Look What Arrived In The Mail …

A package came yesterday in the mail and it was a new stamp set (and a free one too that I earned during a recent promotion – gotta love freebies!)  After much perusing, I chose Artfully Asian and after having a play with it last night am very pleased with my choice.  It wasn’t a set that caught my eye on my first few looks through the catalogue but I have seen some lovely cards made with it so went back for another look.

Here is what I made last night.  Did 2 versions of the same card but they look quite different – one in the soft Bashful Blue and one featuring the vivid Real Red.

To make this card I stamped the blossom image in Basic Black then used my aquapainter and ink pad to colour it in.  (An aquapainter is like a little brush and it has a reservoir you fill with water.  You squeeze it to let a little of the water down into the brush part, then dip it in colour – for example some ink on the lid of your ink pad or a Watercolour Crayon. If you have too much water on your brush, you just brush it onto a scrap of paper to remove some.)  I used Bashful Blue for the flowers and Black for the leaves (although I only used a little colour so they have come out grey.) 

I matted the white card with the blossom image onto black card and trimmed it so only a little of the black showed to make a frame.  I used an A5 piece of Bashful Blue card for the main part of the card.  I stamped the leaf image in the top right and bottom left using Bashful Blue ink.  Then I had my first go at sponging around the edges of the card.  (Just got a piece of sponge, pressed it into the ink and blobbed it around the edges until I was happy with the result.  Hmm there is probably a better term to use than blobbed but am a bit tired today so that will have to do!)  I stamped the Thank You in black ink then attached a piece of organza ribbon (from my stash – got it from a craft store somewhere.)  Glued on the white/black blossom stamped piece of card and voila.  I am going to like this set I think.

Here is the same card but this time using Real Red in place of the blue.  And another ribbon from my giant ribbon basket!

And while I was unloading the camera I found the only two photos that I managed to snap while we were in Seymour over Easter.  A nice shot of the kids with their Maddy and Poppy perhaps, or of them opening their Easter Eggs, or playing in the pergola.  Nope ……  All I took were two photos of the delicious fish we had for tea!  (I have a bit of a strange habit of taking photos of food at family events.  I have a great collection somewhere of tables all laid out with food, not exactly sure what I think I am going to do with all these snaps.  Will have to make a giant food album one day?!) 

Dad went to Tassie recently with some mates on a fishing trip and caught about 14 fish – I think mostly rainbow trout – so mum and dad’s freezer is well stocked.  We had one for dinner and it was delicious …..  Here it is before we set into it. 

Thanks Dad – yum!

And that might be about it for me until next week.  I think I am banned from my craft supplies until then or I’ll never get my list of jobs crossed off my to do list!  We have some relatives arriving tomorrow (hmm – so I’ll be off tidying up a bit!) then we all fly up to Rockhampton on Friday to visit John’s dad for his 70th birthday.  Back Sunday.

Have a lovely week and weekend til I check in next!

Cheers,    Sue