Bookworm

The new Rare Earth book stamps can be used to make cards, journals, tags. They also come with a set of book labels which can be personalised to be used for your own library or for books you can give as a gift to people.

I gave this vintage book, quill and lamp a mixed media look on this bag by using textured papers and flowers made of printed brown wrapping paper.

I like the background stamp which looks like handwriting, which can look like aged pages when the edges of the pages are distressed.

There are several stamps with piles of books and rolled papers. Here, together with the candle and quill pen remind me of Harry Potter.

Here another pile of books is given a modern look with flowers in the background.

This time I decorated a wooden tag but you could make your own bookmarks. 

There are a number of stamps with open pages which can be used for journals or a sentiment for a card. Here I used one of the quotations which comes with the set.

I have always liked making my own books and I like the idea of a book journal to record your reading interests.

I think a book journal would make a great present for a bookworm!!

Rare Earth under the sea

These new stamps from Rare Earth have the feel of Pirates of the Caribbean. They feature mythological characters such as mermaids and King Nepture as well as a storm coming from a skull. They have a dramatic feel and could be used to tell a story. The stamps are very detailed but stamp well, especially when using the rare Earth load and Fold stamping platform.
I used pearlescent water colour paints to paint them.

There are some glamorous mermaids. Did they lure the ship onto the rocks or was it a navigation problem? Whatever happened they look very relaxed,

King Neptune ruling over the under sea world. He has the pirates treasure, and his subjects around him. I stuck some of the elements around an aperture card. I used pearls for the bubbles.

I stamped and distressed the lovely treasure map. I featured the octopus and added some of the relevant embellishments,

I always like to decorate a bag and the under sea stamps work well with the brown and rustic look  of the bag

I tended to stamp, cut out the elements and decide how i wanted to arrange them.

I made this large circular easel card using the tattered Lace large circle dies. The shells were from the scenic rare earth stamps. I cut off the edge of the circle to make the card easier to stand.

The elements work well to make pop up box cards- my favourte style of card. They have a lot of dimension and are fun to make.

The mermaids are relaxing while the storm rages in the distance. I made the background using pearlescent paints and added black behind the ships to accentuate them.

I used water-colour  paint for the background and the mermaid outline stamp, I painted seaweed on the backgound and used Pixie powders on the front of the card. I added the  under sea elements around the aperture.

Another pop-up box card.  I could not resist the comment. Hopefully it will make somebody laugh!!

Crazy about pop up box cards

I love making pop up box cards and the Tattered Lace Decorative Floral pop up makes this easy to do. Here are a few recent samples.

 I used metallic card to cut out the robots and cogs. These were applied to a distressed background.

The superhero dwarfs the houses!!

The horses and unicorns are stamped and then cut with dies. I coloured them with promarkers and created a fairy-tale type card.

I used summertime scene dies and Cut and Make dies to create this card.

Rare Earth Sea stamps

The new Rare Earth sets of stamps of coastal locations are excellent for encouraging people who are keen to paint water-colour landscapes to get started. They certainly inspired me to want to learn to paint using water-colour because the outline is already done for you so you can just go ahead and try using the paints and experiment with different effects.

I used Rare Earth Pitch black to stamp onto water-colour paper. The stamps are large so it helps if you use a stamping frame. I enjoyed having a go at water -colour painting and painted some additional embellishments, which were all mounted onto a frame. A button, string and some alphabet 

tiles were used to complete the picture.

This is another version of the Durdle Door stamp on water-colour paper. It brings back memories of my childhood. We used to go on holiday to Swanage.

I like the light house scene.I painted a day time scene but it would be interesting to try different times of the day.The lines on the outline stamp give big clues on how to paint the scene.

Another version of Pigeon Point. Camber Sands was used for the background and a few of the embellishment stamps were used for adornment.

This is my version of Saltwick Nab. Maybe i`ll have the chance to visit the real place one day?!!

I decided to create a matching bag using the sand-dunes stamps.I used a wood effect background, which I thought would tie in with the posts.

Card version of the sand-dunes with added trawler. I would quite like to be there now....

I used the trawler and other embellishment stamps to create the pop-up box card. I love these cards because I feel they tell a story.

The stamped net is from the Rare Earth Crosby Bay set. The "rough sea" was created by painting on clingfilm and moving it around on the card with my fingers when pressing the clingfilm onto the card. I definitely recommend these stamps for any budding water-colour artist. The lines are so helpful in getting you started.

Rare Earth Christmas stamps

The new rare Earth Christmas stamps are out early enough for people to start planning their Christmas cards. They probably work best with a load and fold positioning aid because the stamps I tried were frames and benefit from keeping the edges straight and symmetrical . However, I managed with a home made stamping tool made from an acrylic clip board with another piece of clear acrylic taped to it.

Two frames are intertwined to make a star. The 3D tree is made from folded squares stamped withe the background design. The folded squares are joined together to form a tree. 

This time I used three of the frames for the background, with the framed sentiment inside. Poinsettias made from Tattered Lace dies decorate the card.

Again, intertwining frames were used to create the outer star. I used tea-bag folding techniques to create the smaller stars. Scrabble tiles form the word JOY.

The background was made with distress inks. The Christmas Tree was stamped onto a similar coloured card and then matted and layered onto black then white card. The card was decorated with matching stars and black and silverfpsoinsettias.

You can see how the frames give interest and depth when they are layered up.

The stamped squares fit nicely in the Tattered Lace pop up box card. I cut out the Christmas tree, some presents and added poinsettias for decoration.

I stamped the background on paper decorated with distress inks. This time I added animals from the magical forest set of Rare Earth stamps. I cut a sentiment from one of the framed borders.

Pop up box cards

I like pop-up box cards because they are fun and you can create a whole scene, like a mini theatre. They can be used for so many occasions. I used the Tattered Lace decorative floral pop-up to make these. I used Sissix thinlets for many of the embellishments on the card

This card was made for a colleague who likes to go on cruises. I used a variety of dies.

 I used the dies that come with the Pop-up for this thank you card. Some of the flowers are on acetate to give more dimension. I folded the bottom of the birds to get them to sit on the sides of the card.

The Tattered Lace dog with wellies looks as though nit is ready for a good walk. I cut the dog and wellies in white and coloured them with alcohol markers.

The cat stamps came with a Papercraft magazine. I like their different poses, They definitely have catitude!!

This card stemmed from a delightful visit to Rushmere County Park, with some friends, where we saw all the creatures shown on the card. There were a number of herons nesting in the tops f the trees and a wonderful viewing platform. It was my first visit there but hopefully it won`t be my last.

Rare Earth Magical Forest

I think the Rare Earth Magical Forest stamps are fun, quirky and magical!!
The pop-up box cards is one of my favourites because you can get so much depth and dimension to the card, yet it folds flat to go in an envelope- magical!! It also feels like you are telling a story. The Tattered Lace decorated pop up box card dies make it so easy to construct.  I stamped the patterned card I used to make the card base with the background stamps to help bring the design together.
I stamped the animals onto patterned paper and added extra colour and definition with alcohol markers. I added some of the animals and foliage which give the impression of being in a forest clearing.

For some reason I decided to create the background directly onto the cards. I used distress and oxide inks spritzed with water on a craft sheet. I then added additional colour using a make up sponge. Paper masks were used to give definition to the moon and the hill. I stamped the vines and flowers coming down from the top and sides  to give the feel of a forest.

I stamped the unicorn and girl onto a paper with stars and added a bit of extra colour.  The toadstools  and butterflies were stamped and cut out to give a bit of extra dimension.

I had such fun creating the backgrounds that I made several different versions. Some of them have the background stamps stamped and embossed in white  in the sky and in black on the hill to add extra interest and and a little extra magic.T

The bear could be a polar bear as well as a forest bear and I love the fox design.

I added google eyes to the rabbits to add to their whimsical characters.

I love to decorate bags and if you were giving a present and matching card they would co-ordinate well.

I decided to cover a notebook, using the same kind of techniques.If you had a book that was plain inside you could create your own colouring book.

I decorated this wooden tag. You could use a tag to make a name plate for a door or just a decoration. I really like these stamps and think they have a lot of potential for many projects.