stenciling

Silent Night, Holy Night

Hello again everyone. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the final challenge of the year. We have reached the letter ‘S‘, and Melissa has chosen the theme of:

‘Silent Night’

Here is my card:

These houses were ink blended using a Simon Says Stamp stencil set called ‘Snowy Village’. There are 5 little stencils to create this scene, and I used all of them.

Pinkfresh inks were used for the houses and trees, gold paste for the windows, and Tim Holtz glitter paste for the snowy background. I obviously had to wait to allow the pastes to dry between those last two layers – patience is not one of my virtues when it comes to card making – but I managed…..

I stamped the sentiment – from an MFT stamp set – then layered that with a black panel.

The little village was die cut using a stitched rectangle die and again layered with black, and the next layer down was cut then dry embossed using one of my favourite embossing folders from Stampin’ Up.

I hope you can come and join us – I am looking forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Everybody Art Challenge – house/home

Tic Tac Toe – top right to bottom left diagonal – metallic – embossing (wet or dry) – die cuts

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Pinspirational – anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas Link-Up – anything goes Christmas

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes with option Happy Holidays

Stencil Fun – stencil – option Winter/Christmas

Quadruple Celebrations

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘G’, and Veronika has chosen the theme of:

‘G’ is for Gentlemen – create something masculine’

Here are my cards:

I don’t create masculine cards very often, and for this challenge I decided to use the ‘Create In Quads – Hexagon‘ layering stencil set from Taylored Expressions.

If you haven’t used them before, these are an ingenious way of creating four card panels by using four layering stencils.

I chose a more masculine colour scheme for the layers and varied the orientation and sentiments placed on each of the four panels.

I hope you can come and join us with your masculine creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Avenue 613 Create – anything goes – option for the guys taken

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option of birthday taken

Paper Minutes – use stencils

Cup Cake Inspirations – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Cardz 4 Galz – Movie Madness

Hi there. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Debbie has chosen the theme of ‘Movie Madness‘. I created this card based on the recent movie starring Jason Statham – ‘The Beekeeper‘. I really enjoy his films – usually thrilling and exciting – and I definitely am not rom-com kinda girl……!

I started by die cutting the images from Brutus Monroe – another virtual event product – and assembled the bee bodies. I die cut vellum for their wings.

The balloon image was stamped, coloured with Copics, then die cut.

The background was created by using a stencil and ink blending – going with alight blue instead of the usual yellow for the honeycomb to ensure the bees and sentiment really pop.

The sentiment was also die cut and assembled and all the images attached with 3D foam.

The Design Team has come up with some amazing creations inspired by a a wide variety of movies – I hope you can come and join us. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – make your own background

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Tic Tac Toe – stencil, die cut, critter

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Stencil Fun – use a stencil – option Spring/flowers taken

Flying By To Say Hi….

Hello. I was inspired by several challenges to use the new products received as part of ‘Let’s Stamp Together’ from Scrapbook and cards today – this time the featured company was Taylored Expressions.

I first stamped the images in Gina K amalgam ink so I knew I would be save using Copics to colour. Once coloured, I used the matching die cuts.

The background was created using similar colours and using the stencil which also came with the kit – this is a stencil you can rotate to cover more of the background. I rotated it three times, and used green on one rotation, yellow on the second, and then pink for the third time.

I trimmed this down slightly smaller than an A2 card base, and adhered with 3D foam.

The sentiment was stamped and cut out, attached with 3D foam, as were the three images.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Hand Stamped sentiments – photo inspiration

Color Throwdown – pink, green, yellow

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge – anything goes – option to include a cute critter taken

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Peony Friend

Hello again. A little messy play to create this card:

The peony was created using the ‘Lovely Layers: Peony‘ from Honey Bee Stamps, and the colour scheme from the current Color Throwdown challenge.

My first job was to die cut each of the layers for the flower, buds, and leaves from water colour card stock. I used Crafters Companion water-colour card, not one I would normally for water-colouring, but for this flower I was going with messy and imperfect.

I used Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, smooshed onto my glass mat, spritz of water, then just dolloped and swiped it onto the die cuts. I tried to keep the lower die cuts darker, and added a little more colour into the back areas I knew were going to come through and be seen.

I did the same with the leaves, a couple of shades of green – only because my first green wasn’t dark enough for me so I went darker – and even messier. I didn’t get full coverage, but that is what I was aiming for – just a dollop and a swipe of colour.

Whilst the die cuts were drying, I used a large panel of white card stock – this card is 5 x 7 inches – and used a Hero Arts layering stencil and some yellow Distress Ink to create the subtle background. I used all three layers, but the same colour.

I wasn’t concerned about getting full coverage with the stencil either – some areas softer than others, and an uneven edge.

Once that stenciled panel was adhered to the card base, I glued all the floral and bud layers – rolling the edges of the leaves round a pen to create more dimension in the leaves – and played around with the layout until I was satisfied.

The sentiment was added – a hot foiled strip – and I added some black enamel dots instead of splatters – and some clear dots onto some of the petals of the peony.

Every now and again I get into a messy playing mood, and just create backgrounds, use paste, and generally get my hands inky. That way I have panels I can use in the future, especially when I want to die cut for backgrounds, or die cut elements to add to a card.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – pink, yellow, green

Try It On Tuesday – use a stencil

Lil red Wagon – florals

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Beautiful Blossoms – flowers

A Butterfly Paper Hug

A new challenge has started at The Alphabet Challenge. Having reached the letter ‘F’, Deborah has chosen the theme of ‘Flying – anything that flies’. Here is my card:

I chose a stamp, die, and stencil set from Concord & 9th to create this card. The background is stenciled in muted tones of some Altenew brown inks/grey inks to provide some interest without taking away from the main butterfly image.

The butterfly was die cut and assembled, and added with 3D foam, and some gold gems added to the wings in strategic places.

The sentiment id also from that same stamp/die/stencil combo, the banner layered with some gold. I had to do some partial die cutting to make the gold match the curve of the banner – I don’t like fussy cutting so I’d rather work out the partial die cutting. Some small gold gems added to this banner also.