Day 1 – 25 Days of Christmas Tags 2019

Hi everyone!

I’ve played along with Tracey McNeely’s 25 Days of Christmas Tags and completed at least 25 tags during November 2017 and November 2018- it has made a HUGE difference to my Christmas preparations…. and stress levels, so I was very happy to see that the event is back again this year!

Once again, each day has a sponsor and I am going to try to use products from each sponsor wherever I can.

Altenew was the sponsor for Day 1 and once again the inspiration tags were amazing. In the end, I chose the tag made by Lilith Eeckels. The stocking stamp is by Altenew and the sentiment stamp is by Julie Hickey designs.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

CAS Stencil – Christmas Sky monoprint

Hi there!

I am so delighted to be a Guest Designer for this month’s CAS Stencil Challenge. The host this month is Linda and the technique that she is introducing is stencil monoprinting.

Basically, you apply a layer of ink, paint, or other colour medium to your stencil, spritz generously with water, flip it over and press it onto watercolour paper…..

Now it’s been a good few years since I tried this technique and I almost called this post ‘Mission Impossible’ as I got through a LOT of ink, baby wipes, paper towels and watercolour paper until I produced a background I felt was worthy of using….. I think I may be too much of a perfectionist for this technique! I love the soft, arty patterns I achieved with each impression but I felt I couldn’t really see the beautiful design of the stencil.

I used the beautiful Carta Bella Christmas Sky stencil and paired it with the Memory Box Pine Tree Hill die and a sentiment from The Ton Stamps.

The CAS Stencil DT has come up with some amazing inspiration over on the challenge blog. I hope you can play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Prestigious deer

Hi Everyone!

Today I’m playing along this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge

I created an ink-blended panel with some distress oxide inks and then stamped the gorgeous Impression Obsession Vintage tree background. Oh how I love this stamp – I wanted it so much last Christmas but couldn’t find it anywhere – I actually ended up buying it at Simon Says Create in March – I KNEW I’d use it this Christmas!

I cut the fabulous Penny Black Prestige die from glitter card and adhered it to a circle of vellum.

I couldn’t decide where to place my sentiment so in the end I decided to leave it blank. I’ll probably add a sentiment strip before I send it but I’m not completely sure about that!

Thank for stopping by!

LucieG.

Leafy Greetings!

Hello friends!

Today, I’m playing along with the current Color Throwdown Challenge which has a lovely autumnal combo – teal, olive, rust and navy blue.

For my take on the colours, I blended some regular distress ink (crushed olive, rusty hinge and peacock feathers) to create a colourful background. I then cut the Simon Says Stamp Leafy Border die from Hero Arts Nautical cardstock and adhered it to the background. I then added a Simply Graphic leaf die and a die cut Memory Card sentiment to finish off my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Hi there pumpkin!

Hello friends!

Today, I’m playing along with the current Color Throwdown Challenge which has a lovely colour combo – grey, orange and cream.

I LOVED the inspiration photo, and it reminded me of a little scene I encountered in Harvard MANY years ago! Sorry about the photo quality – I actually took this with film! That’s how long ago it was!

So, for my take on the colours, I used my Harvard pumpkin scene as additional inspiration and got to work. I applied some Texture Paste through the My Favorite Things English Brick stencil and while it was drying, I made 3 panels using distress oxide inks. I die cut the Memory Box Pumpkin and Gourds dies and then arranged them on my card. Finally I added stamped a sentiment by My Favorite Things to complete my take.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Halloween icons

Hi Everyone!

Today I’m playing along with the current Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is ‘spooky’.

Although I try to ration myself when it comes to buying Halloween supplies, I couldn’t resist this new Simon Says Stamp ghost stencil which has such a great price point! After blending distress ink around the ghost, I spent a good amount of time searching for the ‘perfect’ patterned paper… which of course didn’t exist. So I ended up making my own with distress oxides. At first I used a Tim Holtz stencil and lifted off some ink using a baby wipe.

I added the bats (cut with an Ellen Hutson die) and the Clearly Besotted sentiment and called the card finished….. but I wasn’t happy!

After sleeping on it, I decided to try a different background. I created another blended panel and then spritzed the Hero Arts Starry Night Brushstroke background stamp with water before stamping it and lifting the ink that way. I preferred the effect and simply transferred all my elements from one background to the other – luckily they were quite easy to remove from the card base!