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Glittery Pink Fox

Hi there. There is a new challenge beginning at Cardz 4 Galz and the theme this time is ‘Fox – foxy ladies, or foxes – your choice‘. I took the opportunity to go all out and pink and glittery. Who wants to see a pink fox? Here we are:

So – a lot of products were used in this card, from lots of different companies…..so I’ll begin….

Crafters Companion sentiment. I masked each part of the sentiment to stamp – instead of cutting the stamp apart, with the word ‘fabulous’ embossed with glitter pink embossing powder from WOW!; Pink glimmer card from Stampin Up; Altenew Cozy Flannel Cover Die; Waffle Flower ‘Be Her’ stamp and die set, Copic colouring.

Phew – I don’t I missed anything out…….let me know if you think I have!

Anyhoo – I am sure we don’t Prosecco to get fabulous – but it certainly helps increase our fabulous-ness………..(a new word!)……and this little fox looks like she is quite stern and precise…….

So – an awesome theme for the challenge and so many ways to take the word ‘fox’ and ‘foxy’. I look forward to seeing what you create and dropping you a comment – or two!

:) :)

Santa and a Chimney

Hello again. I have been trying some new techniques on this card, as it is a new challenge at The ABC Christmas Challenge. The themes is/are ‘L’ for Little, and ‘M’ for Masking:

I first stamped the Santa from Crafters Companion ‘Christmas Stamp and metal die set – Santa‘ and then coloured him in Copics. The stamp itself has quite a bit of shading on it, so I just followed those lines – basically – to create some shading. I then stamped him again on some masking paper and fussy cut him out – realising afterwards that the stamp set comes with a die that cuts around him – oh well……hind sight…..!

I masked him off then went hunting for a stencil of roof tops, or chimneys or anything I thought would go as a background, and found my Sheena Douglass stencil from her ‘Remember When‘ set called ‘Big Chimney‘.

I ink blended a couple of Distress Oxides for the chimney and roof top, then thought about the sky area……so then ink blended from a cloud stencil I have from Inkylicious.

I then removed the Santa mask, some more thought about the snow area, and decided to try out my new buy from Hero Arts – the ‘Snow and Froth Technique Kit‘……with heart in my mouth as I had virtually completed the card.

And – it worked:

I didn’t dare do any more snow technique on the rest of the rooftops and chimney, as I felt the card was complete aside from a sentiment, which is a die from Birch Press.

I hope you have time to join us and follow our two themes – either on one card, or even two different cards – one for each letter – and I look forward to seeing your makes in our gallery. :) :)

Glittery Golden Snowflakes

Hi there. I have another Christmas card to add to my growing collection as there is another new challenge beginning today at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is ‘anything goes Christmas‘:

Another photo of the glittery-ness:

and I couldn’t resist another glittery photo:

I used a newly purchased Birch Press die set, a three layer die set, called ‘Shimmer Snowflake Frame Layer set‘, (Bumbleberry Papercrafts) but I only used the second layer for this card. The bottom right snowflake is actually cut away from the outline rectangle, and glued further up, so I could stick the sentiment across the bottom.

As there is some open space, I used some matching rose gold sequins – I think they came in the same craft box with the glitter, and stuck them as you see here.

I hope you can join us again for this challenge, and I hope to see you in the gallery. I also see my Design Team-mates have some great inspiration for you – please have a look at their creations, and perhaps drop us all a comment….. :) :)

I shall be entering this card into the Christmas at Sweet Stampin Challenge – Christmas with the option of snowflakes.

CAS outline embossing

Hello again – I have another card to share with you today, inspired by a couple of challenges. This card was in my mind for hours, I couldn’t shake it – so I just had to go and make it. It was interfering with my reading!!!!

I’m sorry the picture isn’t that perfect – but even though it’s lovely and sunny and warm – there is quite a wind.

Another photo because I kept trying:

I knew I wanted an outline die to emboss into the card – as per the Less Is More Challenge – and I Knew I wanted the sentiment to run through the embossed die, so I took some time thinking and thinking about which die to emboss……..

I stamped the sentiment from Altenew ‘Moments In Time‘ in black ink, then embossed an outline die from Altenew’s ‘A Study In watercolor‘. I then stamped the floral image in the lightest grey Altenew ink to bring more attention to the embossed outline, but not too bright nor too invasive – quite muted, I think, and to tie the card in with the Allsorts Challenge.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Less Is More – CAS embossing – up to one third to be embossed

Allsorts Challenge – black and white and one other colour (I used grey)

Raspberry Daffodils

Hello there. I have been playing with a new stamp set purchased from a craft show I went to in Doncaster yesterday:

These are the Daffodils from Altenew, which I have been wanting for a while, and I decided to veer away from the traditional colours, and to follow the current Color Throwdown colours of raspberry, lavender, green, and Kraft.

I stamped and heat embossed the outline of the flowers and leaves in white, then used Rich Razzleberry from Stampin Up to water-colour the flowers, and then a green for the leaves from the Altenew water-colour pan set – but I didn’t like the green water-colour leaves – too much white – so I stamped them again in just a green……just the outline…..not the filler.

I then die cut the Altenew ‘Spring Meadow‘ cover die out of Kraft card to use as a background – but again didn’t like the way it looked – too fussy behind these flowers – but I did use some of the ‘fall-out’ leaves, and then decided to die-cut it again in some lavender card-stock I had, and used the ‘fall-out’ leaves from that colour too.

I thought about a sentiment, but at this point have left the card without one – I’m not sure if I’ll add one or not………….only time will tell.

Another photo with the card in full sunlight:

I shall be entering this into the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – raspberry, lavender, green, kraft

Water-cooler Challenge – anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Gold Dipped Delicate Clusters

Hello there. I spent some time yesterday starting to put a card together, and completed it this morning:

I stamped out the clusters only from Altenew ‘Delicate Clusters‘ – not the stems – in three shades of blue, and for the fourth layer I used gold embossing powder.

The two leaves are from Tom Holtz ‘Garden Greens‘ die set, where I put some double-sided sticky tape down on some card, then used the same gold embossing powder to create two strips, from which I die-cut the leaves.

The sentiment is also embossed using the same embossing powder, and is from another Altenew stamp set.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Inkspirational – gold dipped

Die-cut divas – flowers and a die cut

Addicted to Stamps – stamping and flowers

Let’s Shellabrate

Hello yet again – As you can tell – I’ve been busy in my craft room. I’ve spent some time relaxing in the sun, reading, and thinking about challenges and colours for my next card. I was so inspired, that I couldn’t wait to make it:

You’ll have to forgive the couple of rain drops – I didn’t realise it was raining until I got out there, by which time the drops had hit!

For this card I used Heffy Doodle ‘Let’s Shellabrate‘ stamp and die set – I think they were actually a freebie with one of their orders. Once stamped, I used the colours for the current Color Throwdown challenge to colour this little blighter in, added some white gel pen for accent, added his little hat, then followed the current sketch at Fusion Challenge.

The theme using the turtle, is taken from the current challenge at Die Cuttin’ Divas, and using their inspiration photo.

Have a good day, and I’ll see you again soon. :) :)

Color Throwdown – coral, aqua, navy

Die Cuttin’ Divas – inspiration photo

Fusion Card Challenge – sketch and/or photo

Ornate Flowers

Hello everyone. It’s a gorgeous sunny day here in Derbyshire UK – a lot of sun, warm, a little breeze – lovely. I have a soft and gentle card to share today:

I began by heat embossing the flower outlines from Altenew Ornate Foliage stamp set onto water-colour card, wet the images, then sprayed Tonic Nuvo Mica Mist quite liberally onto the images, and let it do it’s thing…..with maybe a little gentle coaxing from my brush, then let it dry.

A picture of the shimmer:

The background is the Altenew Dotted Swirls Debossing Cover Die, splashed with Winsor and Newton ebony paint, then let it dry, whilst I stamped the sentiment.

I then placed all together as you see, having the images slightly overlap the sentiment strip, and even cutting into the bottom image a little to enable me to do that.

I then added some Tonic Crystal Drops in ebony in three sets of three – then let it all dry.

If you know me and my posts from before – you know I don’t like waiting for things to dry – which is why I did the flowers yesterday – but the splashes and drops are actually drying as I make this post – I’m very impatient!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Flower challenge – flowers with embossing

Watercooler Challenge – occasions

Addicted to Stamps – Make your mark

Lil Red Wagon – flowers

AAA Birthday Challenge – anything goes as long as it’s birthday

Indoor Garden

Hello everyone. I have a clean and simple card to share today using the Altenew ‘Indoor Garden‘ stamp and die set, so I could create a card for the current challenge at The Paper Players:

I took another picture in the sunlight:

I don’t like either photo, as I think the lighting isn’t great on either one of them – but you get the impression of the card, I think.

I took some elements from the stamp set, stamped the outlines, then took certain liberties with Copic Markers for the colours. I tried to match my colours with the current challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches – pumpkin pie, coastal cabana, daffodil delight – as I don’t have those Stampin’ Up colours – and coloured what I felt needed colouring, really.

I dry embossed a rectangle onto the card base, leaving a wider border at the top and bottom – I just liked the effect – and as I placed the die cut plants onto the card, they kinda fell as you see them…..and I liked it….so I left them in that position, sticking them down with 3D foam pads.

It’s the beginning of another Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, so I am planning some ‘down time’. I hope you get to do the same. :)

Wise Owl Graduation

Hello once again. There is a new challenge up at Cardz4Galz, and the new theme is ‘Graduation‘. Here is my card:

This card actually took quite a bit of time to get together. I didn’t think I had anything which in any way meant to be graduation and I did spend a little time thinking about die-cutting a mortar board hat and adding a sentiment – but then didn’t think I had a graduation sentiment……….

So – hunting through my stash I came across this new stamp set from Clearly Besotted – not yet put away from buying the recent release – and saw…….a mortar board hat, and a scroll, and the little owls in the same set I could play with.

I stamped the images, coloured them with Copics, then die cut them. Now to the background……..

I decided to keep this quite simple and used the ‘Polka Dot Plate‘ die from Avery Elle, cut in white card, and placed on a black base card. Then to the sentiment………

and came across the Lawn Fawn stamp set ‘Reveal Wheel Spring Sentiments‘ bought with – you guessed it – the reveal wheel dies………….and there we had a graduation word. I cobbled together the sentiment you see, and stamped onto a black square, heat embossed in white.

I did toy with the idea of putting the square like a diamond, like a mortar board hat, with a little tassel, but went with what you see.

When I placed the images, I even cut into the owl’s hand a little so he could be holding the scroll:

I hope you can come and join us for this ‘Graduation’ themed challenge – the design Team have some fabulous varied inspiration for you. I look forward to seeing you there and seeing what you come up with. :) :)

I shall also be playing along with the following challenges:

Dragonfly Dreams Challenge – anything goes

Colour Crazy Challenge – anything goes colouring

Clean and Simple on Friday – CAS Polka Dots