Stripes and flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Having been hither and thither over the past couple of weeks I think Mr Mojo came with me and slipped off when I wasn't looking. Although there has been time to craft this week, I've been reduced to sorting out my designer paper drawer! Until today when some ideas in the back of my head combined with some lovely challenges and sent me scuttling off to rummage through my stamps and dies :)

 

I had seen a tall layered cake decorated with flowers on my travels and there is a hint of that in this design. I used Stampin' Up's gorgeous Boho Blue ink to stamp Uniko's Horizontal Stripes background image in the corner of a thick card base. 

 

After cutting some flowers from The Greetery's Wildflower Mix and Sissix's Geo Floral Frame die sets, I sponged them with inks and added detail with coloured pencils plus enamel dot centres on the big blooms. These were all arranged in a swoosh over the top of the background image, with a couple of the large flowers popped up on dimensional pads.

 

The sentiment from The Greetery's Scripted Sentiments has become a firm favourite. To finish, I curved the top right corner with my corner rounder.

CHALLENGES

I was instantly inspired by Inspired By's gorgeous jug of flowers image and am linking up there; At Allsorts, Lorraine has chosen the them of Spots and/or Stripes so I'm joining in there too. 

 

As a side note, you might want to join in with the 15th birthday celebrations at Allsorts next week! The celebrations begin this Saturday, 18th May, and there will be amazing prizes from a popular stamp company for some lucky winners! Save the date!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The golden girls and I are enjoying our walks so much more now that the weather is warm and dry. Here's Eva among the cow parsley looking as if she's having a chuckle at something.

 

No doubt she's planning the next items of underwear to retrieve from the laundry basket and parade through the house when I have guests...!

Sending hugs,

Make Shapes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to some crafty Saturday fun courtesy of Addicted to CAS! Jaydee has chosen the code word for the next fortnight:

 

How fun is this?! It could mean a shaped card or a card using shapes as part of its design or a card that uses shapes as part of its decoration... it's up to you! I was inspired to make a masculine card using a bold striped background stamp from Uniko to create skinny rectangles.

 

 

I used waterbased markers on the stripes and then added coloured pencil over the top to increase colour intensity and this created an interesting texture. Isn't the sentiment fun?!  It's from All Year Long by Concord & 9th - a set I have finally hunted down after a long, long search! I didn't want my card to be too symmetrical so I offset the 'happy birthday' part of the sentiment and added some coordinating enamel dots and star.

 

 

I was sending a gift with this card and, after making the card, decided to make a pouch to put it in. A quick look in the designer paper drawer brought this fabulous paper to light - a pretty good match wouldn't you say! Love when that happens :)

Okay, so now it's your turn to interpret the word Shapes - I can't wait to see what you come up with :) Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog to check out all the great samples the design team have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your creation with us when you're ready. Do remember that we are a clean and simple challenge and make sure there's plenty of nice clear space on your card and minimal layers. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Seize the Birthday where Glenda's optional Topping is book-related themes or you can go for an Anything Birthday Goes. My mind jumped to a fable called How the Zebra got his Stripes but my more colourful stripes fit in better with Anything Goes! I'm also joining in at Little Red Wagon where Doni has chosen the theme of Boys Will Be Boys or in other words masculine cards!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The story of the Zebra really sent me down memory lane. If you have small children or grandchildren and are looking for a great story with a good message, look no further than this one - How the Zebra Got His Stripes!

 

 

The story is about a greedy baboon who decides that the watering hole that all the animals need to survive is his property and he isn't going to share. The zebra, who had a plain white coat in those days, tells the baboon that his behaviour is unjust and that he will fight him for the right for the animals to use the pool. The baboon lights a fire next to the pool to ward the animals off but the brave zebra goes to fight him. Zebra defeats the baboon by kicking the baboon away from the pool but gets too close to the fire as he does so. Some of the sticks burn into his coat. I love the message that some things are worth fighting for and that we bear those scars with honour. Zebra's sacrifice bought back the life-giving pool for the other animals.

Sending hugs,

Passiflora on stripes

Hello, crafting friends!

It's Tuesday and that means it's time for another refreshing challenge from CAS Colours and Sketches! October is my hosting month which means I get to choose a colour palette today.

This is a favourite autumn colour scheme of mine although of course it can also be used for festive cards or any other kind of occasion! I used it to make a card to cheer up a friend who is going through a tough time.

I started by stamping the striped background from Uniko, using my stamping platform to get a good clear impression from the navy ink.

Next I stamped the floral elements and fussy cut them (madness I know - there are dies for saner crafters!) For extra detail, I pulled a little of the Razzleberry ink into the petals with a damp paintbrush. Then I set my botanicals aside while I dealt with the sentiment.

I used a pretty 'you are in my thoughts' from Mama Elephant, using my stamping platform again and two colours of ink. Finally, the flowers, leaves and bud were arranged over the stripes.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge site to check out the beautiful inspiration from the design team. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation. I'm looking forward to a gorgeous gallery this week!

PS If you love this challenge, you may be interested to know there's a Design Team Call going on! Check out the details on the site!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with The Flower Challenge where the theme is Use a Shape (my shape is the rectangular background made up of rectangular stripes.) This challenge is also celebrating its 5th birthday - so congratulations are in order *pop goes the champagne cork* I'm also joining in at Darnell's NBUS Challenge which is the place to share your Never Before Used Schtuff. The background and the flowers are new-to-me stamps from Uniko :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva has a new pal staying over. He reminds me of a child at Playgroup who was unusually tall for his age; I remember his mum telling me in despair that everyone expected him to behave like an older child because of that. At only 8 months this pup is the same size as Eva and into everything! I have been firm but fair and he is learning the ropes very quickly, but I'm afraid I made a rookie error last night. I dropped a roast potato on the floor while serving dinner and although I retrieved it quickly, I foolishly put it at the back of the kitchen counter while I took dinner to the table. When I came back it had gone and he was looking as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth - although I suspect a roast potato just had!!

Sending hugs,