Star of wonder

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I looked at the calendar today and realised that it was the 27th of September already and I hadn't made my usual Christmas card on the 25th! I do this each month to help get a good stash together ready for posting out at the end of November. Anyone that knows me is probably sniggering at this so moving swiftly on...!

 

Here's this month's effort: On an offcut of navy card, I stamped a skyline of houses and trees with versamark ink and heat embossed in white. The stamp is an old magazine freebie. I used white acrylic paint to create a snowy foreground under the skyline, then diluted the paint, daubed in a shadow behind the trees and buildings, then splattered above them with ink to create a snowy/starry sky. 

 

When my scene was dry, I used a handheld punch to punch a 'star' in the sky, then mounted the panel onto a slightly larger piece of silver card. I finished the card with a die cut sentiment from Hobbycraft, trimmed and glued to the corner, before attaching the scene to the front of a 4" square card base.

 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge where Anything Goes with the option of using Metallics; also Retro Rubber where I've chosen the bottom row of the Tic Tac Toe board Stars/Die Cut or Punch/Blue - don't know how old the stamp is but Ancient probably covers it!! I'm also joining in at ABC Christmas where S is for Snow and T is for Trees and I've incorporated both on my card! And last but not least I'm entering the Rudolph Day challenge - create a Christmas card each month, and link up between 25th and the end of the month.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I was SO proud of my Eva this week. We were walking in the fields behind our house and were startled by a deer leaping out in front of us. Eva's eyes were on stalks of course and she immediately gave chase. The deer squeezed through a tiny gap in the hedge and shot across the road (not a main one but busy enough.) My heart was in my mouth but I gave our emergency recall command 'Eva, STOP!!!' and guess what? She did. She remembered that command that we practised over and over again when she was a puppy but that I confess we have not used in training for a long time. So, so proud of my girl and gave her chicken jelly later!

Here she is gazing adoringly at me (but only because I am The Mistress of the Chicken Jelly!)

Sending hugs,

A bit of Archery

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's official - arches are my latest crush! Come and see what I've been up to:

 

Both sentiments are from The Greetery's new Arched Sentiments stamps and dies and were the starting point for this simple card. I stamped the arched bit directly onto a thick card base - how cute is this hug sentiment?!

 

The leafy frame is what brings the card to life. For a background, I sponged turquoise ink from the edges of the card base, fading out towards the arch. The rose leaf outlines from WPlus9's Modern Roses were then stamped in an overlapping pattern around the arch using yellow, green and brown inks. Finally I attached the stamped and die cut 'hello'.

CHALLENGES

I used Amy's inspiring colour palette from this week's The Color Throwdown for this card so I'm linking up there; Nancy has chosen a lovely autumnal inspiration photo at Just Us Girls this week, so I'm playing along there too; and I hope it's not too late to enter We Love Stamping's Anything Stamped Goes challenge for September.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Autumn has really arrived here in the heart of England now. The leaves are turning, and some of them have even dropped already in the brisk winds, but when the sun shines, it's still pretty warm. That can only mean one thing: We've entered 'What do I even wear?!' season where, try as you might, it's impossible to find something to wear that covers all the temperatures it might be that day and which will protect you if it rains but that won't make you boil... and where do I even go with whether it's going to rain or not?!

 

 

Eva cannot understand what my problem is. She just carries on wearing her fur coat. If it's hot she just goes for a dip; if it rains, so what? She's wet already!

Sending hugs,

Hello Rose

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's a Tic Tac Toe challenge day today and I am the board maker this week! I've tried to give you loads of inspiration options so do come and play with us :)

 

I've gone with the diagonal from bottom left: Foliage/Any Sentiment/Flowers because I really wanted to try out an Altenew layering die set that came in a bargain bundle I found!

 

To make a background for the rose, I positioned Uniko's Natures Treasure mask over a card base then masked off a margin top and bottom. Blue ink was sponged to a fade and then the stencil part of Natures Treasure was used to colour the leaves.

 

I  die cut the rose and leaf layers from white card and coloured the resulting shapes with inks. I used the same ink for all three layers of the rose but varied the pressure for each, creating quite subtle changes in colour and some texture on the base layer courtesy of my sponge! I used the same technique on the leaves before adhering the layers together. To finish the card I arranged the rose and leaves over my background and embellished with a few sequins.

 

The beautiful swirly sentiment is from the Arched Sentiments stamp and die set by The Greetery - I couldn't resist! 

 

This card was made with snippets from my overflowing white card box. It always feels great to use some of it up :)

 

Okay, it's your turn to take the Tic Tac Toe Challenge! Which row or column will you choose? Or will you opt for one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the challenge site where yyou will find loads of inspiration from my team mates and our special guest designer Karen! You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Die challenge where Anything Goes; It's also my homework for The Snippets Playground so I'll be hopping over there; also Just Add Ink where I've chosen Masking and Foliage from the Just Choose Two menu.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva has a new bestie! To my great joy, I have been asked to walk a beautiful three year old Golden Retriever who, I was warned, was 'a little wild.' Her behaviour turned out to be angelic compared to Eva's at that age, so I said I'd be happy to walk her as long as the owner didn't mind if she returned a bit tired, wet and bedraggled. The deal was struck and I introduced the golden girls with great success.

 

So now while Eva teaches Luly to swim and to engage in shockingly unladylike behaviour, I get to laugh at their antics, pick the burs and seeds out of their fur and towel them down afterwards. Result!

Sending hugs,

Never lose hope

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I recently added some arch nesting dies from The Greetery to my craft stash and the first thing I thought of when I opened the pack was a rainbow! So I tried it out...

 

... and this was the result! It's a very Die Cut kind of a card. I cut the tops of the arches out of coloured card from my snippets folders. The rainbow was assembled and glued to a card base. Next I cut two card panels to size with a Heffy Doodle stitched rectangle die and trimmed the tops with a cloud border die from Lawn Fawn.

 

The cloud topped panels were overlapped and attached to the card front, allowing the rainbow to peek out of the top. I finished with a lovely sentiment from WaffleFlower, stamped in purple, and embellished with coloured enamel dots.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the Time Out Challenge where I was inspired by the quote by Maya Angelou 'Try to be the rainbow in someone's cloud.' I'm also joining in with Happy Little Stampers Die challenge where Anything Goes. It's the first outing for the arch dies so I'm playing along at Darnell's NBUS challenge where we share projects made with our Never Before Used Schtuff.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here is a photo of someone who never loses hope. She has been taught that begging is very common behaviour that never gets rewarded, but that if she is very, very quiet and good lying near the table, she may get a morsel from the clearer upper when everyone has left the table!

 

This is her face when I have suggested a walk but have gone back into  the house for the umpteenth time because I have forgotten things! She is, frankly, a little bit disappointed in me.

Sending hugs,

A swoosh of bright paint

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday and welcome to another fun challenge at Addicted to CAS! Ceal has chosen the Code Word for this challenge and what a fun theme it is:

 

This is a great code word for creating happy mail for your crafty pals but, as usual, could be adapted to almost any kind of card.

 

My mind immediately went to a paint brush die from a set of tool dies, DIY Tools by Sweet Dixie. I teamed it with my Uniko Tiger Print stencil, which happened to be out on my desk and which I saw could look like a brush stroke! I masked off the bits I didn't want and blended pink inks into the bits I did.

The paintbrush was coloured with inks and markers and finished with some lovely glossy Crystal Effects, then glued to the brushstroke. To finish off, I mixed my own sentiment from Clearly Besotted and Greetery sets.

 

Are you ready to make your own card inspired by the word Craft? Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge site and check out all the wonderful inspiration my team mates have made. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to link up your own creation. Don't forget to keep your card clean and simple with lots of nice clear space - and have fun!!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My little Eva is fond of giving herself a colour makeover. Sometimes she is a pale golden retriever...

... but sometimes she likes to dress up as a black lab!!

Sending hugs,

Sombre Succulents

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I had a quick, clean and simple crafty session this morning. I made a sympathy card which, thank goodness, I don't need, but which fits the mood here in England.

 

This is a very quick card - in fact the most amount of time was spent re-inking my black ink pad before I started! I positioned the spray from Uniko's Happy Succulents over the top of a nice, thick card base and stamped it repeatedly using my stamp positioner to get a good, crisp impression. The card was finished with a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks, also from Uniko, and I coloured the seed heads in with a fineliner pen.

 

 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with AAA Cards where the theme is No-Layer Syympath; also Less is More where the challenge is to make a CAS black and white card.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The temperatures have dropped in the heart of England and it's time to clear up the garden a little and trim the hedges - if a Certain Someone might move themselves please!!

 

My darling Eva looks a little sombre in this photo doesn't she, but I can assure you she is just playing to the gallery. She has opened her eyes but is basically saying that she's not moving because she's in the middle of a snoozle thanks very much and needs her beauty sleep. I might also add that she has a variety of beds and sofas to sleep on but prefers to nap on the cold, hard paving stones!

Sending hugs,

Birthday Cheers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another fun board bursting with inspiration at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge! Felicita is in charge today with a board that might get you going on your autumnal cards - or, as always, there's plenty of scope to go in a different direction!

 

I have a masculine birthday coming up in October and I thought this design might go down well! I selected the top line across Masculine/Rust or Orange/Sentiment and used a drinks stamp set from Stampendous that I was lucky enough to win in this Allsorts Challenge in the summer :)

 

The card started with the background: I stenciled a brick wall directly onto a square card base, using a variety of browns and greys and made a 'ground' with a straight edge mask and one of the brown inks. The sentiment is a mix of Greetery and Uniko stamps and was stamped at the top of my brick effect with rust colour ink.

 

Three of the glasses and a lemon from the Stampendous set were stamped onto white card and watercoloured. Once they were dry, they were fussyy cut and I went round the edges with a neuytral ink for a neat finish. These were arranged on my 'ground' and one of the glasses popped up on dimensional pads for a bit of interest.

 

Okay, so now it's your turn! Which row or column will you choose this week? Don't forget you can also choose a diagonal! Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to admire my team mates' fabulous creations. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own card when you're ready. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers Watercolour challenge; I was inspired by the gorgeous mood board at AAA Birthday so I'm joining in there too; Dena has chosen Anything Goes at Allsorts with an optional theme of Back To School so I'm linking up with the Anything Goes option; and also We Love Stamping where Anything Goes.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

There's a beautiful oak tree which graces a green area in our little neighbourhood. It is surrounded by ours and our neighbours' houses and on warm summer evenings we meet under it sometimes to have a glass of wine and a chat, or occasionally a barbecue or a tea party! I don't know why it never occurred to us before, but this year we have been calling it The Royal Oak. 

 

 

Lots of pubs go by that name in this country (because of the future King Charles II who survived being hunted down by Cromwell's Roundhead troops by hiding in an oak tree.) I think we need to commission our very own pub sign don't you!

Sending hugs,

The one layer Birthday bird

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Saturday burst of inspiration courtesy of Addicted to CAS! The code word today was chosen by the oh-so-talented Marie, who has delighted us all by returning to her roots as an Addicted to CAS designer!

 

I was so pleased to see this code word as I can't resist a bird stamp and it gave me a chance to use one from a set that I hadn't inked up before :)

 

This gorgeous little layered wren comes from Robin and Wren by The Greetery, and I teamed him up with a leaf from Uniko's Nature's Treasure stencil. It's a very simple one layer card - I smooshed a little pale blue ink on a card front, sponged the stencil with two shades of green and added detail with a brown pencil, stamped the layers of bird and finished with the sentiment.

 

Okay so now it's your turn! Do fly over to the Addicted to CAS challenge site to check out the wonderful inspiration from the team and then you can use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post to share your own creation. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple with plenty of white space... we can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up at Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenge where Anything Goes and with the Anything Goes option at Seize Your Birthday; I'm also joining in at Cardz 4 Guyz where Melanie's theme is Use A Stencil.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I was out on a walk the other day when I spotted a very rare bird. Here she is...

 

... the Golden Retriever bird in full flight!!

Sending hugs,