Trio of Trees

Hello everyone, I hope you are all keeping well and not feeling too frantic as we approach Christmas Day itself. I would like to wish you all a happy, peaceful festive season, and hope that you enjoy the days ahead, whatever you are doing.

I have a few final projects to share with you this month, showcasing stamps from last month's TV shows. My first project was created by inking a large square acrylic block with Distress Oxide ink, spritzing it with water, and pressing it onto a piece of textured card. I had placed a circle mask onto the card first, to block out an area for a sun or moon, which I painted yellow. I left the card to dry naturally, and once it was dry, I stamped the tree from the Harmony Tree set. I added the words around the tree in first and second generation stamping. I added some colour to the tree with Distress Ink and water, also grounding the tree by adding some shading underneath.

 My second project was also created on textured card using Distress Ink this time. I added a circle mask once again, choosing two colours for the background, and stamped the tree from the Remembrance Tree stamp set. I added the sentiment, and then drew in two birds with a fineliner pen using a stencil.

I added colour under the tree with Distress Ink and a water brush to ground the tree, then added pops of colour to represent a field of poppies or other flowers.

My final card was created with the Harmony Tree stamp set once again. I created a background using Drawing Cartridge, and Distress Ink. I then stamped the wording randomly over the background. I made a strap from Drawing Cartridge which I attached to the card. I stamped a whiteboard heart with the Harmony Tree and coloured this with Distress Ink and a waterbrush, then accentuated the details with pencils. The heart can be slotted into the heart but removed and kept as a memento.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope that you have enjoyed my projects this month, and will try out some of my ideas. Take care, xx

Festive Trees

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a couple of Christmas projects to share with you today. These projects feature stamps that aired on our November TV shows on The Craft Store.

My first project was created on kraft card.  I stamped the large heart from Artist Trading Heart, and masked the outside. I added trees from Trees a Crowd, and some scenery lines with a fineliner pen, using torn paper. Keeping the paper in place, I added some shading with white ink and a stencil brush. I used a white gel pen to add some highlights to the trees and dots in the sky for snowflakes.

I added a sentiment from Let's Get Festive to finish.

My second project consists of two little CAS cards stamped straight on 4" x 4" cards. I used two colours of ink and stamped straight onto the card blanks. These were really quick cards to make. I chose images from Frosty Trees for both the sentiments and main images. The teal and purple colour scheme is not traditional, but would suit someone with a modern home decor. You could choose any colour palette; black and gold, red and green, blue and silver, whatever combination you like, and use black card if you opt for metallic colours for even more drama. I added a little bit of glitter glue on the tree, you can click on the photo for a close up look.

I will be back later in the month with some more projects to share with you, thanks for stopping by,xx

Happy December

Hello everyone, I hope you are keeping well. Many of you have been experiencing the cold weather lately, and it really feels like Winter has set in, doesn't it? I have just come back from a trip to Mexico, where it was lovely and warm, and the sunshine was very uplifting. I wanted to share a feeling of that sunshine with you with the colours that I have used in some of my projects today. I cannot promise to make you feel any warmer, but perhaps the cheery colours will brighten your day.

My first project was created by blending some Distress Ink onto a piece of Drawing Cartridge. I chose shades of blue and yellow throughout the whole project for continuity. I added some stencilling and stamped segments of the Small Graph Paper stamp using the stamp in my hand, not on an acrylic block, so that I could curve the stamp, to get smaller sections on the background. I also stamped the butterfly definition from the Happy Flower's Day stamp set on the background.

I stamped the large butterfly from the same stamp set first onto the background twice, and then again onto a piece of spare smooth white card. I coloured the images on the spare card using pencils, cut them out, and attached them to the background.

For my second project, I chose a piece of patterned paper and stamped the magnolia from Happy Flower's Day twice, masking the image as I went along. I added the flower definition in a toning colour and the main sentiment in black in the background. I coloured the image with pencils. I attached the panel to a chipboard panel using matte medium. When the adhesive was dry, I sanded the edges to give a white edge. 

My third project was created by placing Distress Oxides onto a craft mat and spritzing them with water. I placed the Drawing Cartridge onto the mat and picked up the colour. I used a whiteboard heart to do the same with the remaining colour on the craft mat, giving a paler version.

I stamped the flower definition over the background, and the fritillary flower and sentiment onto the heart using Versafine Clair Twilight. I picked up a bit of the Distress Oxide colour from the craft mat and painted the flower with a water brush.

For my final project, I chose to use grey card for a completely different look. I stamped the floral sprig from A Heart Full of Love around the edge of the background, and then added the floral heart in the middle. I coloured the images with Faber Castell Black Edition pencils. I used white pencil first on the flowers, and added the other colours afterwards, this really helps on darker coloured card.

It's actually my Birthday today, and I would like to wish you all the best of days today. I will be spending the day with my little Granddaughter Ruby, who has just learned how to sing Happy Birthday, a precious moment.

I will be back later in the month with more projects to share with you, take care, and thanks for stopping by, xx