A crafty evening with friends from ILWS

On Saturday night I got together with a few friends from the ILWS forum for some crafting chat and a bit of stamping (thanks for your company ladies, I had such a fun evening).

I wasn't sure whether we were doing a card swap. It hadn't been mentioned but I've been caught out before at gatherings of crafters and so to be prepared I spent Saturday afternoon making copies of this:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Studio Sketches, Fresh Cuts (sentiment)

Cardstock: Kraft, Soft Suede

Ink: Soft Suede, Black Stazon, Watercolour Wonder Crayons

Wide Polka-dot Ribbon: Soft Suede

Taffeta Ribbon: Kraft

Other: Cutter Kit, Aqua Painter

I stamped the small fruit bowl in Soft Suede in the bottom right corner of a Kraft card blank. Using Black Stazon I stamped the arrangement of fruit almost halfway down the left side of a layer of Kraft. I coloured the image with Watercolour Wonder Crayons and used the Aqua Painter to blend the colours. The sentiment from the Fresh Cuts set was stamped with Soft Suede above the image. I tore away the bottom right corner of the Kraft layer on a diagonal and placing it against the Soft Suede layer, tore away the same corner of that layer. Using the distressing tool on the Cutter Kit, I distressed the edges of both layers and curled the top right corners. I sponged the edges of the top Kraft layer with Soft Suede and wrapped Soft Suede polka-dot ribbon around the top right corner (with the plain side outward). Kraft taffeta ribbon was pleated onto the Soft Suede ribbon. The Kraft layer was adhered direct to the Soft Suede layer and then both layers were popped up on dimensionals onto the card front.

I made one for each of us and a few extra, just in case we had any last minute joiners:

It was lovely to get back in to a little watercolouring and we spotted a great idea in the US catty for using the crayons, so watch this space. We spent a lot of the evening picking out our faves from their retiring catty and wondering how likely it is they'll make it into our new one in October, lol. I think I'd better start saving my pennies now, in case even a fraction of them make it over.

Sara xx

May colour challenge at In Love With Stamping

Our colour challenge at In Love With Stamping this month is to use:

• Night of Navy
• Going Gray
• Very Vanilla

This seemed an ideal colour combo for guy's card so I decided to go for something clean and simple:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Sincere Salutations, Studio Sketches

Textured Cardstock: Night of Navy, Going Gray, Very Vanilla

Plain Cardstock: Very Vanilla

Ink: Night of Navy

Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon: Night of Navy

But then I decided it was a bit too simple for my taste and I didn't like the empty area of vanilla to the left of the bread and wine, so I had another try:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Sincere Salutations, Studio Sketches

Textured Cardstock: Night of Navy, Going Gray, Very Vanilla

Plain Cardstock: Very Vanilla

Ink: Night of Navy

Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon: Night of Navy

Other: Twine, Pewter Brads (Vintage collection), Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack

Using the mat pack template I pierced a double row of holes down the side of a strip of Vanilla textured card, wrapped ribbon around and tied a knot. The sentiment and sketch were stamped onto plain Very Vanilla card with Night of Navy ink. Paper piercing was added underneath "wishes" to tie in with the border strip and the sentiment was matted onto Night of Navy textured card and Pewter brads added to each corner. A strip of Night of Navy textured card was wrapped with twine and adhered to the sketch layer. These were also matted onto Night of Navy textured card and Pewter brads added to each corner. The sketch was popped onto dimensionals and added to the card base. Dimensionals were added behind all the corners of the sentiment except for the one which overlaps the sketch. Sticky strip was added behind this corner so that both layers sit at the same level.

Hope you have a crafty Bank Holiday.

Sara xx