Christmas Card - Watercolours

A beautiful hand painted Christmas card made by my husband for me.  No stamps involved, just a picture traced (via a light box) onto watercolour paper and painted using watercolours.  He is not used to doing normal card sized paintings and, this being his first attempt, I am most impressed.

Peachy Keen - Snow Sweet Home

Apologies for the poor quality photo - I cannot seem to find a decent light to photograph with.

This is a plain and simple card using Peachy Keen's Snow Sweet Home stamp coloured in with Distress inks and an aqua brush.  The 'snow' on the image is a result of my new white Distress Paint and Tim Holtz splatter paintbrush.  I think I had a little too much fun with it !

The Spellbinders circle background was embossed with a snow theme embossing folder.  The sentiment is from the Hobby Art set called Christmas Greetings.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a joyful and happy 2016.

Cottage Cutz - Santa and Reindeer Resting

I do love this Cottage Cutz die and with doing so many of them this year I can get a number done in a production line quite quickly.   The background is done with shimmer mists I bought at a local craft fair.  I do find working with the sprays a challenge and make a huge mess but I like the end product.  The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts set called Holiday Sayings.

Cottage Cutz - Santa's Retreat

This was a time consuming Cottage Cutz die to put together but I made a few at the same time so it did make it a little easier.  The background paper is an old Creative Memories one and the sentiment is from my stash.  I really must start writing on the back of them !

Cottage Cutz - Santa and Reindeer Flying

A very quick and easy card to do - Cottage Cutz dies to the rescue again !  The sentiment was one I found in my stash and the background paper was from an old craft magazine.

Cottage Cutz - Santa and Reindeer Resting

Apologies for the shadow on the card but photographing in miserable rainy weather is not my strong point.  I prefer to rely on natural light but it seems I am going to have to change my ways and get used to the lack of light in the northern hemisphere winters.

I bought this cute Cottage Cutz Santa & Reindeer Resting die online last week.  I wanted something a little different and have always liked Cottage Cutz dies.  I think I will be using this die with different backgrounds in the future, perhaps a watercolour night sky.  Will have to ask DH to knock me up a few !

The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts set called Holiday Sayings.

Peachy Keen - Snow Sweet Home

This is an image I stamped and cut out last year so it was easy to colour and pop onto a background.

The stamp is from the set by Peachy Keen called Snow Sweet Home.  To colour it in I used a mixture of Distress Stains, Distress markers and Marvy Le Plume markers.  The background was created using Brusho's which I love.  The crystals react beautifully with a few sprays of water and you never know just what will come out of it.  I tend to do a whole lot at the same time which is a lot of fun (and messy).  The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts set called Holiday Sayings.

Penny Black - Hidden Lane

All three of the cards below were made using the Penny Black Hidden Lane stamp as the background.  Two were on the same card stock with the middle one being stamped on a piece of paper from my stash.  The ink I used was Staz On Stone Gray.  I do not normally use Staz On ink but I did not have any other suitable grey ink and I felt the Staz On worked well in this instance.

The stamp used on the card above is from the set Hobby Art Stamp Horses coloured in using aqua pencil crayons and a blender pen.  The head collar green is done with a Spica glitter pen.  Santa hat is from a Cottage Cutz die and, yes, I know the horse should have a rug on out in the snow but this is how the stamp came.  Will have to see if I can paper piece on a rug next time I use this stamp in a winter setting !

Lili of the Vally sentiment (I think as it is not named)

Snowman is from the Penny Black Jolly Follies set coloured in using aqua pencil crayons and a blender pen.

Decorated Halloween Treat Bag

This is how I used the Bird Crazy tag I made.  On the front of the treat bag I stamped with a Peachy Keen stamp set.  The rear of the bag is also decorated using Peachy Keen stamps - white ink on black paper.  The white ink pad I used was not bright enough so I went over the outline with a white gel pen.

Bird Crazy and Crazy Things - Tim Holtz Collection

I am loving creating with the new Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous and Sizzix Bird Crazy and Crazy Things (the accessories) stamps and dies.

The tag is a Go Kreate one stamped with a Kaszazz spiders and cobweb stamp.  The bird was painted using Distress inkpads Twisted Citron, Abandoned Coral and Hickory Smoke.

Cottage Cutz - Duck w/egg

Well, I needed a card for a friend's birthday and found I did not have a suitable one in my stash.  This card was thrown together in super quick time which should teach me a lesson to not spend hours looking for just the right background paper or stamp.  With most of my craft stash still in boxes it takes forever to find things !

For this card I used Cottage Cutz Duck w/egg die.  It is just so cute !  The background paper is an old Creative Memories one and the sentiment stamp is from the Hero Arts set called Message Bubbles.

Kaszazz - Man of The House

In my usual 'leave everything to the last minute' style I remembered a male relative's 90th birthday which is in a couple of days.  I find male cards challenging and was going through my stamps when I found this Kaszazz one which I have not used.  I thought it would be perfect as my relative reminds me of the person in the image.

I had a couple of goes at stamping onto thicker card stock as I naively thought I could stamp straight onto the front of a card.  The first two images were crooked and not clear so I switched to a thinner paper, probably around 100g weight, and this worked out well.  The ink used was Archival Coffee.  After stamping on a larger size paper I trimmed the image around the borders and matted the top three quarters onto brown card stock.

The sentiment is from Art Impressions.

Sizzix Big Shot Pro Die - Popcorn Box and Treat Cup

I was searching through my Big Shot Pro dies for a large box and could not find anything suitable to hold the biscuits I planned on baking for a donkey charity fair.  This was, of course, a good excuse to look for a new die and I am very happy I did.  I think this is a die which will be well used now and in the future.

The card stock is from an old Stampin Up pack and is thick (around 300g or so) which is necessary for this large box.  The punch art donkey is my own design made with punches and dies which appear to be no longer in production.  The ears are a Stampin Up punch (some sort of petals), the oval used for the face is a tag from an Ellison die, the muzzle is a Spellbinders rose die, the tuft of hair is a Creative Memories punch and the nose and eyes are Fiskars punches.

Block Craft - Hand Carved Wooden Block Sleepy Elephant

Another one of my Gelli Plate background experiments but this time I stamped onto the Gelli Plate before transferring the print onto the paper.  The wooden block stamps from The Arty Crafty Place are just that - made of wood only.  They can be used with acrylic paints stamped onto fabric or paper. I watched a demo at a local craft fair a couple of months back and was impressed with what I saw.  They are very different to handle when compared to acrylic or the usual rubber stamps.

The sentiment is Kaszazz Lucy's Stamps - Happy Birthday.

Cottage Cutz - Eiffel Tower, Lamp and Poodle

A couple of weekends ago I played around with my Gelli Plate and acrylics.  It was messy but fun and this was one of the backgrounds I created.  I experimented with using stamps and stencils on the plate and also once the paper was dry.

The die cut is Eiffel Tower, Lamp and Poodle from Cottage Cutz.  With the Eiffel Tower die I cut 2, one black and one yellow, and slightly offset the yellow one underneath to make it a bit more interesting.  Using Black Soot Distress ink I took a couple of stencils to add to the background  The tag is from the die set Ellison Tags Scallops and not sure what stamp I used on the top of the Distress inked background.

This is not my normal type of card but I must admit I had fun assembling it.  Now if I can just remember where I put the diamond shaped stamp - the joys of getting old !!  

Whimsy Dies - Anchor

As I do not have much in the way of masculine cards I thought this one might work.

The die, Anchor, is  from Whimsy and all the papers used are part of an extensive old Creative Memories stash that I have.  The background stamps are from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Air Travel and Stampin Up The Open Sea.

Impression Obsession - Colonial Spring

Think I need to make a few more of these cards as another move is probably going to happen in 3 months time.

The stamp is from Impression Obsession Colonial Spring (K1006) and the sentiment is from an old Stampin Up set.  I think I used Archival Potting Soil ink for the image.  That does seem to be my ink of choice these day.

Cottage Cutz - Old Fashioned Phone

Thought this would make a good birthday card for my brother.  We often chat on the phone and I thought this was more of a masculine card.

The telephone is a Cottage Cutz die called Old Fashioned Phone, the background papers are from my extensive Creative Memories stash and the sentiment is from the Lili of the Valley Simply Sophisticated set.  I also used Distress inks for the shading on the die cuts.

Glitz Craft - Poppy Field

We have just had a long weekend and as it was raining yesterday I thought I would get into the craft room.  It has been a while since I used my Gelli plate and I had fun combining different coloured acrylic paints with stencils and stamps.

For this card I layered a couple of different coloured acrylic paints and then laid the Glitz Craft Poppy Field stencil on the top.  I thought I might try black acrylic paint on the roller for the poppies.  It did not work out exactly as I had hoped so when it was dry I laid the stencil over it again and used a black marker to finish off the poppies.

Great Impressions stamp - Landrover Defender

Panic set in when I realised it was DH's birthday and I did not have a suitable card in my stash.  I remembered having an old Landrover Defender stamp which was one of the first stamps I bought a good 15 years ago.  It does not have a name so I have given one.

Using watercolour paper I used Distress Stains Vintage Photo and Shabby Shutters to paint in the background after stamping and masking the stamp.  With the watercolour paper being ridged I did need to use a black marker to colour in parts of the stamp.

The sentiment is an Art Impressions one from the Tryfolds set called Lakehouse.

Penny Black - Victorian Homes

With having no broadband for nearly a month since our move I have resorted to snail mail to advise family and friends our change of address.

This Penny Black cling stamp, Victorian Homes, was in the top box of my stamps which made it easy for me as otherwise it would have turned into a "hunt the stamp" exercise !  I coloured it in using a combination of Distress Ink, Marvy Le Plume and Stampin Up markers - those were easy to find.  The sentiment is from an old Stampin Up set, the name of which eludes me.

Glitz Craft - Puppy stencil

This photo is not the best but as we are moving house (again) I have already packed the card so cannot take a better picture.

The background paper is Creative Memories and the stencil, Glitz Craft Puppy, was stencilled using Distress Ink Vintage Photo and a stencil brush.  I also bought this stencil at the craft show I recently attended and I was amazed at the amount and variety of stencils available.  Perhaps the next time I use a stencil I will try the glitter frosting paste which I bought last year but have not used.

Impression Obsession - Two Horses H1950

At a recent craft show I found a company selling a small selection of Impression Obsession stamps and dies.  I was thrilled as I just love their stamps and did not know they made dies.  This stamp is called Two Horses but my name for it is Misty and Hal named after two very special horses I know.

I stamped the image with Archival Potting Soil and lightly coloured in the sunflowers, butterfly and right hand side horse using Stampin Up watercolour crayons.  The sentiment is from the Hero Arts set Thank You Sayings.

Tonic - Verso Strip Die Set - Royal Shrub

In January this year I went to a craft fair and sat down at the Tonic make 'n take table.  As I am rather slow at making a card and do not like being rushed I opted to cut all the bits and pieces out and take them home to use.

The part used on this card is from the Verso Strip - Royal Shrub die set.  I teamed it up with background paper from my Creative Memories stash and added a sentiment from a Cuttlebug die set. The cats are from the Cheery Lynn Designs die called Meow Meow.

Peachy Keen - Valentine Cupids

Better late than never with this Valentine's day card which was all made up in time, I have just been too busy to post it.  I saw the idea for this card on Pinterest and have been back to find it so I could give the person credit but cannot seem to locate it.

The card stock size is 12" x 6", scored at 3" and 9".  I then decorated the 2 front sections with heart paper from my stash and, using the largest Spellbinders Heart, positioned and taped the die, cutting side up (very important) onto the card stock where the mouse image ended up.  In other words, the inside of the card.  I then ran it through the Bigshot and was a little disappointed at ending up with an indentation on the inside of the card.  Once I had die cut the heart for the image I realised the indentation helped a lot with the exact placement of the heart inside the card.

The Peachy Keen image Valentine Cupids was stamped onto watercolour paper using black Archival ink and coloured in with a paintbrush and  Distress Inks Victorian Velvet, Iced Spruce and Picked Raspberry (for the bow).  The sentiment is from the same Peachy Keen set and was die cut using MFT First Place Award Ribbon.

Impression Obsession - Northern Lighthouse

I used an Impression Obsession stamp H1292 - Northern Lighthouse on an Inkylicious Visions - watercolour ready to go coloured background.  The sentiment is from the Crafty Secrets set called Seaside stamped in StazOn Stone Gray.

Apologies for the photo but could not find a place indoors to photograph without shadows.  Just too cold and damp to venture into the garden !

MFT - Let's Toast

Going through some of my dies the other day I found the MFT (My Favourite Things) die called Let's Toast.  This die set includes a label which slots over the neck of a wine bottle and various dies of glasses plus you can also buy a stamp set with sentiments.

I find it better to die cut the label out of fairly thick card stock otherwise the score line just below the cut out circle can sometimes cut right through.  The background paper is from my Creative Memories stash, the sentiment is from the Let's Toast stamp set and it was die cut using Spellbinders Wonky Rectangles.  To finish off I decorated the label with a wine glass.

Hobby Art - Coastal Scene-it

Another Inkylicious Visions Watercolour background.  On it I stamped a couple of images from a set by Hobby Art - Coastal Scene-it.  The one cliff did have an additional part to it which I blocked off with a small post-it note.  I coloured the cliffs in with a Marvy Le Plume Gray marker and added the sentiment which is also from Hobby Art, the stamp set is By the Sea.  The white card stock used for the sentiment was a bit bright so I toned it down by using 2 Spellbinders Ovals from their Classic Ovals large and small sets to create a rim on the edge of the white oval.  Cut the smaller of the two first, then the larger one.  I use masking tape to hold the die in place.  One could place both dies together on a magnetic sheet - just thought of that option !

Penny Black - Eat Cake

This card was made for a 9 year old friend of ours.  I used an image from the Penny Black Eat Cake stamp set with Archival Black ink.  To colour the image in I used a variety of Stampin Up watercolour crayons, different makes of markers, Distress Inks, a blender pen plus a paint brush and water.

Spellbinders Deckled Edge Rectangles frame the image and I matted it on a couple of scrap pieces I had laying around.  The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set called Classic Messages.  Not sure where I got the card from but I think it might be from a selection of Stampin Up ones I purchased on eBay years ago.

Inkylicious - Dancing in the Rain

At a craft show nearly a year ago I popped by the Inkylicious stand and bought a couple of packets of preprinted backgrounds from them.  When I was tidying up the craft room recently I came across them and decided to use a couple.  This one is from Inkylicious - Visions - Watercolour.

I decided to keep the card simple and added a stamp from Inkylicious called Dancing in the Rain, stamped with Archival Black ink.  The sentiment is from the same set.  I gave the girl a hill to stand on and used an Inkylicious border stencil with Worn Lipstick Distress ink.

Penny Black - Flower Festival

It is not too often I reach for a flower stamp even though I do have quite a few.  When I was looking through the The Penny Black blog I noticed a great card from guest designer, Therese Calvird, on 29 December 2014.  Her instructions on video were good so I thought I would case her card using a stamp from the Penny Black Flower Festival set.

The image was stamped multiple times with Momento Tuxedo Black ink onto a gloss card stock.  I then used Copics YR000 / YR00 / YR01 for the petals, T3 and T1 for the flower centres and G94 / G82 / G21 for the stems and leaves.  The sentiment is from the Kaszazz stamp called Greetings and it was also stamped using Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  The oval die cuts are from Spellbinders and the topper was matted onto a light green card stock and then onto the card using Stampin Up Stampin' Dimensionals.