of the right size in a box of scraps? I don't. So the sorting process continues.......

My project for this week, which was made using only new bits of card, features the ever popular butterfly and Bronte script from the fantastic collection of stamps by Visible Image. I started by stamping some butterflies over a piece of card I had coloured using shades of pink and blue. I blended so well that only the tiniest of areas still show the blue. The butterflies were then stamped in a column keeping their middles in the middle! I then cut a piece that had an almost whole butterfly plumb in the middle and cropped the others very slightly. 

I stamped a whole butterfly which I then cut out and stuck to the central butterfly on the panel. I used the Bronte script to add a light pattern to the purple background card and a clear embossing powder to show off the same Bronte script on the black card. For a bit of interest I used eyelets and some cord to hold the feature panel to the card base.

   

As always I highly recommend you check out the Visible Image blog HERE where you will see more work from the Design Team. There is also the Facebook group HERE, where you can chat to all of the Team and each other about Visible Image related stuff, and don't forget the monthly challenge where you get to see the DT projects which will hopefully inspire you to enter your own project with a chance of winning a fab prize. You can enter the challenge either via the Visible Image blog HERE or in the Facebook group. The theme this month is 'Anything Goes!'

Hope you enjoyed my project for today? Did you see the inspiration project I did yesterday for the challenge?

Hope you have a good weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again sometime next week.

Kim xx

May Challenge with Visible Image - Anything Goes!

Hello followers and a warm welcome to all you new readers! So this month sees a broad theme for the Visible Image challenge. I love it when any challenge I am part of has the theme Anything Goes! It is what it says and thus makes designing inspirational projects very easy as we do what we are comfortable with. Having said that, I also love a challenge with a very specific theme and in the next few days you will see the results of a very interesting challenge the Visible Image DT did. But back to today, my path was diverted as usual! Pretend I didn't mention it! Shhhh!

For this months challenge I decided to run with a set of colours which are a little bit more vibrant than my usual choices. I started by colouring my background in the usual way with Gentle Blends in Sunshine Yellow, Teal and Lavender. I masked off an area with a circle before starting. Sometimes my colour scheme doesn't suggest this circle is either a sun or a moon, but in this project I would say it is definitely a sun! I left the mask on while I stamped the Bronte Script over this blended background. I kept changing the ink colour to match (roughly) the base colour. After removing the mask I then stamped the feature images, the lovely silhouette flowers from Thinking of You, in black archival ink. This set is one of 6 designs in the More Than Words range. 

I then created a backing piece by stamping the flower heads in the 3 colours onto a piece of whit card. Being the thrifty person that I am I only stamped the very edges of this piece of card, why waste ink and time stamping an area that isn't going to be seen? 

The verse was stamped onto a piece a card coloured only with the teal and lavender colours. Some mounting onto black card and then teal coloured card came next. I do love how a thin line of black makes the layers 'pop'. I used some corrugated card and brads to attach the verse plate.

  

As always I highly recommend you check out the Visible Image blog HERE where you will see more work from the Design Team. There is also the Facebook group HERE, where you can chat to all of the Team and each other about Visible Image related stuff. The monthly challenge can be accessed either via the blog or by the Facebook group. On the Visible Image blog you get to see the other DT projects which will hopefully inspire you to enter your own project with a chance of winning a fab prize.

You don't have long to wait for my Friday Feature, 24 hours to be exact, so I hope to see you again tomorrow! Your comments are always great to read and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Busy with the house move still, my dining room is now a packing station with rolls of bubble wrap, boxes and parcel tape everywhere, but there is always time to craft!! My Visible Image stamps will be the last thing packed...........

Kim xx