Month: April 2018

Different Flowers

Hello again. I have a couple of cards to share with you today.

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The first card is using the Altenew Ranunculus stamp and die set, and stamped using a more teal colour. The leaves I just used the outline and the detail stamps, not the base colour, as I wanted them quite muted.

The layout is for the current challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches, with the circle from  a Stampin Up/Sizzix set. I realised I don’t actually have any larger circle dies – something I must change!

The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

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The second card is using the colours for the current Color Throwdown Challenge, and the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. I used the MFT ‘More Rustic Flowers‘ but again only using a couple of the layers for the flowers, not all of them.

The greenery is from the same stamp set, with the green dots supposedly being part of a branch in that set, but I used it as you see here. I bent the stems for the flowers in different ways, which is so easy to do with photo-polymer sets.

The sentiment is from the die set for Concord and 9th ‘Painted Rose‘….the rose card from yesterday, in fact, is that stamp set. I die cut the sentiment several times in black card with a double sided sticky sheet on the back, and stuck them together, so it could have a little dimension.

Now – I’m not really sure about this card. It took a little moment or two for me to actually think whether or not to post it. I’m not sure whether it’s the grey background card, or the purple/lilac card – but I’m not sure I like it! Maybe it’s the plain-ness of the background – I just don’t know.

I may try this layout again, with different ways of doing the background, but here it is. In all it’s glory!

 

 

Friends

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Good evening all. My craft room has seen some use today, and I have two cards to share with you today.

The first card was inspiration for the current Double D challenge, with a clean and simple route for the 4 Craft Chicks challenge, and the current Inkspirational challenge was to create a card with a cue word of ‘play’.

The sentiment is from a set I have had for years, from Hampton Art ‘Laugh Out Loud‘ collection. This set has a few sentiments suiting friends, but I particularly liked this one. It certainly suited my bestie and I on occasions over the past 27 years, let me tell you. Actually – I don’t think I will tell you!! 🙂

I stamped the sentiment and added to the card with 3D glue, so I could arrange my leaves around as you can see. The leaves are actually extras I had from previous cards – I always stamp and cut more than I think I am going to need, just for this reason.

No embellishments, no Nuvo drops or sequins, very little dimension – quite different to my recent postings.

The second card I am posting today:

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This is for the current challenge at Die Cutting Divas – to use a die cut and birthday, and CAS(E) This Sketch for the layout, and Cards In Envy – flat and birthday.

The rose is from Concord and 9th – ‘Painted Rose‘ and comes with a matching couple of dies. It is supposed to give an effect of water-colour and completely fill the outline. I like this effect, and have stamped it in several colours.

The leaves were also stamped and die-cut separately for the top left corner, and also to add a couple more under the rose itself. The set also comes with a little splatter stamp, which I used to add some more interest, as the die cuts off the splatters which are stamped when filling-in the rose.

Tomorrow, I’ll be putting some more cards on show, as I have – again – left it to the last minute to join some challenges. The cards are made, I just didn’t get around to posting them.

 

 

Under the Cherry Blossom tree

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Hello again. After the huge and colourful flowers and huge card the other day, I have gone for a more clean and simple look for the card today. The inspiration for the colours and choice of stamp set is from the current Card Concept photo inspiration.

The branches and blossom fill-ins are from Altenew ‘Under The Cherry Blossom Tree‘, using Altenew inks. Die-cut using the matching die set, and arranged as you see – some cutting and faffing along the way.

The blue section is Distress Oxide blended and softly coming down to nothing. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

I have still been going through some Altenew Academy classes, and I plan on playing a little this weekend, but for now this is the offering for today.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Card Concept – photo inspiration

Always Fun Challenges – CAS

Addicted to Stamps and More – CAS

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

 

Ornamental Flower

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Hello again. I must ask – has anyone seen this stamp set from Altenew yet? The Ornamental Flower? OMG! Good grief! Hubba hubba! (and all other statements of wow!)

I received a delivery from Seven Hills Crafts, forgetting this was in it, and when I saw it – I played straight away. I am so loving this flower, and I want to stamp it in all my colours. The first sets of colours are as you see here, as I wanted purples for the Just Us Girls challenge, a mixture of purples and pinks for the current Altenew challenge, and decided to use the sketch from Crazy 4 Challenges. All-in-all I am pleased how this turned out.

I cut my Altenew Watercolour Stripes Cover Die out of black card stock, and cut it into the shape of the sketch. I then stamped some of the leaves from the Ornamental Flower stamp set in the lightest purple Altenew ink on the remaining white space.

Then it was the flowers…….I just can’t say any more than I have already….. The leaves I stamped using my new set of Green Meadows inks from Altenew (turning into an Altenew card, innit?) Now these greens are GREEN! They are definitely for the more vivid and colourful cards you put together.

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I’m off to use more colours for this flower now, and to see where that takes me.

I will be entering the following challenges:

Just Us Girls – prominently purple

Crazy 4 Challenges – sketch

Altenew April Inspiration Challenge – photo inspiration

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – flower power

Fusion Inspiration Challenge

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Hello again. Here is another card I started at the weekend, and finished tonight to enter the Fusion Card Challenge.

Here is the inspiration – sketch and/or photo:

I decided to use both the sketch and the photo as inspiration for this card.
The flowers are Altenew Gardenia and stamped with the grey inks, but one of them using the darker colours, and the other two with the lighter three inks. The leaves were also using Altenew inks and I went for the more teal as opposed to green.
I die cut the Avery Elle Polka Plate die twice out of grey card stock, and trimmed it to fit the card width underneath the circle die cut.
The circle was half embossed with another die from Crafters Companion – I didn’t want it too obvious, but did it because I thought the white circle would otherwise have been too plain. The sentiment is from Stamps By Me.
This card is the last of my weekend card making marathon, and I really enjoyed sharing them with you. Here’s to continuing mojo…….

Cat agenda

Hello everyone. I have a couple of cards to share today, as part of the Twofer Card Challenge, and Seize The Birthday.

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Both of these cards are using the Little Cat Agenda from Mama Elephant, and both are using the MFT Horizontal Collage plate – but using the cover plate squares which are cut out for one card, and the remaining frame of water-colour card for the other. So – two fer one using the cover plate die. I think the cut-out squares are meant to be discarded – but I always keep them for adding to cards.

I wanted the cards to be quite vibrant, so chose my Distress Oxides accordingly for the backgrounds, and whilst having the cats quite similar in colour, I used the zigs in vibrant colours too for the objects they are holding.

In the first picture you can see one of my new cats. We had two humongous cats, but lost one of them suddenly in January, so we bought not one – but two more cats. Well – what’s three cats compared to two cats, right?

That’s why I chose cats for the Two fer challenge…..

I quite enjoyed colouring the little blighters – but they are small, and it took me a while to figure out how to use some dimension when colouring when they are so small, but I tried…..and enjoyed the challenge….and that’s what it is all about, isn’t it?

Have a good day, and I will see you tomorrow – I still have a couple of cards to post from my Marathon session on Sunday!! That mojo returned with a vengeance!

 

Little candles, big sentiment

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Hi there. A short and quick posting of just one card today, to enter the current CAS Colours and Sketches challenge to use Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, and Flirty Flamingo.

I used a Uniko stamp set for the candles, and a different set for the yellow ‘bursts’. I think these are meant for the centre of a flower, but I thought they looked like fireworks going off in the sky. I may try these with a dark background and possibly embossed at some point in the future.

I had to use a Catherine Pooler ink for the blue, as my Pool Party has dried up, but I did use the appropriate colours for the others.

Have a great day. 🙂

 

You are awesome

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Good evening everyone. I couldn’t resist posting this card today. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow, as it is for the current challenge at Color Throwdown, and it finishes tomorrow, but I have a long day at work and may not have time to post.

The challenge colours are red, green, and white – I think I managed to stick to those colours……

I began by stamping the outline flower from Altenew ‘Beautiful Day‘ all over an 8 inch square panel, in a red Altenew ink. I then took some of the smaller leaf images from that same stamp set and filled in the gaps with a green ink. I wanted a veritable feast of flowers on this card, but not solid flowers. I trimmed it down slightly and put onto a white card base.

I then took the same stamp set, and used Altnew inks to stamp all four layers of the flower but this time I stamped the outline in black, as I wanted it to stand out from the background when I added it. I also did some of the leaves with three layers of the green inks. This is one of the stamp sets I don’t have the matching dies for – virtually unknown for me! – so I cut them out by hand. 😦

I then took the sentiment from Altenew ‘Super Script’ and cut that out four times in black card, and added the stamped and die cut sentiment on the top. This way it is a bold and dimensional sentiment.

As the card is so busy, I didn’t add any other embellishments – not even Nuvo drops!

Another thing I tried with this card that I learned from an Altenew online class – putting a piece of 3D foam under the outermost leaf when sliding the inner part under the main flower. I thought I’d try it:

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It looks better in real life…..

As mentioned previously, this card is to enter into the current Color Throwdown Challenge – using Red, Green, White

 

 

A single rose

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Hello all. I had a few days last week where my mojo left me, but then I had a delivery from Create and Craft of the latest Stamps By Me release – stamps and dies. So – my mojo arrived back – and boy did it arrive back……I created 5 – yes, 5!! – cards yesterday, and this is one of them. I didn’t want to overload the blog, so I will be posting the rest over the next few days.

They were all created taking inspiration from current challenges, and I started this card using the colours from Hand Stamped Sentiments, with the theme being Natures Beauty from Try It On Tuesday – which certainly matched all the new stamps and dies which arrived.

I began by using my Tim Holtz glass mat yet again, laying down some blue from Catherine Pooler (my Stampin Up Soft Sky has seen better days!), adding a spritz of water, and running some water-colour card through it.

Whilst that was drying, I stamped the rose, and water-coloured it with Flirty Flamingo and Lemon Lime Twist, letting one layer dry, before adding a second layer for some darker areas on the flower and rose.

After the blue background was dry, I stamped the main rose image, which has some drawings and circles with it, then added the die cut rose on top. A sentiment from the same stamp set, stuck onto a white base card, and some black Nuvo drops, and the card was done.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Hand Stamped Sentiments – Flirty Flamingo, Soft Sky, Lemon Lime Twist

Try It On Tuesday – Natures Beauty

QKR Stampede – anything goes

stripes and beauty

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Hello again everyone. I have a fairly simple card which came about completely unexpectedly. I went to try another technique from my Altenew class, and kinda got swept away with making this card.

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I took a piece of white card and die cut a large tag shape from Sue Wilson’s ‘Alexandra’ die set. After die cutting the Reverse Confetti ‘Vertical Stripes‘ out of black card – now horizontal stripes(!!) – I stuck it down on the back of the tag die cut piece, and stuck them both down onto a white base card.

I took a spare Altenew ‘Spring Daisy‘ that was just sitting there on my table, and matched that with the three layer leaves from Altenew ‘Perennial Beauty‘. I did want to use the Perennial Beauty flower, but it doesn’t matter what card I use, or what inks I use, it always comes out a hot mess. It looks nothing like a flower to me, but as the words and sentiments in that stamp set are fabulous – I’m going to keep it. I may try a colouring technique with it, as I think stamping the flower is a little too, well, messy, for me, but if I colour it, I may like to define things a little more.

I took the sentiments from Perennial Beauty and stamped in Versafine black onyx. No sequins, no Nuvo drops, no other additions – just the card as it is.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

QKR Stampede – anything goes

Just Us Girls – use black and white stripes