Home Sweet Home

Hi everyone,

My oldest friend moved house last week after 25+ years at the same address, so I wanted to make a really special card to mark the event. I had my eye on the beautiful Lavinia stamp “Harrietas House” (yes, no apostrophe!), and got it for my birthday from my husband, along with some other Lavinia stamps from another dear friend. I decided to make an 8*8 card with a Lavinia scene, using a mix of new and existing stamps.

This card has to be one of the most complex scenes I have created, as it required various layers of masking the house and sun to create the stencilled hills and clouds. I coloured my house with Promarkers, then masked the image and also cut a circle from masking sheet for the sun, while I blended first my landscape then clouds using DO. I then removed the sun mask and cut a “negative” in copy paper, to enable me to sponge yellow DO inside the circle for the sun. I stamped my trees and birds using Versafine Clair with my house mask still in place, and stamped my foreground flowers and foliage using a mix of VFC and DO’s,  and first/second generation stamping. I sponged some DO round the edges of the panel, highlighted the image with a yellow Sakura sparkle pen, and finished with a stamped sentiment.  I matted the finished panel simply onto a border of pearlescent black linen card. For a final touch I used a teeny gold sticker from my stash to put a house number on the door 😀

I also decorated the inside of the card …

… and the envelope to match. 

Once again, here's an angled picture to show the sparkle of the Sakura pen ...

Stamps: Lavinia - Harrietas House, Celestial Tree, Small Trees, Garden Poppy, Wild Poppies, Bluebells, Vine Flourish, Fairy Charms, Birds; sentiment - Woodware;

Media: House - Promarkers; scenery - Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Iced Spruce, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Squeezed Lemonade, Wilted Violet); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Pinecone,  Charming Pink, Warm Breeze, Rainforest); Versafine  (Majestic Blue, Sepia); Memento (Black); Sakura sparkle pen (yellow);

Tools: Lavinia hill masks; home made hill, circle and cloud masks; masking sheet.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #429 - Any Occasion - TOP ADDICT

Classic Design Challenge #5 2022 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge #19 2022 - Anything Goes With Colouring (2nd entry)

Daring Cardmakers - Rain or Shine

Day of the Month #39 - Love a Tree Day (2nd entry) - TOP 3

Little Red Wagon #653 - Make It Bloom

Make My Monday #174 - Springtime - TOP PICK

My Time To Craft #481 - Around the House

Simon Says (Monday) - Alcohol

(I used Promarker alcohol markers to colour the main image)

Stamping Sensations (May) - Anything Goes with option Floral and Fauna (2nd entry)

Try It on Tuesday - Use a Stencil

Worldwide Open Design Team Challenge #5 2022 - Anything Goes

Take care, and thanks very much for visiting.

Hugs,