Country Wood Designer Series Paper | Dot Dot Stamping Designs

Welcome to another Sketch Saturday challenge.
Here is the sketch for this fortnight.

I chose to turn the sketch on it’s side for my project today, and I have used it as inspiration for a covered notebook.

The notebook front and back have been covered with some Country Woods Designer Series Paper, and I have cut the two blue strips from the same paper before using my Paper Snips to cut flag ends into the strips. I have then run them through the Stampin’ Cut and Emboss machine with the Distressed Tile Embossing Folder and then added some Night of Navy ink along the edges and randomly on the front of the blue panels.

The feature image comes from the Poised Peony stamp set. I have stamped the image in Night of Navy ink, and then coloured it using a Blender Pen and some of the Soft Pastel Assortment. Since the colouring has been done on Basic White Cardstock, I did this very gently in a dabbing motion to ensure the cardstock doesn’t rough up.
I have taken some pieces of Linen Thread, and coloured them using the dark Highland Heather Stampin’ Blend, and then pulled the strands of the thread apart to give it a more whispy look.
Then I’ve added some leaves in Copper Clay, cut using the Online Exclusive Changing Leaves Hybrid Embossing Folder and Dies, along with some leaves from the Stippled Roses Dies in Soft Seafoam and Highland Heather.

Here is the notecard I made to go with the Notebook, using the same elements and techniques.

I hope you will join us and share your take on the sketch, we always love to see what you have been creating.
Happy stamping,
Chris

Another seasonal inspired card today, to go along with the current challenge at Craftin Round The World, this time Spring inspired, and I have featured the Spotlight on Nature stamp set and Dies for my card.

In the background is some of the Country Woods Designer Series Paper and I’ve also used the Fun Patterns embossing folders to create some texture.

The flowers and leaves have all been coloured with watercolour pencils and then fussy cut.
Yes, there’s a lot of fussy cutting there.
So what’s the trick to fussy cutting? (fussing cutting is cutting around an image using scissors rather than using a die to cut). The trick is to move the piece you are cutting, rather than moving your hand around the piece, so keep your scissors in one direction as much as possible, and move the piece of cardstock, paper or whatever else it might be. I’ve found that to do this successfully I need to keep the piece of cardstock as small as possible, so I usually do two cuts, one to reduce the size and then one around the image.
The other trick is to make sure your Paper Snips (scissors) are nice and sharp.
And I enjoy fussing cutting, I find it quite relaxing, a little like meditation.

Happy stamping, and happy crafting.
Chris