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,

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,