Inspiration post at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone, I have an Inspiration post over at Stamps and Stencils today, please hop across to check out some of the quick cards I've been making. Ruth x

Twelfth Night...

Well not quite but I thought before Christmas festivities are officially over and the decorations come down I'd share the last few Christmas cards I made for my family. Sneak peeks may already have been spotted on instagram so this is just a quick  canter through the snow!

Sometimes card that has been used to mop up  splashes or used to clean a brayer are just perfect.

 Same background card, though winter light does not do it justice......sorry for quality in next few photos

Loved playing with this idea, kraft and white embossed card..variation on a theme shared in a previous post.

Lastly, textured crackled star...

with a little treasure gold, this was for my OH and it's his favourite carol (thankyou Alison Bomber)

Here's to a hopefully wonderful 2018! R x

Christmas Trees...

Hi everyone, the 20th, not long to go now and I'm more organised than usual (no everything is not done...but this year I might get the presents wrapped before midnight on am Christmas Eve!). I'm back again with a few more cards to share.
You may have noticed in my Christmas posts that I have a fondness for simple shapes or motifs and often use snowflakes, stars and trees...lots of trees. I usually cut a simple triangle shape or make a triangle shape with strips of paper, buttons etc.
I love Anneke De Clerck's style of cards and in particular these Christmas Tree card ideas here and here . If you hop across to her blog 'Some fiddling on the kitchen table' she has a section on the right of Christmas card ideas, well worth a look.

So I finally got to dabble with my Distress Oxide reinkers. I used some drops on a piece of cut and dry foam to ink up a stamp, spritzed and stamped...instant background, more spritzing as I dried them.

The stamp was a bargain stamp from at least 15 years ago, grey rubber unmounted not sure who made it but it looks a bit like the texture tread ones as there is a positive and negative to it. Not a Christmas theme but I thought it worked so well and got carried away with all the lovely distress colours.

I recently bought a Stamp-a-ma-jig and got the hang of it and now find I'm using it constantly for stamping perfectly positioned sentiments. Vellum scraps and enameled card bits were used up too...another plus!

Subtle second stamped backgrounds could support bright trees. 

Strips of white dots were brayered with different coloured fresco paints. I originally thought I'd be able to peel the dots off to use them but found they all had an edge of paint so ended up leaving them on the backing sheet which because it was non stick gave a lovely web effect. Love this purple one!

A little teal at Christmas.

More CAS style use of dots.

I found some metallic dots in Hobbycraft but intermixed them with some of the fresco painted dots and added glitter stickles...I have to add glitter, sparkle and metallics at Christmas...it just blings it all to life! 

On that note I'll sign off...enjoy the festivities! 

A few more cards

Hi everyone, just thought I'd share a few more Christmas cards in case anyone is looking for some last minute inspiration.

I thought I'd carry on with the red, white and Kraft theme, all very simple; the snow flakes are die cut from white card that was run through a bubble embossing folder, wiped with versamark and then some white and gold glittery embossing powder was added.

I never thought I'd find a use for this washi tape...until now, it's perfect for the card.

Now we're going back to the forgotten stash post and a few more cards made from dark card covered with chalk ink pads and I've used my first hand carved stamp....just dabbling.

Not Christmas cards but shows the stamp.

A Gelli print background

Last card for today and a return to snowflakes for my final pic.

I'll be back with some more Christmas tree themed cards soon. Happy Christmas Crafting and Christmas prepping wherever you are. R x

Inspiration post at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone, I have an Inspiration post over at Stamps and Stencils today and I've been using up long forgotten items and made a few Christmas cards along the way. Hope you'll hop across and be inspired. R x

cards...

Hi everyone, sharing a few more cards, some using infusions and a few using leftovers...

Infusions on gloss card and using an alcohol spritz...

same technique but a more diffuse background

Leftover leaves...

and petals

and lastly a painty background.

Thanks for stopping by...R x

New Eclectica Seth Apter stamps at PaperArtsy

Hi everyone, well over on the PaperArtsy blog tonight it's my turn to share what I've been making with the fabulous new Seth Apter stamp release. I made a mini envelope journal and a card.

There are 2 new plates ESA05 and ESA06 and I absolutely love them. Hop across to see all the details,  process shots of how I made the journal are below.

These are money envelopes and I brayered them before assembling. Julie Fei-Fan Balzer has a great tutorial on how to make them so here's the link

Once assembled I added touches of metallic fresco.

Grunge paste and paint through stencils before decorating. Here are the 5 pages

First pages

2nd spread

Pages 5 & 6

7 & 8

The final pages....

...and a monochromatic card

I've enjoyed working with Seth's previous releases, exploring his style and using his paint techniques; in the process my own style is evolving . I'd never have imagined creating something like this a year ago but love where these stamps have taken me.

Follow your bliss! R x

Teal blue...

Hi everyone, I've been meaning to share some more cards that I made which have a teal blue theme.....I think teal goes wonderfully with shades of brown so we have teal and copper, teal with Kraft and teal with chocolate. I have also been using up bits again, snippets that sit in my little gather pots on the work space. This post is short on information but hopefully rich in eye candy... to make up for my less frequent posts of late!

A mark making background and of course stitchery.

The copper flowers are left overs from a craft stamper post I did last year when I made far too many.

I have had this 'plastic' card stock'  for years, sometimes you just have to wait for the right project to come along.

The Hambly paper is even older (it's been in my for stroking only stash). The new favourite Tammy Tutterow blossom die has had a good airing and of course I've used the iconic Chloe stem die.

Using snippets is creatively very satisfying as I find there are usually a few things that will go together and it's easier to make something with less than when I look around all my stash and think 'Where do I start?'

3 more cards that are variations on the blossoms theme.

with border

or without. Distress inks in Vintage Photo and Broken China matched perfectly.

I'll be back soon with more cards...that aren't in teal! Happy crafting whatever you are doing. R x