Using my Letterpress and Magazine Makes #9 - VIDEO

I'm doing my best to keep up with my plan for two videos a month, one haul and one other. It's taken me a while to get round to this one as despite the antibiotics, which cleared up the main infection, my tonsillitis lingered in the form of earache and a bad cold, and then everyone go upset tummies - it's been a wild 6 weeks!

But, it's here before the end of the month and I hope you find it interesting. I'm using my Letterpress which comes out maybe once a year for a play. It still works, despite the large crack in the top plate....In my December haul video, I showed the new supplies I'd managed to get at a reasonable price from the USA, so I got it out to have a good play.

These are the panels I made.

And the video process is here or on my YT channel:

I particularly love the floral background panel. I've used it with the Altenew layering dies which came free with Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 174. Last time I used this panel, it was with the Altenew layering stamp with also came free with Simply Cards and Papercraft. You can read about it in the blog post Magazine Makes #2 - Altenew Roses.

I really like these inks, but they aren't as vibrant as the sticky tube ink that comes with the kit, which is a shame, but they are so much easier to clean and don't take a long time to dry, which can happen if you use too much of the other. 

Been good to get a whole lot more cards added to my stash! Thank you for stopping by - it is always appreciated. Happy Crafting Everyone! :)

We R Memory Keepers Precision Press Review - VIDEO

Hello there! Today I have a video to share of a new toy I received for Christmas. It's the We R Memory Keepers Precision Press. 

Now I know I have a mini MISTI, and I like it, but, it has things that frustrate me (the magnets!) and I have background stamps that won't fit into it. 

I've tried it out a few times and I really like it. I find it works really well and I like the moveable hinges - much like the Letterpress it is based on that I used to use before I bought the MISTI.

Slightly fuzzy, but you can tell that there is room for the hinges to move. You can also see one of the two sides that is open - another great thing if you have odd sized paper or do memory keeping on 12x12 papers. 

 
It has a little bit of foam in the corner to make sure it sits fully when the lid is down. It has a nice thick piece of acrylic on the top too.

You can watch it here or on my YouTube Channel. ** EDIT - Just to say the price has gone up by £2 from £27.99 to £29.99. I did buy it from Sir Stampalot and they were great at keeping me informed of when it was arriving as I bought it back order.**
 

I'll definitely be using it alongside the mini MISTI and I hope you'll find the video useful if you are undecided. I'm still experimenting with my new video arm, and working out how to get things in shot better, but thankfully my camera is fine - it just needed a new charger. Phew!

Here is a list of the supplies used on this card. I have signed up to affiliate links on some products (currently only Simon Says Stamp). If you purchase any item after clicking on an affiliate link, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps in a small way to support the running of my blog and is very much appreciated, thank you! 

We R Memory Keepers Precision Press

Mama Elephant - Tiny Ninjas

Stamping Bella - Cakeabella

Concord and 9th Stripe Builder

Memento Tuxedo Black

Altenew Crisp Dye Inks - Cool Summer Nights

Altenew Red Sunset Dye Ink Cubes

Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black

InLinkz.com

Thank you so much for popping by and I hope you have a great week!

Thank You and Notelets - playing with Spectrum Aquas

Hello everyone! Hope you've had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. I've three cards to share with you that I made using my new Spectrum Aqua markers - my subscription present from Simply Cards and Papercraft.

The first is a Thank You card for my in laws - they bought some beautiful clothes for the little ones and helped keep them occupied when they visited last week, which deserves a card at the very least!

I used three shades of Spectrum Aquas floral set for the outer panel (Blossom, Begonia and Rose Pink), rubbing the pen onto an acrylic block, then adding water and painting it onto my water colour panel. After letting it dry, I splashed water onto it with a brush and dabbed it with some kitchen towel leaving splatters. I love this technique! I then got a bit bokeh and used a star stencil (I got this free with my first ever purchase of Simply Cards and Papercraft!) with some Ranger Glacier White pigment ink and got busy dabbing it all over the panel. I then left it to dry whilst painting up the inner panel with three of the Spectrum Aquas essentials set (Spice, Tan and Peach), leaving it to dry and then splatter painting it too.

Once they were both dry, I made a frame of the outer panel using two of my Lawn Fawn large stitched squares, and a panel of the inner one to fit into the frame. I adhered the inner panel to the middle of a square card blank and then the frame using a lot of foam tape. The sentiment I stamped onto some pink card and heat embossed it with my Wow! bright white embossing powder before cutting out the flag. I added some stick on pearls for a bit of bling.

To the notelets!

The pink notelet was made from the inner panel of the above with another Thank You flag, adhering it with fun foam - two cards for the price of one! I made a 4x4 card blank for that one.

The other notelet was a different technique. Basically I got some water colour card and drew some very basic flowers on it using Marigold, Sunflower and Leaf Green before brushing over it with water and smudging it. I think it looks like old wall paper and I love it. I then cut out four little squares and adhered them with fun foam to another 4x4 card blank. I also made a couple of little envelopes for these with my WRMK Envelope Punch board and some Bazzill basics - they look so sweet!

I love the markers for making backgrounds. They blend well. I'll continue to practice and try different techniques - there are loads of great videos on YouTube.

Thank you for getting this far. Have a great weekend!

Another engagement!

This time my older sister, which is really lovely, although I rather hope she's not reading this because I haven't sent it yet! If she is - it'll be with you next week :)

As usual it's a white card blank. I'm favouring tent fold at the moment. I cut a piece of my new Papermania 6x6 smooth coloured card slightly smaller than the card base. I chose purple because of the fuschias. The stamps are from the free Clearly Besotted set from Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 133, and the inspiration for the card came from there as well as from Vixx Handmade Cards. 

The leaves are stamped in Versa Magic DewDrop Hint of Pesto and then fussy cut. The buds and flowers stamped in Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink onto water colour paper. I then took the opportunity to use my new Caran D'Ache Prismallo Aquarelles that I bought on holiday. I like them, and I'll practice a bit more with them. After the vibrancy of the Inktense pencils, these were different to work with. I fussy cut the fuschias out too and attached them all with foam pads to the card front.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted's Mr & Mrs set. I rounded the corners of the card top with the reverse punch on my WRMK Envelope Punch Board and attached it with foam tape.

Thanks for reading and I'm hoping my sister likes it!

Engaged

This was the card I tried to make as a shaker card with little punched hearts and butterflies as the shaker elements. It was a disaster. I decided to rethink things altogether and not having done any embossing for ages, I got my powders and heat gun ready and made a very simple, but sparkly, card for a friend who recently got engaged.

The card blank is Bazzill Cardshoppe, cut down to 6"x6". I took another piece of Bazzill card, and trimmed it to size and used the reverse punch on my We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board to make rounded corners. I then stamped the three elements (rose from free Clearly Besotted stamp set, rings from Hobbycraft, sentiment from Clearly Besotted mini basic banners) using pigment inks and embossed them with Papermania embossing powders in Tinsel Red, Enchanted Gold and Silver. I simply then adhered this to the card front with some double sided tape. Job done.

I've become very attached to my We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board and having received a job lot of Bazzill Basics paper from an unexpected win on eBay, I decided to make an envelope to go with it in pink.

Birthday Bicycle

So, those cards I destroyed and didn't get started the other evening, I finally made them on Sunday night once the kiddies were in bed! Yay! This one is for a friend whose birthday is this week. I think it suits her because she's literary and we met at library school.

I started with an A6 pre-cut card and cut a piece of backing paper slightly smaller from Dovecraft Curiosity Corner 6"x6" paper and stuck it to the card front with double sided tape, leaving a small white border. I then layered up a couple of strips of Bazzill card in matching colours - I love the muted greens and browns I found in my mini stash - onto the backing paper with some tacky glue - I'm still getting to grips with what glue I like and I like this, but I think it made the card a bit wet and it warped slightly. I then stamped the bicycle from the Good Times collection from Clearly Besotted onto the die cut bicycle using Ranger Archival ink in jet black (that was a pain to clean off!). I'd cut the die out ages ago onto some cream Bazzill I had to try it out and it came in very handy. I attached it to the card front with some foam pads. I then stamped the sentiment onto some Bazzill card stock and rounded the ends using the reverse punch on the WRMK envelope punch board - that's come in very handy indeed! - and affixed to the front with foam pads.

Still haven't had a verdict from my friend, but my husband gave it a big thumbs up!

Valentine's Day

Every year my husband and I decide we're not going to have anything to do with Valentine's Day. It's too commercial etc etc. Yet every year each of us buys the other one a card. So, whilst child no.1 was at nursery on Thursday, he was at work and baby decided to have a long nap early afternoon, I made this little card. Always have to incorporate green into his cards. It's his favourite colour.

 

The card base is made from Bazzill Cardshoppe in a light green. The tag is the rounded tag die from Clearly Besotted, cut from water colour paper and stamped with the rose stamp from the free Clearly Besotted Stamp collection from Simply Cards and Papercraft no. 133 and coloured in with hot red Derwent Inktense Pencil and then brushed lightly with water for watercolour effect. As I only have hot red, lagoon (blue) and sun yellow, the leaves were a combination! I stamped the sentiment with another of the free stamps in Memento Tuxedo Black and then added some sticky gems. I used a bit of red ribbon I'd bought for Christmas cards for the tag and stuck it on with foam pads.

I also used the We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board to make an envelope in Bazzill Bling - a  nice pink I bought to make a card for my 4 year old, but didn't quite get round to it. I really like using the board, but found I had to have quite heavy card and not paper to make the envelopes. It's nice for special cards.

This year we've decided to share a box of chocolates too.