A citrussy, crafty birthday

Do you get clusters of birthdays on your calendar? We do. I find I have loads of birthdays around Christmas – most of them are my downlines or other crafting friends. And right now is another heavy birthday season, with them coming thick and fast.

This one was for Ruby, who turned 18 last week and is a keen artist, so the Crafting Forever stamp set was just the job.

I began by watercolouring some citrussy colours onto watercolour paper, then die-cutting using the Happy Birthday Thinlits. I covered the whole lot in Versamark ink and then embossed using a mix of clear embossing powder and Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

I’m not a big glitter fan – it gets everywhere and is a nightmare if it ever goes down the drain as it can pollute our seas, so this is a great workaround for me as it keeps the glitter nicely contained.

The card is finished off with some paintbrushes and some splatters made with the Artisan Textures stamp set. Hope she likes bright colours!

Blueberry dandelions

Let’s start the week with another Dandelion Wishes project - and why not? It’s proving to be the most popular stamp set from the 2018 Annual Catalogue so far!

I used the Stamparatus to stamp the image in Blueberry Bushel, then stamp again on top in Versamark so it could be embossed. Clearly some of the embossing missed the mark as the blue ink has spread when I watercoloured in Lovely Lipstick, but I don’t mind as the result is quite effective.

I know some people are resistant to the new In Colors, because they’re rather bright, but I think they are a great addition to our collection, and can be quite tasteful when separated from the crowd!

Sponging with Dandelion Wishes

Friday was my monthly Crafty Friday event and, for the first time, we took things outside onto the covered patio.

The theme was sponging and we used the popular Dandelion Wishes stamp set to make two projects; this delicate emboss resist card and the one you see below.

For the card above, we stamped in Versamark and then embossed in clear or white (it really doesn’t matter when you’re using white cardstock) before sponging over the top in Bermuda Bay. Well, I used Bermuda Bay – the ladies could choose as the rest of their supplies would go with absolutely anything. The only stipulation was that it had to be in my trolley which I’d wheeled outside! The background is Softly Falling, but showing the “debossed” side for a change.

Next we moved onto this project...

This time we punched a circle from a sticky note and used it to mask the cardstock, which we sponged in a circular motion. On top of this we painted light strokes with water, to create a vague Vincent van Gogh-ian effect. We stamped in black on top.

Again, everyone made something slightly different – they had the choice of any colour... as long as it was an In Color, as that was the DSP pack I had.

Hi! - Lined Alphabet meets Pick a Pennant

Showcasing some of the lovely new In Colors. The new colours this year are Bright with a capital B, but if that’s not your style, I’ve shown here how they can be toned down with a background of Smoky Slate. A bit of freestyle doodling adds interest to the main panel.

I do regret stamping the bird in Smoky Slate - I think it would stand out more in black or Blueberry Bushel, but it’s not the end of the world so I left it as it is. What do you think?