The smaller withches

 On this card I used all three of the smaller witches in the set and one of the small cats on this blended background. I added some tiny evergreen trees along the horizon and larger deciduous trees behind the witches. And an assortment of mini foliage stamps as silhouettes around the outer edges.

spooky house

The spooky house used on these cards is also included in the dream witch bundle from Lavinia stamps.

 The tree branch and moon are quite old stamps from the same company, but are still available.

I used S.U inks to blend the sky. First I lightly blended in some yellow then stamped the moon and masked it off  while I added more yellow, orange and red to the sky. and dark grey to the bottom half,  I stamped the scene and  drew in a the path and grave stones and highlighted them with a white paint pen.

 
 This one I'm not so happy with.  I loved the purple splattered background I started, but I didn't think one through before starting. But as I said, I was just experimenting with background colours.

Halloween cards.

 

I think this card has a very autumnal feel to it.  It was my  first attempt using the  witch bundle from Lavinia stamps. 

I have had some extra time to play with them this week. 

Many of my creations this week were just about experimenting with colours and backgrounds.  

I used diluted lemon Brusho powder and painted the entire piece of card lemon. While the card was still wet, I brushed in a little  diluted black brusho into the corners and let the black bleed into the wet lemon. 

Once dry I stamped the images and added a bunch of sparkles using Posca  paint pens.

 For the card above, I blended light brown ink over the card  using blending brushes to colour the background.

 I used an old Lavinia tree stamp in the background to give a little depth.   Then used a selection of the mini stamps to add foliage to the trees and sides.

 Along the bottom I used larger plant stamps to fill in.

I think this one has be to my favourite colour. 

 I am including a link to Lavinia stamps witch bundle.

https://www.laviniastamps.com/product/the-dream-witch-collection-bundle/

Treat bags

I have been busy making batches treat bags for the boys I work with. I have given up on making the bags themselves in favour of envelopes. I seal them and then decorate the front differently each week. Once decorated I trim off the end so I fill the envelopes with sweets.  These are last week's treat bags. 

 I used torn paper to create the background mountains and brushed ink over the edges of the paper. Once I had covered the front of the envelope with colour, I began stamping the flora and fawner in purple for the distant objects and black for the foreground objects.

These little scenes  seem to be the boys favourite style of decoration for these bags.

They've even started to collect them. Which is a lovely compliment to me.

 I use stampin up inks and blending brushes, Lavinia stamps and Versafine Clare black ink for the silhouettes, Stickles glitter glue for some sparkly highlights.

LOTV Christmas Card

 I love this LOTV stamp of the little lad posting his very long wish list to Santa.

 I do tend to use it every year, but I try to change the colour scheme each time I use it. I used Copic markers to colour the image then with a white gel pen  I added the white snowflakes.

So Santa

This is my first card with the new "So Santa" set. I coloured the image with Copic markers.  I used the retired embossing folder "Gently Falling for some background interest.
I am not a fan of wide borders, so I really don't know I chose to put a wide border on this card.  As I am looking at this picture,  I have the strongest urges to take this card apart and cut that border down.

Piano Card

I saw a  beautiful version of this card on Pinterest,  but it didn't make sense to me.  I maybe wrong,  but I think it was designed to lay flat as it had a support built in to prop the top black layer up as though it were a real piano. So I decided to change it up so that it stands up like a regular card.

I used black glossy card for the top of the piano and Stampin' Up's "Sheet Music"  background stamp behind the piano top.

Birthday wit card 2

Another card  using a sentiment from the birthday wit set. 

I have used some DSP for the background. This background paper is from the retired pack called Parker's Piece. 

This card is a 6x6  inches. 

Mirror image stamping.

Remember that mirror image stamping experiment I posted last week. I have now turned it into a card using some wood grain DSP a sentiment and a little ribbon.

Remarkable You stamp set .. Magnolia 3

Another  card using the magnolia stamp from the Remarkable you set. this time I have randomly stamped the bloom over whisper white card stock and coloured the images with Copic markers. I then cut the card down to fit on the front of  two  6x4 inch base cards.

The sentiment is from a retired set called riveting.

Too Much Berry Burst.

Having bought the new Designer Series Paper  (DSP) last year,  I figured it was time to use it.

I bought the stamp set quite sometime before I decided to buy the matching. paper. 

The stamp set has some lovely sentiments in that I thought would be useful for scrapbooking,  as well as for card making, and I was right. 

I used a few of the stamps in this set in a wedding scrapbook I made last year. The stamp set is called Floral phrases. 

I used Berry Burst ink pad to stamp the image and text in the centre. 

The DSP is  Berry Burst too.  I never thought I'd say this, as I love the colour.  But this.... is too much Berry Burst for my liking.

Thinking of you,... on your first day at school.

 I loved this cute image from lili of the valley.
I think it's the perfect image for a child just starting school or changing schools.

This is a digital stamp and these can be resized to suit your needs.

I coloured this image with Copic markers.

Hogs and Kisses

I admit this is not the most exciting card or is it elaborate card I have ever posted and I am wondering if it is worthy of a spot on my blog.
I guess I was thinking,   less is more  while working on this one or maybe I 'd just lost my mojo.

I used the new stamp set from S.U. called "This little piggy" to create this card.

I coloured the imaged using Copic Markers and mounted it onto cardstock layer which I had stitched together using a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine.


My next post will be very long,  the project is very elaborate and I will probably bore you all senseless with my drivel on how  long it has taken and the how
project was created  That should make up for this rather under whelming card.

Fast card

For this very fast card,  I used the stamp set Awesomely Artistic from S.U. coloured with Copic markers.

Acrylic Block Stamping.

I have been neglecting my blog of late due to other commitments so I have some catching up to do now.

This little card was made by applying three different colour inks to an acrylic block, then lightly spritzing the inked block with water and  stamping the block onto water colour paper.

Once the ink was dry I over stamped the little tree over the inked patch.

I have to say getting the amount of water right so a little tricky for me. " squirts wasn't quite enough, but three was too much.   
As with most things, it takes a little practice, and thankfully water colour paper is pretty thick, so if you don't like the look you can flip the paper  it over and use the emergency side.

Stamping Problem.

This is one of this year's salebration stamp sets.
I have to say I have had more than a little trouble getting a good solid image with this large  greeting stamp.   (I have the wood mount version of this set.)

I know I am not the only person to have a problem with this stamp.

So today I decided to experiment with ink pads  and card stocks to see if I could get a better image.

Well, the short answer is yes I did manage to get a good clear solid image eventually, but it wasn't easy.

I tried my normal ink pads, which generally work perfectly well and found they were no good for this stamp. So they had to be re inked before my second attempt at stamping with them.

 So then I tried the new style stampin' up ink pads as they release more ink onto the stamp, therefore giving better coverage.

I was a disappointed to find  a couple of new pads were still too dry for this stamp. I tried using a foam pad under my card stock  before stamping the second image and still got a poor result.


I tried another more juicy ink pad  and  again I used the foam pad under the card stock.  Although I got a better result this time,  there were till areas that didn't stamp.

I tried to touch up the missed areas with the matching marker pen. As you can see the marker pen shows up a lot.



So I stamped it again using the same ink pad and foam, again there were misses but this time I touched up the missed areas with an aqua painter and a little ink. The result was much better, but still not  quite good enough for my liking

My next step was to sand the stamp lightly  with a fine grade sandpaper and try again.

This time I stamped the imaged with a  brand new, unopened, and much juicier ink pad and without foam pad under the card stock.
The result was better, but still not perfect.


 I  then decided to give the stamp another  sanding, this time a little harder and mainly working on the thick downward strokes of each letter. As these are the areas of the stamp that are giving me most grief.  

This time it produced a pretty good, solid image  one that I would be happy use on a card.

I also tried stamping this image on three different white card stocks.

Photocopier card, I sometimes use  this for stamping and usually get reasonable results but for this, the results were very poor.
I tried chameleon card stock, which I use to stamp images on that I want to colour with alcohol markers. The results were not good.

Then I used my favourite  card to stamp on,  Whisper white card stock  from S.U.

 My Conclusion,  in my opinion  the best way to get a decent  bold, sold image with this stamp is to sand the stamp well, especially the thick, downward strokes of the letters.

Use a foam pad or old mouse mat under your card stock.

Use a very juicy ink pad to ink up the stamp, use enough ink on to form tiny beads of ink evenly over the stamp.
But beware of putting too much on and creating pools of ink.

My final tip is to press the inked stamp onto the card  firmly and hold it in position for  around 10-15 seconds to give the paper time to absorb the ink from the stamp.

If all this doesn't work for you,....... give up and throw the stamp away and make a cup of coffee.
No, seriously you could always  resort to  heat embossing it instead.
I have to say in my six years with Stampin' up,  this is the first stamp I have ever had a problem with.

Wilderness Awaits Stag card

I've never heard of anyone ever sending a card for a stag do, but why not??? 
The idea was obviously inspired by the stamp of the stag in the wilderness awaits stamp set from S.U.
This card will contain a special message for the bride groom  to kick up his heels , but also to take care.  
We wouldn't want him to end up tied to a lamppost minus his clothing or worse.

I used the tip of the pine tree in the  " Lovely as a tree"   stamp set along the base of the card along with a little sponging.

The background paper I made using a brayer and a texture stamp and two shade of green ink pads.   

Card made from Christmas cracker

Boxing day Hubby and I went to my sister's for a meal. 
During the course of the meal my eye kept being drawn to the pretty holly patterned Christmas crackers that lay in pieces on the table.
I couldn't help but wonder how I could re use them.

I gathered up a few pieces and placed them in a pile ready to stash in  my handbag...When I wasn't looking my brother-in -law gathered them up and took them off to the bin.

Bin diving is not my favourite past time, so I sent my sister after him to rescue them before they got soiled and damaged in the bin.

This is a gate fold card I made with one of the Christmas crackers and a die cut sentiment, which I covered in red glitter.

I am not a fan of gate fold cards.
I am never sure what position to stand them in to show off the whole card, so I tend not to make them.

Happy Birthday Angie. 2016

Here is a card I made for my friend Angie's birthday last week. I used this years  free Sale a bration stamp set. It's called " What I love",  It's a two step photopolyer stamp set.

I die cut the oval panels, one in white and one in Blushing Bride card stock.

I stamped the solid stamp using Blushing Bride ink over 2/3 s of the  Blushing Bride oval. 

Then over stamped using the outline stamp and Versamark ink and heat embossed the outline image in white.

The sentiment is from the Perfectly Penned stamp set.  This set is my all time favourite  greeting set.

I adhered the pink oval on top of the white oval.

I cut a panel of Blushing Bride card stock  a little smaller than my base card and stamped the edges with the outline stamp and Blushing Bride ink for a little extra interest. and mount the oval onto the  rectangular panel with foam pads and added the sentiment, a couple of rhinestones and the bow.

Confession time......

I had no intention of  adding the bow, but I managed to get a tiny ink smudge on the white oval and I needed to cover it up.

Blossoms Abound in pink

I love this Blushing Bride ink and card stock from S.U.  so I thought I would combine it  with my new favourite stamp set  Blossoms Abound. Okay so the stamp set is an old one but it's new to me. 

I have  also use  this new cotton ribbon in Blusing Bride on this card. I love how S.U do ribbons to  match their card stock. 

 I really do love this ribbon,  being cotton there is little slippage, meaning my bows are less likely to come undone.   May have to invest in some other colours now.