When Life Gives You Lemons

I have been meaning to have a play around with my new STAMPlorations Layered Citrus for a while and when I saw the challenge over at Fusion I knew I had to play along. First I was going to re-create the inspiration image with yellow and orange fruit and the green leaves, but I thought I could also use green to stamp some limes to complement the oranges and lemons. I stamped the outlines of the fruit in Distress Oxide and then used the layering stamps to fill in the fruit with lighter shades of Distress Ink, masking as I went along. I stamped the first part of the sentiment in Versamark on black card and heat embossed in black and stamped the second part directly onto the fruit. 

Card: white 200 gsm card, scrap of black card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Layered Citrus
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Distress Oxide Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Lucky Clover, Distress Ink Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey, Twisted Citron
Other: Wow white embossing powder

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

Autumn Jam

Today I have something a bit different to share. In the last week or so we have been overwhelmed by the number of plums our plum tree has produced, and which have fallen to the ground as a result of storm Ali. We had so many plums we didn't know what to do with them, our kitchen was full of tubs filled with plums. I've eaten so many plums lately I'm happy to wait until next plum season before I have any more, as delicious as they were. I've baked several plum cakes, and we made a batch of boozy plum marmalade (nothing like a bit of brandy to enhance that lovely plum flavour). I decorated a jar of marmalade to give to a friend. 

I used Stampin' Up and Lawn Fawn patterned paper to decorate the jar, and Lawn Fawn dies to cut leaves for decoration. I used a scrap of card I had inked earlier with Distress Oxides and added some hand lettering to create a label. Last, I added some twine. 

I'm linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is "It's a Wrap" and Make My Monday where the theme is autumn colours.

Twofer Leaves

Last month when I played along with the Twofer challenge I got it wrong and didn't follow all the rules so let's try again. The idea is to use the same stamp or dies to make two cards. This time I used the Lawn Fawn Leaf dies for two different cards. For my coffee card I used the dies to die cut some card I had inked up by smooshing Distress Oxides. For my other card I used the dies to create a stencil which I inked Distress Oxides through. Hopefully this is in line with the rules!

This card was also inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and I'm also linking up over at Just Add Ink where the theme is Just add K (in my case kraft card)

My second card was inspired by the image over at Just Us Girls. As I added some adhesive gems from my stash, I'm also linking it up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Bling It On.

Card: White 250 gsm card, watercolour card, Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid and Perfectly Plaid fall, scrap of kraft card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Love You a Latte, Sending Hedgehugs and matching dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxide, Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves
Other: Burlap twine from my stash, adhesive gems from my stash

Calla Lily Congrats

I'm constantly amazed by this creativity thing. I can spend a whole day trying to create something specific and keep binning card after card as they just don't work. And then I get an idea which I don't think will even work, and then 10 or 15 minutes later I've created a card that I really like. Like the right two brain cells finally managed to meet up. Go figure!

Anyhow, today's card was inspired by the CAS on Friday challenge where the theme is Flowers, the inspiration image over at Time Out and the colours over at Color Throwdown. 

Card: Watercolour paper from my stash, scraps of kraft and black card

Stamps: STAMPlorations In Bloom: Classic Calla Lilies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Gansai Tambi watercolours

Die: CUTplorations Congrats Word die

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

Fall Forest Alpaca

Today's card is inspired by the mood board over at Lawn Fawnatics, the colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at AAA Cards.  I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Stamp It On.

I rummaged through my pile of scrap pieces of Lawn Fawn patterned paper for die cutting the fall forest scene. It always feels great to be using up those leftover pieces which you can't quite bring yourself to throw away just in case you could use them for a future project. I coloured the alpaca with Copics and paper pieced his little scarf. 

Card: white 250 gsm white card

Patterned paper: Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Chill, Knock on Wood, Knit Picky, Let's Polka in the Dark, Perfectly Plaid Fall

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Winter Alpaca and matching dies, Thank you Tags

Ink and Colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Circle, Stitched Tree borders, Simple Puffy Clouds