Happy Stamping!!
Just a really quick post to let you know that we now have the decorating chalks which work so well with our kraft cardstock, available in the online shop (at a very competitive price!).
Elizabeth xx
I have some beautiful creations to share for this week's showcase.
First up is this gorgeous card by Inge Groot - the colouring is just amazing! And I thought I'd quote what Inge said about our white ink:
"the white pigment ink…I’m flabbergasted of how white this turned out on my cards!!!!
:)
Next up is a beautifully bright card by Cookie Groover.
I love the vintage feel of this card by Jane Millard
Jane paperpieced the winter couple beautifully
And lastly, here is a lovely winter card by Wilma Kwakernaat.
Many thanks to Inge, Cookie, Jane and Wilma for sharing your lovely creations with us.
Have a great Sunday!
Elizabeth x
YAY, It's challenge time!
This fortnight's challenge has been set by Steph and is called "Tempting Textures". You are to use various textures, materials, ribbons etc on your creation - basically anything goes and you have a fantastic excuse to get completely carried away and over the top!
This is a fabulous challenge and I've been so looking forward to having a play. I'd been thinking about it all week and I had grand plans to use a whole array of luscious textures, ready to go completely over the top! I set out lots of supplies, textures, fabric, papers and various ribbons, but in the end, I didn't use much of the stash I had set aside and I kept it very simple!
In fact, most of the 'texture' effect has actually been created using my white inkpads rather than any real texture.
I LOVE the height of this card! It's just under a whopping 11 inches high so makes a great statement!
The angel image isn't actually as long as you would think from this card, it's a very versatile size. However, I extended the panel by stamping the verse directly underneath leaving some space for some ribbon too.
I had some lacey ribbon I wanted to use, but not being quite happy with wherever I placed it, I paperpieced the angel trio with a fabulous patterned paper instead - it's packaging tape by Making Memories.
I wish I had some white flock! I would have filled in the pattern with it :)
I used both our hybrid and pigment white inks for this card. The reason being is that the hybrid doesn't stamp quite as vibrantly on cardstock as the pigment, so I started with this for a softer distressed look.
I used a distressing tool along the edges of the main panel and then just dabbed the very edges into the white pigment ink for crisper white edges.
The cream corrugated card also keeps the overall feel of the card quite soft rather than using white cardstock.
I used chalk to colour around the angels and used the white opaque pen on the wings. For those interested in the decorating chalks I use (see post below) we have some stock on order so they'll be available in the online store very soon!
Supplies used:
10-049 Angel trio
03-204 Angels on high
20-045 Surf's up (swirly border)
Whipped cream (hybrid ink)
Sugar candy (pigment ink)
You can play along with this challenge for a chance to win a £5 voucher to spend online! All you have to do is add a direct link to your creation in the comments section on this post within the next two weeks (please be sure to type the full url). The only rule for our challenges is that you use Elzybells stamps.
Be sure to visit the design team's blogs to see their tempting texture creations!!
Elizabeth x
The winner for the last fortnight's 'glitter, sparkle & shine' challenge is Petra with this creation! I also have to say the this creation by Chris has come a close second!
Petra, please get in touch and I will email you your coupon code :)
Following from last week's krafty creations, I have one more kraft card to share. Although not a single layer card, it has a similar feel to last week's cards.
I coloured with chalks and also shaded with koh-i-noors for extra depth. I used my white gel pen for the snow to really make it stand out, as well as for drawing the borders.
A little trick when colouring the lamp is to smudge a tiny amount of chalk in short straight lines just to subtly give a reflective feel to the glass. I also smudged some green chalk to give the effect of some blurred foliage behind the lamp.
I've had a few questions about which chalk I use on kraft and whether it needs to be fixed so that it doesn't smudge.
I use this set of decorating chalks.
Don't waste your money on those foam applicators though as they don't last long at all and the chalk transfer isn't the greatest. The trick to getting the best coverage is to use blending stumps to colour with. It doesn't matter if they've been used with OMS before, so long as they're dry they work brilliantly.
Our kraft cardstock really lends itself well to chalks as it has a slight grainy texture to it making it the perfect surface!
I haven't really found a problem with the chalk smudging but if you want to be sure, simply spray your coloured image with a light mist of hairspray. It's a cheap and effective alternative to the fixative spray you can find it art shops.
Elizabeth x
Stamps used:
10-019 Holly lamp
20-055 (holly background & sentiment)
It's a busy showcase this week! First up is this amazing, spookylicious lollipop tree made by Laura O'shea. Laura has step by step instructions on her blog so be sure to check it out, such a great idea!
Here are some sweet creations by Jane Millard.
I love the height of this card!
and I love the spooky eyes on this ATC!!
This sweet baby card is by Leonie. I love the paper piecing :)
This wonderful wedding creation is made by Julie Coe. You can find more information on Julie's blog!
And last but by no means least, are two birthday cards for twins by Claire!
Thanks so much to Laura, Jane, Leonie, Julie and Claire for sharing your wonderful creations with us!!
Have a great Sunday,
Elizabeth x
It's a little late in the day, but here is my final krafty single layer card of the week!
It's a very simple but sweet note card :)
I used copics again for this card and I love how it turned out, especially how striking her winter coat is.
The skin colour was a little tricky as with even the lightest colour on kraft, it'll look like she has a deep tan in the middle of winter! So what I did was use a very pale yellow for a warm tone and then once it dried I went over lightly with some white chalk to lighten it.
You know, I can always have a play with kraft cardstock and never be disappointed with what I come up with no matter how simple or intricate I decide to go... I hope that a little of my affection for kraft has rubbed off on you this week!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone - I hope it's a krafty one! ;)
Hugs,
Elizabeth xx
Stamps used:
10-080 Ice skater
20-052 Seasonal Sentiments (little snowflake)
20-005 Tags - Christmas (sentiment)
Here's today's krafty single layer Christmas card!
I coloured the igloo with white chalk, highlighting with a white koh-i-noor pencil. I wanted the igloo to be quite soft. You could colour with a koh-i-noor entirely for a really striking effect.
The Christmas tree has also been coloured with chalks (chalks are fast becoming my favourite colouring medium on our kraft) and I dabbed my white gel pen on the baubles.
The snowflakes and sentiment have been stamped with our Sugar Candy inkpad and overall, I think it's a sweet little winter card!
I've really enjoyed reading your comments from yesterday's post about what food gets you in the mood for Christmas! Also, if you liked the copic effect on kraft as I did yesterday, my final card of the week also uses copics so be sure to pop back tomorrow!
Elizabeth x
Stamps used:
10-061 Igloo
10-033 Tiny snowflake
20-053 Mini Messages - Winter (sentiment)
Good morning! Here's my next krafty card of the week!
Making this card has really got me looking forward to Christmas, it's got such a warm feel and makes me think of all the delicious food we'll be having and I just love my mum's Christmas pudding!!
Again, I've kept it single layered. I thought I'd see how copics work on our kraft cardstock and I think it looks pretty good, really gives some nice, deep colours :)
I used a little white chalk here and there across the background just to highlight a little.
What food makes you really look forward to Christmas?
Elizabeth x
Stamps used:
10-018 Christmas pudding (main image)
20-054 Mini Messages - Christmas (pudding b'ground & circle sentiment)
Ok, I *love* kraft - that's a fact! So I've been playing around with some single layer Christmas cards and kraft is just perfect for this, not least because our white Sugar Candy ink works so beautifully with it giving a lot of scope for creating interesting backgrounds.
If you've got a lot of cards to make this Christmas, you want to give as big an impact as possible - let's face it - with as little work (and cost) as possible.
I'll be sharing all my krafty single layer creations throughout the week.
First up - I'm SO pleased with how this card turned out because from start to finish I made it up as I went along, at each stage not sure if it was looking right, until it was finished. Don't you just love that!
For a single layer card, this looks pretty complicated doesn't it?
I started by drawing two circles on the kraft card with my Inkssentials white pen. I did this by taking two circle nestability dies and drawing around them for perfect circles.
I stamped the Christmas wreath and coloured with chalks. I also smudged red chalk around the edges of the card and and just inside the circles.
I then dotted along the inner circle with the white pen.
To create the background, I first cut a circle from scrap paper and placed it over the drawn circles. This masks off the main image while I stamped the swirls border all over the card.
I still wasn't quite sure if I was happy with the card but what really finished it off is stamping the 'Season's Greetings' text in rows between the swirls in red ink.
I love it!
...and considering the low cost of creating this card, there's no way the recipient would think a lot of time and effort hadn't been put into making it :)
Elizabeth x
Stamps used:
10-023 Wreath
20-045 Surf's up (swirly border)
20-055 Tags - Christmas (season's greetings text)
Release Day!
The DT and I have one more sneak to share with you today using our new Christmas stamps and it won't be long now until you can get your hands on them! All the new stamps will be available from 2pm today :)
For this card I used the stamp "Winter Friends". It is a single rubber stamp with four cute pals (one boy and three girls) which I trimmed down and rearranged three of them on my card.
I've used the mittens stamp from the Mini Messages winter set again for the background - I just love it!
I mentioned on Tuesday's sneak that we have a 'Christmas Tags' clear set being released. This is one of the images from the set.
You have a variety of sentiments you can stamp onto the tag - not only that - many of the sentiments from the mini messages sets fit perfectly too, so you really have a lot of versatility with these new stamps!
So... you've not got long to wait to see all the new stamps and why don't you tell me which is your favourite??
Just leave a comment on this post and I will randomly pick one person to win ALL the stamps from this release!! You have until Monday to add your comment.
IMPORTANT INFO: Members of the Communication Workers Union are staging 24 hour strikes today and tomorrow. Royal mail have some contingency plans in place but we are very likely to suffer disruption and delays.
I think it would be wise if all orders received today and tomorrow are sent on Monday when the service should be nearly back to normal.
I do not know how they operate when there is a backlog of mail, whether they clear that first or if they prioritise more recent mail. So rather than me worrying about all your orders sitting in a pile somewhere, I hope that by sending them on Monday there is a better chance of you receiving them in good time. I expect that even by sending orders on Monday, the strikes will have an impact and delay the delivery so please be prepared for this.
* * *
I also want to take this opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU to Carly Robertson for standing in as design team member for this release. I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing Carly's fabulous creations and I hope you have too! :)
Happy release day!!
Elizabeth xx
