Craft Stamping Quartet: April 2011

Sunday, 24 April 2011

Mother's Day Gift

Happy Easter Everyone,

It seems like forever since I last managed to make anything for our poor neglected blog but as we all had to miss a couple of Craft Stamper issues and I didn't manage to take part in our last challenge I haven't actually posted a project until now for 2011. Shame on me!!!! If you are a visitor to my own blog though, you will know about all the preparations for our Daughter's wedding that I am involved with and it's now exactly 4 weeks away, Ooooer!!!! That and DT work has kept me rather busy but I hope things settle down again after the wedding. I have to confess to being a little excited now but also nervous which is a bit silly seeing as how I wasn't one bit nervous for my own, lol!

Anyway, onto my project. As Judith announced in her last post, Jo chose Debbie Dolphin's project from the February Issue of Craft Stamper for us to tackle this time. I really enjoyed making this and as I am so short of time at the moment and Valentine's Day had already passed I decided to turn mine into a giftbox/card for my lovely Mum for Mother's Day.

As time has been such a precious commodity recently I'm afraid I cheated! However, I did very generously use some gorgeous paper from another precious commodity ............. a stunning paper stack called The Linen Closet by DCWV. It's actually full of beautiful designs on lightweight card rather than paper. Some of them are wonderfully glittered and others are plainer to make for perfect co-ordinating designs and they are all in blues, greys, browns and beiges. Can you tell I rather like this stack, lol! I find it very difficult to cut into them because they are so lovely and so far have only used them for two very special people, one of my little Granddaughters and my Mum! I chose two different designs for this project, one of which is glittered and the other much plainer so that I could stamp onto it. In the photo above you can also see that I used a Marianne Creatable flourish leaf die and a lovely Go Kreate label die.

The stamps I used are both from Hobby Art and I stamped with Sepia Versafine and added a little watercolouring using Distress Inks in Victorian Velvet and Peeled Paint (I think). On the larger of the images I also did a little decoupage. I distress the edges of my front cover before I layered the whole thing onto brown card and then onto the front of my project.

For the back of my gift I used the same dp, the smaller of the stamps, distressed the edges and layered on brown card again.

Next I turned my attention to the inside and this is where I made good use of the beautiful glittered dp.

I used the Go Kreate die to cut the aperture on my box and some really pretty lace which in real life is actually more cream than white, more of the leaves and Prima flowers (lightly inked) to embellish. The glitter bp was also used to create the pocket on the opposite side.

Finally I created my tags.

I used another Go Kreate die and cut a tag from each of the dps and stamped a favourite Stampers Anonymous quote on one, decorated the other and fastened them together with more lace and a tassel. I used the quote tag to write my personal message to Mum on the back. As Mum doesn't care too much for chocolates I decided to fill the box with a some of her favourite sweets (mine too, lol!) Liquorice and Blackcurrant but ................................ I forgot to take a photo once I had filled it. Needless to say the sweeties have all gone but Mum loved the gift box/card. It is still on display and could well be there in a years time. Like any doting Mum, mine keeps anything I make her on display until it drops to bits and as I make my stuff sturdy, that tends to be quite a while, Ha! Ha!

Well, I'm glad I managed to complete this project because I was really pleased with it. Debbie did a grand job of the article in Craft Stamper and I thoroughly enjoyed adapting it for my own purposes. Thank you Debbie, I think I could well be making other versions of this in the future.

Keep your eye on our blog because I know at least two of my buddies are not too far behind me with their projects and then we get to find out what Judith chooses for us to make next time.

I hope you're all having a lovely Easter Weekend and have been enjoying the weather. Personally, I was rather glad of the lovely quick thunderstorm we had this evening. I'm afraid I'm a spoilsport and don't like the heat, lol! Till next time .............

Hugs
Lesley Xx

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, 24 April 2011

Mother's Day Gift

Welcome to Our New Blog!

Contributors

Elaine

Jo

Judith

Lesley

Followers

Blog Archive

Feedjit