altenew

Stamping Butterflies

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Hi everyone. A small and quick card for today. My sister has been over and we’ve had a few hours playing with our stuff – we have such a different way of crafting cards. She is very much into backgrounds and wild animals. I seem to do anything and everything else!

This card is made using my Majestix and Cardio stamps. I haven’t played with them for a while, and was in a stamping mood. I wasn’t going to go down the layering stamps route, but this set is actually just that.

I used Altenew inks for the flowers – light blue then darker outline, and the butterflies I did in a slightly darker blue, and even darker outline. (You just gotta love those ink sets.)

The floral part was stamped in one of the Altenew sets, the purple range. A light purple, as I wanted the butterflies to be the darkest and stand out the most. The sentiment is also from Altenew, and older set I have had for a while, this time stamped in the dark blue – thinking that black would be too stark with the softer images below it.

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Galz – butterflies

Alphabet Challenge – ‘I’ is for insects

 

Oriental Orchid

I am just loving this stamp set from Altenew. Yes – bought at the weekend in Doncaster. I have been playing and making a couple of single layer cards. I am also enjoying doing cards with cascading flowers. For some reason it appeals to me. Some interest on one part of the card. I think I’m going ‘clean and simple’ as I get older…..in more ways than one! However – that doesn’t mean to say I won’t be making cards with loads of layers, and bling, and die cuts etc……I like those kinds of cards for my friends and family at Christmas – a Sue Wilson fan for those cards.

For both of the cards above, I used the Altenew inks ‘Northern Lights’ mini-cubes, and stamped the outline, then the much lighter base layer, then only added the middle in the same darker pink as the outline. I didn’t add the more detailed layer, as I liked this simpler look.

I used the masking technique for both cards – for the green stems on one card, and for the other card so I could layer the flowers. I’ll be practising the masking a little more, so I can get more flowers on the stem, but this clean look appeals to me.

I photographed the card at my mum’s, where I’ve been crafting for a few hours – hence the sundial and garden effect. I didn’t notice the hose pipe in the background of one of the pictures until afterwards – but lets just say that life does get in the way of crafting….!

I shall be entering the stemmed card into the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – dark pink, pale pink, green, white

Watercooler Wednesday – birthday

Happy Little Stampers – CAS birthday

 

 

Christmas Tree

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Hi everyone. A quick post today as I am just off to the Doncaster Racecourse for another craft show. This is one I go to every year, and I usually grab quite a few bargains. I have my list of ‘wants’ with me.

Today’s card is using Altenew ‘Sketched Evergreen’ layering Christmas Tree stamp. I used my Sheena Douglass stamping card, and layered the tree using my Altenew inks. The most difficult part was placing the sentiment – and which sentiment and words to use.

I didn’t stamp the Christmas tree base, as I liked the look of it without.

I took inspiration from Casology, the current theme being ‘wish‘, and used the words from two stamp sets to come up with the above. I used my Misti for stamping the words, just so I could get a clean and crisp sentiment.

So – off to the show………..

 

 

 

Hello Sunshine Flowers

Hi everyone. A later posting today, as it took me so long to sort out the placement of this flower and leaves. I had an idea in my head, but just couldn’t get it right. It seems to be a running theme with me these days – taking ages to plan my layout…..

This card has been inspired by the colours from Just Add Ink, and the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch.

I used my Altenew stamp and die set ‘Hello Sunshine’, stamping the flower in black on some Whisper White cardstock, but the leaves in a softer grey. I don’t have the Smokey Slate from Stampin Up, so used Evening Grey from Altenew. I thought the leaves would be too stark if stamped in black, and I wanted a softer look for them.

The flower I stamped in black, and coloured all of them in Lemon Lime Twist, using my water brush on the ink pad casing. I must say, this is now one of my favourite colours. I love it. It comes a very close second to the Catherine Pooler ‘Lime Rickey’ ink – love them both.

The sentiment is from Altenew – Wood Pallet Background. I was going to use the wood pallet, but I used my We R Memory Keepers next level embossing folder instead, to give a trellis look. (I need to move away from the trellis look, I think!)

I stamped the banner in Crumb Cake, as well as the sentiment, and cut it out. And – no die cut for this! All my own snappy scissor work……. :)

The base card is Crumb Cake, layered with the Whisper White embossed layer, the sentiment added with 3D glue gel, and the flower and leaves stuck behind this.

So – Whisper white is used for the stamping and the embossed layer, Lemon Lime Twist for the colouring, Crumb Cake for the base card, and Evening Grey instead of Smoky Slate for the outline of the leaves.

Challenges I will be entering:

CAS(E) This Sketch – sketch

Just Add Ink – colour combination

QKR Stampede – anything goes

 

 

Poinsettia

Hi everyone. Today’s card is a mixture of colours and sketch and Christmas. I have been waiting to use my Altenew ‘Poinsettia and Pine’ stamp and die set, but couldn’t get my head around a layout – until I saw the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. I then had something to work with.

I used that sketch as a layout, and the colours from CAS Colours and Sketches – Lemon Lime Twist, Berry Burst, and Island Indigo. I have just had a Stampin Up delivery, so I had my first two colours, but I didn’t have Island Indigo. I turned to my paper stash, and found a sample of what I think is Island Indigo, and used a strip of designer series paper to complete the sketch and colours theme. I used this side of the paper as I think it looks icy and wintery.

The poinsettia is stamped and heat embossed, then coloured with Berry Burst using my water colour brush, straight from the lid of the ink pad, the same with the two leaves using Lemon Lime Twist. I die cut them with the matching die set, and then thought about the layout – where to put the leaves and twigs.

Once decided, I stuck the flower down with 3D glue, then ‘shoved’ the leaves and twigs underneath after putting some Cosmic Shimmer glue on the tips. I did add some Crafters Companion glittery pen to the flower, but I couldn’t photograph that to show you – you’ll have to pretend you can see the glimmer.

The three stars are from Stampin Up ‘Birthday Blast’ in Berry Burst and Catherine Pooler ‘Aquatini’ – which I think is a pretty good match.

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

CAS Colours and Sketches – three colours

Christmas Card Challenges – anything goes Christmas

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

 

?Pizza

I’m having a little titter to myself as I post this card. I can’t believe I’m actually posting it, but it’s brought me some giggles. I am sure from the title of the post that you can see what the theme of the challenge is that I made this card for……..

The cue card is from Casology – ‘Pizza‘. So, I don’t have any pizza stamps or dies, I don’t have anything I could turn my mind to for a real pizza, or anything I could turn use to even come close to representing a pizza. I have been thinking about this for a couple of days now, and was at a total loss.

Until I was driving to work yesterday, was stopped at some traffic lights in Sheffield – outside a Dominoes Pizza place.

I immediately started giggling. I am sure the car in front must have thought I was a complete nutter! Then I thought – why not? It is following the theme of the challenge, Dominoes Pizza is international……….so here you are.

The actual domino took more thought……eventually I die cut two squares using my Stampin Up ‘Stitched Shapes Framelits’, then wondered how I was going to do the dots. I looked at my hole punch – not quite right. I looked at my Crop-a-dile – too small. I looked at my punches from Stampin Up – nothing seemed quite right.

So, while I kept thinking, I decided to tidy my craft table, and to put some things away. I always seem to have lots of stamps and dies just sitting there……anyone else do that? So – putting some of my stuff away, I came across a stamp set from Altenew ‘Simple Flowers’. Guess what – there are a couple of small round dots in that set.

Here we go – I took one of the dots, stamped it in my Ranger Perfect Medium, heat embossed with white opaque powder – and ended up with what you see above. I stuck both the squares down flat with some of my Tombow glue…….

I’m still giggling. We are supposed to have fun when we craft, aren’t we? I think this takes it to another level, though!

What do you think? Outside the box or what? (Pizza box, of course)

 

clean and simple butterfly

Hello everyone. Sunday here is turning out to be a glorious warm and sunny day – and yet I have been making this card. Well, with my wedding anniversary today, and hubby off golfing – what’s a girl to do?

This card was inspired initially by the current Casology challenge – the cue card being ‘fly’. So, how many items do I have that could be used for this card? I am sure we all have butterflies, and birds, and feathers, and loads more stuff. I initially thought about the Tim Holtz ‘crazy birds’, then went to my Altenew ‘feathers’, then went to some butterfly stamps – then – found this Brusho piece of card from when I was playing with my new colours a few weeks ago. Just laying there on my desk, calling me, asking me to use it for this card………..

Immediately, I went to my butterfly die from Sue Wilson – ‘Majestic Monarch’. This is such a gorgeous die, very delicate, so it wouldn’t take over too much from the background, but quite large. Therefore, I went to a 6 inch square card as a base.

I placed my die cut butterfly on the card, and tried several positions until I was happy, then looked for a sentiment. This sentiment actually comes from the Altenew ‘Faithful Feather’ stamp set, and I love the script, and also that it fit just perfectly rightly in the bottom right of the card.

I used my Misti to stamp the sentiment a couple of times with my Versafine Black Onyx, then stuck down the butterfly using the body only, as I wanted the wings to move around a little, to give some movement to the card.

I hope you are all having a fabulous day, and will be crafting at some point……

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

Casology – fly

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – anything goes

Crafting with Dragonflies – punches or dies

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge – anything goes

Red and White

The first of July already. Good grief. And my 29th wedding anniversary tomorrow! Where does the time go? The weather here in Chesterfield has turned a little warmer than earlier in the week, and the rain has stopped. Finally.

For today’s card I have gone clean, but only simple once I had worked out what I was doing. It took a little thought and playing around to get the final product. I tried die cutting some simple strips, but I couldn’t get them to merge together correctly. I tried stamping onto a larger base card, but in the end went for this smaller version.

The inspiration came from three challenges. The first challenge was a sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches, which was the challenge regarding the lay out. The second challenge was from Less is More, with the theme of using the colours of your country’s flags. I stuck to the colours of the St George Cross, instead of going for the red, white, and blue of the Union Jack, and the third challenge was from Clean and Simple on Sunday, the theme being to use flowers.

The base card is just over 4 inches by 5.5 inches, with a layer of plain white card onto which I stamped a chevron from Catherine Pooler’s Stamp Of Approval Foundation box. I used my Misti because I wanted to be precise with the placing of the stamp. I also used a Catherine Pooler ink – ‘Rockin’ Red’.

I then stamped a larger flower from Altenew ‘Bamboo Rose’ and two smaller flowers from Altenew ‘Hello Sunshine’, and die cut them with the matching dies.

The sketch challenge was set by Jane, and she said she was ‘looking for one element larger than the other two, but they don’t have to be circles‘, so I thought the three flowers fitted perfectly.

I stuck them down with some foam pads, and then thought about the sentiment. This again came from the same Catherine Pooler stamp set, and fitted ‘just so’ into the space under the chevron I had stamped – again I used my Misti for placement, as I was stamping it onto the base layer.

So, even though it looks ‘Clean and Simple’ – it did take a little thinking and organising of my elements.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and I look forward to seeing what everyone else adds to these challenges.

 

weekend selection

 

Good morning everyone. I have a selection of cards for you today, as I have been playing with my Altenew ‘Build-a-flower: Aster’ stamp and die set. Now, I’ve had this set for quite a few weeks, ordered from Seven Hills Crafts in the middle of May. I had an initial little play with them, but I couldn’t do, I didn’t like it, I tried several times but I just couldn’t get it right. I don’t know whether it was the colours I was using, but I just didn’t like the effect of using all three layers.

Then – I watched the Altenew programme on Create and Craft yesterday, and she made it look so easy. Why on earth couldn’t I get the hang of this stamp set? So – I went and played again, chose the Sheena Douglass Stamping Card, Altenew inks, and went for it. And – you know what – I liked what I made. Mostly! I didn’t like the images with the outline, I must admit, so I only used the base and detail layer.

I made 8 flowers in total, using a variety of Altenew ink sets I had, played with the different base layer being the lightest or next to lightest colour and moved one colour up for the detail layer, and only one of the flowers didn’t really work well – you’ll see that shortly!

The two cards above will be entered into two different challenges.

The first one was made using the Altenew ‘Layered Plaid Cover Die’, which I’ll be entering into the Altenew June challenge, and Case this sketch challenge, and the second is for Freshly Made Sketches. One of them also being entered into the Allsorts Challenge for ‘Flower Power’.

I can hear you asking what I did with the six other flowers:

I made little cards with a sweet little word from Stampin Up ‘Sunshine Sayings’. Probably to be used a little gift cards, or notelets. I wanted to use them all, as otherwise they would just be left sitting there on my desk – amidst things I haven’t cleared away – yet! I won’t be entering these little cards into any challenges – they were ‘just for fun’.

 

 

 

Inkspirational challenge

Good morning everyone. So – this is it – my first card as a guest designer. For the Inkspirational challenge. I am honoured to have been asked to do this, and hope very much you can play along.

Here is the challenge picture:

Challenge137

I decided that the settee/sofa looked very much like a window box to me, and the flowers were growing out of it. I started with a 6 inch square white card base which I splatted/sprayed some blue ink onto. I didn’t go down the Brusho route, though I did think of it, and restrained myself with just some ink splats.

I embossed the Spellbinders ‘Lene Lok’ die, not cutting it out, just embossing, making that look like cushions and buttons on upholstery, using the same blue card as the flowers as an extra layer to make the window box stand out, and raised that with foam pads only to the bottom and sides.

I die cut the flowers using Creative Expressions/Sue Wilson ‘Scribble Flowers’ and also stamped and die cut the Altenew ‘Amazing You’ flower stems to which some flower heads were added, inserting them behind the ‘sofa/window box’.

The sentiment is from The same Altenew stamp set, again with some inks splats.

Thank you for having a look, and enjoy the challenge. :)

I will be entering this card into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp – emboss

Dara and Diane challenges – blue and white

Monochrome Magic – anything goes monochrome