Festive Wreath

 

Back to festive crafting and I thought I'd use my wreath builder template because if you can't make a wreath in the run-up to Christmas when can you? I discovered some leaf frond type clear stamps that were from an old set I remember buying in Lakeland in the good old days when they sold craft products. I'd used some of the floral stamps in the set but I had never used these small wispy leaves before. I used 3 different stamps and Impress Emerald, Spring Green and Versafine spanish moss inks. I wanted some berries and whilst I could have gone for some red Stickles I used a sprinkles stamp from a build-a-cupcake set. The star gems were added to hide an ink blot. I used a circle die to cut out the centre and mounted it onto a 10.5cm square card blank. The sentiment by Paula Pascual is stamped on the card blank in Impress poppy red. I think next time I will position the fronds so that some of them stick out a little to fill the space a little better but on the whole I'm pleased with the result.

Monthly Challenge - November

 As a break from all things Christmas I finally completed my entry for the monthly alphabet challenge. The letter this month is : 

                                                                 K for Kiss

Colour options are Kelly Green and Khaki both of which are in this somewhere.

My original plan was more human-based and romantic but then I found this old frog/toad on a leaf stamp that I think I got years ago in a grab bag. Given the colour options this month a frog sounded like the perfect image and then I remembered this quote about kissing toads to find your prince. I stamped and masked the frog and leaf and then created some water and sky with DIs - tumbled glass, shabby shutters and salty ocean. The 'water' had a stencil and peacock feathers added to it to give a sort of rippling effect. The main image was coloured with Coloursoft pencils and solvent. The stitched clouds are from a Sizzix landscape set and the reeds are by Craft Emotions cut from a scrap of card. I hand cut a gold crown and printed out the quotation. Now back to Christmas...

Festive Bauble

 Continuing with my Christmas cards I used this Sizzix die which I bought some months ago but hadn't used. I cut it from green card but decided the bird needed to be a contrasting colour so I used gold card for the bird and the two small pieces that made up the hanger. The blank space at the top of the bauble was crying out for a sentiment and this one by a company called Funstamps seemed to fit best. The card base was embossed with a snowflake folder and once the bauble was stuck down I added some candy cane Stickles to the berries and a small piece of wired ribbon.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

There's something about this card I find joyful - it makes me smile when I see it. I think it's the pop of red against the white and grey. The image is by Crafty Individuals, I've had my eye on it since it was launched so when I saw it for sale on eBay I decided to bid for it. I stamped it with Versafine Smokey Grey rather than harsh black - it adds to the faded vintage feel of the image. I made a batch of 12 of these stage by stage with the help of a stamping platform and some exact measuring (for a change). I cut out the card first (8 x 9.5cm) and with a few trial pieces positioned the stamp on the platform so that it fit on the card exactly. After that it was very fast to stamp each image out accurately.

I then used barn door DI with a waterbrush to paint the umbrellas. I wanted to replace the snow on the umbrella but neither a white gel pen nor a white Posca pen managed to give a pure white - both seemed to soak up the red ink and dried pink. Finally I achieved the result I wanted with white enamel accents. When dry I matted the stamped image with some red paper. The base card was embossed with the Sizzix falling snow embossing folder. The sentiment is a well-used stamp that I had made years ago. I debated stamping it in red but I didn't want it to detract from the focal red of the umbrella. I hope the card gives you Joy.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

 Christmas. A work in progress. Watch this space...

Salvaging A Disaster

 Maybe repurposing would be a better word rather than salvaging. I attempted to make a card several weeks ago with blended DIs and stamping. It did not go well - the blending was very patchy and the card did not look the way I had envisaged in my head. It sat on my desk glaring at me for several weeks but it was something that couldn't be fixed so the next time I needed some card for diecutting I picked it up to use the blank reverse. The die I used was from a set of 2 I bought a few weeks ago at The Works. I cut it out and while poking the waste out, noticed how good the inked side looked. I think the inks were squeezed lemonade, peacock feathers and brushed corduroy DIs. I first used brushed corduroy on the diecut sentiment but it didn't have enough impact so I diecut the sentiment again with black card and stuck it on top to give a more stacked effect. This is what's left of the original card:

New Stamps - Spring Flowers

I couldn't resist this big, bold tulip stamp when I saw it online and when it arrived I had to have a play. I stamped with Memento tuxedo black and coloured with alcohol markers. The sentiment is from another set that arrived at the same time.

The card below was stamped with Versafine onyx black and coloured with scribbled marker pens and a water brush. I was trying to recreate the look of Rembrandt tulips which are the multi-coloured ones. The sentiment, again from the new set was stamped with Versafine moss green. Did you know the variation in colour is the result of a virus that has been bred into them? OK no more virus talk!

 

Summer Lavender

 

Whilst I had the Katzelkraft stamp set out that I used in my previous post I stamped a few more images that reminded me of the warmth of summer. They were both coloured with scribbled marker pens and a waterbrush. The card above was stamped with Memento London fog and the stamped panel was mounted onto a card blank with foam pads. I added some tiny punched butterflies and some punched photo corners.

This was stamped with Versafine smoky gray, matted onto some patterned paper and stamped with a Paula Pascual sentiment.

Wishing You Joy

I am determined to only have happy posts on this blog during lockdown so let me start with this card - made just because - it makes me happy looking at it and I enjoyed the process of making it.

The trellis diecut is the same as in my previous card, in fact it was meant for the other card but I ended up ripping the front when I removed the tape holding the die in place so this is the reverse of that diecut. The watering can is a lovely image from an old Katzelkraft set (KTZ251-02) which I coloured in with watercolour pencils. The sentiment is a diecut and stamp by Simon Says Stamp inked with Wilted Violet DO. The yellow centres for the flowers were made with some very old (over 20 years I think) Tulip fabric paint. I thought yellow centres would finish off the flowers nicely but didn't know what to use. Whilst searching through my Posca Pens (I didn't have yellow anyway) I found some old Tulip paint bottles. I know I had gone through them years ago and thrown out the dried out ones so I was pleasantly surprised to find that this one worked perfectly - I'll have to give the others a try soon. So joyous wishes to everyone reading this.

Quick and Easy...

Because I'm not feeling like doing anything too complicated. With lockdown 2.0 looming here in England and the weather getting steadily worse I feel it's going to be a long, bleak winter (sorry if you started  reading this to cheer yourself up). I debated whether to restart my Lockdown Cards series but decided against that. This is a speedy diecut only card for a friend. I used a bargain set of 2 inlay dies from The Works for the trellis effect and an Amazon die purchase for the sentiment. The paper is from the My Mind's Eye Adventure pad - bright, cheerful colours which make me feel a little brighter and more cheerful. Stay safe and well wherever you are.