Mooch Amongst the Flowers

Hi everyone, yesterday I traded a couple of ATC’s and am now waiting for one that features Mooch the Lavinia cat, so this inspired me to have a play with my own Mooch. I also wanted to create a fancy fold card for this week’s Allsorts Challenge and to incorporate flowers for this month’s Lavinia Creative Challenge - here is the result.

I die cut a triptych card in white, and three white panels on which to create my scene. I created the background by blending Elements inks using acetate circle and hill masks (I held down  my panels on my magnetic stencil board with magnets to allow me to line everything up properly). I then stamped Mooch in Nocturne, Spring Trees in Acorn, bluebells in Paradise / Shady Lane and grass in Shady Lane (1st/2nd generation) Versafine Clair. I stamped cherry blossom from the Spring Trees set using 2 shades of pink Distress Oxide, then added Fairy Bells stamped in Shady Lane and the petals coloured with white Posca pen. 

I added a retired Lavinia sentiment which required some complex masking to fit in the available space .. I had a few problems with this and ended up with a few marks on the card, but having spent so much time on the card I did my best to disguise it with a bit of random doodling! I added a dangling heart for Mooch to look at, and finally I added a few highlights with white Posca, Sakura Stardust and Spectrum Noir sparkle pens, then matted the finished panels onto pink linen card stock and the triptych base card.

Stamps: Lavinia Mooch, Spring Trees, Bluebell, Fairy Bells, Grass, Birds, Fairy Charms, The World is Full of Beauty (retired);

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Blue Lagoon, Olive, Sundance); Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Kitsch Flamingo, Spun Sugar); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Acorn, Shady Lane, Paradise, Charming Pink); Posca pen (white); Sakura Stardust pen (yellow); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Studio Light Essentials triptych dies; Lavinia acetate circle and Mini Hill masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #779 - More Than One Fold

Crafty Animals #83 - Use an Animal

Day of the Month Card Club #63 - “Vappu” - Finnish Spring Festival

Festive Fridays (May) - Spring Flowers

Four Seasons (May) - Anything Goes Spring

Incy Wincy (May) - Spring and/or an Animal

Inkspirational #315 - Seasonal (Spring)

Lavinia Creative Challenge (May) - Favourite Florals (2nd entry)

Little Red Wagon #755 - Create Your Own Background

Path of Positivity #121 - Anything Goes Positive - TOP PICK

Show Us Your Pussycats #100 - Furrything Goes - WINNER

Simon Says (Monday) - Light and Airy

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Use Die Cuts

Simply Create Too #200 - Add an Animal

Sweet Stampin’ - Animals

Word Art Wednesday #647/648 - Anything Goes

I see that Allsorts Challenge are celebrating their 15th birthday on May 18th so they are asking everyone to spread the word. I’m a big fan of AALL & Create so I’m sure the prizes will be awesome!! 😍

I was lucky enough to receive a Lavinia gift voucher for my birthday from a good friend, so seeing as there are some new stamps being released today plus I have my eye on some of the new VFC colours (which are as rare as hens’ teeth here in the UK right now!) I may just go have a look on their website and see what’s what over there.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

New Beginnings

Hi everyone, as February draws to a close there’s the promise of spring around the corner, so I thought I would have a play with the gorgeous AALL & Create “Elegant Spring Florals” set which I bought in the A&C sale before Christmas. I also had an urge to make a triptych card for some reason, so I could use even more of my stamps in one hit! This card actually started out to be a vibrant coloured card with daffodils and tulips, but turned into a more tranquil creation with snowdrop and lily of the valley! Here it is …

I die cut the triptych base card and three stamping panels from white super smooth stamping card, then stamped the lily of the valley and snowdrop onto two of the panels. I blended Distress Oxide ink around the edges and spattered with water, then when dry I added some background stamping. I then decided it needed something more so I added some soft background stencilling.  The centre panel was always going to contain my main sentiment, so I blended DOX round the edges, spattered with water as before, then stamped the bird and spring sentiment (one of my favourite old woodblock Penny Black stamps). I coloured the flowers and bird with Distress watercolour pencils and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. Finally I die cut three matting panels from co-ordinating aqua pearlescent card stock and  assembled the card.

Stamps: AALL & Create #623 Elegant Spring Florals, #986 The Good; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE4 New Beginnings, TE6 Branched Heart; Penny Black Spring Magic (2852C);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Tumbled Glass); Distress watercolor pencils (Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Picket Fence); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Warm Breeze); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Studio Light triptych die SL253; AALL & Create stencil #110 Digits Checked.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #769 - Things That Fly (2nd entry) - TOP 5

Beautiful Blossoms #14 - Anything Floral Goes (4th entry)

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (February) - Use a Stencil (3rd entry)

Creative Creases #76 - Anything Goes with a Fun Fold

Daisy Chain #82 - Flowers (3rd entry)

Double Trouble #160 - Fun Fold - TOP 3

Make My Monday #220 - Fun Folds

Simon Says (Monday) - Fur or Feathers

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Beautiful Blooms

Sparkles #173 - Hearts and Flowers (3rd entry)

Tracy Evans FB Challenge (February) - Heartfelt (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #635/636 - Anything Goes (6th entry)

I love spring so am really looking forward to daffodils and tulips appearing, both in the garden and on my cards! Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Trying out a triptych

Hello everyone,

Today I would like to share my first ever triptych card, using a die set I was inspired to buy after seeing lovely cards created by Brenda (Floral Fantasies). I actually needed to send Brenda a small package, so I motivated myself to make a triptych spring card to go with it!

First I die cut my base card and three panels for stamping... these were a great way to use up some of my white card snippets !! I created a smoosh background with 2 colours of Distress Oxide ink on all 3 panels, then created my Penny Black brushstroke flowers by colouring the stamps  with watercolour markers and spritzing with water before stamping. I created a little soft background stencilling using a 3rd colour of DO, then stamped my spring wordings using grey ink 2nd generation stamping (for a softer look) and my main sentiment in black. Finally I stamped a small Lavinia leaf stamp around the edges and created some spatter dots with white Posca pen before die cutting 3 yellow linen card mats and assembling my card.

This card wasn’t without its challenges … the stamping panels are quite small so I had only a certain number of stamps that would fit, and my die cutting machine plates weren’t long enough for the base card die … but with a bit of jiggerypokery I got there !! It was nice to try something different from my usual square cards.  I have tried to take a a pic of this card standing up, even though I am not good with standing up shots due to shadows etc. ...

Stamps: Penny Black “Blush” (2666K), “Jonquil” (3587K), “…dreams…” (2711F); daffodil word - Uniko Spring Botanicals “Daffodil”; Spring wording - Uniko Spring Botanicals “Snowdrop”; Lavinia Mini Leaf 2;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Salvaged Patina, Squeezed Lemonade, Cracked Pistachio, Mowed Lawn); Marvey watercolour markers; Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Warm Breeze); White Posca pen;

Tools: Studio Light Essentials triptych die set; Crafters Companion stencil from “Make A Wish” set.

Challenges I would like to enter :

Classic Design Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes (6th Birthday Challenge) (3rd entry)

Country View Challenges (April) - Spring Is Coming (2nd entry)

Crafty Calendar (April) - Anything But Square (2nd entry)

Dragonfly Dreams (April) - Spring/Easter

Get Creative #110 - Springtime 

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2214 - Anything Goes

Penny Black Saturday Challenge (April) - Anything Goes with option Easter (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Easter/Spring

Snippets Playground #425 - Anything Goes with Snippets - TOP PICK

Try It On Tuesday - Spring Colours - END OF YEAR SPOTLIGHT 2022

Take care, and thanks for visiting today.

Hugs,