Have you Scene the Delicate Ornaments?

Hello, have you started your Christmas projects yet? Normally, in spite of all good intentions, I leave my Xmas cards to the very last minute. Oh each year I say it will be different next year but usually it isn't. That is until now. I have started my Christmas cards; I've made a few, started them in July! I think I may need to lie down due to shock.

Now I know some of you will be wondering why I'm not using products from the new Autumn/Winter catalogue. Here's the confession, I actually made this card at the end of July, before my new crafty stash had arrived. I know, it's September already but I've been crafting and scheduling blog posts since I'm on the 7 week Summer break from work. Yes, working in education does have some bonuses. I've gone from posting once a week to scheduling 3 times a week as I've created so much. I only hope this time that once I'm back to my day job I can keep up.

I haven't taken Delicate Ornament Thinlit dies off the shelf until now. I was so disappointed it was retired in January. For this project I decided to combine it with Lovely as a Tree and Holiday Home.

Night of Navy

Whisper White

Silver Foil

Using the "onion" die, I cut an aperture and created a winter scene behind it.

As I wanted my sentiment to be heat embossed but in a colour that that Stampin' Up don't do I followed a tip by Sam from Pootles. First of ink up your chosen stamp in Versamark and then your chosen ink colour before stamping. Sprinkle clear embossing powder over it, remove excess and then heat until set. It really does work.

I still feel this needs a little extra, maybe either a sprig of holly and berries or other greenery around the hook. Chris, my friend suggested some snowflakes dotted around. What do you think? If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment below. Thank you for looking today.

Lovely as a Tree - again????

Hello again, while the Lovely as a Tree stamp set was out I thought I'd make a second card with it. Luckily it was still visible under the mess on my desk. Normally I try to have a tidy up at the end of the day but I've been so inspired recently that ideas have flowed thick and fast. Now this doesn't always happen, sometimes I can sit staring in space for a while before a glimmer of an idea comes to the fore. I'm certainly not complaining about my messy desk, as it means I'm working; long may it continue - as long as there are a few inches of space to work on.

This really is such a classic set, I can't think there will ever be a time it retires. Once again I chose a white on white design, using only 3 other colours although Very Vanilla would also look great for the base colour.

Garden Green

Early Espresso

Whisper White

This time I made a tent card. I masked off an oval and created my sponged background, using Soft Sky and Garden Green. I stamped my trees across and the stamped the larger tree so that the majority was on white space. Sadly I didn't take photos of the process. I really must learn to take them as I go along. I then took a 2nd piece of Whisper White which was the same size and die cut an oval, this one was just very slightly smaller. It took a little time and effort to make sure it was in the right place. I then stamped the large tree again, this time on the card with the aperture, matching up as closely as possible to the tree on the background as some of the branches showed through.

Handy tip; cut the oval first and place it over the card you're going to sponge on then draw around it so you know where the ink needs to be. This card evolved as I hadn't originally planned to add an extra layer!

I wrapped some Linen thread around the top card, securing from behind with a couple of glue dots before using dimensionals to adhere to the sponged card. This in turn was secured to the base card, I added a sentiment and to create some balance coloured and stuck a wooden embellishment in the opposite corner.

I hope you like it. I decided to add to my collection of male birthday cards but depending on the sentiment you choose, this is suitable for many occasions. 

Spotlight on Lovely as a Tree

If you've read any of my previous posts, you'll know that I like a stamp set to be versatile so that it earns it's keep. Well, there is one set, Lovely as a Tree that can be used for almost any occasion, either on it's own or in conjunction with other sets. Had you thought of using it for Christmas though?

I decided that I'd make a Christmas card using the negative spotlight technique and Lovely as a Tree. As with many of my cards, it's simple and uncluttered. I often feel that with cards less is more.

Whisper White

Night of Navy

As you can see, I only used 2 colours. First of all I stamped the row of trees onto both Whisper White and Night of Navy using Versamark ink and then heat embossed in white. It immediately had a wintery feel to it. I also took some stars from the Star of Light set and stamped randomly  for a twinkly sky on the navy card. These were also heat embossed for a cohesive look.











A circle was cut out of the navy card, I used a die although a punch would work just as well. I very lightly sponged the area of white that would be revealed through the hole and used dimensionals to layer both pieces of card. It took a little while to line up both images as there is so much detail on this stamp. I do think it's worth the effort though.

A little silver metallic thread was wrapped around my fingers to loop it and place on the base card. I used a couple of glue dots to hold in place. My design was then mounted onto white card before adhering to the navy base card, allowing the silver thread to show diagonally, top and bottom. I took a sentiment from Star of Light and once again stamped and heat embossed it.

Whilst playing with this technique, I also made a second card, this time with no heat embossing. It uses the same spotlight method but with a coloured background. Another male oriented card I think. I'm so pleased I managed to get the Sky is the Limit; this one was so much easier to line up!

Lovely As a Tree

Hello again, you know I'm so lucky to live in Cambridgeshire; it's a beautiful part of the country even though the landscape is so flat! You can see for miles...

The other day, instead of my usual trek into work, as it was half term I travelled to Cambridge on the guided bus to meet my friend, Chantelle, for a day of shopping, eating cake and drinking tea. It's a journey I used to make on a daily basis when I worked in Cambridge but I don't often travel there now so I really enjoyed looking out of the window at the scenery. Sadly I didn't get chance to take a photo.  Watching the sun coming up over the lakes at Fen Drayton really inspired me to use Lovely as a Tree. I had an inkling of an idea on the bus and made a scribbled drawing to remind myself.

OK so the photo isn't mine but I have tried to find contact details for Jme and also included his blog details. I just thought the addition of a photo would give an indication of the view.

Tangerine Tango

Crushed Curry

Old Olive

Early Espresso

I love blending inks, it's so theraputic; the more time you take, the better it looks as the colours build up. You just have to make sure you aren't going out for a special event though as fingers get very inky!

If you try it and aren't too sure of the result, keep going as it will improve. This time I used a die cut Post It note to mask a circle for the sun.

For the background layer I did the Joseph's Coat ink technique, it worked so well with the colours.

Stamping inside the card and also on the envelope ensures each project has a cohesive and finished look.