As Lovely as a Tree

Hi everybody.  Another masculine card today using the Lavinia Laurel stencil for the background and a Chocolate Baroque set of stamps called Trees a Crowd, the same two items I used on the card here but using a different tree image from the set.

I started with the background and dry embossed the stencil onto a snippet of white card and then coloured it with Distress Inks using Mowed Lawn and darkened it around the edges with Peeled Paint.  I then stamped the tree scene with Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink using another white snippet of card and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I coloured with the two greens mentioned above and also some Ground Espresso, Tumbled Glass and Ripe Persimmon DI's.  I also added a couple of little birds using a Black Micron Pen.  I then layered it on to snippets of kraft and white card and stamped the sentiment on a further snippet of kraft card again using the Vintage Sepia heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

The Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 441 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Stencil It.  (I opted to dry emboss and then ink blend with the stencil).
Crafting Happiness Challenge - Thanksgiving or Anything Fall.
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday November Challenge - Anything Goes.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 702 Anything Goes/Add Numbers.
Crazy is our fame - Stencils are our game November Challenge - Anything Goes/Fall Colours.

Circle of Trees

Hi everyone.  I needed a quick birthday card for a family member and I used this Chocolate Baroque set called Trees a Crowd which has a lovely selection of tree images to choose from and which I am using for the first time.  I do love a wreath shape and so I got out my Gina K Wreath builder used with my Misti stamping tool to give me the positioning for the eight repeats, and I stamped with Versafine Deep Lagoon ink and used the same ink for the sentiment which I placed in the middle, and which I also heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I did stamp several times to get a good dark image and I have to say the blue has come out very dark, so that it looks more black than blue.

I decided to also stamp the trees again in the middle so the trunks butted up give the look of a reflection and for this I used Tumbled Glass Distress Ink for a softer look.  Obviously they all overlapped and it just makes a pattern in the middle.  I also used a Lavinia stencil called Laurel, and I also added some blended ink around the edges with this same blue ink.

Thank you for joining me here today and I will see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers November Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers November Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes.
AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 43 Monochrome.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 702 Anything Goes/Add Numbers. 
NBUS Challenge - No. 44 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Patterned Hearts Anniversary

Hi everybody.  I needed an anniversarty card and I decided to use a freebie set of stamps which came with Creative Stamper No 109 and the set is called Versa-Tiles and having its first outing here.  It has different shapes of images to build up a patchwork.  This time I just wanted to use it for the patterns, and I also used a set of hearts by Sweet Dixie and also a Sweet Poppy Stencil called Plaid.

I started by stamping out the tiles I needed for five different hearts using some snippets of which card, and using aVersafine Satin Red ink pad, and I heat embossed with my usual WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then cut the hearts out and put them aside.  I continued with the plaid stencil using another snippet of white card, and decided to try and ink it up using Versamark and embossing with WOW Opaque Bright White EP.  I wasn't sure that it would work very well because there are a lot of small areas to get the sticky ink into.  I used a blending tool to apply the ink and went over it very many times to hopefully get a good image.  I then heat embossed and blended the Satin Red ink over the top...as this is a DL shape I had to do it a couple of times to cover the card.  I decided to use this because it is a good strong red and the DI's do tend to come out more pink than red.  There is a new red in the range now which is a stronger colour but I don't have that.  It is a permanent ink and it did make the white rather pink and there were areas where it didn't totally cover.  I decided when it was dry to do another layer of the Versamark and white embossing powder and heat set again to try to whiten it up, and it was reasonably successful.

As you can see I cut the strip down and left a gap in the middle for the hearts and added the red embossed sentiment.   I added the hearts backed with some foam to give more dimension, and I overlapped them a bit for a more random look.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 440 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 701 Sparkle and Shine (no sparkle but lots of shine from all the glossy embossing).
Happy Little Stampers November Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes.
Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge - No. 88 Anything Mixed Media Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Thinking of You.

Camo Sneakers

Hi all.  I have used the sneakers again for another youngster in the family but decided to paper piece using some camouflage paper as I thought he would like the look.  The stamp is by Woodware, bought at a recent craft fair from The Stamp Hut and just called Sneakers, and used for the first time here.

I started with the background using a Brusho powder called Moss mixed with a little water on a piece of acrylic and then dabbed on to the white card and followed this with some Dried Marigold Distress Ink again added using the piece of acrylic to apply it, also mixed with water.  

I then stamped the sneakers on to a piece of white card and also on the camo paper with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink, and heat embossed the main image with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I coloured the front piece of each shoe with Brushed Corduroy DI using a waterbrush, and the laces with a black Inktense Pencil taking the ink from the tip with the waterbrush..I also added this to the edge of the soles and toe caps, and I added a shadow to the soles with a some but well watered down.  I then cut them out as well as cutting the pieces of camo paper to fit the areas of the shoes.  I decided to add the glue to the image rather than to the paper and this worked well.

I finished by stamping the circles and stars, which are part of the set, around the shoes using the Brushed Corduroy, and stamped twice more, second and third generation ink, for a softer effect, around the three original circles, and added the stars in the centre of each of the main circles using Peeled Paint DI and then the sentiment using the Nocturne Ink again heat embossing with the Clear Gloss EP.  I also found a piece of card in a coordinating shade of green and added this to the 6" square card  and then the topper and sneakers using Pinflair Glue Gel for a bit of dimension.  I suddenly realised I hadn't coloured the studs on the sides of the shoes so just used a lead pencil to highlight them.

I have two new followers...the first Birgit whose blog I couldn't find, so if you read this Birgit let me know where you are and I will add the name for people to visit.  The second is Aussie Annie whose blog you will find here.  So thank you for becoming my latest followers.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers November Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes.
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 441 Make Your Mark.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 700 - Let's Celebrate - Any Special Occasion.  Congratulations to them for reaching their 700th challenge and long may they continue!
Happy Little Stampers November Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Krafty Chicks Challenge - No. 636 Wk 1 - (Stamp Act).
We Love 2 Create Challenge - No. 11 Anything Mixed Media Goes.

Autumn Leaves

Hi all.  I have an autumnal card today made for one of our friends, and I decided to use a set of leaves which I got a while ago but have not got round to using until now.  It is by Chocolate Baroque and called From Nature 1, and I used four of the leaves for my card.  I also used a bird and a sentiment from a freebie set called British Garden Birds which came with a magazine a few months ago and included some dies, an embossing folder of some branches to sit the birds on, and also some toppers and papers.

I decided to make a 7" x 5" card, though in the end I did cut it down a bit to fit the snippet of white card I had in mind, and decided to make a frame of leaves above and below the central sentiment strip.  I used my Misti stamp positioner and randomly stamped the leaves to the top and bottom of the card.  I used quite a few different Distress Inks mixing them on the stamps and spritzing with a little water  to give them the autumn tints.  I also used a waterbrush to add extra ink and also to mix and soften the colours in some places.  When I had finished this I used some Adirondack Stonewashed Ink to blend around the leaves and over the whole background.  

I finished by stamping the bird and the sentiment on to another snippet of white card using Versamark and heat set with WOW Metallic Gold Rich Embossing Powder.  I then ink blended around the edges of the strip with the blue ink and added it to the leafy background, and finally mounted it on to the white card. 

Thank you for dropping by today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

The Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 439 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Allsorts Challenge - No. 699 Colours of Autumn.
We Love Stamping October Challenge - Autumn Colours.
Stamping Sensations October Challenge - All Things Autumn.
Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge - No. 307  Autumnal Colours.
NBUS Challenge - No. 43 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers October Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes.

Crazy Birds

Hi there.  I have a masculine card today for a friend who is 60 and I was very lucky recently to win this fun set of Pink Ink stamps called Crazy Birds so I decided to christen it for this card.

As I don't use kraft card very often I thought I would today, and I stamped the three bird images using Versamark and heat embossed with WOW Metallic Copper Embossing Powder.  I then coloured the images using my Inktense Pencils without any added water, and added some ink blending around the edges using Distress Inks - Tea Dye and then Ground Espresso, and I also added more blue around the bird with Salty Ocean DI, to add to the pencil colouring I had already done.  Just a tip which I expect a lot of you will know that by colouring with white first before adding the colour it helps to neutralise the brown and allows the true colour to come through.  I finished by adding the sentiment and the die cut number using Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink and then I heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss EP.  I also added a blue mat before adhering it to a 7" x 5" kraft card base.

Thank you for visiting me here today and I hope you'll come back again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers October Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Critter Crazy Challenge - Anything Goes with a Featured Critter.

Plaid with Ornamental Grasses

Hi everybody.  I needed a quick birthday card for a friend whose birthday I nearly forgot and I needed to post it asap.  I decided to make a background with a new stencil, bought at the recent craft fair I went to, from Sweet Poppy called Plaid Back Plate and which is getting its first outing, and a Crafty Individuals stamp called Ornamental Grasses Silhouette which I have had for a while.

I started with a piece of white card cut to fit my 6" square card and masked off an 8cm square and then ink blended with the plaid stencil using three Distress Inks - Lucky Clover, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean, starting from the bottom left in a diagonal and fading out a bit towards the righthand side.  I decided to set the  stamp below and to the right of the square and then to balance it I placed the sentiment across the top left hand corner and stamped with my usual Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  A very quick card and I hope she likes it and that it arrives on time.

Thank you for coming to see my blog today and I hope you'll visit again soon. 

 

 

I am entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - No. 43 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Happy Little Stampers October Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers October Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 440 Die Cuts and/or Stencils.
Stencil Fun Challenge - October: Anything Goes using a Stencil (Optional Theme: Halloween).