Hello Chrysanthemum Friends

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I'm back today with a reminder to come and join in with The Flower Challenge where we're celebrating flowers with stencils this month :)

 

I adore all the huge flower stencils from Uniko and thought this gorgeous crysanthemum was perfect for an autumn hello to a pal. 

 

Three autumnal colours of ink were sponged into the stencil and I added depth with coloured pencils. The panel was cut out with a stitched rectangle die and mounted onto a card front.

 

The bold two-colour sentiment was created with my favourite hello die from Funky Fossil and the word friend spelled out with MFT alpha dies.

I hope you are inspired to get your stencils out and join us this month to make a floral card. Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog and check out the cards made by my talented team mates. You'll find the blue Linky Button at the bottom of that post and can use it to share your own creation. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at The Paper Players where Joanne has chosen the colour theme Shades of Orange and Brown; and also joining in with the Anything Stenciled Goes challenge at Stencil Fun.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here's a photo of another friend!

 

This is Eva doing a fabulous recall! I am trying to look blasé and pretend that I'm pretty much a top trainer, but the reality is that I nearly dropped my phone when she turned and came running. Moments earlier she had been rolling in something suspect, oblivious to my feeble cries; and a little later on the walk, she was delighted to find a noisesome ditch she hadn't previously explored and seemed disappointed that I didn't share her excitement.

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,

Says Hello and Leaves

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Saturday challenge at Addicted to CAS!  Nancy has come up with the Code Word for the next two weeks and I think you'll like it: 

 

Well okay, it's actually two words but I think you get the idea: make a card using only dies! This is actually quite a challenge for me as I am more of a stamper than a die cutter, and if I do use dies I'd normally team them with some sort of sponged or stenciled background. But I'm up for a challenge and after a little thought and a rummage through my dies, here's what I made:

 

When my daughter got married earlier this year, I was given the task of making the favour boxes (more on this further down this post in the And In Other News section) and I was forced, FORCED I tell you, to purchase the Stitched Leaves die set from Lawn Fawn! I've used the smaller leaves from the set to create a swirl around a die cut sentiment from Funky Fossil.

 

The leaves were cut out of snippets of white card and coloured with inks and sponge daubers with detail added with markers and coloured pencils. I cut two of the sentiment out of black card and then a top layer out of the glossy black background of a magazine cover from the recycle bin! I love how shiny it is - and not an embossing powder or heat tool in sight!! The sentiment die cuts were stacked together with glue with the shiny cut uppermost. I attached it to a card front and glued the leaves around it.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS website where you can admire all the wonderful samples my team mates have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to link your own creation up with us. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple with plenty of clear space, but above all have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm romping over to the Snippets Playground with this card - I used heaps of white snippets, a couple of black snippets and a recycled magazine cover! And I'll share it at Darnell's NBUS Challenge as the leaf dies are Never Before Used Schtuff :)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Would you like to see the little favour boxes I made for my daughter's wedding? She and her husband decided the boxes would be filled with homemade fudge to thank their guests for coming - so I now have an abiding memory of making fudge with my daughter every night for a week before the wedding!

 

We spent a week near the wedding venue before the wedding and I brought all the ingredients for the boxes with me so I could put the boxes together a few at a time whenever I had a minute. I used ready-made flat-packed kraft boxes and mass-produced the stamped labels, die cut loads of the stitched oak leaves and hole-punched them, and measured and cut all the twine before setting off. The fudge was put into glassine bags before boxing them up. The favours went down very well - it seems that fudge makes an instant energy booster for those flagging after too much barn dancing!

 

Sending hugs

A drop of golden sun

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday and welcome to a fabulous new challenge at Addicted to CAS! Helen is at the helm for the next two weeks and she has chosen this code word:

 

Shades of one colour are always fun to work with aren't they! In a bid to bring a little brightness into my life, I've gone with shades of yellow and a sunshine motif for this note card.

 

After masking off the edges of my card base with low tack tape, I sponged pale yellow ink into Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil, using a slightly darker ink towards the bottom of the card. Once the tape was removed, I added a sentiment.

 

 

First, I stamped the word 'sunshine' from Concord & 9th's Hello Sunshine stamp set in a darker yellow ink. Then I cut the word 'hello' using a die from Funky Fossil and coloured it ombré fashion with alcohol markers before gluing it above the word 'sunshine'. A few shiny enamel dots and the card was done.

Okay, now it's your turn to come up with a clean and simple monochrome card! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog and check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to link up your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at  Addicted to Stamps and More where the theme is Die Cuts and Stencils; at Try It On Tuesday, the challenge is to Use A Stencil so I'm joining in there; and also last but not least, Lil Red Wagon's challenge is to make a Clean and Simple project.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The weather is still a little erratic in the heart of England but we have had some sunshine and it is looking green and lush out in the countryside. Here's a photo of my second favourite golden girl springing out of the undergrowth...

Always full of the joys of spring that one - whatever the season!!

Sending hugs,

Hello autumn!

And hello, crafting friends!

 

Today, OH wandered out of his office at lunchtime and announced that he wanted a fairly neutral postcard to send in the post and did I have anything suitable? I had a rummage but couldn't find what he wanted, so I said those words, thrilling for any crafter: "I COULD quickly make something for you!"

 

So I pulled out the Berry Branch stencil from The Greetery (which I've been dying to play with!) and came up with this quick creation. I used a thick card panel and masked off the edges with low-tack tape. I positioned the stencil over the top, securing with more tape and set to work with sponge daubers, inks, markers and coloured pencils.

 

When the stencil was removed, I added more detail, including gold dots on the larger leaves, and white highlights on the berries. The sentiment is a favourite die from Funky Fossil. I die cut it from terracotta card and glued it to a white panel to make it pop - and oh look! Another way to use my new nesting arch dies!

CHALLENGES

Darlene and Diane, two of the most energetic crafters in Blogland have come up with a fabulous new monthly challenge: The Stencil Fun Challenge - do take a look! It's Anything Goes with optional themes (this month it's Halloween Colours.) I'm linking up there and also at another wonderful challenge they run, The Four Seasons Challenge, where this month the theme is Anything Goes Fall. The Paper Players are also looking at the changing seasons with this week's Autumn challenge and Joanne wants to know what the season means to you (see my thoughts below!) To celebrate the first use of The Berry Branch stencil, I'm joining in with the NBUS challenge where Darnell wants to see our Never Before Used Schtuff!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

As a dog walker, I see the changing seasons unfold at close quarters. In every season God's extraordinary creation fills me with amazement in all its incredible detail, but there's no doubt that the pups are much more comfortable in the cooler weather - especially the extra floofy ones like my lovely girl :)

 

Today, there was a warm wind blowing and we stayed out for hours. Here's Autumnal Eva (looking slightly embarrassed because she thought we were going the other way!)

Sending hugs,

A bright hello!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome back to the Addicted to CAS challenge! We have enjoyed our break and are ready to inspire you to craft along with us again :) The talented Vicki is hosting this fortnight's challenge with this word:

Triangles are such a cool motif and can be used to make any kind of card!

 

For my simple one layer card, I decided to mask off a triangular background. I stamped Uniko's Wonky Stripes background into it using black ink and outlined it with a sharp black pencil. The stripes were coloured in rainbow colours with my coloured pencils - love these for one layer cards as they don't show through.

 

I finished with a favourite die cut sentiment from Funky Fossil. I cut this out of black card stock then smothered it in versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder for a lovely shiny finish. The flourish was too long for the card width so I trimmed the excess that hung off the card front.

So, now it's over to you! Are you ready to create using triangles? Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog and see the amazing ideas my teamies have had. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can link up your own creation. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple - and have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge and Happy Little Stampers Die Challenge where Anything Goes; I'm also joining in at Stamping Sensations where Anything Goes with an option to add a die cut; and at Addicted To Stamps and More where there's a Make Your Mark challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva and her puppy friend were so happy to meet up again after the holidays!

They galloped around like a pair of loons until Eva suddenly remembered she was a Grown Up Lady Dog!!

Sending hugs,

Sweater weather

Hello, crafting friends!

After all that lovely autumn sunshine on holiday by the sea it feels chillier now I'm back, so while I was looking through my stencils I decided that a woolly looking one would be just the ticket for a note card!

After masking off the top of a lighter purple card base, I inked purple ink through Funky Fossil's Knitted stencil. This was topped with a fabulous die cut 'Hello', also from Funky Fossil, which I cut out of bright yellow card stock. 

The card was finished with three purple enamel dots and a sunny yellow panel inside to write a cheery message on :)

CHALLENGES

I was inspired to make this card when I saw the colour challenge at Less is More - not a colour combination I would normally use, but that's what challenges are for! I'm also linking up with Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge where Anything Goes and Allsorts where Embellish It is the theme.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm finding it hard to settle back into routine after being on holiday. It's been so long since I last went away anywhere and it was a joy to have the company of my daughter, Nina, for a whole week and watch Eva frolic about on beaches!

On our first day, we picnicked in the dunes on a gorgeous sandy beach. We chose a spot with a dip in the sand like a nest which sheltered us from the wind and Eva curled up with us in there and was Angel Dog while we ate. She was permitted a piece of cheese for being such a good girl which she ate with the look of a starving orphan puppy.

Afterwards, Nina headed off towards the sea - but this Eva could not permit! Ever since a game of 'Egg', in which Nina horrified Eva by rolling slowly off a bed, Eva feels my daughter cannot be trusted to look after herself, so she set off in hot pursuit, barking madly...

... and escorted my daughter safely to the sea. My goodness those waves were a little scary at first though!!

Sending hugs,