Heart of Craft: October 2015

Welcome to my very first blog entry for Laura's Loft's blog hop! The theme this month is Halloween or Fall (Autumn for my English readers!). There are some wonderful prizes to be won, and don't forget to check out Laura's fabulous shop too! We are very lucky to have a great Design Team and several Guest bloggers for you to check out.

I am featuring some wonderful stamps this month, Heidi Swapp's Woodgrain and Altenew's Hennah Elements sets, both available from Laura's shop.

Start with a plain white card in the dimensions of your choice. On the middle section of the front of the card use a Ranger blending tool to apply shades of blue Distress Inks (I used Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean- use more of the paler shade). Spritz with water and blot. Use some of the Salty Ocean on an acrylic block and then spritz with water then dab gently on the card to get the darker spots. Repeat around the edges with brown shades, I used Vintage Photo. Cut a branch from the front of it, you could cut by hand or use a Silhouette Cameo or Cricut. Cut a piece of brown card the same size as the front of your card. Stamp Heidi Swapp's woodgrain stamp on it using a white pad, the stamp again, slightly off set using a chocolate brown Memento ink pad. Mount behind the cut out using your favourite adhesive.
Cut some leaves out of pale yellow card stock. You could use dies, or a Silhouette or Cricut machine. Blend the edges of all the leaves with Antique Linen Distress Ink. Then randomly over blend using Wild Honey, Festive Berries, Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint. You don't have to put every ink on every leaf. Spritz with water to get a little blending and some white spots. Let dry. Spritz again then stamp the leaves with stamps from the Hennah Elements set to get designs on them. Crumple and let dry, then flatten out. I liked the effect of the ink bleeding, but if you prefer, stamp dry to get a crisper look, then just bend the leaves. Work out a pleasing arrangement before adhering to your card. (I used Aleene's clear glue).

To Enter Giveaway Requirements

1. Follow Laura's Loft on IG @InLaurasLoft, like the IG Hop/Giveaway post and tag a friend. Tag as many as you like, but one tag per comment please.

2. Follow Laura's Loft store page on facebook https://www.facebook.com/Lauras.Loft.Shop .

3. Leave a comment at each stop on the blog hop.
The giveaway runs from Oct. 14th- Oct. 20th at 12 noon EST, winners will be posted October 21st.

And here are the goodies you could win! I am jealous!

And as if that isn't generous enough, there is a coupon you can use too! You can get $10 off a $75 purchase with the code $10TREAT. (valid till Nov 8th)

For full T&C's please see Laura's website.

Missed the previous blogger? See Cindy's lovely creations here....