Crafty As L

I’ve been looking through my stash lately and have rediscovered the lovely Anita Jeram stamps by Colorado Craft Company.   I enjoyed the colouring I did for last week’s card and needed an anniversary card so Lots of Love was just the ticket. As usual, I began by clear heat-embossing the image.   Whilst I do have a hybrid ink pad, which is suitable for use with alcohol markers, I prefer to heat-emboss. I used the package images for colour inspiration and then cut the bunnies out using the matching die.    Whilst I was at it, I stamped and clear heat-embossed the sentiment and cut that out, together with another three so I could stack them together. As this was an anniversary card, I decided on a shaped card and die-cut some hearts.   I stamped some hearts from an old Stampin’ Up! set around the white heart in ink to match. To make the card base, I die-cut two green hearts.   For the back one, I scored about ¾” from the top to make the hinge and trimm...

It’s time again for my Design Team post and I’m making a bright and bold spring birthday card.   To begin, I stamped and clear heat-embossed the large tulip from SketchedTulips , sprayed them with Distress Spray Stains and Spritzes and set aside to dry. For the background, I stamped a 5¼” square panel with the rest of the stamps in the set, using Versfine Onyx Black so that I knew it would be waterproof.   Putting the panel into my spray box, I used the same colours as above to add colour. Next for some texture, I used the new Logic stencil and applied Distress grit paste in areas around the panel.   Whilst the paste was still wet, I sprinkled on gold embossing powder and heat set, allowing the paste and powder to bubble up. For the topper, I gold heat-embossed the sentiment from Birthday Wishes .   I tore around the edges and dragged the edges through a Versamark ink pad and heat set with gold embossing powder.   I fussy-cut some of the tulips and glue...

This card was for a male friend’s birthday whose birthday is around pancake day.   This set is predominantly aimed at Father’s Day so it was good to use it for another occasion. To begin, I stamped the images from Colorado Craft Company Dad’s Cooking and clear heat-embossed them. The images were coloured using alcohol markers. Whilst there is a birthday sentiment on the set, I wanted something pancake related so decided on some hand lettering.   I sketched it out on my graph paper first and then traced it using my light box. The panel was matted on some corrugated blue card that matched the jacket and then mounted on a 5” x 7” card blank.   I stamped, coloured and die-cut another pancake which was attached using foam tape, adding some movement lines with a black fineliner.

It was Mr L’s birthday last month and rather than just buy him “stuff”, I bought him some things to do too – with me, of course! We’ve already enjoyed the Soulful Soundbath , which was a deeply relaxing experience accompanied by classical harp and Tibetan bowls and we’ve got to wait until December to see Kevin Bridges stand-up show.   The third activity that I bought was a pottery workshop to make a Green Man at Misty Ceramics studio.   If you don’t know what that is, the Green Man is an ancient figure, usually a face peering out of or composed of leaves, which symbolises nature, rebirth, and the cycle of seasons. On arrival, Karen gave us a quick briefing and showed us some examples that she’d made, then we were off.   We started by rolling out the clay and cutting out a circular base.   The wooden sticks were to ensure the base was a uniform thickness. The next stage was the most challenging for me – making a realistic face.   Fortunately, Karen offered b...

This is not just another Design Team post!   It’s my first using Visible Image’s brand-new Grunge Florals Collection.   This is another awesome release comprising six stamps sets and three stencils – I hope you’ve seen the gorgeous samples made by Mark and the DT - and you can see and shop the whole range here .   To begin, I used the Rotation stencil as a stamp to colour the background for the large rose stamp.   I sprayed Distress Spray Stains in Picked Raspberry and Dusty Concord onto the stencil… …and then pressed it onto the card.   To absorb any overspray, I placed some tissue over the stencil whilst I pressed it onto the card. After drying the printing thoroughly, I stamped and clear heat embossed the rose from Rose Moments .   I used my MISTI for this so that I could repeat stamp as necessary as this is a big stamp. I used a nesting set of octagonal dies to cut out the rose plus black and silver foil layers and glued them together.   (...

In the Veteran’s Group where I volunteer, we will be celebrating three 100 th birthdays this year; indeed, the event today was a joint do for Sybil’s 101 st and for Henry’s 100 th birthday. How amazing is that?!   Today’s post is the card I made for Henry who is a cheeky chap and I thought the sentiment (from Clearly Besotted   Laugh Out Loud Again)   suited him well. To begin, I stamped Mama Elephant’s Three Amigos , adding numbers from Lawn Fawn Claire’s Alphabet.   They were stamped in Versafine Onyx black and clear heat-embossed. Using a variety of alcohol markers, I coloured the critters and the grass.   I didn’t know what colour to do the background so opted for a pale-yellow glow. After assembling the card, I felt that more background was needed so stencilled some clouds and sky. I added the birthday sentiment at the bottom and matted the panel on gold foil card and onto a dark brown side-fold DL card blank.