With Sympathy

 Playing around with techniques....

On the top card I embossed the thistles,and vines( Lavinia stamps) with Tim Holtz Seafoam white embossing powder, and then used Distress Inks-Faded Jeans,Wild Honey and Peeled Paint. I stamped the Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint on to  my ink resistant sheet and misted them with water. I then swiped the card through the colour until the desired effect was achieved. I then applied the Wild Honey in the same way to the top of the card and without dabbing too much of the colour off, dried it as it was. I quite like the dribbles that appeared.

Another couple of layers of Blue Jeans was added to the bottom until it was quite a bit darker in colour. The whole card was dried and then I dripped water onto the card and dabbed this off with a paper towel to get the droplet look. As the little butterfly did not turn out too well, I decided to cut two out of a Cherry Lyn  dye ( exotic Butterfly small) and attach over the embossed version. A piece of simple blue ribbon was tied around the base of the card and the sentiment was cut out using the Jasmine Cricut cartridge.

I

The second card, I used Faded Jeans and Squeezed Lemonade to colour the card. This time I embossed the wild flowers and vines ( Lavinia Stamps) using Stamp Effect Pearl Violet Thick enamel. I then added the colour with a Tim Holtz ink blending tool to get a softer look. I added the butterflies using the same day as above and a Stampin Up Sentiment. Pearls were added to the flowers and the sentiment.

Dream

Dream a little dream

I wanted to do another card using some Lavinia stamps I have.

These combined with some free stamps I wanted to practice the brayering method as Tracy Dutton (Lavinia Stamps) does so well. Though I have not mastered the art of brayering ( it seems beyond me) I am better at smudging I think.
I started off brayering the colour onto the card and gave up as I just could not get a smooth enough look.
A mask was used for the moon and ripped paper was used to form the land. The trees and vines at the top of the page are Lavinia stamps. The little grass is from a Stampin Up  set  "Pocket Silhouettes".
The little rabbits and house were free with the Craft Stamper Magazine.The word "Dream" was stamped using an alphabet stamp set I have which came in a wee wood box (very cute).

Lavinia stamp card

 

I love the techniques and stamps from Lavinia stamps.

http://laviniastamps.com/

  I started off doing one thing for this card and ended up doing another, hence the image is not as clear and clean as I wanted. Unfortunately this was the third attempt to get the back ground right, and as I was running out of time did not have the time to do it for the fourth time. Generally you would get the colour in the background done and dry before you stamp the top image done. But once I stamped the image on the background colour I did not like how it turned out so decided to put more colour beind the image, henze the smudging...a good lesson to learn.

 

It is a bit hard to see but I stamped the vine in red on the background and then once more in black. this was fancy cut and placed on the top, with a bit of bling added.  A sentiment was stamped onto white card. This was masked and a scrolly stamp was placed over the top to give the look that they are all one thing. Bling was added to this too.

Fairy world

 Stamping these cards were so much fun. In the fantasy world anything is possible (right!) I have used stamps from lavinia stamps . These were featured in the Jan 2012 craft stamper magazine and I was enthralled so just had to give it a go. Tracey Dutton is one talented lady and lavinia stamps offer a great selection of pixies, fairies, toadstools, flowers and vegetation etc.

 Colour is sponged around the edges or  using a brayer, until you get the depth you desire. The moon is created using a circle of any size and you sponge around this until you achieve the magical look you want.

 You can create hills by ripping a piece of paper and laying in on the card and sponge until you get the desired depth and shadow. 

 Finished off with a little bit of Kiddy Glitz,on the dandelions and a similar theme and sentiment inside the card