Leaping out of a bauble

Hello, crafting friends!

We had the most beautiful sunshine here yesterda and Eva and I made the most of it out in the countryside. When we got home, I made a quick, one layer card in the small window of light opportunity that is the British winter!

Masking, sponging, stencilling, stamping... all my favourite techniques have been used on this card! The first step was to make a mask for the small stag on Funky Fossil's Leaping Stags stencil with a sticky note. (There's one provided for the large stag but not the small one for some reason.) I stencilled the stag directly onto a thick card base and then covered it with the mask. I positioned a circle stencil over the top and a piece of torn paper over the top of that, so that I could sponge blue ink over it for the sky. I added trees from Stampin' Up's Waterfront stamp set then repositioned the torn paper and sponged more blue ink gently to create shadows on the snowy ground. 

Time to remove all the masks to reveal my stag leaping out of a winter wonderland! Then I had the idea of making the circular scene into a hanging Christmas ornament. I brought out Ornamental, another Funky Fossil stencil, and added a topper and chain to my scene with a silver marker. To finish the card I added detail, highlighting and shading with a Posca white paint marker and a fineliner pen, and stamped a Uniko sentiment in bright red ink.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with 52 {Christmas Card Throwdown, where the lovely Gill is hosting *waves hello* and the theme is Winter Wonderland; also Less is More for their One Layer Festive challenge, where it's lovely to see Chrissie returning as a guest to the challenge she founded with her friend; Last but not least, I'm linking up with Uniko's 'Tis The Season challenge with optional sparkle! There are fabulous prizes on offer so do pop across and join in!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Deer are not uncommon in the countryside here and you can even see muntjacs in the green spaces of the town in the early morning or at dusk. I wasn't prepared for the rare creatures I spotted in the trees in the park the other day though...

... the Lesser Spotted Tree Surgeon!

Sending hugs,

Leaping through the snow

Hello, crafting friends!

What a great crafting day it is today - the wind and rain beating at the windows while I sit cosily surrounded by Christmas craft stash! There may not be snow outside but I'm not finding it hard to imagine a cold winter's afternoon I can tell you!

To create this one layer card, I simply masked off a snowy ground and a moon and sponged in a northern lights-inspired sky. Once the masks were removed I added snowy detail to the foreground with my sponge and a torn piece of paper.

The little stag is the smaller of the two that feature on the Leaping Stags stencil by Funky Fossil. I sponged black ink into him and extended his antlers with a fineliner pen. To cheer things up a bit, I added a bright red sentiment from WPlus9's Silver Bells.

CHALLENGES

I used the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches. I flipped it over and I must say I took a bit of 'artistic' liberty with those lines so I hope you can still recognise it!  I'm also linking up with CASology where the cue word is STAG. I keep missing the challenges there as my email subscription doesn't appear to be working but this fortnight I saw that a friend had made a card for the challenge :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Never mind dashing through the snow, it was more of a wading through the mud situation out on our walk this morning! The grass on the field has grown so long though that it had washed most of it off Eva by the time we got home! A quick rinse off and a rub down with a warm towel and she was ready to direct crafting operations from a very cosy spot on the sofa!

Eva, could you pass me the glue please. Er... Eva? Zzzzzzzzzz!

Sending hugs, 

Dashing through the snow

Hello, crafting friends!

Having seen deer leaping about in the countryside around here, it's easy to see how the idea of a sleigh drawn by flying deer came into being! Today's card was made with a stencil from Funky Fossil called Leaping Stags. It comes with a mask of the stag too which enabled me to create this scene quite easily.

I started with a card panel, positioning the stag stencil off the edge and sponging Crumb Cake ink into it. The stencil was removed, the mask placed over the stag and I added a torn piece of paper over the bottom of the panel which was to be snow. Then I was able to sponge blue inks above it to create my sky.

To finish, I added detail to the stag with markers, added a sentiment from a retired Uniko set, and dotted snow in the sky with my oh-so-useful Uni Posca white paint pen.

CHALLENGES

I made this card using the beautiful colour palette at CAS Colours and Sketches challenge. They have a DT call there and I'm going to put myself forward for it! I'm also joining in with Rudolph Day where every month on the 25th, we all make Christmas cards. I shall also link up with NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) as this is the first time I've used the Schtag Schtencil - I think I'm on safer ground with this Darnell, lol!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

While walking in the countryside the other day with Eva and her chum Otis, a black lab, the pups were excited to see a pheasant fly out of the hedge. They darted after it like hunters and I got the impression they were doing that thing that small children do when they pretend they are a princess or a pirate and really get into character. When the footpath led us through a gap in the hedge, we startled a group of deer who immediately took off across the field. The dogs looked at each other and half heartedly wandered after them but you could tell their hearts weren't in it at all - they had been playing Bird Dogs and deer weren't part of the script!

Sending hugs,