Month: June 2018

Furry Friends

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Hello everyone. I did some more tidying and sorting in my craft room yesterday, and came across a whole stack of Stampin Up designer Series paper – goodness knows how long I’ve had this!

I decided to use some of it as background for this card, which was inspired by the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments. This is quite a large card – an A4 folded into two, just so I could get four of my little animals in there.

I used the Concord and 9th ‘Furry Friends’, and actually stamped and die cut them all out, in all their various forms, and decided to go with the ‘friends’ I have here.

The circle die is also from Stampin Up, with the sentiment being from MFT – my usual ‘go to’ sentiment set.

I shall be crafting again later, but I am going to see my mum and dad – he is 80 years of age today. I’ve got to go ans give him the card I made and posted on my blog yesterday. They only live 20-30 minutes away, so a mere jaunt in the grand scheme of things.

I shall be entering the following challenges with this card:

Hand Stamped Sentiments – sketch

Just Us Girls – anything goes

 

Birthday card for dad

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Hello everyone. It’s been a week since I last posted, as I have been busy, busy, busy. You know I went to the Altenew day in Daventry last Saturday, especially if you follow me on Instagram – I sent a couple of photos of that day. Absolutely brilliant, and great meeting at the team and fellow enthusiasts.

When I arrived home, I still had my Ikea purchases to put together, and then sort out my craft room – I’m nearly there – but then I was at work the rest of the week. As most of the stuff I had to sort out was on my craft table, it wasn’t until today that I had even a little smidgen of space to be able to create…….that table is still a work in progress – but I had to put this card together for my dad.

He is 80 tomorrow……80……which means I am getting older too……time flies…..! He had some health issues this year, but he is brilliant at the moment.

I thought I would add a little quirkiness with the elephant, and a little glitter with the embossing powder, just because I can.

I followed the current sketch challenge from CAS Colours and Sketches for the layout, though I did flip and rotate the sketch.

The little red balloon was attached to the elephant with a drawn blue string. The word ‘dad’ is die cut several times using the Altenew bold alphabet die (my capitals set is with my sister in Canada until she arrives here with them……goodness knows when!!!), then  stacked together for some dimension, with the top letters embossed with glittery white from WOW!.

Hopefully, I can continue to sort out my craft room, and craft at the same time, as there is a lot of inspiration out there I am wanting to use for cards.

Challenges I shall be entering with this card:

CAS Colours and Sketches – sketch

Seize The Birthday – anything goes birthday

Aud Sentiments Challenge – anything goes with sentiment

 

 

 

Hello Lovely…

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Hello everyone. I have one card to share with you today – and at the end of the post a photograph of my car boot after an Ikea shopping trip……!!!!!!

This card is the first one layer card I created without any smudges, without trying to get it done at least twice, so I just had to post it.

I used Altenew ‘Simple Shapes XL‘ stamp set, and Catherine Pooler inks. These stamps are quite large solid images, and Catherine Pooler inks just make life so much easier for this kind of stamping. I didn’t stamp any of the shapes more than once – and I hadn’t even used most of them before, so they were brand new. I have had them for ages, but never used them!

I did use my Misti – just in case – which again makes life easier, and just played with the different shapes. I didn’t have a plan for them, I just knew I wanted a rainbow effect with the colours. I arranged the inks around my mat, started with the pink at the bottom left, and just went with it.

As the colours are bold, I used a bold and black sentiment from The Ton ‘Peony Notes‘ as that was on my desk from the other day. A large sentiment, and I used Catherine Pooler ‘Midnight‘ ink to get a dark black and crisp image. I did need to stamp that a couple of times with my Misti, but I think it’s because I didn’t let the other inks dry enough.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

AAA cards – CAS geometric

Addicted to CAS – CAS rainbow

Now – for the Ikea shop. Ikea opened in Sheffield last year, and this is the first time I’ve been. I’m trying to organise and sort out my craft room. It’s a fairly small room, and at the moment there is stuff everywhere – in boxes, disorganised on shelves…….this shopping trip should help!!! 🙂 Thank goodness it all fit. I don’t think I’ve put the back seats down before. Maybe I should have taken the Transit van……but perhaps that would have too dangerous! (not that this wasn’t bad enough!) I’ll let you know what hubby says…….

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Oh My Stars!

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Hi there. A quick card for you today, without any die cutting. I know – after the past couple of postings, I was kinda all die cut out……so I made this card with stamping only. I was going for a clean and simple look – which I believe I achieved.

I used the small three star stamp from Concord and 9th ‘Shine On‘ stamp set, stamping the outline in Catherine Pooler ‘Midnight’ ink, then filling-in with an Altenew orange ink.

The sentiment is from a Uniko stamp set, again stamped in ‘Midnight’ ink.

There’s not much more to say about the card, so I’ll leave it at that – except to say I will be entering the following challenges:

CAS(E) This Sketch – sketch

Inkspirational Challenges – use small stamps

Addicted to Stamps Challenge – black and white and one colour

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Bengal Tigers scene

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Hi there. This card you see here took me absolutely ages to put together. There must be easier ways of creating a scene than the process I went through. I have making this for a couple of days as I didn’t know quite how I was going to place the grassy die cuts, nor where I was going to place the tigers. I must have moved them around half a dozen times, walked away to think about it, went back to it…….it’s easier going to work!

These Bengal Tigers from Hero Arts were the easiest part of the card, even the fact I had to fussy-cut them as I don’t have the matching dies. I did stamp them in a couple of colours, bit preferred these colours the best.

I took the blue background card and embossed clouds onto it, as that much blank blue looked too much, and I didn’t want to start ink blending as I liked this lighter blue. The clouds were added from The Ton Golf Course stamps and dies, just for a little more dimension up there.

I don;t do these layered scene cards very often – I now remember why not!! – but I will certainly have a search for tips and tricks when it comes to putting them together.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

City Crafter – Safari Style

Crafty Cardmakers – wet or dry embossing

The Library Craft Challenge – where the wild things are

 

The Ton purchases

Hello everyone. I have a couple of cards to share with you today. Both of these cards are from new purchases which arrived yesterday – and I couldn’t wait to get stamping. This first card is using the ‘Holly Branch‘ stamp set:

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I took the layout from CAS Colours and Sketches and created a simple Christmas card, using the stamps and sentiment from this set. I also added some red glitter card to the top and bottom, and die cut the main piece with a Catherine Pooler die.

I shall be entering the following challenges with this card:

CAS Colours and Sketches – sketch

Watercooler Challenges – Occasions

Time Out Challenges – Holidays

This second card:20180617_140048

is using the colours from Color Throwdown and the newly purchased ‘Peony Notes‘ from The Ton. I also used a Catherine Pooler background stamp for the lines as a back-drop to my flowers. To make the pieces fit together, as opposed to putting one on top of the other, I just turned the die around. Almost like a paper piecing kind of thing.

These flowers are stunning, and I tried them in different colours – and probably made smudges and mistakes on most of them!!

This card will be entered into the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – Coral, Aqua, Yellow Green

4 Craft Chicks – anything goes

Daring Cardmakers – anything but white

Here is one of those smudgy mistakes – I’m still trying to figure out how I can save it! You see the green smudges on the yellow flower? How do I fix that? I may just have to bin this one and start again………….

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Totally Tropical

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Hello everyone. I don’t think this card can in any way be called clean and simple….It combines ink blending, stamping, die-cutting, splattering – yet not embossing.

I put this together for the current challenge at Daring Cardmakers. I liked the idea to use bold and bright colours and took my Altenew ‘Totally Tropical‘ stamp and die set. I arranged all my Catherine Pooler inks at the side of me, and stamped like crazy. I then took my Distress oxides and blended like crazy, too.

For the background, I blended, then splashed with water, then splashed with the Gansai Tambi Pearl colours. Whilst that was drying, I stamped most of the flower images, playing with the combination of colours for each flower. I stamped the leaves using different green inks, and then die cut the whole bunch of them.

The sentiment is a die from the same stamp set, which I die-cut four times using black card and double-sided sticky sheets, so I could layer that up for dimension.

Now the background was dry, I played with the layout, wanting some sense and uniformity – yet not too much…..using my 3D glue – to give me movement and placement time – I then stuck them to the blended and splattered ink panel. I wanted the sentiment to be framed by the flowers, and still stand out from all the colour.

Here is a close-up of the shimmer:

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Sketch and Tulips

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Hello again. I have one card for you today. This card took a bit of figuring out, but I managed without too much hassle – but there certainly was hassle!

I used the current sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch, and started by die cutting the circle. Then I wanted a flower, and looked at all my layering flowers, and decided to go with this stamp set from The Ton – ‘Fresh Cut Tulips‘. Then the fun began…..

I wanted the flower to be on the outside of the circle, as well as the inside, and didn’t want to cut around it. I placed both pieces of card into my Misti, decided where I wanted to stamp, and began by stamping the flower and leaves onto the bottom piece. I then took the top piece and laid it down, removed the bottom piece, and stamped again.

I didn’t layer the leaves, I just stamped them in one colour green, but I did layer the tulip itself. I managed to keep each piece of card straight, no moving – this sometimes still happens with the Misti – and I liked how this turned out.

I then took the top piece of card and embossed it with a Spellbinders embossing folder, to add more interest. I didn’t want another colour, and the white looked too plain for me.

I then wanted a sentiment which matched the flower, and I thought this was ideal. This was stamped with Versafine black onyx and stuck down with 3D foam pads.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS(E) This Sketch – sketch

Addicted To Stamps and More – anything goes

 

 

CASology ‘Pearl’

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So here it – my guest designer spot for CASology. Here is the cue card:

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I was initially going with a wedding anniversary card for hubby, as it is our Pearl anniversary at the beginning of July. 30 years married – I obviously got married very, very young. 🙂

However, I was looking at something to colour in a pearly kinda way, but came across these couple of dies from Stampin Up. I thought the sentiment would be great for a clean and simple card. I did think about colouring the star in a pearl colour, but I decided to go with adding some pearls to it instead. Even though there are quite a few pearls, I still think it gives a clean and simple look, a symmetrical look for the pearls, and as the card is only in two colours – except the pearls – it remains quite clean.

I also used  a Catherine Pooler die from a previous Stamp Of Approval for the postage stamp layer to add some more simple detail.

I hope you are able to join this challenge with us, and I look forward to seeing what you create. I always enjoy seeing how these cue cards ate interpreted by other people, from the more traditional to the more quirky.

 

 

An Indoor Garden

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Hi there. I really enjoyed making this card with the Altenew ‘Indoor Garden‘ stamp and die set. I have had this set for absolutely ages – and never used it. The opportunity came when I saw the current challenge at Addicted To Stamps, and the theme for Inkspirational.

I took all of the images from the stamp set, and didn’t realise until I started that each image has several bits to stamp to complete each one. Actually – I had so much fun with the images coming together, and I am sure I will make more similar cards. I did stamp and die cut at least three of each – you have to fill your Misti, don’t you?

I used the Altenew ‘Soft Scoop‘ ink set, as although different colours, they work so well together. I also used some of my other green inks, for more variety, as I wanted the cacti themselves to be quite bright – but not too much.

The lined background is me taking a die cut from the Altenew ‘Gradient Stripes‘ cover die – just laying there on my desk – and using that as a mask. Not too correctly, and using three colours, to give an almost water-colour effect. I liked how this turned out – not too precise, but certainly a little something extra to the background.

Once I had placed the die cut images down, I looked for a ‘power‘ sentiment to match. My thought process in this…..cacti are strong, durable, and seem to survive almost anything – that is my ‘power‘ idea. I have a couple of friends going through some personal issues at the moment – and I thought this sentiment was ideal, taking from Altenew ‘Bamboo Rose‘ stamp set.

I hope you like it, and I hope you come back tomorrow to see what I have created for my guest designer spot on CASology……

Challenges I will be entering with this card:

Addicted To Stamps – photo inspiration

Inkspirational – power