Blowing In the Wind (2)

Hi everyone, this month’s theme for Tracy Evans FB ATC swap is silhouettes, and I decided that for once I would pull my finger out and get them done in good time. I started out with a particular idea in my mind, but when I started getting my supplies together I realised it wouldn’t work as I hoped so I decided to go in a different direction. Whilst riffling through my stamp drawer I found a silhouette stamp that not only had I forgotten about, I’d never inked it up!! It spoke to me as being perfect for this theme as it enabled me to make some specific “October” autumnal ATC’s. 

I cut 4 pieces of white card each 3.25” x 2.25” and created the backgrounds by smooshing Elements inks then spattering with water. I stamped onto each one in Pinecone VFC - my A7 stamp was more or less the perfect size for an ATC to form both the focal point and background.  I then stamped again onto separate pieces of cream card, fussy cut  the leaf and attached to each ATC, then cut out the sentiment “Blowing In the Wind” and attached that too after stamping a teeny bird to sit on it. I stamped the word “Oct” (October) onto separate snippets of card, fussy cut and attached, then edged each panel with brown ink and matted onto brown linen card stock cut to standard ATC size.

Here is a closeup of one of them.

Stamps: AALL & Create #982 Windy Willows, #455 Seasons; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE30 Garden Elements;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Sahara, Russet Orange, Paprika); Versafine Clair (Pinecone).

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (October) - Anything Goes with option Lots of Leaves (2nd entry)

Allsorts #801 - Falling Leaves (3rd entry)

Creative Inspirations (October) - The Season of Autumn (2nd entry)

Daisy Chain #90 - Autumn and/or Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

Four Seasons (October) - Anything Goes Fall (2nd entry)

Incy Wincy (October) - Autumn (2nd entry)

Moving Along With the Times #171 - Autumnal Colours (2nd entry)
My Time to Craft #544 - Autumn Season Colours (2nd entry)

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

Paper Funday #70 - Anything Goes with option Colours of Autumn (2nd entry)

Stamping Sensations (October) - Autumn Colours (2nd entry)

Try It On Tuesday - Autumn Magic (2nd entry)

Unicorn #103 - Autumn and/or Hallowe’en (2nd entry)

We Love Stamping (October) - Autumn (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #669/670 - Anything Goes

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Falling Leaves

Hi everyone, autumn is definitely upon us and there are many challenges around with autumnal themes. I felt inspired to rest my Christmas card making and use a set of leaf dies I’ve had for ages but not used until now, to make a “falling leaves” card for this week’s Allsorts Challenge plus various other autumn challenges. After the struggles I had with yesterday’s card I’m pleased to report that everything just seemed to flow with this one … don’t you just love it when that happens?

I created a panel of autumnal coloured inks by smooshing various Elements and Spectrum Noir inks onto white card, spritzed with water and set aside to dry. I then die cut a variety of leaves and spritzed with a home made gold mica spray, and set aside to dry again. I die cut a large stitched square from cream card and background stamped using some of the newest Tracy Evans stamps in Sand Dune VFC, with autumn season words over stamped using Portobello. I arranged the leaves and attached, then blended Scorched Timber Distress Oxide around the edges of the panel and added gold Posca spatters. I stamped the word “autumn” onto a separate snippet of kraft card, cut out and attached with 2 small birdies stamped to sit on top, then matted the finished panel onto a kraft card blank.

Here’s an angled pic to show the gold mica and spatters a bit better.

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE30 Garden Elements, TE27 Insect; AALL & Create #455 Seasons;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Sahara, Russet Orange, Paprika, Olive); Spectrum Noir Harmony Dye Ink (Bordeaux); Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Scorched Timber); Versafine Clair (Sand Dune, Portobello); Posca pen (gold); 

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Square Die, unbranded leaf dies from Amazon.

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (October) - Anything Goes with option Lots of Leaves

Allsorts #801 - Falling Leaves (2nd entry)

Craft Rocket #119 - Autumn and/or Hallowe’en

Creative Inspirations (October) - The Season of Autumn

Cut It Up #314 - Inspired by a Song

(“Autumn Leaves” by Ed Sheeran)

Daisy Chain #90 - Autumn and/or Hallowe’en

Die Cut Divas (October) - Use a Die Cut (celebrating World Cardmaking Day)

Four Seasons (October) - Anything Goes Fall

Incy Wincy (October) - Autumn

Inspiration Station #66 - Inspiration Prompt

(I have chosen the autumnal leaves)

Moving Along With the Times #171 - Autumnal Colours

My Time to Craft #544 - Autumn Season Colours

Paper Funday #70 - Anything Goes with option Colours of Autumn

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Things With Wings (4th entry)

Sparkles #180 - Autumn/Fall (2nd entry)

Stamping Sensations (October) - Autumn Colours

Try It On Tuesday - Autumn Magic

Unicorn #103 - Autumn and/or Hallowe’en

We Love Stamping (October) - Autumn

Word Art Wednesday #667/668 - Anything Goes (6th entry)

Feeling mellowed out now, though I dare say that will soon pass as the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” gives way to cold and wet weather!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Christmas Kraft

Hi everyone, well I’m still playing with my new Tracy Evans Christmas stamps, and a good job too as the pressure is now starting to ramp up to get on with Christmas makes. Today’s card features the larger silhouette bauble stamps, stamped on kraft card which I always like for Christmas crafting, and is also inspired by the fact that Tracy has made a few sample Christmas cards using kraft with white accents.

I have to confess that I had quite a bit of trouble with this card … it was one of those crafting sessions where multiple things seemed to go wrong - I think a lot of the problems may have been caused by the kraft card I used which absorbed a lot of ink! Anyhoo I soldiered on and here’s the result.

I cut a 5 1/4” square of kraft card, and stamped two large baubles using Strawberry and Green Oasis Versafine Clair, then stamped holly branches in various shades of green and berries in 1st and 2nd generation red. I added shading to the baubles and shadows using Zig pens, though I wasn’t as happy with this as on my previous card as the kraft card seemed to soak up the ink making it impossible to blend satisfactorily. I then added background script stamping heat embossed white, and  this was where I hit my second major problem … despite drying my project with a heat tool and using an anti static bag beforehand, white embossing powder stuck EVERYWHERE!! In fact this is my second attempt .. the first attempt didn’t bear scrutiny! I think the large amount of ink I needed to stamp the baubles onto kraft card caused it so clearly a longer drying time will be required in future! 

Anyhow, I carried on regardless, adding more background script stamping in Sand Dune, and adding lighter definition to the baubles with a Stabilo pencil and my sparkle pen. I added white Posca accents to the baubles and leaves, and some Posca spatters over the whole surface. I stamped the sentiment onto a separate snippet of Kraft card then cut out, edged and attached with a pair of teeny birdies stamped to sit on top. Finally I matted the finished panel onto a white pearlescent card frame and a Kraft card blank.

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE18 Decorations, TE21 Holly & Berries, TE11 Background Elements, TE30 Garden Elements;

Media: Versafine Clair (Strawberry, Green Oasis, Shady Lane, Rainforest, Sand Dune, Portobello, Pinecone; Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Stabilo pencil (white); Posca pen (white); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear).

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #115 - Anything Christmas Goes (3rd entry)

Allsorts #801 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore (October) - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar (October) - Anything Goes

Dream Valley #323 - Anything Goes

Love to Craft #82 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Love to Scrap #169 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Merry Little Christmas #58 - Anything Christmas Goes (5th entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Christmas/Winter Card (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Things With Wings (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #667/668 - Anything Goes (5th entry)

This card was very much an experiment, and although I love the overall design of it the execution is rather rough and ready! However onwards and upwards .. I guess it’s all a learning process!!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Tweet!

Hi everyone, following from yesterday’s post of my first card using Tracy Evans’ latest Christmas stamps, I had another play yesterday afternoon. This card was inspired by one of Tracy’s sample cards from her product launch in July which she reposted on her FB page yesterday. It reminded me that as well as the new baubles, holly and berries etc. I also have Tracy’s first snippet stencil “Tweet” which unfathomably I have never used … until now! I made a few small changes to the detail of Tracy’s layout, background stamping, sentiment, and one of the colours … however it is still very much based on her beautiful design.

I started with the focal bird, blending Warm Breeze and Avocado Versafine Clair through the stencil to make my bird outline.  (Tracy used Bali Blue rather than Warm Breeze but I don’t have that yet … though it is now on order!! ) I stamped the holly at the top of the card in Avocado, followed by berries in 1st and 2nd generation Warm Breeze, and stamped some more holly inside the masked bird outline. I then stamped the baubles … I had been ruminating how best to stamp these silhouette stamps to get a shaded effect, and for this first attempt I stamped in VFC topped with Zig pens to add definition and blending, white Stabilo pencil and some Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on one side of each bauble. I then added some grey Zig pen shading to the baubles and “grounding” for the bird, and hand drew bauble strings with a silver Gelly roll pen. I then stamped random background words in 2nd generation Morning Mist VFC, and the sentiment in Twilight. Finally I stamped a teeny bird in the corner holding a berry in its beak, added white Posca highlights and spatters, then matted  onto a frame and card blank.

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE22 Christmas Wishes, TE 21 Holly & Berries, TE23 Winter Delights, TE10 Quirky Birds; sentiment - Visible Image Poinsettia Grunge;

Media: Versafine Clair (Warm Breeze, Avocado, Twilight, Portobello); Kuretake Zig Clean Colour watercolour pens; Stabilo pencil (white); Gelly roll pen (silver); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Tracy Evans Snippet Stencil SS1 - Tweet.

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #115 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

ABC Christmas - S is for Stencils (2nd entry)

Allsorts #800 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Crafty Catz #679 - Use a Stencil

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (October) - Use a Stencil (2nd entry)

Festive Friday (October) - Christmas

Merry Little Christmas #58 - Anything Christmas Goes (4th entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Christmas/Winter Card (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Things With Wings (2nd entry)

Sparkles Christmas #165 - Use the word “Christmas” (2nd entry)

Triple B (October) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms

Word Art Wednesday #667/668 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

That’s all from me for today., though I can’t seem to stop playing with my new Christmas stamps so I may well be back soon! Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Baublicious!

Hi everyone, last Friday I treated myself to some of Tracy Evans’ Christmas stamps which I had been coveting for a while, and I was quite taken aback when Royal Mail delivered them on Sunday!! Today was my first chance to have a play with them, and here is my first card.

I decided I wanted to make a scene inside a bauble, so I started by creating the bauble outline using the bauble stencil and Distress Oxide inks. I added some landscaping using acetate Mini Hill masks, then stamped the trees using masking and various shades of blue Versafine Clair. I stamped the two cute penguins in black, blotted out the background colour in their chests with water then coloured with Zig pens and added some Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. I stamped the mistletoe using Grass Green VFC and added white Posca highlights, then outlined the bauble using Sakura Stardust pen, which I also used to highlight the trees and snow - this is another very sparkly card but I couldn’t seem to capture that on camera today! 

 I added some background text stamping in Morning Mist VFC then stamped, cut out and attached the sentiment. I finished by adding some shadow with pale grey Zig pen and white snow spatters, then matted the finished piece onto dark blue card stock and a card blank.

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE23 Winter Delights, TE22 Christmas Wishes, TE19 Mistletoe;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky); Versafine Clair (Twilight, Very Peri, Arctic, Grass Green, Morning Mist, Nocturne); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Zig fine tip acrylic pen (white);

Tools: Tracy Evans Snippet Stencil SS6 - Bauble; Lavinia acetate Mini Hill masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #115 - Anything Christmas Goes

ABC Christmas - S is for Stencils

Allsorts #800 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

As You Like It - Favourite Cardbase Shape (and Why)

(My favourite is definitely square .. I love the amount of space for creating a scene)

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (October) - Use a Stencil

Double Trouble #176 - Anything Goes

FarmQuest Country Christmas #12 - Anything Country Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Krafty Chicks #736 - Stamps

Merry Little Christmas #58 - Anything Christmas Goes (3rd entry)

NBUS #67 - Use Your Never-Before-Used Schtuff

(All stamps, bauble stencil and Grass Green VFC)

Peace On Earth #72 - Anything Christmas Goes (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Christmas/Winter Card

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Things With Wings

Sparkles Christmas #165 - Use the word “Christmas”

Word Art Wednesday #667/668 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

I’m really loving my new stamps and stencil, and hope to be back with further makes as soon as possible!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Hot, hot hot!

Hi everyone, this month’s theme for Tracy Evans’ FB ATC swap is 

Use Hot Colours

so I decided to make a series of floral ATC’s in shades of red, orange and yellow, using a variety of both older and newer floral stamps by Tracy. I love this monthly swap as the other participants produce such fabulous little pieces of art, so it inspires me to make more than I normally would for a swap as that way I receive a great variety of other crafters’ work 😍

Allsorts is also having a special challenge this week to mark week #800 - wow that is over 15 years of weekly challenges!! They are offering some awesome prizes to mark this milestone, so that is well worth entering - congratulations ladies!

I cut six pieces of white card, each 3.25” x 2.25”, and created a vibrant inky background on each one by smooshing Paprika, Russet Orange and Sundance Elements inks then spattering with water. I stamped a focal flower onto each ATC, then stamped each flower again onto separate snippets of card and coloured the flower heads with Zig pens, adding highlights with white Posca pen. I decided to add some of Tracy’s small die cuts, and this is where I really got going with my last snippets of some very old distressed gold mirri card!

I added some random background stamping to each ATC heat embossed white, before fussy cutting the coloured flower heads and attaching along with the die cut grungy circles and pen nibs. I then added some teeny stamped hearts and the stamped sentiment before matting the finished pieces onto standard ATC size black cardstock. Finally I decorated the flower centres with Glossy Accents.

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE11 Background Elements, TE10 Quirky Birds (hearts); AALL & Create #533 Bring On the Sentiments; 

ATC1: Tracy Evans TE13 Delight In Nature;

ATC2-4: AALL & Create #924 Flower Trio;

ATC5-6: AALL & Create #980 Anemone;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Paprika, Russet Orange, Sundance); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Tulip Red); Versamark; WOW ultra fine white embossing powder; Kuretake Zig Clean Colour watercolour pens; Posca pen (white);

Tools: AALL & Create dies #35 Heartnook.

Here are closeups of the individual ATC’s with the challenges I would like to enter.

ATC1

Moving Along With the Times #170 - Not a Card

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

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2438 - Anything Goes

Triple B (September) - Birds, Blooms and/or Butterflies (2nd entry)

ATC2

Allsorts #800 - Anything Goes

Beautiful Blossoms  #21 - Anything Floral Goes

Make My Monday #235 - Create Your Own Background (2nd entry)

Snippets Playground #490 - Use Snippets

We Love 2 Create #9 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

ATC3

Classic Design Challenge #9 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafters #80 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations (September) - Anything Goes

A Gem of a Challenge #19 - Anything Goes

Little Red Wagon #775 - Numbers - TOP 3

ATC4

Love to Craft #82 - Anything Goes

Path of Positivity #123 - Anything Positive Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

We Love Stamping (September) - Hand Coloured Image (3rd entry)

ATC5

Ally’s Angels #86 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #679 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Mix It Up #73 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Paper Funday #69 - Create Your Own Background (3rd entry) - TOP 5

ATC6

The Card Concept #209 - Fall Florals

Love to Scrap #169 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #667/668 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, whatever you’re doing. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Monochrome Christmas

Hi everyone, today I’m sharing a Christmas card I made when I had a bit of spare time at my craft table after completing another project. 

I cut a square of white stamping card and created a centre circle with Elements ink blended around an acetate circle mask. I then stamped my Fairy Catkins around the circle in Twilight VFC, and coloured them with a blue Sakura Stardust pen. I stamped the stag in the middle of the circle using Nocturne VFC then added some landscaping hills using a Mini Hill mask and more Elements ink. I stamped two large fir trees on the right and then masked the snowdrift and stamped various mini trees using various shades of blue VFC to add depth. I added a stamped sentiment and highlighted the scene with my Sakura Stardust pen, also adding white highlights to the stag.Finally I edged the finished piece with blue marker pen and matted onto silver mirri card and a card blank. 

This is another very sparkly card … here’s an angled picture.

Whilst making this card I managed not only to drop my inkpad on it, but also to have an inked stamp fall off my stamping plaform onto it!! Hence a few additional catkins and some stars!! (possibly a save worthy of David Seaman!! … iykyk!)

I was in a bit of a rush to finish this and I now notice I didn’t add any “snow” … might do that later if I remember!

Stamps: Lavinia Stag, Fairy Catkins, Small Fairy Fir Tree, Small Pine Trees, Red Pine (Small), Stars 1 Mini, Christmas Greetings;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Della Blue); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight, Very Peri, Arctic); Sakura Stardust pens (blue, clear); Posca pen (white); Stabilo pencil (white);

Tools: Lavinia acetate Circle masks, Mini Hill Masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #477 - Christmas (2nd entry)

Allsorts #799 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Christmas Crafts All Year Round (September) - Trees and/or Barns (2nd entry)

Crafter’s Cafe #312 - Anything Goes with option Include an Animal

Crafty Catz #679 - Anything Goes

FarmQuest Country Christmas #12 - Anything Country Christmas Goes

Merry Little Christmas #58 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Peace On Earth #72 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Rudolph Days (September) - Anything Christmas Goes

Simon Says (Monday) - Monochrome - DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations (September) - Animal Magic (2nd entry)

Try It On Tuesday - Black & White + 1 Colour - TOP 5

Word Art Wednesday #667/668 - Anything Goes

I definitely need to start ramping up the Christmas card making for Q4, so I’m sure there will be a few more coming along similar to this!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Sending Hugs … and Holiday Photos ❤️

Hi everyone, today I would like to share my first crafty project for a couple of weeks, due to the fact that I just got back from a holiday with my darling husband to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary which fell last Sunday (I posted the card that I made for him here). I’d also like to share a few holiday photos, so grab a cuppa for a long post! 

As I mentioned on my anniversary post our favourite romantic holiday destination is the Greek island of Santorini … so that’s where we have just spent 9 days relaxing for our special anniversary. It was a very last minute booking due to me losing a lot of confidence following the disaster I had in Dubrovnik (for anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about there’s more info here), but eventually I concluded that special anniversaries only come along once so I should crack on!  In the end we had a lovely time even though we had a day of rain and a couple of very windy days … the hotel was lovely, we had some great meals, and of course we saw some gorgeous scenery and fabulous sunsets! Photos are at the end of this post.

So, on to today’s card. I wanted to get another entry in for this month’s Lavinia Creative challenge plus a few other autumnal challenges. Here is what I made.

I stamped Lavinia Forest Leaf onto a piece of cream stamping card using Pinecone VFC, and heat embossed then coloured the leaves with Cosmic Shimmer iridescent watercolour paints … I haven’t used these for a long time but they give a lovely sheen. I die cut the image using a stitched rectangle die, then cut a larger piece of cream card to cover a 7” x 5” card front, and stencilled it with a Lavinia stencil and Elements inks before adding some background text stamping. I edged my image panel with blended Distress Ink, then added gold Posca spatters. When dry I assembled the card and added a stamped Uniko sentiment.

Here is an angled picture to show the shine of the Cosmic Shimmer paints.

Stamps: Lavinia Forest Leaf, Winter Spice; Uniko Simply Said Blocks II;

Media: Versafine Clair (Pinecone, Sand Dune); Cosmic Shimmer Iridescent watercolour paints; Lavinia Elements inks (Paprika, Russet Orange, Sahara); Tim Holtz Distress ink (Walnut Stain); Posca pen (gold);

Tools: Lavinia stencil - Leaf Trails; Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Rectangle dies.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

Allsorts #799 - Get Well/Anything Goes - TOP 5

Country View Challenges (September) - Autumn Richness (3rd entry)

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (September) - Use a Stencil with option Fall Frenzy

Cut It Up #313 - Colours of Fall/Autumn

Daring Cardmakers - Leafy Lushness

Double D - Fall Leaves

Festive Fridays (September) - Fall Is Coming (3rd entry)

Four Seasons (September) - Fall (2nd entry)

Hand Stamped Sentiments #447 - Inspiration Mood Board

Lavinia Creative Challenge (September) - Autumn Hues (version without sentiment) (3rd entry)

Little Red Wagon #774 - Sew What?

Make My Monday #235 - Create Your Own Background

Papercraft Challenges #110 - Fabulous Fall

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Make Your Own Background

Simply Create Too #204 - Autumn (2nd entry)

Sparkles #180 - Autumn

We Love Stamping (September) - Hand Coloured Image (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #665/666 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Here are a few photos from our holiday …

Picturesque Scenery

Oia

Oia

Church in Oia

Church in Firestofani with view of caldera (and cruise ships in the bay!)

Wall sculpture of Santorini in Firestofani

Fira 

Bronze Age city archaeological site at Akrotiri

View from the hotel

More glorious sunsets over the caldera

Relaxing nights out

Our anniversary dinner

So now it’s back to normality (sigh!) but the special sights and atmosphere of Santorini will linger in our memories.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,