Crafty As L

  Do you remember my post last January when I said I was going to try to make a few Christmas cards each month so that it wasn’t all a frantic panic in December?  Well, that lasted all of one month and I made a grand total of 2! Doh!! So, a new year and a new attempt – fingers crossed this one will go better?  I’ve been feeling a bit fed up lately due to not being well so thought I’d treat myself to this stencil set.  It’s by Taylored Expressions, a new company for me, and it’s designed to make mass-producing cards easier as you create 4 backgrounds with the stencil.  It's designed for the US sized version of A4, which is slightly shorter and fatter than the UK version but it works just fine. For the leaves, I blended SU! Old Olive ink through stencil 1 and SU! Garden Green through stencil 2 onto SU! Crumb Cake card.  You can use the same green for each stencil though – that’s what I did for my envelopes as I like to use a waterproof ink on them....

My energy levels have been seriously depleted since my surgery last October.  It’s been really difficult just getting through each day so the tank’s been empty when I’ve tried to get creating.   So, when I saw this stamp, I figured it just designs itself, all I’ve got to think of are the colours.  The stamp is from Concord and 9 th and they have a range of these turnabout stamps, designed to be used with a stamping platform. Starting with a 5¾” square piece of card, I stamped my first colour. The card was then rotated 90° and stamped 3 more times.  You can use whatever colours you fancy, maybe adding a layer of embossing powder for some extra bling. Since the stamped backgrounds were essentially the card, I wanted the sentiment to be the focal image so used Happy, Happy, Happy from Lawn Fawn, heat embossed in white onto black card. The sentiment was mounted onto a stitched circle die-cut and the card finished with a few sequins....

As you know, I’m a great lover of cats so, this stencil on Sweet Poppy Stencils’ website immediately called to me.  It’s called Faith and I think it has a very calm, serene feel to it.  I planned on using my Mooch silhouette with it but hadn’t envisaged it looking like a patronus from Harry Potter! I thought I’d make two cards but in different colours to see which looked best.  First, I used my blending brushes and Rococo Rose and Pretty Peacock inks, plus a touch of Smoky Slate, through the stencil.   Next, I stamped Mooch and then grounded him by using my hillside mask and blending some grey ink.  I added another hillside slightly paler and then some mountains, paler still, to give the illusion of depth. Trees were stamped either side and I used the tops of the trees for bushes in the foreground.  I used the Star Cluster and heart Fairy Charm as the focal point for Mooch’s gaze.  These were stamped in Versafine Claire Glamorous and Sea ...

Bereavement cards are always difficult to make, knowing that the person you’re making the card for has lost someone dear to them.  Our friends recently lost their beloved dog, Dooley, so I wanted to send a card to let them know that we were thinking of them.  The inspiration for this card was from a Pinterest post for a cat version. It’s quite a simple card starting with a heart die-cut from black glitter paper and then cut out the dog using Stampin’ Up! Dog Builder punch.  Using the same punch, I cut a heart from some red glitter card. The sentiment is from a set by Waffle Flower called Rainbow Bridge.  I like to stamp the sentiment on black ink and then add clear embossing powder on top. A black mat is the final step to frame the top layer.        

  Happy New Year! This week’s post is a card I made for my Mum’s birthday a couple of months ago.  It was inspired by this fabulous card I received for my birthday from a complete stranger!  I’m a member of a birthday club in a Facebook crafting group who are fans of Lavinia Stamps and this card was from one of the ladies (Kirsty) in that group.  I was super impressed by this card and felt very lucky that someone had spent so much time and effort making such a beautiful card.  I hadn’t heard of the Scene-Scape papers from Lavinia but decided to try some out.  This particular one is called Midnight Magic. To begin, I blended ink to make some hills onto the scene to give some sense of depth to the scene. Next, I stamped the scene.  I’m not usually into fairies but I liked Seren (she was on another card I received from the group) so I went out of my comfort zone and bought her.  I added a little yellow ink to give the lamp some ...