Woodware Design team Challenge - Sketch

Well I am really into doodling now! I have to say that when I get hooked I seem to have to do it over and over... I have used one of my new stamps design from the Spring release:
FRS214 Huge Happy Birthday


It's perfect for filling in using lots of different mediums as it is open and simple. It's great for paper piecing or doodling or filling in with pens or paint. I've done a mix of coloring and doodling. All the pens I have used are Sakura pens; Glaze, Stardust and of course the Micron for doodling. I love mixing the glaze pens!

The dot on the 'i' is a Craftwork Cards 'Candi'. This new range has tiny writing printed on them. I took a white one and Glazed it.


For the spotty effect I have used a Dark Stardust pen and water coloured in the background and added the dots using a Glaze pen.


The overlaps of the letters are ideal areas for doodling but on some of the letters I have drawn lines to create some extra doodling spaces.

Finally the sketch has a square in it but I have swapped it for a heart which I punched.


The '2' comes from this set:
FRCL103 Kids Birthdays
the 'U' and 'Congratulations' come from this set:
FRCL080 Mixed Greetings


Why not check out other takes on the sketch over at the Woodware Blog.

More New Peel Off's...

This time it's a new circular design with Mum flowers. The little elements in the corners are from the same sheet as the circle.


Again I have used Sakura Glaze pens to colour in the image. I've kept it quite simple as black Peel off's are quite striking and do not need over done. 


The image fits into a 3" punch so no cutting out by hand is needed!


This sample will go on show at Paperworld 2012 which is a big trade show in Germany. This card was one of many I made over Christmas.

New Peel Off's- what fun!

I though I would give you a sneak preview of some of my new Peel Off's coming out at Stitches and Paperworld 2012. 


This one of the samples I made and sent to Holland to be on show at Paperworld. 


I've coloured the fish,bubbles and seaweed using Sakura Glaze pens. I did some sponging on the back panel using a bubble element as a stencil.


I love it when I have new designs to work with!!!


Another sneak peek in a couple of days...

Woodware Design team Challenge - Sketch

How about some bright colours to cheer us up during these short grey days!

Another card using some of my black Peel Off's:

Funky Flower Windows - 94091B

As usual I have not followed the sketch rigidly but adapted some of the elements. I sponged bands of Brilliance 'Pearlescent Thyme' ink at both ends of the panel for a softer look. My band in the middle goes behind the main image instead of in front.

The greeting is from this stamp set:

FRCL129 Garden Greetings

Instead of working with white card I have used Woodware pale green pearl card for the background behind the funky flower window. The Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pens work really well on this card as it is coated and less absorbent. 


I have also used a green Stardust pen for some sections of the leaves to contrast with the Glaze pens. In the spaces between the flowers I have used a pale blue Glaze pen to create a faux mosaic effect. I prefer this to filling the spaces completely. I do love using the glaze pens with Peel off's as they work perfectly together.


Pop along to the Woodware Blog to see other ideas on how to use this sketch.

Woodware Design team Challenge - A Touch of Pink

Still busy putting those Christmas cards together!


Anyhow I'm back again for this week's Woodware challenge, which I have enjoyed doing as I like pink... but I'm not a girly girl!


I've used a set that I designed for the Russian Doll trend and also because I have a lovely set of my own given to me by my dad. His work took him out to Russia.


The set is FRCL150 Babushka and I've used the greeting from FRCL154 Salutations.

I coloured the dolls using the Tombow pens, Sakura Clear Glaze and White Gelly Roll pens.


I have used the Glaze pen to make the faces shinny and to highlight the detail.
The white highlights are what bring the colouring to life. I really like this effect.


I punched a scalloped square to make a background for the dolls and I have added gold metals for decoration.






If you have enjoyed this project why not visit the Woodware Blog for other inspiration from the Design team.

Funky flower windows too

I'm really into Peel Off's as you will see from my  Woodware Design challenge card tomorrow. I love black embossing but it has to be done with black powder on black ink to get really good depth and you always get little black specks! So black Peel Off's give you the effect without the specks... so much better.


These are variations on a card I posted back in May coloured on green pearlescent card. This time I've worked on pink pearlescent card.


Both these cards are made using '94091 Funky Flower Windows' black Peel Off's and of course Sakura Glaze pens. I like the simplicity of these cards but you need to make sure you work with clean hands and good card!!

Workshop at Authors and Artists

Yesterday was a day spent over at Authors and Artists in Fleet.


I was asked to do a workshop using my new flower  Peel off's and Sakura pens. 


I kept the colour scheme to one colour and black but obviously had variations of the green and purple.I used Gelly Roll Glaze pens and Souffle Pens.


We also tackled picking up the waste of the flower to use as part of the design.

I used a large corner rounder punch on all four corners of this card but punched a single corner on the card above.


Rounding all four corners does change the shape of the card quite a bit.

We used gems, pearls and Metals to decorate the centre of the flowers. 

On the sheets of Peel Off's you get three large blooms, leaves and spare dots and circles. If you use the waste you actually have six flowers to work with.


I always enjoy these workshops as I've been teaching at A & A for over 11 years and it's more like a gathering of good friends!

Lily Pond

This card was shown on the Woodware blog a couple of weeks ago but I didn't showcase it on mine.


It's one of my favourite cards at the moment. I made three with slight variations in the layout and this is the last one I still have...


I've used vellum on the wings to give them a wispy quality.


The water was done using a pale blue Gelly Roll Glaze pen.

Woodware Design team Challenge -A bunch of flowers

 I really enjoyed this challenge. There is a bit of everything I like in terms of techniques;

Paper piecing [flowers], Faux stitching, sponging and colouring.

I've used the following sets:

FRCL134 Flowers and Stems

FRCL129 Garden Greetings

Garden greetings is another of my favourite greeting sets as I do make quite a lot of flower related cards.

The vase is punched using 2'' vase.

The papers are from the 'Bremen' collection of papers stocked by Woodware

I glued the buttons into place before actually stitching them to the card. I do like some threads in my buttons!

The little butterfly is in the greetings set.

The clear Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pen came out to play once again over the flowers, tiny flower centers, butterfly body and petals.

I used the Sky Blue Brilliance ink pad for the sponging. If you have never tried them use some Sponge Daubers. They are still my preferred option for sponging.

A little detail to show the greeting and shinny glaze on the flowers!

Why not Pop along to the Woodware Blog to see what the other members of the design team have created for 'A bunch of flowers'

Pop Circle

I'm not too sure if my photography skills have done this card justice!

The folded card is made from acetate and as you probably know the tricky part is hiding the adhesive used for mounting. So I  used various circles to mount the 'Pop Circle' on the front panel. On the back panel I have sandwiched the acetate between two pieces of card. I did punch some circles in the pale green card panel before sticking it down.

On the Peel Off's sheet - It's a Peel Off's I hear you say! - there are spare flowers that you can use to enhance your design.

I have used Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pens to colour the Pop circle and the smaller flower centers as the pens work beautifully on acetate!

The greeting is a Peel Off's also. I cannot take credit for that as it is a Stampendous design. However it matches really well with my 'Pop Circle'.

One little tip is that you do not always have to work on white or cream card. I've used pale green pearlescent card, which is great for the pens as it is less absorbent and you then already have a background colour so not all spaces need to be filled.

I was really pleased with the result. That's me hooked on acetate!!

Woodware Design Team Challenge - Sketch

When your not feeling well or just under the weather it's quite nice to get a card that is cheery and makes you smile.

So I chose to use my 'Micey' set for this sketch challenge: FRCL192 Micey Mice

I know I go on about the Sakura Glaze pens but they do a grey pen that is just the right colour for the mice!

To colour the rest of the image I have use Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight pens. They are quite bright but you can mix them to tone down the colours and extend the range. They are fab to use on black card.

The greeting is from my favourite greetings set:

FRCL154 Salutation

If you like that set there is another set using the same fonts/design called:

FRCL171 All Through The Year. 

I used the clear Glaze pen to make the punched hearts shinny. Added little dots to the greetings using a Black Sakura Micron pen.

If you have enjoyed this card and would like to see the original sketch layout pop along to the Woodware Blog: www.woodware.co.uk/blog/ and see what my design team members have created using the same sketch. Jane follows me on Saturday

Dragonfly too

As promised a variation on the green/blue dragonfly.


I've used Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pens once again. They are perfect to use with loose glitter. You could always use the clear Glaze pen and add different coloured glitters.


Dragonflies come in quite a few different colours so you can easily vary this design.


As a Peel Off's it also comes in gold, silver and white.

A BIG thank you

I would like to thank everyone who came to see me at The Craft Barn special weekend. It was lovely to see so many of you and to hear all your wonderful comments, which were much appreciated! 

Also a BIG thank you for all the very nice comments being left on my blog and for visiting. Hope lots of you will keep coming back!

I thought I would share one of the cards on display on my demo table as a reminder of this special weekend.

I have used Black Peel Off's: A large dragonfly and two small blooms. 

The dragonfly itself is coloured in using Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pens. While the colour was still wet I sprinkled some really fine holographic glitter over the surface.

The circles or bubbles have been coloured in using a mix of other Sakura pens: Stardust, Metallic and Souffle.

I've added Gems, Metals and some of the Peel Off's extra bubbles and waste dots. I coloured two gold Metals black for the eyes on the dragonfly.

A useful tip when using this large dragonfly Peel Off's:

1. Lift the Dragonfly carefully off the backing sheet and place it sticky side up on your work surface.

2. Take your card and hold the edge against the table at a 45 degree angle next to the dragonfly. Slowly bring the card down to lie on top of the dragonfly. Press gently to make the dragonfly stick to the card.

3. Now the dragonfly is on the card you can trim it down to size. If you are using a Nestabilty you can place it on the card, centre the dragonfly, hold it down with some tape so it does not move when going through the machine. 

So much easier than trying to place directly on the circle!!!

Come back to see a variation tomorrow....

Mr Fix It - Woodware Design team challenge

Since I have quite a few sets suitable for Men's cards I found it hard to choose which one to use!

So in the end I went for those brave men who put up our shelves, plumb the washing machine, make holes that have to be filled...

I'm very pleased with the result.


I've combined three sets:

FRCL039 MR Fix It

FRCL079 Male Relatives

FRCL122 DIY

The frame is made using the wood plank in FRCL039. It would make an ideal frame for a fishing or gardening theme also.

I used the VersaMark pen to add some variation in the wood which was stamped on craft card.

I made the plumb line from string and the weight is the small tag punch upside down with the fancy bits trimmed.

I've used Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pens for the colouring of the tools. For the rusty bits I used the dark orange Stardust pen. 

[Sakura Glaze pens for the colouring. It's all shinny!]


Torn paper for the background to add to the DIY theme.


Make sure to visit the Woodware blog to see what the other design team members have created for the Men's card challenge.