A festive touch (posted by Elaine)

Well, my turn to reveal the cards inspired by Joanne Wardle's cards in the October issue of Craft Stamper. Now these cards look deceptively simple. Anyone who has seen the way I work will know I favour my "everything but the kitchen sink approach", so this uncluttered style was bound to be a big challenge for me. All I knew for sure was that I wanted to do a Christmassy themed set of cards to make use of some of my under-used stamps.

So, I approached this project with a little trepidation. Firstly I only tried to work directly onto a card blank once and mucked it up. After that I worked on a separate piece of card until I got it right. As a result I decided to matt and layer my cards. I tried masking with post its, but didn't get a result I was happy with, so I used round and oval nesties to cut masks that I positioned with masking tape. I was much happier with the rounded shapes somehow, especially as they seemed to let me build the depth of colour to give real definition at the edge of the inked panel, while leaving a glow in the centre. Once I had inked to my satisfaction, so obsessed was I to get the position of the overstamping right I even used my stamp positioner!

This first card used Sunshine Yellow, Peach Bellini, Butterscotch and Cranberry Adirondack dye inks and Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. I used Ranger Archival Black ink to overstamp all my designs. I used the Inkadinado Cardinal stamp - a gorgeous wood mounted stamp, that I use far too rarely and the Artifacts Pine Needles unmounted plate .

My second card reflects an ambition I have had for ages to produce an inked representation of the Northern Lights. This design, doesn't do what I really hoped to acheieve as the coloured lines are too uniform and not wavy enough. Never mind! I used Pink Sherbert and Raspberry Adirondack dye inks and Tumbled Glass and Dusty Concord Distress Ink. The stamp of trees is of unknown provenance, I bought it ages ago from an E Bay seller.

Last but not least, I inked my final card using Pink Sherbert and Watermelon Adirondack dye inks and Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks. I used the same mask as I had used for the cardinal stamps, so a little orange also found its way into this card. At first I nearly threw it away when I spotted this contamnation, but then I realised this added a little more warmth to the design. I used another branch from the same Artifacts Pine Needles plate as my first card, plus the flight of birds from the Tim Holtz clear Lost and Found set. I have to say this was another purchase I made after seeing the very talented Paula use this stamp to great effect. I just hope she agrees imitation is the greatest form of flattery!

I enjoyed making these cards. Thanks so much to Joanne for the inspitation. They certainly challenged me to work away from my normal style. I so wanted to stamp a Christmas sentiment in one corner, but managed to stop myself, at least until the photos had been taken.

Thanks for poppng by. Sorry we have kept you waiting around this month. Life is pretty hectic for us all right now.

Elaine x