Layering stamps

Season’s Greetings

Hello once again. ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the end of the alphabet for this year, and Marie is hosting. We have two themes for you to create your Christmas/festive creations with:

Y is for Your favourite colours

and

Z is for Zoo Animals

Here is my card:

Obviously, I chose to go with my favourite colours. I love the traditional red and green for Christmas, and having this purple back panel really made them pop.

This die set is from Concord & 9th, and it has been a really popular set – I can see why. I was lucky enough to get it the first time round, but it didn’t take me long to play with it.

I die cut the base layer from the dark purple card stock. On that layer are the dotted outline for suggestions of where to place your other elements – I kinda went a little rogue, as you can see, but the dotted areas you can see on the base add something I think.

This purple layer was added to a white card base, one I die cut with that base die to create the shaped card.

All the floral elements and the foliage were die cut, many more times than was actually needed, and I went to town with the placements. I only used the poinsettias and not the other flower that came with the set, and added them first – two larger flowers and two smaller flowers.

The foliage and leaves were die cut using several tones of green, and the mistletoe berries I kept white.

A little gold die cut for the centres of the poinsettias, and of course I added gold gems here and there:

The sentiment was heat embossed onto a purple strip, die cut with the banner die, and the two little tag ends added.

This was added strategically across the centre of the card – so much dimension under there I used 3D foam and glue to get it to stick.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following one of our themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On Earth – Anything goes Christmas

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge – anything goes – option of Christmas presents not taken

The Flower Challenge – flowers – add sparkle

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cut

Pinspirational – anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas Link Up – anything goes Christmas

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Floral Hello

Hello to you all.

My friend and I have just spent a couple of days away doing a Christmas Book Nook and a Veranda Nook……we had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for – so much work and fine detail needed for those projects. It absolutely blew my mind – so I had to come back and make a card as I know how to do that…..! I don’t think that is something I’m going to be doing much of in the future – but I really enjoyed what we did do.

I have a card to share using a new stamp and die set from the recent Stamptember collaboration with Simon Says Stamp and Concord & 9th:

I stamped all the images in the stamp set, but decided to use only these couple of sprigs for a more clean look.

The background panel is a 3D embossing folder from Spellbinders, adhered with tape. I die cut these three sprigs after stamping the two layers for each colour.

The two stripes of blue are from a little packet I keep my strips in, and the circle was die cut and stamped with an sentiment from that same stamp set.

The stamp set has a large poinsettia flower and even though I stamped and die cut that – it is sitting on my desk for another project – I didn’t want to cover up too much of the embossing.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – green, orange, blue

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge – anything goes

Allsorts – anything goes – option to add texture taken (3D embossing folder)

The Flower Challenge – anything goes with flowers

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of spooky not taken

2 CAS cards

Hello. I have two cards to share today – both CAS – in appearance if not in making:

The first card is using the gorgeous Altenew ‘Bountiful Branch’ layering stamp set – thank goodness for my Misti! This is an old but loved stamp set, I have used a couple of times before – but maybe not this year, actually – I’ll have to have a look back…….

I was inspired to make a one layer card, stamping the branch slightly off the edge, and making the sentiment up from several in the Altenew ‘Peaceful Wreath’ stamp set.

The second card was a little more of a challenge – I tend to smudge cards when I try and do some ink vlending on them – but this worked quite well.

I took the card base, masked off most of it to leave the top part out and ready to ink blend using my Distress Ink ‘Speckled Egg’ – I chose this colour for a cool bluey kinda greeny background behind my glittery snowflake die cuts.

These snowflakes are from Uniko – maybe a couple of years old – and die cut out of some low shed glitter card stock. I decided the leave in the middle star, and arranged them as you see.

I did toy with different shaped and sized snowflakes, but in the end went with the same – and don’t the perfectly fit the edge of the card? Who knows – maybe Bev from Uniko planned it that way – I wouldn’t be surprised……

The sentiment is stamped in Distress Oxide ‘Speckled Egg‘ – the Distress ink was a little too ‘distressed’ looking for me. Yes – I bought the whole release of that colour – full set syndrome……

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Bountiful Branch card:

Simply Less Is More – one layer card – festive – CAS

TTCRD – anything goes

Snowflake card:

AAA Cards – CAS – along the edge – option snowflakes

Unicorn Challenge – anything goes

GRAB OUR BADGE
Grab Our Badge!

Wave

20170816_174148

Hi everyone. I’m still in Quebec, and still using my sister’s stash for creating cards. All this whilst she is preparing for going back to work next week – a teacher – and me playing. Well, we did go and see the Tintin exhibition in Quebec Museum of Civilisation yesterday. I saw the poster advertising the exhibition and just had to go. I still hear the voice-over from my school years, saying – Herge’s adventures of Tintin – in a very resounding and booming voice. Does anyone else remember that?

Whilst there, we also took in the ‘Mad about brains’ exhibition. As a nurse in our local neurosurgery regional centre, it would have been rude not to. Very interesting, and looking at the anatomy and the fascinating facts about the brain……a bus-man’s holiday, really. A good exhibition for people not in ‘the industry’…..

Back to the card now. The stamp is from The Ton, and I used a Tim Holtz Distress Oxide for the base colour,as these stamps have a lot of area to cover. The Distress Oxide covered it perfectly. I then layered with two Hero Arts colours, in a teal/green effect. I also tried using blues, but I didn’t think it looked as good as the greens….

I attached this to the base card with layers of toning colours. The sentiment is from Altenew, stamped in Versafine black onyx.

I shall be entering this card into the Inkspirational challenge, theme of ‘wave’.

 

 

Still Altenew

Hi everyone. I am still with the same stamp set, and now playing with different colours. I seem to have gained some confidence with layering stamps. I’ll let you look at the blue cards to spot some mistakes – I’ll tell you at the end!

The inspiration for the yellow card is from the ‘Less is More’ challenge to use yellow and grey only, so I thought I’d have a play with the only flower from that set I hadn’t stamped yet. I did initially think of doing the sunflowers stamp set, but as I’m on a roll with this one, I decided to stay with it. Three layers for the flower, and two layers for the leaves at the base of the flower. This particular stamp actually fits together, and is quite easy to match-up – with the correct lighting, anyway.

I tried doing it and found that leaning over created a shadow and I couldn’t really see what I was doing, so in came a light I placed nearer and to the back of my craft table. That seemed to work very well.

I used colours from Altenew inks, so I didn’t even have to try and find colours that worked well and toned well together as it is already done for you with the ink sets.

So, onto the mistakes. Did you spot them?

On the top blue card I couldn’t figure out which way up the flower was supposed to be! So – it’s crooked. I think it was planted into alcohol!

For the second blue card I think I had a stutter with the stamping. I completely misjudged the darkest layer at the bottom of the bud. Well, take about artistic licence. So my blue cards are a drunken flower and a stuttering stamper…….some fun, at least.

I will be entering the yellow card into the following challenges:

Less is More – ‘yellow and grey’

Make My Monday – ‘May flowers’

Incy Wincy Designs – ‘Clean and Simple’

Crafting From The Heart – ‘anything goes’

Colour Crazy Challenge – ‘anything goes’

Crafty Calendar challenge – ‘flowers’