Lovely Lilac

Hello again!

Don’t you just love it when you get your hands on fabulous new goodies as soon as they are released? My order from Seven Hills Crafts arrived this morning and I could not wait to play with my new Greetery dies and stamps! So next  up today is my entry for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

I really wanted to emphasise my focal point -a stem from the new Lilacs Botanicuts die set by The Greetery so for me the challenge with this sketch was incorporating the two strips on the sketch into my design without compromising that aim.

I ended up using lots of white on white. I cut a panel of card using a die from the Macrame Openwork Base Die Set (I cut it twice to extend the width of the die cutting) and adhered a strip that I had used with the Aida Cloth Texture die.

Finally I added a sentiment from the brand new All Occasions Script Sentiments set.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Birthday Clara Blooms

Hi there!

Today I’m playing along in this week’s Color Throwdown challenge where the colour palette is burgundy, rose and sage. What a pretty combo! I decided to showcase a new die set that I just bought – the Clara Blooms by Memory Box. This was a last minute addition to my basket but I’m so glad I got it – funny how it’s the first die set I’m using from that order.

Anyway, I coloured the die cut pieces with distress inks (Aged Mahogany, Tattered Rose and Bundled Sage). I did try a couple of deeper inks for the rose shade, but decided I preferred the lighter effect of Tattered Rose. I added the pretty Florentina Wreath die to anchor the pretty flowers plus a Memory Box stamped sentiment and lots of stickles!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Spring Backyard Florals

Hi there!

There’s a really interesting sketch for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge – and I almost didn’t play along…. but I managed to think of a way of using it at the 11th hour!

My focal point is the beautiful Backyard Floral Stems die by Memory Box and I added strips of paper from a Craft Consortium pad.

The sentiment is also by Memory Box.

Soooo…. after posting my entry for the challenge, I decided to change out the strip on the left side for something a little reddier which I feel fits better with the undertones in the other strips, Here’s the originals – which do you prefer??

 

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Stencilled Chicks

Hello everyone!

Today I finally played with a stencil set that I’ve had since August – the amazing Layered Chicks set by Pretty Pink Posh. Oddly just after I bought it an amazing Easter card using that very set popped up in my Instagram feed (in August!!). Fast forward six months and can I find it again? Nope…. well yes I did but only after a LONG search! Here is Barbara’s amazing card! I’m so perplexed that it didn’t show up in my Google search or in any of the manufacturer hashtags! Most odd!

For my take I used lots of different distress inks plus a Heffy Doodle sentiment die; the ‘Happy’ is from a Simon Says Stamp stamp set.

I’m entering this into the stencil week challenge at Just us Girls.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Spring Teapot

Hi there!

I was so surprised to see a daffodil appear in my garden this week – it seemed so early.. although my narcissi have been up for a while! And then I saw a LOT of daffodils in my neighbours’ gardens – spring is springing and I’m ready for it!

The palette for this week’s Color Throwdown challenge is peach, yellow and green – perfect for a daffodil card! I pulled out the fabulous Spellbinders/Simon Hurley Daffodil Frame die set and got cutting! I’ve loved this set since it came out so I was delighted to pick it up in their Christmas sale. As the die set has separate flower and leaf layers, I knew I would be able to cut the main image from the frame and use it in different formats – which is just what I’ve done here!

I paired it with Memory Box’s Grandma’s Teapot and coloured all the images with distress ink.

I arranged the die cuts on a base that I’d embossed with a Spellbinders’ folder and I added a few die cut flowers to teapot as well as a Memory Box sentiment to complete my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Great Day Blooms

Hi there!

The palette for this week’s Color Throwdown challenge is red, kraft and white – perfect for Valentines! BUT…. by the time I got to the challenge this weekend, I did not feel like making a card with hearts so challenged myself to do something different using products kindly sent to me by Penny Black.

I knew I wanted to use the Beautiful Burst of Blooms die (51-764) as my focal point so started with that before I had decided on a background – which is unusual for me. I used kraft, red glitter and red mirror card and cut/layered the red flowers to the kraft stems.

This is when I hit a bit of a creative block – kraft is one of the palette colours but a stem alone didn’t feel enough. But I hadn’t darkened it before adheing the flowers so thought it wouldn’t stand out against a kraft background… Fortunately, after a while I reminded myself that I never have the same quandary when I’m working with white stems and a white background. So I pulled out some kraft card for a base!

I embossed it with one of my favourite folders – Encircle (51-009) and then lightly rubbed some white ink to highlight the embossing.

To complete my card, I added a sentiment from the Enliven mini stamp set (30-705) and a few gems.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.