Altenew - Cattleya & Weekend Doodles

Ahoy and welcome back!

I'm a sucker for anything 'planty', be it real, ornamental or in stamps and Altenew are great at feeding my floral addiction.

This is their gorgeously, delicate Cattleya stamp set, which, if you're not a plant-addict like me, is an orchid originating from Central & South America. 

It's a layering stamp so I used some Altenew inks that I got for Christmas. I kept ummmming n' arrrrring over these inks for ages... put in a request to Santa, got a few sets and fell in love (with the inks, not Santa...although he's a fairly decent chap when it comes to gifts...lol)

The beauty of these inks is that the thinking about what colours go well together is taken care of for you. If you're not familiar with them, each colour comes in a set of 4 shades from light to very dark, so using them with layering stamps is easy-peasy. 

The leafy wreath behind my floral image is from Altenew's 'Weekend Doodles' set. 

So my resolution to remove my crafty stash from it's packaging and actually start using it has begun. In fact I'm on such a roll I made 5 cards the other day... I know...Shock! Horror! 

Thanks for stopping by, have great weekend & I'll be back soon.

Layout 'Special Friend'

Hello there!
Welcome to 2020 chez moi.
Today's project is a 12" x 12" framed gift that I made for someone for Christmas using a selection of beautiful papers from AB Studio, Lemoncraft & Fabrika Decoru.

Fussy cutting on these cold, grey, winter days has become my way fav' way of cosying up & keeping myself entertained and trust me, there was HEAPS of fussy cutting on this one.

So this project all centered around the recipient's beloved hound, Harvey.

To start, I spent about 5 years (lol) pontificating over the background sheet of paper and where on the paper to place the photo. 

Then came the easy & fun bit...

...decorating.

I started by stamping some leaves from Altenew's 'Leaf Cluster' set with 'Wheat' Versamagic ink for a subtle kinda shadowy backdrop behind the photo. I also stamped & embossed the same images with WOW's 'Mojito' glittery embossing powder, die cut them, then started piecing together the layout with my fussy cut flowers & leaves from AB Studio's 'I Love You' & Fabrika Decoru's 'Sentimental Story'.

Getting the layout just right takes slightly less time than choosing the background paper...about 4.5 years. Then it's a case of sticking it all down before adding the 3D embellishments of flowers, pearls, glass gems, art stones & thread.

The finishing touches included glittery highlights and fussycut butterflies from Lemoncraft, then the whole piece was framed. 

Ta-Da!

So Here It Is...Merry Christmas Everybody

Just popping in to wish you a very Merry Christmas. The big day is almost here and a long list of uber, cheesy films are poised, ready to watch.

These are a few of the festive cards that I made this year using 2 stunning collections of papers from AB Studio... 'Breeze of the Forest' and 'Secret Wood'.

I thoroughly enjoyed making these...lots of relaxing fussy-cutting, oodles of glitter and snowy effects.

Gotta go...there's a mince pie calling my name.  

Merry Christmas everybody...I hope Santa is kind.

50th Wedding Anniversary Gift

Oh I LUUUUURRRRVVVVEEEDDDD making this.

The brief was '50th Wedding Anniversary & Anything Goes (colourwise)'...Brilliant!!

There's something quite magical about black & white photos and on this occasion I had one from the couple's wedding day itself as well as a more recent colour photo to work with.

I spent a lot of time on this piece...A LOT! 

I spent a lot of time just looking at the white piece of paper.

I then spent ages just looking at the photos.

Then I had my usual...

'HELP!!! 

WHO'S NICKED MY MOJO???'

When 'IT' finally appeared I needed restraining from adding everything AND the kitchen sink...lol.

It's easy to get carried away.

So what did I use?

A 12"x12" white card base, foliagey stamps & dies from Altenew, paper flowers, stencils, beads, glitter, flower arranging accessories, ...

.... wired flower stems, inks, embossing powder, Finnabair butterfly stamps, vellum & glitter stickers.

The final piece was then mounted in a white, box frame to protect it.

Happy 50th Anniversary to this couple.

What an amazing achievement.