Sparkle and shine!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It seems we have entered the sparkling season and here at The Flower Challenge we have responded with a glittering new challenge!

 

 

Why not have a bit of fun, get out all your shimmer 'n' shine crafting supplies and join us with your own sparkly floral creation :) Here's what I came up with:

Yes I know, it's not the sparkliest card ever, but it's pretty sparkly for someone who doesn't really do sparkle!! I started with the background sponging distress oxide inks over a white panel, spritzing with water and drying off with a heat gun. I added detail at the bottom with Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil and lightened some areas of the top with some white kraft ink, then dried everything off again.

 

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Hope and Peace, stamped in versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. I added a liberal splattering of snow with a white acrylic paint men and then trimmed the panel with a Crimped Frame die from The Greetery. 

 

The star of the show is the poinsettia, a re-release from Uniko - Pure Florals Poinsettia. I stamped on a scrap of white card using versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. The petals were coloured with a red Arteza watercolour brush pen which gives a lovely velvety look which contrasts nicely with the gold detail. I fussy cut the poinsettia, popped it up on dimensional pads and embellished with some sparkly- yes sparkly! - gems which I coloured with various alcohol markers.

Ok, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog and check out the gorgeous sparkly samples my team mates have made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own creation, you can use the blue Linky button at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

There's an optional winter theme at both Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping this month so I'll link this wintery card up there; Brenda has chosen Winter Flowers and Fauna as her theme at Allsorts so I'm playing along there too; Triple B have a lovely red themed inspiration board and I'm joining in with my red poinsettia; and last but not least, Jo has her annual If it's Christmassy, Link it Up challenge at Christmas Kickstart - and it's been far too long since I popped by!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

December is a busy month and I am still learning how to get involved in everything and remain stress free and enjoy the season! Anyone else?! Of course I have a pair of golden treasures to keep me grounded and make sure I get plenty of fresh air - not to mention plenty of time washing, drying and grooming those fluffy coats! The days of nice, frosty winters appears to be over and we are up to our necks in mud again... happy days!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Christmas card. Do come and see!

Sending hugs,

Autumn Flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's mid-way through September and time for a reminder to join in with The Flower Challenge's 'Stamp a Flower' challenge! 

I am still in Sunflower Mode and have chosen Reverse Confetti's Fall Flowers this time.

 

I stamped the half wreath image at the top and bottom of a card panel and coloured these with Arteza Watercolour Brush pens. In the space between them, I added a sentiment from The Greetery's Arched Sentiments, stamped in brown ink.

 

The panel was trimmed a tiny bit smaller than the card front and the card front swiped with green ink to show a very thin frame when the panel was attached. To finish, I added some Wink of Stella to the sunflower centres and touches of gold paint to the leaves for a touch of sparkle.

 

Right, it's over to you! Do check out the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the design team at The Flower Challenge blog. Make a card featuring stamped flowers as your focal point and share it with us using the blue Linky Tool button at the bottom of the challenge blog post. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Beautiful Blossoms where I was inspired by the colours on the mood board; I also enjoyed colouring my stamped images with my Arteza watercolour brush pens, so I'm joining in with Inkspirational's Make Your Mark challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I like to make cards with two images repeated.

 

But where do I get my inspiration from...?!

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,

Painting with purple

Hello, crafting friends!

 

We've reached the halfway mark in this month's Flower Challenge and would love for you to join in!

 

It's a really fun theme this month for those who love colouring, but sponging die cuts or stenciling are on the menu too for those who prefer to leave the markers to others!

 

These pretty flowers are an image from Altenew's Delicate Bouquet, which I stamped twice in green ink off the edge of a panel of watercolour paper. My Arteza watercolour brush pens were still jumping up and down shouting 'pick me, pick me!' and since I haven't used them for a few minutes, I gave them a go ;)

I don't often use purples and enjoyed the novelty of using them for the flowers today, teaming them with a dark green for the foliage. I also used a wet neutral to hint at a background and left the panel to dry. After stamping a sentiment from Reverse Confetti's Perfect Timing, I kept it simple and just attached the panel to a card base.

Okay, it's over to you! Do go over to The Flower Challenge's blog post and drool over the gorgeous samples my team mates have made! When you're ready, you can link up your own card using the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Triple B where there is the most beautiful mood board again! I'm also joining in at Word Art Wednesday where we have the option to use the digital verse or it's Anything Goes;  Both stamp sets on this card are getting their first outing, so I'm popping over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge. 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I've been a bit of a busy bee this past week or so, spring cleaning, gardening and having visitors. It's been pretty hot here too so the golden girls have needed to go down to the river for their walks to keep cool. Yesterday though, I took advantage of cooler temperatures to take them for a romp over the fields where there are rabbits for the huntresses among us to run after. We haven't been there for a while and in our absence, cows have been brought into one of the side fields to graze. Eva is afraid of cows and stayed close to me, but Lulu went over to investigate and, the sweetest thing, spent a few moments nose to nose with some of the braver cows, her tail wagging and clearly making friends. She is full of surprises!

Sending hugs,

The accidental card

Hello, crafting friends!

 

We're halfway through our challenge at The Flower Challenge and we'd love to see your card in the gallery! Layers are the theme this month.

My card was a total accident! For another project, I'd cut a panel with a cover die called Country Garden by Gemini. It needs a shim but I'd forgotten about that, so had ended up with an uncut version. My Arteza watercolour brush pens were (as usual!) out on the table so I amused myself by using some pretty spring colours with a little water and a paint brush to colour the image. It was just ordinary card stock so I wasn't expecting it to work, but I quite liked the result and it was just right for layering.

 

I used a small flower die to cut daisies out of snippets of white card. These were layered over the largest flowers and I found enamel dots in different colours and sizes to decorate the other flowers. The panel was then attached to a card base.

My final layer is a frame from the UFO box which had been cut from white card with a double stitched rectangle die. I backed the frame with foam tape for a bit of extra dimension. The sentiment is from MFT's All Occasion Sentiments, stamped on a snippet of white card, cut out and popped up on dimensional pads.

 

Okay, so it's your turn! My talented team mates have made some gorgeous cards to inspire you and you'll find them over on The Flower Challenge blog post. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post too and can use it to share your own layered floral creation with us. You have until April 25 and we can't wait to see what you make!

 

CHALLENGES

I'm off to The Snippets Playground with this card! Sorry I didn't take photos of my snippets because I didn't know it was going to be a snippets card but the floral panel was a rescued failed die cut, the frame was a left over, and all the other elements were snippets of white card.

AND IN OTHER NEWS 

Lulu is in the doghouse! We'd had a locksmith round and I asked him if he'd make a fuss of the dogs before I shut them in the kitchen while he got on with his work. Once Eva knows who is in the house she is fine, and Lulu took her lead from Eva so there was no barking at all. When the locksmith left, I released the dogs and praised them for their excellent behaviour. I then got on with cleaning the living room. I wanted to give it a good sweeping to get rid of any dog hair, so I popped the pups out in the garden so they wouldn't walk in the sweepings. But twice in a row proved to be a step too far for young Lulu...

 

... and she had started digging a hole before I noticed and was able to stop her! Very frustrating but totally my fault for pushing her further than she could cope with. She will now need to be supervised carefully in the garden so that behaviour is not repeated. Sigh!

Sending hugs,

Floral notes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

There's a new colour challenge in Blogland! It's called AAA Colourful and is the sister challenge to AAA Cards and AAA Birthday which we all know and love. The challenges start mid-month and close on the 14th so there's time to join in. Come on you crafters - let's show some support!

 

I missed the first challenge but here is the mood board for this month and I couldn't resist these gorgeous colours. Here's what I made:

 

There was a discarded piece of white card that had been die cut with an Arch die on my table, so I stamped it with Waffle Flower's Poppy Hawthorn stamp set which was also out on my desk. (Do you think I should clear up?!) I coloured the flowers with Arteza  watercolour brush pens (also out on my table!!) and left the panel to dry.

 

Meanwhile, I trimmed a piece of Stampin' Up gingham DSP to size and glued it to a card base, adding a coordinating strip of card on the top. The dry floral panel was stamped with a sentiment and a line and secured to the card front with dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES

I'll be linking this card up at AAA Colourful :)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva has disgraced herself I'm afraid. We went for a walk at a location we haven't been to for a long time and she was so excited she had a little roll in something very foxy indeed. The drive home was a little er, 'fragrant' and I don't think my OH will be coming out with us again for a while! After a full shampoo and blow dry, normal nasal service was resumed, but Eva looked like this:

 

Sending hugs,

On the third day

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I am here to wish you a very happy Easter Sunday, the happiest day of the year for Christians all over the world!

 

I made a few of these one-layer, masked, inked and stamped design this year - come and see:

The most difficult thing about this card was working out which order to do everything! This is the way:

1. Stamp the lilies from Clearly Besotted's Perfect Lilies on a sticky note and cut it out to create a mask.

2. Stamp the lilies off the edge of a thick card base using pale blue ink. 

3. Cover the lilies on the card base with the mask and add low tack tape around the edges of the card front.

4. Sponge pale blue ink over the card front.

5. Stamp the main sentiment from The Greetery's Amen & Alleluia in black ink.

6. Remove the tape and mask and colour the lilies.

7. Add the 'He is Risen' part of the sentiment.

 

Here's a close up of the lilies, coloured with Arteza watercolour brush pens, an SU marker, coloured pencils and a white acrylic paint pen. Get me, going all multimedia!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Allsorts where Sarah's optional theme is Keep it Simple; also Word Art Wednesday where Anything Goes;  Triple B Challenge wants to see Birds, Blooms and Butterflies and I'm joining in with my bloom; Beautiful Blossoms Challenge also wants to see flowers as the focal point of our cards.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I know the question burning on your lips: Did the golden girls get any eggs today? Well no, but they DID get the next best thing - some cheese hidden in egg boxes! They have to get them open to access their treats and they have very different ways of doing this.

 

Eva's way is slowly and methodically getting the lid open - she knows the cheese is going nowhere and likes the anticipation.

 

Lulu is more of a 'rip the box to shreds' kind of girl. She wants the cheese and she wants it NOW! But then it's all over so quickly, she can't quite remember it... is there any more?!

 

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to sample some posh little eggs that my OH bought from a high class chocolaterie on his travels. He knows the way to my heart!

Sending hugs,

Spring in the meadow

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Spring is really on its way now and I am so inspired by all the pretty colours in the garden. There are lots of card challenges celebrating flowers and spring too so I rolled up my sleeves and joined in.

 

This fabulous floral is from Waffleflower's Bouquet Builder 3 that I was lucky enough to find as a bargain recently. I stamped the large image off the edge of a panel of watercolour paper that I'd trimmed with a Hemstitch die from Spellbinders.

 

I used a lightish neutral coloured ink and then coloured the image with Arteza watercolour brush pens - yes, they were out on my table again!

 

The sentiment is such a pretty one from The Greetery's Pine Blossom - a set that just keeps on giving in my opinion!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Addicted to CAS where Toni has chosen Bloom as her word prompt; also Little Red Wagon where Chrissy's theme is Florals; Sarah is hosting Allsorts for a two week challenge and has opted for an optional challenge of Keep it Simple; Cathy wants to see Feminine cards at We Love Stamping, and Spring is in the Air at Stamping Sensations, so I'm also joining in there too. Finally, as this floral stamp is Never Before Used Schtuff, I'm twirling over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I did ask the golden girls if they'd like to watch me do some more crafting this afternoon but they decided they'd rather go for a long muddy walk instead. I know who is in charge in this house so I doffed my cap and scurried off to fetch the leads!

 

Here they are, fresh out of the river! They don't look very cheerful do they, but the expressions on their faces represent pure concentration because they know that when I've stopped mucking about with cameras, I am going to be saying those beautiful words that every pup longs to hear:

"Are you hungry?"

Sending hugs,

Cheers me dears!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

We had fun celebrating my youngest son's birthday earlier this week and I thought I'd show you the card I made for him. It was designed to make him smile and I hope it might give you a chuckle too!

 

The sentiment is supposed to be read in a cockney accent. When I used to live in London, I might hear someone say: "Who's that geezer with the dodgy tache?" meaning: " Who is that gentleman with the inappropriate moustache?" Anyway, enough of that...!

 

The drinks are from an older Clearly Besotted set called Raise a Glass. I stamped them on off-cuts of watercolour paper, coloured them with my Arteza Watercolour Brush Pens and fussy cut them. In case you were wondering why the boozy card, my son is not a dipsomaniac but IS a master cocktail maker!

 

The sentiment was made using The Greetery's Slim Alphabet dies which I cut from the matte black packaging my Arteza Brush Pens came in! Waste not want not! I arranged everything on a thick card base, making the letters dance about as if someone had (ahem) imbibed rather too many of the cocktails! I tried to make the cocktails realistic - see if you can spot a Martini, a Margarita, an Old Fashioned (he told me off because it's the wrong glass!), a Singapore Sling, a Cosmopolitan and a Bellini! 

I forgot to take a photo of the snippets before I cut them out but here's a photo of the cuttings!!

 

CHALLENGES

I am of course romping off to the Snippets Playground with my cocktail shaker in my satchel - will tell Miss we're doing scientific experiments! The Male Room's theme is Food & Drink so I'm joining in there too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My son kindly brought his cocktail shaker up at Christmas and had great fun devising cocktails for our enjoyment. I took a photo of some of them:

 

... unbelieveably delicious! I would share the recipes but naturally they remain a secret known only to the genius behind their conception ;) The decoration in the second photo was supposed to be frosted cranberries but I hadn't been able to find any so my poor son had to make do with a frozen cherry. Other great artists don't have this kind of nonsense to contend with do they?!!

Sending hugs,