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

Turquoise dancer

I have a few days off as well as the long weekend and I am letting myself craft every afternoon after doing other chores in the morning. Today I decided to have another inky play and this is the result.

I wanted to try and create a ripple effect that I had seen elsewhere. It didn't quite work as I hoped and will need more practising, but I was happy with the card I made in the end. I cut a number of concentric circles with my Martha Stewart circle cutter and then used these as masks while adding different colours of blue and turquoise ink with Cut n Dry foam and my new ink duster brushes, Tumbled Glass DI, Sailboat Blue, Stonewashed and Pool Adirondacks . I ended up with a bubble rather than ripples! Then I added the Lost Coast dancer silhouette stamp available from Happy Daze and added Tim Holtz and Inkylicious bird stamps, all in black archival ink. I have used these stamps together before, but I like the way they work together!!

Around the edge of the bubble I stamped Viva flourish stamps in turquoise. I added the happiness word with a Hero Arts stamp, again in black. To finish, I shaded the edges with Pool and Denim Adirondack dye ink. I matted the panel onto black.

I am off until Thursday, so I am looking forward to more afternoon play sessions.

Elaine x

A fairy landscape

I had a pleasant afternoon inking this card for one of our great nieces.

I used a mask for the sun made out of Eclipse tape, used a scalloped nestie shape for making the cloud effect and torn paper for the landscape. I used a mixture of different dye inks - Ecogreen Paris Trunk colours, some Distress Inks and Adirondack, all applied with Cut n' Dry foam. I stamped in black archival and Imperial Purple Versafine inks. I added ink shading to the edge of the card.

I used a motley selection of stamps! The outer maple leaf, small butterflies and toadstools are Lavinia, the Fairy is Chcolate Baroque, the grasses are Inkylicious and the trees and bird are Artemio. The words from The Secret Garden are a Jo Capper Sandon stamp by Stampotique. I finished off the wings with a little glamour dust glitter. Using this stamp inspired me to order a gorgeous illustrated version of the book as the present to go with the card.

This weather has been amazing and everything is coming on really quickly in our vegetable and fruit garden. This is some of our apple blossom.

This is exciting as this is quite a young tree, planted in memory of a dear friend. It looks like this could be the first year we get fruit. The pink blossom is just beautiful.

The variety is Ashmead's Kernel, a really old variety apparently raised in the seventeenth century by Dr Ashmead of Gloucester. We chose this apple because it was my favourite at an apple tasting at the RHS gardens at Wisley in Surrey. The fruit is described as having an intense flavour reminiscent of fruit drops and firm flesh. I thought it was delicious. We have planted a number of fruit trees in memory of lost friends, we think it is a lovely way to remember special people.

Hope you are enjoying your own gardens this lovely spring.

Elaine

Simply Square - green fern frame

I am not one for challenges, only because I am so short of crafting time. However, when I saw that Crafty Individuals had started a challenge on their blog, I knew I had to take part. Their first theme is Simply Square.

I took a small MDF frame and covered it with black gesso and then two coats of Ecogreen pistachio paint. All the stamps I used are from CI 207, except the word. I love ferns, I have lots of them in my garden and they are just beautiful. I embossed the ferns in a copper EP from Judikins. I think it is called rusty nail and it is nice as it has a slightly textured effect. I added some streaks of Lava Green Inka Gold on the frame and then toned it all down by adding some Lettuce Adirondack dye ink. I used a K and Co paper inside the frame and then inked four stampbord inch squares with Citrus ink. I overstamped with the little fern square stamps in Olympia Green Versafine ink. I emboosed the word Treasure in gold on green and added little charms, square lime green brads and a green flower. I finished off with some sari waste ribbon for a hanger. I tried to think of what Jean Hardy would use when she makes her perfect little creations, to make sure the project captured the Crafty Individuals spirit.  

I am off on my Easter break now and I have promised myself I will finish one project everyday. Some of them are half done things that have been hanging around for a while. This was one I started from scratch though and I am quite pleased at how it has come together.

Hope you all have a super crafting weekend!

Elaine

Chocolate Baroque Giveaway!

The Chocolate Baroque online shop has now been launched and in the What's New section of the website, you will find the great mini stamps and three other gorgeous new sets.

Firstly there are two A5 sized stamp sets Doodle Butterfly and Doodle Birds. The Design  Team have been busy road testing these stamps and they are a pleasure to work with. I showed you my birdhouse card last weekend here.

Here is another card I made with one of birds tails from the Doodle Birds set. I shaded the background first using Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky Distress Inks that I then splashed with water, to give a more watery effect! Once it was dry, I over stamped in Deep Lagoon Versafne and added darker shading at the edges in Denim Adirondack dye ink. I felt I had made what looked like a ripple effect in water. I added a nestie panel with the sentiment from the Artful Affirmations set. I finished with some little turquoise jewels and ribbon. I love working in this colour scheme.

There is also a new A4 set Butterfly Dreams that is really stunning. The largest stamp in this set needs the large 6x6 inch acrylic block as it's a whopping 5.5 inches square making it a fabulous focal point for a card all on its own. Glenda is doing a lovely random giveaway - giving away one of each set to three lucky winners, but you have to do something in return to be in with a chance. Winners will be drawn at random from comments left on the Design Team blog here, or on all of the Design Team's individual blogs that are linked from the main DT blog, including this one. The more blogs you leave comments on, the more chance you have of winning.

Good luck!

Elaine

I love these nesties!

When I saw these new Fleur de Lis nestie square dies I knew I had to have them and how I wanted to use them.

These cards are 4 x 4. I used a clear stamp for the silhouettes. I stamped in black archival ink and then added ink shading with Cut n Dry foam using a real mixture of Adirondack, Distress Ink and Eco Green dye inks. I added the sentiment from a set of Hero Arts stamps that I love. I mounted the stamped squares onto the black die cuts finishing off with tiny black pearls.

Tomorrow I am off to the Big Stamping Show at Ally Pally, I can't wait! I have a serious shopping list, but more importantly I will be with all my Craft Stamping Quartet friends. It will be the first time all four of us have been together in one place since we went on a crafty break together last June - I can't wait! If you are going - have a great day.

Elaine

Exciting news about Chocolate Baroque

I am rather tardy in making sure you know the news that the wonderful new company Chocolate Baroque has now been launched. Take a step over to the new website here and delight in the new release stamps that are really gorgeous.

I have been lucky enough to have a bit of a play already with some of the new images as I am a proud a member of the new Design Team. This is a card I made with the Doodle Birds, Mini Script and Mail Art sets of stamps, backed onto Artylicious papers.

Even better, there is an exciting new Chocolate Baroque Ning Group, even if you aren't a member of their special Guild and if you are a member, there is an area of the Group just for you. The gallery on there is growing by the hour and is full of wonderful projects to inspire and delight you! So pop over and make yourself at home!

Elaine