Technique – dry embossing

Featuring dry embossing

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).

 

I’m going to enter these into Amy’s December Woodblock Wednesday challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

Golden background challenge

Hi there!

Today I’m playing along in the Color Throwdown challenge which has a wonderful festive combo of green, purple, blue, and gold.

I used my new Simon Says Stamp Fancy Ornaments embossing folder and die set – this is a beautiful set and I was so chuffed to pick it up in a recent sale! I coloured the ornaments with distress inks. I adhered them to the amazing Sparkle 3D Texture Fades embossing folder – the impression is AMAZING on the mirror card… but a real challenge to photograph!

To complete my card I added a sentiment cut from white glitter card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Flurry of festive wishes

Hi everyone!

Today I’m playing along with this week’s challenge at Freshly Made Sketches using products kindly sent to me by Penny Black.

I’ve been wanting to use the beautiful Winged Pair cling stamp (40-908) for a while and when I saw this week’s sketch, I knew it would be perfect! I coloured the image with my Twinkling H2O paints and masked off the birds as I sponged a little distress ink across the background and added some splatters.

I used my new Blizzard embossing folder (65-013) for the background strip and sponged a little white ink to highlight the snowflakes – they are so pretty! (I’m not sure why my cards are appearing darker at the bottom – it must be the lighting – I need to look at my set up… maybe I’ll do this over the Christmas break!)

I trimmed down the image panel and stamped a sentiment from the Flurry mini set (30-927) before arranging everything on my 7×5 card base.

To complete my card, I added glitter to the branches – I hope you can see it, so difficult to capture in real life!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Winter branch card

Hi everyone!

Today I’m playing along with this week’s challenge at Freshly Made Sketches using products kindly sent to me by Penny Black.

I was short on time this evening so I opted for a very quick make. I started with the fabulous new Woodgrain Circle (51-797) which I coloured with distress inks. Next I cut and coloured the Festive Finesse die (51-784) with distress inks and pencil. This is a very delicate die so I adhered two together to give it a little more stability.

I then blended Victorian Velvet distress ink over a strip of card and embossed it with my new Filigree embossing folder (65-010) before adhering all my elements to my card base.

To complete my take I added a few aqua pearls and a sentiment from the Nature’s Rubies mini set (30-937)

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Noel in a tub card

Hi there!

Today I’m playing along in the Color Throwdown challenge which has a combo of cobalt blue,, aqua and gold.

I decided to play with a lot of my Black Friday crafty bargains – the Noel is from the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Winter Big Tidings die set and the foliage is from the Festive Gatherings set. I also used the new-to-me Garden Tub by The Greetery which I cut from gold pearlescent card which I had spritzed with Tumbled Glass distress oxide spray.

I adheered all the elements to a background that I had embossed with a Spellbinders folder and added a few gems to complete my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.