September sunflowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

September has arrived in a blaze of sunshine and there's a fab new Flower Challenge for the month!

 

We are going back to basics with stamping this month and I couldn't be happier: stamps and ink are my happy place :) Here's what I made:

 

The sunflower stamp is from Clearly Besotted's Sending Sunshine. I stamped it in pale yellow ink and covered it with a mask made from a sticky note. The jar came next. It's from The Greetery's Just Mason Around and is a 3 step layering stamp which produces a lovely glass effect. I made another mask with a sticky note and covered the jar. Leaving both of the masks in place, I set to work on a background. The ground was stamped with Stampin' Up's Hardwood background stamp and I covered that up to stencil above it with Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil. The stencil was removed and the brickwork sponged with brown ink for a more subtle look.

 

All the masks were removed at this stage and I coloured the sunflower bouquet using alcohol markers and coloured pencils. The acid yellow daisies are to be seen everywhere in the countryside at the moment so I teamed the darker sunflowers with these. To finish, I stamped a couple more of the daisies, fussy cut them, coloured them and glued them to the ground for balance before attaching the panel to a card base.

 

Okay, it's your turn! Here's how to play: first, hop over to The Flower Challenge blog to check out the beautiful inspiration from my team mates; second, make a card featuring one or more stamped flowers as the focal image; third, share with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with the Sunflower theme at Double D and at Triple B with my yellow blooms; I'm also playing at We Love Stamping where Lorraine's challenge is to include a Handcoloured Image.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

What lovely sunshiney flowers sunflowers are!

 

Great for hiding behind too. By the way, has anyone seen Lulu?!

Sending hugs,

A masculine 18th birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

The birthdays are coming up fast in our family, including those masculine ones that are a bit more challenging to create cards for. I am always very grateful for challenges that inspire me for those!

 

This card features a background made with an off-cut of green/blue card overstamped with Stampin' Up's retired Hardwood stamp using a darker green/blue ink. I trimmed it to size with a Heffy Doodle Stitched Rectangle die, then gave it a bit of interest by cutting it in three with Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside border dies and then glueing it all back together on a card front.

 

The popped-up focal tag was cut from a snippet of white card using a Heffy Doodle Stitched Rectangle die. I used some washi tape to mask off two horizontal lines and then sponged the rest with red ink. I loved the way it showed off the stitched framing. The number 18 was die cut from a tiny snippet of navy card, and I punched the star from it too. The Stampin' Up sentiment is a very handy one that is a gazillion years old (give or take a few years!)

CHALLENGES

All of this card was made with snippets except the card base, so I shall skip over to The Snippets Playground with my homework. No need for a brolly of course because the sun ALWAYS shines there!! The card was heavily inspired by the challenge Inspired By, where they always have the most amazing photos to get our creative juices flowing. I also took inspiration from Inkspirational where the word prompt is Frame - I have the stitched frame on the focal tag and the background acts as a frame too. I shall also link up with Ellie and Pauline's I Spy With My Little Eye challenge where the theme is Something for Boys or Men.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My eldest son lives locally and often pops by to say hello. Today he came bearing a box of chocolate truffles he'd found at Marks & Spencer. "I've brought you some essentials," he said.

 

Then he added: "I don't know who this Marc fellah is but I hope they'll be nice!"

We opened them up to check and can reveal that they are very tasty indeed! 10 out of 10, would recommend!

Sending hugs,

Snippety collage

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I was amazed to read that Miss Di has been running The Snippets Playground for no less than ELEVEN YEARS! Wow! I was around in Blogland when she took over but surely it was yesterday...?! I am enjoying a little free time at the moment so I immediately tipped out my Snippets Box and prepared to join in with the celebrations! 

 

We have been asked to include a photo of the snippets we used for this challenge and here are mine above. I made a collage style 'welcome home' card with them:

 

I started with the background snippet. This was an offcut from a piece that had been stamped with Stampin' Up's Hardwood background stamp. I taped pieces of coordinating washi tape on one side of it for a bit of extra interest. The leaves were a practice run of a Greetery die I bought last year and then *hangs head* have never used since. I tore the leaves into sections and glued them to the background. 

Next I die cut the little house from the tiny white snippet using an X Cut die. I taped some yyellow washi tape over the middle of the tiny wood effect strip of DSP then glued the house over it so the washi 'illuminated' the windows. I added the gem-embellished heart (found at the bottom of the Snippets Box) and popped the whole thing up on the background using dimensional pads. Finally, the sentiments were added.

Apologies for the appalling photos - light levels are very low :/

CHALLENGES

I'm heading over to The Snippets Playground with this card and a large cake piped with 'congratulations on eleven snippety years' in pink icing! I'm also nipping over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge as the Side of Greens die can now officially be removed from the Never Before Used Schtuff box!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Yes, January is dull and dreary, but if you're a dog...

 

 

... there's still plenty of squirrel hunting fun to be had!

Although I have a feeling the squirrels were all blowing raspberries and cat-calling the 'hunters'!!

Sending hugs,

Autumnal leafy arches

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Isn't it wonderful when a craft item arrives in your craft room and the ideas for using it come flooding at you? All I need is a bit of extra time to get them onto paper! The item in this case is a layering stencil from The Greetery called Mistletoe Arches. It's designed to  be used for Christmas cards but...

 

... I saw no reason that it shouldn't turn up on an autumn birthday card! I started this card by masking off the edges of a card base with low tack tape, stamping a background with a woodgrain background stamp and sponging yellow ink over the whole thing before removing the tape.

 

The next step was stenciling the arch over the background in layers using autumn coloured inks and adding detail with markers. The sentiment was made with two stamp sets from Uniko.

 

I added a little bird from The Greetery's Robin and Wren stamp set, stamped and fussy cut and attached to  the card front.

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with Brenda's Colours of Autumn challenge at Allsorts; also Four Seasons challenge where the theme is Anything Goes Fall; I'm delighted that Darlene and Diane have also started their new Stencil Fun Challenge and am linking up there too; I'm playing along at Happy Little Stampers Birthday Challenge too where Anything Goes; This is the first outing for the Mistletoe Arches stencils so I'm playing at Darnell's NBUS challenge where we show off our Never Before Used Schtuff.

 

Also, a heads up: Allsorts are celebrating their 700th challenge this Saturday 29th October and there are prizes aplenty to be won! See you there :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

On Saturday, OH decided it was time to curb the enthusiasm of some ivy in our back garden and Eva was delighted when she saw him getting out ladders and tarpaulin. She sees her role as general helper in the garden and this is exactly the kind of job she feels is her forté.

 

Here she is shredding some bits of woody stem - but wait, it appears to be raining leaves and Eva is quickly becoming the Incredible Disappearing Dog!

 

Sending hugs,

Waste not, want not

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I wore the pups out with a massive walk by the river this morning so, while they were busy snoozing, I used up some snippets to make a quick birthday card:

 

I'm quite pleased with this card as I've been passing over these snippets for ages. The little plant was once a version of THIS one layer card that went a bit wrong :/ I snipped it out to use on a future project. The woodgrain had been stamped on the back of another one layer card where I'd stamped a badly wonky sentiment, but then it turned out to be surplus to requirements - so it's a DOUBLE snippet!! The card base had had a topper badly attached and it got ripped as I removed it... Are you getting a picture of the kind of crafter I am?!!

 

I used one of Spellbinders' Hemstitch frame dies to trim the woodgrain snippet to size and sponged a little blue ink up from the bottom to coordinate with the plant. The sentiment from Pinkfresh Studios was stamped directly onto the woodgrain but (did I mention I was a bit of a clumsy crafter?!) it came out wonky so I stamped it on a white snippet, fussy cut it and glued it over the original, but straighter this time!

 

I did a bit of extra fussy cutting on the plant and popped it up on dimensional pads, then glued the panel over the spoiled section on the card base. For a finishing touch I added green enamel dots to the flower centres.

 

Here are the snippets I started with :)

CHALLENGES

I'm dashing off to the Snippets Playground with my homework - hope I make it in time (and that it might be cocktail hour!!; I'm also joining in with the Anything Goes theme at Seize The Birthday and the Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenge where Anything Goes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva's pal Koda has come to stay! We have known her since she was a tiny pup and she is a sweetheart who comes out for walks with us sometimes and often spends the day with us too. This is the first time she's come for sleepovers though and I can report she is being a Very Good Girl and is full of wags every morning! 

 

She's just having a quick nap here... It's quite full-on being in a house where there are loads of toys and a pal to play with, and a human to have cuddles with and more walks than you can shake a stick at!

Sending hugs,

Bits and bobs

Hello, crafting friends and a happy valentines day!

 

When I made THIS card by tipping up my snippets box and putting some of the contents together, a lovely lady commented that she'd like to see more of this kind of card. Haha, well I need no encouragement at all I assure you!  Here are some items I selected from the snippets box:

 

And that snippet of designer paper on the left has been in my paper drawer since before the old King died (as we say around here when we mean a long time ago!) Here's the result:

The first thing to do was layer the wood-stamped rectangle over the designer paper and trim both to the same width with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle (still my most-used frame dies!) I tucked the textured grey circle-ish shape behind it and secured everything with glue.

 

The heart was rescued from a card I made ages ago (before the old King died!) and which subsequently got wet and was ruined. I arranged some left over die-cut leaves behind it and embellished the front with a punched heart and an enamel dot before attaching it to the panel.

 

 

I stamped the wood-stamped rectangle with a row of hearts from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, then popped the sentiment up on dimensional pads above it. Finally, the paper panel was glued to a card base.

CHALLENGES

I'm sharing the love at the Snippets Playground with this card - thank goodness it's always sunny there!

 

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Today, as a special treat for being my bestie, I threw a juicy marrow bone into the garden and sent Eva to find it. She lay on the grass in the garden in the freezing cold and gnawed at it for literally HOURS! I finally called her in, worrying about the cold, and she came, said a quick hello and then stood by the French doors looking at me pointedly.

 

"Could you open the door for me please? Yes, I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me. I'm rather busy today as there is A Bone in the garden that needs my attention!"

 

Sending hugs,

So grateful, I carrot lie!

Hello, crafting friends!

Hmm. I spent ages trying to think up that title and I'm afraid it is not the headline of the century or anything. So, moving swiftly on to a card I couldn't resist making with the very last bits of the paper I used for yesterday's card:

There were two carrots left and I fussy cut them thinking it would make a great 'thanks for the Easter parcel' card, or as a thank you later on in the year when friends share the surplus fruit from their trees or produce from their vegetable plots.

I masked off wide borders and stamped Hardwood by Stampin' Up into the remaining space using brown ink. I sponged a paler brown over it and then removed the mask. I decided that black twine could pretend to tie the carrots together then positioned them on the wooden background and embellished with green sequins.

The sentiment was cut from card I'd coloured ombré-style with green alcohol markers and I snipped the ends to make it fit my panel. This is a mini card made using a 12cm x 9cm (5" x 3 1/2") base.

CHALLENGES

I'm squeaking in at the last moment at Inspired By where I was inspired by carrots, the colours and the sketch (which I turned 45 degrees.) I'm also linking up with Inkspirational where the word prompt is Grow.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Since Sunday when we were lazing about in the garden, we have been assailed by snow, hail, sub zero temperatures... none of which have stopped Madame Floof from having a dip in the river!

Sending hugs,

Valentine wreath

Hello, crafting friends!

I have always loved the creativity of crafting. Just because a product is designed to do one thing doesn't mean it can't do something else as well! 

My friend lent me Stampin' Up's Wreath Builder die set for the weekend and I've had so much fun with it! The set features two wreaths that you can use separately or layer together. But instead of looking for ways to step things up, I prefer to look for ways to pare things back and this card features one of the wreaths cut in half and attached to a thin circle cut with a circle punch and a circle die. I love the effect! I embellished the half wreath with some of the pretty flowers from the die set, that emboss as they cut.

To display my wreath, I masked off the top and bottom of a good thick card base and stamped Hardwood, a retired Stampin' Up background stamp, into the gap. I finished the card with a popped up sentiment from MFT's Floral Focus, stamped in dark grey ink and fussy cut, and a sprinkling of clear gems.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

I was so pleased that this card won Top Pick at As You See It!

CHALLENGES

It was Jan's colour palette at As You See It  and Karren's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches that started me off with this card, so I'm linking up there; I'm also joining in with Just Us Girls, where Valentine is the word prompt, and Allsorts, where Love Is... is the theme.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We had dusting of snow last night but it has a very different feel from January's jolly, snowman-friendly snowfall. It is bitterly cold and you daren't take your gloves off for too long for fear of losing a finger or two (I may be slightly prone to exaggerating...!) I took mine off for long enough to capture this fair snow princess :)

Sending hugs,

Hearts and flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

I think I'm preaching to the converted here when I suggest that an hour or two of crafting a day keeps the head doctor away! Card challenges are particularly fun because it's great to have a few rules and boundaries to keep us on your toes. And they often lead us down paths we may not have taken left to ourselves.

When I came up for air after making this card I was quite astonished at how it turned out! I wouldn't necessarily have chosen red and purple together but I love it - they were colours in the inspiration photo. It wouldn't have come naturally to me to place the flowers there but the sketch suggested it. Silver sequins? A nod to the silver heart in the inspiration photo. 

The background was made by positioning Stampin' Up's retired Hardwood stamp on the card base in my stamping platform. I inked the stamp up and then sponged away the ink where I didn't want it, which is what has given this fade-out look. I still don't have any heart dies (!) so I just drew a heart, cut it out and stamped it with Gingham by Kaisercraft.

The flowers were cut with small flower punches then coloured with alcohol markers. I paired them with a die cut from the Holiday Foliage die set by Flora and Fauna. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted's Blossoms in Bloom.

CHALLENGES

I just can't resist the inspiration at Inspired By these days - thank you ladies! - so I'm joining in there. I used Heather's intriguing sketch at As You See It to arrange all my elements so I'm linking up there too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It snowed at the weekend, much to Eva's delight. Golden Retrievers were bred as gun dogs in the highlands of Scotland. They have double coats to insulate them and webbed feet for swimming, and think nothing of being out for a day, splashing in and out of the freezing rivers and streams to retrieve birds (or sticks in Eva's case!) 

Sadly Eva has a very silly owner who would rather not be out in the snow for the day, and is inclined to set off home after only an hour or two...!

 

Sending hugs,