Saturday 15 July 2023
single layer card.
Saturday 8 July 2023
Lots Lavinia Stamps
I have been distracted from crafting and blogging by the lovely weather we have had. When it's dry and sunny, it's time to get out in the garden to do lots of pruning, fence painting, cleaning and painting a few pots, planting up the pots and generally tidy up. I have to say it's been a lot of hard work, but well worth the effort. I also made a little friend while working outside. He pops in every day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a few snacks in between. He will come very close and sit in the feeder next to the garden table and cocks his head to one side as I sit close by and talk to him. He doesn't seem to be too bothered that I am sat so close if I put my hand out I could touch him. You probably think I am crazy talking to a blackbird, but as he sits there with his head cocked to one side and looking directly at me, he really does look as though he is listening to every word I say.
The weather has taken a turn now and we've had some heavy rain and a thunder storm, which will do the garden good and give me some time to catch up with my crafting and blogging.
I used a whole host of stamps from Lavinia stamps to create this card. I used Stampin up ink pads, Blending brushes, seven or eight colours of posca pens for the flowers, plus a black Versafine Clare ink
Thursday 2 March 2023
A lot of experimenting
In the end I found mixing up a tiny amounts of brusho powders with a little water and adding drops of three different colours to the gell plate with a pipet, then spritzing with a little water was better but still a long way from what I wanted.
Then kind of by accident, I created something that was fairly close to what I was aiming for. See the header photo. My gell plate was so mucky with the residue from previous attempts I couldn't be bothered to clean it properly as I'd almost lost the will to live.
I just dotted some brusho mix on one side of the gell plate and pressed the paper on top giving me those lovely colourful watery marks in a peachy orange colour. The very pale peach on the opposite side is just the residue from the gell plate.
The green version didn't work out as well, but I decided to stamp on it to see how it turned out , the photo above doesn't do it justice the colour are much stronger in reality and I thought it was a little too dark and sombre so I splattered it with bleach. giving a little more interest and creating lighter patches. I also added a gold rim to the edge of the circle using gold wax polish.
I found this a difficult card to photograph , the colours are stronger in reality
Tuesday 28 February 2023
Gatefold card
I think that's why I was drawn to this card, I loved that Jo decorated the central panel to match her front panels. The sender wouldn't want to write on a beautifully decorated panel and would automatically write their greeting on the back or one of the inner side panels.
As I sit here writing this I am wondering what it would be like if I made the two front panels again (excluding the moon) and stick them to the inside panels to create a panoramic scene and maybe just put one scene and a sentiment on the outside... I think I may try that.
Saturday 25 February 2023
Forest scene treat bags
Using my stamping platform I secured my piece of work with the magnets. I positioned the CLEAN mice stamps, where I wanted them to be on my work and closed the platform to pick up the stamps.
Tuesday 21 February 2023
Woodland scenes
I have been collecting the odd Lavinia stamp for a number of years, just one or two here and there, but over the last 18months, I've been receiving them as gifts for Christmas and birthdays. I 've even bought a few extra myself, possibly because I've bought everything I want from this years S.U catalogue. I always struggle to find something to buy as the catalogue comes to an end. So it's a good time to try something different using another company's products.
I find it quite a challenge to change style completely. Creating this type of scene takes some forethought and a bit of practise to create something that looks half decent, but it's worth persevering. Even though Hubby doesn't like this style of stamping. He says they're too busy for his liking.
My next post will be on how I create these scenes. So pop back in a few days if you're interested in how I did these.
There are also lots of video tutorials on Lavinia stamps website.
Friday 20 January 2023
Wintery cards
This post is a continuation of my previous post. I didn't have photos available to add to the previous post when I wrote it.
I just wanted to show that you can change things up to create different cards. You have many options to change things up to give a different look, while keeping the same theme and style. If you give packs of cards as gifts, it's nice if they look like a set.
On the 7 x 5 inch card above I used a small rabbit, so there was space for a few more trees in the background. I used the Fern branch stamp set for the overhanging branches. I worked on a smaller panel so the rabbit wouldn't get lost. By adhering the panel to a larger card base meant I could add a larger sentiment.
On the next inch 6x 4 card, I changed the rabbit for deer and the overhanging branches are from the willow set. I didn't bother with the clouds over the moon on this one.
On this one I added pink in the sky instead of yellow. I added another row of trees on the left.
Wednesday 18 January 2023
Wintery cards
I punched out a circle from the sticky edge of a post it note to mask off the moon area and blended in the sky using yellow and grey ink on this one.
Wednesday 28 September 2022
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.
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.
Tuesday 19 April 2022
fairy and stencilled background
Tuesday 18 January 2022
Easter Friends
For Christmas Hubby bought me a stash of Lavinia stamps and stencils, so I just had to try out the Fern