New Year Wish

Hello everyone, I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and are enjoying a bit of quiet time over the festive break. This year seems to have gone so fast, and has brought many changes, I even made my first tentative steps onto live TV! Whatever you have done and are looking forward to in the months ahead, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, and a healthy, creative 2018.

I have some cards to share with you today using stamps featured in last month's TV shows on Hochanda. I made a background using Brushos, spritzed with water. I wanted to create a Wintery sky, and so I chose Turquoise, Lilac and Grey for the background. I stamped a large butterfly from the Tangled Garden stamp set using Stazon Jet Black Ink onto a piece of sparkly acetate, and stuck this to a piece of coloured background that I had in my scrap box. By chance, this was a very similar colour to my Brusho background. I fussy cut the butterfly out, omitting the antennae.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment from the Words of Inspiration stamp set, and an image from the Seasonal Fragments stamp set onto the background using Versamark and silver embossing powder. I added a few sparkly gems randomly throughout the fragment images. Just before I stuck the butterfly to the background, I stamped the antennae onto the background, using black ink.

Here are a couple more of my show projects, a pretty gelli plate card using another image from the Tangled garden stamp set:

A necklace and tag using images from the Bold Blooms and Words of Inspiration stamp sets. I have used shrink plastic to create the necklace:

Finally, a card made using Soft Form Relief Paste to create the focal point, adding gilding wax over the top, to pick out the fabulous detail of the stamp:

Thanks for stopping by,

Bold Poinsettia

Hello everyone, as Christmas Day draws near, I hope that you are all nearly ready with your plans and preparations, whatever you are doing. I have a festive card to share with you today, using stamps featured on last month's TV shows on Hochanda.

I created an inky background using a mixture of Distress Inks in blue, green, red and purple, which I spritzed with water, and stamped a leafy spray from the Steampunk Christmas stamp set on the background, and added a sentiment from the Let's Get Festive stamp set. I used a combination of green and purple Versafine Ink to stamp these images.

I stamped and embossed some leaves and a flower centre from the Bold Blooms stamp set onto cartridge paper, using gold embossing paper. I coloured the images with Dr. P. H. Martin's Bombay Ink and a water brush, before fussy cutting them out, and attaching them to the background, to create a poinsettia style flower.

Have a lovely Christmas everyone, and if you get a chance, do try and watch Lesley on Hochanda today. Her shows are on at 12.00 and 3.00. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Birthday Flowers

Hello everyone, I am sharing two cards today that were featured on one of last month's floral TV shows on Hochanda. Although both cards are similar in style, I have used very different methods to create them.

For my first card, I chose to concentrate on the Fuchsia stamp plate, and masked an oval area in the centre of a piece of smooth watercolour paper first of all. I stamped and embossed the small fuchsia silhouette stamp, using Versafine Onyx Black Ink and clear embossing powder, and then covered the background with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I added a touch of shading around the oval using a grey pencil to add the impression that the oval was layered on top of the background.

I removed the mask, and stamped the large fuchsia and sentiment from the Birthday Words stamp set inside. I coloured the image with Distress Inks and a water brush. I decided to go for very traditional fuchsia colours, using pinks and purples for the flowers themselves. Finally, I attached the background to a large black card blank.

For my second card, I coloured a piece of drawing cartridge with Fossilized Amber Distress Ink, and then spritzed it with water, to achieve a mottled effect. Using the same colour ink, I stamped a tiny flower sprig from the Hyacinth stamp set randomly over the background. I attached a scrap of book page, some cream lace and brown ribbon across the centre, before moving on to the focal point of the card.

I coloured the edge of a die cut oval with the same colour ink as I had used on the background. Using Potting Shed Archival Ink, I then stamped the daisy head from the Lily stamp set three times, masking the images with masking tissue. I stamped the grass image from the Hyacinth stamp set, filling in the gaps between the daisies, and using second generation stamping at the back, for depth.

I removed the masks, and using a brown fineliner pen, I extended the stalks of the daisies, to complete the image. I coloured the images with Distress Inks and a water brush, before attaching the oval to my card. Finally, I added a sentiment from the Birthday Words stamp set onto the background, using Archival Ink, as before.

I just wanted to share some Birthday flowers of my own that I received last week from my lovely Daughter. The colours are absolutely beautiful, and just my absolute favourites. The bouquet is very Wintery in design, with twigs, and lots of texture. There are deep plum calla lilies and lovely blousy deep pink roses plus the light grey eucalyptus to add a lighter touch to the overall effect.

I will be back later in the month with some more floral projects for you. I hope that my projects have given you some ideas for using these pretty stamps. Thanks for stopping by, xxx