Year: 2017

Coloured Birthday

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Hello everyone. I hope everyone is doing well, and enjoying the day…..

This card was made in a larger format, to leave some clean space on the card. The colours are from the current challenge from CAS Colours and Sketches – Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz. I first stamped the flowers from Stamps By Me, in Crumb Cake, then again – using my Misti – stamped over the top of the colour with Ranger Perfect Medium, and embossed with clear embossing powder.

I coloured the flowers with Pumpkin Pie, and the leaves with Pear Pizzazz, before using my Lawn Fawn ‘Wonky Rectangles’ to cut the panel. I then used the Sue Wilson ‘Shadow Box Collection – Stitched Lattice Frames’ to emboss the grid pattern into that panel. I also used the three rectangles from that same die set to cut a thin frame out of Crumb Cake Card, and another layer to go underneath the white panel. That way, I had stitching on all the layers.

The bottom thinner frame is stuck directly onto the base card, with the flower panel and it’s Crumb Cake layer being raised on 3D foam pads.

The sentiment is from Stamps By Me, stamped in Versafine Black Onyx.

As it is very, very windy outside today, I photographed inside again. I probably spent as much time hunting for a suitable photo situation as I did putting the card together…..

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake

CASology – grid

Seize the Birthday – anything goes birthday (not using optional theme)

 

 

 

 

 

Colours, Sketch, Feminine

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Hello again, everyone. I have made a card with more die-cutting than stamping today. The colours were inspired by Color Throwdown and Watercooler Wednesday, and the layout by Freshly Made Sketches.

I have a fad for orange at the moment. It seems to have been in my crafting for a few months now, and I really have to try to move away from it – but then Color Throwdown used orange as part of the colour scheme this week. Yay!

I used a spellbinders die for the large circle, and the ‘beautiful’ word die from Stamps By Me, as was the ‘Birthday Wishes’ stamp. This part of it was actually quite easy. Now for the more complicated part…..

I wanted to use a rose die from Stamps By Me, which comes with the intricate rose, plus a larger border die. I didn’t want the bits to fall out of the rose, so turned to some Glad Press ‘N’ seal which my sister gave from when I went to Canada.

20171005_215529 v2Once I had cut the rose out of Kraft card, I managed to release the die cut without many pieces falling out, used the press ‘n’ seal on the front of the rose, glued the back of it all, then picked it up with the press ‘n’ seal, and placed it on the larger rose outline die, gently removing the press ‘n’ seal, leaving the rose stuck down onto the outline. I didn’t fancy piecing all those bits back in, so I am glad not many of them fell out!

I then added some Spectrum Sparkle around the rose outline, and stuck it to the circle with 3D foam pads.

Challenges I am entering with this card:

Color Throwdown – Orange, Kraft, White

Freshly Made Sketches – Sketch

Watercooler Wednesday – anything goes feminine

 

 

CAS Christmas Reindeer

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Hi there. I have finally found time to play with my Mama Elephant ‘Little Reindeer Agenda’. Finally! I bought this set and the Santa set a few weeks ago from Seven Hills Crafts, and just haven’t been in the mood to play with them. Today, that changed. No idea why, but it means I have a couple of cards to share with you.

I stamped eight of the little reindeer in black Versafine, and coloured them with my Zigs. I added some shading to the reindeer, even though they are very small, but used a flesh colour, and a light tan colour – just a little dimension. I used the matching dies to cut them out and then tried to decide the lay-out.

That problem was solved by the current challenge from AAA Cards. The sketch they have – I thought – was ideal for a lay-out using all my reindeer. I then decided not to put them straight, but the put them a little ‘wonky’, which could mean movement, but it actually means you don’t have to line things up perfectly. :)

One sentiment is from the Little Santa Agenda set, and the other sentiment is from Avery Elle ‘Brring on the Joy’ – a set with penguins I may use very soon – now I’m feeling I need to make some more Christmas cards.

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I covered the reindeer with my glitter pen, and added some Nuvo Drops to noses – they are all Rudolph (artistic license), and another three drops for some added colour. Can you see the little ‘personal’ touch on the second card? The larger drop wasn’t quite dried when I stood the card up to photograph it, and it started to droop just as I took the photo……slightly less than round now…….

 

I will be entering the following challenges:

AAA Cards – sketch

Christmas at Sweet Stampin’ – anything Christmas

Crimbo Crackers – Reindeer

Addicted to Stamps and More – make your mark

Winter Wonderland Challenge – anything goes Christmas

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a creature/critter

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas 

 

3 colours water-coloured

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Hi all. I’m afraid it’s another indoor photo today, as it’s very grey, miserable, windy, and rainy outside. I am more of an Autumn and Winter person, and like watch rain and snow etc. – when I’m inside near a wood fire, of course!

The colours for this card was from the current challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments – So Saffron, Always Artichoke, and Night of Navy. I first stamped some of my Altenew Tulips onto water-colour card, then coloured them with my water-brush. As I only have the markers for the tulip colours, I scribbled them onto an acrylic block, then took my water-brush and coloured in the flowers. After the first layer had dried, I went back in to add some shading – in the same colours – but a second layer gave some added dimension. I also use the matching dies to cut them out.

For the Night of Navy background, I took some water-colour paper this time. I sprayed the paper liberally with water, then dropped in the Night Of Navy with the water-brush – from an acrylic block again – and moved it around a little. I find the Stampin Up inks are actually very good when it comes to water-colouring, and it didn’t take long at all. (Well – I did use by heat gun a little!)

I cut the rectangle out as I didn’t want a lot of blue on the card, and stuck everything down as you see.

The sentiment is from Stamps By Me, stamped in Versafine black onyx.

I have also been playing with my Derwent Inktense pencils today, and will be using them on another project. I must have watched quite a few YouTube videos on these pencils, as well as going onto the Derwent website. What you can do with these seems to be endless, if you are an artist – which I definitely am not! I do, however, like the intensity which comes from these pencils, and that you can touch a water-brush to the nib itself to pull some colour off. I’ll be trying some layering, some shading – all new to me. What a challenge I have set myself……….I may have to search for some classes near to me…..

I will be entering the following challenges with this card:

Hand Stamped Sentiments – So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Night of Navy

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – anything goes

CAS on Sunday – use a die cut

QKR Stampede – anything goes with twist of cutting it up

 

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