Hello Autumn

Hello, crafting friends!

 

There's nothing like a bit of glorious autumn sunshine, the leaves turning, and lots of my favourite challenges having autumn inspiration to galvanise me into some seasonal cardmaking! Here's a card that I can take very little credit for, but that I really enjoyed making:

 

Like many crafters, I get quite excited when my favourite stamp companies come out with new releases and show off their inspiration cards. I was delighted when I saw a gorgeous card at the Greetery using their new Elegant Entrance: Arches die and beautiful Wildwood stamps and knew that I could recreate the look using items I already have in my stash - a thrifted window die by Spellbinders and a floral from Mimosas by Avery Elle.

 

The first step was cutting the window from the front of my card base before cutting a honey coloured piece of card and glueing it to the inside of the card front. I stamped the floral, coloured it in gorgeous autumn colours with coloured pencils and cut it out with sharp paper snips. This was tucked into the window opening and glued in place, so that I could return the window die cut to the aperture.

 

I glued everything down securely then added an enamel dot to represent a window handle, and a beautiful flowing sentiment from The Greetery.

 

Here's the card I was CASEing today: 

 

You can find all the details HERE.

CHALLENGES

I'm entering this card at Stamping Sensations where the theme this month is Autumn Colours (or Anything Goes); I'm also playing along with Joanne's Signs of Autumn CAS challenge at the Paper Players;  It's Anything Goes at Retro Rubber - as long as you use stamps over a year old of course! Mimosas was released in 2017, the sentiment a year ago, and the die before the ark (possibly!); Beautiful Blossoms has a gorgeous mood board this month and I couldn't wait to join in there;

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It really does feel as if Lulu has always been with us. I was planning on a nice quiet few months so that she could adapt to her new life, but one of my clients' owner has contracted covid and so we've had Cody, a handsome fox red lab, to stay this week. Lulu has taken it all in her stride!

 

Lulu (left) Eva (centre) and Cody (right)

 

Of course she has a very helpful big sister to show her the way! I have been so proud of Eva for the way she has accepted Lulu into the family - she seems to know that she is different to the dogs that come walking with us or staying over on holidays.

Sending hugs,

Stenciling a garden

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I love stencils!

 

This card was made with the Flower Bouquet Builder stencil by MFT. I love how versatile this stencil is (look at THIS very different card made with it!)

 

 

This time, I sponged blue ink the bottom of a panel, fading upwards. Over the top I stenciled a leafy sprig several times, varying the position and height. These were topped with pretty flower tops in three sizes.

 

The panel was cut using a large arch die from The Greetery and topped with an ornate birthday sentiment from the Arched Sentiments stamp set and matching die. The arch was attached to a card front using dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with the Stencil Fun Challenge where Anything Stenciled Goes with Optional Hearts; also AAA Birthday where the team want to see birthday cards made using stencils; I was inspired by Joanne's colour challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We've been having some wonderful walks lately. The weather has been dry and warmish and the dogs have wasted no time in taking the opportunity to have a swim!

 

There are no changing rooms or towels to hand but an enthusistic game of chase soon dries a pup off!!

Sending hugs,

Snippety pumpkins

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Today is an autumn day and I've enjoyed walking in the sunshine with my fluffy girl, admiring the scudding clouds and the gorgeous colours of the changing leaves. I cleared my desk a little today too and realised it is also a day for using up some snippets! 

 

In the course of playing with my new nesting arch dies I seem to have made quite a lot of arch-type snippets. Well, waste not, want not as they say! I sponged my snippets with inks and glued the green frame to the arched background.

 

The pumpkin garland is from Lanterns by Reverse Confetti. It was stamped on another offcut using pale yellow ink, and I had fun colouring it with coloured pencils and fussy cutting it. When it was finished, I glued it to the frame. The sentiment is from the Arched Sentiments set from the Greetery, cut out with the coordinating die.

 

Before attaching my topper to the card base, I did a little soft stenciling on the card front using the Brick Wall stencil from Funky Fossil. Here are the snippets I used, plus another white offcut for the sentiment which I forgot to include (ie didn't plan for lol!)

 

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with The Snippet Playground where the requirement is to make a card with snippets and include a photo of the snippets or list them; I'm also linking up at Happy Little Stampers Die challenge and Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Goes; and Try it on Tuesday where the theme is Autumn. 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Our pets are such good company aren't they. Every day, Eva and I spend our days together and I suppose it's only natural that I should talk to her. This week I found myself telling her what a lovely little sausage roll she is, "And I mean that in the nicest possible way," I said.

Sending hugs,

Birthday knits and leaves

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday and welcome to another fun challenge at Addicted to CAS. In the Northern hemisphere the season is changing to shorter days and colder weather, and this fortnight's hostess with the mostest, Sue, has chosen a code word to reflect that:

 

I love all the colours and images of autumn and have got myself good and inky with my take on it!

 

I started by positioning Funky Fossil's Knitted stencil over a card front and sponging turquoise ink into it, fading the colour out towards the top and right hand side of the card. I topped that background with a leaf and die cut sentiment grouping.

 

To make the leaf, I sponged inks in autumnal colours onto a piece of white card then stamped the maple leaf from Reverse Confetti's Fall Foliage onto it in rust coloured ink. I cut it out and then had fun splattering it with diluted inks and paints. When it was dry, I positioned it to the card front with the 'hello' sentiment from The Greetery's Arched Sentiments which was stamped and die cut.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge site for some great autumn inspiration won't you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple, with plenty of lovely clear space! We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the Fusion Card Challenge where I got very excited by the photo inspiration (see below); also joining in with the Things That Fall challenge at Double D; also playing at Make My Monday where the challenge is Autumn Flora and Fauna; and last but not least, entering the Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Goes.  

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The autumn chill may have arrived but nothing stops the Golden Synchronised Swimming Team from practising their moves!

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,