A New Stencil

The challenge over at CAS Stencil is to use a new Stencil!

Well this one couldn't be much newer as I only made it this morning and I haven't previously used the die to make a stencil either...in fact I think it's the first time the die has been used.

It's from Memory Box  and I cut the stencil from a piece of vellum. I wanted to use embossing paste but my homemade pot had dried up a little too much and although I tried to reconstitute it, it wasn't playing ball. I managed to dig out an old pot of Poppy Stencil embossing paste, but that too was on its last legs, but it just about coped.  I sprinkled on some WOW embossing powder and heat set it. The joy of using vellum stencils for embossing paste means that there is no clean up afterwards... I just toss the lot into the bin. The palette knife is the only thing that needs a wipe. The foliage die is by Alexandra Renke, which I stacked, adding a deep green bottom layer which I offset slightly. I simply added a few tiny pearls to the berry sections of the die cut.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

Job Done!

The design actually used the sketch from Case this sketch but inverted!

Playing around with dies

Last week the lady sitting next to me at my choir asked me to make a 70th Birthday card for her sister. She comes from a very musical family! Their cousin was the much acclaimed composer, John Tavener.  Among a host of beautiful music, he composed the music sung by the choir at Westminster Abbey, Song for Athene,  as Diana's coffin was being taken from the church. 

The birthday girl is a pianist and loves plants and gardening. I decided to play around with my dies to see if I could make a piano. I used a curved die for the piano, extending it slightly by cutting with scissors and rounding the edge with an embossing tool to make it more like the die cut part.. I used a tag /frame die for the music stand and scattered a few foliage die cuts on the body of the piano. The keyboard is a proper die.. no alteration needed! I think it was from Memory Box.

I made the sentiment in Word and  cut the '70' with my Silhouette Portrait.

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies

Loss of Mojo!

I seem to have had a little difficulty recently in making something which has really pleased me. I start off with what I think are reasonable ideas but somehow they just haven't totally come off. This has had the effect of me leaving with lots of projects either unsatisfactory in my eyes, or not quite finished. This is one such. In principle and in my head the idea seemed ok, but it's just not quite what I thought it would be.

It's for the challenge at CAS Christmas

ABC Christmas 'A' Anything Goes

This one follows the sketch at CASe This Sketch

I don't often use completely untextured card and for some reason when there's a lot of it in evidence it sometimes feels a little bland. I bought a pack of smooth card to fulfil a request to make large flowers for a charity I have supported by making Thank you cards for them, for sometime. I have a little left so I guess I must find the best way to use it. Some card is great for colouring  and blending with markers, some for use with watercolour, some for stamping, some for pastes etc. I think experimentation is called for.

The daisy die is from Pink Fresh Studios, mounted over a square die-cut, stamped with an SU grunge stamp. I don't recall the make of the foliage die. The sentiment is from a set of tiny, really useful sentiments from Sugar Pea designs.

Love Flowering

I haven't used this stamp from Penny Black for quite some time, but it is perfect for a one layer card. I stamped it in SU Crumb Cake and embossed the sentiment in gold. Simplicity itself. I can see where the manufacturer got the name of the stamp from... the blooms do look a little like hearts don't they!

It's my DT card for the Perfectly CAS One Layer challenge.

I added a little clear Wisp of  Stella over the image to add a little interest.

I'm sure that one layer cards are not as scary as they once were for many crafters, so do have a go and join us!