Month: September 2017

Simple and Autumnal

Hi everyone. Another playtime today, and I created a couple of cards for challenges which are ending today. Please forgive another ‘twofer’ but I haven’t had time to play much the past couple of days, and I really wanted to put my ideas for these cards out there.

The first card is a simple geometric design, using the Altenew ‘Simple Shapes’ stamp set, stamped in Versafine black onyx. I used my Misti as I felt I may have to stamp them a couple of times, as it is such a solid shape. Then I used Catherine Pooler ‘Rockin’ Red’, stamping a sentiment from Stamps By Me into the red shape. This card is going to be entered into the following challenges:

Dragonfly Journeys – Hip hexagons

4 Crafty Chicks – black, white and one other colour

Addicted to Stamps and More – anything goes

Moving along with the times – Geometric shapes

The second card took a little more playing!

For the autumn colours, I used some Brusho’s on a white piece of card, let that dry, and die cut the sentiment from a Stamps By Me set. I also die cut ‘H’ and ‘I’ from the Altenew ‘Bold Alphabet’ out of the same card.

The background is a stencil from Catherine Pooler, using three colours of distress oxide, purposely leaving the bottom white to show the word ‘beautiful’ off better. Once I had stuck the word and letters down onto the stencilled card, I added some Nuvo drops.

I haven’t really used Nuvo drops before, but I must say I like the way they hold a rounded shape, and how solid they feel when they have dried. I purchased quite a few from Hochanda when they had a ‘mix and match’ deal going on – I am glad I did.

This card will be entered into the following challenges:

AAA Cards – colours of Autumn

The Paper Girls Challenge – harvest/autumn colours

Make My Monday challenge – Autumn colours

Pause Dream Enjoy challenges – fall colours

 

 

Two clean and simple cards

Hello everyone. I have two clean and simple cards for today – just for whilst my Brusho backgrounds are drying after a colourful play. It is too late for me to take a photo outside – very grey and a little rainy – so inside it was.

The first card was inspired by Just Us Girls photo week and Clean and Simple Colours and Sketches.

The photo inspiration looked very green to me, and lots of leaves, especially down the left side, so I used my ‘Grass Skirt’ from Catherine Pooler, and placed the leaves as per the sketch. The leaves were from a Stamps By Me set I recently purchased – yes, another set. The sentiment is also from the same company, putting two sentiments together from two different stamp sets.

The second card was inspired from the current challenge from CASology. The cue card was:

Now I spent some time thinking about this card. I didn’t have a clue what to do, so I was sat there, checking my emails, thinking of lucky rabbit feet, fortune cookies, stroking one of my gorgeous black cats – I have two – then the bolt of lightning struck me…….lucky black cats! Yay! Problem solved……

I hunted through my stash, as I knew I had several cat stamps, including the Tim Holtz Crazy Cats, Indigo Blu, Stampendous, but also knew I had a solid cat stamp somewhere…. and found it in my trusty Altenew box ‘Dancing In The Rain’…..

So now to the sentiment. I couldn’t find any ‘good luck’ stamps initially, I hunted through loads of my stuff, then found a set from JustRite, from a wedding set, and liked the look of the font.

I stamped them both in Versafine black onyx, and decided to stop there. No embellishments, no further additions. (remember to keep it clean and simple, Lynda!!)

Hopefully, my Brusho backgrounds will be dry so I can put together some more cards for tomorrow……..

Challenges entered:

Just Us Girls – photo inspiration

CAS Colours and Sketches – sketch

CASology – cue card ‘fortune’

 

Multi-coloured Iris

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Hello again everyone. I have stayed away from Christmas cards for a little while, and had a play with this stamp from Altenew. I love Iris’. The colours are unbelievable, especially when I had an internet search for all the colours possible with this flower. There are some amazing colours out there…..as I was searching, I came across an Iris which was purple, yet had yellow petals underneath, then bits of orange – all perfect for the current challenge from Color Throwdown.

I stamped my flowers in Versafine black onyx, then again with Ranger Perfect Medium and heat embossed with clear. I then selected appropriate colours from my Zigs. I wasn’t intending to do shading, but those yellow and orange petals just called out for a little playing.

I kept the card quite simple, and I may make more in the same colours, but also try some different colours – there are lots of deep purple/blue/cobalt flowers on the internet, so I may use those colours next.

As well as the Color Throwdown, what should be the photo inspiration for Stamping Sensations current challenge? Can you guess? Check it out – an Iris……well then…..that’s a twofer! Now for the three-fer – the September Altenew challenge is a jug of flowers, lots of purple and pink and green…….there we go. 🙂

Challenges entered:

Color Throwdown – purple, orange, yellow, green

Stamping Sensations – photo and colours

Altenew September challenge – Photo Inspiration

 

 

Backgrounds and colours

Hi everyone. I have had  a little break from posting on here, but not from crafting. I have been asked by my work colleagues to make some simple Christmas cards for them, so I have been doping that for the past couple of days.

Today I wanted to make anything other than Christmas cards, so took inspiration from several challenges – all listed below.

The first card is using the colours Tranquil Tide, Dapper Denim, and instead of Perfect Plum, I had to use Sweet Sugarplum. The background is stamped using Waffle Flower ‘Layering Marble’…which took me ages to decide where to stamp the layers….then decided it actually didn’t matter that much! I did have a look on their web site, and the instructions are there – but went my own way in the end.

I only stamped two layers of the marble, using Sweet Sugarplum and Tranquil Tide, with Dapper Denim being used for the sentiment, stamped in that colour, then stamped again with perfect medium and heat embossed with clear powder. I obviously used my Misti so I could stamp twice – once with the colour, and once with the perfect medium.

The sentiment is from Stamps By Me, a current favourite of mine, and I think it is a lovely sentiment which can be used for masculine and feminine cards.

As I loved those three colours so much, I stamped another background with the ‘Waves’ background stamp from Hero Arts, in Sweet Sugarplum, again with Ranger Perfect Medium to heat emboss, and added the sentiment in Dapper Denim, the base card being tranquil tide (I think!).

The colour combination came from CAS Colours and Sketches this week, and it was only after I had finished the card that I realised it may not be as clean and simple as they would like…..but…..as their colours gave me inspiration, I am entering the challenge anyway:

Oh – an update on the gorgeous oak tree: Boo Hoo! 😦

 

CAS Colours and Sketches – Tranquil Tide, Perfect Plum, Dapper Denim

QKR Stampede – embossing or anything goes

Addicted To Stamps – stamp a background

Double D challenges – focus on sentiments or quotes

House Of cards – add text and/or colours

 

 

Simple Florals

Hi there, everyone. A quick posting – though a few more pictures than usual. One stamp set, several colours for today. Another stamp set from ‘Stamps By Me’ which includes the three flowers, and the three splashes of colour, matching up nicely with the centre of the flowers. The sentiments are also from that same stamp set, with a shading on the top of each letter. I didn’t notice until I had stamped them, then thought I had done something wrong – but no – that is the way they are.

As it was one layer, I used my Catherine Pooler inks, and I am getting addicted to the orange colour. I always seem to want to use this very bright and cheerful orange.

I am feeling I may be stamping these flowers onto water-colour card in the future, and playing around with shading, perhaps having a go at some pencil shading too – you never know.

I will be entering the following challenges:

Addicted to CAS – Florals

Cards In Envy – easy as 1, 2, 3

 

 

3 colours, three challenges

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Hello again, everyone. I’ve added a different way of photographing today, as it’s cold and wet outside. I thought I’d add a little wooden black cat, then realised it was too big to get it in and see the cards too, so just the one with the cat, then smaller for the cards.

The colours of these cards were inspired by Color Throwdown, the subject matter of flowers inspired by As You Like It Challenge, and the colouring medium by CAS on Sunday.

The stamp is from ‘Stamps By Me’ – I think I’ve become a stalker with these stamps sets! I love all the floral sets that Toni, the designer and owner, has created. I usually prefer animals to flowers in ‘real life’ but when I am card making, I am more of a floral person. I love stamping and colouring or die cutting flowers and arranging them.

Toni from ‘Stamps By Me’ has recently been on Create and Craft with a lovely little selection – which sold out within the first hour. (psssstttt – I was one of those buyers!!)

The three cards are using navy blue, green, and white. All coloured slightly differently, but all stamped with Versafine black onyx onto water-colour card. One coloured with pencils which aren’t water soluble, with the water-colour card giving a textured look to the colour. One coloured with my Zigs – naturally! – and one with water-colour pencils.

I actually like both the water-colour cards, not such a fan of the normal pencils – I may have to persevere and have a look at some You tube videos. However, I do like my water-colouring…… 🙂 🙂

Color Throwdown – Navy, Green, White

As You Like It Challenge – flora or fauna

CAS on Sunday – use pencils or markers

 

 

 

 

 

Galaxy background

Now, I know I’m coming late to the party, but I have never done a galaxy background. It has never interested me, and the more people that did one – the more I stayed away. I’m funny like that – not really following trends until they are over. I have watched numerous videos about the galaxy backgrounds, but it wasn’t until I saw the Simon Says Stamps Monday challenge, and having just had my Uniko delivery, then I thought I would have a go.

Why inspired now? No clue. No idea………but having all the stamp sets from Uniko based around stars, and wanting to do a less than simple card – well, out came my Gansai Tambi, and distress inks, and I set to it.

I used the stamps from Uniko ‘Background Builders’ and mixed in MFT ‘Stars Above’, embossing onto water-colour card with white. I then created a mess with my Gansai Tambi water-colours, pastels, starry colours, Brusho’s – you name it, I seemed the throw everything at it! I didn’t know when to stop. I just know I had to have some bright colours in the background showing through when I covered the piece with distress ink Black Soot, splashed with water, then splashed with white…………Actually, I can’t remember half of what I did to it!

The sentiment is from MFT, and a coloured base card just to bring some of the colour together from the background.

I don’t know if I’ll be doing this frequently, but I had some fun. Maybe when I am in the mood not to think, but just play, I’ll have a go again.

The challenges I will be entering:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – it’s written in the stars

QKR Stampede – anything goes

Colour Crazy Challenge – anything goes

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Bee – day

Hi everyone. We had a little windy episode here in Derbyshire the other night, certainly nothing in comparison with the USA at the moment, but nevertheless, it led to one of our oak trees losing some branches onto a power line near our house. Thankfully, it didn’t cause the wires to touch, but our electricity provider was called, who said it needed sorting out then and there, which meant a tree surgeon has had to come and make the area safe – but cutting down most of the beautiful oak tree!

It’s not nice seeing all the branches on the ground, and the trunk bald and bare……and they are coming back to cut it down to ground level later in the week. I can’t believe how emotional I got seeing that poor tree……

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To take my mind off it, I escaped to my craft room, and made quite a few cards. Enough to enter a few challenges over the coming days. I was thinking of posting a few of them today, but decided to do quick posts each day, so there wasn’t too much to read at one go, and not too many pictures to download, either. If you are like me, we have quite a low internet speed, so some pictures take forever!

This card was inspired by the challenge from AAA Cards, Addicted to Stamps and More, and Less Is More.

I have used this stamp set from Hero Arts once before, and remembered how cute the little bees were, so had a little fun playing with the CAS look. I also had a delivery of a box of ready made and scored cards, varying sizes, and thought this smaller 4 inch square card suits this little bee and little sentiment.

I used Versafine black onyx again, and used my Misti, as I made several of each design, ready for little note cards. I only used a yellow colour on the bee, and no other colour at all. Zip. Zilch. Nada. (See how multi-lingual I am)

No smudges either, which is what I usually do when I do a one layer card, with a clean and simple design. Maybe it’s because I didn’t play around with the design too much, and not too many colours and different inks – who knows!

Challenges entered:

AAA Cards – Creatures Great and Small

Addicted to Stamps and More – Clean and Simple

Less is More – Take flight

 

 

Wine talk…..

Hello there. I have a selection of cards using the same stamp set from ‘Stamps by Me’. These images lend themselves to water-colouring, and there are lots of flower stamps in her designs, layering flower stamps, for the water-colour effect. Simply stunning some of her creations. I have, however, chosen to stick with plain old stamping….

This card is for the Cards In Envy challenge of Cheers to you, and so I thought this set worked very well. I played with the colours of the wine, using inks from Catherine Pooler, then Altenew. I also put a pink wine for something a little different.

The sentiments in that stamp set are very versatile, and I have only used three of them here. I also liked using the ink ring stamp under the sentiment, as I thought it added something to the rest of the plain card. I have seen this used as an actual engagement ring instead of spilt wine ring, and it looks great – kinda grungy.

I also played with base card colours, as I had a range of cheaper card as a freebie from somewhere – memory issues! – and actually liked the variety and how they turned out. These are very simple cards to make, and would be great for batch-making for ‘just because’ cards, even though they are large.

I am sure we all have a range of sentiment s which suit being placed with wine glasses……I would love to know if you have any quirky sentiments that go with wine and cheers cards……

Challenge I am entering:

Cards In Envy – Cheers to you

CAS colours

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Hi there. I have a card different to the ones I have posted recently. They have been a riot of colour, almost, so this is the opposite side of the coin. Just three colours.

I was inspired by three challenges with this card – CASology, Cupcake Inspirations, and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

I used Altenew ‘Celebrations’ stamp set for the cake, and the sentiment below. Isn’t a piece of cake just absolute contentment? There is almost a deep sigh when I take the first bite of a piece, so I thought the sentiment fitted quite aptly. I think the sentiment is supposed to mean contentment with marriage, and celebrating happiness – but I like it how it is.

I stamped with Versafine black onyx, and coloured with my Zigs. The difficult part was deciding where on the card I wanted the cake and sentiment to go…….the cake moved several times until I settled with this placement.

The challenges I will be entering are:

CASology – cake

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – clean and simple

Cupcake Inspirations – pale yellow, red, green