Stamping

Beyond Happy For You

Hello. I had time to craft and create the following card today:

I was intrigued by the current recipe for the As You See It Challenge and decided to see what I could come up with – flowers, frame, happy sentiment, punch/die, shades of orange.

I began with choosing some flower die cuts from The Greetery ‘Embroidered Blooms‘ – and cut the elements from tones of orange, some green, grey, and yellow for added interest.

I then chose a frame die set from Pinkfresh Studio, and used ‘Cayenne‘ card stock from Concord & 9th, adding a couple of white layers beneath for dimension, rather than using 3D foam.

Arranging on a 5×5 inch card base to align with the square frame, I felt the background was a little too plain, so I used an Altenew embossing folder ‘Daisy Bed 3D‘.

This embossed panel was glued down to the card base, the frame added, then the florals arranged.

The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio, stamped and die cut with the matching die. I chose black for a little more drama, and even added three little black Spellbinder gems – I do like to use gems….

A smaller card and a different size than my usual, but I think it is quite cute – if I do say so myself…..

I shall be entering the following challenges:

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

As You See It – recipe – flowers, orange, frame, happy sentiment, punch/die

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything in or from the garden

Beautiful Blossoms – florals

N is for Night

Hello everyone. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘N’, and Pamela has chosen the theme of:

‘N is for Night‘ with some ideas such as clouds, moon, sleeping image, stars etc

Here is my card:

I decided to break out my Copics to colours this scene – I’ve not used them in a while.

The images is from Clearly Besotted, stamped with alcohol friendly black ink. I use Gina K Designs Amalgam for this.

I then used a range of tones for the colouring of the image, before stamping again and fussy-cutting around the sky line – yes – me – fussy-cutting!! – to create a mask. This mask was placed over the image and another small circle of the masking paper created for the moon.

I used some Distress Oxides and ink blended the sky, darker at the top edge. The moon mask moved during one of my swiping of the blending brushes, and some of the ink got into the moon area – but that was certainly a happy accident as it made the moon look more realistic….

Once ink blended and the masks removed, I used a heat tool to dry completely ( so I thought) and used the star detail stamp and used a white sparkle embossing powder……another happy accident was that I hadn’t actually full dried the moon area, so some sparkle landed on there – again, I liked the look of that so left it as it was.

I created a rectangle frame using a couple of dies, one with a stitching detail, then glued the coloured image and the frame to a white crad base.

The sentiment was stamped as you see.

So – a card with a couple of minor hiccups – but all came out good in the end….

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Crafters Café – anything goes – option of Christmas not taken

Ally’s Angels – anything goes


Believe In Yourself

Hello again. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘M’, and Tee has chosen the theme of :

‘Mythical Creatures‘

Here is my card:

For this card I used products from Waffle Flower Crafts, utilising some die sets, and layering stencil sets for the open book and dragon and castle images. The book was die cut first, then the layering stencils used with Pinkfresh Studio inks to create the scene.

The background panel was also using a Waffle Flower Crafts older die set, the Cloudscape Panel Die.

The cloudscape was die cut, then each of the cloud layers were ink blended individually, the brown lower piece also ink blended. This frame was glued to a card base, then each of the cloud layers were inlaid back into their respective places, the brown layer glued in, then the book attached.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

I also added some opal glitter drops for extra interest.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme, and I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of fancy folds not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Purple & Green Hugs

Hello there. A new challenge has started at Cardz 4 Galz, Helen has chosen the theme of:

‘Purple & Green’

Here is my card:

For this card, I chose to go with products from Concord & 9th, and The Greetery.

The first thing I did was to use the ‘Bitty Botanicals‘ stamp set for the green foliage, then added the various tones of purple for the flowers using the matching stencils.

I then added the ‘Diamond Ribbons‘ stencil and die set combo to create the trellis and attached that with glue so each diamond framed each of the floral images.

Onto that, I added a word die from Concords & 9th, with the shadow layer being from vellum.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme of purple and green. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ellibelle’s Corner Garden Party – anything in of from the garden

Crafters Café – flowers

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of fancy folds not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

ABC Christmas Challenge – P, Q, & R

Hello everyone. It is my turn to host the new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. We have three letters and themes for you to choose for your Christmas projects:

P is for Pastel colours

Q is for Quick

R is for Robins

I chose to make two cards covering two of the challenge themes:

Q is for Quick:

For this card, I used a Spellbinders embossing folder for the background panel, and onto that I adhered some die cut washi from Pinkfresh Studio, then a previously foiled sentiment. Simple and quick, but I think very effective none-the-less.

R is for Robins:

This card was little more faffy, but fun creating.

I first used the two layering Robin stamps from The Greetery, then the matching dies to cut them out. I also wanted some branches, so used another layering stamp set from The Greetery ‘Blooming Branch’.

The background is a panel of silver glitter card stock, with branches adhered to it. When I came to add the branches and the birds, I though the background was too busy, and I wanted the Robins to stand out more, but still keep the glitter effect.

I used a Pinkfresh Studio die to cut out a shaped piece of vellum, added that on top of some of the branches, then added branches and the two birds on top of that.

The final addition was a silver foiled sentiment:

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following one, two, or all three of our themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

wreath card:

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of summer fun not taken

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas Link-Up – anything goes Christmas

Robin card:

Cut It Up – die cuts and add a sentiment

Craft Rocket – animals

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Congratulations

Hello again. It is my turn to host at The Alphabet Challenge, and having reached the letter ‘I’, I chose the theme of ‘ink blending’. Here is my card:

I chose to use a stamp set from Pinkfresh Studio ‘Pretty Blooms’. I stamped all the florals in a light grey ink, then used the layering stencils to ink blend using Pinkfresh Studio inks. I wanted bold and bright colours for the flowers. Once ink blended, I then stamped the images again – I hadn’t moved the stamp from my Misti. This is a technique learnt from one of the Pinkfresh Studio virtual events, it certainly gives a bolder outline when stamped after ink blending.

I then used the matching dies to cut them out.

The background is a smaller than A2 panel, die cut with a postage edge die, then run through with a background panel with stitching on the create more interest.

This was adhered to the card base, the floral images adhered with 3D foam, and then the gold foiled sentiment added. The final touch – as usual with me – was adding some gold gems

I hope you can come and join us with your ink blended creations. I look forward to seeing all the variations to our theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms – flowers

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner I Spy – something to celebrate

The Flower Challenge – flowers and add embellishments

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Never Stop reaching For The Stars

Hello everyone. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Dawn is hosting this time round, and has chosen the theme of:

Scenic – create a scene or use a scenic topper or paper

Here is my card:

I started by creating the background panel. For this I used water-colour card stock, and sprayed some Hero Arts shimmer spray – quite liberally – to create a vivid and shimmery background.

Whilst this was drying, I created the mountain scene using stencils from Pinkfresh Studio and the recent ‘cards for him‘ event. I wanted purple mountains against the blue background, so used a selection of Pinkfresh Studio inks for the ink blending on the layering stencils. then used the matching dies to cut them out.

before adhering the blue panel to a card base, I took some stamps from the same event and heat embossed the shooting star in a silver glitter embossing powder – a subtle effect but there none-the-less.

The panel was then glued down to the card base. the mountains glued flat also, the the sentiment stamped and die cut with the matching dies, also adhered flat.

The final addition was some facetted gems.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations featuring a scene. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Tic Tac Toe – middle row – any colour – free – sentiment

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of mixed media taken (shimmer spray, ink, embossing powder)

Hope Your Day Is Purrfect

Hello there. I have had a busy few days out and about, but managed to find time to play with some products from my stash bought from a UK Facebook live sale they have every month:

The theme for this card is from the current challenge at As You Like It. They want to know if you are a cat or dog person – and why……. As most of you know, I am currently owned by four cats. We have never had dogs – both working full time for forty years – and therefore cats are what we started to homing 18 years or so ago.

These products from AALL & Create were an impulse buy, purely because they are cats, and the colours in this creative box sang to me.

I used one of the background cards which came in the box, and die cut the black layer from another AALL & Create die set. To get everything on the background I wanted, I die cut the black twice as it wasn’t quite long enough and just layered it behind. I then used a piece of paper from my stash to put behind the black, and then added to a 5 x 7 inch off-white card base.

The sentiment was stamped onto a piece of the background paper, then I used a smaller die from the frame set and angled it around to get the same edging.

I added the sentiment first, then arranged four of the cats as you see. I chose cats which would stand out a little from the gorgeous background, added the word ‘LOVE’ as well as the heart – ephemera from the same creative box.

I am not one for using lots of ephemera, but I have quite a lot from previous crafty events which I may just have to play with.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

As You Like It – cats or dogs and why

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Congrats On Your New Home

Hello again. There is a new challenge starting at The Alphabet Challenge. Dawn is hosting, and she has chosen the theme of ‘H is for Home’. Here is my card:

I chose to use an older Lawn Fawn die set for the house – ‘Build-a-House’. The main part of the house was die cut, then I used a small Tim Holtz ‘Mini Brickwork‘ embossing folder to create the brick effect.

All the other layers and elements were die cut and assembled, with some light grey textured card stock for behind the windows.

Once the house was completed, I used a Hero Arts mica spray received as part of an online event, sprayed the top of normal white card to create a less intense look – sprayed finely to not damage the card stock of over-wet it, and let that dry. I like the effect of the solid top and the flecked bottom part of the card, and I simply adhered the house to the centre.

I stamped the sentiment from a Scrapbook & cards today stamp set, die cut with the matching dies, layered a couple of times for stability, and glued that down.

The final step was to add three facetted gems….

I hope you can come and join us following our theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes – option to use vellum not taken

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Happy Birthday to a True Classic

Hello everyone. I have a card today to share as Guest Design Team member for the new challenge at Christmas (or not) Bingo.

This is the board for you to choose a column, and use at least three items from that column. I chose column I – masculine – free – stenciling:

The products I used for this card are from a recent online event by Pinkfresh Studio. I generally attend their virtual events, but wasn’t sure about this one. It was called ‘Cards For Him’ and as I rarely make masculine cards I wasn’t sure – until I saw the sneak-peeks and the range of products for the event.

I used the ‘dotted nested deckled rectangle‘ dies to create the grey frame – layered a couple of time for dimension. I took a white piece and die cut again, and this time I stencilled some light blue clouds onto it to create a background for my little scene. I then stamped the sentiment.

The car was stamped and ink blended using the matching layering stencils, then die cut. This stamp set is called ‘True Classic‘.

The houses behind were ink blended with their matching stencils, then die cut. I didn’t stamp them first as I wanted less defined outlines for those. It did make the layering of the stencils more of a challenge, but thankfully as they were all straight lines it wasn’t a major issue.

The frame was attached to the card base, the inner cloud area inserted, the car added, then the houses tucked in behind.

Hubby and I have had quite a few sports cars in our time, never a blue one though, but when you are grunting every time you try to get out of them low slung things – knees, back, hips – we decided it was time to move to cars which were higher. We have some fabulous memories though.

I hope you can come and join the team and I with your creations following one of the columns. xx