Glittered Grungy Tree

I was playing with my Artylicious Season's Greeting CD and remembered the print your own toppers section. I have always liked this tree design, which Glenda refers to as the "grungy tree", although I think it's too nice to be called "grungy". Anyhow I printed of the page and then dug out my glitters from Foilplay and that set of tiny text stamps I have.

First I applied some of the glue onto the image of the tree that was in the foreground and sprinkled this with added green glitter, I did the glitter in stages as I was not sure how fast the glue would dry and there are quite a lot of tiny branches on the tree to apply glue too. Once my tree was glittered I stamped the greeting then wrote over it with the glue pen and added more green glitter. I used Stazon for stamping with so as the ink would not bleed when I added the glue. Finally took some Star Dust Stickles and added a few tiny spots to the snowflakes that are falling in the picture.

Once all my glitter was dry I mounted the picture onto some green Mirri card and then chose some icy blue shimmery card to make my main card with. I felt the main card looked a bit plain so I used Encore Metallic Silver ink and some snowflake stamps from The Angel Company to stamp a pattern onto it. I must admit I rather like the combination of icy blue and cool green, it feels more wintery than I would have expected.

PS dont forget to check out the Blog Candy I am helping Glenda Waterworth to give away! you still have time to win those delightful Faery Stamps - just look for the Blog Candy post on this blog.

More Glitter from Foilplay

While I had my glitters out I found my mind turning to Christmas and to an old stamp, one of my very first stamps infact. It was bought for the princely sum of 99 pence from my local craft shop and has lain forgotten about until I dug out all my stamps the other week to make a catalogue of my collection. I wanted to make a some more cards for Foilplay and I also wanted to make a card for this months Fab's Big Christmas Challenge. The idea that was forming in my head seemed like it would suit both projects. I think this card made with my little cheap stamp, some heat embossing and some more of that lovely glitter from Foilplay has turned out rather well. Oddly enough as well as the stamp being a purchase from my early days, I can recall that this particular glitter was part of my first order from Foilplay! It's the lightest colour from a set of 3 shades of blue glitter.

To make my card I stamped and heat embossed the image 3 times, then applied my glitter inside the embossed outline using a Sakura Quicky Glue pen to "colour in" the area and then sprinkling on the glitter. Once the glue was dry I covered the snowflake with a layer of Glossy Accents to seal in the glitter and to give more dimension. The greeting was stamped and heat embossed with a stamp from Dimension Fourth. All the elements were inked round the edge using ink from a Petal Point Liquid Chalk pad and then mounted onto silver mirror card. The backing paper on the card is from a Crafters Companion CD and was also edged with the same ink as the snowflake and greetings elements.

I suspect most stampers have stamps like this one, cheap ones we bought when we first started out, but which we dismiss from our minds as we progress, learn more techniques and find far more interesting stamps to buy. Suddenly those early "bargain buys" are no longer deemed to be worthy. However, I think this card taught me a lesson, by dismissing those early cheap stamp purchases from my mind I am simply depriving myself of a wider range of card making opportunities. It would be fun to know if this post has inspired anyone else to go and see what they can make with old stamps they have forgotten they own.

Glitters from Foilplay

Perhaps I should first explain how I got started Cardmaking and Stamping. I got hooked while awaiting surgery. The condition I had would often wake me up in the middle of the night with pain and at 2am there is not really a great deal to watch on Television except for Shopping Channels - I found Create and Craft and got hooked. Through that I ended up becoming a member of a craft forum, Craft Telly, and on that forum I met Winspiration, the owner of Foilplay, and found out that she stocks a fabulous range of glitters..... not sure if I have said this before, but I am a glitter junkie as well as a stamp and ink addict... if it sparkles it's MINE. Anyhow the end result was that I bought some glitters from Win, who I might add offers not only great prices but also excellent service to her customers. The glitters are lovely, ultra fine art quality and have become a mainstay of my craft stash, especially for Christmas cards.

Recently Win asked if some of the forum members would design some cards for her to use to illustrate her products, and she has even sent me some foils to try, so watch this space for my first efforts using foils. But meantime here is my first card for Foilplay using some of Winspirations delicious glitters.

I have used one of my all time favorite stamps, the Floral Spray Themeplate from Elusive Images - an all time favorite because it is such a verstile image. I stamped and then heat embossed the image onto black card using Silver EP. Then applied the glitters from Foilplay using a Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, also supplied by Foilplay. This was mounted onto sliver mirror card and then onto pearlescent card in a lovely amythyst colour that co-ordinates perfectly with the colours of the glitter. Personally I think the end result just looks scrumptious and I wish I could show you the card for real because the camera just does not capture the intensity of the sparkle from the glitter.