Craft Stamping Quartet: Secret Beauty

Or Beauty Secret perhaps?

My starting point for this was the lovely shell trim from Ribbonbox. It said bathing belle to me at first but then I remembered one of my favourite Artylicious paper designs in pinks and yellows. The colours almost glow in it and I have been wanting to use it for some time. Here it was used for my envelope and I tried to pick up those colours through the card. The velvet flower was described in my previous post and I backed it with skeleton leaves as Jean Hardy had used these in her original. When I made the flower, it was meant to have a hat pin in it and complement a vintage 'lady in hat' image. In the end I changed my mind and used this picture from Craft Individuals' People and Places 2 paper pad. The swirly frame is the same as Jean's (ie Crafty Individuals) and was stamped first (in Lemonade I think) with Crafty Individuals' crackle stamp and then (in Versacolor Camellia?) with a berry stamp from Stampington's Christmas Found collection. This was the closest I could get to picking up the effect of the tiny blossoms in the lady's hair. The background of the 'letter' is a piece of card embossed in the Cuttlebug and sprayed with Glimmer Mists and Crafty Notions sprays. The text attached to it is Hero Arts Old French Writing and 'Beauty' is a K&Co rub on. The edge of the background card has been embossed in silver using A Stamp in the Hand's 'Field of Sky' but it also picks up the texture of the card. The 'Secret' slider is a Woodware Chippie threaded with pink organza ribbon and silver beads. Hope you like it.

Welcome to Our New Blog!

Elaine, Jo, Judith and Lesley are four crafters spread across the country, united in their love of crafting. They met over the Internet through the Graphicus Guild, a group set up for crafters by Glenda Waterworth owner of Graphicus and manufacturer of Elusive Images rubber stamps. After some discussion, they decided that they would like to 'craft together' in spite of the distance between them. To accomplish this ambition, they decided to choose one project each month from Craft Stamper magazine, and allow themselves the following calendar month to complete the project. Each person would take it in turn to choose a project. The four participants would then post 'sneaky peeks', progress reports and mini tutorials throughout the month. At the end of the month, they would then post their projects, hopefully producing four very different finished items.

Elaine

Elaine lives in the rural South of England, in a small house with a huge, wild garden and many of her craft projects are inspired by the natural world. She has been crafting for several years, mainly making cards and some mixed media projects with a strong focus on using rubber stamps. She now also enjoys making book based projects and is just starting to dabble in art journals. Elaine is a bit of a perfectionist, with many of her projects never seeing the light of day, but she is working on being more relaxed about her artistic endeavours!!!Elaine has a serious craft stash addiction and treasures the precious times when she can meet up with her distant crafty friends.

Jo lives in the East Midlands. She loved papercrafting as a child, but only rediscovered it as an adult in her work with children, and then again when she had children of her own. She'd promised herself that one day she would try some grown up 'cutting and sticking'. So when her work pattern changed in 2006, it seemed an ideal time to find a new hobby. She started a major collage project, (still unfinished of course), and then got sidetracked into playing with polymer clay. This in turn led to her watching rubber stamping demonstrations on television, and stamping has been her passion since that time.
She loves to travel to craft shows around the country and still hasn't lost the sense of wonder at what can be achieved with ink and paper. At one time she may have gone home from her job in child care with messy hands, now she is as likely to arrive with them looking that way!

Judith

Judith lives in a Norfolk village with her husband and son, while her daughter is at University. She keeps chickens. She has always been a crafter in one form or another, knitting, sewing, etc, being taught by her Mum growing up, and finding inspiration from others as an adult. She has been making cards for about eight or nine years, and runs a small card making class from home. In the last year, she has discovered mixed media, and her focus has moved very much towards dimension, layering and texture. Rubber stamping is her passion and she is a serious stamp collector! She also makes jewellery which allows her to indulge in a love of all things shiny. She enjoys blog hopping, and keeping in touch with her crafty friends.

Lesley

Lesley lives in Nottinghamshire and has always crafted in one way or another from about the age of 7. At one time she took a City and Guilds Fashion and Design course (just for the fun of it), which involved quite a bit of Art in different forms, as well as designing and making garments.
She discovered cardmaking about three and a half years ago, and after seeing Glenda Waterworth, the owner of Graphicus and Elusive Images on a craft TV channel about a year later, became hopelessly addicted to rubber stamping. A closer association with Glenda and her company in the form of workshops and open days over the past couple of years, has led to a growing obsession with different media that can be used in conjunction with rubber stamps.

Lesley is thoroughly excited to be a member of this little group of friends whose enthusiasm is so infectious. She is also very grateful to be around in this age of technology that enables a group such as this to come together with such ease to share ideas and give each other support and encouragement.

12 comments:

Sally H said...: absolutely stunning, Jo! I love your velvet flower!; 26 February 2010 at 22:14
craftimamma said...: Jo, this is just so pretty. The dusky pinks in there are gorgeous with the touches of palest yellow and each piece compliments the other perfectly. You chose a beautiful image for the frame, which incidentally, has turned out exactly right. Your velvet flower fits in with the theme beautifully too.

Well done! I love it!

Lesley Xx; 26 February 2010 at 22:15
judith@poppy cottage said...: This is so pretty Jo, I just love the colours that you have used. They are so different to everybody else's, how strange is that? The flower is gorgeous, and I really like your background effect. The frame is really effective, the stamp is lovely. I loved your ribbon trim from day one, and I'm really glad that you used it! This is a really, lovely feminine version of Jean's project, and it makes me feel tranquil just looking at it. You should be very proud of this, and I hope I get to see it IRL someday, Judith x; 26 February 2010 at 22:18
Lynne K said...: This is just beautiful, such a serene and pretty creation. I love the CI image and frame, and the flower, and the soft colours.; 27 February 2010 at 00:21
Suzanne C said...: Gorgeous effects and so soft and feminine. (Just noticed Judith said the same thing) Very elegant!; 27 February 2010 at 02:00
Claire said...: I've really enjoyed following your first creations and this is real stunner - those colours are gorgeous and that flower - WOW
Claire xx; 27 February 2010 at 07:57
Aquarius said...: This is very pretty and suc h a subtle colour scheme - look forward to seeing your next challenge; 27 February 2010 at 08:29
Elaine said...: Jo
This is so lovely, soft gentle colours and I love the way you have obviously thought so carefully about your theme, to find stamps that match the flowers in the picture etc. You've managed to pack in so much stamping too - well done.

You have put some beautiful elements together with such care and skill, you should be really proud of this really pretty project - a fantastic contribution to the Quartet's repertoire!

Just me to go now!

Elaine xxx; 27 February 2010 at 09:19
Caz said...: Ditto everyone else's comments Jo. This is a beautiful piece of work. Very delicate and elegant. Love the colour scheme and how different pieces work so well together. I particularly love the velvet flower and ribbon in it and how they contrast in texture with the skeleton leaf and the other elements.
Three beautiful pieces so far from the Quartet, I hope the 4th gets posted soon!
Beautiful creations to be very proud of.

Caz
xx; 27 February 2010 at 21:31
Val said...: Jo - this is beautiful - very femine and soft, and everything works so well together.
Love
Valxx; 27 February 2010 at 22:51
Rosie said...: This looks beautiful, well done. I love the colours which compliment each other so well. Cheers Rosie; 28 February 2010 at 14:09
Christine B. said...: This is beautiful, so pretty and femine.The lovely shades of pink and silver go together so well. x Chris B; 6 March 2010 at 23:11

Craft Stamping Quartet

Friday, 26 February 2010

Secret Beauty

12 comments:

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