Crafty As L

Continuing my recent theme using Anita Jeram’s illustrations, this week’s cards are made using Colorado Craft Company “Ice Cream Day” which feature two of my favourite things; cats and ice-cream.   To begin, I stamped and clear heat embossed the images so that I could colour with alcohol markers and not worry about the ink running. I used a selection of markers to colour the cats simply and added some Stickles to give the ice-cream some sparkle. One of the panels was quite small so I used the small ice-cream cone stamp to add some details to the card blank. Finally, I matted the card using Neapolitan ice cream colours.   I had to add a some rhinestones onto this one as I managed to get finger prints in a few places. This card is more CAS and the smaller images are perfect for making cute 5” square cards.

In the UK, today is Father’s Day.   I love this Beach Life set from Colorado Craft Company and we have photographic evidence of my sister and me burying Dad in the sand when we were kids. I debated whether to position the sandcastles in front or on top of the mound and opted for in front, although the masking process would be the same.   I stamped and clear heat-embossed the sandcastles first as I was going to use alcohol markers to colour the image. After stamping and sandcastles onto the sticky part of a sticky note, I trimmed it and positioned it over my prior stamping.   The mound was then stamped over the top. Using a selection of alcohol markers, I coloured the image, adding a little sea in the background plus a few birds drawn in with a fine liner.   I like to have a scrap of card available so that I can test my colours as the lids aren’t always very accurate. For my Dad’s card, I used Happy Happy Happy by Lawn Fawn for the sentiment. For the secon...

Have you been able to make the most of the heatwave?   I’ve been at the hospital a lot as my Dad is not recovering from his surgery as well as expected.   To have a little break from the stress of it all, Mr L and I had a few hours at the beach and our first dip on the sea.   It was rather chilly but invigorating! I’ve a couple of quick cards this week, inspired by my trip to the beach.   The stamp set is Colorado Craft Company’s Beach Life and I stamped and clear heat-embossed the stamp. Using a selection of sandy coloured alcohol markers, I coloured the sand castles and beach. I thought a little sea would set the scene so coloured that in the background. To finish the cards, I layered them on blue and sandy mounts and onto a 5” square card blank.

Apologies for my late blog post.   It’s been a frantic few days for our family as my sister had to rush Dad to the hospital late on Thursday night, calling me to the hospital in the early hours of Friday as he was really not in a good way.   It transpired that he had a huge gallstone and inflamed gallbladder but they were reluctant to operate.   Medical management was chosen but today it became apparent that this was not working so he had to have surgery.   He is almost 87 so this was not done lightly but the operation was successful so hopefully he’ll make a full recovery.   I needed something relaxing to do whilst he was in surgery so made today’s card. This stamp set from Colorado Craft Company’s Anita Jeram collection features a snoozing cat, which very much reminds me of Scooby, one of our tribe.   He loves a bit of “paws up” napping! As usual when I’m planning on using alcohol markers for colouring, I stamped and clear heat-embossed to start. I ...

A couple of weeks ago, I received the sad news that one of the Project 71 veterans had passed away.    Poppy was such a happy, vibrant character who made the most of all that life gave her.   I was her carer a few years ago on a veteran’s trip to Jersey and we had such a laugh together – memories that I will treasure. I wanted to send Poppy’s daughter a sympathy card and it had to feature a poppy, of course.   I started by stamping and clear heat embossing the sentiment and poppy, positioning it slightly off the panel. The purpose of the clear heat-embossing is so that I can colour using alcohol markers.   I also added a few scribbles with a black fineliner around the base to ground the poppy. The lovely script stamp in the set was stamped directly onto the card base. After matting the poppy panel on some green card, the panel was mounted onto the card base. I’ve recently been introduced to the Luna Lapin series of books and wanted to make myself a me...

For my latest Visible Image Design Team post, I had free-rein so decided to revisit another way to use stencils that I’ve not used for a long time.   I like being able to stretch my stash and being able to dry-emboss a stencil gives a whole new look. To emboss a stencil requires an additional bit of kit – check your machine’s accessories.   I’ve got a Sizzix Big Shot and I used an Impressions mat together with a silicone rubber mat in the following configuration: impressions mat – silicone mat – card – stencil – cutting plate I flipped it over so the cutting plate was on the bottom and ran it through the Big Shot. Here’s a close-up of the embossed panel using Squared stencil.   It’s not deeply embossed but it's definitely textured. Next, I trimmed a bunch of squares of white card in various sizes and stamped the focal images onto them, clear heat-embossed and coloured with alcohol markers.   The images are from Little Ladybirds , Bee Happy , Antisocial But...

I’m continuing with my Anita Jeram fix this week but stretching my stash and using a Valentine’s stamp for a birthday card. As I was going to use alcohol markers to colour the mouse, I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and clear heat-embossed. The mouse was then coloured quite simply and then die-cut with the matching die. I die-cut a filigree edged circle and a plain circle to mount the mouse on.   The circle seemed too plain so I repeat stamped the birthday sentiment from one of the other Anita Jeram sets in Versafine Clair Sand Dune ink. To provide a little subtle interest to a 5” square white card blank, I repeat stamped the mouse in the Sand Dune ink. The mouse and the circle were both attached using foam tape.   This card seems quite simple but it took me a while to get the balance right.