Inlaid Embossing

So - I've had a pretty fun day today! Having never cycled before I got on a bike about a month ago and have been training for an 80ish mile ride for charity in June.  I've managed about five rides so far, the longest being about 40 miles, but I've been having some problems with my right knee.  A friend suggested a 'bike fit' might be helpful - and I managed to book one for this morning.  I have to say it was pretty thorough - apparently I have high arches, one leg might be a little longer than the other (who's isn't??) - and I've come away with a much higher (new) saddle, shoe inserts, newly positioned cleats - and a newfound respect for the science of cycling! I think it's a little like trying to sort out your gold swing.  I will be trying out the new position properly this weekend so we'll see how it goes...... I then spent the afternoon meeting Elin who is my lovely friend Kristin's new baby, and catching up over a cuppa and some cake.  Elin is just 2 weeks old and she is absolutely GORGEOUS.  I of course took a hand made card with me and spotted another gorgeous Stampin' Up card on the mantlepiece from Liz (see her blog here)

Anyway - back to the cards.  I found this technique online and I CANNOT believe I hadn't thought of doing it before.  It's pretty straightforward - you put your layered card through the big shot in an embossing folder, and it comes out looking like it's all one layer.  This is a slightly more built up version of one I saw online and I love this technique already.  I tried a few cards and on this one I really pushed it with the number of layers I put through the big shot but it doesn't seem to matter - I was worried that the lines would become too distorted but it all came out really well.

I'll be back with some more examples later......

Leigh-Anne x

Garden Box Card

Gold embossing glows beautifully in warm light :)

Over the past couple of weeks or so it seems that EVERYBODY  is making this box! It's making it's way around the Inspirin' Inkees (Amanda Fowler's Team), and the Dazzling Dreamers (Liz Shannon's Team) teams.  This is a real 'WOW' card which goes from conveniently folding flat into a regular size envelope, to being an all singing all dancing box card and it's just incredibly versatile.  You can find a video with instructions on Very Victoria's Crafts on Youtube here and there are plenty of examples of other designs if you have a peruse online.

This is the watercolour paper and gold embossed butterfly in natural light

For a quick reference once you've looked at Victoria's video for the technique, the dimensions are A5 size cardstock, scored at 7.3cm along the short edge (i.e ~half way), and at 2,4,6 and 8 inches along the long side.  Don't forget to NOT fold down the back panel!

I based mine on a garden theme and guess what made another appearance...brushed gold cardstock and embossed gold powder, along with my favourite retired stamp set at the moment, elements of style.  I have used the very vintage wheel in crumb cake on the brushed gold cardstock to add a bit of texture.  The other card colour bases I used were pink pirhouette (also then with very vintage rolled onto it in blushing bride) and always artichoke for the leaves and grass - made out of little leaves sizzlits and a lot of snipping!

I gold embossed the apothecary art and the elements of style stamps onto watercolour paper, and I then watercoloured using blushing bride, strawberry slush, crisp canteloupe, pistachio pudding and always artichoke.

I've put it all together and added the finishing touches of Papillon Potpourri butterflies gold embossed onto velum, and coloured using blender pens and the same colour palette. I used a little flower wire for the larger butterfly to get is standing prouder.

I've left my greeting blank for now so that I can use it for a number of occasions......

I hope you like!x

Wedding scrapbook pages

These are two of the first pages I made for my wedding scrapbook. I have used Crumb Cake card, and the printing is all with Crumb Cake or VersaMark and then white Stampin Emboss Powder. The stamps I used are from 'Everything Eleanor', Papillon Potpourri, Papaya Collage and Viola's Lace. I have added a little foliage using the 'Little Leaves Sizzlets' die. I used the lovely new Elegant Butterfly' punch.