Spotlight on Spring

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

Delightfully Eclectic Covered Notebooks

It’s been a very busy few days in our house with two different markets in different towns, along with all the preparation and travel that goes along with that, it makes for quite an exhausting few days.
We began doing market stalls as a way to sell my son’s beautiful woodturned items, and since I had to be there (as designated driver, since he hasn’t got his driver’s licence yet), and like to be there to support him, I thought I would try selling some of my own items.
And these covered notebooks have been the most popular items.

These notebooks have been covered with the Delightfully Eclectic Designer Series Paper, the large flowers fussy cut from it using my trusy Paper Snips, and that has been paired with some retired Dainty Flowers Designer Series Paper.
They are a great way to use up retired DSP as well as bits and pieces of all sorts of things, and they make lovely and useful gifts – great for customer gifts, there’s plenty of room for a long Wish List!

I hope you are having a lovely relaxing weekend, and getting some crafting time.
Happy stamping,
Chris

Delightfully Eclectic Designer Series Paper is on sale right now, and you can find it in my online store here.
You can browse the rest of the store here.
And don’t forget the fantastic special available if you would like to join Stampin’ Up! as a demonstrator.

If you prefer to scan a QR Code with your device, here they are……