Just A Note

Having used all my Pinkfresh washi the past few days, I went with a different route to follow the current colour challenge at Color Hues – purple & artichoke. Here is my card:

This actually came with a few ‘oopsies’ during it’s creation and a couple of goes at it.

The products used is from Taylored Expressions – Boho Botanicals – and I believe may have been part of a virtual event – but I’m not sure. The ‘foil-it’ panel is toner printed, so you run it through with foil and a laminator, then use the stencils to colour the images on top of the foil………I used the Gina K Designs ‘Fuse’ machine.

So – I first used the wrong foil. I used glimmer foil (!!!) which covered the whole panel, which also foiled the whole of the foil onto my carrier sheet……

Off I went to YouTube to figure out what I was doing wrong……. I needed to use Decofoil, not glimmer foil! Doh!

Start again – found some Decofoil, grabbed another of the ‘foil-it’ panels, ran it though the Fuse machine – lovely outcome. Yay!

The images were then ink blended using Pinkfresh Studio inks. I did play with shading on each of the florals as the stencils only do one layer for them. Three tones of purple, graduating them towards the outside of the petals. The leaves and stems were coloured using Concord & 9th ‘Artichoke‘ ink – that comes in strong so I had to be careful with that one.

Once coloured, I wiped with a dry cloth – hey presto – foil details shining through the ink blending.

The coloured panel was adhered to a purple panel from my stash, then added to a white card base. The heat embossed sentiment layered and added.

The panels from Taylored Expressions come in a pack of three different foiling designs – I may have a little play with the other panels to see what the difference is.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Stencil Fun – use stencils, option of mainly yellow not taken

Color Hues – purple & artichoke

Just Us Girls – stencil week

Ellibelle’s Corner Garden Party – anything in or from the garden

Thanks A Bunch

Hello again. A final card using the last of the smaller florals from the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Pretty Blooms‘ suite incorporating their washi:

The green background was created using a letterpress plate from Spellbinders ‘Festive Press‘, Pinkfresh Studio green ink, and Spellbinders cotton card stock. This was cut down slightly and adhered to a white card base.

The oval was die cut from a Pinkfresh Studio nesting oval set, attached with 3D foam, and the small floral arrangement splaced where I thought would look effective.

The sentiment is gold heat embossed, die cut, and layered a couple of times, then glued down.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – make your own background

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Beautiful Blossoms – anything goes with florals

Love To Craft – anything goes

Celebrating You

Hi – once again here with a card created using the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Pretty Blooms‘ washi suite – so many ways to use these products:

The background was created using a ‘Scalloped Grid’ cover plate die, and adhered directly onto a white card base.

The two floral sprays were attached with 3D foam, the sentiment gold heat embossed and added with more 3D foam, them this time pink gems from Spellbinders were my final touch.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafting From The Art – anything goes

Beautiful Blossoms – anything goes with florals

Heart’s Quest Pretty In Pink – mainly pink, option of pink washi taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

You’re Amazing

Hello again. Another card created using the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Pretty Blooms’ suite and the washi tape:

The background for this card was created using the Pinkfresh Studio letterpress plate ‘diagonal plaid‘ and a Pinkfresh Studio green ink, onto a Spellbinders cotton card panel. I then splattered with black acrylic paint and when dry, cut down slightly then glued onto a card base.

The shaped label was also a Pinkfresh Studio die set, attached with 3D foam, the two washi floral elements also added with 3D foam.

The sentiment was gold heat embossed, again added with 3D foam – and my usual final addition was some gold gems.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – create your own background

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Crafts Galore – anything goes

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes, option of embossing taken (heat embossing)

Beyond Happy For You

Hello there. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in my exercise game on MetaQuest and also in the craft room – playing, just playing, as we have had to say goodbye to another of our cats. He was 20 years of age, and time just got away from us. That will be three cats in 6 months we have lost……to say we are heartbroken is putting it pretty mildly. Hence – the need to switch my mind to other things.

I have been spending some time with Pinkfresh Studio washi tape from the ‘Pretty Blooms’ collection. I created a couple of panels of the washi, die cut them, and made three cards – to begin with. Here is the first card:

Taking inspiration from the current challenge at Tic Tac Toe, I created a background wood grain effect by swiping a light and slightly darker grey across the panel. I learned this from Gina K on one – if not several – of her videos.

This panel was cut down slightly and adhered to an A2 card base.

One of the floral washi bunches was added with 3D foam, then the sentiment, stamped and gold heat embossed, die cut, then added to the bottom corner.

The final touch – as per usual – was to add some Spellbinders gems.

A simple card – for me – with the bunch of florals being the centre of attention.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Tic Tac Toe – top left to bottom right diagonal – woodgrain/free/die cut

Addicted To Stamps & More – make your mark (ink swiped background)

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Ellibelle’s Corner Garden Party – anything in or from the garden

Beautiful Blossoms – anything goes with florals

Pink Peony Thanks

There is a brand new challenge starting from Heart’s Quest, and to show my support for the new challenge and the Design Team, I have created a card for it. The name of the challenge is ‘Heart’s Quest Pretty In Pink’ and the theme is to use mainly pink, with an optional pink washi/decorative tape for this month.

Here is my card:

When I saw that the theme was pink – not my usual choice of the main colour – I thought of peonies. I searched through my CML app with that tag, and decided to use the Honey Bee Stamps ‘Lovely Layers: Peony‘ die set.

I started by die cutting all the floral layers in Concord & 9th card stock, then ink blending a darker pink in strategic areas. To make sure this ink blending was in the areas which would be seen, I placed the next upper layer on top, saw what would be seen, then ink blended. I did this trough all the layers.

The leaves and stems were die cut from a green card also form C9, and then ink blended also with a slightly darker green.

The layers were glued together, then I added some white acrylic splatter and set aside to dry.

I used a 5×7 inch card base – large enough to place all the elements rather than an A2 – and created the background white panel by using a Spellbinders embossing folder onto which I had pressed some green ink, creating this distressed looking basket weave pattern.

The central pink panel was cut to 5×7, but I used Pinkfresh Studio ‘Slim Edgers‘ die to create the stitch and pattern. This piece was then run through with the same Spellbinders embossing folder, and a white pigment ink pad over the top to catch the basket weave detail.

Once the inks and splatters were dry I attached each of the layers, adding the flowers with 3D foam, then gluing down and tucking in the leaves, foliage, and buds.

The final touches was a gold foiled sentiment then some Pinkfresh Studio ombre gems.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Heart’s Quest Pretty In Pink – mainly pink

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of cloud day not taken

Craft Rocket – use dies

Triple B – Birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Ellibelle’s Corner Garden Party – anything in or from the garden

Beautiful Blossoms – anything goes with florals

Christmas & New Year

Hello once again. I have a card to share as Guest Designer for 52CCT. The new Christmas theme is:

Here is my card:

Now, this theme stumped me for a few days. How to get those numbers onto a Christmas card…….I tried a couple of ways, but finished with this one – I did have to check with the 52CCT design team if it was ok……..I obviously needed some reassurance….

I began by stenciling the background panel. This is from a layering stencil set by Kristina Werner called ‘Holiday Icons‘. I used the same light blue/teal colour for the different layers, not using all of them, and then on one layer I used Tim Holtz Distress sparkle paste.

This was set aside to dry, then I concentrated on die cutting the other elements.

The holly and Berry sprigs are from The Greetery, and the numbers are cut from gold glitter card using a Tim Holtz/Sizzix set, cut a couple more times out of white to layer them up.

Now to arrange…..I gold foiled the sentiment and used a circle die. This would enable me to arrange and tuck the holly sprigs. I stuck this down with a piece of 3D foam in the centre, and arranged the holly around it, adding glue to the bases, and then glued down the numbers.

I hope you can come and join the team for this theme – I am interested in how this is interpreted. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Stencil Fun – use stencils, option of mainly yellow not taken

Addicted To Stamps & More – make your mark

Craft Rocket – use dies

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Kitty Capers

Today is the day the new challenge at The Alphabet Challenge goes live. It is the turn of Billie A to choose the theme, and she has chosen:

K is for Kittens

Here is my card:

The Images are from an older Mama Elephant stamp and die set – ‘My Pet Kitties‘ – coloured with Copics, keeping most of the colouring neutral.

The 6 window cover plate die is also from Mama Elephant, die cut out of white.

The ensure the background in each window was light enough, with enough detail so the cats wouldn’t get lost, I used a previously created gel print paper.

Once the layers were added to a white card base, the kitties were placed using 3D foam, and then the sentiment stamped and added – from the same stamp and die set.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Inkspirational – word prompt – furry friends

Critter Crazy – anything goes with a critter

Addicted To Stamps & More – make your mark

Love To Craft – anything goes

Unicorn Magic

Hello. I have a card to share following the theme for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz. The theme has been chosen by Dawn and is:

Fantasy – fairies, dragons, witches, wizards etc

To create the unicorns, I used a Spellbinders die set ‘Cozy Toes Friends’ with a mixture of Spellbinders and C9 card stock.

The background patterned paper is also from Spellbinders, and glued to a white card base.

When I first placed the unicorns on the paper, they did get a little lost, so I die cut a bright yellow circle, and used a Spellbinders embossing folder to give it some interest ‘Could Nine‘.

The sentiment was stamped and gold heat embossed, to pick out the gold in the background paper, and layered with some gold glitter card.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CYHTP – embossing folder, option of cloudy day taken

Critter Crazy – anything goes with a critter

Craft Rocket – use dies

Love Those Pretty Papers – use pretty papers

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of embossing taken – heat and dry

Birthday Tree

Hello there. There has been a lot going on the past week, but I must get back to posting and crafting. I seem to have less time for this despite retiring a few months ago – so much to do…. A new challenge has started at Ally’s Angels. The theme is always ‘anything goes’. Here is my card:

I used an older die set from Spellbinders ‘Flowering Tree’ to create the main image. The sentiment is also part of the same die set.

Once the tree and sentiment were created, I used ‘Alabaster‘ card for the background and ran it through with a Spellbinders embossing folder.

To ensure I had all the elements on there I wanted, the card base is 5×7 inches, the embossed panel cut to that size, and the tree added with 3D foam.