Mystical Scene

 Dragged my gel plate out of semi-retirement for a bit of a play using Distress Oxide inks and Brusho powders mixed with water - enjoyed the exercise and have coloured fingers to prove it 😀.   The results were a bit variable and of course pretty unpredictable but I selected one to use with some stamps to make into a card.  I started off by stamping a silhouette image and then using a circle mask to give the impression of a full moon, sponging ink carefully around; also torn paper masks were used to ground the image.  Next I chose a selection of suitable stamps from several sets to do the rest of the stamping to make a pleasing scene, finally sponging around the edges and mounting onto a piece of toning card.  I have a few more gel plate backgrounds to use and it made a break from the making of Christmas cards.

Main Image - from Serene Silhouettes Stampin' Up
Trailing Foliage - from Wisteria Lane stamp set Chocolate Baroque
Ground plants and grasses - various stamps by Chocolate Baroque
Sentiment - computer generated using Word

Tall Card

Apparently tall cards have come into favour so it is just as well I have a supply of most sizes of card blank including these.  Decided to have a little play with some inking and stamping for this latest Christmas card - quite enjoyed it although it does take a bit of time to get the ink off my fingers afterwards..  The moon was suggested by masking off the area; tall trees a stamp which I've had for many years and may no longer be available. First and second generation stamping here. The ground was formed with torn paper masks and the deer stamps I've also had a while.  Think I may follow this up with some more inky play to gather a few interesting backgrounds together.

 Blue used - Distress ink Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire
Trees - Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz stamp set
Deer - Stamp set from Card-i-O

Still in Christmas Mode

 I'm still ploughing on with Christmas cards and I'm going back about four years to a set of stamps which I came across recently in my stash - an A4 set and I'm pretty sure that some of them haven't ever been inked so I've remedied that and made a few cards using the set, or at least four of them.  The image was stamped on cream card using Versamark and then embossed using a very old pot of embossing powder which is red with tiny flecks of gold.  I then cut it out using an octagonal die set, also cutting  larger ones in cream and gold to layer up and make for a bit more interest.  The larger cream octagon has been embossed and background paper was printed from a CD which I think may well no longer be available but it is definitely a favourite of mine and gets used often.  Sentiment was stamped and then cut out with banner dies.

Background - printed from Season's Greetings CD Chocolate Baroque
Image - from Fat Robin A4 stamp set Chocolate Baroque
Embossing Powder - Antiquities Chinese Red from Ranger
Octagon dies - Daisy Mae from Craftstash
Banners - dies from Creative Expressions stitched banners
Embossing - folder from Creative Expressions

New Challenge

 A new challenge has been spotted - interesting name too - Let's Squash It!  They encourage the use of embossing folders, something which I have in some quantity and often forget to take out and use.  This time the theme is metallic and geometric although I realise now that in my haste to make a card my brain hadn't really registered the geometric element.  However I'm hoping they might stretch a point because the lower part of this folder is covered in circles.  I'd decided that as I was in seasonal mode I'd make a Christmas card using some gold card from my stash and this folder along with a die cut sentiment - fairly simple card really.

Gold metallic card from my stash
Embossing Folder - Embossalicious Christmas
Sentiment - dies from Tonic

Rainbow

 Dabbled with some ink blending in rainbow colours for a change from my recent Christmas card makes.  I die cut the shape first  before blending the inks and once the ink was dry I stamped using a large background stamp - dictionary text.  The square of white card was smooshed lightly into some ink on a glass mat and blotted to give a pale effect.  The flower was die cut from a scrap of white card and I kept the 'waste' so that I could use it as a stencil to give an impression of the same flower on the background.  Added a sentiment stamped on purple and embossed with white powder. A scattering of gems completes this card.

Die cut shape - retired set of dies from Stampin' Up
Flower - iris die by Joanna Sheen
Dictionary stamp - retired background stamp from Stampin' Up

Snow Couple

 Another Christmas card to share today, this time with some stamping and colouring using a seasonal stamp set which is a retired item - they seem to bring out a new set of Christmas stamps every year.  Using the Misti I stamped the Snow Couple, the snowflakes and the words onto a die cut stitched circle before colouring using alcohol pens.  The blue striped paper was amongst my magazine give-away paper collection and the die cut snowflake border was a free die also given with a magazine last year or maybe even before that.  Time flies doesn't it and often difficult to work out just how long things have been in the crafty stash.

Image - Snowman stamp set from Stampin' Up
Colouring - using Copic pens
Snowflake border - free die given with a magazine

Snippets Challenge #389

 Well worth popping over to the Playground to see the super cute card which Di has made using what is the prize for this fortnight - a real fun set of stamps with matching dies.  You might have guessed I will be asking for my name to go into the draw this time around.

Anyway, on to my snippets card for this challenge which was prompted by coming across a box containing quite a lot of pre-cut shapes which I must have bought years ago and I'm talking about well before die cutting became possible in our own craft rooms.  I think it is about 15 years since the Big Shot arrived on the scene so I've had this box for ages.  I've used an oval frame and four little squares with text on them from the box (hardly made any inroads into the contents) and then set about using up more of my snippet mountains to make something from this start.  Cut four brown squares to back the printed ones, an oval in cream to go behind the frame and a selection of small snippets to make the flowers and leaves.  Even the music paper was a snippet left over from a much larger piece.  The message was stamped onto the cream oval using the Misti for positioning.

                                  

Text squares and oval frame - from box of pre-cut shapes by Papermania probably over 15 years old
Sentiment - free stamp from my favourite magazine gift set
Flowers and leaves - dies by Sue Wilson
Squares - cut using Tonic nesting squares die set