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Quickie posting

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A quick evening posting so I can get this card into the Library Craft Challenge, which ends in a few hours. Of course, I have been contemplating this challenge for a week or so – and only just managed to get to create using their inspiration photograph of the book ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

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I have never read the book, I haven’t seen any of the films or plays – unless you count ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies‘………need I say more? Love that film!! :)

Anyhoo – this card was created using the Altenew cover plate, using only two of the layers. The top layer plain white, the second layer in green – but with all the bits left in for added interest. (Can you see one little dot I couldn’t find again?)

The bird is a cardinal using a Heartfelt Creations stamp and matching die set. I haven;t used many of the items from this company, but I really struggled with the die cutting – you actually can’t see the edge of the stamp, and it’s kinda guess-work…..

I shall also be entering into the Crafting With Dragonflies challenge – birds/feathers.

A rose bouquet

Hi there. I hope you are all ding well this weekend. From snow-deep a week ago, to loads and loads of rain….. I can see the snow-drops and daffodils poking their heads up, and the green leaves for the blue-bells. It is a good job the British plants are hardy enough to cope with the vagaries of our weather.

I spent some time with the Altenew ‘Sweet Rose Bouquet‘ yesterday. I tried the stamp set in multiple colours, as you can see. I didn’t realise until I opened it that the flowers and leaves are all bunched together, several layers for each – (perhaps the ‘bouquet’ part of the title of the stamps should have given me a hint. :)

It actually took me quite a bit of time to sort out each of the images, and each of the layers – thank goodness for the Misti for the larger images.

I really do like this stamp set, and I can see many more bouquets being made in the future. Once you have your head around the layers and the positioning….and the Altenew ink sets take matching colours sooooo easy.

Well – unless you get then the wrong way round! I did that with the purple flowers – I stamped the darkest purple on the second layer. So I turned to my blue inks so I could out even darker layers down. So I didn’t make a mistake really – I just have purple and blue roses!

I added sequins as part of one of the challenges – a couple of them did cover some ink marks…..so handy.

I shall be entering the following challenges:
Watercooler Wednesday – atg feminine

Seize The Birthday – atg Birthday

CAS on Friday – CAS celebration card with sequins

 

 

 

 

Floral abstract

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Hello again. I have had some new deliveries  – more in one day as the snow has gone and the delivery man could get in – so have took some time to create a card this morning.

I used the stamp set ‘Hope‘ from Altenew and some Altenew inks to make the flower and leaves. Some masking was involved, too, and I also used my new Misti creative corners. I can see I’ll be using those a lot in the future, even if it’s for lining the sentiments up – great for that.

I then used Lawn Fawn wonky stitched squares to cut it out, and embossed with an abstract die from Neat and Tangled – Modern Triangle Cover Plate die. I thought this design fit perfectly for the current challenge at CASology – cue word being ‘Abstract’. I didn’t think it took anything from the flower design, but also added a little interest.

The sentiment is a mix of words from the same Altenew ‘Hope‘ stamp set, and ‘mom’ is from The Ton ‘Fresh Cut Tulips’ – a stamp set I’ll be playing with very, very soon.

I know we don’t use ‘mom’ very much in the UK, but I really liked how it is quite quirky for us – I hope my mother-in-law agrees!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CASology – cue word Abstract

Try It On Tuesday – mum/mothers day

Crafty Cardmakers – Floral Delight

 

3 colours and 3D Rose Flurries

20180305_083013Hello everyone. After all the snow we had last week, (which I know is not a lot compared to some people, but we aren’t used to it), I managed to venture out on Friday to visit family. As I live in a wood and down a dirt track, I knew the post man wasn’t coming to make deliveries, so I called into the local Royal Mail centre to see if there was anything waiting to be delivered to us. (I was expecting some crafty goodness!)

And here we are………..the Altenew 3D Rose Flurries I’ve been trying to get my hands on for months. I’ve been playing with them all weekend – in between visiting family – and cutting them out in a multitude of colours – all monochrome at present. I’ll be daring to put them together with other colours soon, but I made this card to go into the current Color Throwdown Challenge – to use grey, Kraft, and pink.

The base grey card is Lawn Fawn ‘Narwhal’ (love it) and I stamped a flower with a pink Catherine Pooler ink for a background. I am amazed that this idea worked – stamping pink onto a dark grey card? It just shows how good these inks are.

I then die-cut the 3D roses and leaves, sticking them together with Crafters Companion spray glue (not sure about this glue, flowers seem to come apart the following day!!), and placing them onto the base card using 3D gel glue and foam pads.

Now for the mistake:

20180305_083117I stuck the roses on the wrong end! I wanted them to be at the bottom right – but I didn’t check the opening of the base card first!

Well, now we have a cascade of roses flowing from the top of the card! :) :)

Or I may have to cut this out as a panel for the front of another base card…….

 

 

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Some more monochrome flowers…..It seemed to take me forever to match the dies up the first time, but once done it’s easy.

 

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – Kraft, Pink, Grey

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Alphabet Challenge – ‘Y’ for your choice

Springtime Azalea

Hello everyone. I have trying out a technique inspired from Jennifer McGuire today. She recently posted a video outlining a layering stamping technique using a template. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa0eeT3vXac&t=1232s

Here is my template:

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I tried it out on this stamp set, even though the set itself is quite easy to layer up anyway, but I found it very easy once you had got your head around it. This really is a great way to make lots of flowers at the same time – which is one of the reasons I put so many on these cards!

The flowers were made using the ‘Jennifer McGuire’ technique, using a range of Altenew inks, and then I set to organising them on my card base.

The layout is from the current CAS Colours and Sketches challenge, and organised to match the current Just Us Girls challenge, which is a photograph of lots of little flowers. I shall also be entering the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Even though ‘The Beast From The East’ and ‘Storm Emma’ are both bombarding the UK, there were lots of little spring flowers trying to pop their little heads up – before the snow!

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Challenges entered:

Just Us Girls – photo inspiration

CAS Colours and Sketches – sketch

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – In My Garden

Addicted to Stamps and More – anything goes

 

 

Christmas in February??

20180221_212446 Last evening had been one for die-cutting, as you can see. The previous card gave me the inspiration to try something more adventurous and I thought a Christmas card would be an ideal way to go a little over-the-top, a little more dramatic.

I started with a base card from Sue Wilson, embossed with a Heart Lattice embossing folder, with a layer of black behind it. The poinsettias were stamped with the Heartfelt Creations stamp, and heat embossed with black embossing powder. After these were die cut, I layered a couple of the together, and shaped the leaves a little. I like rounded shapes on leaves as I feel you can get some reflection of the embossing powder and the card better from any angle.

The sprigs of holly etc were die cut from the same gold card, and from some black card, all arranged on the base layers with 3D glue – to give me some time for moving things around. I also like to leave some of the finishing touches free – I don’t stick everything down completely, as I like the movement of them when the card is opened.

I thought about a Christmas sentiment, and where to put it, but I didn’t want to cover any of the elements up at this point, so I will ensure I put a relevant Christmas verse on the inside.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge – Christmas with option green (option not used)

Winter Wonderland Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas at Sweet Stampin’ – anything goes Christmas

 

 

 

 

 

CAS die cuts

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Good morning everyone. I have had a couple of hours this morning before I do my hospital run today, so I took inspiration from several challenges for this card.

I used the layout from the current sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches, used dry embossing for the tag for the challenges at Less Is More, and used only die cuts for the current challenge at AAA cards.

The black stripes were a challenge initially, but I remembered I had a vertical Stripes plate die from Reverse Confetti. I cut that out from black card, and used the cut-out stripes – usually the waste – to lay down on the card.

I then took a tag die from Stamps By Me, and after cutting it out, I embossed it with a Sue Wilson folder called ‘Twinkle Twinkle’, and stuck down the sentiment from the same tag die set, die cut with a piece of double-sided sticky sheet.

The three hearts are from a Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval set.

A short posting today, but I hope you like it.

 

Friends

20180218_203048Hi everyone. I have moved away from the florals for a little while….for this card, anyway. I was inspired by the current challenge fro CASology, and as I had a delivery from Clearly Besotted this week, which included these cheeky monkeys…….off I went.

I know that many people are thinking Valentines at the moment, but I tend to buck the trend and think of other ways of ‘together’. This card is an homage to my best friend, and the sentiment taken from an Altenew stamp set just fits the bill nicely.

We are crazy when we are together, yet professional and somewhat calmer during our work time. In fact we hardly see each other at work, even when we worked within the same department. Which made it all the more special when we went away for a night or two. We are going away for the Uniko retreat this coming Saturday (24th), as we had so much lovely crafting time last time, we just had to! (Even though my bestie isn’t really a crafty card maker……..she just comes with me for the craic!)

So, this card….the images stamped in Versafine black onyx and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I actually stamped quite a few of them, as I didn’t know which of the images I wanted to use, and I didn’t know which colouring medium I would prefer.

I coloured some with my Zigs – the ones I used – and some with my Polychromos, then some with some Crafters Companion pencils. I then die cut them, arranged them on the card – fiddling several times – then added with 3D foam.

20180218_203102_001The sentiment is stamped in Versafine black onyx again, but not heat embossed. One thing I always seem to do – add the sentiment last, even when the card is complete except for the sentiment. How about if it stamped wrong?! I do like to live on the edge…..

 

 

Lilac Roses

Hello everyone. It’s been a week since I last posted, as I have been busy with family and hospital issues. I had a couple of hours this morning before going out again, so I gave myself permission to have a little crafty time.

This colours of this card were inspired by the current challenge from Color Throwdown, and I turned to a more clean and simple look.

The base card is Narwhal from Lawn Fawn, the white piece is cut with a Catherine Pooler die, and again embossed with a We R Memory Keepers embossing folder to give a really good 3D impression. The flowers are from Clearly Besotted and I used Altenew inks for each of the two layers for the roses, with a green Altenew ink for the leaves.

I die cut them, and arranged onto the white card, sticking them down with foam squares. As previously, I have not put a sentiment on it, but I may do in the future, though I quite like the look of the card as it is.

I will be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – lilac, green, grey, white

Addicted to Stamps and More – CAS

Simon Says Stamp – add a die cut

Clean and Simple on Sunday – CAS with dies

 

Butterflies

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I apologise now – I’ve been using a splattered piece of card again. This is the off-cut from a piece of water-colour card I used yesterday with the splattering. I saw this off-cut, which is quite a decent size, and decided to make a card for the current CASology challenge – Butterfly.

I had a hunt through my stash, and went for these two butterfly stamps from Catherine Pooler, along with a swirl which is also from Catherine Pooler.

I used my Misti to position the swirl, and stamped it a couple of times with a green Altenew ink, then stamped the butterflies with Altenew grey ink. The sentiment is from Catherine Pooler again, stamped using darker green Altenew ink.

The water-colour card is die cut using Lawn Fawn stitched rectangles, and the base card is Narwhal from Lawn Fawn – just to tie-in the colour of the butterflies.

I’ll try to steer away from splattering for a couple of days – but I can’t promise! :)