Best Hens Forever

I have a couple of very special friends and I saw the new stampset by Paperartsy and immediately knew it would be perfect to share with them!

The colours do not come through terribly well in the photograph unfortunately.

I started by stamping three of the hens in the set and colouring them in with watercolour pens.  I did some fussy cutting (this took ages and is not my strong point!)

I tried to find some suitable backing paper and couldn't find anything I liked so brayered with distress oxides, shabby shutters,  milled lavender and dried marigold, onto white cardstock.

I did some water splatters but these really do not show up very well, but I like that it gives a bit of texture to the card.

Next I planned the card by placing the cut out chickens onto the card to see where I was going to placed the sentiment and chicken wire.

I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Claire in black and the chicken wire in Archival morning mist.  Then I stuck the chickens in place and left them to really stick by placing under a book!

I then cut my mats and layers and placed everything together and have to say I was pleased with the result.  I made 2 cards and the chickens represented each of my friends - the question is who is who?!!!

I hope you like the cards and hopefully I will be back in the craft room soon.

In the meantime, please stay well and safe.

Ginny x

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

Fairy Bonnets

I think these have become my favourite stamps from Lavinia Stamps!  This is an A6 card where I used some of the background prints I did a couple of weeks ago.  

This really was a very simple card to make.  I started by stamping the Fairy Bonnet Stamp in Versafine Claire Blue Belle (another favourite colour!)  

I used the word 'love' from the Inspire Me set, also by Lavinia Stamps.  This was stamped with Versamark and I brushed Copper Mica Minerals to highlight the word.

To finish off the card I used the See a Fairy words to fill in the background, this was done with Versamagic Pretty Petunia, which highlighted the light purple colouring in the background.  I also used this colour to edge the card before layering onto black cardstock and placing on the card base.










I hope you like what I did with the first alcohol background - and not a fairy or rabbit in sight lol!!!!

I should be back soon with another card taken from the alcohol background, this time on the Yupo card.

In the meantime, please stay well and safe.

Ginny x

Alcohol Ink Backgrounds

Last week I managed to summon up enough energy to have a play with some alcohol inks, using different types of cardstock and alcohol lift ink and blending solution.

To start with I chose some alcohol inks and popped these onto Yupo cardstock.  Yupo is a synthetic card that is waterproof, it is also shiny and needs to have a Archival Ink to stamp on it.

These were a bit brighter than I expect so have no idea what I am going to do with these but watch this space 😀

Next I used alcohol inks on the Yupo cardstock again, but this time I used the Ranger Lift Off solution to take a print off the card!   Once the inks have been applied to the Yupo card, blended with the blending solution, once dry I applied the Lift Off Solution to the top of the card and brayered this across the card.   I then applied to the normal cardstock to the Yupo card and pressed it down to take a print.

This tends to give a slightly more muted look and you still have the Yupo cardstock that you can use again, by applying more inks and repeating the process.  This is what the original Yupo card looked like after I had taken the print:

The following picture shows a number of prints that were all taken off the same piece of Yupo card, which I reinked a number of times!

In the coming weeks I will have a play with some of these backgrounds and see what I can do with them.  I really enjoyed this process and found that I used inks I have had for years, so it was nice to get some old crafting items out to play with 😇

Anyhow, that is all from me this week and I hope you are all keeping well and safe.

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