Sending Love and Prayers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to the Tic Tac Toe challenge where Betty is inspiring you today with a fabulously versatile board:

 

 

I went with the centre column, Die Cuts/Free/Any Sentiment, and made a card for a friend who is struggling with health issues.

 

Isn't it fun to bring out a stamp set you haven't used for a long time! Here, I used the retired Banners For You  by Stampin' Up. To begin, I masked off the edges on a thick card base with low tack tape, then used leaves and flowers and berries from the stamp set to create a background pattern. With the tape still in place, I gently sponged a blue-green ink from the edges inwards. After adding dots of white acrylic paint to the berries, and stalks with a fineliner pen, I removed the tape.

 

To create the label, I stamped a sentiment onto an offcut of white card, then trimmed it to size with a nesting label die making sure I kept the sentiment in the top half. I then stamped a leafy stem and flower using the same colours as the background and fussy cut it. The flower was popped up with small pieces of dimensional tape and the label attached to the card front.

 

Okay, now it's your turn! Head over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge and check out all the amazing inspiration there; choose your row, column or diagonal from the board and make a card using the suggestions; share it with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I used the red and green colours from Color Hues for this card, so I'm linking up there. The all-over pattern at Beautiful Blossoms also inspired me so I'm joining in there too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Life seems to have a bit of a cake theme at the moment! There are lots of events going on and I have been baking cakes for each of them; also a lovely friend, taking pity on my stressiness, whisked me out for an early coffee yesterday and made me* eat a scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam for breakfast! Verdict? Ten out of ten, would recommend as a top breakfast!

 

*I may not have put up much of a fight!

Sending hugs,

A curve of tulips

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I'm popping in today to remind you about our Birthday challenge at The Flower Challenge :)

 

 

Just make a birthday card with flowers as the main focus and you're good to go! Here's what I came up with:

 

I've gone die-tastic this time! I found an off cut of green card and used a die from Stampin' Up's retired Swirly Scribbles die set to cut a curvy panel with a stem-like design. The background rectangle was completed with a bit of masking and sponging with blue ink.

 

The tulips are from The Greetery's Botanicuts Tulips die set, cut from lots of white card offcuts and sponged with distress oxides. After assembling the flowers, I arranged them in a curve around a birthday greeting from Arched Sentiments, also from The Greetery. A few cream coloured enamel dots finished off the card.

 

Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog to see the wonderful cards the team have made to inspire you! You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own floral birthday card. You have until 25th July 5pm to join in and we can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I was intrigued by Marlena's challenge at Inkspirational to Use Products from 2 or More Stamp Companies. I do tend to mix and match anyway but I've limited myself to two companies here -
SU and The Greetery. I used a snippet of green card and lots of white off-cuts so will be taking this card over to the Snippets Playground. It's the first time I've used the Swirly Scribbles die so I'll also paying a visit to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Time has been running away with me lately so I haven't been around Blogland as much as I'd have liked. The weather is usually more predictable in the UK in the summer, so that's when everyone plans their events, and we've had birthdays, a church weekend and family visits to plan and attend, as well as Wimbledon tennis (my OH loves this!) and the Euros football tournament to support. Yesterday evening, our neighbourhood celebrated England being in the final of the Euros by setting up a large screen on the green to watch the match after a barbecue before kick-off. Sadly, the team lost to a Spanish team who scored the winning goal four minutes from full time, but we have thoroughly enjoyed this tournament.

I think Eva has had enough of people unexpectedly leaping to their feet cheering wildly and has retired to her favourite sunny spot in the garden to have an uninterrupted snoozle!

Sending hugs,

Allotment of birthday wishes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's my OH's birthday coming up and I've had an idea for a card for him. He and I have been working on the allotment together (although I must say that he's done the lion's share this year while I have been busy working with Lulu.)

 

I thought this In Spades stamp set and coordinating Garden Gear Tools die, both from the Greetery, would be perfect for my allotment hero! I started with the trowel and fork, cutting a set from white snippets of card and another from grey. The wood effect handles can be cut separately, so I cut those from an offcut of brown card. I sponged the white set lightly with grey ink, then stamped a small floral design on each. Once these were completed, I assembled them, glueing the stamped tools to the grey ones for dimension and adding the handles. I sponged the edges of these with brown ink to blend the colours. For a decorative touch, I threaded a bit of jute through the handle of the trowel and knotted it.

 

Rifling through my designer paper drawer (and thinking of sheds!) I came up with a strip of wood effect paper which I trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle. (So sad, by the way, to see that company is closing.) I wanted a bit more interest on that background, so I chose an oversized birthday stamp from Avery Elle's Big Birthday and stamped it in black on the side. I was then able to add a little 'happy' tag.

 

I wanted the wood effect panel to have a blue border to match the floral design but didn't have matching card, so I swiped the ink round the edge of a white panel cut slightly larger. Finally, I glued everything in place, attached the panel to a card base and finished with a small orange enamel dot.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Allsorts challenge where Gail has chosen Way to Grow as her theme; The Sisterhood of Crafters have an In the Garden theme, so I'm also joining in there. And this is the first time I used this stamp and die bundle, so I'm heading over to Darnell's NBUS challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Thank goodness election fever is over and we can return to the football! The golden girls disapprove of heated political debates and are happier (although still a bit dubious) with OH yelling at the footballers on the television screen to play better. They are quite surprised when we jump to our feet cheering, although this could be because it doesn't happen very often when supporting England!

Sending hugs,

Hydrangea postage stamp collage

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's time for more fun with flowers! At The Flower Challenge this month, we'd like to see your birthday cards featuring beautiful blooms!

 

 

Here's what I came up with:

 

When I first saw Waffleflower's Postage Stamp Collage die, I became very excited like many other crafters. It quickly found its way into my craft stash but it hasn't come out to play nearly enough yet. This is a fun way to use it - stamping an image onto the whole thing, colouring it, cutting the middle of each individual stamp out and glueing them all to another whole die cut.

 

I used the large hydrangea image from Colorado Craft Co's Big and Bold Get Well, stamping it in pale green on watercolour paper. It was lovely to spend some time watercolouring it with a mix of Stampin' Up inks and Arteza Brush Pens. I didn't want to cover the bloom up too much so I made a tag-style sentiment stamped with a small 'happy birthday' from Concord & 9th. This was tied to the panel with gold thread tied into a multi bow then the panel popped up on dimensional pads.

Okay, now it's over to you! Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog and check out the amazing variety of floral cards our talented team have made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own creation, you can use the blue Linky button at the end of the challenge post. You have until 5pm 25th July to join in - have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Allsorts where Gail's theme this week is Way to Grow.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have dashing about like a mad thing today because it's a birthday weekend and the family will be arriving :) The dogs know something is up of course - Eva is taking it all in her stride as always but Lulu is nervous and needs extra TLC. She removed all the stuffing from her plushy ball earlier on and distributed it around the living room and garden!

Sending hugs,

Hello stencils and dies!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

What's the crafting stash that you just couldn't live without? Let me know in the comments section!

 

My first love is stamps and ink, but I also love dies and one of my favourite crafting products in recent years is the stencil, and I seem, ahem, to have built up rather a large collection! I use them for fast cards, subtle backgrounds, showstopping centrepieces and, now that layered stencils are a thing, whole detailed scenes. Today's card uses one of my most used stencils, a gorgeous leafy design from Uniko called Natures Treasure.

 

I used it to create a background pattern over a card front with sage green ink. Then I pulled out the snippets! I covered some of the design with a snippet of textured card in a similar green to the ink. Then I added some flowers from the Greetery and from a magazine freebie that I die cut from small snippets of white card and sponged with distress oxide inks in shades of pink.

 

The sentiment is a favourite (but sadly retired) die from Funky Fossil, cut several times from black snippets (the top one a glossy piece from a magazine!) and stacked for dimension. I finished by added black centres to the smaller flowers with a fineliner, and enamel dots to the three largest.

 

Here's the little pile of snippets I used :)

CHALLENGES

I'm hopping over to the Snippets Playground where I'm hoping there might be a Magnum lolly left in the bottom of Sarn's satchel! I'm also linking up with the Stencil Fun Challenge where there's an optional theme of Shades of Blue. The colour palette for this card actually came from Color Hues, but I am so late posting it that they've moved onto a new and exciting combination now, white and aqua!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The ghastliness of the wettest, rainiest and muddiest winter I can remember has begun to fade from my memory and when we had rain today I didn't immediately take to my bed with the smelling salts! The golden girls seemed to enjoy a refreshing romp in the rain and came back wet but thankfully not muddy.

 

You can see Eva's toe (she's on the right) has been shaved but all the swelling has gone and it doesn't trouble her in the slightest. She is inclined to lick it when she's indoors ( I think that's because it's exposed) but I keep it scrupulously clean and dry and she wears a protective sock. She doesn't seem to mind this but sometimes, when she and her sister play together, Lulu naughtily takes it off her leg! When this happens, Eva immediately carries it to me as if to say: "Mummy, Lulu's taken my sock off again!"

Sending hugs,

The greatest gift

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Despite apparently living in tropics this week, I've been thinking about Christmas! The 25th of the month rolled round again, sparking another 'Aaargh! We're halfway through the year and my festive stash has failed to grow' panic. So I consulted some challenges and got to work.

 

Recently, I had a big clear out of my designer paper drawers and donated a whole load of tone-on-tone papers to some resourceful local children who were raising funds for their school by making and selling paper flowers. While I was sorting, some beautiful old Stampin' Up Christmas papers came to light and I used this cheerful stripe from them to create my gift. I cut a red card panel, and a smaller paper panel; the paper was cut into four pieces which were glued to the edges of the red panel. This revealed a 'ribbon' as the red panel showed between the paper pieces.

 

The tag was cut out of white card using an arch die from The Greetery. I stamped it with two sentiments from Reverse Confetti's The Best Gift of All and heat embossed in gold before mounting on another arch cut out of red card this time. The tag was glued to the 'gift' at a jaunty angle, decorated with various foliage and berries and finished with a die cut bow and a matching enamel dot. I attached the panel to a kraft card base to pick out the kraft colour in the paper design.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where this month's theme is It's a Gift; also Peace On Earth Challenge where there's a lovely kraft and green mood board; also Word Power where the sentiment is required to be the focus of your card; and last, but not least, Rudolph Days where Anything Christmas goes - this challenge has been triggering me to make Christmas cards on the 25th of each month for years now!!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Lulu has learned some useful tips from her fluffy sister since she's been here. One of them is that the hallway is a cool and shady spot when the temperatures soar...

 

... and it's also an excellent surveillance spot - she knows EXACTLY where everyone is at all times, even if she does have a little snoozle!

Sending hugs,

Daisy days

Hello, crafting friends!

 

One of the things I love about summer is lounging about in the sun on grass dotted with daisies - especially if there's a picnic going! I love daisies and was delighted when a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to win a beautiful stamp set full of daisies at Allsorts (Flower Patch Set 4 from Highlight Crafts) and today I thought it was time to crack open the packet and have a play!

 

Using green ink, I stamped two of the daisies onto a green panel. The plan was to colour the petals with my Posca white acrylic pen and to stipple the centres with distress oxides. I liked how the petals turned out but the flower centres were too muted, so I used an alcohol marker to intensify the colour, wiping the nib quickly afterwards.

 

I used Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil to sponge in a background with white ink and stamped a 'thanks' from The Greetery's Scripted Sentiments. To finish, I stamped a little butterfly using distress ink, trimmed the panel with a Hemstitch die by Spellbinders, and attached it to a card front.

CHALLENGES

I used Jen's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches to create this card so I'm linking up there; also Allsorts where this week's optional theme is Blooms Bees and Butterflies - thank you for my lovely prize! And I'm also hopping over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge as the daisies are fresh out of the packet!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The European Cup continues and watching England play proves to be the usual nail-biting experience. Lulu is not impressed.

 

She knows she can run faster than any of them and that no-one could get the ball off her - unless they used the 'Give' command that is!!

Sending hugs,

Friendly Flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Thursday to you :) I'm here to bring you a brand new challenge at Tic Tac Toe Challenge where I have created a fun board with all my favourite things on it!

 

This is what I made with the diagonal from top left, Friendship Theme/Flowers/Bright
Colours:

 

What a joy it was to bring out this gorgeous stamp from Waffleflower,  Poppy Hawthorn, and colour it with alcohol markers. The sun was out and I went for splashes of yellow and orange to celebrate! Once the colouring was finished, I fussy cut the cluster (I'm sure dies are available for those that are allergic to fussy cutting!)

 

Taking a thick card base and masking off a border with low tack tape, I sponged some blue inkinto the centre for a background. I removed the tape and stamped a sentiment using Uniko's Floral Vines, then glued the flower cluster in place, trimming off the bits that overlapped the edges of the card front. Very simple and lots of fun!

Now it's your turn! Here's how to play: Hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog and check out the amazing inspiration from my team mates; Choose a row, column or diagonal from the board and make a card using the ideas; Share with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

We Love Stamping has a theme of Fabulous Florals for their 15th anniversary challenge so I'm joining in there; I'm also linking up at I Spy With My Little Eye where the theme is Something Blooming Lovely.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The European Cup football tournament is on at the moment and my OH and I are enjoying watching it with the golden girls. Of course we are armchair experts and are constantly yelling at the players to move faster and pass more accurately!

 

No need to tell this young lady to move faster. Lulu for the win! Poor Eva is still on the bench with her paw injury but is enjoying watching (and partaking of the snacks!)

Sending hugs,

Against the wall

Hello, crafting friends!

 

We're half way through the month of June and I'm here to remind you that you've got plenty of time to join in with our sketch challenge at the Flower Challenge.

 

And here IS the sketch:

I love this sketch and am particularly obsessed with the background panel! For my first card, I focused on adding pattern to the centre (you can see that HERE) but this time, I decided to add pattern to the sides to emphasise the centre. But first, I got going with the flower/foliage cluster!

 

When I bought this stamp set (Wallpaper Art by Altenew) the coordinating mask/stencil was on special offer, so I bought it too - and it's been so useful! I stamped the flower and masked it off; then stamped the left hand leaf cluster and masked that off; and finally stamped the bottom leaves before removing the masks. The flower and larger leaves are line art, so I coloured those with Arteza watercolour brush pens and left it to dry.

 

When everything was dry, I replaced the masks and also blocked off the vertical centre of the card with sticky notes before sponging pale blue ink over the sides. When that was done, I positioned Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil over the card front and sponged blue-grey and light purple inks through it. When I removed the masks again, the flower cluster appeared to be in front of the brick sections - yay, the magic of masking!! To finish, I added a sentiment from my UFO box and some purple gems.

Right! It's over to you! Don't forget to check out all the amazing inspiration from my team mates over at the Flower Challenge - you'll be glad you did! When you've made your own card, you can link up using the Linky Tool at the bottom of the challenge post. Have fun won't you!

CHALLENGES

I am linking up at the Beautiful Blossoms challenge under the Anything Floral Goes theme - but I will be back as I'm totally inspired by that gorgeous mood board with its oranges and pinks! Also linking up at the Stencil Fun Challenge where there's an optional theme of Birthday but I've gone with Anything Goes.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

While Eva's paw is healing, I am walking her gently on hard level surfaces only. This kind of polite on-lead walking is not what Lulu needs - she's young and needs to get out and really run. So, although I take them out together in the morning and at night, for the main midday walk I'm walking them separately for the moment. What has amazed me is how much this has affected their behaviour. They are both much more focused on my guidance and it's quite obvious that they are enjoying the one-to-one attention. When Eva is better, I may carry on with separate midday walks a couple of times a week. It also represents a massive step forward for Lulu, who would once have barked the place down if I had tried to take Eva out without her!

Sending hugs,