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

Sketchy Watercolour

I love all of my Stampin' Up goodies, and I'm always on the look out for bits and pieces to enhance what I can make out of them - so when I came across some Watercolour paper which was made out of recycled cotton rags and had pressed stems and flowers running through them I just had to have it.  You can see one of the petals on the right hand side of the card below. 

How beautiful is the hostess set 'Simply Sketched'? It's a really pretty stamp even when you don't add any colour so you can make some beautiful but fast cards with it - and I thought it was the perfect stamp set to try with my new watercolour paper. 

I stamped in black Staz On using all three of the main stamps from the set.  I then built up the colours - Pink Pirhouette, Blushing Bride and Rose Red for the flowers, and Pistachio Pudding and Always Artichoke for the leaves and stems.  I find I do this MUCH better when I'm not concentrating on it so well and giving it a little time to dry between layers so I took on this task while watching 'Life of Pi'.  I wasn't convinced I wanted to watch it but it's a beautiful movie - well worth a view!

I backed my Watercoloured Simply Sketched onto Rose Red Cardstock, and then in turn onto Pink Pirhouette - which I had run the Very Vintage Wheel over - also in Pink Pirhouette.

I really like the overall effect - I'll be saving this to give to someone special!

Leigh-Anne
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