Month: May 2018

Green background

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Hi there. I seem to be on somewhat of a roll at the moment. I had some time after work today, and was inspired to make this card. I took the photo inspiration from Inkspirational to create my own background, using some leaf and greenery stamps from MFT. The leaves are from two stamp sets – Exquisite Ocean and Sketchy Flowers, and stamped in two of the Altenew green inks.

I wanted to create a fullness in the card, with some dimension using the different greens, and I think I managed to do that.

Once I had stamped the whole card, I die cut the centre using a Sue Wilson oval die from a Christmas set, and a slightly larger oval from the same set in an almost olive green. I didn’t try to match the green completely, but also didn’t want to have a bright green. This green card was just sitting there when I looked through my stash.

The sentiment is also from MFT – a freebie from Seven Hills Crafts a while ago, and I turn to this stamp set all the time.

I’m sorry for the photo, but it is taken inside, and trying to capture this in the evening of a grey and murky day – despite using a lamp – wasn’t easy…..

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Inkspirational – photo inspiration

Tuesday Throwdown – create your own background

Watercooler Wednesday Challenges – anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

a couple of pictures of the stamp sets:

 

 

It’s been playtime….

Hello there. It’s been a few days since I last posted. It’s been Bank Holiday weekend here, and I took mum and dad to visit family in Bristol at the last minute. No crafting time when down there, so I have taken to my craft room today and created three very different cards, for different challenges.

This first card is for the current challenge at CAS on Sunday, and CASology:

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The theme for CAS on Sunday is CAS birthday card, and the theme for CASology is ‘squiggle’. SO, out came my new Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval box, my Catherine Pooler inks, and this is what I created.

The second card is for the current Just Add Ink challenge:

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This was for the photo challenge, and I took the colours of teal and red/pink to create this card. I used the Altenew Doodled Lace Cover die, cut it out of white, then cut it again out of the teal, and again out of the pink. I then took my scissors and snipped parts of the coloured die cuts, and stuck them down onto the white die cut.

The background is a teal coloured Centura Pearl, and the sentiment is from an MFT stamp set.

The third card:

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was inspired from the current challenges at Just Us Girls – photo inspiration, and Aud Sentiments – summer and a sentiment. I know the stamp is called Spring Daisy – but I still think it’s summer when they are around……..

I stamped the outline of the flowers in a pink colour, and the inside in yellow, whereas the leaves I reversed it, and stamped outline in green, and the inner parts of them in the pink colour. I wanted some more difference between the flowers and the background. I also stamped one of the smaller images in the background for an added ‘something’…….erm…….you can’t really tell I stamped them upside down, can you?! (Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything)

After a long weekend, I am back at work tomorrow, maybe some later days, but I will try and find time to do some crafting.

🙂

Gilded butterfly

Hi there. I haven’t posted for a few days, but I now have several days off work, with very little planned, so I should be able to find time to craft. The past few days I have been crafting, but have you had a time when you have so many ideas going round your head that you can’t actually settle on one thing? That has been me.

I started one idea for one card, then something distracted me and I went onto another card – I had four cards on the go at once…..but I didn’t know how I was going to finish any of them off.

Here is one I completed today:

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A close up of the Butterfly:

 

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I took some double sided sticky sheet and added some gilding flakes, then die cut the butterfly. The white embossing is a tonic die – I seem to be embossing dies at the moment – and put onto a gold card to tie-in with the butterfly.

Actually quite a simple card – but it seemed to take me forever to get my head around it!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Always Fun Challenges – anything goes

4 crafty Chicks – anything goes (not using the twist of masculine birthday)

Stamplorations CAS – things with wings

Eclipse cards

Hello there. After watching the wedding yesterday, I did manage to find time to go and play in my craft room. I was inspired by the current challenge from Just Add Ink, which was to use the eclipse technique. Here is my first sample:

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I used the colours from Just Us Girls, and took my new Concord and 9th ‘Wreath Turnabout‘ stamp and set to it. I used the Catherine Pooler ‘Aquatini‘, and the Stampin Up ‘Pacific Point‘ for the blue colours, and the grey was the layers underneath the letters, as well as when I embossed the sentiment in white onto grey card.

I thought the colours kinda merged at first, but when I added the raised ‘eclipse’ part, it seemed to come together better. I also think it looks better when part of the ‘eclipse’ is on the white section, otherwise I think it’s too busy. Here is the second card I made, which kinda proves the point:

This was using the Concord and 9th  ‘Blooms fill-in‘ and the same colours, but I don’t think it stands out very much on such a busy background. I still like it – a surprise when someone actually picks it up to look at it – but my favourite is the first card I made.

I did have a look on YouTube for some hints and tips on making the eclipse cards, and actually really enjoyed all the stamping and die-cutting, and gluing…..it covered all my favourite ways of crafting. I hope you get a chance to try it. I do remember I made another eclipse card just before Christmas – Hidden Word – but now realise what this technique is called, and that this was an extremely busy card, which is probably why I didn’t make another – until now!

 

 

Wow!

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Hello again. I am posting this card early today, as I want to settle down and watch the build-up to ‘The Wedding’. I may not have time to craft until later, so I wanted to get in early.

This card is inspired by the colours from CAS Colours and Sketches, and using my new purchase from Uniko. I have had this stamp set for a while, but Bev has just released the matching dies – so here we are.

I ink smooshed some ‘Pacific Point’ onto my Tim Holtz glass mat, and ran some water-colour card through it. I did this yesterday, whilst my hands were still mucky from the ink smooshing I did for the previous card – the Peony Dream 3D. I didn’t totally wet the card down, nor add too much water to the ink, as I wanted some of the card texture to come through.

I then ink smooshed some of the ‘So Saffron‘ and ‘Pear Pizzazz‘ so I could die cut the explosions out and layer them together.

The sentiments are from the same stamp set, also with the matching die around the ‘WOW’.

I seem to be making some encouragement cards recently, and aren’t they great to have in your stash? I think this card also looks quite masculine, which I struggle to make generally.

I shall also be entering the anything goes challenge with QKR Stampede.

Aqua Peony Dream

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Hi there. I have been getting a little ink smooshy today, and also been doing a lot more die cutting.

After I enjoyed putting together the Altenew ‘Rose Flurries’ the other day, I took a set I haven’t used before – despite having for absolutely ages – and set to it!

The colours are Catherine Pooler ‘Aquatini‘ and ‘Lime Rickey‘ which I smooshed onto my Tim Holtz glass mat – one at a time – wet it, took some water-colour card, then smooshed it around. I did this 2 or 3 times between drying, to get a little layering action going on.

Once those cards had dried, I took the dies from the Altenew ‘Peony Dream 3D die‘ and cut the flower out of the Aquatini, and the leaves out of the Lime Rickey. When I first put them together, the flower layers seemed to get lost a little, so I went round each petal and just darkened the ends, so it would stand out a little more.

Then I turned to my background and layers…..

I embossed the Avery Elle ‘Polka Plate Die‘ (again!), and even though it is embossed, it seemed to need an edge around it…….so I took the Lime Rickey, and inked all around the edge of a layering piece of card. So that meant the edge matched the lime colour I had already used.

The sentiment I chose as the card is so bright and cheerful, I thought it needed a matching sentiment…..again from Avery Elle. Except – I stamped it after I had embossed the background…….I didn’t want another layer with a sentiment, so I used my Misti, with my fingers and toes crossed……

There you have it – die cutting and ink smooshing – my fingers are all aqua coloured now…….

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – Aqua, Lime Green, White

Craftaholics R Us – anything goes

Addicted to Stamps and More – Make your mark (ink smooshing water-colouring)

Alphabet Challenge – ‘D’ for dots

Altenew May Inspiration challenge – photo inspiration – using aqua a lot

 

Purple Rose Flurries

Hello again. I have a couple of cards as variation on the current theme inspired by Inkspirational:

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The theme is to use purple and gold, and so I turned to my ‘Rose Flurries 3D die set‘ from Altenew. I had a little play with them when I first got them, but took the opportunity this time to really have a play.

There was a lot of die-cutting – and no stamping! I had four variations of colour of purple, as I had a pack from Creative Expressions. I cut all of the layers of the roses in all four colours, and placed them in a variety of ways – some with the dark colour on the bottom, some with the dark colour on the top, and then some more just putting them in any old order!

I then cut the leaves in Creative Expressions gold card, but I didn’t layer them up, as I liked the look of them as they were.

The first card is the flowers and leaves layered onto a plain white background, but I added some detail to the background on the second card. This time I took the Altenew ‘Gradient Stripes cover die’, and cut it out of the gold card, then cut the ‘Watercolour stripes cover die’, and placed that on top – that way I had some gold in the background – but not too much.

I must say I enjoyed the faffing and fiddling when doing all that die-cutting, and even enjoyed the gluing part of it – though at times the flowers were sticking more to my fingers than each other……

Here are the cards at a different angle:

I tried to show the glimmer on the gold card, but it is really difficult…..

🙂

Red and Grey Congratulations

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Hello there. I have another congratulations card – I did mention yesterday that I have several to make – here is my latest.

This card was inspired by the current Fusion Challenge, where I turned the sketch and used the red and grey of the inspiration picture to stand out on the card.

The embossing folder is one from Crafters Companion, and used to mimic the stones at the bottom of the picture, and the leaves from an MFT set. I didn’t want solid leaves, as I didn’t want them to take away from the other colours.

This card actually took quite a bit of ‘faffing’ around to get just how I wanted it, and just how big I wanted the white strip. Then I had to find a ‘Congratulations‘ sentiment which was long enough and big enough.

A quick posting, with very little explanation, but I am sure you see where I;m coming from with this.

I will be entering the current Fusion Challenge:

Blue Congratulations

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Hello. I hope everyone has had a good weekend. I have managed to find some mojo, and find some time to craft. The weather has been  brighter, even though it did rain last night, but everything is looking really green and lush at the moment.

I wanted to join the current challenge at Watercooler challenges, with the theme of ‘Occasions’, as I have three – yes three – friends at work who have recently has the news of passing exams/courses as part of our work. Those Masters degrees – hard work, but worth it in the end.

I also took inspiration from Craftaholics R Us, where their theme was to use something blue on the project. So, even though I am using the Altenew ‘Gardenia‘ again – are there blue Gardenia’s? – it looks completely different in this colour to when I have previously used it.

When I was thinking about the design of the card, I actually turned to the current Card Concept Challenge – they have a photo of a big and bold red/orange blossom. So even though my flower is blue, I took their photo as inspiration for the layout, and just used one flower, and the Altenew Gradient Stripes Cover Die. I actually put some of the strips back into the frame – in a different order – as I thought the wider stripes of blue seemed to engulf the flower a little too much.

The sentiment is from another Altenew set, and I added  some Nuvo drops, basically because I haven’t used them for a little while, and I also wanted to break the white up a little more.

🙂

A Tweet Hello

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Hello everyone. I have in my craft room again, and this is third attempt at making a card. I have been trying some water-colouring for another challenge, and some die-cutting and stamping for yet another challenge – but my results were definitely less than ideal. In fact – I binned them! I was so frustrated!

I took some time out with my puddy tats, and then went back to other ideas completely – and this card just came together! Isn’t it strange how that happens?

I used my new collection of Tim Holtz Distress Oxides – fabulous deal they were – and blended on some card, then added some water droplets. The little birdies – aren’t they cute? – are from MFT ‘My Tweet Hello‘, which I stamped then coloured with my Zigs. I just coloured en bloc, no shading, as I wanted some vibrant colours so they would stand out from the little squares I put them on.

The wonky squares are from MFT, and were just the right size to add the little birdies to. I purposefully moved the squares around so they didn’t all have the pink and blue on the same side, just for that little added variety.

I may venture into my craft room again, but I’ll to gird my loins…..it may help if I clear away everything from my desk, and then start anew…….that’s a thought! I’ll let you know how I get on….

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – sketch

Addicted to Stamps and More – anything goes

Clean and Simple on Sunday – CAS cute

Aud Sentiments challenge – cute and sentiment