Friday, August 26, 2016

Thoughtful Branches

You all know what it's like, I'm sure.

You see a stamp set in a catalogue or flyer and you think, "Meh, yeah, I guess it's okay," and you decline to order it.

Then a good crafting friend mentions she bought it, so you figure you should give it another look. You do your usual browsing among creative websites and blogs, or - my personal kryptonite - Pinterest, and you begin to see lots and lots of lovely samples made using that stamp set. You see ideas for using it you never would have thought of on your own and you begin to see it in a whole new light.

You all know what happens next, don't you?

Yes, you order the set. You. Are. Hooked.

Line. And. Sinker.

What's that? Did this happen to me? Puh-lease!

Of course it did. Damn you, Thoughtful Branches, with your many pretty fonts, your variety of branches, leaves, petals, trees and others, and your dies that match up so easily you can make a lovely card in less than ten minutes. Damn you!

Sigh.

Okay, here are the samples I've made so far, and I feel it only fair to point out that these were made yesterday at a play day with my enabling (former) good crafting friend, and that my own set just arrived in the post today - so goodness only knows what I'm going to come up with next!

Love, love, love this set for a softly evocative Christmas card:


Materials used:

  • stamps - Thoughtful Branches, Good Greetings
  • card - whisper white, real red,
  • other - softly falling embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals, white embossing powder, heat tool, Thoughtful Branches die set

Two layers of leaves, one in plain card (mint macaron) and one stamped, make a great canopy for a tree:


Materials used:
  • stamps - Thoughtful Branches
  • card - whisper white, mint macaron, baked brown sugar
  • other - Big Shot, Dimensionals, Thoughtful Branches die set, Sahara sand marker

Here I've tried for the hydrangea look and I don't think it's quite worked, but I'll show it to you anyway. I'm still in love with the woodgrain background stamp - another one I was slow to warm to and glad when I finally caved and got it.


Materials used:

  • stamps - Thoughtful Branches, Woodgrain
  • card - Sahara sand, mint macaron, sweet sugarplum
  • other - clear embossing powder, heat tool, Big Shot, Thoughtful Branches die set, sponge dauber


  • If my story and/or samples have finally convinced you to order this set - well, firstly, hurry up because it's only available until the end of this month - and also, I'll happily accept the blame for enabling you. You know what they say - you've got to pay it forward. That's all I'm doing, right?

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Cheers
    Kez

    Thursday, August 18, 2016

    Christmas Greetings

    Our Christmas stamp-a-stack cards for this month both feature two things: the Christmas Greetings thinlits and some sponging - because you know how much I love getting inky!

    Here's the first, a classic colour combination (and one of my personal favs) of cherry cobbler, crumb cake and very vanilla.



    Materials used:
    • stamps - Holly Jolly Greetings
    • card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, crumb cake, vellum
    • other - world traveller embossing folder, Big Shot, Christmas Greetings thinlits, gold embossing powder, heat tool, rhinestone, gold cord, wooden snowflake, sponge, two way glue pen, mini glue dot

    Once I'd embossed the map, I sponged over it with crumb cake ink, both to highlight the shapes more and to give it a slight aged look, which is something I love on Christmas cards particularly. The wooden snowflake embellishment is left over from last year and my ladies are going to LOVE me for making them tie a bow in that thin gold cord! LOL.

    Santa makes an appearance on our second card, something light and jolly.


    Materials used:
    • stamps - Holly Jolly Greetings, Cozy Christmas
    • card - soft sky, basic black, whisper white, real red
    • other - Christmas Greetings thinlits, Big Shot, stamp-a-ma-jig, sponge, scrap paper, post it note, 1 3/4" circle punch, two way glue pen

    I stamped Santa and his reindeer then placed my masks for the moon and snow before sponging with soft sky ink. I love how effective this is without much work.

    Hopefully my ladies will have lots of fun making these. Thanks for stopping by.

    Cheers
    Kez