Easily Sidetracked ...

Yes, that's me!!  I started this morning with the intention of catching up with one of my least favourite jobs which is preparing and putting inserts into cards, then popping them into cello bags with envelopes.  A very necessary job I know but one which I tend to leave until there a pile to deal with rather than finishing off as I go along.  As the title suggests I did become sidetracked and started playing around with a technique for using an embossing folder to emulate the letterpress effect.  I brayered some ink onto one side of the folder, then stamped a house scene directly onto the folder before popping in a piece of watercolour paper and running it through the machine.  Magic - the house is now peeping through the birch trees!!  I coloured the house and bushes with Distress markers, drew a few birds in the sky, added a sentiment and here we have a New Home card.  I can see that this technique has many more possibilities and is one which I will be using again I'm sure.

Incidentally I have now printed off all the inserts I need and I REALLY am about to finish off what I meant to do today before I do anything else.  I've even done an insert for this card and the ink is hardly dry - how good is that?

Embossing Folder - Woodland Scene by Sizzix (Stampin' Up)
House - stamp from a Chocolate Baroque set (had them for years)
Sentiment - free from a recent magazine give away

Butterflies

I like to try out a new die when I get it and so I've made this simple card using a cascading butterfly die - the sentiment had already been die cut and was lying around unused just waiting for a suitable card.  In hindsight (wonderful thing that) I think It would have been better if I'd maybe embossed the brown layer because it looks rather plain and even now I might just add some die cut corners.  I'm sure there are many more exciting ways of using this die set which I'm sure I will discover as I play with it.  I cut the outline die into the brown card which was then backed with a layer of gold before cutting the butterflies and their frame in cream Centura Pearl card.  The brown layer was slightly raised up so that the frame and butterflies would sort of drop inside.  This is quite a large die and would lend itself to being featured on a much larger card than I've used here. (this is a 5" x 7" card)

I've just looked at the theme for the butterfly challenge this time in case my card fits - of course it doesn't and I should really have read the butterfly post first!!

Butterfly die - Sue Wilson Cascading Butterflies
Sentiment - Crafter's companion die

Experimenting

Yesterday I visited the Crafts4Crafters show where naturally there was so much to see.  I'd decided that if I saw them I would treat myself to some of the new Tim Holtz Distress ink pads and I was lucky although there only appeared to be one trader who had them on display.  I thought on the whole that it was a good show but with less paper crafting than in some earlier shows - there seems to have been a 'shift' towards more general crafts and there were lots of opportunities to see knitting, crochet, embroidery,  traditional felting, needle felting, patchwork/quilting and so on as well as fabrics of all kinds.  A very enjoyable day out.

Anyway I had a little play onto some white card with the ink pads I bought  and came up with quite an acceptable piece on which I've stamped a dandelion clock with some of the other stamps in the set.  I found  suitably coloured pieces of paper and card in one of my boxes and put this card together.  I'm sure there are lots of possibilities with these inks, including the fact that they also work on dark card and of course the experiments will continue - also I guess a few trawls around YouTube!!

Backing paper - odd piece from my stash (Chocolate Baroque) probably discontinued
Stamps - Dandelion set from Hobby Art
Ink colours - TH Distress Oxide, Fired Brick, Fossilised Amber, Broken China
Sentiment - free stamp on Stampin' Up punched shapes