Craft Stamping Quartet: The Secret Garden (posted by Elaine)

Sunday, 8 May 2011

The Secret Garden (posted by Elaine)

It's my turn to post our next project which is actually from as far back as the February issue of Craft Stamper. Life has been so busy for us all one way and another. This is my take on Debbie Dolphin's card gift box project chosen by Jo. I decided to make mine as a birthday card for my CSQ buddy Lesley.

I am afraid I stayed in my comfort zone again with this project, a vintage nature theme! My main colour scheme was green as that is Lesley's favourite colour. I wanted to make my cover look like a vintage book and used a combination of stamps and pieced together different pieces of embossed card to do it, using a ton of extra strong DST!

I used a large fern background stamp I bought from Rubbernecker at Ally Pally for the main panels, embossed in two colours of my favourite Moonglow Obsidian powders and cut in half. I edged the panels with a border of an ancient letters border stamp from Third Coast. I love their border stamps - they are brilliant value for money too - available from Happy Daze! I added large square bronze brads like studs on the book cover.

For the book title I stamped some words from a much larger Secret Garden B Line stamp that I adore. For the spine I used another Third Coast border with the letters.

The inside uses papers from the lovely 7 Gypsies Conservatory collection, (just rights as Lesley crafts in her conservatory!) with some elements cut out in the pocket and an image stamped from a Crafty Individuals image stamped in Olympia Green Versafine and aged with Vintage Photo DI. I added a little cream guipre butterfly ribbon, again aged with a little VP DI. I decided to add a picture on the gift box section as I planned to put some ribbons and braid in there and I felt it might look a bit messy with all the different colours if I didn't cover it up. I used an image from a vintage postcard that I love.

I edged the photo with lots of little leaves cut out of scraps of the 7 Gypsies papers with one of my favourite little Woodware punches, edging each one with a little more DI.

Thank you Debbie for such great instructions and inspiration and thanks Jo for choosing the project!

Elaine

13 comments:

Aquarius said...: Thanks so much for sharing this with us and Lesley is one very lucky lady to be getting such a wonderful project as a gift. Love it!!; 8 May 2011 at 14:01
judith@poppy cottage said...: What a lovely gift Elaine, the colours are beautiful, and the papers are gorgeous. The leaves and butterflies are very pretty.
A lot of care and consideration has gone into this gift, that is plain to see, and I am sure that Lesley was so pleased with it. I always love your creations, that's for sure!

I love the off white against the green inside the book, it's a lovely combination. The darker, more mysterious cover makes you want to know what's inside, very intriguing. It's a great project, Judith xx; 8 May 2011 at 14:02
Evil Edna said...: wonderful.EE; 8 May 2011 at 19:49
Jo said...: Elaine, your gift looks like an ancient, rich and exotic treasure. You make a really good job of these vintage books. The ancient writing is a great stamp. I must look out for that one. The inside pages are unmistakeably yours too. You really make those leaves work well. I'm always surprised at how creative you all are interpreting the projects. Lesley is so lucky to own this now.; 8 May 2011 at 22:30
craftimamma said...: I am the very lucky recipient of this gorgeous piece of crafting. The stamping and embossing on the outer covers is absolutely stunning and so perfectly put together. It really does look like a beautiful vintage book, The elements used on the inside are perfect and the vintage image is beautiful and patiently surrounded by pretty inked leaves and to cap it all the box is full of lovely crafting goodies. I really appreciate all the patience and care that has gone into making this project special to me and I shall treasure it. Thank you so much Buddy.

Hugs
Lesley Xx; 9 May 2011 at 00:49
Christine B. said...: This really does look like an old treasured book that you want to open. It is so beautiful, when you open it you can see all the love and care that as gone into making it. A real treasure. Stunning. Lesley is one lucky person. Hugs x ChrisB; 11 May 2011 at 21:04
Miranda said...: Hi Elaine, what a stunning book you've made! Lesley is so lucky to get that.......When I see the cover, I imagine to open the book and walk in a magical secret garden, such beautiful colours!
There is a text stamp from Stampotique which would fit perfect to it.
"there is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place, where colors are brighter, the air softer and the morning more fragrant than ever before"

There are many gorgeous text stamps there.......

'secret'greetz, Mirandaxx; 12 May 2011 at 08:50
Jean said...: This is just so beautiful. Jean x; 13 May 2011 at 22:38
johanna said...: this is a treasure for sure!!; 15 May 2011 at 11:37
Jo Capper-Sandon said...: What an amazing piece. Such detail. Must have taken an age to create. certainly gives the feel of a secret garden. Fabulous!! I love it, a wonderful keepsake.
(pssst..Re border..might it be 'Lost Coast' and not 'Third'? Apologies if not. There are just too many coasts to remember aren't there lol :0) ); 20 May 2011 at 08:49
Anonymous said...: wow gorgeous!; 20 May 2011 at 20:49
Shirley said...: Wow! That is totally gorgeous...stunning!!; 27 May 2011 at 23:16
Moira said...: So detailed, delicious; 5 June 2011 at 10:26

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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.

Craft Stamping Quartet

Sunday, 8 May 2011

The Secret Garden (posted by Elaine)

13 comments:

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