Seasonal Card

Yet another seasonal card, this time featuring an old fashioned post box in a little scene.  At first I was devoid of ideas when it came to using this die until I had the idea of incorporating a few animals.  Started off by die cutting the frame and then stamping the trees onto a piece of white card, brushing some blue ink across the sky area and stamping a sentiment.  After die cutting the post-box, fence and animals I played around with arranging them into a little group and that's it - another card for the Christmas collection.

Frame - Phill Martin die
Trees - stamps from a free set (magazine gift from last year)
Post Box - Britannia die
Dog - Xcut die
Cats - Impression Obsession dies
Robins - Memorycraft dies
Fence - Sizzix die
Sentiment - from SU Contempto Christmas stamp set (retired)

Fairy

 Two of the pieces from my recent dabbles using the gel plate were very pale and I almost ditched them but thought there would be nothing lost by playing with them a bit more using a stencil and some over stamping.  This card is the result of taking the lighter of the two  pieces and stencilling a design all over in a toning colour (Milled Lavender) and then stamping some delicate trees on the lower half.  I then cut a small oval from the second piece which had a little more colour and detail then stamped a fairy silhouette in black, adding some grasses and foliage in purple (Dusty Concorde).  Matted the two pieces onto some purple card and put it together with a birthday sentiment.  Great satisfaction achieved in rescuing two pieces of card which could well have found their way into the bin.

Stencil - Lavinia Pods
Trees - from Chocolate Baroque stamp set Tall Trees
Fairy - Lavinia Stamps
Foliage -  small stamps from various Chocolate Baroque sets
Sentiment - free download from Netty's Cards (resized)

Snippets Challenge #390

 Time to pop along to the Playground for this fortnight's challenge and certainly well worth the visit because there is a super prize as always for the lucky person whose name is drawn.  Super card for inspiration as well with an excellent explanation as to how it was made.  For my card this time I've made something sewing related because I know quite a few people who would appreciate receiving such a card. Started with a square snippet of cream card, trimmed to fit the sie of card and also cut a circle from another cream snippet.  Placed the circle into the centre of the square and lightly marked with pencil before stamping some flowers around in a kind of 'wreath'.  Stamped and heat embossed the sewing machine and words onto the circle before sponging the edges of both shapes, popping it all onto a toning die cut square to assemble the card.

Stamps - from a free magazine set designed by Phill Martin
Dies used - nesting shapes from Tonic and Sizzix

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