Traditional Christmas

Hello there,

Well, after my 'Blonde' moment with the 'Festive Flowers and Foliage' post, I'm here to redeem myself with some actual stamping!  Fortunately for me, since the post was made, I've managed to purchase the Creative Stamping Magazine which has some fabulous stamps in and I've used them on the card that I'm sharing with you today:

I've gone all traditional on this card and I started by using one of my favourite stamps which is by HamptonArt.  It's not a brand that I'm really familliar with but I purchased it from the PaperMill shop a few years back.   It's a stamp that comes out time and time again and I love it.
Once Santa was in place, I then set about stamping my border with the free stamps from the magazine and a pointsettia  Rubber Tapestry stamp.  The inks used were:

• Impress - Olive Green
• Impress - Emerald
• Memento - Northern Pine
• Memento Rich Cocoa 
• Adirondack - Red Pepper
• Versafine -  Black Onyx

I coloured Santa's hat with a red Stickles glue and made a pompom for his hat out of cotton wool to give dimension.  I then followed the waves in his beard with Ice Stickles to add a little sparkle.
I decided to mount the finished image onto a traditional red card but the edges looked too bare so found out my old wrought iron corner punch which I think has worked really well.
I then used Marriane Pointsettia and Britannia Ivy dies with snippets of card and foil to add some foliage.  I opted for gold, rather than green for the Ivy to give my card the red, gold and green colours of Christmas and to add a touch of luxury. The card was finished by adding a red silk ribbon.

The photograph was taken on my desk in natural sunlight, without a flash and I love the way that it's picked up all of the glitter and the glint of sun on the foil.

 

Winter In Paris

Hello there, 

Before I start, I'd just like to welcome my new followers and say thank you for joining me on my crafting journey.  I really appreciate the time that all of my followers so kindly spend leaving such lovely comments on my blog, it really means a lot :)

The card that I'm sharing with you is one that I've made for this month's 'Fashionable Stamping Challenges' and their theme this month is 'Winter In Paris.'

I don't really have many Parisian stamps so I decided to use one that I've had for many years by Stampendous. When I think of winter colours, it's the cool colours such as blues and purple that come to mind and so I chose to use Distress blueprint Sketch and Memento Lulu Lavender as the background colours.
I started the card by stamping the main image in the center of the card using Versafine Black Onyx.  I then masked off the word Summer and stamped in the word winter to make the sentiment appropriate for the challenge. I  decided that instead of just blending the colours for my background as I usually would, that I would try something a little different to give the card more of an 'Arty' feel.  I tend to stick to making cards that are in my comfort zone but I feel that it's definitely time to try some new techniques so I used a stencil by Stamposaurus which I bought at the Doncaster show a few weeks back. I'm wishing now that I'd bought a snowflake stencil as that would have worked perfectly on this occasion but the one that I've used sort of gives the feel of looking through a leaded  glass window and I quite like the end result. I had originally planned to colour the flowers in blue but I felt that it needed some contrast from the background so I water coloured them with Distress Fire Brick and used a Marvy marker pen to darken the centers.  Using a Twiggy Branch stamp by Inkylicious, I stamped some black branches and then used a Crystal embossing powder to give them a frosty look.  I then used the same branch and used a white embossing powder to look like snow on the branches.  I finished the card by tearing some strips of white card and adding them to the bottom of the card to give the effect of fallen snow.

I'd just like to say thank you to those who asked about and sent good wishes for my Granddaughter.  I'm pleased to say that she's on the mend, still looking a little washed out but she's back to her happy little self which is a great relief to us all. x

Festive Flowers and Foliage

UPDATED  20/11/2015
I've only realised today that I entered this card into a stamping challenge but it doesn't actually have any stamping on it!  I can only put this down to my age or a very 'Blonde' moment and I've now asked for the card to be removed from the challenge as it doesn't match the criteria. The words 'Stamping Sensations' should have been my first clue! :)

This card was made using the Jane Shasky (Heart of the Garden CD) from Joanna Sheen.  I decided that I would make a shaped decoupaged card and here it is:

I finished by adding some die cut Ivy to both sides of the card.  Although it took ages to cut the different  layers out, I'm happy with the end result.

I'm sorry that I've fallen behind this week with my comments as my little Granddaughter's not been very well but I hope to catch up with you all on your blogs over the weekend.  Sandma x

Feeling Blue

Hello, I hope that you're all keeping well.

I'm here today to share with you a card that I've made for Country View Challenges and their theme this month is 'The Colour Blue.'  I've been spending most of my time lately making Christmas cards so It's been nice to have a break and do something a little different.

I coloured in the sky and water with Ink Dusters and then masked of the mountains. once this had been done and the reflections had been created, I then stamped my main images in black. Inks used were:

• Distress = Blueprint Sketch
• Distress - Stormy Sky
• Adirondack - Denim
• Memento Paris Dusk
• Versafine - Black Onyx

All the stamps that I've used are by Inkylicious.

I finished the card by using a white gel pen and stickles glitter on the water to add a little sparkle.

Contemporary Snowflake

Hi there,

I don't know about you but I just cant believe how quickly the weeks are whizzing by.  Now that all the Christmas ads are on telly, there's no getting away from the fact that Christmas is well and truly on it's way.  I've done quite well this year, getting ahead with my cards and here's another one to add to my stash:

I started off with a white base card but everything just looked lost so I decided to use black instead.  I know it's not a traditional colour but I'm reasonably happy with the end result as it looks quite contemporary.
I used a snowflake embossing folder on pink pearlised card for the sash and the silver snowflake has been made by using is two Sue Wilson dies.  The small pink snowflakes are made by a die from the same set, which I've used liquid pearls on. I finished the card with a sentiment by Inkylicious which I heat embossed.

Silent Night

Hello, I hope that you've all had a lovely weekend.

I'm well and truly into the swing of making my Christmas cards now and I'm loving having the time to make them, rather than rushing at the last minute as I usually do.  I've seen a few cards on the Inkylicious Facebook page using white ink on Kraft card and really liked them so I think this will be my main theme for this year's cards  I missed the demo at the Doncaster show as it was too crowded,  so it's just been trial and error but I'm happy with the end results.  I've made my own apertures out of acetate and used them as my templates, using different shapes to have a little variety.  I'm just posting one of them today but I may show more over the next few weeks. Here's my card:

I placed the aperture over the Kraft card and used an Ink duster to cover the oval with the white pigment ink.  I then stamped on my Winter Log Cabin with Memento Rich Cocoa.  I used the natural line at the bottom of the cabin stamp to water colour the snow.  Once it was dry, I used a white gel pen to add snow to the trees and to form the mounds of snow in front of the cabin. I added Fluffy stuff and heated it to give dimension around the cabin roof and to make the snow look heavy.  I drew around the edge of the oval with Stickles glitter glue and added the sentiment using white embossing powder to make it stand out more.  The card still looked a little bare so I added snowflakes using a Versamark ink pad.

Enjoy the rest of your evening and I hope to be back with you soon. x