Christmas Cards using Masterboards

Hi, I hope your weekend has been going well, this afternoon I've been making some christmas cards using masterboards as a basis to work from. Over on the PaperArtsy Blog there is a brilliant video by Leandra showing how to create a masterboard and some wonderful examples on how to use them, to view the video etc click here.

For these I made 2 different colour combinations but still have plenty left to use on other projects.

The paints used for my first board are ; Evergreen, Toad Hall, Guacamole, London Bus, Inky Pool, Snowflake and a little Pewter to finish. These were all applied with a brayer.

I then stamped text from ESN 03 in archival watering, the hanging star from Jofy 06 in archival jet black and finally the swirl from Special Christmas plate 3 in snowflake paint.

For my second board the following colours were used; China, Lake Wanaka, Beach Hut, Claret, Stone, Autumn Fire and Snowflake.

Then the design was created using T.H. Holiday Knit stencil with stone paint, the lines from Jofy 07 stamped in archival cornflower, noel from special christmas plate in archival watering can and finally the rings from HP1004 in snowflake paint.

For my first card I stamped the bunting from Jofy 07 onto my master board in versa-mark and white heat embossed.

This was cut out and the tassels were hi-lighted with a little Treasure Pewter.

The trees were stamped from the special christmas plate 3 and also white embossed. Stars were punched from trimmings after cutting out the trees.

I used the edging stamp from Jofy 06 for the bottom edge of the card.

For my second card I cut a piece of the master board and mounted it onto some burgundy coloured card. The star was stamped from Jofy 07 onto some kraft card , white embossed, cut out and then some Treasure Pewter was added. The white flower/tree from Jofy 38 was white embossed and then some glitter added. The MDF star was given 2 coats of gold embossing powder.

My final card which is my favourite out of the 3 repeats some of the 2nd card but uses the large flower from Jofy 38 ( which was one of my gifts from winning the blog challenge a few weeks ago and I love!) this was embossed using a clear glitter embossing powder and then hi-lighting with treasure Gold in Renaissance.

Bows, buttons, wire and hearts were added for detail but I felt they were all fairly quick and easy to make as it is sometimes too easy to get engrossed in making christmas cards and the time just vanishes. The next thing you know it's the last day for posting!!!

And on that note I shall away--- many thanks to PaperArtsy for the nudge into master boards, much appreciated. Hope you enjoy what is left of the weekend and many thanks for stopping by. Take care and all comments are much appreciated, Jane x

Mixed Media Bunting

Hi everyone I hope you have had a good week. Today has been absolutely glorious here in Kent, blue skies, warm sunshine and the birds have been singing their little socks off!

Well todays entry was inspired by Lelainia Lloyd over on PaperArtsy's blog, to view her mixed media bunting click Here.

This is my version of Lelainia's lovely bunting and I must say I really enjoyed making it, so thank-you for the fab idea.

To begin with I chose 5 different colours of Co-ordinations card stock and cut 5 triangles using Sizzix Framelits Banners Scallop Die ( the largest die in the set). I then made a template of a triangle that fitted inside the die cut ones which left the scalloped border showing. Then I cut 5 pieces of smooth white card slightly larger than the template ready to be coloured with various shades of Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint.

Having chosen my colours I set to work with the brayer.

The white card was covered completely with Mermaid, then touches of Beach Hut and Snowflake. The circles were added by dipping the end of an empty cotton reel in the Snowflake and Beach Hut paint.

Started with Blush and then added some Spanish Mulberry and whilst still wet sprayed with water and dabbed with kitchen paper.

First I put down a coat of Guacamole, then added areas of Pumpkin Soup and Zesty Zing. Finally I stamped a regal flourish in the Pumpkin Soup.

Base coat of Nougat, then areas of Inky Pool.The Autumn Fire was added with a stencil brush through a piece of net curtaining.

No 5, base coat of Toad Hall, then touches of Guacamole, followed by small touches of Pewter. Once dry I mixed equal quantities of French Roast and Toad Hall and stamped the trellis from Jofy 12.

All 5 painted pieces of card were then cut using the pre-made template.

The left hand triangle was decorated using stamps from LPC030, the large stamp was stamped using Archival Sepia onto white card and then cut using a perforator. Indian Ink section from the largest stamp in the set was stamped onto blotting paper using Walnut Stain DI and once dry I dripped a small amount of red writing ink onto the blotting paper. The edges of this were torn and an old nib from a dip pen was then added.

The turquoise coloured one was stamped using the Bricks and Mortar 2 set, One Way was stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson and then Glossy Accents added to the arrow. The houses were stamped in Archival Watering Can and embossed with clear EP. The detail to the houses was added using Sakura Glaze pens and a piece of bakers twine was added before stitching to the base.

The pinky coloured triangle was decorated by added some white gesso with my little finger in a dabbing motion to where I roughly thought the stamped flower would go. The flower spray is from HP1004 and was stamped in black Archival ink and embossed with clear EP. the centres of the seed heads were rubbed with Metallic Lustre in Black Shimmer to add some extra sheen. Grow was stamped onto some of the off cut card in black and then mounted onto black card. The grow stamp is from the Bloom set.

The MDF heart had a coat of white gesso and was then coloured with a mix of Adirondack Stonewashed and Archival Brilliance in Peacock. Then using the largest flower stamp from HP1004 stamped using Versa-Mark ink and white EP. Some Tim Holtz tissue tape was added to the triangle before attaching the heart and lace.

Last but not least, the small flower stamp and leaf from HP1004 was stamped in black onto watercolour paper. I then made up some washes of Toad Hall and Guacamole for the leaf and Zesty Zing, Pumpkin Soup and Autumn Fire for the 2 layers of flower and brushed these on. Once cut out the leaf had a piece of wire attached to the back so as to allow the leaf to bend over the edge. The flower had touches of Treasure Gold in Ruby and Renaissance added. The flower was attached with a metal brad.

The material used to attach the triangles is a length of natural coloured calico which I stamped using various stamps from Tops and Tails 6, Jofy 12 and HP1004.

At the 2 ends I added some twisted thin cotton and a couple of old carved beads.

The beads are stunning, if you look closely you can see a deer and the other one has a monkey. These were found in my Husbands Great Aunt's draw after she died many years ago and I have always wanted to use them in something. We believe they are carved from beetle nuts but the expensive ones would have been made of ivory.

Well if you stayed till the end I hope you have enjoyed reading this entry, I really enjoyed the journey and I am already thinking about a Christmas themed one!!!

So thank you to Lelainia, I would like to enter this into PaperArtsy's monthly inspired challenge, and if you have a few quite moments do pop over to their blog and see all the teams wonderful works of art.

Thank you as always for stopping by, all comments are much appreciated and hopefully see you again soon. Take care and have a good week  Jane x