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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

Aqua flowers

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Hi there. I was being crafty again yesterday, and also getting inky fingers again.

I made this card inspired by the colours for the current Color Throwdown Challenge. The colours to use are black, white, and aqua. I love aqua – one of my favourite colours. I wanted to use my newly purchased Uniko stencil, so I turned to my pastes. I didn’t have any aqua paste, so I took the glossy white paste, and added some Cosmic Shimmer ‘shimmer paint – green aqua‘. I didn’t know how much to add, so I kept adding, and kept mixing…..in the end I made several cards, but this is my favourite. I’ll show the others at the bottom.

Here is a close-up: (ignore the blue-tac on the bird bath!!!)

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I cut the dried pasted card using my Sue Wilson ‘Stitched square‘ dies, and added a sentiment from my go-to stamp set from MFT – heat embossed in white.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – (black, white, aqua)

Seize The Birthday – birthday (not with the option of beachy)

Here are the other cards I made using another Uniko stencil: these I smudged a little :(

I think my paste was too runny at this point.

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Forget Me Not

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Happy weekend everyone. Some crafting time for me this weekend. I have been getting some inky fingers with some water-colouring again.

I saw this stamp last week at the Doncaster craft show, and fell in love with it straight away. It is from Honey Doo Crafts, called ‘Forget Me Not‘. I can see these flowers are sometimes yellow, after I did a little Google search, but it didn’t really matter to me. I was following the colours inspired by the current Card Concept challenge, which is mainly red and yellow.

I stamped in Versafine black onyx and heat embossed with clear. I took several similar colours from my Zigs and started to colour. I wanted the centre of the envelope to be a little lighter, and the edges darker, so it looks like it is full and dimensional.

Three colours for the flowers, to try to add some dimension also, but these are little flowers…..I kept going anyway. I didn’t colour part of the image which is around the closure of the envelop, partly because I didn’t know what colour to use, and partly because I liked the detail in there.

To add more dimension, I added some light grey around the image, and just let everything dry. Once dry, I took a Catherine Pooler postage die to cut it out, and then thought about the background. I thought it need some red around the image, but not a solid red, so I turned to Altenew and stamped the ‘Wood Pallet background‘ stamp after I had inked it up using the same red colours I had coloured the envelope in. It took a couple of stampings – using my Misti – and I really like the effect this gave.

I didn’t want to cover the image up with a sentiment, so I cut a larger base card, and stamped the greeting using a set of MFT stamps which I always seem to turn to.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Card Concept – photo inspiration

Watercooler Challenges – anything feminine goes

Lil Red Wagon – flowers

Aud Sentiments Challenge – anything goes with a sentiment

Lovely Piggies

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Hello there. I hope everyone is doing alright, and hoping to get some crafting done over the next few days.

This card is made to enter the current challenges at CASology. The cue word is ‘farm’.

I don’t have many farm animal stamps,  but I remember purchasing this Mama Elephant ‘Lovely Piggies‘ stamp set a little while ago. I thought it would be easier to colour than the ‘Little Agenda‘ stamps I have – very fiddly they are – and it was better. Well, the heads were, anyway!

I stamped all the images onto water-colour card stock with Versafine Black Onyx, as I didn’t know how I wanted to colour them. I then heat embossed in clear, and looked at all my colouring options.

I decided to go with my Zigs, as I hadn’t used them for a while, and the tip of the brush means I can get into the fiddly areas when I needed to.

I used a couple of pinks for the pigs, and then played with the other colours for whatever the pigs were holding or wearing. I chose this little piggy as I like the little heart he/she is carrying. I die cut the piggies, and then looked to my layout.

How I could frame the little piggy? I remembered I had bought some square frame stamps last week at the Doncaster Dome craft show. There are two square stamps from Bee Crafty ‘Backdrop Frames – style wire‘ and I chose the larger of the two, stamped in Versafine black onyx again, and sat my little piggy inside it.

The sentiment is from a Honey Doo stamp set ‘Forget Me Not‘ which I also bought last week.

So, quite a clean and simple card for you today, but it actually took me longer than my more elaborate concoctions, because of the colouring, and the decision of where to place everything.

A last little bit of exciting news…..I have been asked to guest design for the next CASology challenge, beginning Tuesday 12th June……it’s another good ‘un………I hope you will be able to join us.

:)

Flock Yeah!

Hello yet again. This week is getting to be a habit with the postings. Hubby is away for a couple of nights – yes, golfing – so here I am with time to play, and craft, and, well, whatever, really. Not that he has a problem with me doing crafting anyway……

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I received this stamp and die set recently, and of course it was sat on my desk with all my other stuff, and then I saw the colours from the current challenge at CAS Simple Colours and Sketches, and the theme of ‘animals’ from The Paper Players, and hey presto, light bulb moment.

I put the green ink on my Tim Holtz mat, added water, and yet again smooshed some water-colour card into it for an uneven green background. After letting that dry, I die cut it with a circular Spellbinders die, then embossed it with a Tattered Lace embossing folder. Without the embossing, the green looked too plain for me.

This embossing folder also comes with embossing corners, and embossing strips, so I took one of the strips and embossed as you can see. I was struggling to come up with what lines to put on the card to follow the current sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, and I like how this turned out.

I stamped the flamingos in Catherine Pooler ‘Midnight’ ink – copic, alcohol and water-colour friendly. Fabulous ink…… then used the Melon Mambo and water-coloured the images, and used Pumpkin Pie for the legs and beaks.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set.#A close-up of the card:

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I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – Melon Mambo, Garden Green (I used an Altenew green), Pumpkin Pie

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

The Paper Players – animals

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – All things bright and beautiful