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Only stamping

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Hello again, and a Happy New Year to everyone. I hope the year is off to a good start for you.

I have been in my craft room for a couple of hours, and playing again with stamping and blending. This card was inspired by the current challenge at Inkspirational, with the challenge to use stamping only, and Time Out, with the theme of ‘New beginnings’. I have translated this loosely – a new beginning for someone whose birthday is today……a mixture of a new year for them, as well as a new year for all of us.

I still had my Uniko and Stamps By Me collection on my craft table, along with my Distress Oxides, and this is what I came up with.

The base card is 8 inches square, and the first thing I did was to stamp the ‘Happy Birthday’ sentiment. The same sentiment as yesterday, quite large, and I wanted it to be the focal point of the card.

After stamping in Versafine Black Onyx, and heat setting it in clear embossing powder, I then set about stamping my leaves etc for the back ground. I did set off originally with only stamping around the sentiment, masking it off with some ‘post it’ notes, but I carried on stamping and stamping until I had covered most of the background – large leaves first, using an Altenew green ink, and the leaves from the new Uniko ‘Pure Florals: Rose’.

I then took some smaller stamps from Uniko ‘Originally Organic’ and a small star from ‘Reach for the Stars’ – also Uniko – to fill in the spaces. For this I also used some brown Altenew inks.

Once I had completed the background, I felt the sentiment was a little too open and stark, so I masked the area around it and went in with my Distress Oxides, blending to leave the centre of the word a little brighter. I think I used Twisted Citron – or it could have been Fossilised Amber……! Hmmmm – does anyone else forget what they used when they are all on your craft table? :)

 

 

Masculine?

20171231_120701Hi there. I’ve managed to sneak some card making into today – whilst hubby out golfing! I concentrated on stamping instead of die-cutting, using a couple of Stamps By Me sets, and Altenew inks.

This is a one layer card, and meant to be more masculine. I stamped the ‘Watercolour Flower’ in Versafine black onyx, and heat embossed in clear. I then used the smaller ‘blotch’ in the stamp set to cover the individual flowers, and even the same blotch to cover the leaves. I was going for a rough and rugged look, not necessarily water-coloured, but definitely outside the lines.

I then stamped the larger blotch, once in brown and then again – on the top – in the green. I did this basically as the first stamp didn’t really cover well – a large solid stamp, so I went back in the with same green I had used on the flowers. I like how the big blotch turned out, actually, and I think it brings the card together.

The sentiment is from Stamps By Me – a big and bold sentiment – required for such a large card.

The inks were from Altenew, using a combination from their green and their brown colours, working and toning well, and not being careful about the placement of the blotches on the flowers. I used a couple of the brown colours, but only one green colour.

The hardest part? Placement. Does anyone else agree that is difficult? When you are filling a card, it is a little easier, but when I’m trying to leave a lot of space – well – those stamps are placed everywhere before I make a decision. Sometimes I don’t make a decision, and make several cards with the same kinda layout, different sized cards, even different colours – as I did yesterday.

I hope you all have a fabulous evening, and I hope to see and hear from you next year! :)

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Altenew December challenge – using challenge from August 2017 as inspiration

Stamplorations – December CAS challenge

Watercooler challenges – anything goes masculine

 

 

Uniko Rose

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Hello everyone. I hope you have had a good few days celebrating, and taking some time for yourself. This is the first time I’ve had time to craft since before Christmas. A busy time for us all, I know.

This card is for the current CASology challenge, and Simon Says Stamp challenge. A simple layout – but it did take me a while to settle on the size and shape of the card, and where to stamp each element.

Here are some of the other examples I made:

This stamp set is one bought from when I attended the Uniko craft retreat earlier in December. The stamp set is quite large, and comes with two different size roses – outline and infill, with buds and leaves, and even sentiments.

I used Altenew inks and stamped the rose, then masked it off to stamp the leaves, so it looks like they are underneath. I did think of colouring the leaves, but I like the effect of leaving them with just the outline, as it gives a more open feel to the card.

The sentiments are from a ‘Stamps By Me’ set I have had for a while, and suited the CASology challenge cue card – ‘kindness’.

I know it’s a short and quick posting today, but at least I’ve managed to do some crafting.

I wish everyone the best for the New Year. Best wishes – Lynda :)

2 more cards

20171217_124126Hello again. I have two more cards today, completely different to the cards from yesterday. Both of these were inspired by different challenges, and both ending today – talk about last minute again!

The first card was made using the colours from Color Throwdown – pink, green, kraft, white. I used the Dahlia turnabout from Concord and 9th (from Seven Hills Crafts whilst it was back in stock) and stamped four times using pink and green alternately, then used the matching die to cut out one portion of it.

I didn’t back the cut out part, and you can see through to the inside of the card, which I thought was quite a different way to use it. Of course, I then had to stamp the sentiment separately and add to the front of the card with carefully placed foam pads. I didn’t want the front sticking to the inside, did I?

The second card was made using the inspiration from CASology. A short but sweet word on the cue card – as per usual – current word being ‘Gray’.

I used the Altenew ‘Floral Fantasy’ set, and used the set of Altenew grey inks too. Once I had stamped it, then layered with some Narwhal cardstock, adding to a white base card, I then looked for a suitable sentiment…..and looked…..and looked. Finally, I couldn’t decide what sentiment to use – so I didn’t! I’ve done this before, and I think it looks just right as it is, and can be used for any occasion, or even as a ‘just because…..’ card.

Maybe I’ll have some time to play after work today, and be able to show what else I have been making.

Have a good day……… :)

 

Another two-fer

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Hello everyone. I hope you are all well, and enjoying this time of year. I have had time to play and make some last-minute cards, so I will be posting a couple today, and probably a couple tomorrow.

The first card is basically a red and white card, with a pop of green, and all glittery. I love doing glittery cards when it is Christmas, and you can see I really went to town on this one!

The card is 8 inches square, with a white glitter card as base – from Crafters Companion – with a red glitter card frame. The trees are from a Sue Wilson set I have had for a few years, again cut out of glittery card, this time in green.

The red poinsettias are from an x-cut die – again I have had this for many years and is my go-to die for poinsettias. This time cut out of a shiny red card instead of glitter. I layered a couple of the die-cuts together, giving some dimension to each leaf, adding a small gem to the centre.

The flowers were stuck down with 3D glue, and I also inserted some holly branches – Sue Wilson again – just underneath the petals.

The sentiment is die cut in green glitter – I know, lots of glitter – and stuck down after passing the words through my Xyron machine.

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

Double D challenges – red and white Christmas with optional pop of green

City Crafter Challenge – Christmas Tree

Try it on Tuesday – Twinkle, twinkle – lots of shiny things

Watercooler Wednesday – all about occasions

Time Out Challenges – photo inspiration – used colours and tree

QKR Stampede – anything goes with twist Christmas

The Holly and Ivy Christmas challenge – anything goes Christmas

The second card for today is a much more simple and flatter card:

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I used the Altenew layering Bells and Bows stamp set, as I am entering this card into the current Cards in Envy challenge – to use bells. I have the matching die set, and cut out the bells, and also cut some red bows out of red glitter card.

I stuck them down onto a polka dot embossed panel, for some interest in the background, and added the sentiment as you can see.

So – a couple of cards, each one different to the other. I hope you can call back tomorrow when I post another couple of cards……

Uniko Christmas Tree

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Hello everyone. I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since I posted to my blog. My goodness – time flies! I cut down my working days from 5 days to 4 days, and I seem to be even busier. Maybe it’s the time of year, and social occasions going strong.

I have been crafting and making some complicated Sue Wilson-type cards for family and then decided I needed some simpler cards as I seem to be falling way behind in making them.

I also went to the Uniko retreat in Stockton-On-Tees last Saturday. It was a great day, spending at least five hours playing with Uniko stamps, plenty of inking plenty of playing, and plenty of chat and coffee – my ideal day. Thanks Bev. :) :)

This tree stamp set is one I bought that day. I love the simplicity of the tree, and I find it is quite elegant.

I started by stamping the front tree in a red Altenew ink, masked it and stamped the green trees. I then added the sentiment from another Uniko set, stamping it in black, then heat embossing it with clear embossing powder.

I thought I’d photograph it with the snow in the background. It may not be a lot of snow compared to other places around the world, but it does seem to impact on travel in the UK quite quickly.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Aud sentiments challenge – Christmas and sentiment

Hand stamped sentiments – photo inspiration (trees and colours)

CAS on Sunday – CAS Christmas

Alphabet challenge – ‘T’ for trees

Uniko challenge – Christmas

 

Cheers

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Here I am again posting to a challenge at the last minute – well – the last hour or so. The current challenge from CASology had the cue card ‘cheer’. I had in mind my ‘Stamps by Me’ set. I have a couple of sets with glasses and wine, this one is the smaller set of the two, but I did use the ‘Cheers’ sentiment from the large set.

A one layer card, stamping the bottle and glass first, then added the two sentiments, making extra sure the black ink was dry before I even considered using the embossing powder. I didn’t want that glittery powder getting everywhere.

One I had checked it was dry enough, I stamped the wine part in Ranger Perfect Medium, and heat embossed using a white/light glittery embossing powder from ‘WOW!’.

However, this didn’t really show up very much, so I turned to thinking of red sparkly wine, so – thank goodness I used my Misti and had left the stamp on the lid – I used the Perfect Medium again, on top of the glittery white, and heat embossed using a glittery red.

I tried very hard the get the sparkle on the card in the photo, so please forgive the slight shadow, but I think the glittery-ness shows up.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CASology – Cheer

Addicted to Stamps and More – CAS

STAMPlorations – CAS – not using twist

Less Is More – shine

 

 

 

Pink and Sparkly Congratulations

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What a busy few days I’ve had, with no time to post to my blog. I  have been making up for it today with Christmas cards, and this sparkly little number. Here are some more photos of the sparklyness…..

There are several reasons for making this card, the main one being that a couple of friends of ours are coming round this evening for a Chinese Take-away, and bringing their new daughter. Well, I say new daughter – would September 1st baby still be classed as new? I think so……..

I couldn’t very well not make a card for them, when I make cards all the time, but I was wondering about which style to use. If it is something like Christmas and celebrations, then I tend to turn to my Sue Wilson dies, and my glittery card stock, and have at it! I also tend to do bigger cards, and add loads of die cuts, which means I have to put them in a box, as they won’t fit in an envelope.

I can make my own boxes, but when I have pre-cut cards, then I use pre-cut boxes. Saves a lot of time, especially when you don’t want to do anything much to the outside of the box.

So – this card . Colours – pink and sparkly – was inspired by the current Card Concept challenge. I know that many people are making Christmas cards, but I went with the new baby card for my friends, but inspired by the colour scheme from this challenge.

The glittery card stock is from Stampin Up – and boy does that shed glitter!!!! – and the other pink card is Foundations Card from Creative Expressions.

The main larger layers I just measured and cut with my Cutterpillar, but used Sue Wilson dies for all the die cutting – debossed square, frilly oval, two inner ovals, and even the three beaded swirl additions.

The sentiment is actually from the Altenew stamp set – ‘Baby Zoo – a recent and long-awaited purchase from Seven Hills Crafts. I don’t really make ‘baby’ cards, and tend to make do with what I have but when I saw what my sister did with this stamp set, I waited for the stock to be replenished at Seven Hills so I could order it.

Challenges I will be entering:

The Card Concept – photo inspiration

Time Out Challenges –  word inspiration (used a twist on celebrate)

Try it on Tuesday – colourful – no or little white areas

Crafty Gals Corner – use your dies

 

Blooms blue and silver

A very short and quick posting today. I couldn’t resist using the colours on the current Color Throwdown again, with the Blooms Fill-in stamp set. I am loving playing with this set, and there are many, many ways of using it. I still haven’t done any of the die-cutting with it – but I am sure it will come.

For this card, I stamped and heat embossed the background in silver, actually stamped and heat embossed twice so I had good coverage. I then stamped the flowers in the light blue and dark blue. Such a great combination of colours, and I think this card really shines with the background heat embossed.

So – a quick posting just to share this card. :)

 

 

The blue’s and silver

 

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Hello again. I have been having a little more play with my marbling layering stamp set from Waffle Flower. I really like messing with the positioning of the stamps, and trying to follow the guide from their web site…….but it doesn’t really matter of you get it out of alignment. Well, I don’t think so, anyway.

I took the colour inspiration from Color Throwdown – dark blue, light blue, and silver – to create this version. I think it looks quite ‘icy’ and clean with these colours. Both of the blue colours are from Altenew, and stamped fairly neatly together, then I went in with some of the smaller stamps in the set – not the stand-alone ones, either – and filled in the gaps.

The darker blue I lined-up with their own base set, but also stamped them in the gaps left over. The silver is an embossed silver – some of them the third layer on the stamps, some stamped haphazardly on top of the dark blue, and ………even took three little leaves stamp from the Concord and 9th Blooms fill-in and stamped them in  some gaps, and on top of some of the blue. I think that if you look closely you can make them out.

Any stamp in a storm, right?

The sentiment is from Catherine Pooler. I took a piece of card, placed Be Creative double-sided sticky tape on it, added silver embossing powder, heat-set it, then die cut the ‘Merry’. I don’t think you can heat emboss many sticky tapes – but this one if ideal for things like this.

The shape of the sentiment tag is again from Catherine Pooler.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – blue, light blue, silver

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge – Christmas with option of blue

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog – anything goes with a sentiment