BUTTERFLY WREATH

     I have had a little play with a few of my Lavinia stamps recently. I have not got that many but thought I would give the recent challenge a try.  I was not lucky enough in the random draw to win but I had a good response to card that I designed so thought I would share it with you all.  The theme was blues and orange hues.  

      Quite simply I drew a pencil circle then stamped the dragonfly in place. Masked it off then added the leaves to make the circle. A little bumble bee on the other side and some simple colouring of the dragonfly. I used inks and paintbrush to colour and added some gems for sparkle. I brushed the edges of the card with the same blue and orange inks I had used for the wreath. Then added a simple peel off greeting as I do not have any Lavinia stamp greetings. 

               I hope you all like this quite simple card but effective I think. xxx
                                                           

PARCHMENT FLOWERS and INK

     Whenever possible I go to a workshop in Nottingham which is run by Maria Simms. She is very talented especially with anything inky. As it was her Birthday recently I wanted to make her a card but knew it had to be special. I settled on a nice sprayed background and also added some of the lovely Inca Gold made into a spray. For the flowers I used parchment. Using the Groovi system I made them with a brilliant flower plate designed by Tina Cox. Some sparkly gems and a bit of glitter and the card was complete. quite quick but I think very effective.

                                     A close up of the flowers, added a few leaves as well.

   
     So there you are quick easy and  I think quite pretty. Thank-you for dropping by. xx

THROUGH THE GARDEN WALL

     I have recently returned from a two day crafting retreat run by Barbara Gray of Claritystamps.  We went through so many different techniques and I learnt a lot. We were using  a brayer quite a lot , very good practice. Our final project on day two was to complete a canvas. For this we were using the masks from some lovely large aperture stamps. 

      I decided to use the same idea to make my great niece a Birthday card. Only I used a butterfly stamp and made my own masks. 

        Below is the stamp I used, these were made for the recent Clarity Open Days and come with a lovely large flower as well. 

                    

          I started by stamping the butterfly onto a post it note and cutting out to make a mask. I also stamped it onto a sheet of copy paper but this time I cut out the middle of the image, all will become clear later.

      
       

        Next stage is to position the post it mask onto a piece of stencil card. I put mine in the top right corner at an angle. Then place the brick stencil over the top securing with some masking tape at one edge to make a hinge. 

       Brush over the top with a colour of your choice, I used Tea Dye distress ink. Once your brush is loaded with ink brush a little off onto a piece of copy paper before applying to the card. This gets rid of some of the excess and gives a more even coverage. Once you are happy with the colour, the stencil can be removed. If not sure just lift it and check.  Mask off around the antennae on the stamp and ink them up again with black Archival. Carefully position the stamp in place and stamp the antennae onto the card. Remove the post it note mask. 

      Stamp the Alium into place and add some fairies around the card. I sat one on the butterfly and had another giving it a push.  This is where I used the copy paper mask, place it over the butterfly so that the outside area is covered, no danger of spoiling your brick background. Then I used some of the smaller scenic stamps to add a scene inside the butterfly. Finally brushing in some sky and some grass with a few hills. 

       

   As I am going to give this one to my great niece for her Birthday in September I have added some sparkles on the alium. She once told me that she loved my cards because of all the glitter.  Any excuse for me to add glitter really. 

  Links for a few of the items I used. 

   Butterfly Stamp 
   Alium Stamp
   Extra small fairies
   Garden set small
   Brick stencil

      Thank-you for visiting, I have lots of projects on the go at the moment so will try to get them onto my blog as I know I have neglected it a bit lately. xx