A burst of stenciled leaves

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another challenge from Tic Tac Toe, where inspiration comes 8 different ways! Elizabeth has come up with a great board today:

 

I couldn't wait to get going with the diagonal from top left: Stencil/Free/Foliage because I'd been thinking about combining a few of my stencils to see how it worked out. Well it came out like this:

 

I started off with the Flower Bouquet Builder stencil from MFT, selecting a few different flowers and berries and inking them in a random pattern. The leaves are from the Greetery's Berry Branch stencil. I positioned the larger leaf around the flowers and sponged colour into it. At this point I brought out my coloured pencils and added more intense colour and detail to the flowers and leaves. I wanted the illusion of lots of leaves in the bouquet so I picked some other leaves from the Berry Branch stencil and stenciled them in a paler green so they looked as if they were behind the first leaves and flowers.

 

For further depth, I used Funky Fossil's Fancy Trellis as a background, masking off the bottom of the card and sponging blue ink outwards and upwards to a fade. The sentiment is from Tagged Elegance by the Greetery. To finish,  I stenciled a single flower on a snippet of card and fussy cut it, popping it up on the card, and added some enamel dots.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Which row or column will you choose? Or are you going for one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe blog to see the amazing samples the team has made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to share your own design with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the Stencil Fun Challenge where the optional theme is Fall, but Anything Stenciled Goes; I'm also joining in with Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Stenciled Goes; and also playing along with Addicted to Stamps and More where it's the turn of the Any Occasion challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I walk and board a selection of gorgeous dogs. I'm not supposed to have favourites but if I did happen to melt at the sight of a certain little golden girl called Lulu, who could blame me?! 

A pair of Grubs! Lulu (left) and Eva (right)

Sadly, Lulu's family have had a crisis, are having to move away and are unable to take their girl with them. I didn't hesitate to offer her a home. I have adored her since the day we started walking together, and Eva and she have always got on well together - often behaving like naughty twins! Luckily OH (perhaps knowing that there would be no peace until he agreed!) gave the go ahead and she will be coming to live with us properly next month after an easing-in period of extra walks, sleepovers and vet visits. Hurrah!!

Sending hugs,

Happy Honeysuckle

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Thursday of fabulous inspiration brought to you by the Tic Tac Toe Challenge! It's Elizabeth's turn to come up with the board for you and here it is:

 

 

I found myself drawn to the colour yellow in the middle of the board and decided to go diagonal from top left with Flowers/Yellow/Gems.

 

These striking flowers are created with a stencil from Uniko. I've used it once before HERE but was excited to use it as stylised honeysuckle this time! The stencil was positioned at different angles on a card panel, yellow ink sponged into it each time. I doodled stems from each flower head and added leaves using a MFT stencil. I added detail to the flowers and coloured in my leaves with coloured pencils.

 

The image was cut with a Spellbinders Hemstitch die and trimmed to size, and I sponged in a background using blue ink. One of Pinkfresh Studio's Perfect Sentiments was stamped in the corner and I finished with a sprinkling of gems before mounting the panel onto a yellow card base (a left over from an old Stampin' Up kit.)

 

Right - it's over to you! Which row or column or diagonal will you choose this week? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog to check out the amazing inspiration my team mates have come up with. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation with us. We always look forward to seeing what you have made :)

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Addicted to Stamps and More where it's the Any Occasion challenge; I'm also joining in with Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge where Anything Goes; AAA Birthday has a Layer It Up challenge - I've added a layered panel so that the background shows through my frame, the colouring uses layers of colour and the sentiment is layered over the flowers.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have been spending lots of time sprucing up the garden ready for my daughter's 'hen' party - a get together for her girlfriends to celebrate her upcoming marriage. It's a tiny little space but I've been tidying things up and reviewing the borders because I'd like everything to be looking its best. The garden has so many memories of friends and family as so many of the plants were given as gifts. There's a honeysuckle, given by a friend as a moving in present over 20 years ago. A beautiful scented rambling rose was another gift that has kept on giving, as well as a rose from my family to celebrate my 50th birthday. There are foxgloves that my youngest son brought home from the garden centre in a backpack on his bike because he knew I loved them; hydrangeas that remind me of a place we used to holiday at; many geraniums because I can never resist them; and a peony that rose from the dead long after I had despaired of it! No pictures because it has poured with rain all day... Where is the spring?!

Sending hugs,

Stenciling a garden

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I love stencils!

 

This card was made with the Flower Bouquet Builder stencil by MFT. I love how versatile this stencil is (look at THIS very different card made with it!)

 

 

This time, I sponged blue ink the bottom of a panel, fading upwards. Over the top I stenciled a leafy sprig several times, varying the position and height. These were topped with pretty flower tops in three sizes.

 

The panel was cut using a large arch die from The Greetery and topped with an ornate birthday sentiment from the Arched Sentiments stamp set and matching die. The arch was attached to a card front using dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with the Stencil Fun Challenge where Anything Stenciled Goes with Optional Hearts; also AAA Birthday where the team want to see birthday cards made using stencils; I was inspired by Joanne's colour challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We've been having some wonderful walks lately. The weather has been dry and warmish and the dogs have wasted no time in taking the opportunity to have a swim!

 

There are no changing rooms or towels to hand but an enthusistic game of chase soon dries a pup off!!

Sending hugs,

One layer of flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I've had a little play with some birthday goodies!

The flowers on this one layer card are stenciled with MFT's Flower Bouquet Builder which has made me love stencils more than ever! I created a little cluster of them using jewel coloured inks and then added a little offshoot of leaves and seed heads.

To finish this simple card I stamped a sentiment from a long-ago retired Stampin' Up set and added a few coordinating sequins.

 

CHALLENGES

I fell in love with the colour palette at CAS Colours and Sketches this week and am just about in time to link up there I hope! I'm also joining in at Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything (stenciled) Goes.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I wear trainer socks all the time and have never thought of them as being particularly cute. But on a little pusscat, trainer socks look VERY cute indeed!!

 

You're welcome!

 

Sending hugs,