Merry Making – Day 1 Holiday Backgrounds

Hi everyone!

Online Card Classes’ Merry Maker class kicked off yesterday and I tried all three of the techniques from the class.

First up, Kristina Werner’s Holiday Bokeh Background. When I saw this video, I thought I would try this first. It has all the elements I love – blending, ink lifting, embossing. I blended three distress oxide inks – Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Vintage Photo and after lifting some of it, I embossed almost all the snowflakes from the Simon Says Stamp Lots of Snowflakes set. Finally I added a sentiment also from Simon Says Stamp.

I’m going to enter this into the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge – ‘Anything Goes’ and the Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday challenge.

 

Next, Jennifer McGuire’s Snow Flurry Background. OK so you know how sometimes, you’re a bit… reluctant… to try something new and you end up loving it? Well, that’s what happened to me with this card!! In fact, I wasn’t even sure I would try this when I first watched the video. ButI decided this class is all about stretching yourself and learning new techniques so I tried it – and I am so glad I did!

Wow! Just wow!

Watching the blue powder melt into the silver brought back all those memories of heat embossing for the first time! It’s so magical! When I started crafting, my mum and I bought lots of different coloured embossing powders to share. They’ve been at the back of our cupboards for a LONG time but I pulled mine out yesterday… and after this, well let’s just say, I will be seeing a lot more of those coloured powders! The background stamp is by Penny Black and I used a Savvy Stamps sentiment die stuck on vellum to finish it off.

Finally, Cathy Zielske’s Cover plate die background/non-traditional colours. This was such a quick and easy card to make! I took on the challenge to use non-traditional colours and blended three distress oxide inks (Broken China, Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade) for my background.  I tried so hard to avoid making a rainbow, but it looks like I didn’t really succeed, doesn’t it? Anyway, I used a Lawn Fawn cover plate and an Avery Elle sentiment die, which I cut using some glitter paper which I thought I would NEVER use. It was in a DCWV paper pad and I thought it was just too bright for me! Ha! Honestly, it is too bright for me, but worked well for this card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Leafy thanks

Hi everyone!

I’m loving the current sketch over at the Case This Sketch challenge blog. So many possibilities…. but I HAD to play with my current favourite Simon Says Stamp set – Fractile Leaves again!

I stamped some small leaves onto the base card using second impression distress oxide ink. Then I embossed one of the large images and coloured it with my Prismacolor pencils.  I added a strip of glitter paper and an embossed sentiment to finish off the card.

I’m also entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Flickr challenge (Anything Goes) and the Simon Says Stamp World Card Making Day challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Pink Christmas

Hi everyone

Here’s another card I made on world card making day using the fabulous Altenew golden peach embossing powder!

I found this fabulous Penny Black tree at my local craft store – I just love the flourishes – they create a real impression of movement, don’t you think?

Anyway, after embossing the image, I inked over it with distress inks (regular and oxide) – untraditional colours again… I think that was my subconscious theme for world card making day! Anyway, I lifted some colour from the tree using a paint brush and generously splattered some water across the whole card to create soft snow.

Finally I added a Penny Black die cut to finish off the card.

I’m entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge (Christmas), the Merry Monday challenge (add a Christmas tree) and the Simon Says Stamp World Card making Day challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

Grateful leaves

Happy World Card Making Day Everyone!

What a fun day it’s been – so many companies have blog hops, sales and so much inspiration. I’m so grateful for this community!

Here is one of the cards I made today – an autumn card using stamps and dies from Concord & 9th. I stamped the large leaf on vellum and the embossed it with the wonderful Altenew golden peach embossing powder which I may have used on a number of today’s cards!

Anyway, I mixed some distress ink into texture paste before applying it through a grid stencil. Not traditional autumn colours but I like how it turned out!

I’m entering this card (via Instagram) into Concord & 9th’s World Card Making Day challenge and also the Casology challenge (‘grid’).

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

Pumpkin greetings

Happy Friyay people!

I love autumn! Especially when the sun is shining! And it’s been one of those days today, beautiful autumnal weather. Anyway, I also love that the challenges at this time of year give me a perfect opportunity to dig into my HUGE pile of pumpkin stamps and use them!

Today’s card is for the Color Throwdown challenge where the colour combo is orange, kraft and white! Perfect for autumn cards!

I stamped a Penny Black image lightly on to kraft paper and then coloured it in using Prismacolor pencils. I’m really enjoying these pencils – still lots to learn, but I find myself reaching for them more often. Anyway, I went over the entire image with my white pencil first so that the orange would be a bit more vibrant. I didn’t have too many shades of orange in my set, but I am so happy that I was able to make them work for this card!

Once I’d finished colouring, I stamped over it again so that the black ink would be nice and crisp. Thank goodness for the MISTI!

Finally, I added a greeting from Memory Box and a few Nuvo drops to finish the card!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Happy Meow-lloween!

Hello everyone!

The themes for this week’s Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge are Halloween/use dark colours! Perfect opportunity for me to get inky and play a bit more with a fabulous Halloween stamp set from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous!

I created the coloured strips using regular and oxide distress inks and also used some distress oxide ink to colour my moon. I stamped the cat trio using versafine and then added a layer of Delicata black shimmer ink. As I then heat embossed the image, it’s quite difficult to see the shimmer, but it is there! Honest!

Anyway, I cut out the cats and then very carefully added some glow in the dark Nuvo drops. When I made this last night, I turned off all the lights and this stuff really does glow! So difficult to photograph though!

To finish off the card, I added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.

I’m also entering this into the current Case This Sketch challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.