Christmas Cards 2015 - 2

This is my second Christmas card post so far this year. I wonder if I can keep up the progress?

This is quite a dull picture, bit of a problem this time of year I find!

This is an unusual card for me being quite a cute design. This is Stampendous House Mouse stamp, I had to have it though because I thought hanging carrots on the Christmas tree would really appeal to my veggie friends! I stamped the image in Onyx Black Versafine onto smooth hot pressed watercolour paper and when thoroughly dry, I added colour using my new Faber Castell Aquarelle water colour pencils. I really like these pencils, they are much easier to use that previous watercolour pencils I have tried and I was lucky enough to get my set of 60 recently for a very good price.

I die cut the image and added ink shading using Distress Ink before removing it from the die. I mounted the image onto a home made card blank, using half a sheet of A4 card cut lengthways. Although I have quite a large stock of card blacks, I mean to try and get into making my own more often. I have an unused envelope punch board too, so there is no excuse for me not finding an envelope to fit. The sentiment is from a Kaisercraft set, embossing in WOW gold powder.

Thank you for visiting and I do appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.

Elaine x

Trees

I made this card a while back for someone who had been through some major surgery. I wanted to make something that was relatively understated and not too fussy. Once again I used the Kaisercraft stamp I love so much. This must be one of my most inked stamps already!

This isn't a great pic as the light was bad as it has been so much these past few months. I used a 7 Dots Studio paper designed by Anna Dabrowska. I really like these papers, they always seem to capture special light within them. The strips of light made me think of the light coming through birch trees which was why I added the die cut trees.

Hope you are staying safe and sound in this dreadful weather. Thankfully so far our trees are all still upright, but many close by have come down. I hold my breath when I pull the curtains each morning to see what damage may have occured in the night.

Elaine

A leaving card

I had to make a quick card for a colleague recently and I am still enjoying using my Kaisercraft sentiment stamps, so they were lurking on my desk. This is a variation on the theme of the last card I blogged.

I apologise for a rather washed out picture, I really struggle in the limited light this time of year. Once again I inked a background through the Clarity flourish mask and then stamped the dancer image, that I think is a Lost Coast stamp if I remember rightly. I then added the Viva flourish stamp to frame the panel. The sentiment was stamped and matted on a separate panel, I used Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feather and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks for the colouring with sponges.

I have just got back from a brilliant weekend with my lovely friend Judith in Norfolk who made me very welcome and looked after me very well. We took in a brilliant workshop with Lin Brown on Sunday and I just need to put some finishing touches to my canvas before I share the finished result. As always Lin was very inspiring.

Have a great weekend

Elaine

Go confidently

I recently purchased a couple of the new Kaisercraft words stamps and have enjoyed experimenting with ways of using them. I have already posted a couple of bookmarks  and the Smash book I made using them. This is a card using the rich warm colours I love so much. 

 

The background of the card uses a Clarity mask and I used a brush to add the ink through the stencil giving a soft, almost airbrushed effect. I overstamped with a Viva clear flourish stamp in plum archival ink and added some darker shading at the edges before mounting onto black card. I stamped and shaded the sentiment in the same inks and matted onto a couple of contrasting layers.

Even though some of the highest winds of this weeks storm were recorded locally, we are lucky to have escaped with just a few soft branches down, including one that landed on the roof of my craft shed with thankfully no damage!

Elaine x

Ally Pally

In September I made my regular pilgrimage to Alexandra Palace for the Big Stamping and Scrapbooking Show. I love this show, it is always a special time as I get the chance to catch up with special crafty friends from around the country, to do some fabulous shopping and enjoy the setting in a really special building. This year I had to dash off to the show the day after I got back from holiday and the strain showed when I got up late and had a massive dash! This pic shows the stash I managed to amass at the show, but also during holiday shopping at The Glitterpot and The Craft Barn. I was a very lucky girl!

 

I bought some bookmark tags from Inkylicious and here are my first two efforts. The main stamp image on the orange tag is an Inkylicious stamp called Tree of Life. The sentiment is from Stamp Camp, which I really love, what great rules to live by! I added shading with a Crafter's Workshop stencil. 

 

 

The blue bookmark uses one of the new Kaisercraft sentiment stamps with a pattern added from another Crafter's Workshop stencil. These words mean a lot to a friend of mine and me and I couldn't miss this stamp. I plan to make some more of these to add into Christmas pressies.

 

Elaine x

Snuggly Pixies

This is a card I made recently for a friend to show I was thinking of her. It uses a lovely new stamp called Star Gazing from Lavinia, plus an old favourite sentiment from a Kaisercraft clear set.

I bought the stamp at Ally Pally and kept it on my craft desk until I actually used it for once! I love those little hats, they are like something from the 1950s best dressed toddler wear catalogue! If they weren't silhouettes I reckon these little ones would be clothed in hand knitted garments! I expect my Mum still has a suitable pattern in her Woman's Weekly archives!! So cute and nostalgic.  

The image and sentiment are stamped in black Versamark. The stamps around the edge are a mixture of Lavinia and Inkylicious grasses. The butterflies are Lavinia again. The background is inked with some Tumbled Glass DI, definitely some Denim Adirondack dye ink, plus something I can't remember! The wings have a little stickles on them.

I am currently being serenaded by a late black bird as the day draws to a close, it is competing with Katie Melua . It is a rather lovely combination!


Hope you are all planning something nice this weekend. Let's hope for a little sunshine. My heart needs a little lift I think, although our apple blossom is just starting to burst through which always makes me feel brighter, it is so beautiful.
 
Elaine x

Three friendship cards

Today I am posting three cards made in a batch from stamps I bought when I went to the Ally Pally show recently. They were real quickies, with all three taking less than an hour.

As soon as I saw the group hug stamp which is B Line on the LB stand I knew I had to have it. I had already spent my planned allowance, but this one made it go out of the window - I am sure you know the feeling!! The sentiments are from a brilliant value Kaisercraft clear set, there are about 10 stamps and they were only £2.99. These mixed font sentiments are great and I am really fussy about sentiments, they have to be just right or I would rather not use one at all!

I coloured with a mix of inks, I think I used Ecogreen Paris Trunk Parchment and DIs in Wild Honey and Vintage Photo. I stamped the images and sentiment in Ranger black archival. I should have masked the images before I added some of the scripts and textures as background from the Chocolate baroque Mail Art and Miniscripts plates. As a result I was less than happy that there is a halo between the images and background, slapped wrists for me for being lazy, time was against me!

Hope you all have a good Sunday, I am having a lazy one on the computer and crafting!

Elaine