August Crop Artist Trading Coin Swap

Hi all

I thought I would pop on and share with you all this months Artist Trading Coins for the monthly swap we have at Crop Central

This Months theme is Mystical (Fairies, Dragons, Wizards, Unicorns etc)

So here is what I have done

I went for Unicorns this time as I do a fair bit with fairies on so fancied a change, to do these coins I used the following supplies:

2.5 inch circle Die

Distress Inks - Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin

For The Love Of Stamps - Unicorn Dreams

Spectrum Noir Markers

Wink Of Stella - Clear

I can not wait to swap these with the lovely ladies at crop this Saturday  and to see how we have all taken the theme and made it our own and different.

Why not give Artist Trading Coins a go yourself they are a lot of fun and addictive, I can not wait to find out what next months theme is going to be.

Kelly

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Enter If You Dare

Hi lovelies

Well this piece I am sharing with you all today was originally made as part of my DT inspiration but unfortunately without any notice Making Memories Crafting blog has gone none of us who were apart of the DT know what has happened. So I thought I would still share my make with you all

For this card I have used a lovely digi image from Besties and here it is 

For this piece I have used the following products:

Big Eye Big Head Dolls - Besties 

Spectrum Noir Markers

Distress Inks - Carved Pumpkin, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet and Black Soot

Detailed Gate Thinlits

Graveyard Gate Stamp Set 

Graveyard Gate Bundle (Save 10%)

Watering Can - Archival Ink

Onyx Black - Versafine Ink

Basic Black Cardstock 

Elegant Eggplant Cardstock 

Whisper White Cardtsock 

Tim Holtz Blending Tool

Tombow Glue

Stampin' Trimmer

Big Shot

Paper Snips

I really enjoyed bringing this piece to life and being able to play with my new goodies it was so much fun and doing one of my fav techniques to do the background.

I hope this gives you plenty of inspiration and if you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment :)

Kelly 

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

This Is Indeed A Mystery Mixed Media Canvas

Hi all

Today I have a mixed media canvas to share with you all, Which I did while at a crop day on Saturday, We get a kit each month to use while at the crop or to use at home which ever we like, This months kit was the Graphic 45 Master Detective.

So here we have what I have done with some bits from one of the sheets which was in the kit including some of the embellishments.

To do this canvas I used the following products:

20 x 20cm Canvas

Black Gesso

Master Detective 12 x 12 Sheet - Cut parts from this that i wanted to use

Embellishments from the kit (feathers spider web and spider die cuts)

Border Drip Stencil

Modelling Paste

Candied Apple Distress Ink

Matt Medium

Foam Tape

Scissors

I loved doing this piece with the kit as it was so different to doing a scrapbook layout. I also shared this picture on my Instagram and it got noticed by Graphic 45 eeeeek they even commented on it which made me grin like a Cheshire cat.

I hope you like what I have done and it inspires you to try something new with your 12x12 papers.

If you would like to follow me on Instagram you can do so here: The Crafty Bat 

I am also on facebook: The Crafty Bat

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

DT Inspiration for Sheepski Designs

Hey all

Today I have an inspiration piece to share with you all for a new challenge over on Sheepski Designs Facebook Group.

The challenge on the group runs for a month ans is Anything Goes, so for my piece of inspiration for this month I thought I would use Flump n Tic

For this little cutie I had to do a Birthday Card, to do this card I used the following products:

Distress Inks 

Berry Burst Cardstock

Whisper White Cardstock 

Frame Die 

Watercolour Pencils 

Blender Pens 

Sentiment from Number Of Years Stamp Set 

You can get this cutie of an image from SheepSki Designs on Etsy. Use code SKIKELLY10 when you order your Digi Images.

To enter the Anything Goes challenge go to SheepSki Designs Facebook Group and all details will be on there.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my inspiration piece for this challenge and I can not wait to see what you come up with.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

DIY Distress Ink Background Combination Swatch

Hi all 

I have been working on a swatch of background combinations using my Distress Inks and thought you would all like to see it and get some inspiration from it for some background combinations

This is not complete but isn't far off so once I have done the last few to add to it I shall update you all. I can not take full credit for these background combinations as I had done a lot of searching around on Pinterest, Google, Blogs and so on majority of these have come from the colors of magic which is run by Bianca, I also found some combinations from Simon Says Stamp blog and from me just playing around and making a note of the colours used.

This is what the swatch looks like

As you can see it looks very colourful. So what do you need to make your own?? You need the following Tags (any size you wish and any kind), Distress Inks, Blending Tool, and a Hinged Ring (I think the one I am using at the moment is 32mm but I would advise bigger), and lastly a pen. 

Each combination I have done one at a time and as soon as I have finished a combination I have flipped the tag over and written on each colour in the order I have done the combination. 

Here is an example of one of the swatches(Front and Back)

Lets do one together shall we :), So get your tag, distress inks (you can do the same colours as I have in the picture or your own choice) and your blending tools. Do one colour at a time starting at the top of the tag making sure you have enough room on your tag to do each one, So in this one I have 4 colours to do, I always go back over each colour a few times to lend them and to help build the colour up.

And here is how it will look once finished, Don't forget to jot down the colours in the order you did them on the back of the tag. I also always put which ink it is I have done the blend with.

This has become such a useful tool and is so handy to have, I take it with me when I have a craft day with my best friend and we have both used it, when it is not being used I hang it on a hook at the side of my small tower of drawers which sits on top of my desk so it is always at hand.

As you have seen with the first picture there is a fair few combinations, If you would like me to do a few other blog posts showcasing some more of the blends please do let me know, or if there is a particular blend you would like to know if I have done it and want to see again feel free to comment and let me know.I did not want to make this post so long that you got bored.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

NEW FIND!!! Make-Up Brush Soft Blending Background

Hello all

Well today I am sharing with you all a new tip/find to me which some of you may already do and know about.

I found this through a You Tube Video so I can not take credit for this but thought it was a fab tip and a money saver especially if you use stencil brushes and the ink dusters, so I thought I would share with all of you (Videos linked at the end of this post)

Ink blending with a £1 make up brush :O yes you read that right, the brushes I picked up are from Poundland and work brilliantly, If you are in the USA you can pick up an Elf Brush from your Dollar Store.
So chuffed I found this cheap alternative to get a softer look (you can of cause build up the colour in layers to get it darker)

So here is what you need:

Smooth White Card (Or what ever card you use to blend on)

Distress Inks (Or other inks you sue to do bending)

Make Up Brushes (try to get the full face soft brush)

I picked up two of each of the big brushes with handles and two of the small handled both work brilliantly.

Now to put them to practice

You can use any colours you like but for this one I have used Distress Inks in the following colours: Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin.. To get started all you need to do is load your brush up as you would you blending tool, and dab off any excess, Then just brush across your page lightly

Doesn't the soft shades of colour look beautiful and using this brush makes it so easy to blend them.

Here is a closer look at the colours

I ended up making this into something after doing the stages to show you all, so here is what I did 

I have used a Visible Image Stamp called Stay Strong and inked it up with some Versamark, I then stamped the sentiment onto the blended background and used some beautiful Rose Gold Wow Embossing Powder and then heat set it. 

I will be cutting this down and will be framing it along with more of my makes and will be putting them up on my walls.

I hope this inspires you all to give it a go and saves you some money, Just a quick thank you to KWCardDesign and Laurie Willison on You Tube for doing the videos to show how well this tip works.

If you would like to check out their videos here are the links 

KWCardDesigns - Soft Ink Blended Background

Laurie - Make Up Brush Blender

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Visible Image Crafty Afternoon

Hi all

Welcome back to my blog, Today I managed to get some creating done in between taking photograph's for two other blog posts which are to come over next couple of days.

So I thought I would have a Visible Image afternoon, I had two of the stamps sat on my desk for a couple of weeks so I grabbed those and was on my way.

Here is the first of two new makes today 

The sentiment which is one of Visible Image's new stamps gave me the inspiration for this piece, I love how it turned out using the Joseph's Coat Technique. The supplies used for this piece were as follows:

5x7 White Card

Smooth White Matt Card

Distress Inks

Blending Tool

Visible Image Stamp Set - Leave Your Fears (is used to do the border)

Visible Image Stamp Set - Behind Every Mask (Retired)

Visible Image Stamp Set NEW RELEASE - Bold Colour

The next piece came about from experimenting a new technique with some Brusho's and here is the outcome 

The materials used to make this piece were as follows:

Watercolour Card

5x7 Card

Back Card

Brusho's 

Water

Pipetter

Canned Air 

Sequins

Visible Image Stamp Set NEW - Outside The Lines 

Black Watercolour Pencil

White Gel Pen 

I was so pleased with how both of these cards came out and hope they have given you some inspiration.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

I would like to enter the First card into the following challenges

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes With Optional Twist 

Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes 

Make My Monday Challenges - Colours Of The Rainbow

QKR Stampede - Anything Goes 

Oh La La Creations Challenge Blog - Embossing 

ATC Num 14 and 15

Welcome back to my blog 

Today's post is to share with you another two ATC's I have created one of which was using some of my new goodies which is the Distress Crayons

Here it is :) Make A Wish

For this one I used the following:

Watercolour Card 

Distress Crayons

Tim Holtz Stencil

Baby Wipe 

Distress Inks 

Free Stamp Set from a magazine 

The second ATC I have created is with a stamp I had not got around to use so i thought it would be perfect to use on an ATC 

Here it is - Watching!!

For this ATC I used the following:

Stampendous Stamp 

Distress Inks 

Watercolour Card

I just love how the eyes stand out and give it that creepy, chilling feel, I could only use so much of the stamp due to it's size but I do admit the stamp is one of my favourites and I can not wait to use the full stamped image on a creations so keep your eyes open for that.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

An ATC Day

Hi all

Today I am sharing with you all my latest ATC's that I have been working on and I intended on using some stamps and stencils that I had not got around to using.

The first one I have to share with you is this beauty, recognise the butterfly???

For this one I used the following:

Vellum Butterfly - Visible Image Stamp Large Butterfly 

Watercolour Card 

Dylusions Ink Sprays 

Dylusions Mica Ink Spray

Recollections Stamp (Sentiment and Arrows)

White Gel Pen

The next ATC to show you is one of my most favourite I have done so far 

For this one I used the following:

Watercolour Card 

Distress Inks 

Blending Tool 

Lawn Fawn Sending Hedgehugs Stamps

Distress Ink Marker - Black Soot

White Gel Pen

Inkylicious Stencil

The third ATC I did is this one 

For this one I used the following:

Watercolour Card 

Distress Inks 

Blending Tool

Bee Crafty (Inspired by not endorsed by Banksy) Stamp

Recollections Stamps (Sentiment and hearts)

Versafine Black Ink 

Stamp Perfect Tool

And last but by no means least.... Free Spirit ATC 

For this ATC I used the following:

Watercolour card

Distress Inks 

Blending Tool 

Recollections Stencil and Stamp (sentiment)

Dove Crafts Stamp

Vellum

Versamark Ink

WOW Embossing Powder 

White gel pen

So there we have all of the ATC's I have done and now added to my collection I really enjoy doing these and they are ideal for trying out new techniques on. I hope you have enjoyed looking at these and find some inspiration from them.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX 

Follow Your Dreams ATC

COOOOEEE!!!

I am flying in today to share with you all another ATC in my ATC range that I have done and once again with this one I have tried a new technique to me.

I love how the rainbow of colour has turned hot this technique is known as Joseph's Coat and it is so easy but effective, I can see me using this technique a lot more.

The products I used to do this piece are:

Smooth White Card

Lavinia Stamps - Fairy Moon, Sentiment and Mini Stars

Distress Inks

Versamark Ink Pad

White Ink Pad

WOW Embossing Powder - Clear 

Heat Tool

I would love to see what you come up with using this technique and that this has given you some inspiration.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Crafty Day With The Bestie

Hi all

Well today's post is so I can share with you all some recent makes I did when me and my best friend had our first crafty day of the new year, We don't get to have crafty day's as often as we used to so when we do we make the most of it, with sharing new techniques we have picked up new products and of cause plenty of giggles and chatting.

So armed with my stamps, inks, blending tools and more off I went with what I wanted to do while my bestie did some collage backgrounds, here is what I come up with 

You may recognise the background colours from a previous make I did, I wanted to do the same blended background as I really like the colour combination. So this piece was done using the following products:

White Matt Card 250gsm

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Versafine Inks 

Lavinia Stamps 

Inkylicious Stencil

Hampton Art Stamp Perfect Tool (New Toy - Blog Post to come about this)

The second piece I wanted to do a more of a daytime background so I referred to my Distress Ink Background Swatch which I have slowly been putting together I will of cause share this with you all as soon as I have finished it. I also wanted to use some of my new Lavinia Stamps... Now I had the stamps I wanted to use and the colours for the background.

And here we have it :)

I absolutely adore how this one came out and how well the background came out, for this piece I used the following:

White Matt Card 250gsm

Distress Inks 

Baby Wipe

Lavinia Stamps 

Inkylicious Stencil

Hampton Art Stamp Perfect Tool 

So there we have it two beautiful scenes all completed and ready to either be framed or made into cards.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at these pieces and any questions feel free to comment and I will get back to you :)

Don't forget to keep a look out for my posts on the Stamp Perfect Tool and the Distress Ink Background Swatch.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Forest Friends

Hi all.

Well I am back again as I managed to get in my craft room again today YAY!!, So i decided to do a make with some bits I hadn't got around to using yet.

I am really chuffed with this piece love how the colours have come through and how the whole thing comes together perfectly.

So here it is 

Forest Friends

To do this piece I used the following products:

Smooth white card

Distress Inks

Distress Marker

Inkylicious Stamp 

Inkylicious Stencils

Lavinia Stamps

WOW Embossing Powder - Gold 

The picture really does not show how beautiful and vibrant the colours really do look, I really enjoyed doing this piece and already have my next make idea. So make sure to keep a look out for that :D 

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Inspired Make

Hi all

Welcome back to my blog, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Today's post is to share with you a piece I did yesterday when I finally got back into my craft room YAY!!.. This particular piece I was inspired by Mrs Davies Crafts after watching one of her videos on her Facebook page. So here we have it my take on what Karen did :) 

For this piece I used the following products:

White Smooth Card

Distress Inks - Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio

Inkylicious Stencil

Lavinia Stamps - Fox and Leaves

I loved how this came out once I had finished with it I wasn't so sure while I was doing it but once I had done all the focal points and then bought it all together at the end with inking the edges and bringing them in.

I hope you like what I have done here, I also have another make to share with you all which I will be doing a separate post for.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX