Alphabet projects - Tips and tricks

Hello everyone,
        Riswana here with you today. It feels so good to be blogging after my short crafty break.! I was way too excited when Karuna offered a whooping 1000 INR voucher to shop at Lulupu, the craft lounge !! Of course I couldn't stop there and added my own pile of wishlist goodies on top of it.. and here's my awesomee haul..

I can't wait to work with them and will be sharing the project in my next post. Stay tuned .!

Today I'll be sharing few projects based on Alphabets.. I am always fascinated by them and hoard a big stash of craft supplies based on alphabets, be it stamps, stickers and so on. They are really versatile and I absolutely love that fact. So here we go..

1.Chipboard Alphabets
         Here's a personalised birthday card with the bold Maya Road chipboard alphas in the focus..

    I used Distress inks and gelatos for creating the background on a Neenah solar white CS
    I drew the animals with Brusrtro fine liner pens (they are waterproof) and colored with Zig CCRB pens.

    The chipboards were covered with gesso, heat embosssed with whit EP and coated with glass bead glitter gel for added sparkle and texture.
     The sentiment is from Mudra's Let's Party stampset, white embossed on a red CS and made into a banner.

     I made the card for a sweet Kid's birthday with the party theme being Noah's ark.! i added some baker's twine to go with the sea theme and finally added some sequins to finish off the card.

2.Alphabet stamps
        I can never get enough of alphabet stamps. I use them for adding my own quotes in art journal pages, sentiments on cards and what not. This time I've made a DIY personalised quote frame with alphabet stamps on the focus. This is my first try and I love the results.

      I cut out a Chipboard frame to the required size and coated it heavily with gesso,
      I added Texture paste through Tim Holtz flourishes stencil.
      I sprayed on some Dylusions in the colors of Vibrant turquoise and Crushed grape.
      After it dried, added some inka gold and gesso to bring out the relief areas.

      For the quote, I used a variety of alphabet stamps in different fonts and sizes. Heat embossed few words with Purple and Gold EP. Added some flourishes with Mudra's Fancy flourishes stamp sent and Versafine ink in the color of mint.
      The frame is good to go to be mounted on the wall or displayed on a table.! With Alphabet stamps, the possibilities are truly endless..!!

3.Doodled Alphabets
         If you are a fan of hand drawn elements, again a simple sentiment can be the main focus of your card.!

I just doodled around the alpbhets in a plump sort of way :) I find this font to be really cute.!! Filled in with bright vibrant colors to make the sentiment stand out.
Background is created by using distress inks and doodled upon random physics elements with Uniball signo white gel pen.

I hope you found this post helpful and got some new ideas to try out your own alphabet projects.!
And yes, our December challenge is here with a cool holiday theme. Check out the details Here and do link your projects.!

Supplies used:
Mudra stamps - Brushed Alphas
Mudra stamps - Fancy Flourish
Mudra stamps - Let's party
Inka Gold

C ya soon.
Create. Have fun.
Rhiz

Fun projects with Foil and a pictorial

Hello everyone,

         Riswana here with you today. There is a new challenge running over on our blog this month - "Bling a ding with a stamping twist". Check out the details Here. I have some inspiration projects lined up for you using a wonderful product, iCraft therm-o-web DECO FOIL. Foiling is so much fun. There are many ways to add foil to your projects. Though a laminating machine works best, you can still pull up foiling with deco foil glue.!

This is gonna be a lengthyyy and picture heavy post, so gear up folks ;)

Card 1:

Here's a simple card.. I stamped the big bold sentiment from Mudra's Purely Sentiments - Brushed stampset and applied deco foil glue over it. (This glue dries very slowly. you need to give it a few seconds for it to become tacky,) Then I applied the foil over it, pressed really well and peeled off gently.

Repeated the same with the image from Fancy Flourishes Stampset. 

It's better to stamp with ink color similar to the foil so that minor glitches are not obvious.! Also big and bold images are the best to begin with.. Am sorry for the not so good photograph.. I tried to capture the gorgeous shimmer as much as possible... But i still feel it's better in real life,,

Card 2:

Here I've used finer strokes with the glue pen and the result was awesome.. Sentiment is formed using individual alphabets from Mudra's Brushed alphas stampset.

Card 3:

You can create backgrounds with foil. I went for a simple polka dot pattern here. This card is made with the gorgeous new release from Papericious - Incredible India.. The designs are stunning and so Desi.!

Mixed media tag:

This tag is almost one layered.! Yet it has lots of textures and depth by layering with stamps.. I am sharing a step-by-step pictorial of how I made this tag:

Spritz some water on a Manila tag from Ranger. Add some peeled paint Distress paint to craft sheet, spritz some water and swipe the tag over it, wet on wet. Repeat the process until desired look is obtained.

Add spray mists through a stencil randomly to achieve some texture..

Start adding layers with stamps. Alternate between permanent and water soluble inks and also do generation stamping to add more interest.

Add more colors and textures with stamps

Add white splatters with diluted white acrylic paint..

Swipe a glue stick randomly along the edges and apply foil over it.

Add more foil, colors and stamped textures. I heat embossed the lamp post from Bo Bunny stampset with Ranger super fine Black EP.

Add punched out leaves & ticket for embellishing. Add the same colors used on the tag to a lace & thread it through the hole. Finally add some highlights with a white gel pen and add a grungy border around with white gesso and a palette knife.

Hope you liked my projects and found the tutorial helpful. There is an awesome lot of new stamps stocked at the Lulupu store right now and of course a wide range of colors in thermoweb Deco foil.!! Grab yours soon and get started with this beautiful technique.!!

Don't forget to link your creations based on this month's theme here.

Supplies used:

Pink Melon Deco Foil Transfer Sheets

Green Deco Foil Transfer Sheets

Deco Foil Adhesive Pen

Mudra - Brushed alphas stampset

Mudra - Fancy Flourush Stampset

Mudra - Purely Sentiments Brushed Stampset

Papericious - Incredible India Paper pad

C ya soon. 

Create. Have fun.

Rhiz.

One stampset, Five ways : Stripes

Hello everyone,
     Riswana here with you today. We crafters always want to make the most out of our supplies right? Today I'll be sharing five different ways to use Stripes stamp sets.. I've used Mudra's Play with lines stamp set here.

Create Backgrounds:
          These lines stamps make it super easy to build a background..

I used Mermaid lagoon distress ink on the broadest stripe stamp, misted with water & stamped on a watercolor paper to get this distressed splotchy BG..

Make your own Patterned Paper:
           Yes.! you can make you own PPs with these cool stamps. You can use them as backgrounds, fussy cut & paper piece or any other way you like.!

I took a red cardstock & created a classic Buffalo plaid Pattern with Black soot DI. I like to use distress inks because they react with water, so I can smoothen out any area if needed. Also in this particular pattern, I added more black color at the intersection of lines to bring out more contrast.!
I love the masculine look of this card..

Here's another plaid pattern, this time with more colorful lines.. It may look complicated but it's actually very simple if you stick to the pattern & stamp in the same order.
I prepared my solid stamps with versmark ink & stamped on a scrap piece of paper to remove off some ink & then used distress inks to stamp the lines. this way the lines are less splotchy & more crispy. I've used Spun Sugar, Tumbled gass, Squeezed lemonade, Twisted citron distress inks.

Create Textures/Grid
         You can create grungy textures & grids with the stamp which has about six thin lines close by.. Here's a Clean And Simple card..

I got this idea as I was analyzing a Patient's ECG.! Talk about getting inspiration from everywhere lol.! I used Tumbled glass DI to get that subtle grid pattern & drew some waves with a black fine liner pen.. You can use browns & blacks to get a more grungy looking grid..

Make Borders:

I've used the stamp with stripes to create a cool border for this otherwise colorful card. It balances the design as well as the colors on the rest of the card..

A stamp positioning tool will be of immense help especially when it come to these types of stamps. But not to worry if you don't have one. You can use regular acrylic blocks to achieve beautiful results too :) I used a plain block without any grid on it & still managed to get through this ;)

That's all from me today. Hope you liked my projects and that they have inspired you to make innovative use of your stamps & make the most out of them..  Please do lemme know your comments and feedback.

Do check out our ongoing challenge HERE.

Supplies used:
Mudra Play with lines stamp set
Distress Ink Spun sugar
Distress ink Squeezed lemonade
Distress ink Tumbled glass
Distress ink mermaid Lagoon


Create. Have fun.
Rhiz.

Mini mixed media canvas with a tutorial.!

Hi everyone,
        Riswana here today with a mini mixed canvas project & also a pictorial for the same.!

This canvas measures 3"×2.25". I love to work with small canvases & miniatures as it's very challenging to add details in such tiny spaces. So let's get on with the steps.!

Step 1 - Adding textures:
    First let's add some texture to our canvas. Stick pieces of gauze cloth & tissue paper randomly & let it dry. (Don't forget the sides)

Step 2 - Stencilling
     Add more texture by applying texture paste through a stencil.
I used Ranger texture paste & Prima Fading Floral stencil.

Step 3 - Priming with gesso
     After the texture paste has dried completely, Coat the whole canvas with gesso.

Step 4: Adding colours
   Now let's add some colours with Ink sprays. You can use any color sprays/mists for that matter.

Step 5: Bring out relief areas
    Making sure to dry completely in between each step is the key here. So once the colors are dry, apply some gesso to bring out the relief areas. Use a completely dry brush/sponge or your fingers like I did.
Add some glitter if you wish to make the background more interesting. I used a tiny amount of Faber castell glass bead glitter gel.

Step 6: Embellishments
    Make some embellishments to go with the background. I made two different blooms using the EK tools retro flower medium punch & peacock feathers distress inks.

To jazz them up a little, I added rhinestones & also Diamond dust. I stamped the flourishes from Mudra's fancy flourish stampset with green pigment ink.
Fussy cut it & added more dimension using an embossing tool.

Add a baker's twine to the metal plate charm. Also add some Inka Gold (aquamarine blue) to mute down the sheen a bit & give a worn look. Adhere the embellies the way you want and you are done.!!!

Supplies used:
Fading floral stencil
Gesso
ek tools retro flower medium punch
Peacock feathers Distress ink
Mudra Fancy Flourish stampset
Aleene's tacky glue
Mini glue gun
Twinklets diamond dust

Hope you liked my project & found the tutorial helpful.!
C ya all very soon.

Create. Have fun.
-Rhiz

CAS Cards featuring Mudra Stamps!

Hello Dear Friends! :)

Suchi here with you all! Today is my last post on Lulupu. We are featuring Mudra Stamps on Lulupu blog! :)

I made not 1 but four cards using Linen Blooms from Mudra Stamps! They are now available on Lulupu store! You can find them here. :)

I am giving a step wise tutorial on how to make these cards-

1.Stamp all the stamps that you want to use up in your cards like this by using Jet Black Archival Ink! I was in a mood to color and that's why all my cards have colored flowers! :)

2.Later on, I colored a few of them using distress inks Seedless preserves and Salty Ocean.

3.A few of the flowers are colored using Mr. Huey's water color like this and later on I added the strokes using darker shades of water color using Koi water color brush.

4.Then I fussy cut the flowers and arranged them in certain ways before adhered on the card base!

Here they are after completion:

A

B

C

D

6.And all four of them together again~ ! :)

List of Supplies:

1. Linen Blooms from Mudra

2.Archival Ink

3.Seedless Preserves Distress ink

4.Salty Ocean Distress ink

5.Koi water color brush

Moodboard Inspired CAS Cards

Hello, Everyone!

Suchi here with you all today! Hope you are having fun making wonderful projects for our current April Challenge #60- Inspired by Moodboard?

Image Source

I made 2 CAS cards using a fabulous stamp set from Hampton Art. Lovely stencil and stamp set is available at Lulupu store HERE.

Now, let's check out my cards! :)

I was inspired by the Bokeh part of the mood board in both the cards! For the first card, I used the overlapping technique. :)

I have used Shabby Shutters distress ink for the background. I used different colored papers for the speech bubbles and stamped using Archival ink. The pattern paper panel is from "Notes & Things".

For the second card, I used different distress ink colors- Mustard seed, Wild Honey and Picked Raspberry. I have used the Bokeh colors from the moodboard.

Hope you like my cards and got inspired.

You can link up your entries HERE. The general guidelines to enter the challenges can be found HERE. Do mention in your post what it was that inspired you from the moodboard.

Hope you have a great week ahead!

Hugs,

Suchi :)