Season's Greetings with Flowers and Holly

Hi all.  So far this year I have made no Christmas cards, so I thought that maybe it was time to start.  To give myself a kick start I saw this John Next Door Box Kit Magazine No. 10 with an embossing folder, stamps, dies and papers and thought it looked as though there were quite a lot of possibilities for interesting cards, so true to form it dropped in my basket..lol.  I used the embossing folder, one of the stamps and several of the dies and all on their first use.

 

I started by embossing the holly and berries folder which is 5" square onto white card, and then inked up the design with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink using a blending brush.  I then inked all the berries using a Cardinal Red alcohol pen.  I didn't want to get too much ink on the background and thought the holly leaves needed more colour so I used my coloured pencils in a couple of different greens and went over each of the leaves and the stems which gave a stronger look to it, and I finished by adding some Mowed Lawn around the edges.   

I then moved on to the sentiment for which I cut the two oval dies which come with the set, and added the holly frame and one of the sentiments which are made to fit the smaller oval, and inked it with Versafine Satin Red Ink heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then cut the flowers..the die comes with a large and two smaller flowers on the one die, but I just used the smaller ones cutting twice as the middle flower is double layered, and then coloured them with three of the reds that I have in my set of alcohol ink pens including the Cardinal Red I used on the berries, and a couple of darker colours to add depth.  I then added the little yellow gems using three on each of the flowers.  I also cut one of the stems of holly which is double ended with berries in the middle, but I just cut the berries away and this made two pieces.  I also used another leaf stem and cut this three times.  I coloured the holly with a mid green and the other leaves with a lighter brighter green alcohol pen for a bit of variation.  I didn't add any dimension with foam tape because I was afraid that it would be far to thick to get in an envelope..as it is I think it will just about pass the postal slot test.

Thank you for coming to visit me here today and I'll see you again soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 486 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.  I used snippets of white card for the two oval mats, the flowers and the leaves. 
NBUS Challenge - No. 65 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 166 Anything Christmas Goes.
Peace on Earth Challenge - No. 69 Anything Christmas Goes.
Merry Little Christmas Challenge - No. 57 Anything Christmas Goes.

Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes/Wheels.

I am also entering Darnell's I.D.E.A.S., a challenge she has set herself but has said anyone can join in.  This is August Week 1: Ink/Color Mediums.

On the Riverbank

Hi everyone.  I have a masculine card today featuring a cute frog from a set of stamps from Craft Consortium called The Riverbank, hence the title of the post.  It also has a swan which I have used in the past, but there are two frogs which have never seen ink, so am using one of these for this card.  I am also using a stencil from That Special Touch range called Orbit.. and I thought it had the look of ripples on the water spreading outwards. 

I started by cutting a mat to fit a 5" x 7" card and masked off the edge of the water and covered the bottom half with Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass, and then added the stencilling using Broken China DI, both applied with a blending brush.  I decided at this point to add the sentiment to the right and beneath the masked edge using Versafine Deep Lagoon Ink, but as it is a much darker tone of blue I placed it in my stamp positioner and stamped it off on a spare piece of card before stamping onto the background, and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then moved on to the letters cut from white and double layered to give them more substance.  I coloured these with more Broken China adding a heavier layer at the bottom of the letters for an ombre look.  Lastly I stamped the frog and the lily pads twice each (two larger and two smaller) using Versafine Smokey Gray Ink and heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP...I doubled up the frog, leaving the lily pads with just one layer.  I then coloured these with my alcohol pens.  

It is a similar layout and idea to this previous card here with the image as part of the sentiment, but this time it is not part of the word but just with two of the letters each side of it to make up the word 'Best'.  I'm saying this as my hubby looked at it and said 'Oh, it says 'Beast', and when I said  of course not he said the frog was roughly the shape of an 'A', which frankly had not crossed my mind.  I did counter with the fact that I have never seen a sentiment used with the word 'beast' in it, but I suppose I could start a new trend..lol. 

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes/Pink Fresh Studio.

Allsorts Challenge - Week 791/2 Season's Delights/Anything Goes.

We Love Stamping Challenge - Aug. '24 Focal Sentiment or Quote/Anything Goes.

Stamping Sensations Challenge - Aug. '24 Anything Goes/Summer in the Garden.

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 473 Birthdays.

AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 64 Critters.

NBUS Challenge - No. 65 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

I am also joining in with Darnell's I.D.E.A.S., a challenge she has set herself but has said anyone can join in.  This is Week 5: Stencils.

Red and Green Ginkgo

Hi all.  There is a colour based challenge which I haven't entered lately called Color Hues, and this time the colours are red and green so I decided to base my card around this, and I ended up using my Globleland Ginkgo set of stamps, dies and stencil, and also a couple of different sets of stamps from fairly recent magazines..Creative Stamping No. 133 Typography and Indigoblu Mixed Media No. 8 using also one of the stencils.

I started by stamping the Ginkgo leaves onto a snippet of white card using Lucky Clover Distress Ink and using my stamp positioner.  I then decided the colour would be better a bit darker so used Forest Moss DI over the top and then with the stencil placed over it I added Lucky Clover DI blend through it for the leaves themselves.    I die cut them and I must admit I didn't quite get the die in the right place so tidied it up with my decoupage scissors.  I found another snippet of white card which I thought would fit nicely onto a 5" x 7" card and using a piece of copy paper I made a stencil using two of the ginkgo leaf shapes from the dies and I ink blended through it onto the card using Candied Apple DI but I wasn't happy with it so I sprayed over it with some water and wiped it which left just a very faint outline and I changed tack and decided to use a splatter stencil which came with the Indigoblu magazine, and also changed the colour to Adirondack Cranberry Ink.  I then found a slightly darker Color Box ink called Roussillon from a set bought eons ago and used a stamp from the Indigoblu set with numbers..well I managed to add two sets of the numbers which luckily was all I wanted but the stamp sponge just disintegrated and when I looked at the rest of the stack they were all much the same so in the bin they went.  Back to the Cranberry Ink and I added another couple of stamps from the Typography set..the definition of a flower, and another small type script which I decided to use over the top of a couple of the copy paper leaf cut outs and I added them onto the background.  

Putting the card together I thought a piece of vellum would be good sandwiched between the background and the leaves and I also die cut a rectangle from another snippet of white card to mount the background and topper onto using a Crealies Pierced Rectangle die.   I finished with another white snippet for the sentiment strip stamped using the Cranberry Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder. 

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

I am also entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping Challenge - July '24 Sun, Sea and Sand/Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations Challenge - July'24 Anything Goes/Christmas in July.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Add A Sentiment.

Allsorts Challenge - No. 791/2 Season's Delights.

Try it on Tuesday Challenge - In the Garden. 

Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 485 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.

NBUS Challenge - No. 64 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff (the stencil and background stamps have not been used before).

I'm also playing along with Darnells I.D.E.A.S., a challenge she has set herself but invites anyone to join in.  This is Week 4: 'A' = Anything Goes.

Eastern Moments

Hi everybody.  There has not been much posting lately as hubby and I have been away for over a couple of weeks up in Northumberland and I did manage to keep some commenting going, but I do apologise if I missed visiting a few people, and I did post up a couple of cards.  We went there for the first time about eight years ago, and have always wanted to return.  It is a nature lover's paradise, and we did enjoy it but the weather was very changeable with some rather cold winds a lot of the time, so relaxing on the beach or sitting enjoying the view somewhere was not the order of the day...lol, but that is the nature of holidays in the UK and it is quite far north, in fact we did get into Scotland.  We have been back for a few days but I have found it difficult to get myself into gear since but have managed to make this card using a magazine from Hunkydory...Premier Magazine No. 22 Eastern Moments, which I bought whilst away and this is the first time I have used this bamboo and flowers embossing folder and the bird die.  There are also a set of stamps and some papers and toppers which came with it too.  

I decided to make this a monochromatic card using a couple of shades of blue ink so I used a piece of white card and embossed the bamboo background and very lightly ink blended over the top using Salty Ocean Distress Ink.  I decided to just have a strip of it so cut it down a bit to fit this 6" square card.  I then die cut the bird and coloured it with the Salty Ocean DI plus a bit of Chipped Sapphire DI and I also used the same ink on the sentiment and just went round the edges of it with a bit of the Salty Ocean that was left on the brush just to take the whiteness off it.   Just a simple card really just to get me started again. 

Before I go here are a few photos.  Hubby is a keen photographer...there were quite a few to choose from..lol.

 

      Beadnell, where we stayed.

      Dunstanburgh Castle

     Budle Bay.. a favourite spot to see a sunset.

     Bamburgh Castle..late in the day as the sun was setting.

     The causeway to Holy Island.

     Holy Island from St. Mary's Church, the Priory ruin and the Castle.              

Jean Hardy who owns Crafty Individuals who many of you will know, often stays in Bamburgh, and whilst on Holy Island and sitting in a tea shop who should pass by but Jean (or her double) with her partner Malcolm.  I checked on Facebook and she had been staying there for a couple of days at that time so I'm sure it was her..what a coincidence!  Thought I might see her whilst walking around, but sadly not.

Thank you for visiting me here today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - No. 64 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes/Stripes and/or Checks.
Simply Clean & Simple Challenge - Anything Goes/Use A Heart (congratulations on your 1st Anniversary).
Allsorts Challenge - Week 790 Flowers/Anything Goes.

Triple B Challenge - July '24 Birds, Butterflies and Blooms (use one or all).

Addicted to CAS Challenge - No. 263 Nature.

This month over at Group of Seven Cardmakers they are showcasing the Monochromatic design element, and I am joining in with this card.

I am also joining in with Darnell's I.D.E.A.S., a challenge she has set for herself but anyone can join in.  This is Week 3: 'E' for Embossing Wet/Dry

Sail Away

Hi everybody.  It's hubby's birthday and I made him a card with a little yacht die bought at The Range a long time ago but never used and having seen a card in this sort of style on Pinterest, which I now can't find at all, I thought that the die would work as a substitute 'A' in the 'Happy'.  I decided to add the background using a stencil by Sweet Dixie called Splash.

                              

I started with a piece of white card cut to fit a 5" x 7" card and ink blended through the stencil with a brush using Salty Ocean Distress Ink.  I decided to add a horizon line..it is there but doesn't really show in the photo, and then darkened the stencilling on the bottom half before adding the white die cut letters which I double layered.  I also double layered the yacht, but before doing so I coloured the hull of the boat using a red alcohol pen.  I finished by adding the 'birthday' stamped with Versafine Majestic Blue Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then added the little birds and some ripples under the hull of the boat using a Docrafts set of permanent markers in a blue which was similar to the ink for the sentiment, and I also added a bit of white gel pen for the tops of the waves.  I also shaded under the letters and the boat with one of my Lyra Pencils and also went over the letters and the boat with a Wink of Stella Clear Pen.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - No. 64 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Addicted to CAS Challenge - No. 262 Summer.

Stencil Fun Challenge - July '24 Anything Goes/Shades of Blue. 

I am also joining in with Darnell's I.D.E.A.S. which is a challenge she has set herself but has said that anyone is welcome to join in.  This is Week 2: Dies.

Embossed Heart Anniversary

Hi everyone.  I know this follows hot on the heels of the last which was also an anniversary card but today is our 42nd anniversary so this had to be the day for showing this card which I made for hubby.  I used a Lil'Iinkers heart word die and a Sheena Douglass Texture Embossing Folder called Distress.   I also used my set of Sweet Dixie Heart Dies. 

I have some glitter washi tape which I bought quite a while back at The Range and decided to cut the heart word die with this using the dark grey/black colour, so I stuck it to a piece of card and cut the words out and added them to the heart die cut.  I had been having a play with a technique I have used a couple of times before using embossing powders enclosed within a piece of baking parchment and heated up and then using a pouncing motion keeping the heat tool moving over the top of the parchment you get the most lovely swirly pattern.  I used some glitter EPs in red, silver and white and it was quite thin so I put one of the heart dies over the top and followed the shape cutting with some scissors.  Little bits do fall off but it has a fairly good heart shape.  I finished by adding some silver Pebeo wax over the surface texture of the background dry embossing before adding it to a white square card, and then I added the word heart and the heat embossed heart over the top.  I decided not to add any more words on the front as I think that the heart words say it all.    

If you would like more information on the embossed pouncing technique, you will find a video by Marian Emberson here.  Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenge:

Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes/Sports.

Allsorts Challenge - Week 787 Way to Grow/Anything Goes.

Lots of Hearts

Hi everyone.  I have an anniversary card today featuring Creative Expressions Entwined Hearts, and a heart die from the Sue Wilson Heart of Hearts die set, and the little hearts was the smallest die from Sweet Dixie set.  I also used a stencil from a set bought at The Range quite a while ago.

                                    

I started with a piece of card 51/2" square and decided to use three colours for the background stencilling - Distress Inks in Shaded Lilac, Scattered Straw and also an Adirondack ink called Pink Sherbet.  When adding random inks I often pick three places around the card for each colour which is what I did...the third area of Shaded Lilac is under the central heart.  I then cut the piece up into 8 pieces, vertically and  horizontally, and also from corner to corner, and I glued all the pieces down onto another piece of card the same size.  I cut out the very middle of the heart design of the Entwined Hearts which is part of a larger heart, and which just cuts into the card, so I fussy cut it out, a bit fiddly but it worked OK.  I then cut a larger similar shaped heart using a die which came with the Heart of Hearts set and coloured it with the pink ink and added it behind the ornate smaller heart.  I cut the tiny hearts using the smallest die from a set of nested hearts by Sweet Dixie, and I coloured them to match whatever colour was behind them and it worked out quite well with no two colours the same next to each other - alternate pink and yellow, with two opposite corners with the lilac, placing them on the cut lines, and etched a line down the centre of each glueing just the centre of each heart to the card so that it would curve up for more dimension.  Finally I cut a strip of card for the sentiment and placed it across the central heart.  I found the Pink Sherbet was too pale so I used Picked Raspberry DI and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - Week 787 Way to Grow/anything Goes.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes (my favourite thing are die cutting and stencils.

I am joining in with Darnell's I.D.E.A.S., a challenge she has set herself but has said that anyone is welcome to join in.  This is Week 1: Ink/Colour Mediums.