The Scottish Outdoors

You have not seen Scottish themed cards from me for a few weeks, so I thought that I would rectify this immediately.

Deer are so typical for our outdoors. And I just love the beautiful stag rubber stamp by Crafty Stamps. I opted for a combination of kraft cardstock, green Kraft-Core cardstock by Tim Holtz and embellishments in cream and brown tones. Here is what I used:

• Crafty Stamps image SC146HF
• Kraft cardstock
• Tim Holtz Kraft-Core cardstock by Core-dinations
• Ivory glass-smooth cardstock by Southfield
• Black Memento ink pad
• ProMarkers in Warm Grey 3, Warm Grey 4 and Warm Grey 5 for the antlers
• Spectrum Noir pens in BG4, BG5, BG8 as well as a ProMarker in Pastel Beige for head and body
• Spectrum Noir pen in IG1 for the shadow
• Round Spellbinders dies
• Tonic geared border punch
• Cheery Lynn die for the leaves
• Sheena Douglass embossing folder
• Sanding tool
• Brown paper blooms
• Cream ribbon roses
• Rosebuds in 'coffee'

For the second card I used again Crafty Stamps images, but this time heat embossed them in silver. This time I used:

• Crafty Stamps image SC150F
• Crafty Stamps set SC1M
• White DL card blank
• Textured cardstock in two shades of purple
• A small piece of green cardstock
• Versamark ink pad
• Silver detail embossing powder
• Lilac ribbon
• The London Line premium gemstones by Trimcraft
• Thistles
• Cheery Lynn die for the leaves
• Woodware stamp positioner for aligning the images of the border strip

I hope you like these cards.

Little Drummer Boy

What a day! I assume it will be noisy here tonight considering that the Scottish cup final is turning into an Edinburgh derby in Glasgow. Football fans will probably party everywhere - especially as this is the first cup final between both Edinburgh clubs since 1896.

Unfortunately I am nursing a very sick QuicKutz Epic Six that suddenly only wants to work with Cuttlebug plates (and that only with the stick and carrot approach) and seems to be allergic to QuicKutz plates. Something is telling me that I will need to think about replacing it at some point. But at least I managed to convince it to produce the die-cuts for today's card.



I used Marianne Designs button dies and the Tim Holtz Alterations washer border die, which I combined with textured cardstock in three colours, tartan paper as well as black and white baker's twine.

The image is created with the Scottish Drummer stamp by Crafty Stamps. I coloured it in using ProMarkers in Almond, Satin, Sandstone, Umber, Burnt Sienna, Burgundy, Black, Cool Grey 5, Ice Grey 2, Warm Grey 3 and Warm Grey 4 plus Spectrum Noir pens in DG4 and IG1 (the last one for the shadow around the drummer). For the kilt I stamped the relevant section of the image onto tartan paper, cut out the kilt and added it to the stamped drummer.

Edinburgh Castle

This weekend I had a play with the Edinburgh Castle stamp by Crafty Stamps, which is also available from their shop Stampers Grove. I just love this image of this important Scottish landmark, which is so full of history.

For the card above I stamped the image with Tim Holtz distress ink in 'walnut stain' onto parchment paper and give it a light colour wash with Tim Holtz distress markers in 'frayed burlap', 'antique linen' and 'walnut stain' as well as with a bit of ink from an 'antique linen' distress ink pad that I applied with a damp paint brush in the area of the buildings.

For the background I used textured cardstock from the Tim Holtz & Ranger Distress Collection by Core'dinations in combination with a Darice plaid embossing folder and a fleur-de-lys corner punch by Tonic Studios.

The card is embellished with paper flowers that I ran around a distress ink pad in 'walnut stain', Adirondack Dimension Pearls in 'Espresso, a Tim Holtz adage ticket and leaf die-cuts, which I created with Crealies dies.



For the second card I used parchment paper, textured cardstock in two brown tones and kraft cardstock. I stamped the castle image in 'walnut stain' distress ink and highlighted parts of the walls with a distress marker in 'walnut stain'.

Embellishments are Celtic borders created with a Tonic Studios geared punch and card candi from a 'Choc-a-Mocha' pack.

Monochrome with purple

Today I wanted to create a card with typical Scottish images but give them a more modern twist. The result is a monochrome card with a hand-stamped background and purple influences brought in via adhesive gemstones and thistles.

I refrained from colouring in the piper but ran a light grey Spectrum Noir pen around the image to give it an optical lift. A Gelly Roll pen took care of some glitter accents on the stamped background.

My 'helpers' in the process were:

• Crafty Stamp Bagpiper (SC141N)
• Small bagpipes and glengarry stamps from the Crafty Stamps stamp sets SC2M and SC3M
• Crealies Doily Elements die CL DE 05
• Dovecraft Tea Party adhesive gems & pearls
• Thistles
  
• Sakura Gelly Roll pen in 'Clear Star'
• Black Memento ink pad
• Spectrum Noir pen IG1 (old name: CG0.5)
• White A6 card blank
• Smooth white cardstock
• Black textured cardstock
• Oval and scalloped oval cutting dies
• Corner rounder
• Adhesive (incl. silicone glue)
• Toolbox essentials

I hope you like the card. Thank you so much for visiting my blog.

And already the start of another week ...

What is it with weekends that they always seem to be over as soon as they have begun ... Now it is already Monday night and the working week has taken over yet again.

Today I would like to share another Rabbie Burns card with you. But this time his songs provided the inspiration, so I combined the rubber stamp SC125HF by Crafty Stamps with a music sheet embossing folder by Darice. For the ornamental die-cut shape I used a Marianne Design die.



The second card features the famous Greyfriars Bobby. This time I used the stamp SC118B by Crafty Stamps. I combined the image with an embossed background, thistles, ribbon roses and die-cut leaves created with a Crealies die CL CS 16.

I hope you like the cards and are looking forward to more Scottish and Celtic cards.

Rabbie Burns

The main season for Burns Nights might lie behind us, but Rabbie Burns is always a good choice for Scottish cards. And Rabbie Burns images are also brilliant for the often so tricky male cards.

I created the card above with the Rabbie Burns stamp SC125HF by Crafty Stamps, a cling-mounted rubber stamp. The image is coloured in using Spectrum Noir pens.

The book is created using a QuicKutz die. Marianne Design dies took care of the tree and the fence. For the background I used a vintage word background stamp by Heartfelt Creations (sorry, it is not a poem by Rabbie Burns), which I used with a VersaFine ink pad in 'Vintage Sepia' on parchment paper by Crafter's Companion. For the ageing look around the edges I used a 'tea dye' distress ink pad.

From Scotland with love ...

One of my resolutions for 2012 is that I want to dedicate more time to Scottish and Celtic cards. So you will see a lot more projects with these themes going forward.

A recent blog post by the lovely and talented Louise provided me with inspiration for some crafty playtime and experimenting with a more simplistic style. It is just always so tempting to try something different.


For my take on the technique, for which I did not follow the one-layer principle, I used:

• Thistle stamp SC113HF by Crafty Stamps
• Sentiment stamp
  
• Textured cardstock in white, light purple and dark purple
• Neenah card
• Dovecraft adhesive gemstones
• Heart cutting dies
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink in 'milled lavender' and 'dusty concord'
• Black VersaFine ink pad
• Adhesive (incl. low tack masking tape)
• Stipple brushes
• Sticky notes and pencil
  
• Toolbox essentials

This is how I created the main section of the card:

Initially I used a sticky note, drew a pencil line along the inside of the heart cutting die and cut the heart shape out to create a mask. In the next step I stencilled the heart in 'milled lavender' onto the piece of Neenah card with the heart die held in place by small pieces of low tack masking tape. Then I masked this heart after a short drying time, re-positioned the heart cutting die and applied the 'dusty concord' distress ink. Eventually I stamped the thistles in black ink, so that they overlapped both hearts.

Scottish Cards

It has been a while since I dedicated some time to making Scottish themed cards. But over the last days I compiled a set of birthday and greeting cards with Scottish images and tartan papers.

Items I used for these cards are Scottish stamps, sentiment stamps, mirri card from Southfield Stationers, paper flowers, card candy, Dovecraft adhesive gemstones and a 2 in 1 Royal Fleur corner punch by Tonic Studios.

Here are three examples. I hope you like them.