My very first own drawn digistamp

Hi again. I'm posting a card today that uses my very first attempt of a digistamp. 

I've been wanting, for a long time, to do something different with my crafting. When I saw 3 books in Big W last week, I knew I had found it. These are the books here. (And they were only something like $12 each. Bargain!)

They have step-by-step drawings showing how you can draw various things. I drew this budgie and liked it so much I turned it into a digistamp so I could print it out to be coloured and used on a card. (I don't know if there are actually budgies that really look like this - let's call it poetic licence!)

I think my drawing is sufficiently different to the original that I'm not infringing on copyright, so I feel free to offer my drawing to anyone who wants to use it. If you're interested, drop my an email and I'll send it on to you. (adashofflash@gmail.com)

I've always been drawing, even as a child, but felt I wasn't good enough (esp. when compared to my mum and my younger sister, who is really good.) So I've not done any for a long time. When I started drawing again last week, I felt energised, yet relaxed at the same time. Strange, huh? But I'm pleased to say, I like what I've done, and wanted to show off a little.

To make the background for the card, I glued strips of blue cardstock onto another piece of paper (these I had left over from when I was sorting and storing some of my cutting dies). I then used a Kaisercraft embossing folder on it, before inking the highlights with two types of green ink. I then used some clear Wink of Stella over the tops of the leaves. I wanted this to look like a tree canopy for the bird to hide in.

I foiled the sentiment and matting using my mini Minc machine and some teal DecoFoil.
The card was finished after I added a few clear sequins.

So this card has a purpose, I'm linking it to the Lawnscaping Challenges where the theme is "off kilter!".

Both the stripes in the background and the sentiment triangle are on an angle. It also works well with the budgie's tail.

Anyway, That's all for me now. I'm off for the weekend to Brisbane's Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo. I'm doing four classes and looking around at what's new. I'll let you know how I go. I'm also hoping to catch up with my online crafting buddies Therese Calvird and Linda Langes. Should be fun!

Bye for now.

Love,

Janelle

Giant Distress Label Cards

I'm posting some more cards from the Brisbane Craft Expo in June this year. 

This lot of cards were also from a class run by Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door. These cards used huge black tags and then for the backgrounds I used a variety of techniques, including using Distress Sprays, stamping with a wet stamp pad to create a resist appearance, and smooshing with distress sprays on a craft mat.

Photo stamps were then used to add interest. The "Happy Birthday" card was just too dark in colour for the stamp to show up, so I used one of Rachel's photo chips on top instead. The ribbon was coloured to match each background.

The black tags were stamped with Picket Fence Distress Spray and then spritzed with metallic Distress Spray.

I had so much fun making these cards and totally ended up with multi-coloured fingers for the next couple of days.  :)

Anyway, bye for now.

Love,
Janelle

Cards from Craft Expo 2015

I'm posting some cards today that I made during the Craft Expo back in June this year. I did a number of classes with the gorgeous, talented and funny Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door. She's been a favourite of mine for a long time and I look forward to learning from her each year.

 

(Sorry Rachel that it is such a bad photo. But at least we can't see my wrinkles!)  :)

The three cards above are from a class I did with Rachel that dealt with painted Backgrounds. We used Dylusion Paints, Dina Wakley Media Paints and Perfect Pearl mists to create multi-layered cards. You may not be able to see it in the photos, but the backgrounds have been sprayed with Perfect Pearls Mists and are just gorgeous in their sheen. The Dylusion Paints are also tremendous with the vibrancy of their colours and the amazing coverage, A little goes a long way and you don;t have to worry about recoating as one layer has plenty of depth to it.

I loved the layering with brayers, stencils, background stamps etc that makes these cards look so amazing.

The card I gave to my husband for our anniversary was also from this class.

I'll be back tomorrow with some more cards from the Expo.

Bye for now,

Love,

Janelle

Back at last!

So many times over the past months, I've made up blog entries in my head, only to have something come up before I was able to get it typed up. From sickness, family issues, computer failure, magazine commissions, lack of inspiration - you name it - I've had it!

I have so much to tell you about, but to start off, I'll tell my Aussie readers about a little shop in Brisbane where you can get your sequins at an amazing price. The shop is called Bead Trimming and Craft Company and is found at Stones Corner. They have a wide range of colours, sizes and shapes of sequins.

About a month ago they had a fire in their upstairs section that housed the Doll and Teddy Bear Hospital, but apparently all is fine and they are back in business.

The selection of sequins you can see in the photo show a few that I picked up when I was there. I bought 2g of each colour and that's probably heaps to last a long time. Check them out.

I also took advantage of the Scrapbook Expo that was in Brisbane (June 6-8). This year I went the entire three days and did heaps of classes (concentrating on cardmaking techniques (of course) but also doing a couple of scrapbooking classes with a girlfriend on the Monday.) Next year, can someone please remind me not to go the whole three days - it almost killed me! I could hardly move on the Tuesday and it took over a week to fully recover from it. My CFS just isn't up to such abuse!  :)

It was worth it with some fantastic classes and heaps of ideas. I'll be including some photos of projects I did over the next couple of days, but I'm going to show you this card I made during the Expo. As soon as I saw the stamp used on this card, I just knew I had to give it to my husband for our anniversary this year. It was part of a set I made with Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door and used some of Dina Wakley Media Paints. These are great for multi-layering with stencils, brayering and stamps.

(The colours aren't quite right - they are much more vibrant IRL.)

Bye for now,
Love 
Janelle

Cards from the Papercraft Expo

Here are the cards I made at the recent Papercraft Expo.

This first lot were made during the "Textured & Dimensional Frame Cards" class taught by Belinda Spencer from Darkroom Door. It featured the Shadow 12 Up Frame Stamp from Darkroom Door, which I can see being very versatile. I definitely love these cards and Belinda was an exceptional tutor.

The cards also used some of Rachel's Filmstrips, Wordstrips and Montage sheets. I'd not used these before, but love the effect achieved with them. I love the beach themed card the best. The black and white card used a stamp kissing technique on the background stamp. Must admit it was the first time I've used two colours to do this technique; previously I'd only done it with a clean second stamp to create an impression effect.

This next set of cards was made during Tracey Cooley's class "A Touch of Whimsy". These are totally different from the other lot, being just sweet and fun with the butterflies and glitter.

This first card is called a lantern card. It's made with three leaves (I'm showing the front and back sides). When it stands on the table, it forms a triangular shape, and an electric candle fits inside the triangular space and you see it through the vellum. Don't you just love the die cut frame? It's from Couture Creations and called Tied Together Ornamental Lace Die. I just had to buy a copy of it for myself.

These cards used design papers from the Bo Bunny Primrose Collection and all of the butterflies were cut from a sheet of Primrose Bliss. The glitter was just a clear glitter glue.

I hope you like these cards. The designers, Belinda Spencer and Tracey Cooley, made it easy to make these cards and the classes were well worth their value.

I'll post more work from the Expo tomorrow.

Bye for now,

Janelle

Not good enough!

It's really not good enough, Janelle, that you have only been doing one post a month!!! Buck up and get at it!!!

There, now that I've given myself a good talking to, I'll tell you about my fun-filled days at the recent Papercraft Expo in Brisbane. Oh, I had so much fun!!!

First off, I'll get this out of the way. In previous posts I've told you about my health problems (CFS, numb feet, etc). Well I went to the neurologist and I have peripheral neuropathy in my feet and hands with notable deficiencies.  He isn't even sure if it's permanent or not. So for now, I just have to put up with the nerve pain, numbness and cramps. 

As part of his investigations, he sent me for a glucose tolerance test - and you guessed it - I also have Type 2 Diabetes. Yay, me!! Consequently, this is why I've not been working on all cylinders and not keeping up with my commitments (esp. card-making and blogging). So, if anyone out there can give me some support, (I've only known for two weeks), I would so desperately appreciate it. For the first four days, I didn't even know how to do the blood testing properly - thank goodness for friendly chemists! Anyway, I'm now part of the NDSS (National Diabetes Services Scheme) and trying to absorb all of the info re diabetes.

Now onto some fun stuff. The craft expo was brilliant. I went on the Saturday (so incredibly packed, you could hardly move) and did two card classes; and then on the Monday, I went with a fellow scrapper and did two scrapping classes. I'll post pictures tomorrow - keep you hanging on. :)

I also was able to catch up with some scrapping friends, Rachel Greig  from Darkroom Door and Sue Smyth. I met Rachel about three years ago and have used many of her stamps in my commissions for Practical Publishing. She is such a talented photographer and I love her work. Sue Smythe also works for Practical Publishing, as well as for a number of other places as a demonstrator/tutor and designer. She's such a lovely lady and I adore her layered works.

I was fortunate enough to meet Jane Davenport, who was there encouraging more art journalling. She's amazing and her work is also. I love watching her work as she gets so involved in it. She is a little quirky too, which suits me. She was sweet enough to have a photo with me.

I also did a card class with Tracey Cooley from Couture Creations and she was a blast. The girls from Couture Creations all dressed up for their classes and were also very generous, as they gave away embossing folders to everyone in the class (as well as what was in the class kits). Great value.

Tracey was dressed as Tinker Bell as her class was called "Once Upon a Whimsy". She even made her glittered shoes with pompoms on the toes. (Sorry you can't see them)


Anyway, tomorrow I'll post photos of the cards I made, so you can see what I've been up to.


Bye for now,
Janelle
    :)