Image Transfer ~ Rub-ons

Something that has been niggling me for a while is how to achieve a print without my stamps.  Being able to transfer an image from my printer without running the actual card through the machine means I can be more flexible with the placement and combine other techniques prior to the printing stage……

I have explored several other ways in the past - gesso (messy, time consuming & not totally suitable for cardmaking) –wintergreen oil (works but…..whoa!  be prepared to have your house smell ….for days!!) orange oil (smells much nicer but not totally successful) and I know there are several other ways but the simplest seemed to be Freezer Paper (Pinterest suggestion). I duly found the Freezer Paper (on e bay) and was poised at the point of purchase when I realised all it was, was wax paper…..now bearing in mind I keep all the backing from sticker sheets, labels and old pages from my girls sticker albums (use them for wiping over card prior to “old style” stencil embossing) it really didn’t seem necessary to buy more.

It’s one layer week at Less is More and they have a challenge to use a Flourish….perfect week to try the paper transfer…..only trouble is this week I have zero time to experiment so this has been a very hurried sample…

I created a quick Fathers Day card  (with a difference…now hubbie is officially Father of the Bride-to–be) using text and a flourish (Florals 2 Dingbat – letter e) and flourish border created with Wingdings 2 (letters a & b) with some words hidden within (Typo upright)….then came the fun bit….. printing on the wax paper….the first bit of paper I tried was a scrap from a Label sheet stuck to a carrier sheet

Couple of Don’ts…..

Don’t …forget to reverse the image if you’re using text…..guess who forgot!

Don’t …forget to turn the paper ink side down before rubbing over the image….guess who’s got a blue thumb!!

HEY PRESTO !!!!!!!  it works and I really loved the soft effect….I think this will be particularly great for vintage images. It was so easy, the ink transfers very quickly, just gently rub over the back with a finger or thumb……oh another Don’t …..Don’t try and move it once its down…it will blur….yes …guess who tested this theory as well!!!

but the good news is I also discovered you can completely wipe the wax paper clean and reuse it!!

I was intrigued to see if I could actually use this technique with stamping and luckily sitting on my desk was a lovely new stamp from Oak House Studio…a beautiful big flourish!!!! I quickly stamped this with Stampin Up “Not quite Navy” ink…. then printed my wording directly on a very thick piece of wax paper (from a sticker album) and actually I surprised it blended quite well with the stamped image….perhaps a bit soft…..will have to investigate this a bit further, using different types of paper and colours!

 

I couldn't resist stamping the design over the spine……… and onto the back………oh and on the inside as well!!

Sorry this has been long winded yet again but I must also say thank you to the Less is More Ladies for showcasing my Jar shaped card (tough challenge!!) I really appreciate the support you give to my “homemade” efforts and I really appreciate the lovely comments from you and the people who pop by and take the time to leave a message

                                               THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

p.s Check out Lynnda’s (Oak House Studio blog) stamped scarf…what a great idea….something else I must  try!!!!

A bit of stamping…..yay!!!

Well for Less is More and my blog this week I have indulged myself with a little bit of stamping. This week I have been working with  a lovely Stamp from Oak House Studio. Owner of Oak House Studio and Designer of the Clematis Stamp is Lynnda Worsnop who this weekend is hosting a 24hr event using just the one stamp in lots of different ways. I have had amazing fun experimenting  with the stamp finding different ways of using it and I have to say, for a clear stamp (laser cut in a very strong polymer…giving an impression as good as a rubber stamp) it really is very durable ….just as well as I have been extremely hard on it….thank goodness there isn’t a “Society for the Protection  of Stamps” as I wouldn’t blame Lynnda for reporting me for mistreatment…the good news is the stamp is still standing and stamping as beautifully as when I received it….

….so to prove it’s still working (despite being dunked in all sorts of inappropriate paints etc!) I have made a card for Less Is More’s Red White and Blue challenge

Inspired by the blue and white china I inherited from my mum, I masked off a square panel with Post-it notes (with a square post-it used as a template), then drew round the panel with an ordinary Berol Handwriting pen….despite using a stamp I wanted to avoid using bought cardmaking products as much as possible, so I also avoided using a bought inkpad and used an ordinary felt pelt rubbed over the stamp. As the pen was waterbased it was easily washed to colour the image….. ideally I wanted to glaze the panel but every household item I tried made the ink bleed too much and I think even bought inkpads may have the same effect….if anyone has any clever ideas I would love to know.

But with time ticking away I have left the image matt and added my touch of red…a knotted scrap of ribbon (yes I cant even throw off cuts of ribbon away…in fact I keep a tub of little scraps pre-tied in bows …and if they’re not big enough for bows …I use them knotted!!!)

If you’re lucky enough to live near the Oak House Studio, do drop in and visit Lynnda and see what she is up to (I think she will have the kettle on), if not pop by her blog (hopefully my projects will be there) I have scheduled a couple of sensible home decor projects …I am still working on a very “unglamorous” idea …..and keep an eye on her One Stamp facebook page this weekend (9th and 10th June).

p.s love the stamped watch you’ve just posted on your blog Lynnda….oooooh want one of those!!!!!

My jar ‘runneth’ over…..

The sun is shining and I have managed to squeeze in a little “Less is More” crafting…. although my eyebrows shot up to my “very grey” hairline when I read the challenge was to create a card other than square or rectangle…..oh heck… I thought it was tricky last week creating a child's card and keeping it clean and simple ….but without stamping or using my cardmaking stuff…. I could only think of novelty style cards which were definitely not CAS…. so not sure if this totally qualifies….

but it was a great excuse to use the adorable free print sheet from The Graphic Fairy  that I recently found.

Luckily I also had some printable projector acetate from a computer course I did many years ago……never have needed to create a presentation….so I still have more or less a full packet…and I thought the acetate would be perfect to print the jar on.

After printing the jar I created a text box to position in the jar…..then deleted the image before printing the text on card……then before I attached the acetate and card together (attached along the top with double side tape) I highlighted the text with a couple of stencilled hearts (chalked with eyeshadows!!)

To attach a back panel I scored the top of the acetate section to create a hinge which fixed onto another piece of card

Once the three panels were joined I cut out the shape of the jar.

To finish I tied on a couple of scraps of ribbon from my salvaged stash.

I photographed the card with some confetti sequins as I am going to pop a few  a handful in the envelope…..

       ……dont you just love it when people do this!?!?

Now must go and have a play with the clematis stamp from Lynnda at Oak House studio.…..Lynnda is planning an ambitious 24 hour craft with “One Stamp” and I am supporting her by having a go at creating some revamped home decor projects…… one of my projects is hopefully going to be immensely useful but has to be one of the oddest and possibly the most unappealing projects  I have ever created in my papercrafting!!!!!!!!

1,2…….…..3!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully nice and early for Less is More this week (Theme Baby or Child). Nice wide scope but I found it quite difficult to do CAS for a child…to make an attractive card for a child tends to lend itself to bolder style designs so this week my card has a bit more layering than I would normally do for this challenge, hopefully there’s enough white space and simplicity (oops a few little details did creep in) to qualify.

In honour and might I add extremely early I created a card for my youngest goddaughter who is three this year…

A while ago I bought some lovely embroidered tape from the chartity shop (20P!!) and I knew it would be useful so quite simply a strip attached on a layer and a message embellished with three buttons created a simple design but hopefully bright and appealing to a child.

and just in case the message hadn’t been twigged

a nice big three inside !

As I said…. I have made this card early……birthday in August…now all I have to do is remember I made it…… and where I put it!!!

Nappy crafting definitely not happy crafting….

Should have called this post “warts and all” as this week my idea didn’t quite work but if I’m honest it was more the execution of the projects that failed…..

A couple of weeks ago Katie and I made her friend a Nappy bouquet (congrats on the safe arrival of beautiful Betty Rose!!)…

….and much to Katie’s frustration she caught me “salvaging” the one nappy that got trashed in the making “Honestly mum…cant you throw anything away!!!!!”

“er ……..no!” and boy I’m glad I didn’t as Less is More really made my brain hurt with their one layer challenge of three stamps….its bad enough not using bought cardmaking things but to come up with three stamps that was going to be a challenge… so this week I had to do a bit of a cheat….I used some free stamps from Quick Cards Magazine.  I could have stamped with some household things in fact my third stamp was actually a bit of card but I really  wanted to have a go at making my own ink pads to use with stamps….HENCE THE NAPPY….see Katie told you I would use it!!!.

I have made impro ink pads before but finding a medium to successfully contain the ink (food colouring in this case) without clogging or oversaturating is not easy…..and actually its a big thumbs up for disposable nappies as they retain plenty of moisture but still allow some through when pressed…pity my stamping skills didn’t live up to expectation

First attempt …….started reasonably well, thought I would use the back of the stamp to create a shadow (used some double sided tape to attach the stamp onto the base of a flat bottomed glass)…but the colours were disappointing particularly the purple I mixed…dull…dull… dull ….and to top it all I mis-stamped one of the jars…all in all …insipid!

 

 

Second attempt…….

decided to customise the pads with different colours, again shadow stamped but this time used some black ink for the outline… 

didn’t think this one through and ended up with a silly gap at the end, so doodled a lollypop at the end to compensate…but as I dislike the the dark colour scheme for the theme…its more bin fodder…..

one  final attempt…added a little pen ink to the pads and a really quick design just to test the pads and…..

really…really… earth shatteringly….poor layout but the colours were improved…oh well back to the drawing board…

Heart “felt” sorry

Please don’t groan …I know its a rubbish pun…at least I didn’t actually make a felt heart for my belated birthday card (for a cardmaker I am actually dreadful at remembering birthdays…on time!)…it was thanks to Less is More for actually steering me away from such a visual pun, this weeks challenge is Yellow  and I have to say a yellow felt heart just didn't look quite right…believe me I considered it…. but a lovely bright yellow flower will hopefully “re”gain me some brownie points with my Goddaughter ……particularly bad as her birthday is two days before mine.

The flower was so simple to make….
six little petals cut from small squares of felt roughly stitched and gathered together, finished with a button (great for hiding very bad stitching!!). I only wish I had thought to attach it to a brooch back so it could be removed and attached onto a bag or something.
I have to say a big thank you for all the lovely good wishes we received for our Anniversary a couple of weeks ago, I showed my hubbie when I showed him the dedicated You tube clip!!  and he was astounded by such warm wishes….he didn't realise how friendly bloggie people are.
I have to share a pic of two cards I received…. the Anniversary card is from my hubbie it made me smile as I was tempted to sneakily submit it for L.I.M’s sketch last week, and Steve actually said not only does he now look for lovely words (he always chooses great words and often writes little poems….occasionally they are of the “girl stood on the burning deck” variety but at least they’re unique?!?) he now feels under pressure to choose something that looks handmade and naturally he went for CAS!!!!!!!!

The birthday card is from my friend at work who is not an “official” cardmaker but she knows how passionate I am about creating cards from anything and she wanted to pay homage to the bunting workshop we are having at our Library (recycling book pages for the Jubilee!)…the card is excellent and she said she had such fun making it…truly superb Eugenie….thank you so much!
Sorry I didn’t get to join in with L.I.M last week, things stacked up against me…mainly the fact my dishwasher and my washing machine ganged up on me and both went on strike… aaaaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhh…so it was back to basics and doing things by hand…..ridiculously time consuming………………
but normal service has now been resumed…god bless the repair man and his trusty van of spare parts!

Grilling…..again!!!

If you saw my flower post a couple of weeks ago, you will know I had a little adventure trying to dry out some soggy paper flowers (ok I know it wasn't my best idea) but this week in pursuit of making a charm for Less is More’s challenge I resorted to using my cooker for crafting again.

….and apart from a slightly “fumy” smell (toxic??? nah! at least I don't think so???) I was quite pleased with the result…but I wont post a pic of some of the interesting brown splodges I  originally created…it seems not all plastics are created equal!

To create a charm I found a piece of picture hanging wire in my kitchen “bit” draw…(tell me you all have one of these…its that  parking place for bits you don't know what to do with but cant quite bring yourself to throw away and I have to say its a useful place to find interesting things to craft with). After twisting a piece into a heart shape I couldn't help feeling it needed to be a bit more solid….so I decided it needed filling…I considered several ideas but decided it would be nice to have an faux enamel look and the only thing I could think of was to melt some beads in the centre.

but the best beads I found to melt so far were some of my girl’s old plastic play beads, (I think they’re called pony beads) and as most of them were highly fluorescent I had to just use the clear ones. I popped five beads in the shape and put it under the grill (on non stick baking paper). It took a while to melt but I was quite pleased with the glassy look.

I originally planned this as a white card with black and red accents….but I resort to this so much I made myself use some coloured scraps…not entirely comfortable with it but it makes a change….

and I know my husband will love it whatever I make.  Its for our 28th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday. I based the card on a song that he has sung to me (he can be a bit of an old romantic at times!) I have put the  lyrics inside….if you dont know it, its sung by Heatwave, the song is by Rod Temperton a very talented man (also wrote Thriller!)…I love this song and the words are wonderful….I found a fab clip on Youtube… worth a watch particularly when you see the brave choice of outfits!!!!!!!!!!!  (Steve this is for you…just promise me one thing……never….ever….. wear a tight fitting pant suit!!!…. Always and Forever yours).