A Peacock made from Stamp Soup!

I saw the technique for making this card demonstrated about 3 weeks ago and the whole thing fascinated me so much that I tried to remember every little thing about how the demonstrator made her creation.  Now I know that I haven’t got it exactly the way she did it, but it’s close enough.

Made on an 8″x8″ scored and folded card, using Polkadoodles Stamp Soup stamps, called Regal Peacock.  But … that name really is just a suggestion, for you could make a million different creations with these stamps because the results will come from your imagination.  You and I could begin with the same stamps and yet we’d make something way different from each other.

Here ….  take a look at them:

. . . can you see the peacock stamp in there? . . .  No?  That’s probably because there isn’t one!   I used 7 different stamps to make the peacock.  You can pick them out … they’re the ones which are a little darker in colour.  I used a black Stazon Ink Pad (solvent ink) so that I could then colour the images using watercolours.

You don’t have to be ‘neat and tidy’ when painting the Peacock feathers,  just free-handed with the paint.  Then once dry, all the feathers (which were stamped onto spare card, then painted) have to be cut out and then ‘feathered’ at the edges by cutting into the images with light, small cuts.  Those peacock feathers are then adhered to the main peacock body which I’d previously stamped and coloured using the watercolour paints, directly onto the card.

Finally …. some parts of the peacock were embossed with gold and green embossing powders.

. . .  and that’s all there was to it!

Although simple to make … I had to spread it over three days so it kind of felt a little time-consuming.  All the waiting for paint to dry, and cutting out of all the feathers….  little things, but they all added up to time.  But it was a totally, thoroughly enjoyable make, I have to admit.  A lot of fun – and I can’t wait to make something else with those stamps now.

So anyway …  how the divil are you?  I feel as if we haven’t got together for a coffee and chat for weeks and weeks.

In my world … the chubby dog (aka the Belly on legs) had to go to the vet this week.  I noticed that she had some tiny patches of hair loss on her back so off to the vets we went and after some examination and a bit of testing, we were told she’s got a Bacterial Skin Infection. (That’s the dog not the vet who has the skin infection).  So we have a little bottle of stuff which we have to massage into her skin … wait 5 minutes, then thoroughly wash off.  And we were given some tablets, which she has to have twice a day.

Now she really doesn’t mind the tablets.  She’s called ‘My Little Fat Bitch‘ for a reason.  She can eat as if it’s going out of fashion, and she thinks those tablets are treats, so woofs them down!

And  . . .   she really loves the massage bit of the stuff in the bottle … but … the bit she’s not at all happy with, is the  ‘wash it all off’  bit.  She HATES the shower.  HATES it.  Did I say that strongly enough? I’m not sure I did so let me repeat myself:    SHE HATES THE SHOWER.

She’s told me time and time again;  . . .   “Belly is not designed for getting wet.  Don’t let Belly get wet.  That umbrella …. that’s for Belly. Hold it down here, over Belly – NOT over you!   Don’t let Belly Get Wet!!“ 

She SO hates getting wet that she would rather plait her legs,  (‘braids’ for folks in the USA),  than go out into the garden to have a tiddle if it’s raining outside.  This adorable, much loved pooch  even squints in the rain.  Yes, seriously. I kid ye not!

So the massage and shower isn’t the most enjoyable task … but then … I don’t have to do it.  Mr. Cobs Senior takes on that job, (bless him)  because I feel like Cruella de Vil  if I try to do it.

When it’s all over and done with … you have to see that rotund little dog absolutely barrel out of that bathroom!   She’s like a bullet out of a gun!   It’s among the funniest things to watch …  and boy can her little legs can move when she wants them to!

So anyhoo  . . .  what’s going on in your corner that you’d like to share with me while we drink the last few sips of coffee from our cups?

Won the Lottery?  Got a new job?  Sold your house?  Adopted a new pet?  Or … by any chance . . .   Does your dog have a bacterial skin infection?  Your cat?  YOU?  I can recommend a vet!   🙂

Wishing you a thoroughly enjoyable Thursday.   May the hours go as fast, or as slow, as you would like them to.  Just find the fun and enjoy it.

Be the reason someone smiles today.  Heaps of squidges from me in my corner, to you in yours.

Three Little Fishies ~ an ATC/ACEO – painted for World Watercolour Month

Down in the meadow in a
little bitty pool
Swam three little fishies
And a mama fishie too
“Swim,” said the mama fishie,
“Swim if you can.”
And they swam and they swam all
over the dam
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Boop boop diten datem whatem choo
Boop boop diten datem whatem choo
Boop boop diten datem whatem choo
And they swam and they swam
right over the dam

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#WorldWatercolorMonth

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The idea of painting Koi Carp popped into my mind and so I went with it.   Never painted fish before so this was a surprise choice for me!

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Painted in ATC/ACEO size – 2.5″x 3.5″

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The poem is one I remember singing with my girls when they were little,  and I remember singing it with my mum when I was a little girl  (back before dirt was invented – at least it feels like that some days).

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.Anyhoo … 

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HAPPY MONDAY!  Yes, I know that you perhaps might not feel overly happy that it’s Monday … but hey …  you have two choices:  You can either feel miserable all day and totally miss out on any smiles which could come your way.  OR  …  you can choose to feel happy that although it’s Monday, You’re Alive!  Now that surely has got to be an improvement on the alternative.  So choose happy!

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But … you don’t have to.  However,  remember that which ever you choose,  happy or miserable,  it was YOUR choice to feel that way.  So you can’t complain that life has given you a rubbish day, because you chose ‘miserable’.

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(This is why I always choose ‘happy’.  It always ends up being the best choice I’ve found).

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But … which ever you choose, may your day be peaceful and may you feel like you’ve made a positive difference in someway to someone else.  Be the smile that someone else needs.  Just do it.

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Be nice to yourself  …  and each other.  It helps the world to go around in a much better way.

Sending love ~

Aarrr! Avast, me hearties; Swashbuckling Pirates Ahoy!

Hullo thar me hearties … It’s Pirate Cobs sailing the ocean waves!
Ok .. well no, not quite. It’s just me … showing you the card I made for my Grandson, on his birthday recently.  I’m totally besotted with this little chap. He’s the complete apple of my eye and he has me wrapped around his little finger. He gives out his orders: “Grammy, … come to ma rooom. C’mon Grammy. Come to ma rooom!” and up I get and toddle after him. Actually no, I don’t toddle after him. He waits at the start of the hallway and then holds my hand so that I don’t get lost on the way there. (Not joking. He actually does.).

This blog post about the pirate card is rather picture heavy, so I’ll try not to be too wordy and just post photographs with a bit of description to support each photo. But if there’s anything specific you want to ask, or you want to know either how I did something or what brand something is, or even where I bought something, then just give me a shout in a comment and I’ll answer any questions you might have.

(To make a comment: scroll up to the top of this post, to the heading: “Aarrr!  Avast, me hearties; Swashbuckling Pirates Ahoy!” – and look to the right of that title where you’ll see a pale grey speech bubble. If you hover your mouse over that speech bubble it will turn deep red. Click on that, and it will open up a comment box for you – and also show you any comments which might have already been made).

It was his 4th Birthday, so he’s still a little chap, and I kind of introduced him to Pirates about two years or so ago, when we were out shopping together – he was sat in my shopping trolley (‘cart’ for US folks) in Toys-R-Us when we came across a huge section of dress up clothes, and like the Magpie that I am, I went straight for the hats.  I tried several hats on the young man (and took hilarious photos on my phone camera of him in them) and couldn’t resist trying on the fabulous three-cornered pirate hat myself.  I told him what I was, and then did the ‘Aarrr me hearties’ pirate greeting, accompanied by the arm gesture, which he instantly caught onto and did back to me.  Awww reader, I so wish you could have been there.  I was hysterical with laughter, loving him and covering him in kisses, tears streaming down my face and all the time trying to get him to say it again, and again, and …. well, you get the idea.  He was such a tiny tot, and this made it all the funnier.

Oh well anyway … let’s get on with this card, shall we?

Start with 2 x 6″ sq. cards, and glue/tape together as shown in the photo above.

I tend to double-sided tape and use glue to fix both of the cards together.  It just makes the whole thing more sturdy.

Once fixed together, cut the cards as shown above.

You can click on any of these photographs here to make them bigger.  (But don’t forget to click ‘back’, to come back to reading!)

Using the two sections cut off in the previous photograph, fix your chosen papers (once cut to size) to those pieces of card.

Now is the time to fix either matching paper, or toning paper to the inside back of the card.

While your glue is drying on the main card, you can turn your attention to decorating those corner pieces. On this side of the ‘scene’, I’ve built a sandy beach by tearing some regular sandpaper carefully, into the shape I want it to be and then fixing it in place.

I had a devil of a job finding some of this sand coloured sand paper!  Everywhere had either black sandpaper or deep red coloured.  I very nearly kissed the shop owner when I finally found some!

My favourite part of card making! Decorating and embellishing. I added tiny, multi coloured fish. shells, star fish, and some sea glass ‘look’ beads – all made from plastic, into a fishing net (I have no idea of where I got this net from, but I know you can buy netting from lots of places). I added a bronze coloured metal starfish and a Tibetan Silver Seahorse too, for contrast.

And then added a few sprinkles of fine glitter, to make the ‘trawl’ in the net look wet and straight from the sea. I also added the rope (hairy string) around the edge of the scene.  Now is the time to fix this ‘flap’ into place.  I tend to use super strength red double-sided tape, but anything which you know is a really good fix, will do the trick.

The inside of the card …. I added some of the same papers, but wanted a little boy pirate and found the very thing in one of my Lili of the Valley topper books. I made the rolled up pirate maps from some faux parchment, and tied them up with deep red baby ribbon. The starfish brad was from a selection I’ve had for a while.

Although I used the same papers throughout the card, I wanted the paper on the ‘inside back’ to look more bright blue, like the sort of pirate seas you’d see in a children’s book, so I rubbed in some bright blue inks, carefully, to kind of brighten the sea to something more magical looking.  (If you do this, make sure you leave time for the paper to dry out).

The ‘front’ of the card. A tiny glass bottle filled with gold and silver teeny tiny gems, which twinkle and sparkle as the light catches them. An anchor hanging up to the top right, along with a little metal tag which reads: “Treasures”. Some miniature wooden cotton reels, onto which the rope (string) which surrounds the card edges is wound. A Tibetan Silver Mermaid holding a golden star, swims through the waves!

This front flap is left ‘swinging’ free.  You don’t fix this flap into place.  However … you can fix this into place if you’re making a card and want to have the card stand up by the use of either a stand specially made for the back – or by leaning the card on a wall or such.  You can then put tags inside the card for the recipient.

In this photograph you can see that there are tags now sitting inside the folded and stuck down section of the card, along with a ribbon loop for pulling the bigger tag out of the pocket.  There’s also a pocket watch hanging from the ribbon loop!

Showing how you stand the card up just using that one free corner.

Close up of the inside of the flap. I made the pirates eye patch by simply cutting a small circle out of black card, using a punch, then cutting the circle in half, and round off the corners. I used a large balling tool and firm mat to ‘bend’ the edges slightly; drew on the pirates skull and crossbones using a white pen, added some black string and VOILA!  Pirate Eye patch.

The ‘big’ tag removed from the pocket. I drew all those foot prints which ‘walk’ around the island, along with some palm trees. And of course … every good pirate map HAS to have an X which marks the spot where the treasure is hidden!

There are two tags hidden inside the larger tag. This photograph shows the back of the large tag – where there’s a poem for my Grandson, and these are one sides of the two small tags – one shows that rascal Captain Hook, with a string attached on which a pirates dagger is strung! The other tag is stamped and says: “You are the FUNSHINE of my life”, and this has a little gold love token hanging from it.

The other sides of the two little tags. One is stamped with ‘Happy Birthday’ and the other has a picture of Tic Toc, the naughty crocodile who bit Captain Hook!  I’ve only just realised that I haven’t shown you the wonderful Galleon ship which I put on the poem side of the card!  You can just about see the sails of it behind Tic Toc.  I had this rub on in my stash for about 6 years.  I wouldn’t part with it because I knew that I’d use it one day.  I wish I’d have taken a photograph of it to show you.  It’s just the nicest thing!

Let’s remember there’s a back of the card! That’s where all the pirate treasure is. Gold, Silver, Gems and Pearls!
The ’empty’ postcard was made using an Urban Stamp, and a lovely gingery brown ink pad. It’s where the dedication was written. (To … , Happy Birthday, love from … etc).

The box…. here, showing the inside of the box – lid and base.

The outside of the box, the card and … a little gold bag of Pirate Treasure!
The lid of the box was firstly decorated with a sheet of sand paper, onto which I fixed a Pirates Map. The fabulous Pirates, the Galleon, Flags etc etc were all an incredible accidental find in a supermarket. I ‘think’ it might have been Tesco, but if not there, then it may have been Sainsburys.
Inside the golden bag are two gold coins. Chocolate coins, naturally!

And that, as they say in TV land, is all there is to it!  Phew!  I swear it took longer to take the photo’s, load them onto the computer and re-size them, than it did to make the card!  (But then I’m useless with a camera so that’s no surprise! lol).  As promised, here is the very short pirate song which is my grandsons favourite song with regards to pirates:

Thank you so much for coming and sharing this fun card with me.  I hope you have a truly fabulous rest of your day!

Love and hugs ~