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I’d Pick You……

Hello everyone. It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post, as I have been enjoying a week in Tenerife with friends. Even though the weather has been cloudy, there has also been some sun…..and certainly warmer than the UK.

I have able to get to my craft room in between washing and drying clothes and visiting family, and I have created a card for a few challenges:

I have just bought a new tablet, too, and am in the process of changing things over. The Samsung ‘smart switch; is great – but you still have to OK a sign-on from another device – and I had forgotten how many apps I use each day! This photo is with the new tablet, and to me looks a little dark – despite my photo box………..I will obviously persevere.

I stamped and heat embossed the Altenew ‘Perfectly Perfect‘ flowers, and water-coloured them with the Altnew water-colour pan set. I only used one blue, and one green, but drew the colours out to be lighter at the edges of the petals, and darker in the centre.

The background is a Reverse Confetti die cut out of white, then grey, and I even lined up the stripes when I stuck them together!

The sentiment is from a Chloe stamp set I bought yesterday with a gift token I received for Christmas to a local craft shop. I had a challenging time wondering where to place the sentiment, as I usually do this at the bottom, but I decided to go higher this time. (There are a few bigger splatters than I liked which are hidden now!)

I shall be entering the following challenges:
Color Throwdown – navy blue, grey, green

Time Out Challenges – inspirational words

Happy Little Stampers January water-colour challenge – Watercolour with option of adding texture (background texture die)

I’m off to craft again – I’ve missed it despite the holiday – and am preparing for my Guest Designer stint over at CASology from 5th February…..I hope you can join us. Speaking of design Teams, have you also entered the ABC Christmas Challenge for January yet? It’s still open, and the theme is ‘A’ for anything goes, and/or ‘B’ for berries………….

You have a beautiful heart

I’ve been on a roll today, probably as I won’t be able to post so much next weekend as I have previous things arranged. This time a quick post for the card using the colours from Color Throwdown – black, brown, white – and the theme from Time Out challenges – Loving -:

This flower is one of the freebies when I attended the Altenew day in Daventry last year. It is a three step layer flower and leaves set, but I decided to colour with my Copics because – well – I could!

The outline of the flower was stamped in Gina K amalgam ink, then coloured with four – yes four – brown colours. I’m getting very daring with the Copics, aren’t I?

The leaves were stamped in Versafine black onyx, and the two layers stamped with the Altenew grey inks – the grey is my ‘added’ neutral.

The background is a purchase from Seven Hills Crafts with a couple of gift tokens from my family for Christmas. How lucky am I?

I hope you have a good week, and I’ll catch you all soon. :)

Die cutting Birthday

Hello there. I am finding my card making all over the place at the moment. I am working on Christmas cards for the next ABC Christmas Challenge, so I have a lot of Christmas stuff out.

I am also making some birthday cards to put together a stash of them for when needed- and that’s mostly stamping and colouring.

I also turned my hand this weekend to make a birthday card for my mum-in-law. She doesn’t follow my blog or Instagram, so I think I am safe posting this. Her birthday is on Tuesday – the big 80…………but that is the day after we bury her second husband……….my step-father-in-law……a true gentleman, who took great loving care of her for many years……

Mum-in-law particularly likes my intricate die-cutting cards, the kind I made lots of back when I started crafting – mainly because I couldn’t stamp clean and clear images! The arrival of the Misti stamping tool changed the cards I make, and the way I craft, and following other card making blogs and Instagram led me to the American crafting industry – wow. What a selection of crafty stuff over there – but lets also not forget out UK companies – Clearly Besotted, Heffy Doodle, to name just a couple.

Here I am rambling on – maybe I’m getting a little maudlin because of what the week is about to bring…..

Back to the card:

I turned to my Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions stash for virtually all of this card. The card stock – lilac and teal; the dies – stitched rectangles and leaves; the glitter jewels behind the lattice. The only other company was Crafters Companion – the sentiment, and the glitter card stock for the leaves.

I actually ‘gutted‘ the bottom two layers to die cut the top few labels, so it made it more economical, and raised some of the layers on foam tape. Another couple of pictures and close-up:

I am tempted to change the way I did the sentiment, as I think it gets a little lost on the card, but it certainly shines and glitters more in real life – may be the last photograph shows it better?

I also used my Gemini Go for the first time. I am finding a lot of my die-cutting is for small images, and I used it for the mosaic leaves here – first pass, cut straight through – no backwards and forwards – just done…..I am so impressed as these leaves are quite intricate. It now has a place on my craft table……

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Die Cutting Divas – glitter or foil with die cuts

Seize the Birthday – anything goes birthday (option of confetti not used)

The Alphabet Challenge – use some stitching – real or faux (Stitched rectangles)

Santa and Candy Cane

Hello there. Having some time to craft today, despite being full of cold – and boy did that kick in this afternoon! I am glad I managed to complete this card before my eyes went……

I have tried a new thing today, well , several actually, but the main thing was colouring a digi stamp. With Copics…..! I am a total beginner with Copics, a complete novice with digi stamps, and so my morning was challenging – but in a good way. This stamp is from QKR Stampede, and I fell in love with the image as soon as I saw it……….

I am really pleased how this turned out, and even I can see the dimension on the candy cane! I have been working through some colouring classes from Kit and Clowder. The videos are very informative, and just the encouragement to give a go is enough for me to – well – give it a go.

One of the most basic for me – sometimes my Copic just belches out colour…..messes your colouring completely. The answer – take the lid off the other end of the pen! That way it gets rid of the vacuum, and no more colour belching!! Wow! Who’d’a thunk!

It’s a game changer for me – yet another tool in my box. One I will keep trying, and even try some other digi stamps – but, yes, colouring still not the most enjoyable time for me……..only for short periods, before I get stamping and die cutting withdrawal!

The sentiment is from a Honey Doo set in Rockin’ Red from Catherine Pooler.

A little closer look: (in my brand new, bigger photo box! I think I’ll make some backgrounds which are more interesting)

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Watercooler Challenges – occasions

Addicted to stamps – Holiday

QKR Stampede – anything goes

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas at Sweet Stamping – Christmas

Just a reminder – there is still plenty of time to play at ABC Christmas Challenge – you know it’s my first ever Design Team position – with the them of ‘A’ for anything goes, and/or ‘B’ for berries – I hope to see you there. :)

Have a wonderful day

Hello again. I hope you are well. I have had some new deliveries this week, and there is more to come, but some of that is from Simon says Stamp – so I’ve no idea when that will arrive. It takes 2-3 weeks for my sister to get her stuff and she lives in Canada………..I’ll let you know.

I have made a card I would like to share based on the colour scheme from Color Throwdown:

This stamp set is one which arrived yesterday from Crafters Companion, and when I saw it for sale on the website – it kinda just jumped into my basket. I particularly like that you can also die cut the whole image – or either side of it – which is what I did here.

I took me a little time to figure out which part to cut, which part to place under my cutting plates – it looks so much easier when someone else does it!

I coloured the image with yellow and green Copics, die cut one side of it, then stamped a sentiment from a Uniko stamp set.

The black card was embossed using the fabulous We R Memory keepers next level embossing folder, and the whole thing put together as you see.

I thought the white was a little too – well – white, so I added a few black Nuvo drops.

I even managed to get outside and take the photo – even though it’s a little grey and dull. Here is the embossing a little closer:

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – yellow, green, black, white

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – something new (stamp set)

Cardz 4 Galz – anything new since Christmas – (stamp set)C

Colour Layering Trimmings

Hello everyone. I am pleased and excited to announce that here is the first post as fully-fledged Design team member at ABC Christmas Challenge.

The current challenge is the start of the New Year, and the start of the alphabet. Goodness – there are some amazing themes coming up – I hope you can play along. I have discovered an amazing and friendly team, I have learnt how to use blogger – a little, anyway – and I’ve discovered that I’m going to be making Christmas cards all year long. All. Year. Long.

All those will be posted here, and will all be posted on Instagram. Please say hello when you see our cards.

The first challenge is ‘A’ and ‘B’, of course. The theme being anything goes, and/or berries. Now, I hunted everywhere for berry stamps or dies, and couldn’t find anything with berries that I really wanted to use. What I did find, was this unused, yet been with me for ages, Hero Arts Colour Layering Trimmings stamp and dies.

Here is the card – anything goes (Christmas):

I stamped the layers of the leaves on a white piece of card, then added to a green and white card base – then stamped some more, die cut them, and added to the edge for dimension.

I wanted to give the impression of a Christmas Tree hanging over the edge of the card.

I hope you are able to come and join the fun, and I look forward to seeing your makes – and I even get to comment officially now – yay!

I shall also be entering this card into the following challenges:

AAA cards – three of something – (three added branches)

Clean and Simple on Friday – CAS Christmas card

The Alphabet Challenge blog – ‘T’ for Trees

Oh Happy Day

Hello there. The last day of 2018, and more time to craft. This is a quirky card following the sketch and colours from MFT.

Just one question……has anyone seen any teal sows/pigs before? Well – you are just about to!

I quite like them. Somewhat different, but I suppose that is artistic license.

These little piggies are from the MFT ‘Sow Much Cuteness’ stamp and die set I’ve had for a little while – yet another Seven Hills Crafts order – and decided to match the colours and sketch from the two challenges at MFT.

I don’t have the exact colours, but I think they will kinda almost match.

Here is another angle:

The challenges I will be entering are:

MFT sketch challenge

MFT colour challenge

Joy Wreath dies

Hello there. Having time to craft today, I started off with one project – and came up with this one. Does that happen to anyone else?

It’s only a few more days until I begin my first challenge as Design Team member for the ABC Christmas Challenge, but in the meantime I have this card for you:

I was looking for some holly stamps – for some reason I don’t have many that I could put my hands on – then I remembered my Catherine Pooler ‘box’. I have a whole storage box where I put my Catherine Pooler stamps and dies – there is a bunch of stamps I’ve never used, and I came across this die set from the Winterhaven collection.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m learning all about alcohol markers – Spectrum Illustrators and Copics. I recently bought some Copics from Ebay – and I really, really see the attraction. What amazing pens these are – totally fallen for them. And – I think I’ve developed a ‘full set’ syndrome……help me now!

I’ve been doing a little internet searching and currently reading all about Copics from the Copic Marker Tutorial page, and the Kit and Clowder tutorials. Still not feeling relaxed and chilled when colouring, but enjoying the process of learning.

This card is made from the die cut wreath, with the individual parts coloured simply with Copics, and adhered to the card base.

The sentiment is cut from a Copic coloured piece of card, with several layers underneath for just that little dimension.

I may have to return to my craft room to complete the project I was initially going to do – I think I can manage that. :) :)

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

Stamplorations CAS card challenge – CAS with option to use green

CASology – CAS Holly

Indigo Blu Snowman

Hello everyone. I hope you managed to enjoy the festive period in whichever way you chose, and hopefully looking forward to the New Year.

I haven’t had much time to put a card together, though did manage a little crafting, just not to make anything in particular. I have been spending some time thinking about up-coming challenges for the ABC Christmas Challenge – as I will be on the Design Team for the next 6 months!! Yay!! My first Design Team position – and it means making Christmas cards every month – a win-win situation for me. Hopefully, you will be able to join us.

The card below was one I put together whilst having a sort-out of some of my Christmas crafting boxes:

It incorporates some distress oxide blending, masking, a little stamping – and generally getting a little messy! That always happens when I ink blend, and especially when using a mask. If the ink isn’t all over my hands, then it’s where I don’t want it to be, or all over my glass mat – and therefore transfers to everything!

I found this Indigo Blu snowman stamp in a box of Christmas stamps I had ‘filed’ away. Goodness knows how long I’ve had it – and it’s never been used!

I stamped the image, then stamped again on some masking paper, then went ahead with the masking and ink blending. I used a darker blue for the upper part – trying to make it look like the sky, and a lighter blue for the ‘snow’ on the ground.

I then splattered some water on it, then splattered some Gansai Tambi ‘white gold’ – and just kept splattering. More mess!

I wasn’t truly happy with how this turned out – but then I added the MFT sentiment, and it seemed to tie the whole thing together.

I left the snowman white – a little shading around the edge, and also left the little birdie white – a very monochrome card. And it’s also a one-layer card. I took on the challenge – no idea why – but I am pleased with how it all came together.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Library Craft Challenge – The Snowman

Watercooler challenges – anything goes

The Male Room – Masculine and the colour blue

Christmas Duo

I have two cards to share today, as I had time to craft yesterday. This morning I put in the final touches. The first card is using the colours from Color Throwdown:

As you can see, I took some craft card and stamped my newly arrived, new release ‘Snowflake Serenade‘ stamp set from Uniko. This stamp is quite large and winds around, so I stamped it a couple of times off the page, and added some extra snowflakes – all stamped and heat embossed with Wow! white embossing powder. 

I coloured the holly leaves using a green Copic marker and arranged as you see. The sentiment is also from that same stamp set.

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – red,green, Kraft, white

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

This is the second card:

I think I’m getting the hang of scene cards now – with the elements at least – and really enjoy colouring little images and playing with their placement on the card base.

I don’t play too much with the actual background, but also seem to be addicted to the Lawn Fawn ‘Stitched Hillside Backdrop‘ dies…..they are really, really useful in this kind of card……….I may have to put them away shortly – but I am enjoying using them too much! I still like the look that embossing the blank cut-out piece to add some background dimension gives, too. This time I used a little folder which gave some distressed lines.

The penguins and snowman are from Heffy Doodle ‘Wanna build a snowman‘ stamp and die set – yet another I am loving using this year. I am using this stamp and die set to create a bunch of cards for my work friends and colleagues. 

This card will be entered into the following challenges: 

Watercooler Challenges – occasions

Addicted to stamps and More – make your mark

Lil red Wagon – black and white and one colour

Alphabet challenge – ‘S’ for Season’s Greetings