Vive La France (Take Ten)

Hello
Sharing a wee collection which appears in  Take Ten magazine.
Last year, some reasons outwith my control but also, I didn’t seem to be in cardmaking mode, I didn’t really manage to submit the usual volume to Take Ten (or The Stampers’ Sampler).  When  I received Paris Flea stamp collection (Character Constructions) from  Catherine Moore, I knew immediately that aside from having some paper doll fun, I wanted to also focus on the lovely French/Paris related stamps, particularly stamp plate no 7.
That’s Crafty is now stocking select Character Constructions stamps, including some of the Paris Flea collection.  They are the only U.K. stockist.  If you have any queries, then I am sure Laura at That’s Crafty will try and help you with questions re availability, etc.
They are all mini cards (3″x 4″)
For each card, I worked with some (to me) precious vintage French receipt paper, it has taken me all my time to use this book of receipts because once finished I doubt I will ever replace it, such items are something I struggle to source.
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The printing on the vintage paper determined placement of stamps – the numbers stamped alongside the printed No. on this second sample.  To utilise scrap pieces of the vintage paper, I stamped little elements, such as the postal mark and sentiment, layering onto the cardbase.

Embellishments were deliberately kept to a minimum for a few reasons.  I wanted it to be more of a stationery set as opposed to individual greeting cards. The tiny pieces of cut ribbon are only there to bring another layer of French flavour, I didn’t want any such details to smother the stamps and I did not want the paper to be obliterated by “this and that”.

Just enough room to add a flag to the Eiffel Tower!

Two of the inserts – sentiments stamped onto scraps of the paper

and one of the envelopes.

Thank you to Catherine Moore for creating such wonderful stamps and to Stampington for publishing this wee card collection and THANK YOU to you for visiting this post.
Wishes
Lynne

Monday with Mimi

Hello Everyone
Another Character Constructions paper doll, created with the Paris Flea collection.
I think her face is adorable and the name Mimi popped into my head so from now on, to me she will be known as Mimi. I don’t know if I should be concerned for my sanity as I find when I create these paper dolls, their characters emerge.  It is fascinating that the placement of legs can make them appear to be sassy, elegant, coy, etc.
I hope it shows that I am having fun with the Character Constructions stamps because I certainly am.Mimi with the coquettish smile.
To give you an idea of the stamps used to form Mimi, the individual stamps, all from Paris Flea are the beret, which I couldn’t resist adorning with lace.  Then the face, arms and upper body is one whole stamp.
Mimi wears her favourite pearl ear-rings, a gift from her Papa.An old fashioned girl at heart, Mimi embraces the art of letter writingwith a fountain pen, naturally.Lace to trim the hem of her skirt.
Have a wonderful week and many thanks for your visits. I will try and catch-up with you very soon.
Wishes
Lynne

Paris Flea!

Hello Everyone
Do you ever wonder if the stamps we are attracted to mirror our lives or aspects of our lives which are not a reality but possibly that what we dream or yearn for, after all, are we not allowed to dream!
If any of you had a rummage amongst my stamps I guarantee you will find many with Paris as the theme.  Postal marks, labels, I surely have an Eiffel Tower in every size (!), word stamps, Parisian fashion, the list goes on!  There is just something perennially appealing so imagine the excitement surrounding the soon to be released Character Constructions’ Paris Flea!
(I have permission to share the catalogue inserts).If you are interested in keeping up-to-date on when they are to be released then Catherine Moore has an active Facebook page and another HERE. You can also visit her site, HERE.
Many thanks for taking the time to visit this post.
Wishes
Lynne

Adventures In Paris (The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello Everyone
Back in April last year I made a card sample for Darkroom Door featuring what was at that time a new release, French Script Texture stamp, (HERE).  I had in my mind to make a wee collection, to the same theme, so a few months later that’s what I did. It was a yipee from me to discover them featured within the pages of The Stampers’ Sampler, although I had submitted to their sister publication, Take Ten, as to my mind they were ten minute cards.Sometimes it can be easy to overlook Darkroom Door’s amazing and varied collection of images and word strips, focusing instead on the stamps available.
For each card a collage was made around a Parisian image, on this card from Film Strips, Paris Vol 3
The images were layered upon various found paperswith touches of black lace and polka dot ribbon and various stamped fragments or postal marks, again all from Darkroom Door.There was a lovely introduction which they wrote about the cards and how you could just imagine a message scribed from your sweetie to meet at Lover’s Bridge.  Someone’s imagination is as fertile as mine!Torn lace and painted corrugated scraps are some of the layers, scrunched wax paper with a swipe of paint and a scrap of ricrac which had previously been stained with tea.So there we have it, a simple set of Parisian themed cards.
For the moment, this is another scheduled post.  Many, many thanks for your visit today and for your continued loyalty and friendships.
Wishes
Lynne

O, Father of Mine

Hello Everyone
Sunday rolls around once more which signals time for my DT post at That’s Crafty.
This week I am honouring Fathers and anyone who plays the role of a Father, whether that be Grandfather, Uncle, Brother, etc.The project with instructions can be viewed at the That’s Crafty Blog.
Have a lovely Sunday.
Wishes
Lynne

Let’s Walk Through The Streets Of Paris

Hello Everyone
New stamps, aren’t those such sweet words!
This is a post which I should have shared before now, doesn’t a week pass by far too quickly.
At the time of drafting this post I had received two of the brand new Texture Stamps from Darkroom Door. Since that package I went on to receive more of their new stamps, more news of that in posts to follow.
For this post I am focusing on French Script Texture Stamp however there are six stamps to choose from this new collection of Texture Stamps, the other I received was the beautiful Floral, I would say that Rachel knows me very well already to have selected those stamps for me!
I was so keen to play with the stamps that I set about making this quick card featuring French Script Texture Stamp.
To create a collage style card I also used a word from the Paris Wordstrips and image from the Paris Montage collection. A full supply list and instructions can be viewed HERE, at the Darkroom Door Blog.A fragile blossom.I am also sneaking in another card in this post which was made more than one month ago for my sister and brother-in-law for their anniversary.
My sister doesn’t favour vintage so I opted to make a card with very little fussiness to it.
The details for this card can be viewed at the Darkroom Door Blog .
Thank You for your visit to this post.
Have a great week,
Wishes
Lynne

Scent of a Woman

Hello Everyone
It is about time I shared with you a sample made for Crafty Individuals with one of their newer Elements set, CI-401 which depicts three Flapper along with various labels and sentiments.
Initially my plan was to use a Gelli print made some months ago but once I had all the elements gathered in front of me I realised I needed to up-size to a 8″x8″ card using the Gelli print as a mat in the middle of the card.
It was the colour of the Gelli print which determined the colour palette for the card as a whole.With the Gelli print being 6″x6″ in size it left me with a 2″ margin around the cardbase so I painted the card with Fresco Finish then layered pieces of Tissue Tape around the border. I still wasn’t satisfied as it looked too flat so out came the lace, making a ruffle for the top edge.
The Flappers had to be the centre of attention on this card so after painting and stamping a Crafty Individuals Shabby Tag I stamped the Flappers then stamped again onto painted cardstock, fussy cut and layered over the initial image.Another tag makes an appearance. This tag is from the multi pack also sold at Crafty Individuals. Once again the tag was painted and then second generation stamping before stamping that lovely perfume label. A metal frame with an Eiffel Tower charm and perfume atomizer charm adorn the tag.Scattered here and there are various words and labels, this one is tucked to the side of the large tag.This label is from CI-401.
Behind the label you can see a lace border.  This is from, in my opinion, a must have Elemets set which contains three different lace stamps.  For this card I stamped the lace onto mulberry paper which brings a nice tactile quality. So that is my card featuring CI-401 along with many other Crafty Individuals stamps. You can view all the stamps at their on-line store.
Thank you for your time spent here. With the weekend just around the corner my next scheduled post is for Sunday when I share my That’s Crafty DT post.
Have a lovely weekend.
Wishes
Lynne

An Evening In Paris (Published!)

Hello Everyone
I have a few Blog posts lined up to share this week but first I am once again turning the clock back, to Autumn 2013.  That was when I received my copy of Take Ten.  Recently I shared some other cards that were published in that issue, the collection where I made use of Stampbord and the others with a vintage school days theme and further back I shared some Lincoln inspired cards.  All of those featured stamps from Oxford Impressions but for a wee change I am sharing a different stamp company, this time it is Redlead Paperworks.
The first stamp I ever received was their stunning stacked trio of butterflies which I kindly received from an art friend in America, we had an ATC exchange at the time as well as sending art goodies to each other.  I used that stamp on a card which I submitted to Take Ten and it was published (don’t believe I ever shared it on my Blog) and because of that, I was lucky enough to receive my choice of referral stamps.  There was no doubt that I had to have  their Eiffel Tower stamp.  So the butterfly stamp I received was a gift that kept on giving!Take Ten have a category called Variation on a Theme which is what the three cards fall into.
For each card I only used one stamp, the Eiffel Tower stamp, playing around with the placement of the various text elements on the stamp. Watercolour paper brought texture to each card with a simple colour palette of winter white and sepia with tea stained seam binding and lace scraps.I made use of the margins of the old French book as a stamping surface. Thank You for your visit to this post and previous posts and I cannot thank you enough for your warm support at the news of my new spot on the Darkroom Door Creative Team.
Unfortunately I have fallen behind with visiting your amazing Blogs but I surely will be able to catch-up with you all very soon.
Wishes
Lynne

A Scandalous Beauty (Published – The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello Everyone
I know, I really should be sharing Christmas projects but I drafted this post as far back as August, anyway, now and then it does good to take a break from Christmas.
This post is all about the final feature I wanted to share with you from the Oct/Nov/Dec issue of Stampington & co’s The Stampers’ Sampler (see HERE and HERE for the previous posts I shared). Three cards make up the feature but I am only sharing two cards.
I actually made the first card some time ago when I was on the Dezinaworld DT (unfortunately June had to disband the team). She always had the most amazing images to play with.
The cards I am sharing all feature a Dezinaworld image of a femme, printed onto a transparency.Each image was layered onto text,  layered behind a Crafty Individuals die-cut frame and for each card I painted the cardstock with Gesso and emulsion paint.
The stamps used are available from Oxford Impressions at Austen Gallery site – Scandalous Beauty stamp plate.
If you have a copy of The Stampers’ Sampler you can see that they included a detail photograph which highlights the layers and depth achieved, sorry but I don’t have such a photograph and don’t want to share the one from the magazine. The second card … The photograph above is more true to the colour.
I mentioned Scandalous Beauty but I also used (always using this stamp) the damask stamp from French Script.If I have not caught up with you I will do so very soon, due to various reasons I have fallen slightly behind with Blog visits this past week. In the meantime many thanks for your visit.
Wishes
Lynne

Postcard from Paris

Hello
Can you believe it is the 10th of November already?!
Sunday means time for a sneaky peek of my DT post for That’s Crafty. Last week I was rather mean with the sneaky peek so this week I am revealing a little bit more of what is on offer over at the That’s Crafty Blog.
As always, the project (including detail photographs), supply list and instructions are available HERE.
Have a lovely Sunday whatever your plans may be for the day.
Wishes
Lynne