I'm a retired primary school teacher, who started paper crafting in 2008, when I had a fancy to make my own Christmas cards. Since then, I have tried all sorts of techniques and styles - and I kind of like them all. I have been lucky enough to be on blog teams and large design teams and to do a bit of freelance demonstrating - and I love the challenge of working with different products. My crafting style is very varied - from junk journaling and art journaling, bookbinding and journal making, to quilting and patchwork - and of course I still make cards. This variety keeps me interested - and my crafty stash growing!! I'm always seeking inspiration for new projects.
Hello. Hope you have all had a good weekend. I have a mini easel card to share today - it folds down to just over 4" square.
I have used ivory card, with Precious Marieke's Rose Fence Square from the Romantic Roses collection. It doesn't show up in the picture, but I have also used acetate with Creative Expressions Molten Gold Pixie Sparkle Highlights. You can see it when the light shines through.
To that end, I had to cut the die four times. Once for the base card, two for the top of the card to sandwich the acetate, and one for the base of the card. The little roses and leaves are part of the set.
The two sentiments are from Trimcrafts Sentiments die set.
Click on the either of the pictures to take you to the video showing exactly how I made the card.
Good morning!! Today I have an almost white-on-white card to share. There is a little yellow there for the bee, and to add a little to the background - but it's mostly white.
When I do white-on-white cards, I try to use a variety of textures and tones of white. Here, the base is a straightforward white card, onto which I have matted Centura Pearl Snow White - Hint of Silver and white hammered card. The yellow mats are just white stamping card with Scattered Straw Distress Oxide. I embossed the pearl square with an old Verity Rose embossing folder called Cupcake. The lacy detail is provided using a die called Rose Frame from the Romantic Roses collection by Precious Marieke, cut from white linen card.
And the gorgeous bee is an IndigoBlu mini stamp called "Queen Bee". She is stamped with Spectrum Noir Finesse Waterproof Ink in Flagstone, and the yellow is created using Scattered Straw as before. I have added glossy accents to her wings.
Good morning! Am off to the Hixxy Studio shortly, but just wanted to pop on to share a card. This is an A5 card base, made using Creative Expressions Periwinkle Foundations card. The patterned paper is from my stash.
The gorgeous frame is Rose Frame from the Romantic Roses collection by Precious Marieke. It's a good size - and very intricate. I have used it to frame the little decoupage image from Jeanine's Art Bzzing Bees 3D Push Out collection.
I have lots more inspiration to share on the Hixxy Studio YouTube Channel - and of course our weekly Facebook Lives on a Friday afternoon at 2pm.
Sharing a tag today, made using Crafter's Companion White Stamping Card, sprayed with Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide sprays.
The die set I used to create the image is a Thinlets set from Sizzix called "Flowers in Umbrella". There are lots of lovely little dies in this set, and it is absolutely perfect for using up scraps!
Click on the picture to see a video of how I made this!
Good morning!! This feels very much like groundhog day, where I say something along the lines of how long it has been since I last blogged! Lots of things have happened in the past four months - none of which I shall bore you with. And it's not for lack of projects to blog - I have a whole backlog which I will hopefully share at some point.
One of the big changes for me is that I am now working with online craft shop, Hixxy Crafts, to create a whole host of videos - and Facebook Live shows - showing off different products and techniques. All the videos are on the Hixxy Studio YouTube Channel, so feel free to pop along and take a look.
Let's start with a few projects using something that was new to me - along with a whole host of things that have been in my stash a while.
The new product (to me) is Stamperia's Cream Paste, which I demonstrated in a Facebook Live last Friday.
If you have never used this product before, it is a great addition to your mixed media box of tricks. It's extremely light, and dries to be totally flexible. Stamperia also make a whole raft of texture moulds to use the paste in, but there is so much more you can do, including using it with 3D embossing folders, die cutting it and using it with silicone moulds. There are also many ways to colour it. This video shows everything I played around with.
I then created these three projects. The first is a decorated papier mache heart. I used the Cream Paste with Crafter's Companion Floral Fusion 3D Embossing folder. This was painted with black gesso, and gilded with Pebeo King Gold wax, and Imagination Crafts Sherbet Alchemy wax, before cutting with a simple heart die. I applied gesso and wax to the papier mache heart, before applying the die cut heart.
This time, the paste was used with Stamperia Wings To Fly mould, from which I cut the butterfly, and a strip to decorate around the jar. I also used Imagination Crafts Icy White Paste, and some acrylic paint.
The final one was a bit of an experiment when I was prepping for the live show. This one uses the Oriental Garden mould from Stamperia. The background is a piece of rice paper - I generally use blank rice paper to mop up ink from my mat, so have a collection for creating quick backgrounds. I have used a little bit of Distress Oxide around the edges, but the main part of the image is coloured with alcohol ink - and a pipette!! Watch the video to see exactly how it was created.
Now, I know this post is quite video heavy - and it won't usually be like that. I will try to share projects one at a time. These three just went together quite well, so was easier to share altogether.
Thanks for looking, and feel free to subscribe to Hixxy Studio YouTube channel for more videos.
I have recently received my Tim Holtz Christmas Distress Mica Stains, and wanted to have a play with them in my art journal. I chose Peppermint Stick (red) and Frosted Juniper, and to complement them, Barn Door and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxides.
Peppermint stick has gold coloured mica, while Frosted Juniper is more on the silver side.
I inked my pages with Oxides first, then sprayed the two stains. The quote is from a really ancient set of rub-ons/stickers that I have had in my stash for so long. The geometric flower shapes are from a Magenta stamp set that I must have got free with a magazine - they're dated 2008, and I have no idea what magazine it would have been. I stamped the flowers with Black Soot Distress Archival ink, and painted them with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink, and ink from the two stain sprays, before cutting out. On the page, I used smaller stamps from the set with Evergreen Bough, Barn Door and Black Soot Distress Inks. I also used an Imagination Crafts stencil with the two Oxides.
Good morning!! It's been a while since I have had time to sit and play, but now the whole "back to school/work" build up is over and we have had a week back, I can take a breath and do a little inky playing.
Found this quote in my box of things, and thought it seems very appropriate. With everything going on around us, we have to decide to be happy with what we have and where we are, otherwise it will affect our health.
I have used Broken China and Twisted Citron - both Distress Oxides and Inks - along with Black Soot DI. The stamps are an old CC set - probably from a magazine, and the circle stencil is and old Imagination Crafts one.
