Leaf and bugs birthday card - CAS Brenda style

If you've seen my work you'll know I don't do CAS style - I'm much more a vintage, shabby, grungy, industrial type artist but this came together with some salvage bits from leftover boxes plus a leaf die cut from the newly released Large Stems die from Sizzix and Tim Holtz. I also used the stitched circles, an old garden greens bigz die and the Entomology stamps and dies also all by Tim Holtz.

You'll probably recognise the latticework stencil design that I used on a piece of canvas paper and used to cut the stitched circle, this helped to create the focal point.

The large leaf stem was covered with embossing ink and sprinkled with the new lime mixed media powder from Ranger.

To create a little more interest I added the garden greens leaves and some stamped and die-cut bugs ......

.... and finished off with a happy birthday sentiment.

Can you tell I love Tim Holtz products?????

I know this is not true CAS style but it pleases me to get somewhere near it..

Thanks for looking.

hugs Brenda
xx
Bumblebees and Butterflies

Rusty Faceted Heart card - Brenda

I had a craft day with a friend recently and she brought over her new die which creates this fabulous heart shape and is one of the new range from Sizzix and Tim Holtz for the Chapter 1 release and out and in the shop now. I also used the fabulous new wildflower stems and fun large funky florals dies from the same release and the stacked deckle frames which I think were released last year.

To me there's nothing nicer than creams, whites and browns together and to help achieve the look I layered together (from the bottom) card , patterned paper patterned, faux shabby floorboards created with paints and inks and a deckled frame on the top.

The wildflower in the background was cut from media paper, acrylic watercoloured and distressed whilst the funky florals were cut from a piece of leftover card from sometime when I had experimented with layering acrylic paints to achieve the shabby look.

The faceted heart was also cut from a left over rust effect piece of card that has been lying in my bits box for ages - this box can be a mine of fabulous inspiration sometimes when an oddment and a die just fit together so perfectly.

The die cuts the multi-faceted shape with score lines which need to be folded and pushed into shape to get the design. You can see the wonderful height and dimension and as a card it is best given to the recipient by hand as it wouldn't survive the post in just an envelope.

I love the way the neutral palette becomes shabby with the textures and the scuffed floorboards, I must make some more pieces to be ready to use for more new creations.

Here you can see the top of the heart and how the rust enhances the contrast in the colour palette.

The same here with the lower part of the heart.

I'm looking forward to experimenting more with the heart shape to see how else I can use it.

Thanks for stopping by and if you like the new dies please go to the Country View Crafts shop website and search for new products for January 2019 to find them or click here.

See you again soon.

hugs Brenda xxx

Vintage Santa cards - Brenda

Hi it's Brenda with you today and I have been using the fabulous Yuletide stamps by Tim Holtz which are available in the shop.

I made a set of 7 cards in different colours and I'm sharing the green ones with you today. The original set which are blue can be found over at Bumblebees and Butterflies here and I will be posting a pink and grey set on my blog as well on Wednesday.

These don't take too long to make and I'v kept them flat so they can easily be posted.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Stamperia patterned papers

Hi Brenda here today with a quick and easy card that lies flat for posting. I don't use my papers enough so I really enjoyed putting this together.

Using the Stamperia 'Time is an Illusion' collection ....

...... I cut two pieces to fit a 5 x 7 card.

I also took out my scrap box of papers and pulled out some that complemented and contrasted with the stamperia ones and cut and punched elements to layer up. I also found a piece of ephemera that fitted the bill too. I used several of the Tim Holtz punches which helps in putting a quick design together.

I always ink the edges of my pieces with a dark brown distress ink to frame them and to make them stand out from each other when layering them up.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Be Original

Well Trace here today , with another distress oxide and paperdoll creation...full of inky yumminess! So here is the card and all the details follow below:

If you are not able to get the paperdolls , you could still create something similar using a found relatives image cut out or a stamped image in its place...but they are gorgeous things to play with!

I have used many collage items, some dyed seam binding, idea-ology and some of the new Tim Holtz tape...

To create the background I applied broken china, cracked pistachio and vintage photo distress oxide inks onto the craft sheet, I spritzed plenty of water and swiped the card through the inky droplets... heat dry and then re dip and continue to dip and dry until you are happy.

I then applied some distress oxide ink ( vintage photo ) through one of my favourite stencils lattice stencil 019 - in the corners of the card front.

I edged the card in vintage photo distress ink using a mini blending tool.

To create the layered collage piece I placed some of the new snippets together and glued them into place ...having scuffed and inked the edges.

to complete the overall look, I applied some broken china distress oxide ink onto a craft sheet, spritzed with water and then dabbed in the collage pieces to pick up some of the gorgeous blue ink.

below shows the details of the finished card and shows where the collaged pieces have picked up the blue ink..

doing this with the oxide inks helps to tie all those pieces together.. and the oxides have such a gorgeous finish ..

To complete the piece I added some flowers cut using the new thinlits dies - small tattered florals from Tim Holtz, and I cut these from a piece of card coloured using distress oxides ink..

I added some of the gorgeous film strip from idea-ology , adhering using mini attacher staples..I added a paper doll, sanded lightly and inked around the edges with vintage photo distress ink..I also added some rub ons to add more layers of detail

I added more of these tiny flowers and a quote chip- these are fab as they create such great dimension

To the side of the card I added some dyed seam binding, dyed using broken china distress ink..

To give the paper doll dimension I added some foam tape behind the girl and added here on using this 

So there you have my inky and idea-ology filled card...

hope you like it!

trace x

Card with PaperArtsy Zinski stamp

Hello everybody, it's Monika here.

When I first saw the PaperArtsy Zinski stamp (ZA13) I knew I needed that. 

First I have made a card with a lovely creature/fairy/girl (whatever you like) from this set.

The basic card was cut out from a fuchsia cardstock with Sizzix Framelits die (658610).

The top was cut out from a white watercolour paper with a one size smaller rectangle die and I painted pink with DecoArt Poodleskirt Pink.

After drying I tapped watered white acrylic paint onto the pink card and I also spritzed with water.

Then I stamped circles with one of the stamps of the PaperArtsy EEG24 stamp set and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

As for the fairy... I stamped with Ranger Archival Jet Black stamp and after I used clear embossing powder.

I coloured the fairy with Ranger Distress Markers (Tumbled Glass, Cracked Pistachio, Picked Raspberry) and Zig Clean Markers (Flesh Colour, Blush).

The text (EEG18) was stamped with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink then I added clear embossing powder.

I cut it out with scissors irregularly and I glued onto the card.

I hope you like it! Happy crafting!

Oxides backgrounds and quick cards

Hi it's Brenda here today from Bumblebees and Butterflies with some more doxides (that's my shorthand for Distress Oxides lol) backgrounds which were actually left over pieces from other projects and helped made some very quick cards that I needed a while ago. You may remember the background masterboards I made as my first outing using the new Distress Oxides (here if you missed it) and then the two cards I made using some of it? (Again here and here if you missed those too).

Here's a reminder of the pieces I'd got when I had finished playing.

And here's what I made from the left over pieces. I stencilled and stamped to create some depth and interest ......

I inked the edges and added it to a 4 x 4 card .....

.... and then just added a butterfly - die-cut from left over pieces ......

..... and a stamped sentiment.

The same process with this one ......

.... choosing the left over bits carefully to tone in with the background colours ........

.... and using a different sentiment.

I have to say the feedback from my friends was so lovely I am now making little sets of these to sell.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

I can't get into Inlinkz for the moment but here are the links to the Country View Crafts shop for the products I used.

Distress Oxides
Simple Sayings stamps set
Hashtags stamp set
Detailed Butterflies thinlits dies