Crafty Individuals Facebook Group

I'm excited! I was recently invited to set up and run a Facebook group for one of my favourite stamp and paper companies, Crafty Individuals. As a freelance marketing and project management specialist, I used to do this sort of thing for a living, until health issues stopped me working. I miss it a great deal, and it's lovely to feel a bit more like 'me' again.

The group is an online community of individual hobby crafters.. a place where you can share your Crafty Individuals artwork and be inspired by others.

If you're a fan, you'd be welcome to join us at this location: Crafty Individuals Facebook Group

See you there!

Grungy Stag

This is the last of my stag series, for the time being. I have other cards to be working on! Again, this uses Ellie Mulligan's majestic 'Highland Stag' stamp from Crafty Individuals and the 'Ornate Holly' die from Memory Box.

I started with kraft card, which I brayered with white acrylic paint. Then I created the background with the handy little script stamp from a lovely A4 sheet from Crafty Individuals which were given away with a stamping magazine earlier this year. Sorry, I don't recall which one.

I was going to stamp the deer separately, and fussy-cut it out, again, but I just lightly stamped the image on the card for a positioning guide, and liked the effect so much, I left it like that.

The edges are sponged with black, and I used a black waxed cord for the wrap. The holly is cut in dark brown and tucked behind the wrap, and I cut an extra tendril to fill the space at the top.

The 'Believe' word is from Crafty Individuals word stamp, CI-258, stamped onto kraft card and mounted on sparkly white card.)

Starry Starry Night

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This is Ellie Mulligan's 'Highland Stag' again, from Crafty Individuals. This time, he is embossed in white on white card, and I've highlighted his eyes with a black fineliner, wiped off almost immediately to leave those beautiful eyes. (See close-up below.) I also dabbed a touch of Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide on his nose. He is fussy-cut and raised slightly on recycled cardboard, and wrapped in the 'Ornate Holly' die, cut in silver, from Memory Box. The stars are also by Memory Box.. the 'Star of Wonder' set.

The December word is from an AALL & Create stamp set, left over from a previous project, also raised off the paper, which is from The Paper Tree 'Yuletide Memories Essentials' pad.

Rudolf

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This is my second card with this stag, but I have a lot more work for him to do, so I hope you won't get bored! Again, this is by Ellie Mulligan for Crafty Individuals.

I started by matting and layering onto gold mirri card some paper that I found in my stash that has trees on it, but they're not easy to see, especially as I (rather clumsily) splatted white paint over the top! To festive it up a bit, I sprinkled on Decoart Glamour Dust while the paint was still wet. As per usual, the pretty sparkle is too subtle for photographs.

Then I took two cuts from my Memory Box 'Ornate Holly' die and glued the stag on top. Him, I stamped in Onyx Black Versafine onto kraft card and heat-embossed with clear powder. I coloured his antlers in a darker shade, and his ears and some of his face. I wanted to Rudolf-ise him, though, so I stamped him again, in black onto red card and then just cut out the nose to stick on top of the kraft one. To finish him off, a couple of white gel pen dots in his eyes, then fussy-cut him out, put Glossy Accents on his eyes and very shiny nose.

It needed something else, and the snowflake does the job (punched with a Kaleidopunch).

The greeting is computer-generated.

Highland Stag

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This card is centred on Ellie Mulligan's 'Highland Stag' design from her amazing range of stamps, recently released with Crafty Individuals. The thistles behind are also Crafty Individuals art stamps: CI-204.

The background is a smooshed mess with purple watercolour and a Peeled Paint Distress Oxide re-inker. The stag is coloured with Koh-i-Noor Aquarelle watercolour pencils from Chocolate Baroque (also applied with their set of white paintbrushes). Some ribbon, gold cord and green sequins complete the picture.

NB: Since taking the photos, I have added a little touch of Glossy Accents to the stag's nose and eyes. (Do stags have wet noses? Maybe not, but this one does.. now! Anyway, Rudolf had a very shiny one, apparently.)

LOTV Christmas Card Swap

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This one was made for a card swap on the 'We Love Lili of the Valley' Facebook group, using the 'James Bear with Star' digistamp from Lili Of The Valley's Etsy store. As you can see, in this case, James is a polar bear. Obvs.

James is printed onto smooth white card (220 gsm), and all the colouring (including the sky) is with Koh-I-Noor Progresso woodless pencils, with Zest-It Pencil Blend oil and paper stumps. (WARNING: Keep this stuff away from children!)

I tore the edges of the square, used part of the Sizzix 'Swirling Stars' Thinlits die to cut some stars, added some stars from the same die that were cut for a previous project in silver mirri card, and the two larger stars are from the 'Star of Wonder' die from Memory Box. I used Glamour Dust fine glitter on the furry trim on James' hat and the edges of the square. (Very sparkly in artificial light, but not so much on photos! Meh.) Silver Stickles shows up a bit better on James' star.

Embellished with Memory Box's 'Ornate Holly' and Dawn Bibby's 'Pine Tree Pieces' DBX08 die-cuts and a red gem. (Regretting these now. I think it would look better without the embellishment. It's a bit too 'busy'.)

The 'Merry Christmas' greeting is a Tim Holtz design from Stampers Anonymous K6-1971.

I Vow To Thee My Country

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It is Remembrance Day here in the UK, and I wanted to make a card to mark the day, reflecting my feelings for our armed services, remembering and honouring the sacrifices of soldiers, sailors, airmen and heroic civilian services through all the decades and all conflicts since World War I.

I was raised in a military family. Both my parents served in the Royal Air Force, my mother for most of the fifties until she married my dad, and he served his whole career in the force, retiring as a Group Captain.

The picture of my father below was taken in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace, following the investiture ceremony when he was awarded his OBE. He was then a Wing Commander. In my mother's photo, she is holding a special commemorative plaque, recognising her achievement in rifle-shooting. Having represented the WRAF in shooting for some years, she was performing so well, she was asked to shoot for the men's team, and she outshot them all; the first woman to shoot for the main RAF team.

The Card

I started with a Visible Image stencil, 'Grungy Union Jack'. I wanted a light blue and pink combination, but the pink was more orange! Ah, well. I still think it works.

Then I stamped a part of Sentimentally Yours' 'Military Medley' collage stamp on the right in Versafine Onyx Black.

The crown is from AALL & Create, 'Crowning Glory' by Kassa Hayselden, #96. It didn't need much colour, as most of it is diamonds! There is a sapphire in the cross at the top, and a huge ruby, and the purple velvet cloth in the middle. It is cut out (obvs), and raised on recycled cardboard.

The poppies are also from AALL & Create, 'Botanicals Modified' by Bipasha Bk, #207, cut out and mounted on recycled cardboard.

The words are computer-generated and raised slightly, and to add some balance, I added some stamped splats.

All colouring is water colour.