Buddleja or Lilac Collage

This piece of Jessica artwork was inspired by a beautiful card I received for my birthday (thank you, Katie!). I'm afraid to say that she liked it so much that she started writing her name on it (sorry, Katie!) before I could get a photo of it for here...

Katie's card is embossed and then she has filled each circle in the design with various jewels and studs. It's stunning and gave me the idea to do a collage with Jess. I can't decide whether we've created a lilac or buddleja flower but either way I love it! I drew the general shape and punched out a whole load of circles then Jess got to work with her glue and stickers. She decided she liked them overlapping so we have a really full head of flowers. It was a great preschool craft. Thank you for the inspiration, Katie.

Embossing on Ceramics

Please forgive me for the unseasonal timing of this post but there was no way I could wait until next Christmas to share this craft. I bought lots of ceramic decorations from Hobbycraft last Christmas and decided to try out something that we'd never done before. 

I have an embossing pen and ink pad that Jessica and I used to emboss onto the ceramics. It was brilliant. Jess loved tipping the powders over the ink and shaking them off as well as watching the magic of the melting under the heat gun. We did them all one colour at a time and were careful to have a large cork mat underneath because the ceramics get incredibly hot. These looked beautiful on the tree.

I was particularly tickled by Jessica's insistence that the snowmen all needed legs and I absolutely love her reindeer. That was my favourite decoration last year I think.

Handmade Christmas Cards Received

I think I only received these three homemade cards for Christmas this year (ok, last year to be accurate) but I only sent shop-bought cards this year so I can’t complain!

This first one is made by Ruth using glass paints on acetate…

The second is a layered image card from Stephanie…

The last one is an embossed card from Sue…

Lovely crafting ladies! They are beautiful, thank you.

Good Luck Cards Batch 3

I finished the second batch of good luck cards on Monday and then made a start on the third and final set. These ones are for my Year 13 form so I need to make eleven for those members of my form that I don’t teach.

I first stamped and embossed all of the cards with gold embossing powder…

I then painted each one using watercolours. They took quite a long time to dry so by the end of the day I’d only managed to mount and finish four cards but that part doesn’t take long anyway.

Tonight I’m busy writing the first set of good luck cards for my Year 11s who have their last lesson tomorrow. That’s undoubtedly the most difficult part of this whole process!

Good luck Year 13

I’ve spent the whole weekend making cards and presents for my 22 Year 13 students and tutees. The cards are just one of my simple stamp designs and the presents are simple designs burned using pyrography. I just hope they appreciate two solid days work!

Other favourite Christmas cards

As mentioned last time, I’ve made and sold many Christmas cards. Here are some of my favourite non-stitched designs…

   

Most of them are made using stamping and embossing techniques. In the vast majority you can see what has become my signature – mounting on multiple different sized and coloured rectangles. I just love the effect. Most of my stitched and beading cards are also mounted these days because I really like the added dimension and personalisation.