Crafty As L

This month’s Christmas creation uses another Woodware stamp.   It’s called Top Hat Robin but on the price label, the shop’s description was Robin or Penguin.   I must admit, before I saw any of this, I thought it was a penguin.   So, I thought I’d try out both. To begin, I stamped the bird and sentiment in Versafine Clair Nocturne and heat set with clear embossing powder.      Next, I coloured the images using Copic Markers.   I added a few scribbles of grey underneath the ground the birds.   With the clear heat-embossing, there’s already some shine to the card but I added a bit more bling by using red and white glitter Nuvo Drops.   To add a frame, I scored each panel from the back all around the outside before mounting on a black mat and then onto a bright red card base. Which do you like best? The robin...   ...or the penguin?   The penguin is my favourite!  

  Today’s card is a simple anniversary card made using one of the bunny stamps from Colorado Craft Company’s Lots of Love set by Anita Jeram.    To begin, I stamped then image using MFT Hybrid ink onto Make-It colour blending cardstock , which was recommended to me for Copic colouring.   After colouring the bunnies, they were cut out using the matching dies.   I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Clair Nocturn and heat set clear embossing powder on top.   I didn’t want to create a scene behind these so used the stripes and dots stamps and grey ink to create the background, adding a few rhinestones amongst the dots.   The liner had the same lines and dots, together with the other bunnies from the set.   Lastly, I die-cut 3 more each of the bunny and sentiment shapes and stacked them before adhering to the card.

  Christmas stamps aren’t just for Christmas! Obviously, you probably don't want to be sending cards with Santa on for someone’s birthday but some stamps are versatile and can be used all year round.   The focal image for this week’s card is from Colorado Craft Company’s Christmas Presents by Anita Jeram set.   The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted called Laugh Out Loud Again.   I used MFT hybrid ink for the dog and Versafine Clair heat set with clear embossing powder for the sentiment.   The card was for my friend who has a dog called Tilly.   Using Copic markers, I tried to colour the dog to look like her.   To create a mask, I stamped the scene onto a sticky note and fussy cut around the bottom.   After adding a length of stencil tape across the panel for the horizon, I used MFT Ray of Light stencil and a blending brush and some green ink to create the lawn stripes, removing the stencil and blending more green ink to complete the lawn. ...

This week’s card is another commission I received from a friend for a retirement card.  The intended recipient had been involved in organising air shows but also loves gardening, so that was my brief. To begin, I started with the air show element.  The background was made by blending some Distress Oxide Salty Ocean over my cloud stencils to create the sky.  The fly past, made with red jets to represent the Red Arrows display team, smoke trails and sentiment were cut from vinyl using my Cricut Maker. Now for the gardening element.  I cut a cardboard stencil using the Lawn Fawn Grassy Border die and blended some green ink over in layers to create the ground. Next, I die cut a fence using the WPlus9 Fence Border dies, running the parts through a wood grain embossing folder for some added texture.  I left the gate section unstuck so it looked like the gate was ajar. The plants and tools were die cut using the MFT Spring Garden set....