Crafty As L

  My mission to make a few Christmas cards each month continues this week with 6 cards created with some new goodies from Taylored Expressions.  This time it’s using the Trendy Trees suite comprising a background stamp, die-cut and layering stencils. I started by stamping the Trendy Tree Farm Background stamp with Versamark and heat embossed using various metallic powders on white card and white on craft card. The first card was completed by using the cutting plate to create little tree ‘windows’ for the embossed trees to peek through.  The sentiment is from Waffle Flower Cozy Holiday Sentiments and the small tree and snowflake stamps, also from that set, were stamped in the same colour as the card to give some tone-on-tone pattern without detracting from the trees. Gold embossed trees with a Bermuda Bay frame on top  For the rest of the panels, I added colour to the trees using 3 of the 4 tree stencils (the 4 th stencil is the tree trunks). To b...

  This week’s post is the card I made for Mr L for Valentine’s Day.  I was inspired to have a go at making a scene with Copic markers after watching (many) Sandy Alnock’s videos.  Sandy is so talented and makes everything look so doable! To begin, I stamped the mice from Colorado Craft Company’s Ever Thine, another of the Anita Jeram stamps.  I used Ink on 3’s no-line ink, although the finished work ended up darker than I’d intended so I could have used black. For the first stage of the background, I used a variety of pinks, purples, blues, oranges and yellows and swiped lines in from each side of the panel. I started shading the mice, using darker and darker and darker shades, probably going too dark at the end as the features were more or less obliterated.  I tried to add shadows cast by the sun, linking the shadow to one foot only to give the impression of movement, making it look like they are skipping. Using the black Copic mark...

  Do you ever have an 'oops!' moment, usually when you’re 99% through creating your card?  The decision then is whether to plough on and try to recover it or bin it and start again.  I will generally try the former, usually by stamping over the offending area however it wasn’t possible on this card so I had to think of something else.  Glitter came to the rescue! The aim was for a clean and simple slimline card in landscape format, with a cat on a rainbow platform. To begin, I masked off the bottom section and blended a variety of inks to make the rainbow section.  I spritzed with a little water to give some texture. Using my Stamparatus stamp positioner, as I wanted the cat silhouette to be super solid, I stamped the image 4 times.   The cat stamp is Mimsy by Lavinia Stamps.   After the sentiment was stamped, I felt it needed something extra so added a couple of small star clusters. Versafine Clair ink is slow drying and I’d inadvertentl...

  I’m a member of the Lavinia For You Facebook group birthday club where the members send cards to each other, made using Lavinia stamps. It’s quite informal and there’s no commitment; people do it quite often so they have somewhere to send their makes.  If I’m not going to have the time to create individual masterpieces (?!), I batch make a set of cards for the birthdays for that month.  I’m using 5” x 5” card blanks for these with a 4” square topper and 4½” square mat. Using the Charming stencil, I blended SU! Rococo Rose and So Saffron inks through to create a soft background. Next, I stamped the Indian Flourish stamp and birthday sentiment with Versafine Clair Nocturne, added clear embossing powder and heat set it.  I like to emboss simple cards like this as it gives a bit more interest.  My preference is to stamp in black and add clear embossing powder as it gives a sharper image than embossing with black powder. The inside of the card and...