my Crafty Corner

Cards and other handicrafts made by Jean Straw

Friday 28 November 2014

Autumn Lingers

Hi every one, we have had some really gloomy days this week and I am afraid this shows in my photos, The colours in this card look much nicer IRL. I bought these beautiful autumnal Chocolate Baroque stamps recently and just wanted to make sure I used them before autumn finally morphed into winter.  I have a friend with whom I swap ATCs  on a more or less monthly basis. We don't use a theme, just do whatever we like or sometimes use it as an opportunity to showcase our latest stamps, as I did here. Along with the ATCs we usually send a card in which we write a short note, these cards are sometimes quite simple and sometimes more elaborate, again depending on circumstances or time available. So this month in order to use my new stamps I used them for both the card and the ATCs, I stamped all of the images onto snippets of ivory card using black Memento ink, and coloured them with Coloursoft pencils. I used Sansodor and a paper stump to blend the colours, and then used a pastel Flexmarker to create the shadow around them. For the card I trimmed the image fairly close and matted it onto a snippet of brown pearl card. The base card is a 15 cm ivory square and I marked where the image panel would go and made an embossed line either side of it using my scoring board.
 I then stuck the panel in place, and stamped the sentiment above it with brown Memento ink.
This stamp is one I've had for years and as it is one that I removed from the wood block I can't remember the make. For embellishment I punched two leaves from snippets of brown and gold pearl card using a woodware punch, and then stuck them top RH corner. The ATC images were stamped and coloured in the same way. I liked the mushroom one just as it was so I simply used a small corner punch to round two opposite corners and then mounted it onto a snippet of the same brown card leaving a very narrow border. The image for the second one is a bit smaller so I tied some brown ribbon across the top of it and added another punched leaf. I thoroughly enjoyed colouring these lovely images so I hope my friend likes them too. We have never met each other by way, I think we came into contact  through the Craft Stamper ATC swap and she asked me if I would like to swap with her one to one. That was a few years ago now and we are still going.
I am going to enter this at Pixies Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

Thankyou for visiting here today, I hope I haven't bored you all with the swap stuff. Thank you also for your comments, I really appreciate them all.
Jean

16 comments:

  1. Your card and ATC's are done so well with your coloring supplies! I love the autumn look and feel with those pretty leaves and luscious-looking flowers and fruits! Beautiful work on these Jean! Well done! It may be Autumn, but it feels a lot more like winter is already here! Brrrrr!!!

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  2. What fabulous stamps, beautifully coloured too. I enjoyed reading your post about your ATC swapping with a friend you met online. xx

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  3. Love all the fab colours Jean great ATC swapping! huggles Sue xx

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  4. These stamps are so beautiful and your cards awsome Jean. Very pretty.
    Greetings from Veerle

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  5. Wow Jean - what fabulous colouring! Super images and I love both the card and the ATCs. It's good to hear about how we linked up with other bloggers too!

    Hugs

    Di xx

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  6. Well I'd say your swappee was a very lucky lady! These are just gorgeous! xxx

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  7. How lovely Jean, gorgeous colouring, fabulous work!
    hugs jacee
    Simply Paper Card Design

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  8. Beautiful cards, love the images. I swap in a similar way to yourself with a lady who lives on the Isle of Skye, we met via Craft Stamper as well.
    Yvonne x

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  9. Hi Jean, this is one lovely CB image, and your coloring is just stunning. I've not tried the Sansodor(I think what we in the USA have is called Gamsol) with the colorsoft pencils. Must try that. I've done it with the Prisma pencils. Your card is very pretty & I loved the extra leaves that you've added. How enriching it is to have your friend as someone to exchange your cards & ATC's with, and get to know each other over time. I've enjoyed getting to know a bit about you & your sister. This blogging hobby is such fun, isn't it? I'm off to enjoy your Rudolph entries. TFS & Hugs

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  10. These CB stamps are lovely Jean, they are definitely on my wish list! Your colouring of them is beautiful and the pretty added leaves and that spotted ribbon on one of the ATC's are great accessories. I think your friend is very lucky to get these. I have got some Sansodor for using with my SN Pencils and have tried it once but didn't find it that easy to use but must persevere with it. x

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  11. Oh rats my comment disappeared!
    Popped over to see these closer up. Your colouring skills are amazing Jean - these are so very very stunning! Thank you for inspiring me to dig out my colouring pencils Karen x

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  12. Love your card. Your coloring is beautiful. I like to use color pencils also and here in the US we use either Gamsol, Baby Oil, or a cleaning product called Goo-B-Gone to blend the colors. I am one of your blogs new followers.

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  13. Hi Jean,
    what very beautiful cards, and they are coloured so perfectly too.
    Love those fab stamps used.
    Great designing as usual.
    Lots of crafty love. Jenny L.

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  14. Lovely ATCs Jean, and the card too of course. I missed this posting because I still have internet issues, but I have just seen them in the snippets playground. That is a great set of stamps. I love all the berries and fruits. Great colouring too. Kate x

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  15. Jean, Congratulations on being highlighted at the Playground. When I had a chance to pop over and saw your pretty card in the spotlights section, I thought "I know that card!". And it was lovely to enjoy it all over again. You did a fab job on the creation & using the awesome stamp. TFS

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  16. Thanks for popping by again Jean.
    Weather here has been freezing...up to minus 6 at night and still frozen during the dayl We are bundling up and going out to sort the garage today as it is the warmest it has been for a week. It is just above freezing today! Hopefully we can get a couple of boxes pasked up for the thrift shop and get DH's hardware and tools packed. We have all the stuff that comes home from the lake stored in the garage, so there is a lot out there!

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