Welcome to the weekend! My new ‘just woodland and birds’ stamps arrived from ClarityCrafts during the week, so I got them out to play with! I decided to create a sunset using the palette from Color Throwdown and the layout from Sketch Saturday (which I flipped to the mirror image)

I started with a 5×5 card blank and created a frame on the front with a square embedder. I haven’t done a step-by-step on this for a little while, but thought it might be time for a refresh if you haven’t seen this before. The embedders are squares (and other shapes) of mylar stencil material – the trick is to first attach it to the front of the card blank with a piece of folded over low tack tape. Then open the card to the inside and use a bone folder to locate the edges of the embedder – I slide the bone folder in from the edge of the card to butt up against the embedder, then run it up & down the side. Next is to use a no. 2 embossing tool and go round the embedder again, which sharpens the crease. Finally, turn the card back to the front, remove the plastic and admire your handiwork!

I decided to use the little background panel from the set to create my sunset sky and sponged ‘squeezed lemonade’, ‘ripe persimmon’ and ‘wilted violet’ Distress Oxides onto it. It’s a small rectangle, so I needed to stamp it twice, starting on the left hand then cleaning and reinking it with spot-on sponges, reversing which side the colours sat for the second image.

Finally, I stamped the small double tree in the centre, then added the tall pine on each side to reflect the sketch, adding the litle trio of birds. I finished with the sentiment from the ‘floral delights’ set.

I do love a one layer card and we’ve had some beautiful sunsets here this week with the hot weather! I’m going to be playing with this set a lot more, including the abstract layout die that comes with it.