Lavinia Stamps Scenescapes & Sweet Poppy Stencils.

Okay, so one thing Lucy Ellis mentioned was that the Lavinia Stamps image stencils work really well with the Scenescapes pre-printed backing cards that Lavinia stamps make. There are quite a few of them available, so well worth checking out, as you can use them with Lavinia Stamps as well.

This is one of two cards I've put together using them. The fairy stencil was done with Sweet Poppy Glossy black paste, and before it had time to dry, I sprinkled a little of their Superfine Glitter, one called  Crystalline Rainbow, onto her wings, and the stars around her hand.
 After it had dried, I matted it onto toning shades of pearl cardstock, and finally onto black cardstock, just leaving a narrow border.
 Then I had a thought, as I was planning to put this onto a 7x7" card blank, and had space to fill.  I saw a gorgeous card on Sunday ( Not sure if it was a Sweet Poppy  DT piece, or one of Pink Tulips own), where the card had a lovely paper ribbon & bow on a narrow panel.
 I had already bought the die set, another Sue Wilson one, so set about cutting the
pieces out.  I cut two of the ribbon pieces, one of the smaller rounded bow, and one centre piece for it.
 I have to say I'm unsure what the paler pieces are shown on the ribbon for, as it doesn't actually cut them out. Presumably it's what you could emboss onto it.
 I had two lengths of ribbon, as one alone wasn't quite long enough to do the full length, and fold behind. So I made the join underneath where the bow was to go. The bow was added with a glue dot, which was also what I used to secure the bow when I folded it. When it was on the card, I felt it needed something, so found out some square acrylic gems in purple.

 I do like this die, as it has a number of possible permutations. I believe there are some other styles in the range too.

 The second card also sits on a 7x7" card base, and was also matted and layered on toning card to fill the front. This one also uses Glossy Black paste, and again it was sprinkled with glitter over the tops of the mushroom houses before it dried. I did that as I planned to stamp a couple of Lavinia Stamps fairies sprinkling fairy dust from the top of the card. Although you can't see it in the picture, I have dotted Crystal Stickles for the fairy dust, and have also added it to the fairies wings.

Lavinia Toadstools and SU Woodgrain.

So, this is the completed card that was knocking about on Wednesdays desk.
 To be honest, this wasn't exactly what I'd planned when I started. It sort of grew as I went along. I was going to say it mushroomed, but that would have been a terrible pun.

  It started out with the Stampin Up Woodgrain stamp, onto a sheet of white pearl card, using DI Gathered Twigs, and adding some extra markings along the plank lines & around the knots using the Ground Espresso marker.












 Next up some grasses along the bottom, and I used some stamps from an Inkylicious set called Essential Grasses, and a few shades of green from Adirondack.


Then I made a light mark across the top of the planks, about a half inch down, and cut the triangle peaked boards.

 I used a Vintage Photo Distress marker to colour all the edges, including the peaks. Tip here, if you are doing this sort of edging with a marker pen, work with the marker at the back. That way, if the marker slips- and I can pretty much guarantee it always does for me- the resulting line will be on the back of your piece, not the front.

Next I added some Lavinia Stamps Toadstools at the bottom, and also stamped out some Lavinia Spotty Toadstools to colour,both in Versafine Onyx Black. This is where it went off plan, as I hadn't intended to add cut out toadstools until now, but I'd sort of got the 'Fairies at the bottom of the garden' idea in my head.

First off I used a couple of H2O's, a purple and a blue, intending to do the toadstools in two colours and blend them in the middle.
Not too bad, but the blend didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I think it was the wrong type of card for the idea, to be fair. It sort of started to pill a bit. So I swapped to Distress Markers, and did a couple of different blends- a pink/red, and I've also tried a yellow/orange  which worked quite well.

The Spotty Toadstools is a pair of stamps, one large, one small. As much as possible I tried to leave the spots blank, but I think next time- and I've just realised this while typing- it would be easier to dot the spots with masking fluid first. My plan anyway was to cover the spots with Liquid Pearls in White Opal.

It does give a nice sheen to the spots, and afterwards I decided to add a little Diamond Stickles on top for a bit of shimmer.

With the toadstools stuck in place, I stamped the two small fairies, again Lavinia Stamps. You can't see it in the picture, but I also added some tiny dots of Diamond Stickles as fairy dust falling from their hands.
The whole panel was matted onto black, then red card, then mounted onto a  Black card blank.
Final touch was to stamp the Lavinia Stamps word stamp, 'Those who don't believe in magic will never find it', onto a scrap of white pearl card, then matt the same as for the main image.

Some of my favourite stamp plates.....

Mystic Dreams,72C

This is just a little follow on from the post below, I think the 'Mystic Dreams' plate from Non Sequiteur is gorgeous, and  thought I would share a few other plates I have of theirs with you. These are mainly pagan/celtic/mystic images, perfect for those who want something a little different, or who have friends & relatives these images would suit. I have made the title under each stamp set a clickable link, so they will take you straight to the plate on De Stempelwinkels site. This link will take you to Non Sequiteurs site, where you can view all the plates,as well as the individual images.

Celtic Mythology,75C

Winter Solstice, 71C.

Water myths & Fantasy, 53C

Forest fantasy, 90

Enchanted Forest, 91

Faeries & Flowers, 95

                                                                                                                                                                               

Samurai plate, 67

This one has some lovely 'different' Christmas stamps.

Winter Holidays, 64C

This one features the Butterfly Screen I have used on cards before.

Massive apologies if I have caused anyone to go and spend more money, :) - I know I could spend a fortune there if I didn't retsrain myself!

Moonlight.....

Wow, into March already. Time is flying past, it seems.
We had some fabulous entries in last months Craft A Scene challenge, which was 'A Winter Scene', and I believe the winning entries will be posted up this weekend.
So now onto this months Challenge, which is 'Moonlight'.
For the first of my two pieces this month, I have used images from Lavinia Stamps, Stampscapes, and Inkylicious.

 The Lavinia Stamps are:
Moon Fairy
Bamboo( Bottom Left)
Fairy House

The Inkylicious are:
Grasses
Willow (Bottom Right)

The Stampscapes are:
Oak Branch, 203G and
Spooky Branch 273G.

This piece sort of grew of its own accord as I worked on it, and  I wasn't entirely sure what I would do with this when it was done, but when I got to the end, I realised I had made our Granddaughters Birthday present!
  She loves fairies, and this will go in a frame for her bedroom.
The piece of card is A5 in size, 5 3/4 x 8 1/4. I brayered the background firstly with Adirondack dye inks, starting with Cool Peri. I followed this with Shell Pink,Stonewashed,Purple Twilight and Eggplant. The 'tunnel' effect was achieved by keep turning the card so that I brayered all four sides, and tried to come in a little further at the corners by brayering across the corner. All the images were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black, starting with the Moon Fairy. Next came the Fairy House, then I added the grasses along the bottom edge, Willow in the right corner and Bamboo in the left. The 2 oak branches and the Spooky Branches were all positioned using the Stamp Positioner, so that I could get the orientation right.

The moon was given a little colour with Antique White Flexmarker, and I used Promarkers in browns, reds and greens to colour the Fairy House. I added a little colour to her wings with a Glitter Sakura Gelly Roll pen, and also the dots around the moon. I dotted a glue pen between the Moon Fairy & the Fairy House, then sprinkled some crystal glitter over it. That doesn't show up too well, to be honest, and I shall add some more dots of Stickles over the top, before I frame it. Then I just trimmed the edges to neaten it, and matted it onto some black cardstock.
You can probably see that I tend to work on top of an A3 pad, the sort you can buy for children as a sketch pad. It makes it easy to take the ink off your brayer, test stamp images, stamp off onto, and sometimes you end up with a really interesting masterboard style piece, quite by accident!
   So thats my first this month, pop over to Craft A Scene tomorrow and you will see all the DT first pieces, as well as the winners from last month.

Faerie Birthday

A piece of white card was brayered with Adirondack Lemonade, Sunshine Yellow & Citrus. Lavinia Stamps Faery House was stamped in Black Versafine then heat embossed with a black sparkle powder. 

I also stamped off onto a post-it note, then cut out the mask. I put the mask in place then overstamped with the Faery words plate ( Lavinia stamps) in Plum Archival ink. Leaf Trail ( Lavinia Stamps) was stamped in Olympia Green Versafine, using first & second impressions, and a variety of small foliage stamps stamped along the bottom. 

A small dragonfly stamp was added in a couple of places. This was trimmed down to size and matted onto dark green card. I took a square card blank and covered it with a sheet from the Dovecraft 8x8 designer pack 'Fantasy'. 

The stamped image was then mounted onto the front with sticky fixer pads. A wide black and a narrow green organza ribbon were wrapped around the spine and tied in a bow. 

The sentiment tag was made from an offcut of the brayered sheet. I overstamped it with Artifacts Darting Dragonflies u/m stamp, from The Stamp Bug, using Versafine Frost. Sentiment was stamped in Olympia Green Versafine, then an eyelet added to thread some twine through. 

A small dragonfly embellishment was added to the tag.