Beautiful Buds

This week I have made some cards our of the alcohol ink backgrounds I made a few weeks ago.  This one is a small A6 card with a matching envelope!

I will admit to really liking this piece of cardstock and wanted something fairly simple to bring out the colours.  

I used Yupo cardstock and it is glossy and quite slippery, so need to use an oil based ink, in this case Archival Ink.

I used the Fairy Bud stamp by Lavinia Stamps and then painted the flowers in alcohol inks (purple twilight, raspberry and sunshine yellow)  I had to use really tiny amounts of each to stop them bleeding on the Yupo card, as this is what they are designed to do.

Once I had done this I used the Words of Faith stamp, also by Lavinia Stamps, to stamp around the sides of the buds.  Finally I stamped the buds on the inside of the card and also on the envelope, just so that it pulled it all together.

I hope you liked the card and I will be back soon with some more creations.

Until then please stay safe and well.

Ginny x

Zemira Meets Mideela

Things have been little quiet here as hubby developed Covid 19, and I followed suit 7 days later.  We are now on the road to recovery but we are exhausted!

I made a few cards before all this started, so am pleased to share one with you now.  

This is Zemira meeting Mideela, who is the small dragon!  He is lovely and really love the way these go together.

The background was done using the gelli plate and brayer, with some brusho's thrown in for good measure 😀  Once I had my background sorted I stamped Zemira, using my trusted stamping platform.  I used Verafine Clair Nocturne.

As there was a fair bit of detail in the background, I decided to keep the foreground quite simple and stamped the new Lavinia Stamps Fairy Bonnet set in Versafine Twilight and Bluebell.  To finish off the card I highlighted parts of Zemira on her dress and on the chest of Mideela with white Posca pen!  I then layered the card onto black cardstock before placing on a 7"x7" card base.

Anyway, I hope you like the card and it won't be too long before I am back again with some new creations.

In the meantime keep safe and enjoy your crafting.

Ginny x

Two for the price of one!

Hopefully these will be my last couple of DL cards as I have ordered some more 7"x7" cards bases, which are my favourite size 😁

Todays cards are made on very similar principles but in different colour schemes.  

The first card includes my beloved Pippin from Lavinia Stamps, who is sat on my favourite mushrooms.

For this card I used a diamond shaped stencil, again one I made myself!  I shaded through the stencil with the Adirondack inks,

Sunset Orange and Pesto, with the make up brushes.  Then stamped Pippin and the mushrooms, stamped the sentiment (also by Lavinia Stamps and then did some blending around the outside of the card, layered up on black cardstock and hey presto, another simple card!

My second card used exactly the same principles, but this time I used the Cranberry and Lemonade Adirondack inks.  These were

blended in the same way as the card above, using the lighter colour at the centre of the card.  I then stamped with the Lavinia Stamps Starburst and the Fairy Foragers with Versamark Nocturne and used Phill Martin's clear embossing powder.  This made the black appear more vibrant, which looked really nice against the cranberry ink.  I then blended more of the cranberry around the outside of the card and stamped the Faerie Spells wording in Versafine Morning Mist (second generation)

This is the finished card, I hope you like it!  I have a tedency with most of my cards not to put a sentiment on them as they are suitable for any occasion and I can just grab one when I need it 😉

I hope everyone is keeping safe and will be back shortly with some more creations  - hopefully with something a little different!

Until then, please stay safe and be kind.

Ginny x

Another DL!

I hope everyone is keeping well and staying safe.

I said I was going to try and use the DL cards, so here is another one!  I used the same template as before, but this time I used them upright on the card.

I used Adirondack inks in Raspberry and Sail Boat Blue, which is a really lovely bright blue!  Once again I applied the ink with the make up brushes.  I thought it would be nice using the colours without blending them too much and alternating on the 3 panels.








Once I had done the shading I used a black pen on the inside of the template to enhance the shape of the coloured panels.  I then stamped with some of my Lavinia Stamps - the new Tree Hive set, the Mini Berry and the Rory and Darcy set.  These are all quite small stamps so fit perfectly on the coloured areas.



The card was then layered on black cardstock before fixing to the card base.  I am currently using either Crafter Companion black centura pearl or Phill Martin's black cardstock.  Both are really solid and give the card substance.

Anyway, I hope you like the card and I will be back soon with another card I have been working on.  I seem to be living in my craft room at the moment, but am really enjoying my time experimenting with colour.

Until next time, please stay safe and well.

Ginny x

Dream, Inspire, Love

 I hope everyone is keeping well, we are in such strange times at the moment.  

Wow, what a weekend!  Despite the lockdown the weather has certainly made it a bit easier to cope.  Just to be able to get out in the garden and relax in the sunshine was amazing.

The one bonus of self isolating is that it is giving me plenty of time in the craft room!  I have made a number of really simple cards which can be used for any occasion, so be prepared for the onslaught 😀

I have almost run out of my square card bases so have got some DL cards, but to be honest I found it quite difficult to come up with ideas for them, as they are such an odd shape.  I have challenged myself to use them as much as I can!

For this card I made my own stencil out of mylar by cutting into it with a die 3 times and then shaded each element with Adirondack Oregano and Sunset Orange with the brushes and then traced around the inside of the shapes with a gel pen.






I finished by stamping the Dream, Inspire, Love stamps from Lavinia Stamps in Versafine Clair Chianti, which is a really lovely burgundy colour.

I finished by layering the card up on black cardstock and hey presto, a really quick and simple card.

I hope you like it!

I am off to go and see the ponies now - they are a neverending job but I wouldn't be without them.

Until next time please stay safe and well.

Ginny x

Stargazing

I hope everyone is keeping well in these uncertain times.  Hubby is still working hard at the local hospital as he is a medical engineer and is spending his time working on ventilators 😔

Todays card is the stargazing rabbit.

I was working on another project and did not have any coloured cardstock so decided to make my own with some Izink spray inks I bought a few weeks back!

Well I got absolutely filthy doing this!!!  I used red, yellow and orange inks and sprayed them on the cardstock and then gently blotted the card with kitchen towel.

I enjoyed doing this more than I thought I would and have to admit I am tempted to do this again, but I do need to get myself a big box to spray inks in, as this ended up all over my craft table, ink pads and just about everything else I had around at the time.

Once the cardstock had dried I used a Sweet Poppy Stencil of the stargazing rabbit and inked through this with Versafine Clair

Nocturne ink, applied with a smoothie.  I applied a number of coats as I wanted this to be a dense black, which would work in contrast to the orange/red/yellow mixture.

I decided to keep this card really simple as I felt the colours speak for themselves and I loved the contrast with the silhouette.



As I had a small piece of card left over I made another, much smaller, card.  Again I kept it really simple, which suits the Lavinia Stamps perfectly.

I hope you like the cards I have shared and will hopefully be back soon with a bit more inspiration.

In the meantime, I hope you all stay well and thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.

With love and crafty hugs (from a distance!)

Ginny x

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Life is very surreal at the moment!  I am very lucky right now as I can at least get out of the house twice a day as I have ponies to care for and they take up a couple of hours a day, so at least I can get out for some fresh air.

It is also allowing me plenty of time for my crafting and getting to practice things I am not very good at - and in this case it is using a brayer!

I really enjoyed making another card with Lavinia Stamps - can you tell they are one of my favourites!  

This card used a number of Lavinia Stamps, as follows:

Forest Temple

Wild Hares Set

Tree of Dreams (the branches only)

Whimsical Wisps

Wild Poppies

Home is There the Heart Is

Single miniature Heart

The colour scheme I chose was Colorbox Dandelion and Jade, which I brayered onto cardstock, doing half and half.  I have found that it is best to use a really light touch with the brayer and build the colour up slowly.  I am sure I will improve with time but I was quite pleased with the result this time.

I stamped the temple and wording in Versafine Clair Twilight and then added the rabbits, I also wanted to put something on the top of the temple so added the branches from the tree of dreams stamp.

I then added some highlights using gel pens, silver on the hares and a muted rose colour on parts of the twines on the temple.  I added some quickie glue to the trees and used the blue moonstone glitter, which was quite subtle.

Finally I added the single miniature heart in chianti, which I love to add to the sentiment.

I know I would love to live somewhere like this 😉

Thanks so much for dropping by.

Stay safe everyone.

Sending love and crafty hugs.

Ginny x

Dream

A friend asked me to make her a card with the tree of life, but I could not find a stamp, so made one using the Tree of Dreams from Lavinia Stamps.

I had my second go at using a brayer straight to cardstock and was quite pleased with the result.   I used Colorbox Blueberry for the sky and Olive for the grass.  I built the colour up very slowly as find
it quite difficult to not get any lines!

I stamped the tree followed by the new Lavinia Stamps Wild Hares, which I love!  I added Dream from the Inspire Me stampset to finish off the stamping.  I added a spotlight around the tree with versafine clair Twilight to highlight the branches and popped some glue from the Quickie Glue Pen around the moon and from the branches down to the hares, and then added some moondust glitter.  It was all very subtle which is what my friend wanted. 








I then mounted the card onto a black background and placed on a 7" x 7" card base, all ready to send off!

Many thanks for stopping by.

Ginny x

Make a Wish!

Todays card is another clean and simple card!  I really love the effect of a block of colour with a silhouette and a sentiment, as I said clean and simple lol.

I started off by taking my card blank and using removable tape, which I made even less sticky by patting it on a tea towel first, to mask off the area I wanted to colour.

I then picked my colours, in this case I used Distress Oxides in picked raspberry, fossilized amber and dusty concord.  I will be honest and say that I was not sure the colours would work but I was really pleased with how it looked.

I applied the colour with my make up style brushes and built the colour up gradually, starting at the top with the picked raspberry and made my way down the card using the fossilized amber and finishing off with the dusty concord.

Once I was happy with the shading I removed the masking tape gently and was left with a strip of colour.  I then stamped the 'Make a Wish' fairy from Lavinia Stamps and a sentiment from Card-io.






I have to say I was happy with the final result, lots of white space which makes the colours pop.  I hope you like it!

I have to dash now as the sun is shining and have to make the most of some fresh air and go and do some fencing up at the ponies field.

I hope everyone is keeping safe.

Ginny x

I'm back!!!

Well, you may have noticed I have been absent for a good while,  in fact it has been years lol ;-)  When I had my accident back in 2017 I suffered a head injury which created a good few problems and I lost my ability to craft.  It is only recently that I have attended some classes and this has really helped me to get some creativity back.  Interestingly I have been playing much more with ink as opposed to die cutting, which has been interesting.

I have resurrected my Lavinia Stamps (and also bought some more!) and had great fun playing with inks, gelli plates and brusho's, which have all been outside of my comfort zone.  Anyways, this is one of my creations and thought you might be interested in seeing what I have been up to.

For this card I used the Tree of Dreams, the Fir Cone Branch, Small Pixies and Stars 2 Miniature set, all from Lavinia Stamps.










I started by using a brayer to apply the yellow

colorbox ink onto a 6" round gelli plate, and on top of this I sprinkled some diluted green brushos.  I then took a print onto multifarious cardstock which transfers the ink onto the card.

I allowed this to dry before stamping on the Tree of Dreams stamp and the small pixies in Versafine Clair nocturne ink.   I then decided to use the green colorbox ink to the outside of the circle to edge the card, which was applied using the 'make up' type brushes - my new love.

Finally I applied the fir cone branch using a second generation stamp to make it slightly lighter and then finishing off with the miniature stars 2 set.

I really enjoyed making this and have been playing a lot with my new stamps, so hopefully I will get around to sharing more in weeks to come ;-)

With love and crafty hugs.

Ginny x