Jems Monthly Blog Hop - Trick or Treat (but not for necessarily for Halloween!)

Welcome to our Monthly Team Blog Hop featuring a lovely play on the words "Trick or Treat"... as suggested by the very clever Uma....

Could be something for Halloween.. but could otherwise be a ...
* Trick - an illusion, a fun fold, a surprise or something unexpected in the project...
* Treat - so Treat Packaging or indeed a cake, chocolate, sweets...

So I didn't intend to do a Halloween project at all... but here you have one!

I absolutely LOVE the Detailed Gate die cut and so the Graveyard Gate bundle was beckoning me to play with it... and thus I made my (probably) first Halloween card ever! Keep watching this space for a few other non Halloween options as the weeks pass by!

I will go back to calling this a U Fold Card (as it is a Bridge Fold card without the bridge across the front! The Gate does the job instead...)... and spookily the dimensions for my latest Bridge U Fold Card were perfect... click here for that Tutorial... I just cut the Smoky Slate card to 8.6cm (3/3/8" for my US readers) high instead of 10.5cm(4 1/8")

As always the card does lay flat to go in an envelope... though I think I will have to write Scaredy Cat on the back ( or something) ... as this gate doesn't actually open!

I plan to be back with an updated Tutorial for the card and all the decorative details for this one shortly... but in the meantime here is a shot of the simple little scene behind the gate! Though I would colour in the church windows if I did a re-make!

Click here to go to my earlier post for more details on the Detailed Gate & Graveyard Gate products... 

And so it is now time to pass you onto the lovely Tracy... till next time!

CAS Sheltering Tree Spring Blossoms & Tulips…

Well I was popping onto post a lovely tutorial for you for Easter Monday!!

But my PC is on a VERY GO SLOW…and I just have not got the patience!! Sorry! So a very quick share of something simple instead… maybe it will speed up later and I will be back with the tutorial….

In the meantime though I have to say…. please check back with me about 9.30 am on Wednesday 8th April – I think I will have something very exciting to tell you!!!! Up till then my lips are sealed!!

But 2 littles trick to point out on this card….

Firstly - spot the green silhouette behind all the pink blossom…. That is also stamped with the “blossom/leaves” stamp in the Sheltering Trees set…. but using the flat/back side of the stamp instead of the pattern side!!

Yes I inked up the “wrong side” of my stamp with Pistachio Pudding, then stamped off onto scrap paper & then then stamped onto the tree branches to form the silhouette.

This was a tip shared at the Stampin’ Up! Leadership event in  the USA earlier in the year…. pretty cool huh….. I have been looking at the flat side of my photopolymer stamps in a totally new light ever since!

And secondly, the “texture” in the sky is added by using the blossoms/leaves stamp the right way round…  Soft Sky inking keeps it nice and subtle….

SU! Products Used

Stamps - Sheltering Tree

Inks – Pistachio Pudding, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Sahara Sand

Card – Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red