Crafty As L

  The background for this was made during one of my experiments with my gel press.  I rolled distress oxide inks onto the press before printing the snowflakes from Colorado Craft Company Slimline Nordic Snowflakes on top and then taking a print.  I cut this piece into panels for a gatefold card and stuck them to my grid paper with some temporary adhesive whilst I stamped my scene. To begin, I stamped the pine cones onto the card and onto the sticky part of a Post-it note.  I fussy cut the pinecones and stuck them onto the card so that the branches would sit behind when I stamped them.   Next, after inking in some hills, I used a selection of stamps from Lavinia Stamps to create the scene of the animals looking at the beautiful tree, which is actually a feather!    The feather tree was decorated with a tiny star stamp and heat embossed with silver powder.   Some fairy charm stamps were added to decorate the overhanging bran...

As part of my rehab following my surgery at the end of last month, I have to walk short distances a couple of times daily.  We’re fortunate enough to live close to a country park so it’s been lovely seeing the hedgerows change over the past few weeks and it inspired me to create an autumn wreath for the front door. The rose hips have been stunning and abundant this year.  There are about 4 or 5 bushes along this path.  This photo doesn’t do it justice but they look fabulous! I collected a few rose hips, teasels and some grass and weed heads during one of my walks and then collected some leylandii and eucalyptus prunings from our garden for the base foliage. To form the wreath, I gathered bunches of foliage together… …and then wired them onto the frame, ensuring the next bunch overlaps the base of the previous bunch. Lastly, I added the pinecones and teasels, wiring them in to the wreath with some floristry wire. I’m really ple...

  The idea for a pinecone wreath card has been rumbling around my mind for a while and I finally got around to trying it out.  I used some of the £1 stamps from Lavinia to create this with a Stampin’ Up! sentiment. To begin, I lightly drew a circle for a guide and then stamped the pinecone repeatedly, changing the angles.  I used Versafine Clair ink in Pinecone as it’s waterproof and I planned to colour over the top later. The next layer was using the mini-holly stamp and Rainforest ink. I then used the sycamore seed stamp as mistletoe, again in Rainforest ink.  After the inks were dry, I used some water-based brown ink pressed onto my block and the Wink Of Stella pen to colour in the pinecones and add some shimmer. I coloured in the berries and then topped them with red Nuvo glitter drops to them.  I added some white Nuvo drops for mistletoe berries too along with a few green dots around the wreath. The panel was edged by dra...