Pine Forest Bauble 🌲

Hi everyone, yesterday afternoon I managed to my first crafting session in three weeks, as I have been completely preoccupied with booking, taking, and sorting myself out after, a last minute holiday. Having never even heard of it until a few weeks ago, we booked a getaway in Pula in Croatia after seeing it feature in a programme on TV. I’ll include a few holiday pics at the end of this post , but first … a card!

Today’s card is closely based on a YouTube tutorial by Heidi the Yorkshire Crafter, but as usual with a few adjustments and twists of my own. The basic premise was an ink blended night sky and tree scene in a bauble using Tracy Evans stamps and stencils. I used an elliptical rather than round bauble stencil (as that’s all I’ve got!) so I changed the card shape from rectangular to square, and as I didn’t have the exact tree by Tracy I substituted with several pine trees by Card-io. My ink colours were similar but not quite the same, and I added a little background stamping around the bauble, primarily to cover a faint smudge on the white card! 🤣

I cut a stitched square of white stamping card from a mid sized snippet, and taped down my bauble stencil and a hill mask. I then blended various shades of blue Distress Oxide to form the sky working outwards from light to dark, and lightly inked in the snowdrift. I then added some blended Twilight VFC at the edges of the sky to make it pop, and lightly blended my palest shade around the bottom edge of the bauble to define it. With the hill mask in place I stamped a few small background trees in 1st and 2nd generation VFC, then added a foreground tree using Twilight. I stamped the teeny mouse from Tracy Evans set TE?? in Nocturne, then grounded the mouse and tree and added a couple more snowdrifts using torn paper and blended Twilight VFC. I added a shadow effect around the bauble by placing the stencil inner on top of the bauble and lightly blending Black Soot DOX around it. 

In her tutorial Heidi created a silver glitter card bauble top by drawing round the stencil and cutting out - but me and craft knives don’t really mix, so I coloured the bauble top with silver Posca pen and blue fine liners, and drew a bauble string. I added some Posca snow to the trees and spatter to the scene, then when dry I stamped the sentiment and a couple of Christmas numbers  in 2nd generation, which I also decorated with Posca snow. I matted the finished piece onto a border of charcoal glitter card (my last large snippet!) and onto a 6” square card blank. 

Stamps: Card-io Pine Forest; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE22 Christmas Wishes, TE32 Alpha Florals;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight, Morning Mist); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched square die; Tracy Evans Snippet Stencil SS006 Bauble.

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #126 - Anything Christmas Goes

ABC Christmas - T is for Trees

Addicted to Stamps & More #502 - Christmas

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

Creative Moments #274 - Trees

The Holly and Ivy #192 - Anything Christmas Goes - WINNER

Merry Little Christmas #64 - Anything Christmas Goes - TOP PICK

Peace On Earth #96 - Anything Christmas Goes

Rudolph Days (September) - Anything Christmas Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Snippets Playground #515 - Use Snippets

As mentioned above, we got back at the end of last week from a last minute holiday to celebrate our wedding anniversary, so my previous couple of posts were scheduled while we were away. We had 10 days in Croatia, staying in Pula which is primarily noted for its Roman ruins including an amphitheatre which is fundamentally a smaller version of the Colosseum, and a 2000 year old Roman temple. It was really interesting to see the monuments, and we also had a lovely day trip to the pretty coastal resort of Rovinj plus a visit to  Pula’s amazing Aquarium and turtle rescue centre. We were a bit concerned just before we went by the weather forecast which predicted 4 days of rain, but in the event it only rained for one afternoon and evening - phew!

Here are a few pics from our break.

View from hotel balcony

Pula amphitheatre

Roman arch

Temple of Augustus

Roman Temple and medieval Town Hall

Pula by night

Rovinj

Having had a few days of running around madly getting ready after our last minute booking, and a few days of the obligatory washing and ironing after our return, things are finally settling back down to normal so I guess it’s now time to really start gearing up with the Christmas makes - happy Rudolph Day!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Back in the saddle!

Hi everyone, here I am with my first post for a while, and yesterday afternoon was my first crafting session for almost a month as things went a bit off plan the past 3 weeks!

 Three and a half weeks ago I went on holiday to Dubrovnik in Croatia, which is a really wonderful place and well worth visiting (please see further down post for some photos). Everything was going well for the first 5 days, but on day 6 I woke up feeling rough and after breakfast I went back to bed, where I lay all day feeling really ropey and suspecting that having avoided it for over 4 years, Covid had finally found me! The following morning I thought I felt a bit better but then disaster struck … I fainted in the shower, hitting my head (I think on a blunt metal door handle!) and ended up with my husband taking me to hospital in a taxi where I had a CT scan (and a Covid test!). Mercifully the CT scan was clear (unlike the Covid test!) but I had a terrible bang on my head which I could hardly touch, a nasty bruise on my temple and felt incredibly shocked, fearful and wobbly! Ironically the standard Covid symptoms were very mild, and I was up and about after 2 days but I had to take it VERY easy due to the head injury, go back to hospital for a quick check the next day, and also wear a medical grade FPP mask everywhere indoors in the hotel and on the plane home which absolutely drained me! I continued to test positive for nearly 2 weeks, and even now there is a small tender area on my head! I’ve still hardly been out and  I’m still monitoring myself as I have still been feeling wobbly, but hopefully things have started to improve a lot the past couple of days. All in all, a holiday which in some ways I’d rather forget! 

So, back to cardmaking … I feel really out of practice and was struggling to feel inspired, but here’s my first share in a while.

I stamped my image and coloured with Zig pens, blended out with a water brush. I then added some stencilling to one side using Elements ink, and some background word stamping. I then added a stamped sentiment and matted the panel onto black and pale pink card stock and a 6” square card blank. To finish I added some small butterflies punched from glitter card to pick out the colours in the image, and added Glossy Accents to the perfume bottle and some washi tape fragments.

Unfortunately my last minute decision to add washi tape was a classic example of not knowing when to leave it alone, as I smudged my Glossy Accents so had to apply another layer! The end result is a bit thick and bumpy for my liking, but hey it’s done now! Here is an angled pic to show the shine.

Stamps: AALL & Create #841 Le Parfum, #457 Background Voices; Visible Image Birthday Wishes;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Lavinia Elements ink (Blue Lagoon); Posca pen (white); Glossy Accents;

Tools: Darkroom Door stencil - Diamonds; X-Cut mini butterfly punch;  washi tape from The Range.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #63 - Fabulous Flowers

Addicted to Stamps and More #471 - Make Your Mark

Allsorts #787 - Way to Grow (flowers)

C.R.A.F.T. #726 - Anything Goes

Cards 4 Galz #228 - Inspired By a Book - SPOTLIGHT WINNER

(The Perfume Collector)

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

Creative Inspirations (July) - Anything Goes

Dream Valley #318 - Summer Colours - TOP 3

Everybody Art #561 - We Love Stamping

Inkspirational #319 - Use Stencils

Krafty Chicks #723 - Stamps

Shopping Our Stash #525 - NBUS

(my main image is new)

Sweet Stampin’ - Fabulous Flowers - TOP 3

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

We Love 2 Create #6 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Word Art Wednesday #655/656 - Anything Goes

Going back to our disastrous holiday, on the upside we had already seen most of the sights of Dubrovnik before I fell ill and had my accident. The Old Town is really gorgeous … here are a few photos, including my husband sitting on the Iron Throne!!

So, back to reality, and hopefully back to productivity on the cardmaking front. Apologies but I’m sure you can understand I haven’t done as much commenting as usual over the past weeks, so I probably won’t catch up with everything now .. but onwards and upwards! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

The Great Outdoors

Hi everyone, I'm just getting back into the swing of crafting having been on holiday to Rhodes (more of that later), and I wasn't too well with a shocking cold for 2 weeks before I went so I have done hardly any crafting during September. 

I am a member of the FB group for AALL & Create Tracy Evans fans, and this month a lady on there started up a new ATC swap - woo hoo, exciting!!  For the first few months there is a theme but also an "Anything goes" option whilst members get into the swing of it, as some have never made ATC's before. I couldn't wait to get started, though I am actually fairly last minute this time due to the holiday and illness, but I have finally got there!! This month's optional theme is "Circles" so I have managed to incorporate a few into the background of my design - here they are.

I created a smooshed background with Distress Oxide inks on a piece of white stamping card (it is rather subtle and doesn't show up too well in the photos!!), then cut the inked card into three pieces each 3.25" x 2.25". I inked the background leaf (which is part of a larger stamp, the famous A&C wellies!) using two shades of green Versafine Clair, then inked some background circles/postmarks from the same stamp set  using 2nd generation Warm Breeze VFC. I stamped the butterfly 3 times onto separate card and heat embossed, coloured with Sakura Stardust pens, then fussy cut and attached to each ATC. I also cut out, coloured and attached the letter "B" which I had heat embossed as part of the butterfly stamp. Finally I stamped a sentiment onto each ATC, edged them with black marker pen then matted onto standard ATC size black card stock. 

Here is a closeup of one of them...

... and an angled picture to show the sparkle on the butterfly.

Stamps: AALL & Create #370 The Great Outdoors (background), #449 Through the Meadows (Butterfly), #996 Forget Me Not (Sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Tumbled Glass, Old Paper, Antique Linen); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Verdant, Shady Lane, Warm Breeze); Sakura Stardust pens (Yellow, Green, Aqua).

Challenges I would like to enter:

ATC's Around the World #105 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Butterfly Challenge #187 - Butterflies Galore

Make My Monday #210 - Create Your Own Background

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2338 - Anything Goes

Paper a la Mode (September) - Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Use a Background Stamp

Stamping Sensations (September) - Garden Delights

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

We Love Stamping (September) - Trees/Leaves (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #613/614 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

As I mentioned above I got back a few days ago from holiday on the beautiful island of Rhodes, where we celebrated our wedding anniversary 💕💕. The weather seemed a bit hotter than usual for the time of year, with average daytime temperatures of 31 degrees, so we didn’t go walking about too much in the daytime and spent much of the holiday reading under a sun umbrella!! However we did manage a couple of trips to Lindos and Rhodes Town .. here are a few photos.

Views from our hotel 

Lindos

Rhodes Town

Fab dining at our hotel!

That's all from me for today, though I hope to be back soon as I have a few craty makes to catch up on!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,