Sponged and Brayered Lovely as an Oak Tree #2

I love this card too! Similar to yesterday's... but different! Again using Lovely as a Tree... again one layer, again simple but effective... Perfect for the men in our lives... and/or for sympathy... or any other wish you need to send...

I used the same mask as in yesterday's card but this time I was inspired by this card made by Heather Telford back in 2011 shown here... which has also probably been on my Pinterest CASE board pretty much since Pinterest began... yes I was an early adopter!

Soft Sky brayered across the whole aperture in the mask... then other colours sponged on starting from about a quarter in from the right hand side... Pool Party... then Island Indigo...  finishing off with Dapper Denim... creates incredible texture... Though I would have used my favourite Tranquil Tide at the very end too if I had had a spare ink pad for use on another station in my class!

Then with the mask removed... the oak tree was stamped in Archival Black.... and coloured in with Wild Wasabi and Soft Suede marker pens

But one thing I would do differently another time.. and that would be to stamp and white emboss the greeting at the top left side through the aperture before I started all the colouring... that would make it all pop so much more!

See yesterday's post for the details on creating the mask...

And so I have just shared a couple of makes using the oldest set in Europe... but behind the scenes I am using the newest sets... yes my Christmas pre-order box has arrived... exciting creative days ahead!!

Stampin Up Products Used
Lovely as a Tree
Flourishing Phrases
Window Sheets
Inks - Soft Sky, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Dapper Denim
Markers - Soft Suede, Wild Wasabi (markers also available in colour families)
Sponge Brayer, Stampin Sponges

Lovely as a Tree on a Misty Morning #1

I love this card! Simple but SO effective... and will probably be one of my bulk cards this Christmas...

So I have used the long standing ever popular stamp set, Lovely as a Tree... this being the only set that has been around in Europe since Stampin UP! started to supply our shores nearly 10 years ago... and it is still going strong!

I CASED this card made by Kim Costello in 2007 shown here... which has probably been on my Pinterest CASE board since Pinterest began...

Though Kim's card uses Versamark & chalks... whereas I went Soft Sky brayering and stamping the trees in Soft Sky & Tranquil Tide double-stamped-off to achieve the misty morning background through an aperture mask... And yes the Tranquil Tide inked tree definitely needed stampin off twice on scratch paper before stamping over the aperture...

Then with the mask removed... the main tree was inked in Tranquil Tide, the ink removed from the trunk using a Blender Pen and then re-coloured using a Soft Suede marker pen... and the tree stamped in full...

And then I added glitter to the main tree and it all just popped... though I doubt you will be able to see that subtlety in the photos!

And an admittance... you may remember something rather similar in effect last week... yes this dinosaur Clean & Simple card was then created using the same layout... and I don't think it will be the last to get this brayered and sponged treatment! Looking forward to making some more...

So much so I have recreated my aperture mask using the Window Sheets...all ready to go...

Want to make a mask of your own... Start with an A6 piece (or whatever your standard card size is!) of Window Sheet... cut out at 2cm (3/4") for the top and 2 sides and at 2.5cm (1") for the bottom using your trusty trimmer... and keep the rectangle you have just cut out too... I may have another plan for that part!

Stampin Up Products Used
Lovely as a Tree
Christmas Pines
Window Sheets
Inks - Soft Sky, Tranquil Tide
Markers - Soft Suede
Sponge Brayer

Anything but a Card for August Jems Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to The Craft Spa...

Wow! 2 blog hops in less than 12 hours...Today we have my regular Monthly Jems Team Blog Hop with a theme of Anything but a Card ...

And last night was my first time hopping with the Global Stamping Friends group with the theme of Cards For The Kids...

So today I have an altered notice board for you.... pretty but also functional in 2 ways! Either with a dry wipe pen as per my sample... or using the Gold Library Clips to pop a card in....

Though I do laugh as we all decided that it was also prettier with the clips too!!!

So we used a large 6x4 text card from the Petal Garden Making Memories card pack... plus a piece of the co-ordinating Petal Garden paper stack...

Decorative Ribbon Punched borders with Rich Razzleberry 1/4" Stitched Edge Ribbon trim. And I have to say that it is SO great to have a nice border punch again... seems like a while...

Finished off with a fussy cut rose and rosebud from another card from the pack....

And the icing on the cake to make it all dry wipe functional... just a piece of Window Sheet (acetate) cut to size.... the lines between the days/grid being perfect to hide the thin sticky tape we used... love that Stampin' Up! provide us with 12x12 acetate... my old A4 sheets would not have done the job....

So there you have it... this will proudly adorn my craft den walls... and it will be well used to plan my creative week....

And this is what it looked like before... you have to love Home Bargains for great pieces to alter!!!

So it is time to pass you on... Today's is a small group to hop around as so many of us are on holidays... and yesterday's was a much larger group! Hope you come back and get to do both hops... I do particularly love my projects posted last night!

Click on the icon below to go to the lovely Lynn's blog for more Anything But A Card inspiration....

And Click here for yesterday's Kids!

Click on my heart icon below to order through my UK Online Shop and earn a gift from me when you enter the current Host Code...

Memories & More Petal Garden Garden Bench #3

Onto Day 3 of my series of greeting cards made from a Memories and More card pack series....

Oh I couldn't believe how well 2 of the cards from the Memories & More Petal Garden card pack could be simply cut to produce this little scene on a re-sized U Fold card... (original sized U Fold version tutorial shared here)

Bench seat created using the Wood Crate dies and Window Sheets... greetings from Happy Birthday Gorgeous and little heart from Bookcase Builder

All finished off with roses fussy cut from the Petal Garden papers... though small flowers could be just as easily stamped to avoid the fussy cutting if that isn't your thing!!!

Remember to email me if you are interested in a Class in the Mail (UK & Europe only) or a Tutorial Bundle... happy to oblige if sufficient interest... 

And I can hear some of you asking ... which cards did I use from the Memories & More Petal Garden pack? Well these cards... one of the large and one of the small....