Welcome to my crafty blog. Today’s card is for my father-in-law, who will be 95 on Christmas Eve! (don’t worry, he won’t be reading this blog so no risk of spoilers!). His cards are always a bit tricky, as he doesn’t have any specific hobbies or interests, so I thought this stamp set from Claritystamp would be perfect to make him a winter scene for his big day.

I took the design from this week’s sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches (https://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/), and will also be sharing it over at TGIF Challenges (http://tgifchallenges.blogspot.com/)

I’d seen Clarity’s Barbara Gray do a brilliant version using this stamp set, so was definitely inspired by her use of it. I started by stamping the lower part of the Jayne Nestorenko ‘winter scene – bridge’ stamp set in black Archival onto a piece of kraft card. The detail in this scene is just fantastic.

I used the pre-cut mask that comes with the stamps (very useful!) to cover up the scene and then stamped the night sky, again using black Archival.

Next was to add the white to the scene. I shaded the ground using a white Spectrum Noir pencil, and then added the snowy highlights with a white Posca pen, including the stars. I love the effect of the white on the kraft card.

I couldn’t decide where to add the sentiment, as I didn’t want to lose any of the scene! In the end, none of my stamps were small enough, so I hand wrote the sentiment along one of the hills, and popped the ’95’ on the signpost, using a black micron pen. I also added a strip of black card to each end of the topper, to pick up the design sketch.

All I then needed to do was mount it onto a white A5 card blank to finish it. Sadly, we can’t spend time with my father-in-law on his birthday, now that London has moved into Tier 4 and is basically fully locked down again. My sons & I will be dropping off his card & presents on the doorstep, together with a birthday cake and other goodies so he doesn’t miss out.