Crowning Glory!

Good Morning! Friday Dare time again and this week Jo dares us all to be King or Queen for a day! Or just make sure you use a crown on your card!

Here it is :-

I've used the August crop kit from the SSC - papers are by My Minds Eye.

Thanks for looking. :)

Mixing up the Genders!

Where are the weeks flying off too!! Time is just going far faster than ever before and I'm not sure I like it!!

Its Friday again already - but another fabby dare from the Daring Cardmakers. This week we have to make a card for the boys with girly colours and/or girly type images/embellishments and vice versa. Here is my attempt, its a baby boy card using flowers :-



I've used the SSC's July kit with some black Scenic Route chipboard letters, sanded, painted and glazed.

Cheers and thanks for looking :)

Who am I? Vanessa's Saturday Class

The Scrummy Stash Cafe Saturday class is live now - set by me this week. Click here for the details and this is the resulting layout :-

The photo is taken by the fabulous Anita Mundt.

Thanks for looking, Vanessa. :)

The Same but Different

Check out the latest challenge over on DCM!! Another fab one and set by Kathy. :)

Here is mine :-

Thanks for looking, Vanessa. :)

Fasching Dienstag

Its Scrummy Stash Cafe challenge time again! :) and its my turn to set the challenge, which is a multilingual one! You must use a word, phrase or (if you're a show off! LOL) a full paragraph written in a foreign language. By that I mean just not English!! :)

Here is mine and its based around a photo taken in February 2007 on a trip to Tierpark Hellabrunn, Munich on Fasching Dienstag (which is Carnival Day where everyone dresses up and I promise you I didn't look half as bad as a lot of people...LOL):-

I've used the August Kit from the Scrummy Stash Cafe along with some Doodlebug alphas and papermania bling. :)

Thanks for looking. :)

Getting Funky with the Funkyhand!!

This week's challenge over at the Daring CardMakers is sponsored by Anice of Funky Hand and we got to download one of her fabby collections to try out. Some of us (including me!) have never used downloadable papers and I was really impressed with the print quality!! You do need to ensure that your printer settings are set to print at a good quality setting and also print on good quality printer paper - and you won't be disappointed with the results!! :)

I was short on time last night so I needed to do a quick card and the papers were so easy to use - which worked pretty well with the limited time I had LOL!! :-



I hope you like the card - its based on the sketch provided by Anice, using her "Shabby Saturday" collection. So why not click here to pop over there and have a go!! :)

Oh and not to forget...........Anice is giving away one download of the collection free! To be in the "hat" to win it, all you need to do is to make a card using the sketch provided and leave a comment on the DCM blog telling us where we can see it.

Thanks for looking. :)

Heat it Up!

Ooo....eerr, I volunteered myself to do this week's "new look little extra" over at the Daring Cardmakers, so...............here it is :-

"Hello and welcome to another Tuesday mid-week Little Extra. Friday’s challenge set by Jane is still ongoing and we hope you're all enjoying finding ways to use those pipe-cleaners. Keep those fabulous cards coming!

It's Vanessa here and for the Little Extra, I want to share one of my favourite techniques which is stamping into Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE). Its been around for a while I know, but its a great way to create embellishments for your cards. Here is my example :-



As you can see I've altered three squares (using thin chipboard) to create the embellishments. You can easily use card/chipboard/mountboard for this technique, paper is not really suitable as its too thin and will probably bevel, the sturdier the base, the better.

Firstly, you will need a versamark inkpad or pigment inkpad to ink up your chipboard piece(s).



Then, sprinkle the clear ultra thick embossing powder (UTEE) over the top – shake off the excess and pour back into your jar.




Take your heat gun and place the piece(s) onto a heat resistant and non-stick surface. Heat with the heat gun, moving slowly along whilst the powder melts.

You will need to repeat these two steps approximately three or four times to give a nice thick coating. I’ve used 4 coats as I love the enamel splurging over the side when I stamp into the final layer.

Next, re-ink your pieces with some clear pigment ink/versamark ink and sprinkle a final layer of coloured embossing powder – I’ve used two colours, gold and green. Shake off the excess. If you're quick enough, you won't need to do the re-inking bit and just sprinkle the final layers of powder onto the hot molten enamel.

Before heating this final layer, ink up a patterned stamp that will cover the whole of your chipboard piece and put to one side. Then, melt the final layer until the powder is molten and immediately place the stamp on top of the molten enamel - don’t press, just leave it to sit on top for about 30-40 seconds and then remove. Your piece should have a lovely imprinted enamelled design.

Finally, adhere your piece(s) to your card!

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this little extra, it’s not a new technique by any means, but a really enjoyable one that can have very different results each time you do it.

We would all love to see what you make using this technique so if you do decide to have a go, please leave a link in the comment section."

The papers I have used for this card are from the new luscious August kit from the Scrummy Stash Cafe. Click here for details and thank you for looking. :)