Hello, and welcome to my little crafty blog. I made a quick card today to send to my cousin in Italy, who I haven’t seen for several years. I had hoped I might be able to visit her this year, but Coronavirus has put paid to that! Hopefully, things will be in a better place by next year

I used the ‘Vertical Greetings’ stamp set from Stampin Up – it’s now retired from their catalogue, but I think it’s really versatile, and works for lots of occasions. When stamping a layout like this, I find it easiest to start in the centre and then work outwards. I also drew a pencil line so that I could line up the lower edge of the stamps and make sure I got them level (you can just about see it in this photo)

I used the small Artistry ink pads for these images. Because they’re so small, it was relatively easy to focus each colour onto the part of the stamp I wanted it. I used ‘terracotta’ for the post (what else…!), ‘avocado’ for the shrubs and ‘fancy fuchsia’ for the heart shaped shrub, as I wanted to add a pop of colour. It would have looked too boring if they were all green.

I finished it off with a sentiment from a new set by Julie Hickey, ‘Loving Thoughts’. I used the sketch from this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge for my inspiration, so am off now to link it into their blog at https://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/