Have a Fairy Happy Birthday!

Hi Folks, here's a project for you using stamps from the new Spring Fairy Collection stamp set combined with some older favourites. I wanted to create a gift set that comprised of a card, gift tag and matching wrapping paper, using soft pastel tones. I picked five shades of Memento Ink, and created a background on my tag, and a large piece of white card. I used brushes dabbing off the excess ink to avoid brush marks and blending the colours together where they met. I stamped the fairies and butterflies using Versafine Onyx Black Ink for a nice crisp impression. The extra fairies and buterflies are from the Winter Fairy and Autumn Fairy stamp sets.

To make the tag, I added a sprinkling of glitter on the butterfly wings and the trail of stars. The sentiment comes from the Fairyland Words clear stamp set. To make the card, I added some clouds from the Magical Landscapes/Fantasy Castles Multibuy stamp set and a flower from the Decadent Brocade stamp set, which has been decoupaged. I have added some die cut leaves, and a sentiment as before.

The wrapping paper was created using the same stamps as the tag, stamped with each of the ink colours, graduating across the paper.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Blue Fairy

Hi Folks, here is a Wintery sample for you using the Winter Fairy stamp collection from Chocolate Baroque. I stamped the main fairy onto a piece of white card, and then created a mask which I placed over the image. I stamped some mushrooms from the Autumn Fairy collection and then created masks for those as well. I made some paper masks for the hills, by tearing some scrap paper, and sponged various shades of green Memento Ink across the background. Fnally, I used some blue Memento Ink to create a sky, adding a circle mask to create a sun.

I added some yellow Memento Ink in the circle area for the sun, and embossed some trees using white embossing powder. I then removed the masks and coloured the stamped images using Graph it markers. To finish, I added some glitter glue along the edges of the hills and to highlight the mushrooms.

To create the background, I embossed some snowflakes from the Reindeer Landscape stamp set using white embossing powder, and then covered the background with blue Memento Ink. I used a sentiment from the Winter Fairies stamp set, and added some blue organza ribbon and some gems to finish.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Thank you cards

Hi Folks, I have a project to show you using the gorgeous new Winter Fairy stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. Around this time of year, we have lots of thank yous to send, and so I decided to make a gift wallet containing some thank you cards, using lots of the fairy images from both this stamp set and the Autumn Fairy stamp set.

I started my project by cutting some paper masks from scrap paper and inking through the masks with a variety of Memento inks onto plain white card cut to size.

I blended the colours as I graduated down the area that I was shading to get a soft blend. I removed the mask and stamped one of the fairies from the stamp plate over the shaded area. On each card, I added a sentiment taken from Words of Gratitude or Pretty Poppies stamp sheets. I added black matting to the cards to tie in with the stamping.

I cut two pieces of black card 21cms x 19.5cms.  I then scored 1.5cms at one end of each piece, and overlapped them, sticking them together at this point. I scored 2.5cms at each outer edge, and 2.5cms along the bottom, cutting out a gap where the overlap occurred along the bottom. I trimmed the bottom edges slightly at each of the four ends. I folded the sides and the bottoms inwards, and secured the outer corners with glue or double sided tape.

I placed a piece of ribbon across the middle of the front of the folder before sticking on the front design. I actually used two pieces of ribbon, a shorter piece on the right, and a longer piece on the left to wrap right around the back.

I'll be back in a few days with another sample using these lovely stamps, but in the mean time, keep checking the Design Team blog for more inspiration from my team mates. If you leave a comment over there this month, you could be entered into a draw, so leave some love for them. Thanks for stopping by.

EDIT: I was asked by a commenter what sort of brushes I use to make my backgrounds on these cards. For these particular cards, I just used some cheap little shaving brushes from a supermarket, and have one for each colour group that I store in a plastic basket. I dab off the excess ink onto scrap paper, see my photos for reference, as this avoids brush marks in the shading. You can get a lovely smooth background with brushes. Any good stencilling brushes work as well.

I hope that this helps, xx