Cheetah Card Tutorial

Here is the lovely cheetah by Clarity Stamps and the cheetah (or possibly leopard) spot background stamp by Judikins. I'm going to show you how I did the background. I thought my method would be a good way to use with roller stamps too.

Some of my photos look a bit dark but that's because I only have a camera phone to take photos with, but as long as you can see, that's the main thing.

First I smooched Tim Holtz distress ink 'Wild Honey' around the edge of the card.

Then I lightly pencilled in diagonal lines across the corners of the card.

This next photo is meant to show the pencilled in lines but I'm not sure if you can see them too well.
Next, I put two post it notes against two corner pencilled lines and stamped my cheetah spots along the edge.
Okay, nearly finished, here is the last edge.

And here is the almost finished card which looks a bit messy but no probs because the middle bit is going to be covered up.
Next up, I stamp my cheetah image with Versa fine black ink.

And colour it in using a water pen with the Wild Honey distress ink. It's nice to have the cheetah the exact same colour as the background colour.

After it's coloured, I draw in the spots with a black Stampin Up marker.

As you can see in the next photo I have two cheetah stamps. One is an outline stamp which is what I used to begin with. The second stamp is a block stamp of the image and that's really cool because I inked it with Versamark clear ink and stamped it over the outline image. I did this so I could sprinkle embossing powder over it and emboss it. Thereby giving it that lovely glossy look.
Before covering the background card with the foreground image - don't forget to erase those pencil lines - with the Hallo Kitty eraser - hee hee :)

So there you have it. My first tutorial. I don't know if you found it helpful but I hope you did.

Have a happy Monday and thanks for stopping by ...

Z E B R A and new Poppy Stamps

Yes Zebra spells Zebra :). This zebra is a new stamp by Clarity Stamps and I LOVE it! Just love it's contempory look and that it's made of alphabets letters that spells it's name, so cool.

And it made me think how to use my Judikins zebra print texture cube stamp. I had a brainwave yesterday. I know, it doesn't happen a lot but when it does I have to act on it immediately. See, normally I would stamp it around the edge of the card and then get annoyed that it doesn't fit exactly. And I know I can mask it to make it fit but it wouldn't look right. So what I did was draw diagonal lines on the card with a pencil from corner to corner. Then mask across the corners with a post it note. I might not have explained that very well so next week I will make another version with a different animal and take photos as I go.

Yes I have a different animal by Clarity Stamps and it's a cheetah, my favourite animal in the whole world (besides Miaowski of course :)). Can't wait to try it out with this technique

Well Miaowski is not behaving well enough to be my favourite at the moment. Her favourite pasttime while I'm asleep is to stab me in the face with a sharp claw to wake me up. I keep telling her it's not funny and I'm not amused in the slightest.

Now I know I have a lot of stamps. And I have a lot of the same kind of stamps, for example I must have at least 10 different seahorse stamps (plus just got another one from Hero Arts). And I have loads of Asian ones. But I am so excited because Poppy Stamps is bringing out a new range of stamps and they are going to be Asian ones - yay! I love Poppy stamps, their images are so cute so I can't wait to see their new ones. Here is a sneak peak on their blog.

Well, I hope you all have a lovely weekend. See you Monday and thanks for visiting ...

Bird on a Branch

These stamps are from a set by Stampin Up, called 'Bird on a Branch'. I like this set because it looks Oriental to me.

Do you think the bird got a little hot in the scorching sun so turned a bright shade of pink? :)

I wish I could turn a bright shade of pink under the scorching sun. Might be a bit difficult as there's thick grey clouds blocking it.

I'm hoping to have a good tidy up today, honestly all this card making creates huge untidy piles of stuff everywhere. Hey I might find that box of stamps I lost - it must be here somewhere, can't just disappear can it?

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by ...

Dragonfly Screen

This large dragonfly is from Stamp Addicts but I have a feeling they only have the smaller size now as I looked for this big one and couldn't find it. Anyhow, I stamped it onto fusible film which has a nice irridescent sheen. I'm not entirely sure how to use fusible film properly as it didn't do too much when I ironed it, maybe I didn't have the iron hot enough, I don't know. It's something I need to experiment with more.

I wanted the dragonfly to look like it was against a Japanese screen so drew lines with a pastel pencil to get a soft look. The base card was done with a rollagraph marble patterned roller stamp and smooched with colorbox brown pigment ink. I love the bronze spiral clips but I can't remember where I got them from.

I like always to think about things to be grateful for, for which there are many, many things in my life. I love this quote

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.
Buddha

Quite so :)

Have a lovely day and thanks for stopping by ...

Madame Poodle

My eyesight isn't too hot these days. Okay a bad workman mustn't blame his tools :). This is just an explanation for why that black card isn't straight - don't know how I didn't notice it until I'd put it up on my computer. Then I think to myself how on earth could I have not noticed???

So that's why there are so many pearls on the card - they are there to distract from the lack of straightness :). This poodle is from Judikins - I've always liked this stamp and l love the way it shines when it's embossed, not that you can see that from this picture unfortunately. Did you know, the best way to emboss an image like is is from underneath the card? You get a glass like sheen whereas if you do it from above you get more of a texture thing going on. You probably already knew this. I've been embossing things for years but only realised this lately!

More polka dots from Stampin Up Night and Day papers and the gorgeous Melon Mambo polka dot ribbon. I think I'm better off sticking to flat ribbons than tying bows, they are so much easier.

I love unusual pictures and my sister emailed me this link so check it out check it outters http://www.slideshare.net/ngwk/impossible-pictures.

Have a good day and thanks for stopping by ...

Love, polka dots, hearts and spotty dogs

So I think this card covers all my loves including the colour combo red, white and black.

I used my favourite spotty dog stamp from the Cosmo pups set and the Night and Day papers from Stampin Up. The tag and heart punch are also from Stampin Up and the sheer red polka dot ribbon is from Fantastic Ribbons. You may have noticed that tying ribbons into beautiful bows is not my strong point! I've seen some beautiful bows on cards but I can never seem to make mine as good.

Yesterday I went into town with my friend and we saw the most gorgeous little puppy. A boy was holding it while waiting for his dad. I couldn't resist asking if I could take a photo. Luckily for the boy his father soon arrived and rescued him before I ended up taking a 100 photos. Anyway the little puppy was called Lilly and had one tiny dear little spot on her nose. Think she was the inspiration for my card today and look, it's the red, white and black colour combo again, how appropriate (apart from the lead!) :)

Have a Happy Monday and thanks for stopping by ...

Miaowski Watercolour

As I have been slack again on the card making front I thought I would show another one of my paintings. And this time it is a watercolour of Miaowski, my little dear heart.

As you can see I'm not great at doing fur or her tortoishell patterning, or her legs :). But I'm happy I got her expression right. Miaowski looks at me like that quite a lot, kinda domineering, haughty 'whatdya think you're doing' look. Ha!

I've just read three wonderful books by Peter Gethers about his EXTRAordinary cat, Norton. Norton was a Scottish Fold cat (his ears are folded over as opposed to pointed upwards). What made him extra special was his intelligence and his interesting life. He travelled everywhere with Mr Gethers, on cards, aeroplanes and ferries. He also went to very posh restuarants around the world where he would be waited on and given delicious dishes. He met famous people like Anthony Hopkins and Roman Polanski and even Lauren Bacall. The New York Times wrote an obituary on him when he died, how special is that!

I loved these books because they were so funny. Mr Gethers was a confirmed cat hater but his girlfriend bought him a kitten that bewitched him with one bright stare and a miaow.

Anyway I was reading and struggling to contain my laughter while reading these books outside and the next day I was struggling very hard not to cry as the last book was so very moving. And even today I'm feeling a bit sad as I'm going to miss reading about such a wonderful cat.

I recommend those books to every cat lover. And even cat hater cos I really don't think you'd stay that way after getting to know Norton through those books.

Ah, well, enough of my book review :)

Hope you have a lovely weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Thanks for stopping by ...