Raindrops

 Another Gelli plate card to share today, made sense to do a few pieces while I was in the mood and before I tidy it all away again and get onto another favourite technique or maybe I'll try something new., who knows?  This time a favourite die cut flower has been added once the background was completed and the raindrop stamp is one which I've had for many years although it's not been used for a while.

Raindrops - stamp from Stamps by Ryn which I've had for many years
Flower - die cut from Tim Holtz wild flowers die set
Sentiment - from a magazine freebie set

Clean and Simple

 Sharing a card today in the CAS style - managed without any smudges too which is a result 😉😉. Thought it was about time I looked out my Gelli plates and for this card I've used a 3 inch square mini plate along with a stencil and a bit of stamping.  Original Distress inks were used on this occasion. The effect of the stencil is very subtle and actually shows up better for real than it does on the screen - think I need more practice with this technique.

Stencil - Imagination Crafts
Stamp - Silhouette floral set by Penny Black

Pixie Snippets Challenge #406

 My card today is for the latest challenge over at the Playground and there is a lovely prize on offer this time, well worth popping over to take a look if you are a fan of inky backgrounds and don't like getting messy.   I do enjoy a bit of inky play I must say but for my card today I've been stamping, colouring and fussy cutting as well as using up some of my snippet mountain.  As is usually the case, everything came from my snippets collection, apart from the base card.  This is a favourite stamp set and the birds can be any variety, real or imagined, depending on the way they are coloured.  The floral background was the last remnant of a 12" sheet which has stretched to several cards, and the curvy green piece of card was also a leftover.  Birds were stamped onto snippets of watercolour paper and I finally cut a label for the sentiment and punched a couple of tiny hearts.

Green Section - Curvy die set Stampin' Up
Birds - Free as a Bird stamp set Stampin' Up

More Inky Play

 As promised here is my card made using the gelli plate background - using some stamps which I 'found' while I was going through my boxes to find suitable stamps for this technique;.  I honestly can't recall buying this set and they must have been languishing in the bottom of this box for many years.  Anyway it was a lucky find even though I'm not particularly into fairies.  The background was done with Distress Oxide ink and Brusho dissolved in water - quite exciting to do because it is so unpredictable and each print is unique.  I cut a piece of the background to size before making the scene using a variety of stamps and masks for the ground and the moon.  I was in two minds about adding the words and dithered over this for a while - still not too sure about this but it's done now.

Fairy and Castle - Lavinia stamps purchased many years ago
Foliage - selection of stamps from various sets
Words - from a magazine freebie stamp set designed by Sheena 

Ink and Stamps

I've been having a bit of inky play and have produced a couple of reasonably interesting backgrounds, one using a gelli plate and the other using a brayer.  For this card I chose the brayered background, cut it to fit a tall DL card and set about composing a little scene using a selection of stamps, some of which I've had for many years (they are from several different stamp sets).  I started by making the uneven 'ground' at the bottom using torn scrap paper and a brush to apply the ink, followed by stamping the tall toadstool in black then gradually building up the rest of the foliage using a variety of shades of green ink, popping the two hares into place.  Final touch was to add the overhanging leafy area and lightly brushing right around the edge with the darkest green, then mounting onto a larger piece of black card.  My original intention was to maybe put the whole thing onto a kraft card blank but I discovered along the way that not all DL cards are created equal 😉.  I have white, cream and kraft and they are all slightly different in size.  What is it they say about 'best laid plans' - this is now on a white background.  In future I must check the sizes before I start if I definitely want a particular colour of card blank for the finished project.  Ideas are going round in my head for using the gelli plate background next.

Toadstool and Hares - stamps by Lavinia
Foliage - variety of stamps from a wide selection of different sets
Greeting - sticker from Clarity

Just to Say

 A card to share today which could do for many occasions - made using mainly die cuts.  The flowers and leaves are multi-layered and the words have been cut twice and stuck together to give them a bit more substance. 

 The wall to wall sunshine seems to have disappeared for the moment and it is quite dull this morning - hopefully we can avoid the thunder storms and lashing rain which is predicted in many places but of course there is nothing we can do.  If it rains, it rains 😉 Enjoy your weekend

Panel and Flowers - Beautiful Brushstrokes dies Stampin' Up
Words - Floral Gallery dies Stampin' Up
DSP - Boho Indigo also SU

Playground Challenge #405

 Time again to visit Pixie's Playground for another Ruby's Memory challenge and as usual my card has been made entirely from snippets from my bits boxes - apart of course from the base card.  There is a lovely prize on offer this time around which I'm sure the winner will enjoy.  I started with a snippet of patterned paper trimmed to fit the card and then die cut a smaller piece on which to pop the flowers.  These were stamped (three stages to each) before being fussy cut and arranged with some die cut leaves and a strip of 'ric-rac' all cut from snippets.

Flowers - Penned and Painted stamps from Stampin' Up (retired)
Leaves - from Curvy die set Stampin' Up
Ric-rac - cut using border die from a Daisy Mae Set