Copics

Funky Floral Hello

Hello. I’ve been doing some more crafting – and yes – despite all the die cutting from the other day – I did more for this card:

I used the colours from the current challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches to colour the white die-cuts from using the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Funky Floral 3 die set. This time, I forgot to use double sided sticky tape on the back, so the flowers are constructed with glue – not my favourite way of sticking little bits together – but I was patient…..kinda!

I used the Hero Arts ‘Wood Grain Infinity dies‘ again to create the frames so I could mimic the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches

A little close-up of the flowers and frames:

The sentiment is from Altenew, and I also used the teeny tiny dimensionals I received recently behind the frames – a little dimension. The flowers aren’t completely stuck down – I do like to create some movement when using flowers like these, and so I tend to tuck them inside a frame like this, or just stick the stalks into some 3D glue behind other images.

I even took a photo – slightly dark I’m afraid – against some flowers which almost seemed to match the colours:

As well as the flower colour, and the photos with my garden in the background – there is a lot of green around at the moment. We have had quite a bit of rain, and I am looking forward to the promised sunshine and warmer temperatures for this Bank Holiday weekend in the UK.

The challenges I shall be entering are:

CAS Colours and Sketches – Gorgeous Grape, Crushed Curry, Highland Heather (attempted matching with Copics)

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – CAS

Try It On Tuesday – In my garden is…….

Also – I’m trying to link photos from challenges to their challenge site – and not just write down the challenge and theme etc …..can you let me know if it does or doesn’t work? I’m playing a little here………. :) :)

CAS Colours & Sketches

Freshly Made Sketches

Try It On Tuesday

Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog

Cow Birthday

Hi there. I have a card to share to day using a stamp set from a company I hadn’t heard of – until the craft show in Doncaster a few weeks ago.:

The stamp company is ‘Time For Tea Designs‘ and they seem to have quite a few quirky stamp sets, and matching quirky sentiments – just up my street.

This stamp set is called – appropriately – ‘Moovellous‘, and I am loving that cow stamp. This set comes with the cow, the birds, the flowers, the fence, the trees, the grass stamps – in fact the only thing not from the stamp set is the background light blue paper, (I did say I was going to try and use paper from my stash) and the grass edge die set.

Once I had stamped all the images, I coloured with a selection of Copics, and then die cut them with my Scan’n’cut – with baited breath as I had already coloured everything…………..

I managed to take the photo during daylight hours outside – and caught one of my cats in the background – that black and white blob thingy………!!

Another close-up of the card and colouring:

Once I had die-cut the grass, I thought it looked a little plain, so I stamped some of the grass images from the stamp set in a green which shows only slightly – I think an Altenew green – but it does give a little more interest.

Challenges I shall be entering:

Aud Sentiments – animals and a sentiment

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Color Throwdown – green, yellow, light blue, Kraft

Cut It Up – die cuts and a sentiment

Penguins, Quarters, reindeer

Hello there everyone. There is another challenge starting at ABC Christmas Challenge, and this time the letters are ‘P’ for Penguins, ‘Q’ for quarters, and ‘R’ for Reindeer.

Here are my cards for this challenge:

P for Penguins, Q for Quarters
R for Reindeer

I was so inspired by this challenge, that I did cards which covered all three letters. I hunted through my MFT stash to come up with the images, and I even enjoyed colouring them! I know – I don’t usually…..

For the first card I used some Distress Oxides and ink blended a background, cutting out four squares as a backdrop for the penguins. The embossing folder is from Sue Wilson. The die-cut sentiment is from Altenew, and stacked with three layers for dimension to match the height of the squares.

For the second card I used the same embossing folder, ink blended – just a little – some of the blue Distress Oxides, but used the de-bossed side, instead of the embossed side.

I hope you can come along and join us this time, I am sure you have something suitable in your stash for at least one of the letters – if not all of them. I look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. :)

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – Christmas with the option of reindeer

Dis Digi designs – things with wings or a tail

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

My Time To Craft – Christmas in July

Black and White with pop of red……..

Hello there. Peace and quiet here again today, so I’m making the most of it. I have been swatching some of my inks and have done my Distress Oxides and my Catherine Pooler inks, moving to my Altenew inks – but run out of the little stamp pockets.

They are due to be delivered from Amazon again today – but an email to say they couldn’t access my house – ridiculous. No-one has come near me this afternoon – and I have CCTV to prove it!!!!! This has happened a few times before – I think it’s a Sunday driver who can’t be bothered. I’ve called Amazon – but what can they do about it? Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Sometimes I wonder why I pay for Amazon Prime……….

Now – rant over – over to the card I have made:

I first stamped the Uniko ‘Large Background Tropical Paradise‘ stamp using Altenew ‘Obsidian’ ink – a gorgeous clean and crisp image from this ink. Love it.

Then I die cut the Hero Arts ‘Wood Frame Infinity die‘ out of black card stock to frame to stamp.

Moving on to the flowers, I used Altenew ‘Hibiscus Garden 3D’ die set, cut out of white card with double-sided sticky sheet on the back, then each layer coloured with three tones of reds with my Copics.

Three leaf clusters from that same die set cut of black card, and all put together as you see. with the leaf clusters hanging over the edge of the frame. I do like that look, and have used it before – and bound to do it again, I’m sure.

Challenges I shall be entering:

Paper Minutes – black and white with a touch of red

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Craft Rocket Challenge – anything goes

Die Cuttin’ Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Happy Panda Birthday….

Hello yet again. I thought I would have time to craft yesterday, but the builders – still working on my bathrooms – were noisy, and my parents came over, so I didn’t have much time. However – today hubby went to golf early, the house was quiet………and here we have what I created in the nice and quiet and peacefulness:

This order of ‘Party Like a Panda‘ from Simon Says Stamp takes less than a week to me – and no added postage or customs…………a lot quicker than my sister in Canada even! I fell in love with this collection from day one and have been waiting for a chance to play with it.

I stamped all the images you see, masking the individual presents, stamping again and again, to create a pile or presents. I used a few favourite Copic combinations to match the colours from a challenge. I like when other people show what colours they have used, so I am trying it here. Is it helpful?

I stacked three rolls of double-sided sticky tape together to use as a container – I think that’s ingenious………….if I do say so myself!

Now for the cutting………….I don’t have the matching die sets. One new purchase is the Brother Scan’n’Cut CM900 at the Doncaster craft show the other week. I was thinking of the newer version with auto-blade, but as a card-maker, I think this machine will be more than suitable – I hope so! My time is spent on YouTube figuring it out – but it’s actually quite simple once you get your head around it…………maybe!!

I was nervous cutting this lot of images out, as I had spent a couple of hours colouring them – but – perfect! I added a little border around each image for some definition, as I knew the Panda would be standing in front of the presents, and I wanted him to stand out a little and not blend into the background.

The only thing I need to do in the future is think about the balloon strings, I must adjust the settings or something because it cut one of them off – so I drew it in.

I also forgot to put the white highlighter marks in initially, but the first photo above is including them – here are some without – and what a difference:

Challenges I shall be entering:

Color Throwdown – red, black, green, Kraft

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – Bright and Cheerful

Die Cuttin’ Divas – anything goes with a die-cut (does the Scan’n’cut count?)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Just Add Ink – anything beginning with ‘C’ (Copics, Cake, candles)

Another Magical Day…..

Hello there. I have a set of cards to share today, and entering some challenges by the skin of my teeth. I had made them and photographed yesterday, but got so engrossed with watching a Netflix series last night – bonged on 5 episodes – I had to write this now.

Here are the cards: (I kinda went overboard!!)

I made four cards because I made big piece of the background. I used orange, yellow, and pink Distress Oxides and ink-blended the background. I then took some Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens in similar colours and splattered the background.

I couldn’t decide what size to do the strip of colour – so I did a variety……

I stamped the Avery Elle ‘Pegasus Duo’ and coloured with Copics, and as you can see I did some pink and some white – with grey shading. I think I like the white ones the best – and I think the pink ones are more for a younger girl – but you never know………..

I shall be entering the following challenges:
CAS Colours and Sketches – sketch

Color Throwdown – orange, pink, yellow

The Paper Girls Challenge – something magical or mystical

Addicted to Stamps – anything goes

Surfing Dog….

Hi there. I’ve been struggling to get my crafty head on – after the Altenew day last weekend, working, and also having the builders in doing two bathrooms – it’s been a bit difficult to sit and craft. I just didn’t seem to have enough ideas – I played with stuff, but making a complete card escaped me for a few days.

I managed to start one yesterday, and completed an actual card this morning – in the middle of all the banging, and sanding – I sat there with my headphones on listening to some music to try and drown things out. (I may have been helped by Justin Timberlake and Neil Diamond………!) :)

Here is the card:

I first stamped, coloured, and then die cut several of the images from Simon says Stamp ‘Chillin’ Frenchies’. You can see which one I went for……….

The background took a little more thinking about…….

I used the Waffle Flower ‘Cloudscape’ panel die and cut it out of a light blue card-stock, then added a couple of colours of Distress Oxides to the edges, blending a little – but actually not much. Using a blue card-stock to begin with made that a little easier. You can see the original blue card in the gaps between the layer elements, which I separated, just to add more interest and dimension. I do like to play with die-cuts sometimes…..

The other background squares were cut using Sue Wilson ‘Noble Stitched Squares’.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Paper Players – watersports

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – Life on the ocean waves

Animal Friends Challenge – feature a dog

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Let’s Celebrate

Hello there. It’s the 100th Challenge at Cardz4Galz, and we want you to come and join us in celebration. In fact – that’s the theme for this challenge – Celebrate.

We’d like to see any of your paper-craft creations which follows this theme. This is my rather colourful and sparkly card:

I used the Mama Elephant Birthday Bash stamp, coloured with a few Copics – some shading, but a fairly restricted colour-scheme. Well – for the actual stamp, anyway.

I used a Catherine Pooler ‘celebrate’ die, and cut it out of gold, then added a drop white shadow, then added a further drop black shadow.

The balloons were coloured with Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens, and then I went overboard creating the background.

I basically wet a piece of water-colour paper, painted on some sparkle pens, and washed it around. Then splattered the same colours. Once dry, I added some ink blending through a Tim Holt stencil to crate a very subtle sun-ray effect – very subtle…..I didn’t want to wipe any of the glitter away.

The edges were die-cut with a Catherine Pooler border die.

So – there we have it. A very bright and sparkly card for celebrating. I hope you can come and join us, and I hope to see you there. :)

I shall also be joining the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – make your own background

Crafty Sentiments – bright colours

Inkspirational – use 3 or 5 of something (three bunches balloons)

Santa and a Chimney

Hello again. I have been trying some new techniques on this card, as it is a new challenge at The ABC Christmas Challenge. The themes is/are ‘L’ for Little, and ‘M’ for Masking:

I first stamped the Santa from Crafters Companion ‘Christmas Stamp and metal die set – Santa‘ and then coloured him in Copics. The stamp itself has quite a bit of shading on it, so I just followed those lines – basically – to create some shading. I then stamped him again on some masking paper and fussy cut him out – realising afterwards that the stamp set comes with a die that cuts around him – oh well……hind sight…..!

I masked him off then went hunting for a stencil of roof tops, or chimneys or anything I thought would go as a background, and found my Sheena Douglass stencil from her ‘Remember When‘ set called ‘Big Chimney‘.

I ink blended a couple of Distress Oxides for the chimney and roof top, then thought about the sky area……so then ink blended from a cloud stencil I have from Inkylicious.

I then removed the Santa mask, some more thought about the snow area, and decided to try out my new buy from Hero Arts – the ‘Snow and Froth Technique Kit‘……with heart in my mouth as I had virtually completed the card.

And – it worked:

I didn’t dare do any more snow technique on the rest of the rooftops and chimney, as I felt the card was complete aside from a sentiment, which is a die from Birch Press.

I hope you have time to join us and follow our two themes – either on one card, or even two different cards – one for each letter – and I look forward to seeing your makes in our gallery. :) :)

Wise Owl Graduation

Hello once again. There is a new challenge up at Cardz4Galz, and the new theme is ‘Graduation‘. Here is my card:

This card actually took quite a bit of time to get together. I didn’t think I had anything which in any way meant to be graduation and I did spend a little time thinking about die-cutting a mortar board hat and adding a sentiment – but then didn’t think I had a graduation sentiment……….

So – hunting through my stash I came across this new stamp set from Clearly Besotted – not yet put away from buying the recent release – and saw…….a mortar board hat, and a scroll, and the little owls in the same set I could play with.

I stamped the images, coloured them with Copics, then die cut them. Now to the background……..

I decided to keep this quite simple and used the ‘Polka Dot Plate‘ die from Avery Elle, cut in white card, and placed on a black base card. Then to the sentiment………

and came across the Lawn Fawn stamp set ‘Reveal Wheel Spring Sentiments‘ bought with – you guessed it – the reveal wheel dies………….and there we had a graduation word. I cobbled together the sentiment you see, and stamped onto a black square, heat embossed in white.

I did toy with the idea of putting the square like a diamond, like a mortar board hat, with a little tassel, but went with what you see.

When I placed the images, I even cut into the owl’s hand a little so he could be holding the scroll:

I hope you can come and join us for this ‘Graduation’ themed challenge – the design Team have some fabulous varied inspiration for you. I look forward to seeing you there and seeing what you come up with. :) :)

I shall also be playing along with the following challenges:

Dragonfly Dreams Challenge – anything goes

Colour Crazy Challenge – anything goes colouring

Clean and Simple on Friday – CAS Polka Dots