Skinny Rainbow Trees

Hi there

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday, celebrating with your nearest and dearest.

I have no plans today so I'm just having a very chilled day at home so thought I'd pop on and start sharing my 2022 Christmas cards.  There was a point at the end of November when I really thought I wasn't going to be able to send handmade cards this year as I'd left it so late, but I knuckled down and made a few bundles of "quick to replicate" designs and was able to send all handmade again this year.

However, due to being so late and also the increasing price of postage, along with the Royal Mail strikes in the UK, I wasn't able to send any cards overseas this year.  So apologies to those of you outside the UK who usually receive a card from me, it just wasn't an option this year, unfortunately :(

Ok, onto my first design.  I made 24 of these in total and got a real production line going.  These took me about an hour and a half...

All four trees are on the same stencil but I inked up each two-toned tree separately, adding masking tape over the tree(s) beside it.  So I inked all the yellow/orange trees onto all the card bases first, before cleaning off, realigning and then inking up the red/pink trees, and so on.  Once all the trees were inked up I then stamped all the sentiments, using my MISTI for positioning and speed.

Something was missing....sparkle!  So I grabbed some glitter glue and added this to all the stars at the top of the trees.  

And there you have it, simple but certainly a merry and bright design in multiple!

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil Designs - Skinny Trees
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Christmas Poinsettia (sentiment)
• Ink: Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Carved Pumpkin, Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Chipped Sapphire, Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Thanks for taking a look.  I'll be back again before the end of the year to share more of my festive makes.

And I apologise for being so quiet in general this year, I hope to get back into more crafting again in 2023.

I'd love for you to pop back again before the year is out x

Perfectly CAS September 2021 Challenge

Good evening!

The September Challenge over at Perfectly CAS is now live.  Here's the cue card showing this month's theme...

So, quite a lot of options for this one as geometrics are very popular in the crafting world.  My sample card for this one is almost one layer, it just has the addition of a die cut sentiment...

I masked off a stencil, just leaving a few of the geometric circles and then ink blended through using three shades of Distress Oxides.  I die cut the 'happy' from black cardstock, adhered in place and then stamped 'birthday' above.  To finish, I added some Glossy Accents to the die cut for some dimension and shine.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Fractional
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Salty Ocean, Salvaged Patina, Cracked Pistachio; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Happy 
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Modern Calligraphy Additions
• Accents: Glossy Accents

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - September Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

NBUS - Challenge #30 - First use of stencil, die and stamp!

Thanks for taking a look.  My teamies and I would love to see you in the gallery and, as always, the challenge link will remain open for the next four weeks :)

Less is More - Challenge #439

Hi there, Happy Saturday!

It's new challenge day over at Less is More and we're back with a Recipe challenge this time.  

 

We're looking for any kinds of inking, used in a clean and simple way .

It's been a while since I did the ghosting technique on a card and it's one of my favourite techniques.  I've also added quite a few new stencils to my stash in recent months so wanted to use one here...

I began by die cutting a small stitched rectangle and I masked off around all the edges before blending the area with three shades of Distress Inks.  Although Distress Oxides also react with water, I much prefer using the original Distress Inks for this technique.  I laid down my stencil over the inked area and spritzed with a fine mist of water, keeping the spray quite far away.  I then lifted the stencil away and blotted with a paper towel to lift away the colour.  Once completely dry I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in white, using an anti-static powder tool first.  Before adhering in place on the card base, I scored one line, as if continuing the line of the sentiment design.

Materials used:

• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Ink: Distress Ink - Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, Blueprint Sketch; VersaMark
• Stencil: Funky Fossil - In a Spin
• Stamp: Lawn Fawn - Scripty Sayings
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Challenge entries:

My Time to Craft - Challenge #453 - Stencil It!

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #401 - Make Your Mark

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #193 - Shapes

Happy Little Stampers - March Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

NBUS - Challenge #24 - (New stencil)

STAMPlorations - March CAS Challenge - Anything Goes

If you need more inspiration for this challenge, please do pop over to the main LIM challenge post where my teamies are sharing their projects, and if you click on their individual links they may have even more to share.

Thanks so much for visiting, have a wonderful weekend.

Perfectly CAS February 2021 Challenge

Hi there

I'm here tonight to announce the February challenge at Perfectly CAS, the challenge where the aim is to keep your design to one third or less of your project space.  Here is your cue card for this challenge...

There are lots of different ways to interpret the word splash but I went down the traditional route and chose water...

I was originally going to use a stamp set with dolphins with this splash stencil but the proportions were all wrong, the dolphin was far too small for a splash this size!  So I chose a mermaid tail instead. This wasn't the easiest to create as both are stencils.  On a die cut panel I began by stencilling the mermaid tail, which is part of a stencil of a whole mermaid, in two shades of Distress Ink.  To stencil the splash I then had to make a mask of the masked tail before inking up the splash so it would appear behind the tail.  Once inked up the tail looked a bit lost so I replaced the stencil and inked over the coloured ink blending with a light layer of silver pigment ink which lifted it a little more.  I stamped the sentiment and popped the panel up on fun foam but it still needed something else, so I used a white pigment ink pen to add some detailing to the water.  I attempted to add some detail to the tail with a silver pen but the silver ink meant it had nothing to grip to, so I only managed to add a few details, as you can see below.  Not the finish I had hoped for but it does add a little something more.

Materials used:

• Stencils: Funky Fossil - Mermaids; Clearly Besotted - Splash It
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Make a Splash
• Ink: Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire; Versa Color - Silver; Versafine- Onyx Black
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Accents: Signo Uniball pen - white, silver

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - February Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

NBUS - Challenge #23 - First time using the splash stencil

Uniko - Challenge #63 - Anything Goes - Option: use a stencil(s)

This challenge will end a few days before the March challenge starts so there's almost a month to take part, so what are you waiting for?

Perfectly CAS January 2021 Challenge

Good evening

I'm here to share the details of the new challenge over at Perfectly CAS.  After a six month break it's full steam ahead, the challenges being for clean and simple cards using just one third or less of the design space.  

And the January challenge has lots of scope for you, here's the cue card...

I decided on some background stencilling and some simple stamping, and wanted to put one of my new stencils to use.  I didn't receive any crafty things this Christmas so I thought I'd treat myself instead!

This was super simple.  I blended through the stencil fading up from the bottom corner.  The leaves were stamped in dark grey and the flower head in two tones of grey.  The sentiments were stamped in black and I finished with some teeny clear gemstones.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Scattered Straws
• Stamps: Mama Elephant - Brushed Florals, Altenew - Thinking of You
• Ink: Distress Ink - Shabby Shutters; Altenew - Pure Graphite, Industrial Diamond; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Gemstones from stash 

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - CAS Game #181 - Up to one third

Just Us Girls - Trend week #566 - Use a Stencil

Happy Little Stampers - January Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

Make My Monday - Challenge #139 - Something New in your Stash (stencil)

Use Your Stuff - Challenge #413 - All About the New (new stencil)

NBUS - Challenge #22 - new stencil

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #126 - New (stencil)

STAMPlorations - January Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

Stencils are fast becoming one of my favourite tools to use on my cards so I'm looking forward to seeing your stencilled CAS cards in the gallery this month :)

Elegant Tree with Micro Beads

Hi there

I've shared all my multiple makes with you so now I'll start sharing a few individual cards I made for certain people this year.  Today I'm sharing my first card using glass micro beads which I purchased from Sweet Poppy.  This was the Christmas card I made for my bestie this year.

I die cut the upper panel first using a stitched rectangle die, obviously you can't feed anything through a die-cutting machine after using this technique.  I then ink blended through the tree stencil with three shades of ink before then spreading translucent paste over the top.  You then need to work quickly to add the micro beads after removing the stencil before the paste starts to dry.  I used clear micro beads here over translucent paste so the colours then show through once dry.  Next I manipulated a clear sentiment stamp to follow the curve at the base of the tree and then stamped and heat embossed in silver.

Once completely dry, and allowing any warping to flatten out, I adhered the panel over some silver no-shed glitter cardstock and then adhered this flat to the card base.  I just love the effect of these beads and how it sparkles, it's so pretty!  

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil Designs - Elegant Tree
• Ink: Altenew - Lagoon, Bamboo, Hydrangea; VersaMark
• Embossing Paste: Sweet Poppy - Stencil Dimensions: Translucent
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Cosy Christmas
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Accents: Sweet Poppy - Clear Glass Micro Beads

Challenge entries:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Challenge #522 - Anything Goes Christmas

Always Fun Challenges - Challenge #194 - Christmas

Allsorts Challenge - Week 603/4 - Sparkle and Shine

NBUS - Challenge #21 - first use of micro beads and this stencil

STAMPlorations - December Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

Uniko - Challenge #62 - 'Tis the Season (option: Sparkle)

I still have a few more individual cards to share so will be back again very soon.

Book Worm Bookmark

Hi there

You may be glad to know (!!) this is the last of my recent bookmark makes, but I had such fun making them I think some more may be created very soon! 

This little guy has been in my stamp stash for years and I've only ever used the set once before so I think he deserved an inking!  And for this one I used the tall tag die with the fishtail which came in the duo set with the other die I've been using.

I began by stamping and colouring the book on a die cut panel of white cardstock.  This was then masked and I ink blended the background in a neutral shade and then blended through a woodgrain stencil with a shade of brown.  I then stamped, coloured and die cut the book worm and adhered him onto the book.  I stamped the sentiment and then die cut a second panel from green polka dot paper and adhered this on the reverse for a cleaner finish.  I then added some gloss to his glasses.

I finished by adding some brown grosgrain ribbon through the slot and tied this with some co-ordinating green twine.  Here is the reverse view...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Bookworm and Bookworm Additions
• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Woodgrain Background
• Ink: Distress Ink - Antique Linen, Rusty Hinge; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo; Clearly Besotted - Bookworm
• Coloured with Copics
• Accents: Glossy Accents; Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Hemptique

That's all from me today.  Phew!  That was a lot of posts today, thanks so much if you're still with me!

Mermaid Bookmarks

Hi there

Back again with more bookmarks, these all have a mermaid theme.

All of these were created in the same way, the panel ink blended with Distress Oxides and then stencilled using silver pigment ink.  All were backed with the same patterned paper and have the same ribbon and twine accents.

This one used a mermaid scales stencil...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Small Mermaid Scales
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers; Versa Color - Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo
• Patterned Paper: Papermania - Capsule Elements: Pigment
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Doodlebug

This one was splattered with water droplets as well as being stencilled...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Mermaids
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers; Versa Color - Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo
• Patterned Paper: Papermania - Capsule Elements: Pigment
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Doodlebug

and this one had water droplets added for interest too...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Mermaids
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers; Versa Color - Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo
• Patterned Paper: Papermania - Capsule Elements: Pigment
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Doodlebug

Thanks once again for taking a look.  I'll be back very soon with more, yes, I made quite a few last weekend!