Anything But A Card

Shelagh Metselaar

Clarity Stamps Challenge 25 – Anything But a Card

A Passage Through India

Hi, Shelagh here.

My project for this month’s Clarity Challenge ‘Anything But a Card’ was only ever going one way although I have an alternative should time run out - but thankfully not! My friend from Brunei days - we first met over 35 years ago – has a birthday pending and is spending it visiting India. My idea - a Memory Book in which she can scrapbook her journey. The project has taken a few weeks to put together and as ever, my planning followed the old teaching path starting with:- a) what ? b) where ? c) how?

I selected a canvas - I wanted to trial some new techniques (for me) – and the rest took trial, error and plenty of mistakes and patience. (I'm sorry I don't have step-by-step this month but there is a photo for each 'chapter.')
(The tags and butterflies are purely to add interest and to hide the rings.)

Materials:-

·         Clarity Stamps:- Palm Leaf, Remountable Parakeets, Letterbox, Hot Air Balloon – medium and small; caravan, bird, small palm tree from Summer Shades Set, Speech Bubbles, Remountable Cheese Plant, Wild Flower Corner, Toucans, NDC Pocket, Ornate Church

·         Clarity Stencils:- Seed Heads

·         Cardstock:- Clarity- Theuva, Black Coated; Kraft card-card blanks

·         Canvas x 2

·         Pebeo:- Black Gesso, Gilding Wax - gold

·         Inkpads:-Distress Inks – variety; Versamark, Versafine Black Onyx

·         Embossing Powder – Gold Detail, Clear Detail

·         Grunge Paste

·         Mod Podge

I went ahead happily stamping, masking, blending until all areas chosen were covered. I used Kraft cards cut down to size for the pages and scrap pieces to create the tabs. The panels were stamped on Theuva card and mounted on Clarity Black Coated card. Pockets, frames, books were made as retainers for travel memorabilia.

Notes & Quotes 1

Stamps - Parakeets, Speech Bubbles from Remountable Elegant Ladies, Letterbox

Inkpads - Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberries, Seedless Preserves, Squeezed Lemonade

Notes & Quotes 2

Stamps - Palm Leaf

Inkpads - Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean

Notes & Quotes 2

This is a little notebook to record memorable conversations and quotes from the trip.

I cut some printable vellum, rounded the corners and made a note book with a pocket inside each of the back covers. The pages were stitched together, something I learnt to do at a SCEA summer school in Germany over 30 years ago and a technique I have had little opportunity to use since.

Notes & Quotes 3

Travel 1

Stamps - Small and Medium Hot Air Balloons, Remountable Christmas Banners (one of the blank ones)

Inkpads - Weathered Wood, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn

Travel 2

These pockets are for ticket stubs and travel bits and pieces.

Accommodation 1

Stamps - Caravan from Summer Shades Set

Inkpads - Iced Spruce, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Squeezed Lemonade

Accommodation 2

These corners are doubled up to contain accommodation memorabilia.

Stamps - Wild Flower Corner

Inkpads - Picked Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Mowed Lawn, 

Distress Markers

Flora & Fauna 1

Stamps - Toucan, Cheese Plant

Inkpads - Weathered Wood, Mowed Lawn

Spectrum Noir Pens

Flora & Fauna 2

These little frames are for photographs.

Sights & Sounds 1

Stamps - Ornate Church, Small Palm Tree from Summer Shades

Inkpads - Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn,Pine Needles, Weathered Wood

As I don't have the Taj Mahal stamp and  wished to create a type of high edifice, I masked off part of the Ornate Church to create the towers.

                                                                  Sights & Sounds 2

These little pockets have extra room for USB sticks etc.

Stamps - NDC Pocket, Palm Tree as before, bird from Summer Shades

Inkpads - Spiced Marmalade

Front and back boards:-

Each canvas ‘Grunge Pasted’ over the ‘seed-head’ stencil. Once dry, black gesso was applied over all; and once this was dry, applied to the other side. Gilding wax was applied over the grunged area of each canvas, particularly around the edges. A Cropodile Big Bite was used to punch holes for the ring connectors.
                                                                      Outside Covers

Stencil, Grunge Paste, Black Gesso, Gilding Wax, Mod Podge

Inside Covers

Stencil, Black Gesso, Gilding Wax, Mod Podge

The seed-head stencil was then placed over this flat side of the canvas - front and back, then gold gilding wax sparingly applied. 

Finally, back and front of each canvas was painted with Mod Podge to offer some  resilience to wear and tear.

A few tags were cut, stamped, coloured and attached to the rings, along with butterflies from the Butterfly Tree set.

Et voila! Here we have one Indian Holiday Memory Book.

The Box

I had attempted to make a box using Kraft card but the A4 was too small to accommodate the book. Since I save all my gift boxes, I went on a search looking for one from a particular perfume brand which I thought would fit the bill; however instead I found a perfect match which had contained culinary spicy sauces.

Sorry - I omitted to photograph the before, but here we have the box top coated with black gesso, masked off equally on all four sides before being stencilled through with grunge paste.

The box was masked off then stenciled and grunge paste applied to four sides, painted with black gesso then gilding wax rubbed over the top. The base was painted with black gesso; when dry the stencil was placed over, first having masked off a border using very low tack masking tape then gilding wax applied through the stencil as before.

The final touch was to black gesso over the entire interior, gilding wax over the stencil (as before and above) on the inner lid, then Mod Podge applied to all areas inside and out.

This completes my memory book and matching box.

Thank you for visiting and I hope this gives you ideas to make your own Memory Book.

Cheers,

Shelagh  ;~}

Spring Greens

 Spring Greens

Hi, Shelagh here. Last month I was lucky enough to win the IndigoBlu challenge and following this, I was invited to create a project for this month's challenge entitled 'Spring Greens,' so here we have it. I must admit I did find it a challenge and took some time to work out the direction I was to follow as I felt few of my IndigoBlu stamps fitted in with subject. 

Many thanks for visiting my blog and if you should have any queries, please ask and I will attempt to help.

Materials:-

·         Canvas

·         IndigoBlu Stamps:- Nature 1, Stylised Flowers

·         Inkpads:- Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark; Distress Inks – Pine Needles, Black Soot

·         Embossing Powder:- Wow Twinkling Green and Twinkling White; Clear Detail

·         Spectrum Noir Aquatints – Greens (from all sets)

·         Acetate:- Heatable

·         Pebeo:- Mixtion Relief Outliner, Mirror Gilding Sheets Green and Silver

·         Sakura:- White Pen

This project was quick to realise, once thoughts and materials were gathered (omitting drying time.)

Extras:-

·         Deep photo frame

·         Pebeo Fantasy Prisme Pale Green

·         Mod Podge Sparkle

Instructions:-

1.       I painted the canvas with water then dropped on the greens in areas allowing the variety of shades to fuse and keeping the blue-greens towards the top.

2.       Once dry, I stamped the ‘Stylised Flowers’ four times (‘off the page’) using Versamark Black and embossed with clear detail embossing powder. The butterfly was stamped three times using Versamark and heat-embossed using ‘Twinkling Green.’ The clouds were stamped twice, again with Versamark then heat-embossed using ‘Twinkling White.’

3.       At this point I blended Ranger Distress ‘Pine Needles’ and ‘Black Soot’ around the edges.

4.       The flower stems were out-lined on one side with a white pen; the seed-heads were outlined with the Mixtion and once dry but still tacky, silver leaf was applied. The same was applied to the centre of stems but once dry, green leaf was applied. P

NB The silver leaf looks white on the photo – oh! the joys of photography!

5.       I stamped the butterfly three times onto heat-proof acetate, embossed with the green powder as before and cut the images out.  I folded the wings back and attached them over the image on canvas with Cosmic Shimmer glue.

Extras:-

To finish the project, I painted the frame with pale green ‘Fantasy Prisme,’ the second coat stippling the paint to create the illusion of texture. Once dry, I applied Mod Podge ‘Sparkle’ to add more interest.  I removed the two peripheral acetate butterflies, placed the canvas inside the frame then glued butterflies over their stamped images but on the frame.

I hope you find the above useful and feel encouraged to ‘have a go.’

Thank you,

Shelagh.

Lady, partly in Red!

My latest offering!

Here is my entry for the current IndigoBlu challenge 'A Touch of Red.' 

The title 'The Lady, Partly in Red' came to me once the design was complete and whilst the familiar, similarly named song is not entirely our anthem, it was frequently played all these years ago when we were on honeymoon - and yes I did have a couple of red outfits with me.

'The Lady, Partly in Red.'

Here is how I made the card.

Materials:- 

·         Cardstock:- Neenah Solar White, Crafter’s Companion Pearlescent White

·         Paper:- Red copy paper

·         Stamps:- IndigoBlu Floral Swirl, Music Hall

·         Inkpads:- Versmark, Versafine Onyx Black; Distress Milled Lavender

·         Embossing Powder:- Wow Sahara Sand, Clear Detail

Instructions:-

1.       Cut white card into a square 12cmx12cm and stamp the lady from the ‘Music Hall’ set in the centre using Versafine Onyx Black. Heat emboss with clear detail powder. Stamp another image on a sticky note, cut it out and mask the image in preparation for the next step.

2.       Stamp the ‘Floral Swirl’ twice with the corner at bottom right and top left using Versamark; heat emboss using Sahara Sand. Over-stamp but off-set these images again using Versafine Onyx Black.

3.       Blend Milled Lavender around all four edges.

4.       Stamp and heat-emboss the lady again onto a piece of scarlet copy paper using Versafine Onyx Black and clear detail powder. Cut out the hat and hand/glove areas omitting the face and body; adhere onto main image as in paper-piecing.

5.       Cut another sheet of card into a square 14cmx14cm. Repeat instructions at (2) and (3) on this larger square.

6.       Edge each square with a black alcohol marker.

7.       Mount the smaller square centrally onto the larger.

8.       Score and fold a piece of white pearlescent card. Cut the folded card into 14.5cmx14.5cm.

9.    Mount the completed image centrally onto this.

Et voila, here we have 'The Lady, Partly in Red!'

If you have any questions or quandaries about the above please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Thank you for visiting and hope to see you again.

Kind regards,

Shelagh.

Floral

                                                 Clarity Stamps Challenge 24 Floral

February 2015

 Exterior

Interior

                                                                                                   

Materials:-

•  Shaker Box with Lid
• Gesso:- Black, White
• Cardstock:- Clarity Theuva Card, Supersmooth Paper
• Stamps:- Clarity Stamps ‘Happily Ever After,’ large and small Gerbera, repositionable ‘Funky Foliage,’ ‘Leafy Swirls’
•  Inkpads:- Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark; Ranger Distress Picked Raspberries, Festive Berries, Squeezed Lemons, Evergreen Bough, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Old Paper; Memento London Fog
• Embossing Powder:- Clear Detail, Gold detail Embossing
• Foam pads
• Mod Podge
• Cosmic Shimmer glue
•  Gilding Wax

Instructions:-

Box:-

   

                                                                          Plain Box

                                                                       Second Coat

                                                          Dry brushed with black Gesso.

• Coat box inside, out including side and base with White Gesso. Repeat on lid. When dry, give the box and lid another coat. Allow to dry.

•  Dry brush with Black Gesso to create a ‘shabby’ finish. (The photograph is much darker than reality but should you need to, it can be lightened with a dry-brushing of white Gesso.)

• When dry, and using the large ‘Leafy Swirl,’ apply Versamark and stamp around the side of box. Sprinkle over gold detail embossing powder and heat emboss. Repeat on lid. 

         *N.B. This takes some time; take care as the box can become hot.

•   Stamp along the side of the lid using the small ‘Leafy Swirl’ and emboss as before.

                  (I also stamped the large ‘Leafy Swirl’ inside the lid to add interest.)

Interior:-

'Happily Ever After' stamp

 

• Stamp the Happily Ever After castle eight times onto Theuva card using Onyx Black and emboss with clear fine detail powder. Brush ‘London Fog’ sparingly over extreme edges of stamped images and cut each out. Snip areas away and layer with 1mm foam pads to create a   decoupaged image. Set aside. (Please note the stamping shown here is on copy paper as this is a re-run for this post. The original in the completed box is on Theuva.) 

 Gerbera, Large and Small and Leaves from 'Funky Foliage'

•  Stamp large Gerbera 9 times on Supersmooth paper using Onyx Black and emboss with clear detail powder. Using Festive Berries and Picked Raspberries, blend ink over each image. Trim and decoupage into three flower-heads.

•  Stamp small gerbera three times following procedure at (3). Trim and add a small image to the centre of each flower-head. Set aside.

•  Stamp 8 straight-edged leaves and one curved leaf from the Funky Foliage set onto Supersmooth using Onyx Black and emboss with clear detail powder. Blend Mowed Lawn, Evergreen Bough and Peacock Feathers over the images and cut out. Set aside.

•  Draw around the circumference of the box onto a piece of Supersmooth paper. Cut out the circle, making fractionally smaller to fit the inside by cutting inside the pencil line. Check it fits snugly and adjust accordingly.

• Use your castle image to decide where the sun mask is to be placed on the circle; Blend over Evergreen Bough for the sky and Mowed Lawn for the grass. Tear a copy-paper hillside and blend ink over to create light and shade. (I also blended in some London Fog to create the illusion of a path from the castle.) Remove mask and blend Squeezed Lemonade over.

• Spritz the inked circle crumple it whilst damp. Dry then blend Old Paper over to create an aged look.

• Paint the inside base of the box with Mod Podge and apply the inked circle. Apply more Mod   Podge over the entire circle.

• Site the castle image to suit and attach using Cosmic Shimmer glue. 

• Glue the edge of each cut-out leaf and apply to the inside rim of the box, allowing a small over-lap.

• Decide where you wish to place the flower-heads and attach using Cosmic Shimmer Glue. Add remaining curved leaf to suit.
• My last addition was a touch of gold gilding wax to the lid and around the side.

My original idea was to create a ‘Secret Garden’ visible only when the box lid was opened, however I could not find a box that fitted my design. I tried various other designs over the period of a week until I happened upon a set of ‘Shaker’ boxes in a cupboard. The idea blossomed and my thoughts changed from the original secret garden to something more akin to ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ or even ‘Rapunzel.’

Thank you for reading the post and visiting my blog; apologies for it is rather lengthy, however there were more than a few steps and techniques to cover. Should you have any questions or queries, please ask and I'd be delighted to help or look for an answer.

Hope to see you back again!

Shelagh  ;~}

Shoe Box

• I made this example a little while ago using Sizzix dies for both box and shoe. The flowers were also made from the Sizzix collection. 
• The suitcase was made from Kraft card, Coredinations and Tilda patterned papers and the shoe  from Tilda patterned papers.
• The suitcase fronts were run through an embossing folder prior to inking the edges.

• The interior was decorated with more papers from the same Tilda selection.
• A toning ribbon was tied around the suitcase as a fastener. 

Thank you for visiting my blog, today. Now must go hurry to the Post Office before the snow flurries get any worse!

Golden Girl

Golden Girl

Hi,
For my weekly post, I thought I'd show you a card I made at the end of last year.  It's made with an eclectic collection of stamps. The image is Bildmalarna Mimosa; the leaves - Clarity Stamps re-mountable Maple Leaves; the background - IndigoBlu 'Bubbles;' the sentiments - Stampin Up.

1.The background inside and out was stamped and heat-embossed using Versamark and Wow Twinkle White Embossing Powder on two sheets of A4 white card. It was then coloured using Adirondack Butterscotch, with Willow blended around the edge to create depth. One sheet was cut into four equal rectangles which were mounted onto white and trimmed. All four were then secured onto black, a short edge next to a long edge.

2.The girl was stamped using Versafine Onyx Black and coloured using Spectrum Noir pens. It was then die-cut into a circle using a Tonic plain circle die from one of their sets and attached to the centre of the coloured background.

3. The maple leaves (all three sizes) were stamped repeatedly onto green pearlescent vellum (I bought this in the USA a good few years ago) with Versamark and heat-embossed with Wow Gold Embossing Powder. They were cut out and secured around the the circumference of the image.

4. I scored and folded a long rectangle of white pearlescent card from my stash to create an easel card which has a mountain fold as a 'stopper.' (This is my preference rather than a stopper on the base.) A background off-cut from (1) was mounted and a sentiment stamped, matted and added.

5. The back and base of the easel was layered with background paper from (1) and a few leaves and a sentiment added.

.... and there we have 'Golden Girl.'

Many thanks for visiting.

Best wishes,

Shelagh.

The Rose

                                                                          The Rose

This card was quite time consuming but I wanted to explore another use for a stencil I've had in my stash for quite some time. I found the Letraset Tacky Dots the cleanest way to attach each small petal.

Shelagh Metselaar

The Rose

·         

       Materials:-

      Cardstock:- Neenah Solar White; White Pearlescent; Creative Expressions – Gold; Black Card;           Tilda – Sewing

·         Stamps:- Imagination Crafts - Rose, Butterfly

·         Stencil:- Imagination crafts – Flower

·         Punch – EK Success

·         Letraset Tacky Dots

·         Inkpads:- Distress Inks – Weathered Wood, Tea Dye; Versafine Onyx Black

·         Stamps Away Clear Detail Embossing Powder

·          Distress Markers, water brush

·         Quickie Glue Pen

·         Glamour Dust – Gold

 Instructions:-

 1. Cut 3 squares of white card slightly larger than the stencil. Tape the stencil on card and draw around flowers using a Micron pen. Repeat on other two pieces of white.

 2.  Repeat with patterned paper and cut out each individual petal.

 3.  Apply the Letraset Tacky Dots to reverse of patterned paper and apply each petal to corresponding area on white card.

 4. Ink the edges with Tea Dye and mount onto black, then gold then black again.

 5. Stamp the Rose stamp 6 times on white card and colour in using Distress Markers. (I used my glass mat as a palette.)

 6. Decoupage the images. Mount onto black, gold, black as in (4.)

 7. Adhere centrally to paper-pieced background.

 8. Stamp each butterfly twice and colour using Distress Markers. Cut out and set aside.

I completed the card by scoring a long piece of white pearlescent card centrally to fit the completed topper, allowing for a border. The remaining length at each side was scored and matted panels of the paper-pieced stencil added. The ends were scallop-punched, decorated with flowers reserved from the patterned stencil work. Attach butterflies to suit. Using a Quickie Glue Pen to highlight flower centres and areas of the stencil work, Gold Glamour Dust Glitter completed the card.

Thank you for visiting my blog. I'm still very much a novice in finding my way around this new experience. 

Shelagh. ;~}

Glitz and Glamour
January 2015


Materials:-
• Cardstock:- white, gold mirri, black
• Stamps:- IndigoBlu ‘Love Is,’ ‘Sewing Mends the Soul,’ ‘Music Hall’
• Inkpads:- Versamark, Ranger Distress Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Black Soot
• Embossing Powders:- Wow gold, Wow holographic white
• Pens:- Sakura White Pen, Quickie Glue Pen
• Extras:- Glamour Dust gold glitter, ribbon, self-adhesive gems
Instructions:-
1. Take a 5ins x 7ins piece of white card and stamp the ‘Love Is’ heart using Versamark in the centre.  Heat emboss in goldInk and emboss the corset stamp from ‘Sewing Mends the Soul’ with Versamark, having turned the first embossed image upside down.
2. Repeat inking and embossing scissors from the same set to create a dress-form.
3. Stamp and emboss separately heart, corset and scissors again on another piece of card and cut out.
4. Ink and emboss as before the scroll-flourish from ‘Music Hall’ set around outside of card at (1.)
5. Ink and emboss using white embossing powder inside this frame.
6. Ink the card and separate images using Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers. Darken the outer edges using Black Soot.
7. Attach the scissors, heart and corset to main image using foam pads. Add gems.
8. Highlight the outer gold scrolling with a white pen and areas of the skirt and corset with glue pen. Apply the glitter to the glued areas.
9. Curl some areas of the skirt and corset.h
10. Mount onto gold mirri then black.
• The decoration was made from a flower, bird and branch punch from another gold-embossed  heart and ribbon coloured using the inkpads.

Things With Wings

The idea for this card came from a clip about Lapwings where one was flying around reed beds. As an extra note of interest, we were out in the Jeep heading for a brisk winter’s walk in the country this afternoon when I spotted three lapwings scrabbling about in a field; this is not a sight I’ve seen since I was a child!

Materials:-

·        Cardstock:- Theuva Card x 3, Black Pearlescent Card, Silver Mirri Card, White Pearlescent Card

·        Clarity Stamps:- Lapwing Set, Reed stamp

·        Inkpads:- Ranger - Archival Black; Distress Frayed Burlap, Old Paper, Antique Linen, Mowed Lawn, Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky; Versafine Onyx Black

·        Clear Detail Embossing Powder

·        Micron pen

·        Spectrum Noir Pencils

Instructions:-

Stamps used

• On a piece of Theuva card, positioned 'portrait' - short sides top and bottom - and using Versafine Onyx Black, stamp the smaller 'Standing Lapwing' towards the foot of the right hand side.  Dust with embossing powder and heat set.

• Stamp this again on a sticky note and cut out.
• Using the same process, stamp the 'Lapwing in Flight' in the centre of the card and the 'Flight of Lapwings' at the top left hand corner

• On a second sheet of Theuva card, stamp three sets of the 'Flight of Lapwings' in a downward motion and heat emboss.
• Stamp some masks on 'sticky notes' and cut out.
• On a third sheet, stamp two sets of the same almost parallel to echo the horizon.
• Using distress ink 'Old Paper' stamp the 'Reed' stamp randomly along the foot of each of the three cards.  Over stamp these to suit with the same stamp and Black Archival.
• Cut a large circle mash (the sun) from a 'sticky note' and place over part of the stamped 'Lapwing in Flight'.  Place a lapwing mask over the stamped image and also over the 'Standing Lapwing' and the 'Lapwings in Flight'

•  Tear a sheet of copy paper across to create a rough horizon. Place this over the first card about one third of the way from the foot. Using a blending tool and Weathered Wood, gently colour the area above the horizon mask and on to the top of the card.

• Move the horizon mask onto the second then third stamped sheets and repeat.

• Using a blending tool and Old Paper, add colour over the stamped reeds at the foot of each sheet. Build this up to a small mound at the right of sheet 1 so the ‘Standing Lapwing’ appears to do just that. Add depth of colour to this area by blending in Frayed Burlap and blend in some Mowed Lawn along the reeds.

• Remove the sun mask and blend some ‘Squeezed Lemonade’ to form a reflection on the water. Shade the sun using some yellow Spectrum Noir pencils and blend into paper. (I used my fingers).
•  Blend Stormy Sky and Weathered Wood to create the darker sea. (I originally coloured the sea lighter and sky darker but on looking out from my craft room on a beautifully sunny winter’s day out towards Aberdeen harbour and the horizon, I noticed the opposite was true thus all change)!
• From here, using Spectrum Noir grey pencils, add some shading to the birds.
• Trim, mount onto silver, black then white. 

Thank you for visiting my blog

Shelagh ;-}