Warm autumn thanks

Hello, crafting friends!

Welcome to another fabulous Thursday challenge at Tic Tac Toe, the challenge that inspires you eight different ways!!

I suddenly realised that if I carry on making Christmas cards, autumn will disappear and I won't have had any of the fun of those gorgeous warm colours of the season, so I chose the middle column: Foliage/Thanks/Sequins/or Gems.

I used a large background stamp from Uniko called Tropical Paradise and turned it into autumnal heaven instead! It was stamped directly onto a card base in brown ink and then I masked the edges and used sponge daubers to apply different colours roughly all over the image. I'm sure you can imagine that it looked like a mess at this stage!!

The idea though was to use coloured pencils over the top of the ink to add detail to the leaves and to create a warm background and I hope you'll agree that it worked quite well! To finish the card, I attached a stitched rectangle stamped with a bold 'thank' and a die cut 'you" embellished with coloured gems.

So now it's over to you! Which of the rows or columns will catch your eye this week? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to see the great inspiration from my teamies - you'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post where you can share your own creation. I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with the Uniko challenge where Anything Goes with an optional twist of Autumn Colours; and, for the second time with Color My Heart Color Dare 463 as I was blown away by the fabulous inspiration photo!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have scheduled this post because I will be winging my way back from a break on the North Norfolk coast - although hopefully not literally winging my way as I will be travelling by car!

Sending hugs,

Enboss-resist with a stencil

Hello, crafting friends!

Stencils have become all the rage haven't they and I am here for them in a big way! I made today's card a little while ago with a pretty floral stencil I received as a free gift with a Uniko order (and I see it's now available to buy in the shop along with some fabulous new releases!) 

I used coloured pencils to colour it and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then for the emboss-resist magic: I masked the edges of my card panel and sponged blue ink over one corner, wiping the residue off the flower.

I inked up Uniko's Large Background Tropical Paradise stamp with green ink and stamped it over my masked panel, again wiping the residual ink away from the embossed flower. After removing the masks, I trimmed the panel and finished with an embossed thank you from Simply Said Blocks, also from Uniko, before attaching the panel to a card base.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Goes; also Stamping Sensations where we must share our crafty loves: I love... stencilling and also the magic of heat embossing; I'm also sharing at Watercooler Wednesday where Kath is hosting the Occasions challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I am deleting what I had written here and have decided instead to share that when signing off with 'sending hugs' I made a typo and wrote 'sending bugs' by mistake. After shrieking with laughter to the point of collapse, I have contritely edited it as I feel that is the kind of typo that could cause unintended offence...

So, sending HUGS and certainly no bugs at all!

Leaves in different ways

Hello, crafting friends!

Everyone has favourite types of stamps don't they. Many of us can't resist flowers but I'm also attracted by bird stamps, dog stamps and, more obscurely, furniture stamps. Not to mention tree stamps and leaf stamps - which brings me to today's post where I've used a large leafy stamp in a couple of different ways.

CARD ONE

This is a very simple card made by stamping Large Background Tropical Paradise from Uniko in green ink, trimming it with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and attaching it to a card base.

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Letterpress Winter (retired.) I stamped it in Versamark ink and heat embossed with gold embossing powder for a nice shiny look. It was cut out with a stitched label die from The Works and popped up on the background with dimensional pads.

CARD TWO

I stamped the same leafy stamp in green again. This time I used alcohol markers to colour the image, then cut nine circles out with a 1" circle punch. I arranged these on a card panel cut slightly smaller than my card base.

The sentiment is from Concord & 9th's Enjoy It All, stamped in dark green and heat embossed with clear embossing powder  - couldn't quite capture the shine in this photo, but it's lovely and glossy! The card panel was attached to the base with dimensional pads.

Here are the two cards together. They're very different aren't they, but both are quite masculine designs.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

These cards got an Honourably Mention at the Twofer Challenge!

CHALLENGES

I made these cards for the Twofer Challenge where we are asked to make two cards, two different designs, for two different occasions using the same stamp/die/stencil; I'm linking both up with Tristan's Masculine challenge at Watercooler Wednesday too.

Card One uses two dies so I'm joining in with Happy Little Stampers Die challenge where Anything Goes.

Card Two was made using Cécile's beautiful sketch at Freshly Made Sketches so I'm playing along there.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I can talk all I like about favourite types of stamps but I know what you're thinking... I just like stamps don't I! It would be much quicker to make a list of the kinds of stamps I DON'T like! And I suspect that goes for many of you too :) 

Sending hugs,