Lavinia - Tree Godess Luna

This card is so far out of my comfort zone, I am amazed the concept appealed to me !  On a recent trip to a UK craft show I sought out the Lavinia Stamps stand.  This is a company I have watched online for quite a while wondering whether or not to buy.  What sold me was the product called SceneScapes which are backgrounds like the one used on this card.  There are beautiful designs and when I looked at the range (which I bought quite a few to try out) I could see just how they complemented the stamps, so I bought a few stamps as well.

I did have a problem with stamping out this image and eventually used a rocker type acrylic block plus Versafine Onyx black ink.  It did not stamp well and I needed to go over the image with a black marker.  Afterwards I looked online and someone suggested stamping on top of a ream of paper - will try that next time.  The birds were from an Inkylicious set called Daydreamer and the flowers inked up in Archival Berry Purple were from a Stamps Away set Pilkington Floral Silhouette.  The sentiment is from Flourishes Kids at Play.

I liked having the topper all prepared - it makes it a lot easier and silhouette stamps are a favourite of mine so I am looking forward to trying more out in the future.

Flourishes - Gerbera Daisies

Yet another in the series of small (75 x 65mm) cards.  This time I used the Flourishes image from the set Gerbera Daisies coloured in with aqua pencil crayons and a blender pen.  The leaves are from a Martha Stewart punch and the sentiment is Hero Arts Mini Messages.

Flourishes - Sunflowers - small card

This small 75 x 65mm card was another one of my quick and easy ones.  I used an image from the Flourishes Sunflowers set, stamped onto watercolour paper with black Archival ink and coloured in using watercolour pencils and an aqua painter.

Flourishes - Kids at Play

This small 74 x 65mm card is for the card envelope box I posted last week.  I thought I would keep it simple and stamped Flourishes Kids at Play in Black Archival ink adding to the design by extending it to the edges of the card.

Card Holder Box - Stampin Up

The design of this project is not one I can take credit for as I went to a Stampin Up class the other week and this card holder box was one of the projects we did.  As we ran out of time I just took the pieces home and assembled it slightly deviating from the original sample.

This project uses the Stampin Up envelope punch board and 3 pieces of card stock measuring 5¼" x 5¼", 2 of the same  colour and one of a contrasting colour.  The flower decoration on the front is a Marianne D die called Ovals coloured with Weathered Wood and Victorian Velvet Distress ink.  The sentiment is from the Flourishes sets Taglines and Medallion Motif stamped in Cobalt Archival ink.  On the original box a pipe cleaner was used for the handle but I chose to twist a couple of pieces of pink raffia I had left over from another project.  The small envelopes in the inside measure 82 x 72 mm.

Stationery Holder

The finished product - a notepad, post-it note and bookmark gift set

The size of the holder is 228mm x 150mm, scored at 60mm / 85mm / 145mm and 170mm.  The corner rounder used is from Creative Memories.  Yellow cardstock is Stampin Up Barely Banana, the patterned paper is Creative Memories Shades of Orange with the orange cardstock being Stampin Up Pumpkin Pie.  The tab on the right hand side is a Stampin Up Round Tab punch.

The post-it note pouches on the left hand side are 58mm x 66mm.  You would need to check the size of the post-it notes for the scoring.  The trim added was from scraps I had and the flourish stamp was off of an un named Inkadinkado set.  As the holders had no sides I made 4 holes (2 front, 2 back) with a paper piercer and threaded some embroidery cotton through the front hole, then the same side back hole, along the back to the next side and out the front, knotting both sides.

 

The notepad holder in the middle is a MFT Die-namics die Gift Card Pocket.  Instead of taping it flat I added a couple of pieces either side to make it into a box.  The owl on the front is from the Stampin Up set called First Friends stamped with Archival Coffee ink.  The small dots around the owl are from the Flourishes set Medallion Motif which was die cut with Spellbinders Circles small and large.

 

The bookmark pocket on the right hand side is a Memory Box die called Library Pocket.  Again I altered the die by trimming off one side so as to be able to slide the bookmark in.

Below is the outside of the holder.  The image is from Whimsy - Owl shaded with SU Close to Cocoa crayon and a blender pen.  The die it is framed in is MFT Peek-a-Boo Trio.  The 2 mesh like areas on either side of the holder were made using a Dreamweavers stencil brush, Distress Ink Spiced Marmalade with a Dreamweavers Fibreglass screen.  The is a quick and easy technique and I like the look it gives.  Think I will be using this a lot in future as I like to make my own backgrounds.

Bookmark - MFT Bookmark Duo and stamps on SU Pumpkin Pie. Background on the bookmark is a Hero Arts stamp - Old Letter Writing.  The edges of the cardstock are Distress inked with Rusty Hinge and the patterned Creative Memories paper, Shades of Orange, is done with Spiced Marmalade.

Bookmarks 2

A couple more bookmarks using Inkadinado images on the left hand side one and Flourishes stamps on the right hand side one.

I am loving searching through my stamps to put onto the bookmarks.  It is like discovering them all over again !

Bookmarks

I think it was over on Pinterest I saw this idea with paint swatches.  Well, whilst looking for mine I came across these strips which I thought would do just fine.

The strips were cut in half and trimmed at the top.  The protectors around the hole - I cannot for the life of me remember what they are called - come from the Magnolia Romantic tag die.  The  blue bookmark has images from an old Hero Arts stamp set and the orange one was stamped using Flourishes Fine Herbs stamp set.  The sentiment is also a Flourishes one from the set called Tag Lines.

Flourishes - Gerbera Daisies

This Flourishes Gerbera Daisies image is timeless and a real pleasure to colour in.  As I needed a fuller vase I used the stamp one and a half times - a full stamp and then on the second one I used only the right hand side of the image.

Using Momento ink I stamped the images onto Neenah paper and cut them out.  I used the following Copics to colour in with :

Stems               G99 / G94 / G21
Orange daisy     YR18 / YR16 / Y35 / Y23
Yellow daisy      YR02 / Y13 / Y11 / Y000 / Y15 / Y19
Pink daisy           RV34 / RV32 / RV10

The background paper is Fabscraps Burlesque Cocktail and the green circle made with a Go Kreate Plain Circles die is from the Ranger Distress Collection.  The "foliage" used in the vase is from the Marianne D Leaves and Branch Forest dies.  The sentiment is from the Hero Arts Good Friends set and it it on a SU Sizzlets Lots of Tags die.  The vase posed a bit of a problem until I saw my Spellbinders Nested Owls die.  I cut out the full die and severed the owl head like this :

I then turned the die upside down so that the feet are facing up and popped the head part at the back of the feet.  It just goes to show that all is not lost when you do not have the die you are looking for - one can always make a plan !

Sentiment Notepad

I have a pile of 79 x 110mm notepads in my cupboard and I thought I would give DH one using different sentiments on each page.

Note sure just how many pages there are but I went through all my stamps and still had some over by the time I had finished the notepad.  I thought it could be plain and simple, no covers (which I suspect would get discarded, anyway) and it is a great way to go through all the sentiments one seems to collect.



Tag Album - bag - Flourishes Kids Play

The upside of having a husband who plays golf is the goodie bags he sometimes comes home with.  This was one and I decided to cover the label with a piece of calico die cut with the SU scalloped square.

Using black Archival ink (after trying many others, this one looked the best) I stamped one of the images from the Flourishes Kids Play set onto the material.  The sentiment is from the same set.  I used fabric glue to adhere the stamped patch to the bag and used it for my brother's birthday tag album.

Stampin Up - Owl Punch

The SU Owl punch is one of my all time favourites as it is quick and easy to make up.

For this card I die cut a circle and used the negative to sponge in the moon.  I put the circle onto the sponged image and  used a dew drop Momento ink pad called London Fog for the rest of the card.  At the bottom I took a roughly torn Post-it note to create a border whilst dabbing on the background with the ink pad.

The owls are standing on a die called Marianne D Forest Branch.  I enjoy using dies and find the Marianne D range innovative and very precise.  A pleasure to work with.

The sentiment is from the Flourishes stamp set called Tag Lines.

Flourishes - A Season of Celebrations

You may be wondering why on earth I am posting a Christmas card in March !  Well, I am making up a set of cards as a gift for a friend and decided to pop in a couple of Christmas cards as well.  They will all be the same type of card - see the wonderful blog of Heather Telford - Bits & Pieces for her inspirational cards using a sponging and masking technique.

For this simple card I masked off an area with Post-it notes and used a brayer and Archival Ink for the background.  I then stamped the image from the Flourishes A Season of Celebrations set using Black Archival Ink.  I used Spica pens for the dress and lights just to add a little bit of colour.  The sentiment is from the same set.

The brayer works better on a smooth cardstock.  I will also be trying this technique using sponges on my preferred surface of a linen card.

Flourishes - Medallion Motif

Working off another page map idea I thought I would use this Flourishes stamp set.

The background is from a free paper pad by Stampin up and I tried to match the ink by using SU Brocade Blue.  Not sure if it was the right choice.  I cut out part of the image and matted it onto 2 circles made using the Creative Memories cutting system.  The middle circles are from Spellbinders and the sentiment is a Clear Dollar one called Birthday Wishes.

Flourishes - Kids Play - boy

This card has been on my desk for a while now.  I am not that wild about it but at the moment I have no other finished project.

Using the Flourishes Kids Play set and black Archival ink I die cut the image with a couple of Spellbinders Circles.  The sentiment is from the same Flourishes stamp set and it was die cut with Clear Dollar Tabs and Tags.  I thought the water could do with a bit of colour but got a little carried away with the shade.

Flourishes - Kids Play - girl

I find the key to making quick and simple cards for me is to identify a stamp set, in this case Flourishes Kids Play and make a couple of cards from the various images in the set. 

This image did not stamp out as well as I had hoped and I used a black marker to go over the parts which were a bit too light.  I think I have a problem with pressure on some stamps so perhaps I was to blame this time.  I used Distress inks - Peeled Paint and Bundled Sage for the grass and cut out the image using a Spellbinders Circle.  The die using the green cardstock behind the circle is from Spellbinders Lacey Circles.

The sentiment and the die used to frame it is from Whimsy Stamps.  The die is Notables 2 and the sentiment set is Friendship Notables 2.

Address Book project

A while back I bought a Pine Cone Address and Perpetual Calendar Book in Melbourne. In one of my periodic spring cleans I found it - just as well as I had completely forgotten I had even bought it. You just have to love getting older, it is so exciting clearing out - you never know what you might find next !

For the covers, which I covered in patterned paper on the insides, I used Distress Stains, Tim Holtz stamps called Good Thoughts and Nature's Discovery (on back) and French Market Place plus Flourishes Medallion Motif on front.  The images were all stamped using Archival Inks.  It might look like a bit of a mish mash type of design but I like it.

Tea Bag Dispenser

In honour of January being "Hot Tea Month" (I kid you not) I thought I would make this nifty Tea Bag Dispenser as a gift.  I saw the idea for this project on 2 sites - RunningwScissorsStamper and on Scrapparazzis Blog.  I had these ideally wrapped teabags for it and naively thought I could knock this up in next to no time.  Yeah, right !!

This first one I completely messed up the measurements with the second one not being too much better.  I then decided not to waste any more cardstock and that I would use the second one making it up as I went along.  Well, 4 evenings later I managed to finish the box after everything that could go wrong did.  I will not be making one of these again, not unless I find a suitable die to cut the container and lid out first.

Here is the lid decoration on which I used Magnolia dies called Doily Flower and Rose Leaf.  The tag is a Go Kreate one called Concentric Tags and the sentiment used is from a Flourishes set called Taglines.

JustRite - By the Sea

I have had this JustRite By the Sea oval sitting completed on my craft desk for a while now.  I used Copics to colour it in and matted the image plus frame onto 2 Spellbinders Ovals. 

The embossing folder is from Craft Concepts and is called Sunrays. The nautical knots are from a Flourishes stamp set called A Guiding Light.  I stamped the knots using Cobalt Archival ink on white cardstock and shaded the image in with Distress ink.

Post-It note - Art Impressions

Another of my post-it note gifts.  This time I could not find the exact colour green cardstock and decided to use a paint swatch which DH picked up at the local hardware store for me.  I had forgotten that the Archival ink I use will not dry completely on it.  I thought a heat gun would help but it did not so I ended up putting a square of vellum over it to stop the ink from smudging.

The sentiment is from Flourishes and the image, coloured in using markers is from an Art Impressions Doorways Clear stamp set called Apr/May DW.