Copper snow

Happy Monday everyone!

I had a couple of hours free this evening so I finally got round to joining a couple of challenges again! I’m playing along in the Freshly Made Sketches challenge using the unusual colour combo from this week’s Color Throwdown challenge.

I knew I wanted to use a copper and black background and originally planned to stencil some copper paste onto my card base. As time was not on my side, I decided that using a background die may be quicker – and it was! I chose an older background die by Hero Arts which I stuck onto some copper cardstock. I decided to use the Antique Pine Label die by Memory box as my focal image which I coloured with bundled sage distress ink. The green looks so light in the photos, but it’s darker in real life! Sometimes I find taking the photos so stressful!

Anyway, to complete my card, I stamped a Clearly Besotted sentiment onto some kraft card and added a few kraft snowflakes and dots.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Joyful Snowman

Happy Sunday everyone!

Now that my crafty mojo has returned, I’m focussing on a few more festive cards – I need to get my cards posted pretty soon!!

Today I’m using the fabulous bold Immense Joy (51-742) die kindly sent to me by Penny Black. I paired it with one of my favourite snowman dies (Snowman Joy 51-272) to create this super quick CAS card. I used distress inks to create a background panel and then masked off the area around the centre of the ‘O’ so that I could create a little snowy backdrop for that fabulous snowman!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Cardinals scene

Hello everyone!

I think/hope that my crafty mojo has returned! This morning the stars aligned and I actually had time to sit down at my craft table and play with some stamps and dies kindly sent to me by Penny Black.

As soon as I saw the On a Limb die set (51-749), I could not wait to get my hands on it and play with those wonderful cardinal dies! I have bought MANY cardinal dies over the years but havn’t really found the right ones… until now! These dies are perfect to me – just the size and shapes that I have been looking for! Be warned, they will crop up on more festive cards!!!

Anyway. for this card, I created a simple background from blended distress inks and lots of glitter! I coloured the cardinals with distress inks and used an old journalling pen and coloured pencils to add some detail to the images. The rather apt sentiment is from the Festove and Feathery mini set (30-926).

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Harvest of Happiness

Happy Sunday everyone!

The weather is starting to turn more wintery here – there’s more of a chill in the air and leaves are dropping like crazy. The crisp sunny days are being replaced by cloud and rain. But I still want to make pretty autumn cards! I think we can still embrace the joys of autumn until the end of the month, don’t you?

So in celebration of all things autumn, here’s a card I made with stamps and dies kindly sent to me by Penny Black.

First of all, to ground my autumn scene, I created my background using a small gel plate and aqua colour burst/shimmer powder. Then I cut images from the Pumpkin Parade dies set (51-754) and coloured them using distress inks.

After arranging my little scene, I stamped a sentiment from the Always Thankful set (30-932) to complete my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Inspired by Pyracantha

Hello everyone!

It’s been a few weeks since I crafted. Life has been pretty busy and I’ve had lots of boring chores to tend to. And when I had some downtime for crafting. my mojo went AWOL. But, as is so often the case, today’s beautiful inspiration pic for the Color Throwdown challenge made me want to hit the craft table. I’m using stamps and dies kindly sent to me by Penny Black.

The palette of brown, yellow, red and orange made me think of my beautiful pyracantha! I had been wanting to use the fabulous bold berry die from the Winter Stems die set (51-751) for a while so I got to work. I cut the berry branches from brown card and glitter card. I felt the red and orange were a little too close when I was arranging them so substitued the red glitter card for satin mirror card – I quite like the mix of textures that it provides, do you?

Anyway. after spending a rather long amount of time arranging the berries on the branches, I put them to one side and blended some brown distress inks on my card base to ground my arrangement. I then adhered the branches and added a fabulous bow from the Jumble Bauble die set (51-743). I stamped a sentiment from the AlwaysThankful set (30-932) and added a few sequins to complete my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Best Witches!

Hello everyone!

It’s been a few weeks since I have crafted. I’ve been busy with various projects in the garden that need to get done before winter arrives and I also lost my crafty mojo. But this morning, I suddenly realised that tomorrow is Halloween and I haven’t made a single card…. and I have SO MANY beautiful Halloween stamps and dies!! Very poor show, LucieG!

So I got myself to my craft table (which was still a mess from the last time I crafted!) and pulled out some stamps sent to me by Penny Black.

The main image is from a mini set called Sweet Witch (30-597) – I rarely use people stamps these days but when I saw this stamp, I knew I wanted to create with her – such a sweet witch and of course I adore her pumpkin owl!

For the background, I cut an oval from some masking paper and added a circle mask. I then blended various colours of Distress Oxide ink (Antique Linen, Salty Ocean, Unchartered Mariner, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot). Usually I like to have more purple in my Halloween skies but as I wanted to use purple for my Sweet Witch, I decided to stick with blues. Once I finished the blending, I removed the masks and coloured in my moon using regular distress inks and a bit of water.

I coloured the Sweet Witch with my Twinkling H2Os and the carefully fussy cut around the image. I usually cut before colouring and I was so nervous that I was going to cut through her!

After adhering her to my card base with foam tape, I added a sentiment from the Sugared mini stamp set (30-597).

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.