Pastel recovery

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Thursday full of Tic Tac Toe Challenge fun! I fell head over heels with the board Felicita created this week:

 

 

Spring - yay! I couldn't wait to crack open those pastel inks so I opted for the middle column Bold Sentiment/Free/Pastel Colours and made a get well card.

 

I used a Uniko stamp set called Just Because which features a fabulous silhouette plant. Using a stamping platform to get good ink coverage of the solid image, I stamped the image all over a card base. I used pastel inks and varied the position and angle and colour each time I stamped.

 

Over the top of the card base I created a dimensional sentiment layer using stitched circle and stitched rectangle dies. I stamped the top layer with Uniko's Pinstripe background stamp and added a bold sentiment from The Colorado Company. I finished with different sizes of lovely shiny enamel dots - my favourite embellishments!

 

Okay, so now it's your turn! Which colomn or row will you choose from the board? Or will you opt for one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog and check out the inspiration from the design team. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to share your own creation with us. We can't wait to see how you were inspired!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Allsorts where I've taken the Anything Goes option; also Little Red Wagon where Chrissy wants to see us use our die cuts - my sentiment uses a rectangle and a circle die.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It was so much fun to use spring colours on today's project and I'm enjoying seeing the bulbs coming into flower in the garden. It's still pretty chilly though and while I tend to tuck a throw over my knees if I'm sitting for a while, the pups have a much better way to stay warm!

 

Nothing like a rousing game of tug for raising the temperatures! Poor old Lion Friend has seen better days but they seem to prefer the old toys for tug (thank goodness!)

Sending hugs,

Sunset with sympathy

Hello, crafting friends!

Are you looking to be challenged today? Well, there's a fabulous new challenge at Addicted to CAS today - and I should know because I chose it ;) Yes, I'm the host for the next two weeks and here is the codeword:

So many options for this! You could choose a sunny sky, a cloudy sky, a stormy sky, a sky full of rainbows, birds, unicorns,  pigs... well you get the idea! I've gone for an evening sky, glowing with colour from the setting sun.

It was very easy to make. I painted a piece of watercolour paper with clear water, added lines of purple, orange and red inks with a paint brush and watched them blend and blur into each other. When the paper was dry, I stamped plant silhouettes along the bottom using Uniko's Just Because and Funky Fossil's In the Meadow stamp sets.

I used a stitched label die from The Works to cut my scene out and attached it to a card base. The sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, was stamped, heat embossed with clear embossing powder and snipped out. I cut one side with the label die so that it would have the same stitching detail as the frame. The card was finished with a few clear dots.

Okay, so now it's your turn! My team mates have some wonderful inspiration over at the Addicted to CAS blog and we are lucky enough to have the talented Ma Mi guesting with us too. Do go and have a look there and you'll also find the Linky Tool where you can link up your own card. I can't wait to see the gallery filling up with beautiful skies for the next two weeks, but don't forget to keep your creations nice and clean and simple!

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

This card was chosen as the Rock Star at Watercooler Wednesday!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Dawn's All About Occasions challenge at Watercooler Wednesday. I'm also playing along at Happy Little Stampers Watercolour challenge where Anything Goes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We've been enjoying sunshine and blue skies this last week and have returned to our favourite river walks. All the mud from that horrible wet winter has dried up but of course Eva has an inbuilt radar and will find mud even when there doesn't appear to be any!

In this photo I'm encouraging her to go swimming in order to get the worst of it off! She would normally be in that water like a shot but is toying with me on this occasion: "I'm not certain I'm in the mood for a dip today..." You'll be glad to know that we got there in the end - and I didn't even have to resort to giving her a push!!

Sending hugs,

The hot summer garden

Hello, crafting friends!

Is there any pleasure like sitting in your garden at the end of a long hot day, admiring the fruits of your labours, chatting with family members and/or friends and perhaps sipping a glass of something cold, clinking with ice? That was the thinking behind this card!

I started with a panel of semi-coated white card stock and three SU inks. The top two thirds of the panel was masked off and the remaining third was sponged with Real Red ink. Then I swapped over, masking off the Real Red section and also adding a circle punched out of a sticky note with a 2 1/4" circle punch. The top of the card was sponged with Flirty Flamingo ink. Finally, I used the outside of the punched circle as a mask and sponged Daffodil Delight into it.

Once my sponged background was completely dry, I cut a smaller panel out of it with a Heffy Doodles die. Then came the stamping: I used black Stazon ink to stamp the beautiful silhouette from Uniko's Just Because. I stamped it several times on the bottom corner and then just once on the corner opposite.

The card was finished with a sentiment from the same set - we all need lots of 'miss you' cards these days. I embellished with an enamel heart and mounted the panel on foam strips for a bit of dimension.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

I was thrilled to see this card was chosen as the winner at Inspired By!

CHALLENGES

The photo inspiration at Inspired By this fortnight blew me away and I couldn't resist joining in! I'm also linking up with Uniko, where the theme for July/August is In My Garden with the optional twist of Hot Summer Colours. I used the beautiful sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and am also playing along with Festive Friday, choosing Red, Black and Heart from the inspiration list.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Crazy hot temperatures here today. I am trying to imagine building a snowman. And failing!

Eva tells me she is Too Hot, poor love. It may well be time for a cool shower!

I hope you are keeping safe and well.

Hugs,

In the wildflower meadow

Hello crafting friends!

Nothing gets my mojo going like some lovely bright colours at the moment. Oh, and a new stamp set...! Come and see:

The wild flowers are from In the Meadow by Funky Fossil, a set I just 'HAD to have' the minute I saw it! I used water-based markers from Stampin' Up to colour my stamps.

This works well if you huff on them before stamping, and you can always add detail to the stamped image with other colours and even alcohol markers afterwards.

Wild flowers often grow in grass so I pulled out my Scenic Borders stencil, also from Funky Fossil. While I was inking through this I realised that I'd not masked the bottom of my card panel properly, resulting in a white band and a rogue strip of green. Whoops - ruined!

But no, there's no such thing as mistakes, as someone once said, only opportunities and that band of white turned out to be a great place to stamp a sentiment! I teamed the curvy 'because' from Uniko's Just Because set with 'I love you lots' from Clearly Besotted's Marvellous Mums.

I cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodles then reached for some left-overs to finish the card. A panel of orange card stock I'd been cutting letters out of made a good mat for the floral panel and I attached that to a card base I'd spoilt by dropping an ink pad on it! Finally, a few enamel dots.

Destined for the recycle bin but rescued just in time!

CHALLENGES
The colours I enjoyed using so much came from Lisa's challenge at Just Us Girls; I'm also joining in with Uniko's May/June challenge where the theme is Anything Goes, with an optional twist of Bright and Happy; I'm playing along at the Snippets Playground too, as I've upcycled bits and pieces that would've ended up in the bin; and hey, this is another one for the NBUS (never before used schtuff) Challenge!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
I went to pick up some dog food yesterday. I get frozen food from a local small independent pet supplies shop, which currently has a sensible 'one customer at a time' policy with social distancing in place. When I got home, I tipped the frozen packages into the freezer, straight from the boxes. And then I couldn't find my keys... Yep, you're right. After taking everything back out of the freezer I found the chilly little keys at the bottom - and if you're looking for ways to cool down, I highly recommend it!

How are things going where you are?

Hope you are safe and well. Hugs,

Sunset silhouettes

Hello crafting friends!

Remember the distant memories of summer, relaxing outside in the evening, with a chilled glass of rosé perhaps, watching the sun set, lifting your face to catch a warm perfumed breeze... That was the inspiration for today's card and oh, I only wish!

The card started with a piece of watercolour paper, dampened and given an ombré look with some Stampin' Up Real Red ink, a large flat paintbrush and some water. When it was dry, I measured up with a ruler and pencil and cut out this shape. I've seen this shape quite a lot around blogland but don't have a die. I think I definitely want the die now!

For a bit of drama, I used black ink to stamp the gorgeous silhouette image from Uniko's Just Because onto my inky background. The watercolour paper wasn't brilliant for picking up the ink but my stamping platform was a big help as I was able to stamp four or five times knowing that the stamp would press into the exact same place each time.

The sentiment was created using two more Uniko stamp sets: Wild and You Are, Yes You. I used my stamping platform again here so that I could position the words accurately.

I added a sprinkling of gems for a touch of sparkle and the final task was to run markers round the edges of the cut-out shape to avoid that naked edge look, especially as the watercolour paper is really thick! I used three colours of marker - red, dark pink and pale pink -  to match the ombré.

So, so proud to have been the Top Pick at CAS Watercolour with this card!

CHALLENGES
Uniko is celebrating its 8th birthday and there are some fabulous party celebrations going on with prizes on offer. I've used lots of my Uniko stash and am joining the fun there! I'm also linking up with CAS Watercolour Challenge where the colour theme is Red and Black. Finally, this is my second entry at The Flower Challenge where 'Just Add Leaves' is the challenge. I liked the idea that this flower silhouette is ambiguous - you can't tell which are leaves and which are flowers!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
My youngest son has been home from uni for a couple of days and it's been lovely to have both my sons here. It's been a mixed few days though... I've just discovered that my youngest has travelled back to uni with some rather important keys in his pocket! And while I was busy cooking a roast on Sunday, the oven died a death and everything had to be finished on the stove! It turned out to be delicious but now I'm having to remember not to buy food that requires oven cooking until we can get it replaced.

Thanks for popping round to visit today. See you soon!

Hugs,