The Wreath Builder

 I've been spending (wasting) a lot of time on You Tube recently and one of the channels I've been watching has been Jennifer McGuire's. She has made a few videos using the Gina K wreath builder which is a template that you use with a stamping platform to help you place stamps to form a continuous circular(-ish) pattern. There are various instructions online to make your own template which I had a go at but then I saw something similar for sale on eBay and bought it. Below was my homemade attempt. As you can see it’s not perfect as the images are not equally aligned but it was enough to convince me that I would enjoy using this template.

The beauty of this is that you can use any stamps to build up a wreath shape and it is a great way of using up some of the smaller filler stamps you get in sets. I started with a floral themed one but any stamps can be used. I used some Altenew stamps from the beautiful day set with Impress spring green, Memento bamboo leaves and some Brilliance ink pads. I then added some tiny stamps from a couple of old Paula Pascual sets. When I'd finished stamping I coloured with alcohol markers and added some gems and glossy accents to the larger flower centres. The sentiment is from a Paula Pascual set stamped in Versafine spanish moss onto a diecut circle with a larger circle in orange underneath. I mounted this onto some diecut foam for extra dimension. The 4" square panel was matted onto some orange card with the corners punched out and then placed on a green square card blank.

I'm eager to try some more techniques with the wreath builder.

Word Girl

I stamped and coloured this image with alcohol markers some time ago and she has been sitting in the pile of shame on my desk peeping out at me every now and then and asking to be made up into a card. Her time finally came last night when she found herself some suitable companions in the pile.

The image is part of the WordGirl series by Star Trish Designs on Etsy and she is a good size for an A6 card. The scrap of patterned paper is from a Crafty Individuals pad and the papers are so lush I am reluctant to throw anything away. I didn't use the brighter red piece in the end but I cut a small part of the darker red card and embossed it with a bubble wrap embossing folder. I put the pieces together on a scrap of card smooshed with wilted violet, fossilized amber and twisted citron DOs. These were put onto a piece of plastic one at a time, sprayed with water and picked up on the card.

Here's the result:

Quick Congratulations

 

My son wanted a quick card to send to friends who have just discovered they are expecting a baby. I reached for this Crafter's Companion stamp & die set. It actually comes with a stamp and die of 2 champagne glasses for the centre but I didn't feel that was appropriate so I used an old teddy bear punch in (gender neutral) yellow. I also cut a matting circle in yellow. That's it - really quick and easy just the way I like it!

Monthly Challenge - August

 

I'm definitely in a cute frame of mind with this month's monthly challenge. The letter is

                                                             S for Summer

The colour options are scarlet, salmon and sepia.

I had a completely different idea for this - more vintage using a Crafty Individuals stamp with beach huts but I realised I'd not used this Sizzix/My Life Handmade die set called Great Outdoors. I've been reading a lot in the Press about staycations and camping and the caravan die in this set came to mind. All the die cuts came from this set including the 'hello' sentiment.

I watercoloured some stripes onto watercolour paper and then added the die cuts made mostly from scraps on my desk. I coloured the hearts and other bits with alcohol markers. The 'summer' text was stamped with some old peg alpha stamps onto patterned paper and then punched out with a small circle punch. I added Glossy Accents onto the letters for a little dimension. The windows and the hearts were given a coat of Wink of Stella for a little shimmer.

Die Cut Letters

 A few posts back I mentioned using papers that had gone wrong by die cutting letters. You can see the post here . I was playing with some Brushos, took the sprinkling and spritzing too far and ended up with this mess:

I decided to use it to try out a new die that had just arrived and if it was still a disaster it could then go in the bin. This was the result:

I diecut the words with the new die and stuck them to a piece of scrap card which I die cut with Tim Holtz's ornamental die. The little starburst shapes are a punch and I edged the die with Impress emerald ink. I outlined the lettering with a fine pen and mounted this onto an embossed piece of card that I had done for another project but not used. I could have stuck all this onto a plain white card blank but I decided it would tie everything together better if I had a small frame in green around the edge.This was achieved by using a blending sponge to add some Impress emerald . Few few pearl gems finished off the card.

Monthly Challenge - July

I'm a bit late with last month's alphabet challenge but the letter was that awkward one -

                                                                     X for Xenophile

The only colour available was Xanthic which is a bright yellow like mustard seed DI.

A Xenophile is the opposite of a Xenophobe so the theme was to depict an aspect of a country you love that is not your own.

One of the reasons I was so late was I couldn't decide which country to choose. I finally opted to use my Sizzix/Tim Holtz destination die because I love to travel. I adore visiting places with different cultures, sampling different foods, meeting different people and trying to learn a few words of a different language and at this moment in time I would gladly visit anywhere if I could.

I decided to get my Brushos out and made a background of violet, yellow, gamboge and scarlet. After cutting it I overstamped with a Paper Artsy text stamp and Versafine smokey grey. I used turquoise and white Brushos mixed with water to paint the base of the postcard and added some random stamps. A scrap of card was coloured with Impress cerulean blue and I die cut explore, adventure and discover from the Sizzix/Tim Holtz adventure words set for the background. The main words in white are from the same set. I added some photo corners punched from some of the waste card