Nautical or nice?

Ahoy there, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to a great new challenge at Addicted to CAS! Toni is at the helm for the next couple of weeks with a code word that may leave you all at sea... (I know, I know, I'm really scraping the barrel for these puns!)

Yes, it's the nautical challenge and here's my take:

 

For the background of this masculine birthday card, I used part of a new diamond shaped stencil from Inkylicious, gifted me by a lovely friend. I sponged three different blue-green inks into the stencil for an ombré ocean look, then over-stamped it with some new Lavinia fish, which I was lucky enough to win at Allsorts :)

 

Above my sea, I added some clouds courtesy of Funky Fossil's Scenic Borders stencil. One of the sailboats from Waffleflower's Lighthouse stamp set was stamped on the ocean surface using black ink. I finished with a block sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, a small yellow punched circle and a tiny red enamel dot.

 

Right me hearties, it's your turn to take the oars! Do sail over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog to check out the team's inspiration and then use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post to share your own creations with us. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Darnell's NBUS challenge; also Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge; and also Allsorts where the theme is Summer.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here's another pair having fun in the water:

As you can see, Eva's leg is absolutely fine now! Thank you so much for your well wishes - as you can imagine, we are all very relieved it wasn't anything serious. 

PS. Also, sorry about all the terrible nautical puns today :/

 

Sending hugs,

Wisteria wall

Hello crafting friends!

I'm popping in to show you a card I made for a couple of challenges that are about to close their linkies. Come and see:

Wisteria isn't out yet in the UK but it won't be long now especially as we've been having a heat wave over the last few days. The wisteria I'm using is from Stampin' Up's Soft Spring. I stamped the outline image, coloured it with markers and fussy cut it.

For the background, I used a diamond-shaped stencil, with the Brick Wall stencil by Funky Fossil over the top. I sponged Petal Pink ink into it, darkening it towards the bottom of the diamond.

I arranged my wisteria over the brickwork, added a blocky sentiment by Uniko and cut the panel out with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodles. A sprinkling of gems was added before attaching it to a card base.

In case anyone is interested, the diamond-shaped stencil was homemade. I had seen the shape on this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch and sighed for a Greetery die that I've seen and can't have and would've been the wrong size for my card base anyway...

... and then rolled my sleeves up, got out a pencil and ruler and measured and cut the shape myself. It's not the Greetery die but it's a compromise!

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD
I was so happy to be a 'Perfect Princess' at Freshly Made Sketches with this card!

CHALLENGES
I'm linking this card up with Freshly Made Sketches, which inspired me with that diamond shape; CAS Colours and  Sketches, where it's a colour week with a gorgeous combination of Petal Pink, Mint Macaron and Highland Heather. I'm also joining in with the Spring Fling challenge at Seize The Birthday.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
How are you spending your Easter weekend? I kicked the festivities off by doing my best to cut my fingers off on a broken glass hidden in a washing up bowl but, once that was bathed and bandaged up, I was able to think of other things to do. I've walked my floofy pal Eva and gardened in the sunshine, talked to friends on the phone and online, played virtual board games online with the family using my youngest son's techie know-how, cooked delicious meals for the members of the family who are here and side-eyed the chocolate eggs on the sideboard. Of course there's been a bit of crafting too!

How about you?

I'll leave you with Eva who has been given a carrot for Easter!

Normally when I give her a carrot, she takes it (very gently, because she is the Goodest Girl!)  and then runs off to demolish it in the garden. Today I asked her to stay because I wanted to take a photo which is why she's giving me a reproachful look!

Hugs,

A lily for sympathy

Hello crafting friends.

Is anyone else crafting like mad at the moment? It is such a great escape from the craziness that is the new 'normal'. I was lucky enough to win a stamp set from Uniko in last month's challenge and I've been able to christen it today. Come and see what I made:

The stamp set I chose was Uniko's Pure Florals Lily and when it arrived I was taken by surprise - it's much bigger than I expected! The main lily is huge and can easily carry a card by itself. I stamped it off the edge of a card panel with versamark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.

It was a lot of fun to colour - I used Spectrum Noir alcohol markers with water-based markers for the stamens and the dots. Once it was coloured, I gave the background a wash of barely-there purple using a watercolour crayon, a paintbrush and some water and left it to dry.

When it had completely dried, I cut the panel out with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodles, mounted it on purple card stock and attached it to my card base. The stamp set comes with some beautiful sentiments but I chose a simple blocky one from a different set to contrast with that delicate flower. It's from Simply Said Blocks by Uniko.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD
I was so pleased that this card was picked as one of the runner ups at Freshly Made Sketches :)

CHALLENGES
I'm linking this card up with Freshly Made Sketches, where I loved the simplicity of this week's sketch; Also, The Colour Throwdown made me want to join in with it's pink, purple and white palette - colours I haven't put together for ages!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
It is sobering to remember that while we are trying to adapt to a lockdown situation, elsewhere there are life and death dramas playing out. We, like the rest of Britain, went out onto our doorstep at 8pm and clapped and cheered for the heroes of our wonderful NHS who are working so hard on our behalf. It was extraordinarily moving.

Stay safe and keep well.

Hugs,

A bunch of daffodils

Hello crafting friends!

I have a quick, seasonal note card to show you today. Come and see:

The stamp I chose is from Spring Daffodils by Clearly Besotted. I stamped it onto a card panel cut with a Heffy Doodles stitched rectangle die and coloured the flowers with alcohol markers.

Yellow, orange and green is such a fresh colour combination for spring, don't you think? And yes, it IS a spring card - I refuse to have anything more to do with winter!

The blocky sentiment (from Simply Said Blocks II, Uniko) has been stamped in a stamping platform to get a really good solid black. I cut it out and mounted it on strips of coloured card stock the same size.

So pleased to have been a winner at CAS Colours and Sketches with this card!

CHALLENGES
This week's colour palette at CAS Colours and Sketches is a favourite of mine so I couldn't wait to get going with it! I was also inspired by the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. That semi-circular shape immediately made me think of these daffodils and I really loved the strips at the bottom of it.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
The latest in the saga of the broken oven is that I made a lovely slow cooker tarragon chicken yesterday and a nice spicy stove-top chilli this evening which will stretch to tomorrow. But then I nipped into the supermarket on autopilot to buy something for a busy Friday evening and fell at the final fence... And there are now pizzas in my fridge! Can you grill a pizza?!!

Help!

I choose to see flowers!

Hello crafting friends!

There are defiant vases of daffodils all over my house and I'm blocking out the storm by colouring flowers in the Craft Square Metre! Come and see:

I started this card by stamping a piece of white card stock with Hardwood by Stampin' Up, making a long thin aperture in it with one of the Christina Griffiths stitched rectangles, and cutting the whole thing out with a card-shaped stitched rectangle from Heffy Doodles.

I cut another of the Heffy Doodles rectangles and stamped some flowers from Clearly Besotted's Pretty Pansies on it, using a masking technique. These were coloured with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. The wood stamped aperture panel was attached over the top and  I coloured some of the planks of wood with a pale grey watercolour pencil.

I thought a blocky sentiment would work well with this card and used the Thank You greeting from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks II. The card was finished with black Enamel Effects in the centres of the flowers.

CHALLENGES
The Colour Throwdown came up with some gorgeous colours this week and I couldn't resist joining in. I've used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and I'm also linking up with Inspire Create where the challenge is A Blank Slate.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
I've always loved that saying 'There are always flowers for those who want to see them' and I DO want to see them! And, the minute I typed that, the sun came out :)

Are you having a nice weekend? What are you up to?

Hugs,

Pretend partial die cutting!

Hello crafting friends!

It's Tuesday, so that means there's a new challenge from CAS Colours and Sketches! I'm enjoying being the Guest Designer there this month and when I saw the sketch I was knocked out by it! Come and see:

Isn't it fabulous?! I especially loved it because it gave me the opportunity to do something that's been in my mind for a while.

The flowers are from Mimosas by Avery Elle and I've stamped them twice alongside each other, turning the stamp upside down for the second stamping, so they look different. I used Spectrum Noir alcohol markers to colour the flowers and then fussy cut around the top of the flowers so that the panel looks like a partial die cut - cunning huh?!!

The panel was cut with one of my Heffy Doodles stitched rectangle dies and I cut another, the same size, from green/blue card stock (SU Baja Breeze I think) to layer underneath, so that it appears above the flowers like a sky.

The sentiment is from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks II and I used my stamping platform to stamp it so that I could give it a couple of stamps for great coverage. For a bit of extra interest, I cut it out and trimmed the end into a flag.

I thought there was enough going on here so I used no embellishments - no, not even a wink! Sometimes I think less is more. What do you think? Are you itching to add a gem or three?!

I hope this sketch is just what you need to create something gorgeous to link up with CAS Colours and Sketches. See you in the gallery!

CHALLENGES
I'm also linking my card up with CAS on Friday, where the theme is Get Well; and Inspired By where the colours on the inspiration photo bowled me over!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
My new craft drawers have been looking at me reproachfully so I went off to Hobbycraft yesterday to get some Plaster of Paris which, I'm told, will transform any old paint into chalk paint. I'll let you know how I get on with that. It was fun being in an actual craft store, even if that craft store has very little in the way of papercrafting items. I did find a couple of embossing folders on offer - which means my craft stash now contains a grand total of TWO embossing folders! Emboldened by this success, I dropped in at The Range and bagged a couple of adorable mini dies! Who knew actual shopping could be so much fun?!

Have you found any crafty items in an actual shop lately? I'd love to hear about it!

Hugs,

Christmas stamp sets - not just for Christmas!

Hello crafting friends!

I loved all the festive cards I saw people making with the  Stampin' Up stamp set From Our House To Yours. I've only just got my set (due to my own incompetence!) so I've missed the Christmas boat, but it's come in very handy for making a new home card AND a valentine!

CARD ONE
The new home card was so much fun to make.

I used my new Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Border dies to make clouds and bushes and the Wavy Border dies to make hills, and stamped trees as a background. The house was stamped on a scrap of card stock and fussy cut, and I stamped the tiny heart over the window below the roof, before tucking it into my scene.

I added a sentiment from Holiday Home (retired) before mounting the scene on a card base I'd splattered with pink ink. That was a bit too much fun and had to restrain myself from looking for other things to splatter ink on!

CARD TWO
My second card is a simple one layer card that uses the same tiny heart as the first card as well as the larger heart that comes with From Our House To Yours. Two hearts for the price of one!

Using Calypso Coral and Cherry Cobbler inks, I stamped a patterned on the edge of the card base with the hearts. I didn't use my stamping platform for this, I just 'used the force Luke' - that's a Star Wars reference that we say in my family when we just busk it!

The sentiment is from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks II which I stamped and cut out, then attached to the card. To give the card a touch of unexpected colour, I finished the card with gems I'd coloured purple with an alcohol marker.

Two card designs, different occasions, same stamp!

CHALLENGES
I'm linking Card One up with CAS(E) This Sketch - I LOVED the retro sketch there this week! Card Two will be my second entry into both Less is More's One Layer Card challenge with the theme 'Offset' and Perfectly CAS's One Layer Card, using one third of the card or less; I was totally inspired by Just Us Girls this week too with their Red Pink and Purple colour challenge.

Both cards will be my entry for the Twofer challenge which is celebrating its second anniversary with a Hearts challenge! The stamp both of my cards have in common is the small heart. Congratulations on two years of fun and jollifications ladies!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Near where I live there are some large fishing ponds and yesterday afternoon, Eva and I went for a walk there. We are used to the natural beauty of the area and were quite sad to find that a brutal, prison style fence had been put up round the ponds. I stopped to talk to some men who were working in there and they told me the fence had been put up to keep otters out - apparently they eat the fish. As I walked on I came to the part where a stream flows out of the ponds and was surprised to find there was no fence there. Now, correct me if I'm wrong but I have always believed that otters are intelligent little creatures who enjoy a romp about on land but who are also keen swimmers. I wondered in what way the prison fences were going to prevent the otters from casually back-stroking in, dining on some plump fish and then leaving the way they came in. There's something a bit er... fishy going here I think!

It's okay, you carry on being on the computer, I'll just wait here...

Right, I'm off out into the sunshine with a very patient little pupper who's only had one walk today and is feeling a little bit disappointed about it!

Hope the sun is shining on you today!