Over the rainbow

Hello, crafting friends!

How do you decide which colours to use for your projects? I often use the colour combinations suggested in card challenges but sometimes the colours in nature, or on a book cover, or on some beautiful fabric will inspire me. But sometimes only a rainbow of colour will do!

This simple card was really fun to make! The first step was cutting the word Happy out of a card panel using Uniko's Big and Bold Happy dies. I made sure I kept the little centres of the 'A' and the two 'Ps' as I was going to need them later. The panel was then trimmed with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle.

I wanted a lovely rainbow effect to show through the panel so I used coloured pencils to create one on a card base. Every now and again, I'd hold the panel over the card base to check that my colouring was in the right place! Once I was happy, I glued the panel down along with those little centres I had kept.

Finally, the birthday label, from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, was stamped, snipped out and glued in place and I finished with an enamel dot, a sequin and an orange gem.

CHALLENGES

I made this card to enter into Uniko's May/June challenge where Anything Goes and I've gone for the optional twist of using die cuts; I was inspired by the Radically Rainbow theme at The Rainbow Card Challenge; I'm also joining in with Happy Little Stampers Dies challenges where Anything Goes; and sharing at Watercooler Wednesday where Kath is hosting the Occasions challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Right, I'm off to feed some adorable little pusscats for a friend - but shhhhh! Don't tell Eva or she'll be outraged!

Sending hugs,

For a berry good friend

Hello, crafting friends!

It's coming up to that time of year when berries are overflowing in the shops and markets. I adore a berry and could eat them at every meal, but I also like them on cards! Like this one:

I took the strawberry image from Clearly Besotted's Sweet Berries and stamped it on opposite corners of a card panel. The images were watercoloured with diluted inks and left to dry.

When everything was well and truly dry, I added detail with coloured pencils and added seeds in the strawberries with a Posca white acrylic paint pen.

The panel was trimmed to a size just smaller than my card front and I added a sentiment from my new favourite sentiment set Perfect Sentiments by Pinkfresh Studio. A simple card but hopefully one that a lovely friend will enjoy.

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with Joanne's CAS challenge at The Paper Players where her theme is Fruit and/or Berries; I took my sketch from Inspire Create where we are CASEing Verity's gorgeous card; I'm also linking up with Happy Little Stampers' Watercolour challenge where Anything Goes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The sunshine has popped her happy little face back out today and Madame La Floof was delighted!

"If you need me I'll just be getting on with things in the garden...!"

Sending hugs,

Tequila Sunrise flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

It's that fabulous time of the week when inspiration comes at you courtesy of CAS Colours and Sketches! Shannon is hosting this month and she's come up with a beauty of a sketch for you this week:

We love the rule of three don't we! I chose a flower from Stampin' Up's Pretty Perennials for my three shapes, stamping them in a pale yellow and then building up glowing colour with orange and red coloured pencils. They were fussy cut and centred with bright red enamel dots, then set aside while I made a background to set them off.

I wasn't letting up on the tropical colours, choosing to stencil hot pink stripes across a card base. I used a large striped stencil from Funky Fossil for this, masking off the stripes I didn't need. The flowers were attached in a row and I stamped a sentiment from Just For You by Clearly Besotted, which fit nicely below one of the flowers in the bottom stripe.

So now it's over to you! What shapes will you choose? I'm looking forward to seeing :) Hop on over to the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge blog where you'll find lots of inspiration from the team, as well as this month's guest star, Deborah Wheeler. You'll also find the Linky Tool there so that you can upload your own creation. Remember to keep it clean and simple with lots of lovely clear space!

CHALLENGES

Oh those colours at Just Us Girls this week! I couldn't wait to get crafting with those; I'm also joining in at Stamplorations Stencil challenge where Anything Goes; and I'm linking up at The Flower Challenge where this month's theme is Clean and Simple Flowers.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm afraid it's happened again... while I was making this card, all I could think about was a tequila sunrise cocktail! Anyone joining me? On second thoughts, it's probably best to wait until later as I believe it's frowned upon in some circles to be quaffing back the tequila sunrises at 10 o'clock in the morning lol!

Sending hugs,

Enboss-resist with a stencil

Hello, crafting friends!

Stencils have become all the rage haven't they and I am here for them in a big way! I made today's card a little while ago with a pretty floral stencil I received as a free gift with a Uniko order (and I see it's now available to buy in the shop along with some fabulous new releases!) 

I used coloured pencils to colour it and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then for the emboss-resist magic: I masked the edges of my card panel and sponged blue ink over one corner, wiping the residue off the flower.

I inked up Uniko's Large Background Tropical Paradise stamp with green ink and stamped it over my masked panel, again wiping the residual ink away from the embossed flower. After removing the masks, I trimmed the panel and finished with an embossed thank you from Simply Said Blocks, also from Uniko, before attaching the panel to a card base.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Goes; also Stamping Sensations where we must share our crafty loves: I love... stencilling and also the magic of heat embossing; I'm also sharing at Watercooler Wednesday where Kath is hosting the Occasions challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I am deleting what I had written here and have decided instead to share that when signing off with 'sending hugs' I made a typo and wrote 'sending bugs' by mistake. After shrieking with laughter to the point of collapse, I have contritely edited it as I feel that is the kind of typo that could cause unintended offence...

So, sending HUGS and certainly no bugs at all!

One layer of sunshine

Hello, crafting friends!

It's time for a shiny new challenge at Addicted to CAS today!  Sue is hosting for the next couple of weeks and has chosen a code word which is sure to get your mojo jumping!

I was very excited about this one because it gave me yet another opportunity to bring out my favourite stencil!

The Sunny Day stencil by Clearly Besotted was positioned over the top left hand corner of my card base and two shades of yellow blended out to a fade. I stamped a sentiment from Concord & 9th's Hello Sunshine using brown and orange inks, and added an enamel heart coloured to match with an alcohol marker. And that's it - the simplest card ever!

So now it's over to you. As always, there's a ton of inspiration from the design team at the Addicted to CAS challenge blog. You'll also find the Linky Tool there so that you  can upload your own creation. Have fun - but remember to keep your card nice and clean and simple with plenty of white space. I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge, using the top row Friendship/Summer theme/Single layer; also Perfectly CAS where the challenge is to use One Corner and up to one third of the card front; and AAA Cards where the challenge is also to use One Corner and the optional twist is Childhood Memories - I grew up in the UK in the '70s when there were heatwaves every summer!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Ironically, our lovely sunshine has been ousted by torrential rain but here is a photo of my own particular little ray of sunshine!

Sending hugs,

Butterflies, blossoms and birthdays

Hello, crafting friends!

Mr Mojo poked his head round the door today and I thought I'd take advantage! Come and see:

I've delved into my box of as yet unused goodies for this card, stamping the flower and two of the butterflies from Mama Elephant's Butterfly Kisses onto a card panel. I coloured them with coloured pencils then masked them off while I created the background.

The background was made by diluting blue ink with water and sponging it all over the panel. When it was dry, I trimmed the panel with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and stamped the 'happy birthday' from Pinkfresh Studio's Perfect Sentiments. That was then masked too, with a piece of sticky note, while I clapped wet hands over the panel.

The final stage was removing just the flower mask and adding splatters with diluted green ink. When that had dried, I removed all the rest of the masks and attached my panel to a card base.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by the beautiful photo over at Give a Crafter a Cookie so I'm linking up there; I'm also joining in with the CAS Mix Up challenge where Viv has chosen the theme of Flight, with Watercolouring being the main element; The theme at Allsorts this week is Butterflies and Bugs, so I shall link up there too; and I hadn't used either of the stamp sets before so I'm also sharing at Darnell's NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) Challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The weather is about to break so I've been scuttling about doing all the jobs that need doing before it rains - trimming hedges and so on. We will all sleep better tonight - especially the furriest of us!

Source: Pinterest

This image of a golden retriever (not Eva) enjoying the rain made me smile when I came across it the other day. This is exactly what Eva would do if it poured with rain after a long hot spell!

Sending hugs,

Double the sunshine

Hello, crafting friends!

The sunshine continues here in the heart of England and I'm enjoying it so much I've extended it to the craft square metre - twice!

I used Clearly Besotted's Sunny Days stencil in these two cards. It is such a favourite of mine partly because it has proved to be so versatile and if you're interested in seeing some more fun ways to use this stencil just click here :)

CARD ONE

For this one, I positioned just the bottom of the stencil over the top of my card panel.

I blended an ombré effect into the stencil using an orange red, an orange and a yellow ink. That was masked off and I blended blue ink out to a fade beneath it to represent a sea.

The sentiment from Altenew's Birthday Greetings, and the boat and birds from Waffleflower's Lighthouse, were all stamped together in black ink using a stamping platform.

CARD TWO

It occurred to me that I could ink up one part of the stencil, then turn it 180 degrees and ink it up again to make a whole sunshine - tada!

In fact it left a narrow white strip in the sun's centre but I sponged that in seamlessly. But it didn't matter in the end because I decided to add a banner sentiment over the top. This one is from Winnie and Walter's Sugar Rush, stamped in orange ink. I was so happy to find that a new sentiment from Uniko's Floral Vines fits perfectly inside it!

In interior design and fashion, they're always talking about 'disruptor colours' - the idea being that a tiny bit of something that doesn't seem to  'go' jolts the eye and adds excitement to a scheme or outfit. It works for cards too! Here, I added three non-matching embellishments - an orange enamel dot, a blue sequin and a gold gem.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking both these cards up with this month's Twofer Challenge where the challenge prompt is Sun or Sunrays. In this challenge we must make two cards using the same stamp, die or stencil, making sure that the cards are for two different occasions, and are two different designs.

I'm also linking CARD ONE up with Festive Friday where I've chosen CAS, blue and boat from the inspiration list; and Seize the Birthday where the challenge is to create a birthday card and I've gone for the optional twist of nayutical.

With CARD TWO, I'm also joining in with the Tic Tac Toe challenge, where I've chosen the middle row Hello/friend/sun or sunshine; Day of the Month Card Club, where they're celebrating Best Friend Day; and Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where anything using stencils goes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Despite closing all the windows and blinds upstairs during the day, it's still too hot for my fluffy girl to sleep comfortably - and she'll put up with anything rather than go downstairs by herself and sleep on the cool kitchen tiles! But I have come up with a cunning plan! I get a couple of her dog towels, spray them lightly with water and pop them in the chest freezer, and get them out just before it's time to settle down. She is delighted!

Sending hugs,

A bit dotty

Hello, crafting friends!

Welcome to another glorious day here in the heart of England :) There's a colour challenge starting today at CAS Colours and Sketches and it couldn't match the weather better!

I couldn't wait to use these delicious colours that reminded me of mango sorbet, strawberry daiquiri and sun-drenched mint leaves! Having said that, I went in a different direction and brought out a beautiful flower gifted to me by a lovely friend:

I presented the flower on Uniko's Background Blocks Halftone, stamped in Mango Melody ink directly onto a card base. The flower, from Butterfly Basics by Stampin' Up, was stamped in the Olive ink over the top. I coloured it with coloured pencils which allowed the dots to show through. I liked the texture this gave the leaves and stems but preferred a cleaner look for the flowers, so...

... I stamped the flower again in pale pink ink, coloured the petals and sepals with my coloured pencils and cut them out, glueing them over the top of the originals. To finish, I stamped a retired sentiment in the space under the flower.

So now it's your turn - and who wouldn't enjoy playing with these uplifting colours? Come on over to the CAS Colours and Sketches blog where the team and this month's special guest, Deborah Wheeler, are waiting to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool there too so  that you can upload your own creation. I can't wait to see your take on these colours - but don't forget to keep it clean and simple!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with CAS on Friday where the theme is Flowers; and The Flower Challenge, where the challenge is clean and simple.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Right, who's joining me for a strawberry daiquiri?!

Sending hugs,

Birthday fishes

Hello, crafting friends!

My youngest nephew will be 15 in a minute which seems crazy to me - did I fall asleep for ten years or something?! Anyway, I wanted to make him smile and thought a punning little card would do the trick:

I started this scene off by sponging pale blue ink down two thirds of a card panel, adding yellow and kraft inks for 'sand' and finally adding depth with a darker blue ink round the edges. The sunlight-through-water effect is achieved with a sunshine stencil (Sunny Day by Clearly Besotted) positioned upside down and with that pale blue ink sponged into it over the initial inking. Once I'd finished the inking, I clapped wet hands over the panel to create a bit of texture and movement.

The fish and seaweed are from Clearly Besotted's Under The Sea. You may have noticed that I use coloured pencils a lot at the moment, and this is where they really come into their own. No need to stamp, colour and cut out with oil-based pencils; you can simply stamp directly onto an inky background and colour over the ink as they are pretty opaque.

I trimmed the card panel to size with a stitched rectangle die, then stamped the fun sentiment from MFT's Your Fin-tastic. The panel was then attached to a card base. 

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

So happy that this card won the Watercooler Wednesday Rockstar award!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card yup with The Sisterhood of Crafters where the theme is Water Water Water; also Watercooler Wednesday where Heidi is hosting the All Things Masculine challenge; and As You See It which is also looking for Masculine cards.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'll leave you with this photo...

"Waiter, there's a puppy in my soup!"

Sending hugs,