London Calling - cards with british techniques

I really had a great time being a guest artist for Club Scrap with the London Calling Greeting to Go set.  You can see all of my finished cards on the Club Scrap blog.  I'm going to feature a few here with some extra details on the techniques.

I'm not actually part of the hop this month, so if you got lost along the way, check out Kay, who follows me when I participate!

My first technique features some cards made using a Lace' template:

I found these Lace' templates in a craft store somewhere in England.  For the first card, I taped the template to the light green cardstock, and cut around the outside and one side (a different template - not shown - was used for the second card).  I'm working on the backside of the card, and I've used the neon blue ink to stamp the text stamp to add some interest.

After trimming both sides, it looks like this.

Using a bone folder, I folded back the outer triangle and tucked it into the inner triangle.  It works best to have a nice contrast between the back and front, so I did darken up the back by using some darker ink and stamping more text.

I thought it needed a bit more embellishment, so I punched out some hearts, and added those in the empty spaces.

I traced around the template, and used a craft knife to cut a mat for the piece.  These particular templates are no longer being made, but the Cut, Fold, and Tuck dies from Spellbinders will do all of the cutting for you, making this a much easier project!

Many of the stamps in this kit have a great vintage feel to them, so I had a great time using some distress stains to make backgrounds for two of the card panels.  I just dabbed some distress stain in vintage photo, peeled paint, and broken china on a non-stick craft mat, sprayed with water, and swabbed up the color to make two panels.  I dropped water on the backgrounds and sprayed them a bit after drying to create a little more blending and texture.

I used a variety of images from the London Calling stamps to create the background, making sure to use different colors of distress ink (vintage photo and walnut stain) and to spray some of the images to create a bit of random fading and blurring.  I did use an ink blending tool and distress ink around the edges after this to create a nice ink frame around the panels.

I used the frame image from the kit to frame the sentiment.  I embossed the sentiment so I didn't need to worry about whether my image was dark enough to cover up the frame image.

I finished these up with embellishments from the kit for two gorgeous cards.  I love how they started out with the same techniques and colors, but still have a different feel to them.

My last British technique to share is decoupage.  You can find sheets of these in nearly every crafting store.  In America, the Paper Wishes company sells these as Paper Tole.  In England, the technique means to layer progressively smaller images on top of each other to create stunning depth in your cards.  Some stamps, like the one from the main collection sheet, also lend themselves to this technique.

Start by stamping your image on multiple pieces of paper.  My base image will be the blue image since the sky and water are blue (no coloring!).

I added a bit of gloss and shine to "London" by using a clear glue (like Glossy Accents) that was already died red.

For the second layer, I colored the postmark and the bridge.  I don't need to worry about staying in the lines, since I'll be cutting portions of the images out.  I wanted my big ben to be nice and bright in the front, so I didn't color the third image.

Next, trim your images out.  I didn't worry about trimming around the spikes on Big Ben.

Layer all of the images together using foam tape.  You can see the depth of the images here, with Big Ben two layer above the base of the card, but the bridge is only one layer up.

It doesn't take much to finish this card when you have such a fabulous focal image.

If you're not into the work of doing a scene, cutting out a single image and mounting it on foam tape can also be stunning.

The red coloring on the telephone booth and scattered dots in the background comes from a British product - Derwent's inktense blocks.  They are a permanent ink in a block form - you work with them like watercolors.  While wet, you can blend them, but once dry, they have a super intense color and are permanent.  This makes layering colors really interesting.  They also make them in pencil form. We toured the Derwent factory on our honeymoon (isn't my husband perfect to take me to crafty places on our vacations?), so their products hold a special place in my heart.

I hope you enjoyed my tour through some of the details on these cards, and that you have fun creating cards and works of art with the London Calling kit!