Handmade by Natty

Good morning!

It’s the first Friday of a new month, and so it’s time for a new elemental inspiration challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers blog.

Here’s the image we’re working with:

And the elements I’ve interpreted are a pine bough complete with pine cones, blanket stitch, snow(flakes), frosty details, and grey and brown as my colour combo:

Stamp: The Greetery – Pine Blossom
Dies: The Greetery – BotaniCuts Pine Bough, The Greetery – Crimped Frame, The Greetery – Wood Slices
Stencils: The Greetery – Frosty Flakes
Other: Distress Oxides

I started out by creating the snowflake background panel. It’s simply white cardstock, but before applying the stencil overlay, I inked the outside of the panel with Altenew Limestone dye ink. It’s a very subtle grey, but has created more contrast between the whiter central part of the panel and then the snowflake patterns that have been applied with the same ink using the stencils.

Once the panel was dry, I ran it through the Big Shot with the largest of the Crimped Frame dies that sort of mimics a blanket stitch look.

I then added a splatter of brown, gold, and white paint to the background and set it aside to dry.

The next task was inking up and assembling the wood slice and pine bough die cuts.

I used regular Distress Inks for the wood slice (cut from cream and brown card), and followed The Greetery’s tutorial for adding colour to the BotaniCuts Pine Bough elements. So the same Distress Oxides as featured in the video, and some shading with pencils on the pine cones before giving my Distress Rock Candy and Vintage Platinum glitter an outing for the first time in aaaages.

Once they were dry I gave them a splattering of white ink as well. Can’t have enough snowy details!

Finally, I added a sentiment to the background panel and assembled the card. The subtle glittery effect catches the light beautifully in real life. I may need to get the glitter out again!

Make sure you check out the lovely cards from the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

P.S. I’m also claiming this as my November card for the 2021 card challenge as it features a lovely subtle grey snowflake background, pine cones, snowy boughs…

The Greetery – Pine Blossom stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery – BotaniCuts Pine Bough dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery – Crimped Frame dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery – Wood Slices dies Shop at: MISC | SHC
The Greetery – Frosty Flakes stencils Shop at: MISC | SHC	Altenew – Limestone dye ink Shop at: EH | MISC	Distress ink pad – Antique Linen Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad – Frayed Burlap Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress ink pad – Gathered Twigs Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad – Bundled Sage Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad – Iced Spruce Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad – Vintage Photo Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Versafine – Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	Tim Holtz – Distress Glitter – Clear Rock Candy Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz – Distress Glitter – Vintage Platinum Shop at: AZ | SBC
Dr. Pj. Martin’s Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ	Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36-pan watercolour set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Brutfuner 120 Colouring Pencils Set Shop at: AZ	Stampers Anonymous – Glitter Duster Shop at: SSS
Ranger – Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow – Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn – Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Sponge daubers Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Taylored Expressions – Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC
Tim Holtz – Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz – Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Waffle Flower – Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ
Ranger – Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Sizzix – Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix – Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Thermoweb iCraft – Purple tape for die-cutting – 1 1/2″ Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz – Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz – Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC