Technique – dry embossing

Featuring dry embossing

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.

A new Easter embossing folder

Hi there!

I’m always on the look out for new Easter embossing folders and have been a bit bemused that they are few and far between.

But this week, while searching for something completely different online, I came across the most beautiful folder by Spellbinders! It’s their February 3D embossing folder of the month so I immediately signed up! I couldn’t believe it when it landed on my door mat this morning!

So I just had to use it on my entry for this week’s challenge at Freshly Made Sketches – the sketch just said ‘Easter Egg’ to me!

I paired the folder with some other Spellbinders die and a Simon Says Stamp sentiment.

LucieG.

Merry Berry Wreath

Happy Festive Friyay!

Today I’m playing along with the current theme challenge over at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown!

I finally got my hands on Simon Says Stamp Berry Wreath dies set after their Thanksgiving sale last year and used it just once – for my mum’s Christmas card. So naturally I thought of it as soon as I saw the challenge theme. Although it’s only been a month since Christmas, I was VERY excited to play with this die set again.

I coloured all the die cuts with distress ink and adhered it to a base that I had embossed with a Spellbinders folder.

The sentiment is by Savvy Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Christmas Card Throwdown – January 2024 Guest Spot

Hello everyone!

I’m honoured to be the Guest Designer for the first sketch challenge of 2024 over at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown!

When I saw the sketch, I immediately thought of a bauble for the main image and a hanger/bow for the smaller one. Then began the hunt for the ‘perfect’ bauble. I have lots of bauble images but most were either too big or too small! In the end I landed on a die set by Tim Holtz/Sizzix. I cut off the spike at the bottom of my first die cut to make it more similar to the sketch but decided that it looked a bit weird! I coloured the die cut pieces with distress inks and added a few bows to the ornament to reflect the smaller image in the die set.

The background is embossed with a Spellbinders folder and the sentiment is from an older Hero Arts wood-mounted set.

The Design Team have some amazing inspiration over on the challenge blog – you must check it out! Hope you can play along with the challenge!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Under the Tree

Happy Festive Wednesday (!) everyone!

I know the big day was less than two weeks ago, but making Christmas cards throughout the year definitely reduces my stress levels in November and December. So I’m kicking off my 2024 challenge participation with the 52 Christmas card challenge where the technique is one of my favourites – clean and simple! I mean, how could I not play along with that one?!

I ‘ve had my eye on the Creative Expressions one liner die collection since 2022 and just before Christmas, I managed to pick up this beautiful die called ‘Under the Tree’ in a great sale. I used it for a card for my dad and decided it would be perfect to use again for this challenge. I coloured the tree with Cracked Pistachio, Rustic Wilderness and Evergreen Bough distress inks and used Unchartered Mariner and Tumbled Glass for the presents. I adhered the tree to a base that I had embossed with a Stampin Up folder and added a sentiment from a set by My Favorite Things.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

One wood block stamp, two New Year cards

Hi there!

It’s that short time of year when my cardmaking attention turns to New Year cards. Ordinarily I use a lot of die cuts but today I wanted to use a pretty wood-mounted stamp that I’ve had for AGES plus some newer products kindly sent to me by Penny Black.

The stamp du jour is called Falling Stars (3890H) – mine is dated 2008 (I think I may have bought it in 2010) and is still available online at the Penny Black store. I know many people are nervous about stamping with wood-mounted stamps, but they leave a beautiful impression – I will always love all mine! I do a few practice impressions when I’m stamping multiples of the same image, like I did with these cards.

My first card uses minimal supplies – the stamp, a sentiment from the Smile All Season stamp set (30-516), some versamark ink and glitzy embossing powder. I also used a frame from the Stitched Frames die set (51-709).

It’s a product explosion on my second card! I used the same stamps from my first card, plus a tag die from the Tagged set (51-007) and dies from the Peaceful Pines set (51-705) and Little Ornaments set (51-090) (bow) plus a tiny bit of branch from the On A Limb set (51-749). The beautiful embossing folder is from the most recent colllection and is called Filigree (65-010).