Masculine Mask

Project By Annette Lee

With Father's Day looming, the panic sets in when it comes to making cards for the men in our lives. Hopefully this will give you a little inspiration. I just love my SplodgeAway Mat and it has definitely earned it's place on my craft table.

Materials Used

SplodgeAway Mat

SplodgeAway Masks : Jimbo Machine & Trellis

SplodgeAway Easy Ink Card

Cosmic Spray Inks (2 colours)

Darkroom Door Stamps / Archival Black Ink

Distress Inks: Scattered Straw / Black Soot

To make, set up a spray box and spritz your card stock with your choice of Cosmic Spray Ink and allow to dry or speed it up with a heat gun.

Next run the card through your Grand Calibre and emboss with the trelis mask and trim to size.

Lay you Jimbo Machine Mask onto the centre of the card and spritz with another colour ink.Leave the mask in place to dry.

When dry transfer the card and Jimbo Machine Mask onto your SplodgeAway Mat and use complimentary DI and deepen the shading around the mask. At the same time blend around the edges with Black Soot. 

On a spare piece of Easy Ink Card stamp your focal image. Use DI to lightly colour the image, mat onto black card.

Add your sentiment and stamped image to the corner and finish by matting the whole card onto black card and attach to your card base.

Now I'll let you into a secret - next week we'll be asking you to show us your creations and there's a rumour of a GIVEAWAY.

See you tomorrow

TFL

Annette x



The Mechanical Bird

Materials Used

The Jimbo Machine Mask

Distress Inks : Antique Linen – Crushed Olive – Tea Dye, Weathered Wood, Mustard Seed, Walnut Stain

Serif Craft Artist

Cricut Cage Embellishment

Glossy Accents

How To...

First emboss an 8 x 8 white card with the SplodgeAway Mask

Put the Inks onto the SplodgeAway mat in a line. Start with the Mustard Seed ink, bring it across to the card and blend it onto the cogs sparingly. Next blend in the Tea Dye and Crushed Olive, let them blend a little on the SplodgeAway mat. Finally, darken the edges with the Antique Linen.

Highlight the cogs and swirls with glossy accents to give a raised look.

For the Square Topper - Blend with the Antique Linen and Weathered Wood and finish off sparingly with Walnut Stain just on the side edge of the card.

The Bird topper was made using the Serif Craft Artist 'Steampunk Range' – print the bird onto a backing paper made with the Steam punch scrapbook images. Print the bird another three times on its own and cut out a full image, a wing and a head. Use these images to decoupage the bird. Randomly rip the paper into a shape you like and attach to the Square topper.

Make a tag using thick card and Stencil the edges through on of the cogs off the Splodge-A- Mask.

Use a Sentiment of your choice.

 

 

The Bird cage was made on the Cricut Cutting machine but you could also use a stamp and cut it out.

Hints & Tips

When you want to blend your ink into the middle of the card or right across it, warm up your ink onto the SplodgeAway mat so that the ink is more open and will spread more easily.

Hope you Enjoy

Sam x

The Striped Lady

Today, Dimply has put together another example using the Jimbo Machine Splodge-A-Mask.

What You Will Need

8 x 8 scalloped card

SplodgeAway Mask - Jimbo Machine 

Old Paper / Brushed Corduroy / Vintage Photo Distress Inks

Stickles  Paprika

Jenny Elroy free paper

Double sided tape / 3 D foam pad tape

Silicon glue

How to Make

Make a card measuring 17cm x 17cm

Emboss using the Jimbo SplodgeAway mask

Distress the front, highlighting the embossed pattern

Cut out a topper to fit into the space in the middle of the mask

Cut out a piece of card into a label shape, and distress

Punch a hole in the top and add a piece of ribbon

Add a key to front of label with silicon glue (allow to dry)

Add Stickles through the mask (allow to dry)

Attach label to front of card with 3d foam tape

Add other embellishment to suit your style

Thanks For Joining In

Distressed Splodge-A-Mask

Welcome to this week's daily SplodgeAway blog postings. Today's project has been created by Sarah, who when you next see her check out her fingers - cos she must have had one heck of a play time with those Distress Inks to create this project.

By Sarah Savont

SplodgeAway Mask

SplodgeAway Mat

SplodgeAway High Resolution Card

SplodgeAway Easy Ink Card

Distress Inks

Crafty Sentiments stamp-He loves me

Black Memento Ink

Spectrum Noir Pens

Grand Calibur / Nestabilities - Romantic Rectangles

Stickles /Gems/Spray and Sparkle-iridescent/White Card Candi

3 small flowers,  2 brown,  1 white

Double sided tape /Silicone

8x8 Scalloped Card

 To make........

Stamp chosen  image onto SplodgeAway High Resolution card using memento ink.

Colour using Spectrum Noir Pens

Die cut image with 2nd largest Romantic Rectangles Nestabilities. Distress using SplodgeAway mat around the edges using Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans

Using 3 flowers 2 brown and 1 white distressed with faded jeans thread stems through top right eyelet of small rectangle, hold in place with double sided tape.

Using SplodgeAway easy Ink Card and largest of the Nestabilities die cut rectangle

Distress using Rusty Hinge ink all over card

Place mask over rectangle making sure cogs are showing along left hand side distress over mask using Aged Mahogany ink.

Cut a 7x7” square of Easy Ink card and distress in Rusty Hinge ink

Place mask over square and place topper over the top moving the mask until happy with position and remove topper.

Distress with Faded Jeans over the mask and whole of square giving project a green tinge

Spray and Sparkle over both large rectangle and 7x7 square leaving to dry.

Stickle around edges of square in crystal

Using yellow Stickle glitter around the inner border of large square.

Place small topper onto large rectangle at an angle and add to large square using double sided tape.

Distress edges of 8x8 card blank using faded jeans.

Add 7x7 onto card blank

Distress 8 white Card Candi’s 4 in faded jeans and 4 in rusty hinge.  Add Card Candi to the corners of card and place gems on circles of rectangles  to finish off card.

Coggish Frame Splodge-A-Mask

By Karen Wright 

I hope you’re all enjoying the new SplodgeAway Blog and are taking inspiration away with you, this week I’m using the Coggish Frame SplodgeAway Mask and this is how I made it.

Taking a piece of 7  ½ x 7 ½ die cuts with a view card stock, lay down the mask, take a natural sponge and dab your chosen colour ink through the mask, on this occasion I chose big and juicy birthday. Distress the edges with the same colour ink, that’s your background complete.

The centre piece

Cut a piece of 4 x4 patterned paper. I’ve used Making Memories, distress the edges using Big and Juicy ink and SplodgeAway  Blending Mat.

Using a paper piercer, pierce the centre to give you room to get the tip of your scissors through, cut diagonally into the corners make sure to stop  about 2 cms from edges, tear some of the centre paper and roll towards the edges to make a centre frame.

Ink up your chosen image, I’ve used  Crafty Individuals CI 202, stamp onto coloured card or distressed/ brayer background, place this directly on your background, then mount your frame with 3D foam over the top.

To finish add twine and a metal making memories washer, then chose 2 coordinating colours of bias binding and make a creased bow, add 2 decorative pins and a button to finish, I always add a drop of glossy accents to the points of the pins to avoid any nasty accidents.

Mount it on an 8 x8 scalloped card from Suzicraft.

Lo and behold not a drop of stickles in sight!

Enjoy your creativity

 Karen x

Letting Off Steam

We're doing things a bit different on the SplodgeAway Blog this week. This week we shall be posting something different everyday as the amazing DT has been working really hard and put together some fantastic samples and tutorials. I would like to give them more credit so we're now posting daily. That means you can pop back here for a dose of daily inspiration..... this week the DT have been playing with the SteamPunk Frame. This has versatility written all over it and hopefully you'll see the different ways it has been used. So without further ado let me introduce you to another newbie........ Nicki...

 

A Few Things You Need To Know About Nicki.....

Favourite Crafting Product? 

Stamps – I have never grown out of my love of colouring in pictures! I would say 99% of my cards feature a stamped image as the main focal point and on the rare occasions I make a simpler card without an image, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something missing.

Crafting influence?

The world of blogging – I’ve been inspired so much by all the fabulously talented cardmakers who share their gorgeous creations on their blogs. I also love to enter blog challenges as they’re a great way to kick-start your creativity when you’re short of ideas.

3 words to describe me?

I would have to say Creative, Obsessive, and Organised (my craft area has to be tidy, I can’t work if it’s messy and I even file my card scraps by colour!)

How Do You Feel About Working on The SplodgeAway DT?

I love how the SplodgeAway products work brilliantly to enhance my favourite techniques, but I’m also looking forward to being pushed out of my comfort zone a bit, trying different products and learning new things.

Nicki has a come up with a very clean style for us this week. Leave your comments and let us know your thoughts.

You Will Need:

SplodgeAway Mask – Clockwork Frame

Distress Inks – Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen

Stamps - pocket-watch and sentiment

Dies / punches - cogwheels (mine are actually flowers!), chain, oval

Colouring pencils

How To:

Emboss a square of pale brown cardstock with the SplodgeAway Clockwork Frame mask, and then use your SplodgeAway Mat to blend Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Ink onto the cardstock to highlight the embossing. Mat the finished square onto a dark brown panel then onto a cream square card blank.

 

Cut a piece of cream cardstock to fit within the frame area of the design, stamp it randomly with a pocket-watch design using Tea Dye ink, blend the edges with Antique Linen and Tea Dye inks. Stamp the pocket-watch on a scrap of card and cut it out, colour with pencils and fix to your stamped panel with 3D foam pads.

 

Die cut some cogs and chains from black cardstock, add gold circle stickers to the centres, and fix them to your card.

Stamp your sentiment onto a scrap of card, distress with inks and cut out with an oval punch or die. Fix to your card with 3D foam pads.

Mask It with Splodge-A-Mask !

This week, the  DT got to play with some of the Splodge-A-Masks and the lovely Karen Wright provided the Design Team with a Sketch Challenge. We were asked to incorporate either the Butterfly Swirl or Butterfly Flourish SplodgeAway Masks. Here is the sketch and Karen's card.

Feel free to interpret any way you want, you can turn it and flip it, the circles don’t have to be circles and the squares don’t have to be squares, as long as we can still see the sketch. The most important thing is to have fun.

Project By Karen Wright

Click here to view tutorial

 There's a number of different techniques in the design of Karen's card and the use of butterflies have really brought this card to life.




Sarah and Annette both followed the sketch quite closely and produced some very different results.

Project By Annette Lee

Annette used the butterfly swirl mask. It was spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Mist -Antique Green and distressed with shabby shutter DI to create her background. You just need to allow the spritzed ink to dry before distressing otherwise the patina will rub off! 

Project By Sarah Craggs

Click here for Sarah's tutorial

Sarah really went to town messing with her DI's. She did comment that the SplodgeAway polymer blending mat helped her get the  great effects she was looking to achieve.

Project By Dimply

Click here for Dimply's Tutorial

Dimply decided to use the detail of the mask as her focal point for her inspiration. The results have produced a clean line  elegant card with a concentrated colour palette.   

Although this project does not follow the sketch directly, its quality and clean lines reflect the versatility of the Splodge-A-Masks well.

Project By Suzicraft Susan

Click here for Susan's Tutorial

Susan, embossed Cordinations Cardstock with the Splodge-A-Mask through her Grand Calibur and sanded to get this lovely subtle effect.

I would like to Introduce Sue Jimson, the newest member of the DT team.  We asked Sue the same questions that we asked the rest of the team and this is what she said....

O.K... Sue tell us a bit about you....
I am a busy wife, mother and nana. Even though my two children have left home now they always find their way back with my two adorable grandsons in tow.  I’m either found in my craft room or in the kitchen. I’m on a carers break from work as my lovely hubby Paul isn’t well and this played a huge part in getting back into crafting as I make cards for charity and it was my way of de-stressing.

Another member of our family is our cocker spaniel Ollie who I bought for Paul when he had to retire from work because if  his health, he goes everywhere with us and has been known to partake in my crafting goodies if I forget to close the door to my craft room.  Ollie will do anything for a biscuit and when he visits Suzicraft, Tom is always found sneaking custard creams to him....


What is your favourite crafting product?
This is a hard question to answer as I have a few but I would say my distress inks and SplodgeAway mat as I use this all the time.

Who is your Crafting Hero/influence?
My art teacher who took me through my ‘O’ and ‘A’ level art. She was amazing and a total inspiration

What 3 words best describe you?
Outgoing, Friendly and Omptimistic

How do you feel about being on the Design Team?
I’m really excited and honoured to have been asked to join the team. It’s going to be challenging and rewarding and I’m so happy to be working with a great bunch of people

Project By Sue Jimson

Click here for Sue's Tutorial

Sue on the other hand turned the sketch around to create an A5 size card. The creative versatility of the mask in her embossing techniques has produced an amazing background and is something that I'm looking forward to trying out.

Tom, Susan and DT members would love to see your projects and how you have used your masks. I know that new designs are in the pipeline - can't wait! All the current designs are available on the SplodgeAway Web site if you want to take a look.

I would like to say thank you to our talented designers for their contributions this week. 

TFL

Annette x

Let's Meet and Greet The Team

Hello Crafty Bloggers

Welcome to the SplodgeAway Blog. Why not get yourself a cup of tea or coffee and relax while we introduce you to SplodgeAway, the SplodgeAway Design Team and explain why we've started this blog.

The Suzicraft Story

In 2005 both Tom and I was made redundant from good jobs within months of each other. After crying for a few weeks we pulled ourselves together and focused on finding a solution!

Click here for the whole story……

Firstly, let me introduce you to two amazing individuals who have brought us all together.....


Tom Johnson

My name is Tom Johnson.  I am a 34 year old man and I have a passion for both art & business.  Susan & I not only live together but work together as we are joint owners of Suzicraft. 

SplodgeAway has spawned from my drive to cut a path into the craft manufacturing sector while Susan takes the lead on our successful retail business.

I have a vision that SplodgeAway will become a large and successful trade supplier of new and innovative crafting products & technologies and inspire crafters from all walks of life to develop their skills, share their knowledge and boost the overall participation in paper crafts. 

What is your favourite crafting product?
It has to be my first invention, The SplodgeAway Polymer Resin Blending Mat.  This mat is the “bee knees!” and makes blending inks a breeze.  It also allows a range of exciting and innovative techniques.  But I can’t help being bias.

Who is your Crafting Hero/influence?
My influence has to be my childhood tutor in photography and creative crafting Irene Reddish.  She has more letters after her name than the alphabet and skill to supersede them.  Irene holds an MA a BA and also studied at the prestigious Royal College of Art in London.

Give 3 words that best describe you?
Innovative, Driven & Focused can I also add Chatterbox??

How do you feel about working on the SplodgeAway Design Team?
I am not only very excited but honoured that I am working with some AMAZING individuals.  I think that with the team that Annette Lee and I are putting together, nothing will stop us!  The future is really exciting......  Watch this space!

Now I would like to introduce you to Susan….



Susan Boyce

Who is your crafting influence?
My crafting influence has got to be Karen Wright. When we first started the markets Karen invited me to her house and taught me lots of new techniques.

Give 3 words that best describes yourself?
This is a hard question to answer! I would say I am a stressful, helpful and focused individual.

How do you feel about working on the design team?
I am very excited to be working with the design team as it gives me an excuse to craft every week and push my own boundaries. I think we’ll have a great time and I am very excited to be working with them.

Your Favourite crafting product?
Obviously, my favourite product that I use with everything is the SplodgeAway mat as I distress everything!
My other favourite products are the 12x12 K&Co paper pads. They are so versatile and can be used with cards, scrapbooks, die cuts and more.

Thanks to Susan for sharing this first project.

For a full tutorial on creating this card, Click Here

Now let's introduce our amazing Design Team

This is Karen Wright,

My Name is Karen Wright I’m a 40 something mum of 3 and wife to a very understanding husband!  I work part time and craft in all my other spare time.


What is your favourite crafting product?
I would have to say my favourite craft product has to be stickles, if you’ve ever made a card, finished it and then thought it needs a little something more, add stickles to your layers it makes a world of difference.


Who is your crafting influence?
I take my inspiration from other crafting blogs, magazines and the internet, there is a world of inspiration on the www.


Give 3 words that best describes yourself?
If I had to pick 3 words to describe my personality they would have to be thoughtful, fun, and kind.


How do you feel about working on the design team?
I am so happy to be on the SplodgeAway design team, this is an innovative new product that will only go from strength to strength, apart from working with the fun new products I also get to share my passion of crafting to a wide audience and I only hope I give back some inspiration as I’ve got from others. 
Here's Karen's first project, The Cute Scene Card...

For a full tutorial on this project click here

Next meet Sarah Craggs........

 I’m Sarah Craggs, aka Sarah Savont, I’m a 27 year old mum of 2 boys. I have been crafting for 7-8 years and started when I met my Mother-In-Law who made cards, I had a go one day and from then on I’ve been hooked, my 1^st attempt still makes people laugh as it had everything and anything stuck on anywhere…I’m pleased to say that I have come on leaps and bounds since then.

I love crafting but after having my kids I didn’t craft as much as I wanted but since Suzicraft opened in September I have got the crafting buzz back and am now more crafty than ever!
My favourite crafting product has got to be stickles and gems, I love using them on all cards and projects I do…every card has got to have a bit of sparkle and bling.

Who is your Crafting Hero/influence?
I get inspiration from anywhere and everywhere, I spend hours looking at other peoples work and finding a style that I like and then adapting it to suit my needs. I love spending time in Suzicraft as I can get so many ideas from all the customers who drop in daily and they give me so many hints and tips which I like to go home and try.

What 3 words best describe you?
Oh my how do I describe myself in just 3 words…I could say I’m amazing and popular and gorgeous but that would just be a lie so I will have to go with Loyal, giggly and outgoing. (big gob, Tom didn’t write this)

How do you feel about being on the Design Team?
Honestly I’m so scared about being part of the Design Team, but I’m really excited to be working with the rest of the team and all the gorgeous SplodgeAway products, most of all I’m looking forward to an exciting future working under Splodge Away.
This is Sarah's first project and card fold tutorial

For a full tutorial on this project, Click Here

Next let me introduce..... Claire Kemp - aka Dimply

My name is Claire Kemp, but a lot of people know me as Dimply, I have been crafting now for about 2 – 3 years. It started off about 3 years ago when I learnt how to make bead jewellery, I did that for about 1 ½ years, then started with card making as found it more challenging and so much more rewarding. I have been going to Suzicraft now for approx 7 months

What is your favourite crafting product?
I would have to say that my favourite crafting product is a little bit of everything, stamps, distress inks, dies, spectrum noir pens but most of all I love using my SPLODGEAWAY mat, I us it on pretty much everything I make, from distressing cards, to using my water pens to colour in my stamps.

Who is your Crafting Hero/influence?
I get my inspiration from everybody around me, I see other people doing projects then go home and try to do them, but try and adapt them to my own style.

What 3 words best describe you?
I’d describe myself as friendly, kind, helpful, wacky, funny and inventive, oh that’s more than 3 isn’t it?

How do you feel about being on the Design Team?

I would say I am petrified about being on the DT but I hope the more I get involved the better I will feel about it, and I hope that I will do the Splodge away products justice.

Dimply's first project for us is this lovely distressed card

For a full tutorial on this project, Click Here

Next up I'll introduce you to Sam Crowe....

I am a stay at home Mum. I gave up work at age 40 to look after my kids.  Last year I decided to set up a small business to give me a good excuse to craft all day every day.  I have always had an interest in crafts of all kinds.  In my 30’s I went back to college and studied Interior Design, Soft Furnishings and Arts & Crafts, I have also completed a Painting and Decorating course, which all comes back to my love of colours and design. 

What is your favourite crafting product?
 My favourite product apart from my “Corner Punch” is my stash of distress inks and my stamps.  I know I am only supposed to give one item but inks and stamps just go hand in hand, and of course I love to mess about with them using my SplodgeAway.

Who is your Crafting Hero/influence?
 My crafting hero is my Mam.  From a very early age she had me stripping wallpaper, painting walls, doing small tapestries or latch hook rugs and knitting, making paper flowers or making my own skirt for a party. She always made it fun and was very patient.  My crafting influence now is Annette Lee who heads our SplodgeAway Design Team. She always has new ideas and has a wealth of knowledge and techniques under her belt.  I have learnt so much from Annette through classes and demonstrations. 

What 3 words best describe you?
 Three words that describe me…. IMAGINATIVE… ENTHUSIASTIC…SOCIABLE…

How do you feel about being on the Design Team?
I felt honoured to be asked to be on the team.  Tom showed me his SplodgeAway mat quite a while ago and I can honestly say I don’t know how I did ink blending before I had it.  I remember playing with a glass mat now and again and getting frustrated because the ink dries up on the glass too quickly.  My SplodgeAway mat is part of my basic, “never leave home without it” crafting kit.  I was telling everyone how great it was long before I was asked to be on the Suzicraft SplodgeAway DT because I really believe in the product.  I want people to buy it because I know they will be so glad that they did.

This is Sam's first SplodgeAway Project, the Shabby Sheek Bag....

For a full tutorial on this project, ClickHere

And finally, there's me... 

I'm Annette Lee aka Design Team Co-ordinator. I hope that you'll continue to support the work shown on the blog, and be inspired by the eclectic mix of style. After all that is what we want to do - just share our crafting passion and inspiration. We've got Guest Bloggers, Challenges, Give Aways and so much more to come. We are hoping to post something new every Sunday evening and would love you to pop along and leave comments and join in.

As many of you know I have been working as a freelance designer/demonstrator for the past 12 years. I met Tom and Susan last year and was impressed by their spirit and vision to allow others to join them on their creative journey. 

Who is your Crafting Hero/influence?
My inspiration comes in various disguises -   Artists, Flowers,  Fellow Designers and Colour.

What 3 words best describe you?
Three words to describe myself -  I had to ask my husband for this one and he came up with ...Creative... Dynamic and Inspiring.... (I'll pay him later!) 

What is your favourite crafting product?
My favourite crafting product - a pencil. This is a very undervalued and unloved tool!

I'm very much looking forward to being part of this journey, getting to know DT members and you readers. I'll leave you with a simple blended, distressed single layer card. By using the SplodgeAway mat and the Easy Ink Card, the stress of getting dark lines and blobs of ink was removed and my crafting experience much more pleasurable. Get that mat and inks out and SPLODGE!

For my tutorial, Click Here

Now go and get another cup of coffee xxx