OK, just to confuse everyone I have changed the name of my blog to 'Jester Crafts' as I realised it will be about more than cards. This particularly came home to me after visiting 'Hobbycraft' yesterday, when I came away with canvases, wood and papier mache items to decorate. This means the address has also changed, but if you're reading this you will have discovered that!

Ballerina ATC

I am not around much over the next week or so, so this will be the last post for a little while but I couldn't resist putting up a picture of the ATC I made this evening.

Artist Trading Cards measure two and a half inches by three and a half inches. They are never sold, but exchanged by Crafters.

iTkUpiLLi (see favourite crafting websites) are currently giving away a free collage sheet. I chose 'Misty Rose & soft Aqua' and made this ATC with it.

I cut an ATC sized background, stuck it on card and edged it with turquoise ink. I printed a smaller size of another of the backgrounds, edged it with a pink ink and stuck it on top. Two strips of German Scrap, coloured with alcohol inks, were stuck on, crossing near the bottom left corner of the second background. I cut out the button, ballerina and feathers (part of the iTkUpiLLi logo) and stuck them on top, having edged the ballerina with the turquoise ink. I then highlighted the heart pin in the top left corner with a Souffle Pen, and added a dot to the other corners. Voila!

Background

No time for craft today, but did manage to customise my site with the help of Itkupilli (see link under my favourite crafting websites). Hope you like it.

Tim Holtz - Nature's Moments & Urban Tapestry stamps

Last but not least, this is the fourth card I made today. I used my new Tim Holtz stamps. The large stamp from the Urban Tapestry set was stamped in teal Archival ink straight onto the card. I then stamped the words from the Nature's Moments set onto a piece of white card. I layered this onto a piece of teal corrugated cardboard that I had swiped some pearl Adirondack Acrylic paint over. This was then added to the opposite corner of the card. To finish, I added some teal gemstones to the corners.

Travels in Italy

This was the third card I made this afternoon.

I love Crafty Individuals background papers 'Travels in Italy' and some of them are too good to be just a background! Hence the card above. I distressed a square of 'Core'dinations ColourCore Cardstock' and attached it to the card leavng a narrow white border. I then distressed a smaller square of the Crafty Individuals paper and layered it onto the brown card. The beads were glued on using PVA glue (and a ruler, to ensure a straight line).

New work - Laura Ashley

Up until now, all the work on my blog has been items that I have made previously. Now for new work.

This afternoon I set myself the challenge of making some cards with the Laura Ashley paper & elements that I had bought and then gone off! You can see the results above. For both cards I cut half of the card front away; the one on the left cut diagonally and the one on the right vertically. The papers were then glued to the portion of the inside that was now exposed. Decoupage elements were added to the front and peel-offs added to give the cards 'a lift'.

Two more cards

The card on the left uses torn vellum. This was the first time I had done this and was very pleased with the result and have used the technique several times since. The vellum is attached to the card underneath the tag so that the glue doesn't show.

The second card shows my first experiments with ribbon. It is attached to card that I had embossed using my Cuttlebug (a die-cutting machine).

Metal embossing

I made this box after I had attended the ArtsyCrafts weekend, where I tried metal embossing for the first time.

I used a mould and tools made by Ten Seconds Studio to emboss the metal. I then inserted it into a box that I had already painted with black acrylic paint. A bit of bling was added for good measure!

Just for a change - collage

I have only made one collage so far, and this is it! I have to say, that for a first attempt I am very pleased with it. Apologies that the picture isn't as sharp as it could have been, but it was very difficult to to photograph without any reflection shining off the glaze medium. Various techniques were used to make this: paper tearing; stamping; masking; applying sequin waste, string & various embellishments; metal embossing & colouring with alcohol inks.

Variety of techniques

The thing I like about card-making is the variety of techniques that can be used. Take these cards for example. The top left card is an image stamped and coloured with water-colour pencils. I then glazed the dogs' noses with Glossy Accents. The image was then matted & layered. The birthday card underneath uses a medallion stamp i.e. an image stamped three times and layered onto top of each other after cutting a decreasing amount of the image each time. This was then layered on to card and a length of ribbon, to give more texture. Peel-offs were used for the greeting. The middle card uses a sticker mounted onto card, then placed onto a background of torn paper. Again, a peel-off was used for the greeting. The card at the bottom came from a kit I bought from QVC. It was already embossed and so I applied gold-leaf to the raised areas around the aperture and in the corner. I took out the aperture and inserted vellum inside. I then stuck the picture of the little girl through the aperture onto the vellum. The bow gives added dimension and texture.

Stamping

These cards are very different, but what they have in common is stamping.

The top left was made by colouring the background with Distress Inks. Another layer was applied over a Tim Holtz mask, giving the clock face. Two stamp images were then printed on the left. I cut around the hands of the clock and then inserted another Tim Holtz stamped image.

The top right was made using a Distress Ink & gesso background over-stamped with various images. A strip of paper, which I had antiqued, was then glued across the middle. A final image was then stamped, coloured and placed on top.

The bottom two were straight forward, stamping and then matting and layering.

Lighthouses

For some reason (and I know it's not just me), card makers find making cards for males more difficult than making cards for women or children. Flowers seem less appropriate and if the man in question is not into fishing, cars, darts etc it can be quite hard to find a theme. That is why I like these lighthouse cards. They use different techniques (the top uses paper images and the bottom is a stamp on acetate, which is then painted from behind) but would both be suitable for a man.

Cards

Now for cards! These two cards are very different, although the colour scheme is similar. I put them in the same picture as they both use stamping. The harlequin rose stamp is from Graphicus. I acquired these stamps fairly recently.

Cards

Now you may be wondering why I have called my blog 'Jester Cards' as, so far, no cards have appeared. Well, I started card making about two years ago, when it was a case of if you can't beat them join them, as both my Mum & sister already made their own. Since then I have branched out into ATC making, collage and altered art.

My initials are J E S and so that is why I used the title 'Jester Cards' when selling my cards and how the title of my blog came about.

At the moment most of my cards are stashed away and so photographing them will have to wait until another day. I do, however, have one photo of a series of cards I made quite recently. They were made using a Tim Holtz stamp, uitilised in different colours, stuck onto various sheets of DCWV (Die Cuts with a View) card that I had embossed and coloured.

Wall decoration

This project was inspired by an article by Leandra Fanich, which was published in 'Craft Stamper' in December 2008. I wanted to practise the metal embossing techiniques and to try out Gungeboard, so this seemed a good excuse. I mounted it on foam board to prevent any sagging.

All the mini canvasses are also edged with metal, but it is hard to see that in this picture.

You might already be guessing, I love greeny blue shades.

A second cabinet

This is the greeny blue cabinet that I made having completed the one from the ArtsyCrafts weekend. It's not quite complete as I haven't been able to find a small enough bottle to fit into the middle aperture!

Decorated wooden plate

This is another project from the weekend. It started as a plain wooden plate which I lightly covered with white acrylic paint. I then attached the mosaic tiles with Glossy Accents. Four quarters of metal were cut out and embossed using the Cuttlebug. They were then sprayed with Glimmer Mists. Once dry I sanded the raised areas to accent the flowers.

Voila!

Cabinet

The main project of the ArtsyCrafts weekend was this cabinet. It involved a lot of different techniues. First we covered the cabinet with acrylic paint and then sprayed inside and out with Tattered Angels' Glimmer Mist. Backgrounds were made to fill the apertures inside the cabinet; these were made of both metal, which was embossed and coloured, and paper which was coloured or stamped upon, or both. The embellishments inside were made using assorted techniques: stamping & painting acetate; using beeswax; making transfers.

The frame of the door was covered in metal which I had embossed and then it was coloured using alcohol inks and Glimmer mists.

The fleur de lys at the top was chipboard which was sprayed with Glimmer Mist and embossed.

I enjoyed making this so much, I bought a second cabinet so that I could decorate another in a different colour (see future post).

ArtsyCrafts Weekend

At the end of March, my sister & I attended an ArtsyCrafts in Newport Pagnell, run by Paper Artsy and L B Crafts. It wasn't cheap, but it was jam-packed of techniques and ideas. We did metal embossing, which was new to me, and you can see my first two projects using metal above. The theme of the weekend was royalty, hence the crown and the castle.

We were exhausted at the end of the weekend, not helped by losing an hours sleep on the Saturday night, but we enjoyed it so much we have now booked for the next course in October. Counting the days ...

Venezia. To be honest, I can't remember what I used for the background here, but it may have been 'Radiant Rain' sprays. The stamp used is produced by 'Stampington & Company'. I then added some bling.

Dancing girl

This ATC was made using water colour pencils and one of the 'Time to Stamp' Collage stamps. I'm not normally a yellow person, but this seemed to work.

I think this stamp suggests an air of freedom.

Life isn't a straight line ...

More Paper Artsy stamps! The background was made using Distress Inks and I then dabbed some ink through sequin waste. I then turned the squin waste over to print the faint negative images.

I love this colour combination - 'spiced marmalade' & 'broken china'.

Again, this ATC uses Paper Artsy stamps and was made following an article in the magazine 'Craft Stamper' (I love this mag, it is always full of lots of different techniques and lots of inspiration). I first stamped the houses on the ATC and then masked them using a sticky note. I also put a circle near the top, to look like the sun or moon. I then added the background of swirls and circles, finally adding the colour using Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

Smile!

This ATC was made more recently using Paper Artsy paper and a rub-on. It couldn't have been simpler to make but, I think, looks effective.

Health, wealth and happiness.

This was one of my first collage ATCs, using elements from a magazine and a rub-on. I like it because I think it is very striking. What do you think? It still bugs me that I didn't get the postion of the words more even, but perhaps that adds to the charm.

Flowers whisper gently ....

This one was of the first ATCs I made, using a Leonie Pujol kit, 'Flowers', by Crafty Bitz. It was fairly simple to make, following instructions, but it helped to start me on the path of ATC making. I am now addicted!

Starting off

I have decided to start a blog to display some of the art work I have been doing. Pictures have yet to come, but at least I now have somewhere to put them. I hope to show things I have made, both as a record and to demonstrate different techniques that might be used.