Welcome to my crafty blog. Today’s card is a new home one I made for my niece, using Claritystamp’s ‘Townhouse’ stencil. I love this image – it’s great for making cards with a more urban feel when I don’t want a country cottage effect

I started by fixing the stencil onto a piece of Claritystamp’s stencil card using a strip of masking tape, and then running it through my Gemini to emboss the image. Clarity’s stencils are very robust so will withstand this – not all stencils do, as I’ve found out to my cost previously!

I kept the stencil on the card, and then used sponges and Distress oxides to dab colour through the stencil and highlight the houses and sky. It’s impossible to do this without getting inky fingers, but it gives a great effect, and you can blend the colours together.

I then cut the image down to fit on a 6×6 card blank, with a dark blue mat behind it which made the colours pop a bit more. I finished it by die cutting the ‘new home’ sentiment in dark blue and matting it onto a piece of white card to attach to the front.

It’s a relatively quick card to make (unlike moving house, which several of my friends have done recently). I am going to start on a decluttering programme in my house though, as I may want to move in the next 10 years and it will probably take me that long to sort everything!

I’m entering this card into the current Dream Valley challenge, which is ‘Embossing – wet or dry’. Here’s the link to their page http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/