Winter Blues

Hi everyone, today I would like to share another Lavinia Christmas scene - I really love making these and mixing up the various elements from my new and older stamps!

I cut a square of stamping card and created a circle of softly blended Elements ink using a circle mask, then used the reverse mask to add a little shading inside the circle. I created landscape by blending more Elements inks using my Mini Hill Masks, then added stamping - first the pinecone wreath, then background trees using 2nd generation stamping with paper copies of my hill masks in place, then little houses, foreground trees and snowflakes. I added a sentiment, then highlighted it plus my trees and pinecones with Sakura Stardust pen. I added lights in the windows with yellow Stardust pen and some teeny gems, then edged the panel with dark blue marker pen and matted onto silver mirri card and a 6" card blank.

Here is the usual angled pic to show the sparkle.

Stamps: Lavinia Fir Cone Branch, Christmas Tree Group, Small Pine Trees, Fairy Fir Tree (Small), Small Dwellings, Snowflakes, Snowflakes (small), Seasonal Words; Uniko Festive Sentiments;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Della Blue); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Medieval Blue, Morning Mist); Sakura Stardust pens (yellow, clear);

Tools: Lavinia Mini Hill Masks, Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Creative Inspirations (December) - Happy Christmas

Dragonfly Dreams (December) - Christmas

Four Seasons (December) - Anything Goes Winter

Lavinia Creative Challenge (December) -The Magic of Christmas

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #180 - In the Deep Midwinter

Make My Monday - Oh! Christmas Tree or Forest Trees

The Male Room #181 - Christmas

Simon Says (Monday) - Winter Blues

Stamping Sensations (December) - Favourite Colours

(I like most colours but am particularly drawn to cool colours such as blues, lilacs etc. and particularly love blue for Christmas cards).

We Love Stamping (December) - Winter Flowers and/or Foliage

I'm not quite there yet, but am finally starting to see the finish line for this year's Christmas cards ... just off to carry on making them now!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

hugs,

C.R.A.F.T. #700 G.D.T. - Christmas

Hi everyone, it’s Thursday again so it's time for a brand new C.R.A.F.T. Challenge  and also my final week as November's Guest Designer.  The month has really flown by, and I have really enjoyed making my GDT cards. This week's challenge is 

*** Christmas ***

So we are being really kind and giving you the opportunity to catch up with some of those last minute festive makes!

This week’s fabulous sponsor for the Challenge is 

Sweet 'n Sassy

The prize is a $10 voucher for their shop.

Here is my GDT card for this week.

This is the first time I have played with my Visible Image "Poinsettia Grunge" flowers, although I have been using the wonderful sentiment on a few cards this year. I made a mask by die cutting a torn edge rectangle shape in a piece of paper, sponged Distress Oxide inks through it on larger rectangle of stamping card. then stamped the background text and heat embossed in gold. I stamped and heat embossed in gold a large and small poinsettia flower on separate card, coloured with Distress Watercolor pencils and Elements inks with a wash of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on top, then fussy cut them out. I stamped the sentiment then  edged my stamped card panel with gold Posca pen an added gold Posca pen spatters to the background and flowers. When dry i attached the flowers to each corner - job done! 

Here is an angled pic to show the sparkle and shine.

Stamps: Visible Image Poinsettia Grunge, Distressed Christmas;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Rustic Wilderness, Mowed Lawn, Bundled Sage); Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencil (Barn Door); Lavinia Elements ink (Olive); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Versamark; WOW Gold embossing powder; Posca pen (gold);

Tools: Unbranded torn edge rectangle die.

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #106 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Beautiful Blossoms #11 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Beccy’s Month of Holiday Cards - Day 30 - Do What You Love

(I love stamping, colouring, ink blending and adding sparkle and spatters!)

Festive Fridays (November) - Christmas (3rd entry)

Inkspirational #303 - Seasonal 

(3rd entry)

Merry Little Christmas #53 - Anything Christmas Goes (5th entry)

Paper Dragonfly #23 - Anything Festive (4th entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Triple B (November) - Birds, Blooms and/or Butterflies (3rd entry)

Try It On Tuesday - Traditional Christmas

Use Your Stuff #480 - Shine Bright (2nd entry)

We hope you can join in with the challenge this week - please do pop over to the C.RA.F.T. Challenge blog to see the fabulous inspiration from the Design Team and to link up your entry.

I'd like to finish by thanking Jo and the DT at C.RA.F.T. Challenge for having me as Guest Designer this month xx.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

All Squared Off

Hi everyone, this month’s ATC challenge in the Tracy Evans AALL & Create FB group is “All Squared Off”.  I’m rather late to the party with these as I have rather allowed the month to run away from me, but loving both ATC’s and Tracy’s stamps as I do I finally gave myself a shove to join in! Participants can make any number of ATC’s within reason so this time I decided to go large and made a set of 5!! Not only will this allow me to receive a fab variety of ATC’s from other makers, but it also enabled me to use up all sorts of snippets! All the pieces of white and black card used in this project came from my snippets stash.

I cut 5 pieces of white card 3.25” x 2.25” and coloured each one by smooshing with a different colour of Lavinia Elements ink. I then stamped a background on each one using a co-ordinating colour of Versafine Clair, then stamped my focal flower in black. I stamped 5 more flowers onto various snippets of white card and water coloured them with watered down Elements inks in the same colours of the backgrounds, then die cut two stitched squares from each one, for the main flower and circles, and attached. I coloured the smaller flowers with Sakura Stardust pen to add some shimmer, then stamped the teeny sentiments onto a separate snippet of smooth black card stock and heat embossed with detail white embossing powder, cut out and attached.  Finally I edged each card with a black marker pen and matted onto 3.5” x2.5” black linen card stock, and added some teeny heart gems.

Here are some closeups.

1/5

2/5

3/5

4/5

5/5

Stamps: AALL & Create #304 Heartfelt, #986 The Good;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Paprika, Blue Lagoon, Lime Punch, Violet Chalk, Russet Orange); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Tulip Red, Paradise, Verdant, Monarch, Summertime); Versamark; detail white embossing powder; Sakura Stardust pen (clear); 

Tools: Hunkydory Duo-Stitched Square dies;

Other: heart gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #756 - Anything Goes (2nd entry) - Blue ATC

ATC’s Around the World (November) - The Colour Blue

Double Trouble #154 - Keep Calm and Stitch On (2nd entry)

Dream Valley #306 - Anything Goes

Outlawz (November) - Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone

Shopping Our Stash #510 - Splish, Splash (watercolour)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Make It Sparkle (4th entry)

Snippets Playground #468 - Use Snippets

Use Your Stuff #480 - Shine Bright

Word Art Wednesday #623/624 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

It’s been a while since I made any ATC’s so making these was a lot of fun, though much more time consuming than I anticipated! Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Winter Reflections at Dusk

Hi everyone, today I would like to share a make that CASE's a fabulous Lavinia FB Live tutorial by Amanda Branston a couple of weeks ago, where she made a fabulous reflection scene with some of the new release stamps. (Sorry but I guess only members of that FB group will be able to see the video).  Amanda's original picture was in shades of grey and deep orange, and I did make a DL card very closely based on that as I love doing reflections and I absolutely adored this colour scheme. However I'm not entering that one into any challenges as it is a bit too close a copy of Amanda's original, so I made another card inspired by the original but I changed the shape to square, added more tree stamping and changed the colour scheme to a deep pink.

I cut a square of stamping card and created my background by brushing Distress Oxide inks across the card in Kitsch Flamingo, Stormy Sky and Black Soot. I created a horizon line by using the straight edge of a hill mask and Versafine Clair, then stamped various trees using a mixture of black and grey 1st/2nd generation stamping. For each stamped tree I created a reflection by samping with my gel press. I added a white Posca pen snow line, and additionally added snow highlights to the trees with Posca pen. In Amanda's tutorial she stamped snowflakes using Brilliance ink but I found this didn't work for me (I think I need a new inkpad) and I preferred the look of heat embossed snowflakes using Versamark and WOW White Twinkle embossing glitter. I stamped my sentiments and highlighted the word "Peace" with pink Sakura Stardust pen and white Posca pen "snowfall"., then added some sparkle to the water with my Spectrum Noir sparkle pen and some white gel pen highlights. Finally  edged the panel with black marker pen and matted onto my card blank.

Here is an angled picture to show the very sparkly snowflakes.

Stamps: Lavinia Small Pine Trees, Christmas Tree Group, Skeleton Tree Scene, Tree Scene, Snowflakes, Seasonal Words; Uniko Festive Sentiments;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Kitsch Flamingo, Stormy Sky, Black Soot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Versamark; WOW White Twinkle embossing glitter; Sakura Stardust pen (pink); Posca pen (white); gel pen (white); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #756 - Colours of Winter (2nd entry)

Beccy’s Month of Holiday Cards Day 26 - W is for Winter

Crafty Catz #660 - Anything Goes with option Christmas/Winter (2nd entry)

FarmQuest Country Christmas #2 - Anything Country Christmas Goes (4th entry) - TOP 3

Happy Little Stampers : Christmas (November) - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Inkspirational #303 - Seasonal (2nd entry)

Merry Little Christmas #53 - Anything Christmas Goes (5th entry)

My Time to Craft #521 - Got to be Christmas 

 (3rd entry)

Paper Dragonfly #23 - Anything Festive (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Make It Sparkle (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #623/624 - Anything Goes  (2nd entry)

Just for reference, here is my grey/orange DL card which is based very closely on Amanda's original tutorial picture.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

CAS Christmas

Hi everyone. Many crafters seem to agree that the new Lavinia stamp “Christmas Joy” is perfect for batch card making, as it is so intricate and pretty that it makes a wonderful focal point for a CAS card without needing much more.  I made a quick batch of 4 cards, all fundamentally the same but using different colours.

For each card I cut a square of stamping card and stamped the tree to one side, using Shady Lane Versafine Clair for the branches and Pinecone VFC for the base of the trunk. I coloured the trees by painting in flicking motions with watered down Elements ink in Olive, then added a wash of Wink of Stella to add some sparkle. I coloured the baubles using mostly Posca sparkle pens with Posca gold metallic pen on one tree, and stamped a star on top of each tree using Brilliance gold or silver ink and highlighted with Stardust pens.  I grounded the trees using my clear Sakura Stardust pen, then stamped a sentiment on each one in an appropriate shade of VFC, and matted them onto coordinating card stock and a card blank.

Stamps: Lavinia Christmas Joy, North Star Mini; sentiments - Pink Gem; Visible Image Christmas Robin;

Media: Versafine Clair (Shady Lane, Pinecone, Nocturne, Twilight, Medieval Blue); Brilliance Pigment Ink (Galaxy Gold, Starlight Silver); Lavinia Elements ink (Olive); Posca Sparkle pens (Blue, Yellow, Red, Purple, Orange); Posca pen (gold); Sakura Stardust pens (yellow, clear).

Here is a closeup of a couple of them, which I am entering into a few challenges.

... and an angled picture to show the shine on the star and baubles.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beccy’s Month of Holiday Cards - T is for Tree

Colourful Options (November) - Red (3rd entry)

Crafty Catz #660 - Anything Goes with option Christmas/Winter

Happy Little Stampers : Christmas (November) - Anything Christmas Goes

Inkspirational #303 - Seasonal

Paper Dragonfly #23 - Anything Festive (2nd entry)

Rudolph Days (November) - Anything Christmas Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Make It Sparkle (2nd entry)

Simply Clean & Simple (November) - CAS

Word Art Wednesday #623/624 - Anything Goes

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #756 - Colours of Winter 

Birthstone Challenges #6 - Topaz and Turquoise (2nd entry)

CAS On Friday #271 - Christmas

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #152 - Anything Christmas Goes (3rd entry)

Less Is More #497 - D is for Deck the Halls

Merry Little Christmas #53 - Anything Christmas Goes (4th entry)

My Time to Craft #521 - Got to be Christmas 

 (2nd entry)

Sheepski #80 - Getting  Ready For Christmas (3rd entry)

Unicorn #93 - Christmas (3rd entry)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and not bankrupting yourselves in the Black Friday sales! Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

C.R.A.F.T. #699 G.D.T. - Christmas Present

Hi everyone, it’s Thursday so it's time for a new C.R.A.F.T. Challenge  and my fourth GDT card for November. This week's challenge is 

*** Christmas Present ***

This week’s fabulous sponsor for the Challenge is 

The Paper Shelter

The prize is 3 images from their shop.

Here is my GDT card for this week.

When I sat down to make this card I discovered that I don’t own many stamps with images of Christmas presents and some of those I do would be beyond my current confidence level for colouring. I decided to turn to an old LotV stamp of James the Bear .. he is so adorable and always fun to colour, and this also gave me the opportunity to play with some gorgeous old designer papers which rarely see the light of day nowadays.

I stamped the image with Memento ink and coloured with Promarkers, with a little Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on the fur of James’s hat. I die cut my image using a stitched notch square die plus a matching larger die cut in lilac linen card stock and matted them, then cut a panel of pearlescent white card and dry embossed with a snowflake embossing folder. I cut a square of designer paper and matted the embossed panel and image onto it, with sparkly lilac twine wrapped round the centre. I die cut some snowflakes in white pearl and silver mirri card, attached them and added a gem to each centre. Finally I stamped the sentiment in blue using an fab sentiment set I was lucky enough to win over at Snippets Playground, and matted the finished piece onto lilac card stock and my card blank.

Stamps: LotV James Snowman; Woodware Christmas Sparkle (sentiment);

Media: Promarkers, Memento ink (black); Versafine Clair (Medieval Blue); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white);

Papers: LotV - Frozen Snowflakes;

Tools: Joy! Crafts "Winter Wishes" dies (snowflakes); Whimsy Stamps "Winter’s Jewel 1" dies (snowflakes); unbranded "Stitched Notch Square" dies; Crafts Too "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #106  - Cosy Christmas

Allsorts #755 - Christmas Time (2nd entry)

As You Like It - Favourite Christmas Critter (and why) (3rd entry)

(I just love James the bear … he is probably my favourite ever Christmas critter as he is so cute!)

Beccy’s Month of Holiday Cards - Day 23 - CASE Yourself

(Today’s card is pretty similar in layout to this one I made in 2014 and posted here)

Christmas Craft Creations (November) - Add a Hat

Crafty Gals’ Corner #249 - Spots and/or Stripes

Creative Inspirations (November) - Contemporary Christmas Colours (3rd entry)

Double Trouble #154 - Keep Calm and Stitch On

Passion for Markers #717 - Winter

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Make It Sparkle

Try It On Tuesday - Baby It’s Cold Outside (4th entry)

We Love Stamping (November) - Christmas Characters (3rd entry)

We hope you can join in with the challenge this week - please do pop over to the C.RA.F.T. Challenge blog to see the fabulous inspiration from the Design Team and to link up your entry.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Rufus and Robin

Hi everyone, today I would like to share another Christmas card, featuring the first outing for my new Lavinia fox  Rufus. I bought him at the beginning of October but haven’t had chance to play with him until now.

I cut a square of white stamping card and blended Elements ink through a square mask using my Mini Hill Masks to make my background. I stamped Rufus in one corner using Versafine in Sepia, then over-stamped using Pinecone VFC smudged onto the edges of the stamp and added shading with black fineliner and white gel pen. I masked the hills and added some background trees on the right in 1st/2nd generation blue and grey,  then added the fir branches stamping first in green, then adding some in Versamark heat embossed with WOW White Twinkle embossing glitter. I stamped my small lanterns hanging from the branches, coloured them with yellow Sakura Stardust pen, and added a halo of light to each one by colouring through my White Orbs stencil. I masked the white areas of the card and added some white Posca pen snow spatters. I still felt it needed something more, so I added the teeny AALL & Create robin and coloured him with Distress watercolor pencils. Finally I added some highlights to the snow with my Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, stamped my sentiments, then matted the finished panel onto midnight blue linen card stock and a card blank.

Stamps: Lavinia Rufus, Small Pine Trees, Red Pine (small); Small Lanterns, Fern Branch; AALL & Create #690 Robin & Nuthatch; Woodware Christmas Sparkle (sentiments);

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Della Blue); Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils (Barn Door, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain); Versafine (Sepia);  Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Pinecone, Twilight, Morning Mist, Shady Lane); Versamark; WOW White Twinkle embossing glitter; Sakura Stardust pens (yellow, clear); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Press to Impress large square mask; Lavinia Mini Hill Masks; Lavinia White Orbs stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Winter Countryside - WINNER

Allsorts #755 - Christmas Time

As You Like It - Favourite Christmas Critter (and why) (2nd entry)

(I think I already mentioned that I adore robins .. they are just so cute!)

Beccy’s Month of Holiday Cards - Day 21 - S is for Snow

Creative Moments #252 - Winter (3rd entry)

FarmQuest Country Christmas #2 - Anything Country Christmas Goes (3rd entry)

Inkspirational #303 - Seasonal

MAWTT #160 - Christmas Animals (2nd entry) - TOP 5

Sparkles #170 - Winter Animals (2nd entry)

Stamping Sensations (November) - Get Ready for Christmas (3rd entry)

Try It On Tuesday - Baby It’s Cold Outside (3rd entry) - TOP 5

I think I need some more practice with colouring Rufus, but I’m not too displeased for a first attempt. I’m powering ahead now with my Christmas cards so I’ll be back soon with some more!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Rainbow Thanks

Hi everyone, with Thanksgiving coming up in the US this week, there are several challenges around on the theme of Thanksgiving / Thank you. Living in the UK we don’t do Thanksgiving, but I thought I would take a little break from making Christmas cards and make a Thank you card instead. I have also been making quite a few complex Christmas scenes lately, so I have gone in a different direction and made a relatively CAS card - here it is.

I cut a 13cm square of white card, stamped and heat embossed the flower then coloured it with Sakura Stardust pens. I added a little background stamping then overlaid it with a die cut shadow sentiment after I had added some gold Posca spatters ( I actually got my spatters to behave themselves - a minor miracle!). I matted the panel onto black and gold card stock then my card blank, and finished with a scattering of teeny rainbow coloured gems.

Stamps: Visible Image Creative Chaos;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne); clear embossing powder; Sakura Stardust pens (red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue, purple); Posca pen (gold);

Tools: Simon Says Stamp “Script Thanks” die.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #11 - Anything Floral Goes

Colourful Options (November) - Rainbow Inspired (2nd entry)

Creatalicious #271 - Anything Goes with option Thanksgiving/Thank you

Creative Crafters #70 - Anything Goes

Mix It Up #68 - Anything Goes with option Stamping

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2345 - Anything Goes

Paper Funday #59 - Anything Goes with option Grateful/Thankful/Thank you

Simon Says (Monday) - Thanks/Thanksgiving

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Thanks/Thanksgiving 

Word Art Wednesday #621/622 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

I hope the rainbow hued flower will provide a bit of cheer in light of the awful miserable weather that seems to have been going on forever! Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend - take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,