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 answer is, woodlands are busy places. He obviously doesn't take in the scenery when he is walking through the woods with the dog. ha ha. I'm going to be in trouble for that one.  lol.

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.

Beside me.

 

I 've been playing with this new set again. I really like these images. They are nice to colour as well as being really sweet and relatable images. 

I used Copic markers to colour these images.  

The set contains all three of these images along with the birds and seven sentiments.

Octagonal cracker

I have an alternative way of gift wrapping for you today.

It's an octagonal cracker. I say cracker, but there is no  snap or crack in this cracker. I'm not so sure it would tear so well if you tried to pull it as the card is a much better quality than used in shop bought crackers. which is why I am describing this as an alternative gift wrap.

To make this cracker you'll need one sheet of A4 card scored  at 1 inch intervals from top to bottom all the way along.

Then in the landscape position, score  at 1  3/4 ,   2  1/4,  and  2  3/4 inches. 

Turn the card round and score again at the opposite end, using the same measurements.

Using an envelope punchboard, line up the little finger on the punchboard with the first  1 3/4 score line. Then fold the card on the first one inch score line,  reposition in the punchboard and punch again. repeat this action on all the 1 inch score lines. See photo below.

Repeat at both ends.  Fold all three score lines back and forth this will make adding the ribbon easier.

Before joining the sides, It's a good idea to decorate each panel, while the project is still flat 

with a paper of your choice. This does not have to be Christmas themed paper, it could also be used to wrap a gift for any occasion. 

 Join the sides.

Add the ribbon at one end. Now you will notice there is still quite a large hole left,  which a slimline gift could fall out. Now you could scrunch up some tissue paper and block the hole, add the gift, then add  more tissue before tie up the end.

  Another option you could use is to cut a circle of card to drop in the cracker before adding the gift, then add another circle before sealing with the second ribbon. 

  

You'll need two , 2 1/4 inch circles for the second method.

Uplines cards

Here's a card sent to me, from my upline to mark my 13th Stampin' up birthday.

Amanda has used a  strips of  DSP to create this one. I love the DSP she has used on this one.

The card below is another card from my Upline marking my 12th birthday, I found this in my craftroom the other day and realized I hadn't posted it. I am loving those iridescent  sequins, all my favourite colours.

Father's day cards

This stamp is from a new stamp set by Stampin' up, it's called   "Beside me". There are three image stamps in the set along a couple of sentiments. I have used two of the images for this post.

 This set will be great for Masculine cards, especially Father's  Day cards. This is my favourite stamp in the set, it reminds me of my dad teaching my brother to ride a bike.

The image below is from the same stamp set. I teamed this image with raindrop embossing folder.

Mini Christmas Tree

I couldn't resist posting this little tree. It was created with the die set  in the photo.

When I first bought this die I thought the small round dies were snowflake dies. Ha ha ha It wasn't until I put the tree boughs together I realized this round dies forms the top of the tree.

 I guess you could use them as snowflakes if need be.

 I bought the tree die because I wanted to create a snowy tree scene in a lantern.  After making this tree I kind of changed my mind. The reason being  I would need to run each die through the bigshot 18 times for one tree.    I had  3 maybe 5 trees for the scene. That's a lot of die cutting and a lot of picking the die cuts out of the dies, and all for one tree that's only 5 inches tall. That's very tedious work.

 Maybe I'll make one tree a month  until I have enough to complete the project.
 

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.

For the next one, I used a  skeleton tree branch and added the crow looking down on the rabbit.

I added a touch of peach to the sky on this one.

I didn't add any over hanging branches on this 5 x 7 card for a more desolate look for the wolf.

There is just a hint of pink in the sky on both the wolf cards. I did add a touch of blue to the horizon on these.

As you can see, these cards are all very similar but all quite different. Just but changing a colour, using a different stamp or two or the size. 

You could also change the orientation.

girls card

 I came across this stamp in my craft room, It's been stashed away for years unused.  So I thought I would try it out as she is such a sweet image. I think it's a Whiff of Joy stamp.

 Coloured with Copic markers.

Wintery cards

A little late for Christmas I know, but these were last minute Christmas cards and I didn't get time to do a post on them before Christmas.  The good news is I have given you plenty of time to recreate cards like this for next Christmas.

I used one of the  new foxes from Lavinia stamps, along with the fern branch set and a tiny little twig stamp also from Lavinia stamps to create this card. The tiny conifer I think I bought from Inkylicious stamps a long time ago, but I think the set is still available.

 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.

Once the sky was inked, I added a couple of clouds by placing a piece of torn paper over the moon and brushing a little ink over the edge of the paper. to make the moon look spherical I brushed a little grey ink around the edges, leaving the centre white.

I added snow drifts using the same technique I used for the clouds going over the moon. You may notice I am using different  backgrounds for this post as I forgot to take photos of each step when working on the yellow and grey version. You may also notice I don't always work in the same order.

Now the  blending work has been completed it's time to do the stamping. Sometimes I'll start by stamping the background trees and sometimes I'll start with the foreground.

 It's a good idea to map out where your focal point is going to be before stamping anything. It's easy to get carried away stamping the trees and then find your animals head gets lost in the background.

You could stamp your animal first if  you are unsure about where to place your trees and foliage.

I stamped the fox in Versafine Clare ink, it's a lovely intense black ink so no need to keep stamping over it to get good coverage. I think, I stamped it twice.  Using  my Stamparatus. (that's a stamping platform for those that don't know, and  it's a tool I wouldn't be without now.) 

When the animal is dry you'll need to ground it. This is easily done by just brushing a little ink underneath the animal. I did this last which is why it doesn't show in the photos. You'll have to go to the last photo to see the light shading beneath the animals. 

 

I used  Posca pens in  brown and yellow and just dotted clusters of three dots on the twiggy bits then added one dot of yellow in the centre of each cluster. Occasionally I did a single dot.

The over hanging branches  are  Lavinia stamps branches. Fern branch on the card above and the header picture.

The branch below is another Lavinia stamp as is the crow and  Pippin the  rabbit.

 I stamped the branches in grey

 Then used a white Posca pen and drew snow on top of each of the branches.

Using the same pen I held it over the work and basically beat the barrel of the pen with the handle of a big paint brush to get it to splatter white paint over the whole piece of work to give the impression of snow.

A stamp for all occasions...Maybe?

 Just a little late posting this  Halloween card. This gorgeous dog stamp is by Nellie Snellen. It's quite small but it has a lot of detail. When I first saw this stamp  I  thought, he looks a little sad and in need of a home, so I gave him one.

This Stamp would be great for several types of card.  Pet loss, missing you, I'm sorry, and thinking of you cards  all came to mind immediately. My thought process is ...if you can think of more than two occasions you can use a stamp for ... buy it.  

Once it arrived I started stamping and colouring the images in different colours to see how he looked in various colours. I masked him off and blended ink around him to give him a colourful background.

 I had some witches hats floating around my desk, left overs from the broomstick projects I'd been working on the previous week. Which gave me the idea of giving the dog a hat. He certainly has a reason for looking unhappy now. This then lead to me creating a Santa hat for him.

I cut a piece of red card into a shape that roughly resembled a Santa hat and brushed some ink over the edge of a piece of scrap paper to give the impression of creases and folds in the hat. Then cut a white sausage shaped piece of card  for the furry trim and flocked it and stuck  it on the hat with thin foam pads for a little more dimension.  I added a white pompom to the tip of the hat to complete the Santa look. The sentiment  on this card is from  last year's  Stampin up mini winter catalogue, I think.

I got a little carried away with him. Here he is without his hats in golden tones.

 Then I decided to find out what he'd look like as a chocolate spaniel.  The red background may have been a mistake with the browns on this one. The red background seems to bring out the red tone in the browns making him look quite red, more so in this photo .

For this last one I decided to leave the background white.

 Such a sad looking puppy. I thought I'd include this close up so you can see just how much detail there is on this stamp.

No Wow!! cards here.

I need  a card for a child who will be two this weekend, so I have been playing with  the Elephant Parade set.  I do struggle making children's cards, I would far rather make men's cards. 

 The card above is the one we have decided to give. If I can find some narrow ribbon in the same blue, I might add a small blue bow before gifting this, I can't help feeling it needs something more.

The peanut, flower and butterfly stamps are all included in the Elephant parade set. 

 I stuck all three of the stamps to a small acrylic block (spacing them out evenly) then stamped all three at the same time. I coloured the images with Copic markers and added the Elephant image.

The Mouse is also part of the set. On this card I stood the mouse on top of the greeting.

Maybe he is trying to grab that giant peanut. 

The background paper is a from a Sale a bration gift card pack.

 I like the design on the card,  but the cards don't have enough weight for my liking so I'll be using them as DSP.

                                  

My last Elephant parade card for today was just to experiment with stamping the peanut in Soft Sea foam ink onto Soft Sea foam card to make a simple background. It's a technique I haven't used in a very long time and I was too lazy to search for a suitable DSP to compliment with this image.

This photo doesn't do this card justice, it looks better in reality.
 

Corgi Card

This is another stamp set I bought to make up my quarterly figures. I am not sure I would have purchased it had there been something else in the catalogue I liked.

I teamed  up the Corgi image with some left over DSP  from The Pampered Pets suite Stampin' up sold a few years ago.  I chose orange card for the layers to coordinate with the Corgi.

It's been quite a while since I made a card, I have been making 3D projects for a few weeks now, so I'm easing my way back into card making with some very simple cards.

 This is certainly not a Wow! card by any stretch of the imagination, just me playing.

 

Bamboo beauty

I have been in two minds over this stamp set for some time. It's called Bamboo Beauty.  This quarter I finally decided to buy it because I was struggling to find items in the catalogue I needed, liked or wanted. 

I like bamboo so of course I am going to like this set, but I am not sure how often it will get used. I particularly like the sentiment on this card. I don't think I'd describe it as an uplifting sentiment, I think it's a more thought provoking sentiment on strength and flexibility. 

I rather like the tiny Japanese writing stamp, but I do wish the stamp makers would provide  a translation for this type of stamp. I wouldn't normally use a stamp like  this without  knowing what it says. Can you imagine stamping it on a sympathy card and then finding out it says Happy Birthday. 

 If anyone reading this can read Japanese,  I'd be so grateful if you could tell me what that tiny stamp says.