Truly tropical birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

The weather here has turned truly tropical and today's card reflects that! Come and see:

 

 

I started with some snippets of white card and a stamp set that's been loitering in my NBUS box for nearly two years - Tropical Bouquet by Avery Elle. I stamped the two hibiscus flowers in coral ink and a leaf in a dark teal and fussy cut them all. For my background, I cut a square of watercolour paper and painted in a sky and seascape using the same inks, plus a paler teal. When this was dry, I arranged the flowers and leaf in a cluster in one corner and stamped a boat and some birds in the opposite corner with images from Waffle Flower's Lighthouse stamp and stencil set.

 

To finish, the panel was glued to a slightly smaller square of teal card and then attached to a card base that I'd swiped with coral ink. The sentiment is a favourite from an ancient Clearly Besotted stamp set called Fly With Me, stamped and fussy cut.

CHALLENGES

There were lots of challenges helping me to celebrate the tropical weather! The colour palette is Jules' choice at Color Hues; Carol at Just Us Girls has come up with a gorgeous moodboard that features beaches and skies and boats; and at Seize The Birthday Vicki has chosen a beach theme as her Topping. I'm playing along with these challenges and sharing at Darnell's NBUS Challenge too as the Avery Elle stamp set is fresh out of the packet :)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have arranged my imaginary sunbed in the dappled shade of some palm trees just next to this hibiscus bush and am sipping a strawberry daiquiri while listening to the waves gently lapping at the shore. Anyone care to join me? In this daydream, the golden girls are frolicking about in the waves, but in reality it would be far too hot for them and they would far rather holiday in Alaska or somewhere!

Sending hugs,

Nautical but nice

Ahoy there, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to a great new challenge at Addicted to CAS! Toni is at the helm for the next couple of weeks with a code word that may leave you all at sea... (I know, I know, I'm really scraping the barrel for these puns!)

Yes, it's the nautical challenge and here's my take:

 

For the background of this masculine birthday card, I used part of a new diamond shaped stencil from Inkylicious, gifted me by a lovely friend. I sponged three different blue-green inks into the stencil for an ombré ocean look, then over-stamped it with some new Lavinia fish, which I was lucky enough to win at Allsorts :)

 

Above my sea, I added some clouds courtesy of Funky Fossil's Scenic Borders stencil. One of the sailboats from Waffleflower's Lighthouse stamp set was stamped on the ocean surface using black ink. I finished with a block sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, a small yellow punched circle and a tiny red enamel dot.

 

Right me hearties, it's your turn to take the oars! Do sail over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog to check out the team's inspiration and then use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post to share your own creations with us. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Darnell's NBUS challenge where we post projects made with our Never Before Used Schtuff; also Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Stenciled Goes; and also Allsorts where the theme is Summer.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here's another pair having fun in the water:

As you can see, Eva's leg is absolutely fine now! Thank you so much for your well wishes - as you can imagine, we are all very relieved it wasn't anything serious. 

PS. Also, sorry about all the terrible nautical puns today :/

 

Sending hugs,

Nautical or nice?

Ahoy there, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to a great new challenge at Addicted to CAS! Toni is at the helm for the next couple of weeks with a code word that may leave you all at sea... (I know, I know, I'm really scraping the barrel for these puns!)

Yes, it's the nautical challenge and here's my take:

 

For the background of this masculine birthday card, I used part of a new diamond shaped stencil from Inkylicious, gifted me by a lovely friend. I sponged three different blue-green inks into the stencil for an ombré ocean look, then over-stamped it with some new Lavinia fish, which I was lucky enough to win at Allsorts :)

 

Above my sea, I added some clouds courtesy of Funky Fossil's Scenic Borders stencil. One of the sailboats from Waffleflower's Lighthouse stamp set was stamped on the ocean surface using black ink. I finished with a block sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, a small yellow punched circle and a tiny red enamel dot.

 

Right me hearties, it's your turn to take the oars! Do sail over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog to check out the team's inspiration and then use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post to share your own creations with us. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Darnell's NBUS challenge; also Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge; and also Allsorts where the theme is Summer.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here's another pair having fun in the water:

As you can see, Eva's leg is absolutely fine now! Thank you so much for your well wishes - as you can imagine, we are all very relieved it wasn't anything serious. 

PS. Also, sorry about all the terrible nautical puns today :/

 

Sending hugs,

Watery water lilies

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday to you and welcome to some crafting fun courtesy of Addicted to CAS! I am in charge of the hostess trolley for the next two weeks and I hope you will come and join me :) The word I've chosen to inspire you is Water.

Yes, I invite you to have a good old rummage about in your stash for anything watery! Here's my take on it:

A sympathy card for my stash - not one I actually need, thank goodness. I started by masking off a rectangular area on a card panel and sponging blue-green inks into it, fading out towards the bottom. After wetting my hands with water and clapping over the inked area, I left the panel to dry before removing the mask. Meanwhile, the flower image was stamped in pale blue on a scrap of card, coloured with coloured pencils and fussy cut.

I trimmed the card panel to size with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodle and cut the edge of the water lily image with the same die. The image was lined it up with the edge of the panel over the inked section. The sentiment is from Waffleflower's Lighthouse, stamped in a dark green, and I added a few pearls before attaching the panel to a card base.

So now it's your turn. Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS blog to check out all the wonderful samples my teamies have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation when you're ready. Have fun - and don't forget to keep your cards nice and clean and simple!

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with the Anything Goes challenge at Retro Rubber with this card. I can't find the release date of the stamp set I used but I've had it for several years and it wasn't a new when I bought it! I'm also linking up at Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge where the theme is Water.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

A friend of mine thought I could do with a chuckle the other day and sent me this info on the latest 'designer' breeds of dog:

Hope it makes you laugh too :)

Sending hugs,

Feeling so sad

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Tuesday and another fun challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches. The always-inspiring Joanne has created a beautiful sketch for us this week:

It came at just the right time for me as I had a sympathy card to make. I started by stamping the countryside image from Clearly Besotted's Scene it More onto a good thick card base in neutral ink. I masked around the scene with sticky notes and coloured it with coloured pencils.

A setting sun works as a subtle version of the circular image on the sketch and I added a sentiment, stamped on a scrap of card, snipped out and popped up on a dimensional strip. The birds add a little movement to the scene - they've been a well-used part of a Lighthouse set by Waffleflower.

Okay, now it's your turn - and there's lots of scope with this versatile sketch! Do check out the inspiration from the rest of the team at the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge site. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can share your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I think I'm just in time to join in with Perfectly CAS where the theme is Sympathy Cards using 1/3rd or less of a card front; I'm also joining in at Watercooler Wednesday where Tristan is hosting the All About Occasions this fortnight; this card is suitable for males so I am also playing along at Allsorts this week where Tracy has chosen From Boys To Men as her theme.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The sympathy card is for my brother in law and his family. They have lost their beloved family dog and are all devastated. For those who think 'it's just a dog', I can assure you that the relationships we form with our dogs are incredibly close - they are absolutely members of our families. My heart is broken for them.

Rest in peace sweet Pepper.

Sending hugs,

Thank you for being there

Hello, crafting friends!

After a busy week, I've just enjoyed a calming session with stamps, stencils and inks. What on earth do non-crafters do to relax?!

I fancied making a scene with Waffleflower's wonderful Stencil 'n' Stamp Lighthouse set and decided on a watercolour background. I used temporary glue to position the lighthouse mask on a watercolour paper card panel, then washed in a sky with pale blue ink. I used the stencil to create rocks/sea with a darker blue ink and water. Once the mask and stencil were removed, and the panel dried,  I was able to stamp the lighthouse over the white masked area using a dark red ink. I was amazed at the crisp result!

The panel was trimmed to size using my favourite stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and then it was time to add details. I stamped some birds in grey ink, adding white highlights with a white Posca acrylic paint pen...

... then tapped the pen against a ruler to add some white 'sea spray'. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Today's Tiles, stamped in navy ink and carefully fussy cut before attaching to the scene. The panel was attached to a card base to finish.

CHALLENGES

I'm entering this card in the Any Occasion challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More; at Color Hues, Carol has chosen a Blue and Red colour duo for us to play with, so I'm playing along there too; I'm also joining in with the Allsorts challenge where Lolo has come up with a Masculine theme.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We've had family visiting through the week so forgive me for not being around much. The house always seems so quiet when they leave but the good news is that I've learned some new vocabulary from my youngest son! When I visit your blog,  don't be surprised if instead of saying that yI like your card, I tell you that it's 'bopping'!!

Sending hugs,