Scenic Christmas

Hello there. I have been doing some practicing with scenic cards – totally inspired by Nichol Spohr and the Lawn Fawn videos. I have a way to go to get anywhere near their skills – but I’ll keep trying, listening to the hints and tips – and practice, practice, practice.

Here is a very simple scenic card inspired by the current challenge at AAA Cards:

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The theme is moonlight…..I started with a die cut circle and blended Distress Oxides using the circle as a mask. I then added some glitter pen to the white moon and it actually smudged some of the circle – but I liked the look. It gives the moon a whispy look – so I carried on and smudged it more to get the effect you see here.

The owls are from Clearly Besotted, and it is me trying again to use Crafters Companion Illustrator alcohol pens to achieve a dimensional colouring look. I think I succeeded – and liked the way they turned out.

The glitter card is a couple of die cuts using stitched border dies – I think I’m at least getting the hang of doing them.

I tried a couple of sentiments, but I didn’t like how they looked – so I left them off. I am sure the recipient will know it’s a Christmas card……!

I’m now off to try my new purchase of the reveal wheel set of dies – wish me luck!

 

 

Lime Rickey Baubles

Hi there. A quick posting to add a card I have been thinking about for several days – and finally got to finish. And – yes – it’s a simple enough card so I have no clue why it took me so long:

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I used the stamps and dies from the latest Catherine Pooler ‘Stamp of Approval’ collection – which also included WOW! embossing powder to match three of her inks. How fabulous is that?

So – I stamped the baubles with Lime Rickey, then also embossed with Lime Rickey. The bows are also stamped in Lime Rickey – but not embossed.

The sentiment is from the same collection stamped in – you guessed it – Lime Rickey. Have I said that ink name enough?

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Addicted to Stamps – CAS

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

I have also been playing with some alcohol markers. I have bought some Crafters Companion Illustrator pens – then went back the following day for more colours. I am currently going through YouTube videos at a rate of knots to get as much information about them as I can. I am – actually – enjoying colouring and blending, which is highly unusual for me. I am sure I will be posting some creations soon….  :)

 

Wreath and bells

Hello everyone. I have spent some time crafting this weekend and making some Christmas cards ready for charity. Also – of course – having some fun…..

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This card was inspired by the current challenge at Color Throwdown – to use Green, Kraft, and white.

It turned out to be a completely Altenew card – except for the sentiment – using an older stamp and die set, and a couple of new ones.

I used Altenew inks, and changed the greens a little for the second card. I didn’t add all the detail to the bells, quite liking the simplicity of them as they are. I was toying with letting the bells dangle on some string or such like, but added them as you see instead.

The sentiment is from a new stamp set I have yet to play with from Clearly Besotted ‘Hang Around‘ and has baubles and bows. I thought the French sentiment suited the card for some reason – so I went with it.

I have decided that I will be making several of each Christmas card ready for the charity event, I’m probably going to stick with the more clean and simple card. I say that a lot – then go and make things a little more complicated.

Anyway – it’s all about enjoying yourself, isn’t it?

Have a great day – catch you later. :)

 

Colourful and blingy

Hello again. I have been playing with colours, and trying to create a scenic card, and a second card which made me smile as I was colouring it.

First is the scenic card:

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and a close-up of the silver bling:

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The base is water-colour card and blended blues from my Distress Oxide collection. I then took the die cut from Avery Elle ‘Let it Snow‘ and cut the little holes/stars into it. I then splashed it with Gansai Tambi ‘Starry Colours‘ for some extra shimmer.

The Santa Clause and Reindeer are from the same stamp set as the two critters – Lawn Fawn ‘Winter Skies‘, stamped in black and heat embossed.

The hills and little town are cut out of silver glitter card, and again cut using the hillside dies – both from Lawn Fawn – and layered out of sync – so they create some dimensional hills.

The two little critters are coloured with my Zigs, as are the trees.

The second card:

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This is a cheshire cat stamp from Visible Image. stamped first and masked off, then using a stencil to create a weird background…….then coloured with my Zigs.

This card will be entered into the following challenges:

Daring Cardmakers – pets

Time Out Challenges – colourful

The first scenic card will be entered into the following challenges:

Just Us Girls – celestial elements

52cct – Christmas and silver

I now have three days off work, and I plan to craft and craft and craft to get a substantial stock of Christmas cards – but as I have also received a bunch of the new Altenew stamps – there may be some general cards too…………you can’t have too many of them, either, can you?

 

 

Simple Christmas

Hello everyone. I have remiss in my blogging recently, as I have been busy with work and family ‘stuff’. I have doing a little colouring and playing the past few days, and trying to build a stock of Christmas cards for a charity thingy in a few weeks.

Here is an example of one – including my attempt at alcohol marker colouring! (I think I need to get the grey’s a little less blendy!)

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I used the Lawn Fawn ‘Quilted Backdrop‘ die for the – well – backdrop……and layered with foam pads to create a little dimension.

The little hippo is from Clearly Besotted – ‘Hippo Christmas’ – and coloured with Altenew Alcohol Markers. I love these markers, but am finding a problem with colouring of animals – browns and greys etc…….I may have to invest in some Copics! Any ideas on colours I should purchase?

I am not a huge fan of colouring, and actually struggle with sitting down to do it. I have quite a few hippos and deer and penguins stamped – just not coloured. I don’t know why I don’t just get them coloured – maybe it’s because I find colouring a ‘task’, and not something I would think to turn to for relaxing……I’ll keep looking at the YouTube videos and keep trying…..

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps – Holiday

Allsorts Challenge – Christmas

The Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas at Sweet Stamping – anything goes Christmas

 

 

Fancy Wedding card

Hello there. I have gone back to my roots – the first kind of card making I ever did. Very detailed, very time-consuming, and throwing lots of different die-cuts at it.

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This is a card for a wedding I am attending next week. Neither of them follow my blog or Instagram – so I should be OK!!! :)

When I make wedding and anniversary cards for people I know, then I always turn to my Sue Wilson/ Creative Expressions dies and card-stock. This was – obviously – no exception.

I started by creating my shaker heart using the fillables collection from Sue Wilson, and I had to go to YouTube to figure out which part I did first and glued first. Once I had the heart stuck down to my embossed piece of card, I filled it with some pearl hearts and sequins, then stuck it down to a piece of Stampin Up glimmer card. I then concentrated on all the other die-cuts and the layout.

The heart die-cut is made for this shaker shape, and fits perfectly over the top.

The bow is cut from a Spellbinders die set – out of glimmer card – stuck in shape with a brad (you can’t see this brad), then attached with 3D glue. The swirls were also out of glimmer card for added fanciness.

The stick pins I made from scratch, and had to let the Glossy Accents dry before adding them to the card. The glossy accents is in-between each piece on the stick pin. I am glad I used 3D glue for the bow and swirls, because I then had to remove them to add a large foam pad, as something for the stick pins to go into, therefore covering the sharp end.

Here is a close-up of the stick pins and bow:

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and here is the heart shaker element:

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Both of these pictures show the glimmer card better, too.

A couple more random photos, including the inside of the card:

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon says Stamp Monday Challenge – Monochrome

Daring Cardmakers – add a swirl or flourish

QKR Stampede – anything goes

The Twisted Challenge – celebrations and monochrome

Monochrome Magic Challenge – monochrome with twist of adding a bow

 

Magnolia Thanks

Hello everyone. It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted. I have spent a week on holiday in Turkey – gorgeous resort and fabulous company. Hubby and I went with another couple – the men going golfing every day – EVERY day – and us two women chillin’, and sunnin’, and drinkin’ and…..well, you get the idea.

On our return, I have been full-on with work and family matters, so today has been the first time I have been able to sit and do a little crafting. As it’s been so long, I did find it a little daunting, and looked to several challenge blogs for inspiration……I took a couple of photos where the sun highlighted the embossing detail:

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I made a couple of cards whilst I was there, as I am trying to build a little more stock for a charity sale…………hopefully I can get a good collection together.

I used the Altenew ‘Build a Flower Magnolia‘ and stamped the layers in Altenew pinks and purples. The green and brown are also from Altenew. The sentiment is from the ‘Triple Step Thank you‘ from Concord and 9th, and the background embossing folder is from Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Altenew September challenge – photo inspiration

Addicted to Stamps – anything goes

Simon says Stamp Wednesday challenge – anything goes

I am sure I will be crafting more over the weekend – I have a wedding card to put together for next week……………………. :)

 

 

Altenew Layered Rose

Hi everyone. So, this is it – my card for Guest Star Stamper at the Color Throwdown challenge:

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The colours to use are red, orange, Kraft and green. I used a multitude of dies for this card – as you can see – and enjoyed some ink smooshing and water-colouring too. A win-win situation for me!

I took the Altenew Layered Rose die and cut all the layers out from the ink smooshed water-colour card in the orange, red and green. I used the Altenew water-colour pan set for these colours as I like the way they spread and layer. I stuck them together using spray glue and put them to one side whilst I played with the rest of the layout.

I die-cut the Altenew Watercolour Stripes Cover die out of Kraft, and two of the Altenew Leaf Frame Cover die also out of craft and layered them together, with the Leaf Frame die being rotated to add more interest.

Though I did play with white die-cuts too, I preferred the Kraft in the background on the white card base.

I took some of the fall-aways from the stripes cover die, stamped the sentiment from a Hero Arts stamp set on a white piece, and glued some of the Kraft fall-away pieces behind it to highlight it a little more. That is the reason they look ‘shabby’ – they are fall-aways from the die set, and therefore match with the background. Waste not want not!

You can see from behind the card that the day was a little dull and grey, so I thought the sentiment suited exactly right at the time!

I hope you join in and I can’t wait to see what you create for this colour scheme. :)

swatch510

 

Painted Poppies

Hi there. Boy – when the mojo comes back…..it comes back, doesn’t it? I think my mojo is knocking on my head repeatedly as I’ve got so many ideas in there…….it’s just finding the time to do it!

Before I go to create my card for my Guest Star Stamper for the Color Throwdown Challenge beginning on the 12th September, I wanted to post the cards I made this morning:

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I took the colours from the current CAS Colours and Sketches, and made these two variations.

I do like a little inks smooshing, so I took the Night of Navy and my version of Gorgeous Grape – I don’t have that colour so used a Zig instead – and smooshed two panels. I die cut them using a Catherine Pooler die, which is a favourite of mine.

After I had stamped and heat embossed the flowers and leaves, I used the three colours to water-colour them, but left the prickly leaf without colour.

I had a play with the layout and that’s where the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch came in.

I couldn’t decide which card I preferred so I am showing them both – does anyone have a preference?

The sentiment is from a Concord and 9th stamp set.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – Night Of Navy, Crushed Curry, Gorgeous Grape

Watercooler Challenges – feminine anything goes

CAS(E) This Sketch – sketch

CAS On Sunday – CAS Flowers

 

 

 

 

Birds and Giraffes

Hello again. I haven’t posted for a few days as I was in a little slump. Whatever I tried didn’t work and left me feeling quite frustrated. Then I received a few challenge recognition badges and top picks – and boy did that get the mojo flowing!

This first card is inspired from the current Color Throwdown challenge and the sketch from AAA cards. I was Featured Stamper for the last Color Throwdown, and will be Guest Star Stamper for the challenge beginning 12th September. Wow! I hope you can join us for that challenge. The colours we will be using this coming week are fab-u-lous!

The card below was really fun stamping and adding the little bits and pieces for the birds and leaves, so they matched the colours (orange, blue, red):

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I used Catherine Pooler red, orange, and blue, and of course I used to use the red and orange for the blended background, and I even did some water-splatters too – these inks are very, very versatile.

The stamp set is MFT ‘Mod Birds’ and is such a fun set to play with. I like how the filling stamps don’t fully match and complete the image, giving a quirky and modern look and feel to them.

The speech bubble die is from Altenew and I just embossed it into the background instead of cutting it, in such a position that it looks like it’s coming out of one of the mouths of one of the birds – does it work? I even outlined it a  little with a white gel pen – I wasn’t brave enough to use the black pen!

The sentiment is from Heffy Doodle ‘Wing Man‘ stamp set – another set I’ll be playing with soon. This card will also be entered into the current Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – ‘stamps – no digital’.

This second card is inspired from the current challenge at CASology with the theme of ‘FLIP‘, and Simply Less Is More, with the challenge to use black, white, and one colour:

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I used the MFT ‘Playful Giraffes‘ for this card – aren’t they cute? I stamped the giraffes in Versafine black onyx – made sure it was completely dry, then coloured with an Altenew Artist Marker. Guess how I found out to make sure the black ink was dry before colouring?

I used a sentiment from the same stamp set, and again used a speech bubble.

Have a good day, and I hope you can join me again soon. :)