Card Making

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

Vase of pink flowers

Hello again. Here is a card inspired by the current challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and Sweet Stampin’:

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a close up of the sentiment:

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I took the inspiration photo fairly literally and stamped a lot of the flowers from Altenew ‘Strength Blooms‘. After using the matching die cuts, a played with the layout a little. As the inspiration photo had some picture frames in the background, I took my MFT ‘Horizontal Collage Cover-Up‘ and just embossed it into the card base in the top right corner – I think you can just make it out. The frames on the photo are also off-set, not central, which is why I did this with the cover-up die.

I then took an MFT ‘wonky stitched square‘ die and cut what I used for the planter. The leaves aren’t actually the leaves that go with this stamp set, and are from the Altenew ‘Ornamental Flower‘ stamp set – so I didn’t use the flowers again – but I did use the leaves!

The sentiment just sang to me, and fit perfectly along the edge of the card. even though the card may look slightly off-set, the sentiment brings it together – do you think so?

I shall be entering the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps and More – photo inspiration 

Sweet Stampin’ – flowers

 

 

 

 

 

Clean and Simple colours

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Hi there. It’s been an absolutely fabulous Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK – temperatures in the mid to high twenties (centigrade) – very hot for me. I spent some time in my craft room as it is shaded and not too warm, and also because the current CAS Colours and Sketches challenge is coming to an end today.

The colours to use are Soft Sky, Berry Burst, and Sahara Sand. I chose to go the the rose from Uniko, because I have been getting lots and lots of Instagram postings from them for their new release coming very soon – all looks amazing – and it reminded me I have this rose stamp set.

The rose is actually an outline and base stamp set, but I really like this as it is – no inside colour at all on the rose or the leaves. I think it is very effective, and keeps things clean and simple.

I used Berry Burst to stamp my flower outline, then masked it off and stamped the leaves. I had to use an Altenew blue and brown, as I don’t have Soft Sky or Sahara Sand ink pads.

The MFT stitched rectangles cut my layers for me, and the sentiment is from Altenew. I was going for a one layer card – but realised I had cut my flower layer down before I remembered. Hey Ho! Them’s the breaks!

Have a good one, and I’ll hopefully catch you soon. :)

 

Proud and Hooray

Dear all. I have two cards for you today, so I hope you will bear with me.

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Two completely different cards, but I had fun creating the both of them.

The first card is using the Altenew ‘Ornamental Flower‘ again – sorry, but I really, really, like this flower – and created for several challenges. I used an old embossing folder from Tattered Lace for the dotty background, and a Sue Wilson die for the oval. The sentiment is from an Altenew stamp set, and I used this sentiment as I will giving this card to a colleague in the next few days for passing a qualification.

The second card is using the colours from Color Throwdown, and using the stamps, dies and sentiment from the newest Catherine Pooler ‘Stamp Of Approval‘. I picked it up yesterday, and just had to play!

I shall be entering the first card into the following challenges:

Always Fun Challenges – flowers

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Watercooler Challenges – anything goes feminine

Just Add Ink – add an ‘O’ (Oval)

The second card will be entered into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More – balloons/bunting/presents

Color Throwdown – Coral, green, Kraft, White

Seize The Birthday – anything goes birthday

QKR Stampede – anything goes

 

 

 

Brushed Plaid background

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Hi there. One card to share today, and I think it makes quite a striking statement. The inspiration was taken from the current challenge from Just Us Girls – a photo inspiration:

I was immediately struck by the black and white with a pop of colour from the flowers. For the background I stamped my one and only Lil’ Inker Designs stamp – the ‘Brushed Plaid’. I also stamped it in a few more colours to see how it looked, and will be using those in the future for a trial with different coloured flowers.

The Altenew ‘Beautiful Day‘ flower, and some leaves which were extra from previous stamping and die-cutting sessions, and the whole added to a plain white base card.

I did decide to put the flower and leaves onto a die-cut circle, so it stood out more. I tried putting it onto the background itself, but even though the flower is a bright colour, it seemed to get lost a little.

I haven’t been able to do much crafting the past couple of days, but it is a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, and I have Friday off too – a four day weekend for me!! Yay!! And…….my Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval box is waiting for me to pick it up at my local Royal Mail – plus customs and charges, of course! :(

I am sure you will seeing some of creations from that collection……