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Friday 14 May 2021

When life gives you eucalyptus leaves...

Hello, crafting friends!

I had a moment of inspiration today and made a quick card while the going was good! It's still pretty gloomy around here but I'm hanging on to my mediterranean dream with these oranges and lemons, tumbling past a sun-warmed terracotta wall...


... But wait, I don't have any oranges or lemon stamps in my stash! These citrus fruits are in fact eucalyptus leaves from Concord & 9th's Beautiful Branches. Honestly, this has to be one of the most versatile stamp sets I own - the eucalyptus leaves have also been lanterns (here) and sunflowers (here) and the rest of the set has worked very hard indeed too (here, and keep scrolling down for more.)


To make this card, I stamped two different shapes of the leaves onto a card panel and coloured them with coloured pencils. The stamps are textured which really helps give the effect of dimpled citrus skin. I added leaves from one of last year's Stampin' Up Sale-a-bration sets, and doodled stems in with a fineliner pen.


To finish, I scribbled in a loose watercolour background with a paintbrush and diluted ink. When it was dry, I added one of the sentiments from Beautiful Branches and a sprinkling of clear gems before attaching it to a card base with dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES
Inspired By has inspired me again with both the inspiration photo and the sketch! I'm also joining in with Happy Little Stampers' watercolour challenge.


AND IN OTHER NEWS
While our children were growing up, it was a family tradition to go out to a restaurant on birthdays - and the birthday boy or girl got to choose where. We have a wonderful Indian restaurant near to us which was a popular choice even when they were small, and they took to spicy dishes from a young age too! My youngest son used to love the lemon and orange sorbet there, served in the fruit itself and decorated with other fruits and cocktail umbrellas! He alternated them and could always remember which flavour he'd had the last time he was there!

Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend!

15 comments:

  1. Well, as soon as I saw your card in my Feedly feed, I KNEW what challenge you'd used...and it's PERFECT! That background is amazing, as are your luscious fruits! And I am all about citrus flavors...your children's favorite sorbets would have been mine too! YUM! Thanks for playing with us at IB this week!

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  2. Your orange and lemons look delicious love the depth of colour and texture

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  3. Oh my, beautiful, creative, yummy orange and lemons, Vicky! TFS the links to your other cards...I am going there nest:-) Loved your CAS card design too. TFS your sweet story about your young (then) son and his love of sorbet:-) My favorite dessert and any flavor:-) Love and Hugs...Nancy

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  4. This card is fabulous hun, I just love your use of a stamp thats not what it is...if that makes sense lol!
    Hugs Shell xx

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  5. You can guess what nursery rhyme will be going round my head all day now don't you Vicky? But I do love the zest colours and with this weather we need all the reminders of sunshine we can get.

    B x

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  6. I love the way you art outside the packet and get more mileage from your stamps. Very clever indeed, and a lovely result.

    Happy Saturday xxx

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  7. Wonderful texture in the fruit and background, Vicky! You are so inspiring using your stamps for purposes not intended!

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  8. You are so very clever, that is a Super "thinking outside the box" the colours are gorgeous as is the background and love the sentiment.
    Faith x

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  9. This is fabulous Vicky - you never cease to amaze me how creative you can be with your stamps! These citrus fruit are so realistic too - great pencil work. This card is about as close to the Med as I'm getting - but for now I'll take it!

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  10. Vicky, I loved seeing this at IG but I was inclined to come by so I could 'enbiggen' this card - oh. my. word! It is absolutely extraordinary! I cannot believe the stamping gave your lemons and oranges all this detail - looks just like you had your wonderful way with colored pencils! Don't ever let go of that C&9th set, Vicky! It is fabulous!
    Thanks so much for being inspired by Inspired By again this week!!
    =]

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  11. Wonderful texture and what a cute design.

    Hugs diane

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  12. I LOVE when you inspire us, this is another ingenious use of craft supplies and is such a perfect interpretation of the photo challenge and sketch! This card is amazing! I, too, love the sorbet choices and that's how I felt looking at your card today! Thank you for inspiring us this week @IB!

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  13. Beautiful card and very inventive.
    Katrina x

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  14. Such a fantastic card, Vicky! I was a little confused looking at the post title, but when I read it.. Eucalyptus leaves?!?! Wow! You've just wowed me!! Totally deserve the win! Congrats!

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I'd love to know what you think. Do leave me a comment - it always makes my day! Vicky x


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