Out of the Drawer: lattice stencil flower birthday card

Still haven't managed to photograph any retreat stuff....  we had visitors over Easter so no crafting!  Good time had by all :-)
I did manage to finish another Distress oxide stencilled image into a card though.

The OotD item is the lattice die, from Tonic. It's not a complete lattice, the centre is a blank circle, which actually, I didn't like when I originally tried it and so haven't used it since.  Then it occurred to me that I could cover it up ...... duh.  So I die cut the stencilled flower (Clarity stencil) into the outer square shape, then trimmed it into a diagonal sash to cover the centre.  I'm not quite happy with the finish on the stencilling, I used a proper stencil brush, but blending foam pads would have worked better - for the next background I made (not completed into a card yet), I tried those and the colours are much more dense and chalky.
Some aqua/silver paper for the background, also cut with the outer square, then everything was layered up.  All it needed then was the sentiment, I used an SU punch and a peel-off.
I do like the die used in this way and will definitely try it again :-)

Out of the Drawer: Double gatefold birthday card

I forgot I hadn't blogged this, it's Sy's birthday card!

I made a double gatefold card blank and used papers from a 6" pad to make the panels.  The medallions are made with an SU set, Daydream Medallions, heat embossed in purple and teal, then die-cut with a pierced circle.  The sentiment banner is also a pierced die, SU sentiment heat embossed again with the purple.
The paper, stamps and the embossing powders are all OotD items - I really must use my embossing powders more often, I have so many (whisper it, around 90......) and I do like the effect.  I think that because I do most of my crafting at crops or retreats, I don't tend to take a heat gun etc with me, so that's probably why they have fallen by the wayside.  Must do better!!

Buy it - Try it: Distress Oxides and stencil birthday card

I have just come back from another amazing retreat at ATDML, but haven't managed to photograph anything I made yet!  The previous weekend was my monthly craft weekend, although the crop itself was cancelled, myself and Sy had a great couple of days crafting at the dining table :-)
I tried out some of the new Distress Oxide inks, made some backgrounds and played about with stencils I have just bought from Clarity Stamps.  One of the resulting images has made it onto a card, the rest will eventually, I'm sure....

The DiOx have a dense chalky finish when blended, lovely to stamp over, I used Cracked Pistachio, Broken China and Faded Jeans.  Then I over-stamped with another new purchase, a seedhead stamp from Woodware and some obligatory hide-the-ink-smudge butterflies :-)  The sentiment is from Visible Image.

Sympathy card

I have made sympathy cards before, but I do find them hard to make, in fact they are the only card I will go out and buy from a shop.  So I thought I had better try my hand at one.

The poppy die is from Memory Box, cut in both a lavender-lilac colour and black.  The sentiment tag is from MFT, I think, also cut in the two colours.  I used a Bazzill Swiss Dot cardstock for the background and matted it onto silver mirri.
The lavender die-cuts are offset onto the black for a shadow effect.