Using the computer to emboss

This is a technique taught to me by Shaz ( http://silverwolfcards-shaz.blogspot.com/ ) quite some time ago, but I thought it was time to revisit it.  You need an inkjet printer and time to play with the settings (each one is slightly different).  You can use any font you have on your computer to create a sentiment for the front of your card, as shown on these first two cards.  To print and emboss, as on these, you need good quality parchment with a nice shiny surface.


Get all your embossing equipment ready before you start, the top off the jar and copy paper to sprinkle over.  Once it comes out of the printer, speed is all important in getting the powder over the writing, then you can relax a little.  I have found that it is better to print on the normal setting.  High quality takes too long and the writing has already started to dry out, draft is not quite wet enough, but practice on your own machine to find the right balance.  Don't try to do too much on a sheet at one time, as it will have started to dry out.  If you use spray adhesive, such as Crafters Companion Stick and Stay you can stick your sentiment onto backing card before attaching to your card.


The next card was done in a similar way.  I was inspired by the Framer stamps from Barbara Gray (Clarity Stamps).  I took the name I needed, and increased the size of the central "O" , placing the other two letters as I wanted on either side.  (I did the setting up of the word in My Craft Studio Professional).  Once I had that right, I printed direct to an A5 sheet of Clarity silk art card, and embossed it direct from the printer.  I had treated the card with a light dusting of baby powder to reduce static, and then dusted off any stray speckles of embossing powder with a paint brush, before embossing from underneath.

Having got the embossing out of the way, I printed another copy on copy paper and cut out the "O".  I used the flowers from the Flower framer kit to place the flowers in and around the "O", and the Speedball brayer to colour in the background, both in the "O" and around the outside framework.  The flowers were coloured with promarkers.  You can polish the silk card to a high sheen with a screwed up pad of kitchen roll, but make sure you do that BEFORE doing anything else, otherwise you could wreck everything you have done.   I edged the white section with a copper coloured pen, and used a Krylon Copper pens to edge the whole card.    Both those pens will smudge if you attempt to polish after you have used them.  I found that out the hard way.  However butterflies are very useful in covering up minor blips.

I spoke too soon....

I foolishly said that my problems with Blogger had settled down.  Not true today!!!  I seem to have lost all my Followers.  Disaster!  If you look at my blog at the moment, you are not missing because I have fallen out with you.  On the contrary, I love you all and value your friendship.  It is Blogger I have fallen out with.  I hope I can soon get you back where you belong.

WOYWW - 107

My desk this week is a real mess, but I am having a ball.  You can see lots of images in the process of being played with, my red A5 file which is developing into my stamp catalogue, and a lot of other detritus from present projects and past projects.

One of my birthday presents was the large Velvet Lady from Clarity Stamps.  Unfortunately, I still don't have the lamp post to go with her, so I had to improvise and use the one from Cute Companions - not quite right but it will do for the moment.  After all, Barbara does not say we have to copy her exactly, but if giving us ideas from which our own imaginations should take off.    I also used the little spruce tree for the background as I could not think how to create buildings.  To get the shading on the snow, I used a scrunched up pad of kitchen roll, inked up and smoothed out.  With care, it seems to work fairly well.  The lady herself was partially coloured with Promarkers (her skirt) and her jacket and hat were printed and cut from a free downloaded tartan backing paper, which toned quite well with the Promarker.

Then I had a go with the cottage kit, which also involved some use of  things that were a little different from the way Barbara worked, again because my stock is of ink pads is not large .  The first attempt will end up taken apart and redone, but the second was better, but I suspect the next version will be better still.  There are too many trees behind and around the cottage - Geoff said it looked as if it had a beard, so less trees on the next one.  I might try putting a lake in too to get some reflections. (EDIT - tried that and promptly chopped it off, didn't work)

My reflections were very variable too with the brayer, but I think they are getting better.   My first attempt had the same problem as I have taking pictures of the sea - the water was running out.  Never mind, guillotines work wonders to straighten up wonky work.  My first one (not shown) was stamped with the black Adirondack and worked fairly well, being quite dramatic.  The one on the left here was done with Adirondack Slate which I think gives a softer more misty look, which I quite like.  I also really like the blue one (Adirondack Denim).  The background hill on both was done with the kitchen roll pad again.  the tree reflection on the blue one smudged on the brayer, but I think that adds to the watery feel.

I was going to show you the pif I sent to Andria for the 2nd Anniversary, follow the link to her blog at  http://andria-drawingnear.blogspot.com/   .  Her photos are better than mine.  I am glad she finally got it and she says she liked it, so ... result.

Anyway, I think that is enough waffling from me this week and I am sure that you will all have fun by popping over to the residence of our leader, Julia, where you will find lots and lots of fascinating desks with loads of different styles, which you will find at  

http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

WOYWW - 106

Before I show you my desk this week, I have one more important thing to do, and that is to publicly thank Becky Horn for my lovely pif.  It arrived on my birthday at the weekend, which was extra good.  So much work and love in it.  Thank you again, Becky.

I had some lovely cards and pressies, not least the complete set (until No 5 is released) of Barbara Gray's DVD's, which I have been coveting for ages and ages.  They came from my very very kind husband, who is so supportive of my crafting.  If you have a look at Silverwolf's blog, you will see the picture of the beautiful card she created for me, and how she did it.

Now to my desk.  Last week, it was so tidy thanks to a hurricane which hit it.  This week is not quite so good, although it is better than it was an hour before.  Some time ago, I started removing all the horrid sticky cushioning from all my unmounted rubber stamps, and finally finished today, thank goodness.  While the last batch were on my desk, I decided to start cataloguing them, by stamping them in sets into an A5 loose leaf file.  By the time, I had finished , my fingers were totally black and covered in Adirondack black ink.  So far, nothing has removed it, despite my best endeavours.  Any ideas?

I also started a "reflections" card, inspired by Barbara Gray.  As you can see, there is still a lot to do to it, but by then I was so inky, I thought I had better leave it alone for today.  You can also see some of the sheets I have started to print for my stamp catalogue.  I might have another go tomorrow, either at the catalogue creation or just playing with pictures and techniques.

I have also had company for most of my working today from our biggest pup, who suddenly realised I had a small bag of dog food on my desk which might be worth keeping an eye on.  He has be partially responsible for me not getting too much crafting done over the last couple of weeks.  We have just found a new trainer, who is teaching us all the things that really suit a working bred dog, tracking, retrieving and general searching.  Flash loves it and really puts all his effort into hunting.  Gemma, on the other hand, is a little blonde about it, easily distracted from the job in hand.  Never mind, she can only improve with work.  Our trainer, Madaleine, is very strict with us, and gives us lots of homework to practice.  I come back from  training class absolutely buzzing with excitement.  It is just great fun, and so rewarding when you finally coordinate all the things you are trying to sort out.  (I need 4 hands to deal with a clicker, a treat, and a lead, and a few more brain cells to allow me to "get it".)  It is not the dogs who are being trained, it is us as handlers.

By the way, are there any others of you out there who think that things have gone too far in the type of clothes being sold for young children, such as padded bras for girls of 5 and upwards, and the way they are being encouraged to be so much older than their years.  I did hear that pop videos are to be given ratings in a similar way to films, to try to protect young children from being exposed to salacious things while they are too young to cope.  My daughter already tries to vet whatever pop videos that her children watch.

Having had a bit of a soap box moment, perhaps you might like to slip over to see a few more desks at Julia's place, which you will find at  http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/  Thank you to all those who came to visit me this week, and apologies to those I did not get round to visit myself.  Hopefully, I can do better this week.

Another year gone!

I just want to know where the last year has flown off to.  I started this blog just one year ago yesterday without any idea of the number of new friends I would be making, or the number of new ideas I would be given.  Thank you to all of you.  I am so glad I met you.  And special thanks to Shaz (Silverwolf) who inspired me to try it, and who is always so generous with her help and tips.  Also thanks to her lovely husband who managed to solve my photo problem on the blog yesterday.

I had a great day with lots of visitors and some lovely cards and pressies.  I will photo some of them and post them later in the week.  My wonderful husband bought me the four Barbara Gray DVD's (number 5 is due out soon), so I can study her techniques and attempt to do better than I do now.

 This is a card I did recently for some friends who now live on a narrow boat, wandering the waterways.  I found a photos of their boat and printed it onto a piece of silk art card, thenn once the ink was thoroughly dry, I masked it off and brayered and stamped the border, using leafy stamps to create the lower areas.  (The nasty blobs at the top left turned out to be Krylon gold leaf on the scanner plattern - cleaned off now).  Then I removed the mask and drew a wriggly line round the picture with a fine line gold pen.  I edged the whole card with Krylon Gold Leaf and mounted it on green and red  card.  The numbers were printed and cut out and embossed with a glittery red embossing powder.

This card has not yet been delivered, but I don't think he will be looking at my blog.  This one went together very easily until I tried to decide what card to mount it on.  My room looked a wreck when I finally finished.  I have a lot of lovely card, but I am getting to the point where I have not quite got the variety to make choices easy.  The image is from My Craft Studio, and it was all designed and sized within that program.  Once it was all stuck together with Pinflair glue, I left it to dry before giving it a good dose of Spray and Shine, until it was really shiny.  Then I mounted it with a thin border of holographic silver card and then put it on to a silvery blue pearlescent card.  I shaped the boat and the sails before adding them to the decoupage, which, I think, gives it a more realistic look (and hides the glue better too).

This is another card that got the shaping on the decoupage, and a good dose of Spray and Shine  on the finished card.  Again the image was from My Craft Studio.  I think the Spray and Shine enhances the image and brings out the colour.  Because this has to go through the post, I did all the matting and layering within My Craft Studio and printed it out direct to the white supersmooth card.  The gold club and the ball were separate pieces of decoupage, shaped to give dimension without being too high.


We have got a new oak computer desk downstairs, so I have snaffled the set of drawers that belonged to the old desk to store things like my heat guns and things that really have no real place yet.  So I am off up to my room now to sort that lot out.  I suspect it will also become a place for another pile to start.  You all know what happens to clear surfaces in craft rooms.  Time will tell - very soon!

WOYWW - 105

I did it!!  I found my craft mat and my desk (not to mention a lot of dust).  This was how my desk looked yesterday (Tuesday) before I began doing things again.  With a number of major projects to get finished, I had definitely neglected the putting away part, and the piles had just grown too high.  Surprisingly, it did not take took long to put right - and that did mean putting away, not just piling somewhere else.  I felt quite proud of myself.  The wind helped too.  I opened the window - big mistake - everything took off and landed on the floor.  It cleared the tops of the two printers in 2 seconds, so I had to sort that lot out too.  Aren't I good? 

The two plastic storage boxes are so useful.  The one contains my total supply of Promarkers (I do have 24 new ones on the way in the post)  while the other has my Krylon pens (all of them), my gold, copper and silver fine liners, and my Pinflair syringes.  Hopefully, I shall be able to find them in the future, rather than diving under piles of paper and other detritis to dig them out.  You can also see my little pot of dog training treats as usual, and the computer, all ready to start cutting a design with the Silhouette.

Then I decided I needed to get some more crafting done.  So some things had to come out again, but, strangely enough, the desk still remained relatively clear as you can see from the second photo.  You can see a card almost finished for a friend's upcoming 65th birthday.  As you can guess, he is golf mad.  The image is from MCS's Papercraft library. 

The smaller card is one printed from MCS's Countryside Gardens disc, from the NSR (no stamp required).  I printed it quite faintly and then used my limited promarkers to colour it in.  The purple was the result of several layers to deepen the colour and add shading. 

At the back, you can see a couple of completed projects, all ready to go.  I will put up the pictures of those later in the week for those who are interested.  In the meantime, why don't you all pop over to Julia's at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/  to see what is going on in the rest of the world of desk blogging.  Thank you to all those who came to visit this week, and I apologise to all those I did not get round to this time.

WOYWW - 104 Happy Anniversary

It has finally arrived - the second anniversary of this wonderful blog hopping.  Most of the credit must go to Julia, who started it all, and kept it all going throughout two whole years.  Well done, Julia, and many thanks for such a wonderful achievement.  I, for one, have met so many new friends since I joined last year, people I have never met in the flesh, but who I feel I know and can rely on for support and advice.

My desk this week is out of bounds as it is covered by an, as yet, unmentionable project, which I desperately need to finish.  So all I can show you in a crafting line is the box in which I keep all the cards I have done ready for finishing and sending - no inserts or names on, but easy to grab and finish off.  At the front are a couple of boxes of notelets for emergency presents, and a DVD of our grandchildren - my first attempt to print the disc itself with the new printer.

I have chosen not to show my pif, although it is finished and ready to go, as I want it to arrive as a surprise for the recipient.  Once it has been delivered, I will reveal it and explain it.  I hope that whoever gets it enjoys it.

Meanwhile, happy anniversary again and go to visit  Julia and all the other anniversary desks at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

WOYWW - 103

It has been a couple of weeks since I joined in with WOYWW, and I have missed it.  The first week was holiday, just outside Barmouth in Wales, not far from Snowdon - OK but it did not turn out quite as we planned.  My poor OH developed a tummy bug on the second day, which cleared up the day before we came home, so we did not get out and about in the area as we had hoped.  Still, at least he was not trying to do all the jobs at home so it was a little more restful.  I got the bug as we got home and did very little for the first few days home.  Hopefully, things are all sorted now.

The journey to Barmouth was quite spectacular once we cleared the motorway section and passed Shrewsbury.  I spent some time with the camera poking out through the car window taking photos for our daughter.  She loves the area, but complained that she has never seen the mountains through the heavy cloud.  As you can see, the weather was very kind to us as we climbed up past Cader Idris, so spectacular.

We took a slight diversion from our route when we got to Barmouth (not planned) turning left too soon and doing an unscheduled drive along the promenade.  Fortunately, there is an island at the end of the prom so turning round was not a problem, and we were soon turning in the right place and setting up the van for the week. 

Crafting was limited to playing with my Promarkers and finding out just what they would or would not do.  I had stamped and printed a large pile of images on a variety of media before we left home, so there was plenty to play with.  I did learn one important fact - not everything works with Promarkers, some are better suited to water colours.  This particular design (an old embroidery transfer) did work well with the markers, and I think it looks quite good, and in keeping with its original.

My desk this week, is not really a place of inspiration, and has seen very little use, but I aim to get going again later today with a project (cannot talk about that one yet, but maybe later).  The ship decoupage is ready to mount for a birthday later next month, but I still need to find the right backing card.

My final photo this week is a bit of a tease, ready for next week.  You don't get to see very much, so you will have to wait until the right day.  In the meantime, why don't you hop over to Julia at  http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ where our leader has links to so many more desks to study. 

Thank you to my new followers.  You are so welcome and your interest is greatly appreciated.  Also, a special thanks to Shax from Oz, who sent a message to check if I was ok, as I had not blogged for 2 weeks. 

WOYWW - 100

I do love the trees in our garden, and they are at their best right now.  Spring has come at last, even if it is bitterly cold out there.  When you think of trees and grass being green, well, they are, but how many shades and varieties are there in one tiny spot, not to mention the many varied shapes of leaf and branch as well.

Enough of poetic nattering, how about this, the 100th blog.  I have not been here for that long, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my time so far, and got to know so many wonderful and generous crafters, learned so many new techniques, and found so many new things to play with.  Thank you to all of you.  You are all wonderful.

My desk this week is a little clearer than it has been of late.  I did have a major tidy up yesterday, having just completed a major project which I will show you in a couple of weeks or so.  All that is left are a few images that I have stamped or printed out, ready for colouring with my small number of Promarkers, also visible on the desk.  You can also see a very useful set of Staedtler fine liners, which are so useful, a couple of sets of the small Clarity stamps, a couple of ink pads and the vital brayer.  For those who have not already sussed them out, the little pot os Super Stars are training treats for the two dogs, very useful if I want to know what they are up to while I am up here.

I will not show you the opposite corner, which I totally destroyed yesterday afternoon, trying to find a set of images for colouring.  I still have not found them, so that is on my list for today, as well as putting everything back that I threw about in frustration.

While I am busy looking, why don't you pop over to the Queen of Bloggers, Julia at
http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/
where you will find lots more desks to study in detail.  Have fun, and Happy 100th.

Royal Wedding

What a fantastic day, a glorious dress, everything was perfect, as close to an intimate family wedding as was possible in the circumstances.  I sat glued to the TV and really wallowed in the atmosphere.

Then we had a street party, unofficial without closing the road or any other hassle.  The island in front of our houses was the perfect place to just bring our chairs, tables, food and drink, and even music, to join together in a way not known since the Coronation.  It was really good to get together with so many of the newer residents in a relaxed social way, people we would never have met in the general rush of daily life.  Plans are now in hand to do a similar do for the Jubilee next year.

The nearest I got to crafting was to retrieve a photo off my craft computer of the Coronation celebrations and print it out for eveyone to see.  Hope you all enjoyed the day as much as we did.

WOYWW - 99

Having been away for Easter, there was no action on my workdesk this week - at least, not at home.  So I thought I would show you some of what I have been up to, and the beautiful surroundings we were in.  Eastnor Deer Park, near Ledbury in Herefordshire, is a fantastic place to spend time.  Peaceful, no street lights, nothing to irritate, unless you have a strong objection to Land Rovers.  As we are members of the Midland Rover Owners Club, we have no problem with lots of the vehicles all in one place and it is a good time to sort out any little niggles with the motors.  There is always someone there who can help.  All you have to do is to lift the bonnet and everyone flocks around to have a look and a chat.

Before we went, I did a lot of stamping and printing out of images to colour in, and had a great time just playing with different mediums and techniques.  I took my trusty old paint box (see previous postings), some Derwent watercolour pencils, some Derwent Inktense pencils and some Derwent Graphics pencils.  I ended up mixing them all up on the same piece of work.  The Inktense are gorgeous but I think I prefer them as accents on a water colour, rather than for the whole project.  It all depends on the effect you want, and you have to remember that I am a beginner just trying things our and experimenting.



Watercolour pencils only



Inktense pencils only





I like both of the above, but I think I prefer the softer look of the watercolour on these Pilkington stamps.  You also need to be very sure you have your colour in the right place with the Inktense, as you cannot work them as much as the watercolour.



Watercolour paints



This is a lovely little stamp from Kaycee and reminds me so much of a fantastic view just outside Shanklin on the Isle of Wight.  The shading is very good and the image is clear and crisp.

Watercolour paints

Cannot remember if this is a Pilkington stamp, but it is very pretty, well cut and shaded.  Doing this taught me a lot about mixing the colours I wanted, especially to get the lavender.  The flowers in the foreground were just the strong vermilion direct from the box with no mixing.  I am still using just the Kuretake water brush, which does most of what I want. 

Embroidery design

This old embroidery design was scanned and then cleaned up before printing out.  I chose not to put in a background and just stick to the original idea.  The only difference in that was in the lady's dress, which I managed to shade.  I think most of the flowers were done with the Inktense, while the lady was done mainly with the watercolour pencils.

This poppy was a print out from Joanna Sheen's Pamela West CD set 2, and I used just the watercolour paints on this one, as I wanted a really vibrant colour for the flowers themselves.  I allowed it to dry and went back several time to darken the shaded areas.  I also had a go at sketching while we were away, but I will show you my results later.  Due to advancing years, I did come to the conclusion that I cannot sketch landscapes "in the field".  If I can see the landscape, I cannot see my paper, and if I can see the paper, I cannot see what I am trying to copy.  So I may have to settle for working from my own photos.  Time will tell.  I am not very good, but I am having fun just trying.

Having gone on at length, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to enjoy the glorious weather.  Now it is time you all went to look at all the other desks linked to Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/   I will try to do better this week with visiting as many of you as possible, but I would like to thank all those who visited me, and I hope I managed to get back to all of you.  Have a lovely May Day and enjoy watching the Royal Wedding and your street parties.

WOYWW - 98 Part 2

I was determined that you should all have a chance to see our beautiful trees, so I thought I would have another attempt to make Blogger post it properly.  Enjoy (I hope)

WOYWW - 98

Not quite my work desk, but I had to show you these two trees.  They are just glorious in full blossom, and are even better than usual this year after the hard winter.  I am really looking forward to driving through the lanes around Evesham this weekend and seeing all the fruit trees in full bloom on the Blossom Trail.  If we don't have any more frosts, then we should have a great year for fruit.

Having finished my target of getting all the cards I need for May done before Easter, I am now allowing myself to play.  Hopefully, most of the things I am playing with will end up on cards later in the year.  As you may notice, most of the things on my desk are related to stamping and water colouring, with a bit of mica painting slipping in to add a bit of sparkle and fun.  I do have rather a lot of water colour boxes/tins.  I treated myself to a nice new one from Daler Rowney last year, but that is still pristine and unused.  At the moment, I am still using my old Reeves paintbox which I had as a child - probably counts as an antique now.  In some ways, I prefer the old one to the new stuff, the colours are stronger and easier to blend to get the right shade, even if some of them are now banned.  All the chrome colours are not allowed these days, but I survived using them as a child and I do not intend to eat them, so I shall carry on.  

A true water colourist (is that the right word) would probably have a fit at my technique, but who cares.  I am learning and enjoying it.  I shall never have a canvas hung in the National Gallery or anywhere else, but it is FUN!!!!  My brush is a Kuretake water brush, you know, the ones with water in the barrel, with a fairly fine tip.  I must have done a lot of blending years ago, looking at the state of my white, which is almost non-existent. 

I have done a lot of stamping of small images this week, just the right size to take in the caravan and play with, either inside or out in the awning on a lap tray.  I also want to tackle sketching again, to try to produce my own images.  Not sure whether to use the cheap ratty old water colour paper for the attempts or whether to risk the beautiful new stuff (which is double the price).  Any suggestions from all you lovely people out there.

Anyway, I am going to stop rattling on and leave to to visit Julia, our hostess with the mostest,  at

http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/  who has the links to hundreds (well, nearly) of other peoples' desks for you to look at, while I go and make my lunch - a big omelette with cheese, onions and chopped new potatoes - do you feel hungry yet?

I will try to get round to as many people as possible this week, and will definitely get back to anyone who is kind enough to visit me and leave a comment.  I treasure all you have to offer.  Good hunting, and Happy Easter.

PS Still problems with Blogger and photographs this week.  My lovely trees seem to be missing, although they were there when I started.

WOYWW - 96 part 2

 I thought I would try to see if my missing photos from yesterday will show up if I repost them separately today.

They are showing up on my screen at the moment, so hopefully, you will all be able to see them.  The explanations are all in my previous posting below.

WOYWW - 97 Still a mess.but a different one

I am getting later and later doing my posting.  Life is just so busy, and I am desperately trying to get all my cards for May done before the end of next week.  I am also having a lot of fun just playing with different techniques, and mixing them all up.

My desk looks just as much of a wreck as it did last week, but I promise that it was tidy at least once each day, just before I started in again dragging stuff out to play with.  I said I needed more practice with the Promarkers and the Aquamarkers, and I was quite right.  There was a programme on Create and Craft this week on them and it helped me to sort out what I needed to remember about them both.

The first card was a real mix of techniques.  I used two lots of unrelated stamps, some from Barbara Gray and some from another set (cannot remember where I had them from as I have lost the packaging).  I stamped each part onto white paper, then scanned them into the computer.  Then I used My Craft Studio to resize and manipulate each part to fit together, before printing the whole picture on watercolour paper and gave it a very light spray with Crafters Companion Spray and Shine to prevent the outline from bleeding.  I used the Aquamarkers and my Cloudy Blue and Juniper and mixed them to suit  on a white tile, painting them on with a water brush.  I kept all the colours very light, more of a wash.  When I was in school, I was never encouraged to paint, and actually hated painting anyway, as it always spoiled my drawing.  However, I am gradually finding my way through it and quite enjoying playing.  If I end up with a usable card at the end, then I shall be very happy.  This one was mounted using two different shades of blue pearlescent card, mounted on white (which I had brayered with Cloudy Blue and Juniper).

The second card was purely Clarity Stamps, Promarkers, and brayering.  It was done in a bit of a rush, so I did not do and masking and overstamping, which could have improved it, but there is plenty of time to play later on.  I used the silk card for this one, which is why I chose the Promarkers and the blender.  I have a very limited selection of colours, but I do intend to aquire more as I go on.  I was going to put a sea wall in front of the houses but after I had done the brayering, I realised I had not left enough room, so I just put a bit of sand there instead. 

My last card for this week is another using Clarity Stamps - the leafy bough stamps.  I have already done one version with green leaves, so I thought I would play around with different colours.  I used the silk card again, and used a pinky coloured ink pad.  The actual stems were coloured using blush pink, and then two different colours of pink promarkers to colour the leaves.  I stamped the sentiment into the centre, again with the pinky ink pad, and brayered the edges with tattered rose distressed ink to soften the whole thing.  The mounting was matting and layering with dark brown card and pink pearlescent card. 

I want to apologise to all those people I did not get round to visiting last week, and I hope I can do better this week.  In the meantime, do go and visit all those who got going earlier than me this week at Julia's site at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/  where you will find lots of like minded friends.  See you soon.

PS I see Blogger is still playing up and half my photos seem to have refused to show themselves.  There should be 5 photos but I can only see 3 at the moment.

WOYWW - 96 - What a mess!!

Rather late in posting this week, due to life getting in the way.  However, better late than never..... maybe.  These photos do not truthfully reflect the true state of my desk, and in fact, most of the room, for that matter.  Yes, you can see a little bit of desk, but that is only because I am very good at the "shove it harder" technique.  Even my big magnifier lamp is in use for draping cards along. 

As you may be able to see, I have been having more of a go at brayering, and working with Clarity stamps.  I have decided that I need to invest in new ink pads and also some detail embossing powder.  My Versamark pads are drying out, and my only gold embossing powder is what I would call "gobby", too thick to give a really good image.  Also, more practice is needed to really get the right result.

The one card hanging on the light is using Barbara Gray's ideas and some of her techniques, but with some adjustment.  Obviously, Barbara has not produced a new stamp especially for someone called Don.  That is something I printed from the computer onto the silk card.  Then I used the Versamark pen to go over the design before adding the gold embossing powder and heating from underneath to give the glassy finish.  (I have had so much trouble trying to post these last two photos as  Blogger is not playing nicely at the moment, so I tried changin browsers to see if that helped) Then I printed the design again and cut the centre out of the "O" so I could mask off the rest. I used Vintage Photo to stamp the foliage, and the three flowers, before masking the flowers so I could brayer the whole centre with Adirondack Cloudy Blue, and Juniper. I also brayered the border area with the same colours and used the foliage again in the border, then used a gold pen to outline the main design and to edge the whole thing before mounting it on pearlescent card. Although it is not yet perfect, the idea seems to work so it could be used for anyone who has an "A", "D" or "O" in their name.

The card on the desk is more conventional, using the proper stamp, and another of Clarity's stamps, the mini rose, which I coloured with promarkers. I need a lot more practice in using the promarkers to really get the right results that everyone else seems to get. I forgot to brayer the centre of the "O"before I removed the masking, so I grabbed the nearest thing, which was a tumble dryer sheet, and inked a corner, removed most of the ink before swirling it where I wanted it. I did the same with a different corner and the other colour, and it seemed to work quite well.

I could show you other pictures round my room, such as the two printers totally buried under piles of stuff, but I will spare you that, and let you get off to visit more friends from WOYWW.  You will find them at Julia's desk at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/    Have fun and see you again next week.

EZ Mount - I hate it with a passion

When I first started stamping and bought my first unmounted rubber stamps, I was persuaded into backing them with the EZ cushion sticky backed foam.  Whata mistakea to makea?  I bitterly regret taking that advice.  The wretched stuff now will not cling to anything, except the stamp.  I cannot use the stamps on my preferred Rocker Blocks, as the foam is too thick, so I have made the decision to remove the offending stuff altogether.  Oh boy, is that a pain.  The glue that fixes it to the stamps is double strength superglue.  The only method that I have found so far that works, is to microwave each stamp for about 15 seconds at a time, which is supposed to warm the glue and soften it.  Then it is down to digging it off with finger nails a bit at a time, rewarming it, and do a bit more.  It has taken me two days to remove it safely from one stamp.  Rather a lot to go, and one blister on my thumb already.  If anyone knows a better way, please tell me.  My fingers would be eternally grateful.