WLS Nov#1 - Merry Christmas

Good Morning everyone

Its the first Sunday of a new month so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping and the theme for this month is 

Christmas 

So a good excuse to crack on with your Christmas cards - get creative with your stamping

Today im sharing a batch of Christmas cards made using a stencil and stamp set that I bought in the craftstash closing down sale.  You get a stencil for the word merry and then tiny stamps to fill in the letters, I also used these filler stamps for my backgrounds.  I used what versafine clair inks I have hence it being mainly teal and pink combo....but then anyone who follows me will know I quite often use less traditional colours for Christmas....

DL(4x8") pearl teal card base.  I first stencilled onto white linen card the word 'merry' with tumbled glass distress ink.  I then used the stamps in the set to build up the foliage and flowers all using versafine clair inks.  Once dry i die cut with DL dies which have little holes around the edges and matted onto teal pearl card.

I die cut a larger panel from white linen card and using the same stamps as in the alphas I built up a background, focusing the stamping around the edges.  Once dry I inked around the outside edge with tumbled glass DI.  This I adhered flat to my card front and then added the Merry topper with foam tape for a little dimension.

I die cut the word 'Christmas' from pinky purple mirror card and adhered under the Merry.  Touches of glitter glue added to give a little festive sparkle.

After finishing I felt the letters weren't standing out enough so I put the 'Merry' Stencil back in place and drew around them with a teal fineliner pen and then used a grey alcohol marker for a drop shadow which made a big difference - I should have taken a before photo to show the massive improvement such a little detail makes but didn't think of that at the time!  

Version 2 - the same but different.  I made 12 in all and all slightly different with how the backgrounds ended up stamped.  On this one I had a couple of inky marks on the topper where I didn't want them, so covered them up by stamping little stamps from the set to hide😁

Items Used:

Apple blossom stamp & stencil set 'merry' (STOBXM220042)

DL eyelet nesting dies (brand unknown)

Versafine Clair inks 'warm breeze, purple delight, glamourous, green oasis'

Tim Holtz distress Ink 'tumbled glass'

Grey promarker

CraftUk Ltd white linen 300gsm card

Craft Consortium pink mirror card

Teal cardstock

We have a prize of these lovely stamps from stamp addicts for the lucky winners so to be in with a chance of winning hop over to We Love Stamping to join in

I hope you all have a good month of November - scary how the weeks are passing.  Emmax

 

WLS Oct #2 Autumn

Good Morning everyone

Time for some mid month inspiration for We Love Stamping where the theme is 

AUTUMN

or we always have the anything goes option as long as you use stamping

Ive got quite an eclectic card today using lots of different brands.  

Card Size approx 5x7" Cut from maroon cardstock.  I raided my stash for a previously made background, this green and copper one was made using brushos & copper pixie powders.  I then stamped the spiders web onto it with black ink, die cut to fit the cardfront and adhered.  I then die cut a frame from the same maroon card smaller than my background panel and adhered with foam tape

I stamped the pumpkins watercoloured with distress inks, cut them out and adhered into place with pinflair glue gel.  Stamped the sentiment onto orange inked card, die cut into fishtail banner and tucked behind the pumpkins. 

I then raided my stash of leaves ive cut from scraps over the years to find some that co-ordinated and adhered in the corners and some smaller ones floating around the pumpkins. 

Sadly the photos don't pick up the mica powder shimmer in the background and some of the die cut leaves are from gold glitter card and copper satin card so both dance when the light hits them.

Items Used:

aall&create spider web stamp #572 'spooky sky'

Stampendous stamp #CRP371 'pumpkin night'

Clearly besotted stamps 'seasonal sentiments'

Brusho powders - moss green, lime

Cosmic shimmer pixie powder - copper

Distress Inks 'spiced marmalade, dried marigold, wild honey, dusty concorde, black soot'

Spellbinders die 'little leaf sets'

MFT fishtail banner die set

?? Nesting die set ??

Stamps not to scale

The prize this month is these beautiful stamps from Lavinia so hop over to

 We Love Stamping to join in for a chance to win. 

Thank you for stopping by once again.  I hope you have a good weekend. Big hugs Emmax

 

 

WLS October - Autumn

Good Morning everyone and welcome to October.  

Its time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping  and the theme this month just had to be 

ANYTHING AUTUMN

but if thats really not for you we always have the anything goes option as long as you use stamps.  I love autumn just as much as spring.

A5 Ivory card blank.  I stamped the toadstool image twice onto ivory card with dark brown ink.  One I watercoloured with inktense pencils and cut out and the 2nd one i cut into a rectangle panel...to this one i added a die cut frame from a textured gold satin, I then decoupaged the toadstools on top with glue gel.  

As im still attempting to use up 6x6 paper pads I raided the drawer for papers in colours that matched.  I took a dark brown printed paper and matted onto gold satin...as its a 6x6 paper on an A5 card I cut it in half and covered the middle section with a different paper - thus extending its length.

I decided i wanted some of the green used in the topper to break up the background colours and lift it so found a green paper than matched, cut into strips and added on a wonk.  I then added the topper with foam tape for a little dimension.

Computer printed sentiment die cut into an oval to finish. 

Difficult to show the gold satin, but when the light hits it, it really shines, it has a slight embossed pattern in it too - another one thats been in the drawer for 10+ years! 

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Version 2

Topper made the same way, just different papers with leafy patterns

 

I made 8 versions in all so a good dent on autumnal papers - which are all years old.

Items Used:

aall&create stamp #1078 'Mycelium potions'

spellbinders foliage frame die #S6-006 'branching out'  (very old set)

oval stitched dies

derwent inktense pencils

various patterned papers

CraftUK ltd cream linen 300gsm cardstock

Gold satin card

We have an amazing prize of Lavinia stamps this month 

So hop over We Love Stamping to join in with your Autumn stamped projects to be in with a chance of winning. Just get creative with your stamping - you can use physical or digital stamps.

I hope you all have a good week ahead.  Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://lovethoseprettypapers.blogspot.com/2025/10/love-those-pretty-papers-october.html

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https://craftrocketchallenges.blogspot.com/2025/10/challenge-130-autumnhalloween.html

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Pumpkin Season - Creative Artiste Oct

Good Morning everyone

Im still waiting for my eye op so vertigo and extreme nausea still plaguing me, I  can only spend about 5mins looking at a screen so this post has taken weeks to type up so I hope it all makes sense - luckily blogger allows us to plan and schedule these posts well in advance if we need to.

Its Autumn and Its October so for my make for creative artiste this month ive made a pumpkin scene and had great fun making it too.

Over at Creative Artiste its always anything goes as long as you use mixed medias, at least 3 Different types

This is very much an assemblage make for me as no stamping or cutting out involved and all the leaves were die cut previously from my inky scraps.  So I just had fun with texture paste, crackle paste, acrylic and shimmer paints and bringing it all together in a little scene.....which doesn't happen over night😊

Approx Size: 10x8"  Wooden pumpkin from the works a few years ago.  I also decided I wanted to use some of the tim holtz paper dolls I have had for years and keeping in a safe place.  I made this for a friend who I know loves all things Tim Holtz so the ideal opportunity to use the paper dolls.

We've got an end of season pumpkin picking scene.  See below for photos of how i made the background.  Once I had finished the background and adding shimmer and shine to the pumpkins I added some of the dolls to look like they are sat on the giant pumpkins and leant up against them.  

I then added lots of die cut autumn leaves which I have a bag full off as I always die cut any left over inked pieces into leaves as they are always useful. So the leaves were inked up with various brushos, distress inks, oxides, mica sprays, pixie powders etc....  I arranged them to look like they are blowing around in the breeze and falling from the trees.

Close up off the pumpkin pile and dolls

Love this little doggy, he has a little pumpkin beside him and is just wondering if he will chase some leaves.....I added a little plastic spider on one pumpkin...it is a little spider but compared to the size of the chap I guess its huge! lol   To take off the plastic shiny finish i covered it with black gesso 

I painted the edge of the wooden pumpkin with black and then edged the front with gold and orange dora paint 

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now onto how I did the background

I first covered the wooden pumpkin with acrylic paints, then adhered the polystyrene pumpkins and painted them with gesso and added some texture paste here and there to the background and ground.  The large pumpkins I cut in half as they would have been too deep - this also makes them go further too - the polystyrene is fairly easy to cut with a craft knife. 

I then built up the colour of the pumpkins and background using acrylic paints, slowly building up the layers until i was happy, this is quite a slow process for me and comes together over days.  It needed to be dark and in shadow amongst the pumpkins to help give the effect of a deep pile of them.  Also dry brushing on several layers to the background to build up the colour.  To help the pumpkin stack to stand out the main background pumpkin is a much darker orange almost red and the smaller ones more yellowy orange.

I dried brushed on a top layer of cadence dora paint in orange and gold so the pumpkins really shimmer in the light - although hard to capture in photos but it is sparkly.  I very lightly added touches of the dora paint to the main mdf pumpkin so it catches the light in places - less is more as the cadence dora paint is very shimmery

I wanted the main pumpkin to have a gnarly tough skin effect like you get on some pumpkins that have battled the weather and garden wildlife so they sometimes get a tough rough skin.  I added texture paste and some crackle paste in areas.

Items Used:

Mdt pumpkin from 'the works'

Polystrene pumpkins from ebay

Tim Holtz ideology pumpkins

Tim Holtz paper dolls

Spellbinders leaf dies

Cadence dora paint 'gold & orange'

Acrylic paints

Ranger Crackle paste

Texture paste

My dad has grown a bumper crop of pumpkins this year with the dry weather so the girls are delighted and i guess we will be living on soup all winter😁

Do hop over to Creative Artiste to see what the rest of the DT has created and to join in with your creative mixed media makes - we love seeing how you mix those medias.

Wishing you all have a very happy October. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com/2025/10/fall-season-october-2025.html

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https://theoutlawzchallenges-saturday.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-outlawz-anything-goes-in-card-free.html

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https://pinspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/2025/10/pinspirational-challenge-330-october.html

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WLS Sept#2 Cute

Good Morning everyone

Half way through September so time for more inspiration for We Love Stamping where the theme this month is 

CUTE

There is always the anything goes as long as you use stamping if cute's not your thing.

Cute isn't really me but this cute elephant is on a stamp set from art by marlene so I decided to make a couple of baby cards, first time id inked up this stamp.

DL size (approx 4x8") I used cream linen card for a softer feel than white.  I stamped the elephant with blue ink onto the cream linen and watercoloured with distress inks and cut out.  I stamped it a 2nd time onto cream so that I had its tail and die cut into an oval and added the watercoloured version on top with glue gel. 

I then searched my papers and found this floral one with pinky purple tones that went well with my inks so i die cut to fit the base and adhered.  I die cut a fancy oval from pink mirror card and added my elephant topper to this and then the card front.

Sentiment stamped, matted onto more pinky mirror card and added to the top with foam tape. 

Sadly the photos don't do the pinky mirror card justice, but it is lovely when the light hits it. 

and a blue version

Made the same way, this time i matted onto a matt blue cardstock that matched the blue inks used in the elephant.

Items Used:

Art by Marlene stamp set 'goofy animals' (STAMPBM63)

Baby bottle die set (brand unknown)

Spellbinders oval oval die sets S4-140 petite ovals & Elegant ovals S4-425

Patterned papers (very old)

craft consortuim pink mirror card

CraftUk ltd cream linen cardstock

Distress Inks - picked raspberry, shaded lilac, seedless preserve, chipped sapphire, salty ocean, wild honey

We have an amazing prize of house-mouse stamps this month kindly supplied by oakwood

So hop over to We Love Stamping to join in and be in with a chance of winning - we love seeing how creative you can get