New DT Role!

Hi guys

WARNING - Long post, please do grab a comfy seat and a cuppa! :)

I wanted to drop by today to announce some exciting news.  I've been lucky enough to be invited to join the Design Team for Skull and Cross Buns Rubber Stamps!

Huge thanks go out to my fabulous blog friend, Monika Skinner of Tinker Cards who initially put my name forward.  And after researching this lovely company I discovered that they are based in South Devon, my very own home county.  There are so few craft outlets that I'm aware of in the South West so it's an honour to be part of this.

Skull and Cross Buns is run by the lovely Emily Fox and as well as the main website, you can find her designs at Etsy and Not On the High Street.  She stocks a wonderful collection of hand-carved wood mounted stamps, artisan grey rubber stamps and clear photo-polymer stamp sets too.

I'm excited to be a member of this Design Team along with these great designers:

Teresa Morgan

Geraldine Carruthers

Alison Markham

Maxine Hole

Danielle Bigland

Leila Gregory

So, without further ado, here are some of my creations using some of the current Christmas stamps.

First up are the gorgeous Pinecone  and Merry Christmas Script stamps...

For this card I used the emboss resist technique, first stamping in VersaMark and then shifting slightly and stamping in colour pigment ink before heat embossing with clear powder.  The clear embossing then traps the white of the cardstock giving the impression of snow.  I blended over with Distress Ink, heat embossed and die cut the sentiment in silver, and added some score lines to the card base for interest.  You can see the embossing more clearly in the photo below...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Pinecone and Merry Christmas; Clearly Besotted - Autumn Flowers (pine foliage)
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - Pinecone, Evergreen; Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss, Metallic Silver
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Double Stitched Circles, Stitched Rectangles

My second card features this great Geometric Stag stamp...

This stag was one of the first stamps that grabbed my attention on Emily's website.  Here, I stamped it in VersaMark and heat embossed in white before blending over with Distress Ink.  On another piece of cardstock I used Ink Dusters to brush the colour through the geometric stencil which I think pairs up brilliantly with the design of this stamp.  Both panels were then die cut with stitched rectangles.  I finished by stamping a sentiment, also embossed in white, onto a vellum strip which was wrapped around the two panels.

And I have to give a little shout out to my new photo prop friend, I found this little deer in The Range and couldn't resist his cuteness! lol

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Geometric Stag; Clearly Besotted - Many Mini Messages
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Candied Apple, Pine Needles
• Stencil: MFT - Abstract
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Vellum from stash

Next up is the very festive Christmas String of Tree Lights stamp...

I stamped the lights in Memento ink and coloured with ProMarkers.  Below I stamped the layered tree in greens and heat embossed with some gold.  The doves were then stamped in VersaMark as if carrying the lights, and embossed in gold, along with the sentiment.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Christmas String of Tree Lights; Clearly Besotted - Peace on Earth; Hero Arts - Color Layering Christmas Tree
• Ink: Memento - Cottage Ivy, Bamboo Leaves; Altenew - Forest Glades; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich

The next two cards feature the beautifully designed Scandi Snowflake stamp...

I love the effect I achieved here but it was a nightmare to photograph!  I chose some cream pearlescent cardstock for my base and panel.  I then stamped the snowflakes in VersaMark, using my MISTI to help with alignment, and heat embossed using some white pearl powder, which I didn't realise would look exactly the same colour, but I went with it!  I wanted the snowflake background to be the main focus here so I just cut a strip of patterned paper, and some more with a bow die set to adorn the corner of my panel and added a simple tag with the sentiment stamped in green.  The panel was then popped up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Scandi Snowflake; Personal Impressions - Butterfly Kisses and Christmas Wishes (sentiment)
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - Winter Green
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - White Pearl
• Patterned Paper: Lawn Fawn - Knit Picky
• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Tiny Tags Die Collection; Frantic Stamper - Small Solid Bow

And I went with some masking, blending and stamping on this one using one of my favourite layouts...

I started by masking the horizontal strip with Post-it notes.  I then blended above and below with lilac ink before stamping the snowflake in various pigment inks.  I then removed the mask and stamped the sentiment.  To finish I added some tiny accents with Nuvo Drops.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Shaded Lilac; Versa Color - Orchid, Heliotrope, Smoke Blue
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Scandi Snowflake and Merry Christmas
• Accents: Nuvo Crystal Drops - Silver Lining

As this one is the most simple I'm going to link this one up to the Clean and Simple Challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More.

If you've made it to the end of this post, thanks so much for taking the time.  And do check out the Skull and Cross Buns products, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks so much, as always, for visiting.