Month: April 2019

Angelique Motifs

Hi there. I don’t know where time goes, but since I reduced my hours to three days a week, I seem to run out of time…………I have no clue what I spend my time doing, but it certainly isn’t crafting. Hopefully, this Easter weekend I can make some cards to share with you.

Here is a card based on the colours from the current challenge at Color Throwdown:

I took the Altenew ‘Angelique Motifs’ and stamped the leaves in blue inks onto some Crafters Companion Neenah card. The gaps I filled-in with the leaves also from that stamp set.

I took some orange inks for the flowers, and instead of stamping the centres, I coloured them with yellow Copics. I tried doing the flowers completely stamping, but always seemed to get the centre parts off-set – so out came the Copics.

The frame is from Reverse Confetti and raised with foam, and the flowers stuck both inside and outside of the frame just for added interest.

The sentiment is from the new stamps from Thirsty Brush and Co – stamped the word, and die cut with the matching dies. Now that sentiment die has an inner and an outer – thinking about belly buttons anyone? – but I kept the two layers together so the word stands out a little more.

I am certainly going to spend some time with this stamp collection, so I am afraid there will be some floral cards coming your way – it may be water-colouring, it may be Copic colouring – or even ink smooshing……maybe all of them!

I hope you have a great Easter weekend, and I hope to see you again soon. :)

Wedding Congratulations

Hi there. It’s been a few days since my last posting – now I’ve reduced my work hours, I seem to be planning more socialising events……..just what I need to do.

I managed to get away for a night with my bestie – we went to County Durham for the Uniko stamping retreat yesterday. Of course, we had to go the night before and have a few drinks and a nice meal. Bev from Uniko actually joined us for the meal – though she didn’t imbibe like we did – and we had a great meal and natter.

And then the next day crafting with Uniko products – some not yet released – and I am happy to say I will be using some of those ‘not yet released’ products over the next few days. Of course – I asked permission to do that.

This card has been made with some of my older dies. Not one iota of stamping on this card. I went back to my roots and created the kind of card I started creating many years ago – die-cutting, layering, sticking – using a lot of my Sue Wilson products. I turn to these every time I want a ‘full monty‘ card, and a lot of these dies have been out for years………..

This wedding card is for a patient I have known for at least 12 years. I saw him last week in clinic, and he announced he was getting married very soon – so I just had to prepare something special for him and his future wife.

The colour of the bride and groom was a happy mistake. I had obviously cut this couple out of black card stock the last time, and when I did the glitter card this time – some of the black came off…………I actually really like this effect. It makes the happy couple stand out a little more, I think.

I used Sue Wilson stitched rectangles for the layers, the sentiment is die cut several times and layered together for dimension, and the flower layer is the new ‘Intricate Lace‘ die from Tim Holtz/Sizzix. Again – one pass through the Gemini Junior………………

The glitter card is Crafters Companion, though with the sun hiding away today it was difficult to photograph it to show the glitter……I tried!

The bow is a Spellbinders die set, again from glitter card.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Watercooler Challenges – occasions

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – no designer paper

Joy Of Sets Tic Tac Toe Challenge – (wedding, glitter, die cut)

Happy Robin Christmas

Hello there. I hope you are all well. This card is for the new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge, which begins today:

A close-up picture:

The theme for this challenge – and all the challenges actually – are anything goes, as long as it a Christmas. Come along and join us to get your stash ready for the end of the year………..the Design Team have some amazing inspiration………..

I had a recent delivery of the Clearly Besotted April release, and as I was shopping, I took a look around at their sale pages. This ‘Rockin’ Robin‘ stamp set, matching dies, and add-on stamp set were all in the sale. Well – it would be rude not to buy them, wouldn’t it?

I used the Lawn Fawn ‘Hillside backdrop‘, and after I cut it out – wondering what to do about the background part of it. My eyes fell on my recent purchase (I know, another one) from Catherine Pooler, and the background ‘wild thing‘ stamp, which I thought would look like falling snow – especially when I embossed it with Wow! sparkly powder.

I stamped the images in Gina K amalgam ink, then coloured with Copics. I did stamp the belly’s of the birds with the add-on dotty stamp, but then went over the whole with a red Copic – I wanted a full red belly.

Whilst I was colouring and putting a card together, I made another similar:

This is better for the shimmer

I hope to see your creations on our challenge site – bye for now. :) Lynda

Have a Magical Day…

Hello again. I have a card to share today based in the colours from Color Throwdown:

When I saw the challenge colours come up last week, my page loaded very slowly – so I saw the purple first, then was hoping for a yellow or green as I had these little dragons in mind……….and got both yellow and green! With some grey thrown in, too!

I generally get inspiration the first time I see a challenge – the colours or the sketch – but it takes me a few days to organise myself – which is why I generally post to the challenge in the last days – if not the last hours!

I bought these little ‘Dragon Plushies‘ from the newest release from Clearly Besotted, and stamp, coloured and die cut them. I used 2 or 3 three Copic colours for the dragons, the yellow’s and purples, then added some green anyway, because I didn’t quite know how I was going to put these onto a card.

Then I realised that part of that same release had a stamp and die set ‘Scene It More’ which I thought would be ideal. I stamped the hills and trees, then stamped again the hills. Stuck together, and coloured with a few YG Copics.

I did use some grey on the trees – but kept that quite light so the dragons and hills drew the eyes. I mounted the coloured piece onto some Lawn Fawn grey card stock anyway, to give two border edges.

I was tempted to ‘ground’ the dragons with some shadow beneath them – but I was too scared to add that to the mostly completed card….. – I do have some fear! I also thought the right side dragon looks almost as though it’s in flight……maybe…..kinda……and stuck down with foam pads – maybe hovering?

Whilst I was planning my colours and colouring, I had a look on the Clearly Besotted web-site – blinking heck that’s some amazing colouring! I am no-where near that standard of colouring, but this time I had fun with the colouring – usually it’s a chore to me. (I also had to Google what a plushie was!)

The sentiment is from that same dragon stamp set, and I think is quite universal and for any occasion. I mentioned yesterday about whether or not to put a sentiment on a card – sometimes I don’t – unless made with a specific person and occasion in mind.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – yellow, purple, green, grey

FabnFunky challenges – just add ink – messy or colouring

Inkspirational – pop it up – use foam tape etc for dimension

QKR Stampede – anything goes

Floral selection

Hello again. I have a few cards to share today. I decide to move away from the die-cutting, and fancied a lot of stamping. Of course, there was some die-cutting too – but not too much. This first card is for the current challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches:20190407_161840The challenge was to use the colours Grapefruit Grove, Granny Apple Green, and Gorgeous Grape. I don’t have those Stampin Up colours, so I used some Altenew inks.

The background is the Lawn Fawn ‘Fancy Lattice Backdrop’, and the stamp set is Altenew ‘Bloom and Bud’. I went with a grey base card, to showcase and highlight the colours a little more.

Now, I liked this flower and bud with a backdrop so much, – I did more cards. I just couldn’t stop myself. I took several backdrop dies –  Lawn Fawn, Altenew, Catherine Pooler, and die cut them. Then I turned to my little stash box of coloured/stamped images to find some flowers and leaves, and created a variety of cards.

Here is the little stash I played with whilst thinking of more cards:

Of course – I didn’t use my Santa’s on these cards!

And my little ‘helpers’………!

One thing I have done recently – I haven’t put a sentiment on some cards I make. I take my cards into work for my colleagues, and sometimes they like the card, but want a different sentiment – so I can always add one, or they juts have the card and put their own sentiment etc on the inside.

If I think a card is really crying out for a particular sentiment, then I will add one – or if a challenge I am entering states a sentiment – but sometimes I leave it off. Does anyone have any comment to make about that? I would be interested in your views……….. :)

Happy Cottontail Cutie

Hi there everyone. I have a card to share to day which is just bursting with colour:

I am trying to make more scenic cards – well, some elements of a scene anyway. This card had some grass – that’s part of a scene, right? I really struggle with the other elements – but I’ll keep trying.

I am also trying to do cards with die-cutting, to see if I can keep the die-cuts clean and smudge-free……..and this card fitted the bill just right.

I took the MFT ‘Cottontail Cutie‘ die set and cut it out of white card. I then took some of the elements and coloured with Copics. I then die cut the MFT ‘Stitched Blooms‘ out of white card, and coloured with Copics, too.

The grass is made out of Lawn Fawn ‘simple grassy hillsides‘ – and this is where I struggle to layer – I think I cut the hills out of the same piece and don’t leave enough border at the bottom. I think I should leave a wider bottom (where have I heard that phrase before?) and then cut it off when I have decided on the layers………..maybe I’ll learn that lesson someday!

The grassy hills are coloured with Copics, too, and stuck down as you see, with the flowers inserted – and I also used some of the leaves to the grass.

I then thought the background was a little too plain, so I used a We R Memory Keepers embossing folder, just for a little added interest.

I put the card together, adding a little flower to the cottontail’s hand, because – well – I could….I realised when taking the photograph, that the cottontail is kinda floating there, somewhat above the grass…..do you see?

So – I think she is just so bursting with joy among the grass and flowers that she is almost flying – almost like that popular drink – giving her wings…..or maybe she is jumping for joy? I still love it, though. :)

I caught some daylight to take the photo, but it has been dull all day here in Chesterfield UK, a little cool and windy too.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Watercooler Challenges – anything feminine goes

MFT Colour Challenge – Razzleberry, Cotton Candy, Lemon Chiffon, Limelight (Copic colouring to try and match)

Cardz4Galz – Flora or fauna or both (obviously gone with both)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Animal Antics

‘H’ for Hang it up, ‘I’ for Intricate

Hello everyone. It is my time to host at ABC Christmas Challenge, and it is ‘H’ for Hang It Up, and ‘I’ for Intricate. I made a different card for each, and goodness did I have fun creating these two cards. As you can see – red was the theme………and I used ‘a lot’ of Sue Wilson’s die sets, and shiny and bright Crafters Companion card and glitter card stock

Hang It Up
The two baubles are loose so they can be removed and used
Intricate

There are two prizes up for grabs:

Two stamp sets and a die
Two stamp sets and a die

I hope you can join us this month, and really get your creative juices flowing with intricate dies and stamps, and lots of hanging Christmas baubles and decorations.

I look forward to seeing all your creations, and leaving comments – as well as having the difficult task of choosing the winners. :) :)

The Design team have come up with some amazing ideas, so I hope you will just pop along and have a gander at their creations – and hopefully join us. :)

Quick CAS

Hi there. I have a card to share inspired by a couple of challenges:

I mentioned the other day about a new delivery from Stampin Up, and this is the marvelous 3D embossing folder – plainly and simply embossed in white card, after die-cutting the rectangle with a Catherine Pooler die.

The sentiment is from the other new delivery I had the other day from Catherine Pooler – the colours chosen from my Altenew inks – as I used them for my ‘Ocean’ card the other day and they were still sat next to my craft mat.

The first challenge I will be entering, is from Just Us Girls – challenging you to use an embossing folder………

The second challenge is from AAA Cards, challenging you to make a CAS card in ‘minutes’, with the optional twist of dry embossing.

This card – I knew what I wanted to do – took me just under 15 minutes:

I thought I had everything out and ready – but spent a minute realising that my Gemini Junior wouldn’t take the embossing folder at all – and I fiddled for a while trying it, with different layers, but then resorted to my Big Shot Pro – because I knew that would take anything!

Another minute was wasted as I decided to add some stamped and die-cut hearts from the same Catherine Pooler stamp set – but then decided not to as I didn’t like how they turned out.

The key to speed like this is planning………… I think this is the quickest card I have put together – and I am really, really liking this embossing folder……..

AAA Cards

“Just Us Girls” Challenge