Just sitting here

Hi all,

Here's one of the sets of stamps I bought, and my aunt just LOVED the card:

And a close-up of the little birdie:

I was just testing out my watercolouring skills with regular ink and water, using these chairs.

Simple card - just stamped the sentiment, stuck the images down, tied the ribbon and perched that little birdie on one of the chairs.

My aunty isn't so well since her stroke a little while back, and so she has to sit a lot; she loved the sentiment combined with the chair :)

I think my watercolouring skills require some extra work, so I'll post a card of the same chairs inked up with distress inks to show the marked difference!

Thanks for stopping to have a look :)

Tasha

Another brand new Hero Arts stamp

Hey guys,

Here's a card, or a set of them, that I made using the Hero Arts 'Classic Fabric Design' stamp.
It's not a very original one - I haven't copied it, I promise!!! - but I've seen similar ones online. It's a pretty standard sketch, I guess.

Oh, and then I read that there is a similar set in the Hero Arts catalogue, so...

Here's the card, anyway:

A close-up of the sentiment:

And one of the set:

This set was fun to make - maximum effect with minimum time and effort. I've actually had these colours of cardstock for over a year, and haven't found a way to use most of them... until now!

Each of the cards were made stamping darker inks of the same colour on each piece of coloured cardstock (except for the teal card, which was made using StazeOn).

I mounted the coloured pieces on the white card base. Then I stamped the sentiment using the same coloured ink on white cardstock, cut it out and adhered it using 3D squares. The finishing touch was 3 dots of 'Stickles' (by Ranger), et voila! A set of 3 cards, easy peasy!

Again, this is another stamp I just LOVE. It's so classic yet eye-catching, and has me wishing I could get curtains and cushions to match :)

Anyway, thanks for looking and until next time!

Tasha :)

The Masculine Commission

Hi all.

So, a friend made my husband some cufflinks (very nice and unique ones, made of wood!) and Bob commissioned a masculine thank-you card to give him.

I did 'um' and 'ah' a little, but this is what I came up with:

And a close-up of the sentiment and that gorgeous blend of colours:

Isn't it pretty? (Not sure if 'pretty' is the look to go for on a boy's card, but oh well...) I just love how the colours all fade into each other to give a beautiful effect. (I actually learned this technique from Jill Foster - you can view the post from her site, Stamping Inspired By..., here.)

I distressed the background first, using Antique Linen distress ink. Then I inked up my Hero Arts Starburst Lace stamp with Chipped Saphire, Broken China and Vintage Photo distress inks, spritzed with water using my Rangers mini-mister, and stamped onto the distressed paper.
I repeated this process, layering the colours in different orders for the other two images, before distressing the outer edge in vintage photo.

The sentiment was simply stamped on white cardstock, cut out, coners rounded, and adhered to the front with 3D foam squares.

There's just something about this stamp and technique that makes me want to stare at this one forever; do you know what I mean?! Looking forward to using it lots more, so: be warned! :)

Well, that's it from me for today. Thanks for stopping by the site; hope you'll come back soon!

Tasha

More Poppies As Promised

Hi again,

As promised, here is another card featuring those lovely poppies.

My source of inspiration this time was this picture:

(I think it's a product on Etsy; I found it on Google and it was a little unclear!)

I just loved the look of this picture; it has a very french look about it! This is my take on it:

And a close-up of the sentiment:

I made this card in the same way as the one here.
I distressed the edges in Antique Linen Distress Ink, mounted the two portions onto black card and added some gemstones to tie it all together.

Ugh, the weather has been miserable today; a very cold and rainy day in London town! Let's hope it brightens up tomorrow, but for now I'm going to snuggle up in my chair and watch a good old episode of Inspector Morse :)

So that's all from me today!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Black and White

Hello all.

Today's card is one that is a little different to my usual style. For one thing, it is one-dimentional!!! And another is that there are no pretty colours!

But I still think it turned out okay:

This card features the 'Starburst Lace' stamp from Hero Arts - this one was a tricky stamp to find!!! But find it I did, and I'm glad; it's so pretty!!!

Here's a close-up of the stamp:

I used StazeOn ink to stamp the image onto black cardstock. Then I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink and embossed it in white.
I added some accents using Liquid Pearls in pewter (by Ranger), and there was the card, all done - it took about 10 minutes to do; easy peasy!

Hope you liked it :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Wee Memories: Challenge #40

A card inspired by a card, inspired by a card

Hi all,

Today's card was indeed, as the title suggests, inspired by another card.

I regularly follow Jill Foster's site, 'Stamping Inspired By...'.
Jill is an INCREDIBLY talented crafter, and I love her work. You can view her site here.

I was inspired by this post (Jill's card is the second one down).
Here is my take on this card:

 

A closer look at those pretty flowers:

And one of the sentiment:

The flower image (can anyone tell me what kind of flower this is please; I'm pretty dense when it comes to flowers!) is from the Lotus stamp set by Amy Butler, from K&Co.
When I first got it (a whole year and a bit ago), I had no idea how I was going to use that stamp, so I'm glad I've found a use for it now!

The images were coloured using watercolour pencils, but no water - they have softer leads and so are great for blending.
I cut the squares and rounded the corners, and then inked everything up using Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

This one didn't take long to make either, and was so much fun! I know I'll be making some more of these to put in my shop.

Okay well, thanks for dropping by! :)

Pretty Poppies

Hello again,

My aunty and me have a little agreement: she will buy me a stamp, and then I have to make her a couple of cards using it.
As you can imagine, I love this arrangement :) But not as much as I love how her face lights up each time she sees a card made especially for her!

This next card was made for her, using the Hero Arts Delicate Blossoms stamp, which she picked.
I know she likes simple cards, so I took my inspiration from this bottle of perfume, which I have always thought was gorgeous:

(This is Flower by Kenzo, by the way)

Anyway, this is the card born from that image:

Creating this card was an absolute joy! First of all, I inked the poppies in Barn Door distress ink. Then I cut them out, and created shadows using Aged Mahogany. Next, I stamped the image onto white cardstock, coloured the stems with a Copic marker, and adhered the flower heads.
Cut the completed image out in a strip, distress lightly using more Aged Mahogany, stamp the sentiment on your base, and adhere the final panel.
Simple!

I added some white ribbon to give the illusion of a bouquet (my aunty likes bouquets), and it gives a nice, crisp but elegant finish.

I really like this one!

Look out for another card coming up later in the week which also uses the Delicate Blossoms stamp, but based on a different source of inspiration, giving it a much more vintage look.

Thanks for looking! :)

One I made earlier

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share a card with you that I made a couple of months ago.
A couple of my friends were going up to see (his) parents, for their anniversary. So I made a card for the occasion.

Again, I have to admit that this totally wasn't an original of mine... it was inspired by this card, by Britta Swiderski (you can see her post about this card here):

Britta is a hugely talented crafter, and if you haven't checked out her site, it's at: www.brittaswiderski.com. She also makes fun and helpful video tutorials on making cards, along with new techniques, tips and tricks.

I thought this idea would work well as an anniversary card too - flowers that represent people - so I came up with this:

And a close-up of the sentiment:

I cut the flowers and circles using my Silhouette machine, and printed the sentiment out on the computer, as I didn't have a sentiment stamp that was quite right in my stash!

The paper is from Dovecraft's Eastern Promise collection, and the white cardstock is linen cardstock by the Papermill.

Thanks for looking! :)

You're my TYPE of friend

Hi all,

As promised, I've been playing with my brand new 2011 Hero Arts stamps! I love the new releases, and got a few of the fun, quirky sets, as well as the more floral ones.
Plus, Hero Arts are hosting a challenge here to launch the new 2011 catalogue! So I've entered this one :)

My card for today features the 'My Type' (CL483) stamp set. I made a couple of cards with this set, both based on the same sort of sketch, but mixed it up with different sentiments.

I used a card sketch by Lucy Abrams (whose site you can see here). Lucy had a 'sketch week' at the start of the month, and at the end of it she very kindly gave her readers a free downloadable copy of her 7 sketches.

The sketch I used was this one for day 4:

I used it to create this card:

And a close-up of the sentiment:

The white cardstock was stamped using the 'Friend definition' Hero Arts stamp, and then lightly distressed using Antique Linen Distress Ink. The strip of Kraft cardstock was distressed using Vintage Photo, and then I stamped the typewriter in Memento black ink.
I cut a little slit in the kraft cardstock, stamped the sentiment on a seperate piece, slid it in and stuck it down, et voila!
With the sentiment, I distressed the top of it using the edge of my scissors to give it a vintage look, and stuck a 3D foam square behind it to raise it a little to make it look more 'real'.

Here is one I made using a different sentiment stamp:

Okay, well, hope you enjoyed this one!

Until next time :)



 I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:


1. Lucy's Cards: Sketch 4
2. Kelly Jo's Stamp Pad: Challenge #69
3. My Stamp Box: Monochromatic
4. Cute Card Thursday: Monochrome
5. Freshly Brewed Designs: B&W + 1 other colour
6. Challenge Up Your Life: Challenge #35 

The one you've all been waiting for... (drumroll, please!)

Hi everyone,

Okay, well I can finally reveal what I've been working on these last few months: the much-spoken about wedding invitations!!!
I handed them over late this week, and they're being distributed (possibly) as we speak!

Here is the overall effect:

The card is made up of the following elements:

 

Front

Close-up of the embossed detail

Inside - An inner pocket to hold the details-tag

A (very poor) image of the tag with the info blurred out (I'll see if I can post a better one soon)

A close-up of the sentiment, which can be seen through the vellum panel on the front of the card

The envelope

And a picture of the complete invitation

Phew! So there it is. What do you think?

That's it for today - I've got the dreaded cold that's been going round, so I'll be resting up a bit this week!

I may have some extra time for crafting, though...

Until next time :)

Butterflies again!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for being patient with me while I had a busy December, making - and FINISHING!!! - the wedding invitations!

I'll post a picture of the finished product once they've been sent out by the bride and groom, but after the hours of blood, sweat and (real) tears, they look pretty great :)

Another reason I haven't been able to post is that I've been busy updating my site. You may have noticed that my site address is now: www.natashablackburn.com, and I've added a few new features to the site including a 'contact me' page.
I will also soon be linking my Etsy shop to the site, so that anyone interested in purchasing my cards will be able to do so.

Okay! So my card for this week features more butterflies; I just love them! Here it is below:

A close-up of the sentiment:

And one of the cutie flutterbies:

(You may notice these butterflies are slightly different to the ones on the original card - I made a few to sell, and didn't realise I'd punched some of them with the writing upside-down! But I wanted to show you all that I could use sentiments other than 'thank you' and 'thinking of you', so I posted this one!)

Pretty easy one to make - I just stamped the Hero Arts 'Friend Definition' stamp on some linen cardstock, and punched the butterflies using the Martha Stewart 'Royal Butterfly' punch. Then I cut some kraft cardstock, distressed the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink, and adhered the butterflies using glue-dots. I used 2mm 3D squares to stick that part down, and finally distressed the main card with Antique Linen distress ink.

Oh, and do you like my new way of photographing cards? I took a leaf out of Kristina Werner's book - or rather, a suggestion from her site - here.

Well, that's enough from me - I've just got some of the new Hero Arts 2011 stamps, so I'm looking forward to playing with them!

Enjoy! :)