Sparkle and shine!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It seems we have entered the sparkling season and here at The Flower Challenge we have responded with a glittering new challenge!

 

 

Why not have a bit of fun, get out all your shimmer 'n' shine crafting supplies and join us with your own sparkly floral creation :) Here's what I came up with:

Yes I know, it's not the sparkliest card ever, but it's pretty sparkly for someone who doesn't really do sparkle!! I started with the background sponging distress oxide inks over a white panel, spritzing with water and drying off with a heat gun. I added detail at the bottom with Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil and lightened some areas of the top with some white kraft ink, then dried everything off again.

 

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Hope and Peace, stamped in versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. I added a liberal splattering of snow with a white acrylic paint men and then trimmed the panel with a Crimped Frame die from The Greetery. 

 

The star of the show is the poinsettia, a re-release from Uniko - Pure Florals Poinsettia. I stamped on a scrap of white card using versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. The petals were coloured with a red Arteza watercolour brush pen which gives a lovely velvety look which contrasts nicely with the gold detail. I fussy cut the poinsettia, popped it up on dimensional pads and embellished with some sparkly- yes sparkly! - gems which I coloured with various alcohol markers.

Ok, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog and check out the gorgeous sparkly samples my team mates have made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own creation, you can use the blue Linky button at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

There's an optional winter theme at both Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping this month so I'll link this wintery card up there; Brenda has chosen Winter Flowers and Fauna as her theme at Allsorts so I'm playing along there too; Triple B have a lovely red themed inspiration board and I'm joining in with my red poinsettia; and last but not least, Jo has her annual If it's Christmassy, Link it Up challenge at Christmas Kickstart - and it's been far too long since I popped by!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

December is a busy month and I am still learning how to get involved in everything and remain stress free and enjoy the season! Anyone else?! Of course I have a pair of golden treasures to keep me grounded and make sure I get plenty of fresh air - not to mention plenty of time washing, drying and grooming those fluffy coats! The days of nice, frosty winters appears to be over and we are up to our necks in mud again... happy days!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Christmas card. Do come and see!

Sending hugs,

Pine blossom - not just for Christmas

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I'm back with a reminder that you still have time to join us at The Flower Challenge with your floral thank you cards!

 

I've brought out The Greetery's Pine Blossom set to make a Christmassy thank you card which has a kind of folk art vibe about it :) 

 

I started with a kraft card base. Distress oxides are my current favourite inks and I knew they would look lovely and vibrant stamped directly on the kraft. Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean and Abandoned Coral all worked their magic - and I will definitely be using this technique more often! I stamped the flower cluster on the top of the card base using my stamp positioner, then flipped the card base round 180 degrees before stamping again for a perfect mirror image.

 

To create the illusion of layers, I held a smaller panel of card in the centre of the card front and sponged round the edges with brown ink. The sentiment is from MFT's All Occasion Sentiments, stamped on a snippet of kraft card, fussy cut and popped up with dimensional strips. To finish, I added details to the flower clusters with markers.

 

Now it's your turn! Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog and admire the fabulous designs my team mates have come up with to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own card with us, you can use the blue Linky button at the bottom of that post. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Allsorts and We Love Stamping where there are Christmas themes, and the Anything Goes option at Stamping Sensations. Also joining in with the Anything Goes challenge at Triple B with my blossoms :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm delighted to report that Eva's paw is looking better and better and she is back to giving her fluffy sister a hunting partner to be reckoned with!

Here she is with an expression on her face that we like to call 'Noble Dog'!

Sending hugs,

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,

How lovely are your branches

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Yet again the end of the month has hurtled towards me without a single Christmas card being made for my stash! Out came the inks and stamps and sponges as I made a valiant effort to address the situation (although it is very difficult making a card while two pairs of anxious brown eyes are just mentioning that it's really time for a walk and you must have forgotten and we don't want to push ourselves forward but we know you wouldn't want to abandon your proper duties...!)

 

I came up with this vintage-style card by stamping a card panel with one of the fir tree from an older set, Spruce Trees by Inkylicious. I used a greyish brown ink, stamped off, then sponged over the trees with more of the same ink plus some pale blue ink for a misty feel. To create 'snow', I wet my hands with water and clapped over the panel, blotted it with a paper towel and left it to dry. To complete the background, I added script using a stamp from The Greetery's Pretty Postmarks and sponged dark green ink at the bottom of my panel to ground the trees.

 

The next stage was to stamp a different spruce for the focal tree. I stamped it in dark green ink then cleaned the stamp, moved the panel very slightly in my stamp positioner, and stamped it again using white craft ink. I added a little brown marker to the trunk of the tree and used a white acrylic marker to add more snow. The sentiment from Uniko's Rustic Wreath was stamped in red and I mounted the panel on matching card. Finally, I decorated the tree with glitter glue lights and and a tiny glittery star.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by the misty tree from the mood board at Peace on Earth as well as the Vintage theme at Jingle Belles; I'm also joining in with Rudolph Days where Anything Christmas goes. I noticed that Retro Rubber has a Great Outdoors theme and since my Spruce Trees set is from 2015, I'm playing along there too :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When my children were little and things were getting a bit hectic, I would find myself speaking in what we called my 'Mary Poppins voice'. I was thinking about that this morning as I was flying about trying to shorten my To Do list and wishing that I could snap my fingers as she did in the (original) film to get things tidied away!

 

 Sending hugs,

A belated birthday from the pack

Hello, crafting friends!

 

How quickly the months are flying past! At The Flower Challenge, we are welcoming August with a fabulous colour challenge!

And here is the gorgeous colour palette:

What do you think? I adore this combination of colours and couldn't wait to get started!

 

I pulled out alcohol markers in all the colours except the pale blue, and a beautiful stamp set by Sugarpea Designs called Meadow Motifs. Using a neutral ink and a stamp positioner, I stamped the largest flower cluster at the bottom of a card panel, then flipped the panel and stamped it again. The markers were used to colour the clusters and I added a little bit of extra detail with coloured pencils.

 

The panel was trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die and sponged round the edges with pale blue ink. I stamped a belated birthday sentiment from Lil Inkers and finished with a few coordinating sequins.

Okay, it's over to you! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog to check out the amazing cards my team mates have made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own creation you can link up with the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post. I'm looking forward to seeing what you make with this great colour palette!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Allsorts where Ellie's theme is Season's Delights - she wants to see what we love about summer. The abundance of flowers at this time of year makes me really happy (but I may be back with an ice cream card!!) I'm off to visit Darnell's NBUS Challenge as well because Meadow Motifs is new to me and having its first outing

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My youngest son was with me when I was making this card. He picked it up and examined it. "I like it," he said. "It reminds me of a playing card!" It took me a moment to understand what he meant but it's true - it does have the symmetry of a playing card!

Sending hugs,

Friendly Flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Thursday to you :) I'm here to bring you a brand new challenge at Tic Tac Toe Challenge where I have created a fun board with all my favourite things on it!

 

This is what I made with the diagonal from top left, Friendship Theme/Flowers/Bright
Colours:

 

What a joy it was to bring out this gorgeous stamp from Waffleflower,  Poppy Hawthorn, and colour it with alcohol markers. The sun was out and I went for splashes of yellow and orange to celebrate! Once the colouring was finished, I fussy cut the cluster (I'm sure dies are available for those that are allergic to fussy cutting!)

 

Taking a thick card base and masking off a border with low tack tape, I sponged some blue inkinto the centre for a background. I removed the tape and stamped a sentiment using Uniko's Floral Vines, then glued the flower cluster in place, trimming off the bits that overlapped the edges of the card front. Very simple and lots of fun!

Now it's your turn! Here's how to play: Hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog and check out the amazing inspiration from my team mates; Choose a row, column or diagonal from the board and make a card using the ideas; Share with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

We Love Stamping has a theme of Fabulous Florals for their 15th anniversary challenge so I'm joining in there; I'm also linking up at I Spy With My Little Eye where the theme is Something Blooming Lovely.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The European Cup football tournament is on at the moment and my OH and I are enjoying watching it with the golden girls. Of course we are armchair experts and are constantly yelling at the players to move faster and pass more accurately!

 

No need to tell this young lady to move faster. Lulu for the win! Poor Eva is still on the bench with her paw injury but is enjoying watching (and partaking of the snacks!)

Sending hugs,

Special Delivery

Hello, crafting friends!

 

A rummage in my card drawer revealed that I have no baby cards left and I am going to be needing some by the summer! After a further investigation in my stash, I came to the conclusion that I needed some new stamps! The beautiful Waffle Flower set I used today was a bargain find and I am delighted with it! Come and see:

 

The set comes with a solid background and some stamps to fill in the gaps, which makes it very versatile. I used Spun Sugar distress oxide ink for the background - a stamping platform is a must for even coverage here! - and coloured in the flowers and leaves with Arteza brush pens and a white Posca acrylic paint pen.

 

The adorable little bird was stamped on a snippet of white card. I added details with the paint pen and a black fineliner, then fussy cut him and popped him up on dimensional pads. The card was finished with some pale green enamel dots.

 

I can't wait to play with this set some more!

CHALLENGES

Krafty Chicks latest challenge is to use Stamps so I'm linking up there; I was inspired by the pastel colour theme at Colourful Options - I adore a pastel colour scheme! Triple B are celebrating Blooms Birds and Butterflies as usual, so I'm joining in there as well. Special Delivery is a new stamp set to me so I shall pop over to Darnells NBUS Challenge with this card :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

After a lovely walk in the sunshine today, the golden girls and I were able to relax in the garden for a bit. Eva is my cover girl today and what a beauty she is!

 

She is the sweetest girl who loves people and other dogs and makes friends wherever she goes. She has enjoyed her training and is pretty reliable now - in fact it's hard to remember that when she was Lulu's age, she had only just settled down from being a terrible wild puppy!

Sending hugs,

On the third day

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I am here to wish you a very happy Easter Sunday, the happiest day of the year for Christians all over the world!

 

I made a few of these one-layer, masked, inked and stamped design this year - come and see:

The most difficult thing about this card was working out which order to do everything! This is the way:

1. Stamp the lilies from Clearly Besotted's Perfect Lilies on a sticky note and cut it out to create a mask.

2. Stamp the lilies off the edge of a thick card base using pale blue ink. 

3. Cover the lilies on the card base with the mask and add low tack tape around the edges of the card front.

4. Sponge pale blue ink over the card front.

5. Stamp the main sentiment from The Greetery's Amen & Alleluia in black ink.

6. Remove the tape and mask and colour the lilies.

7. Add the 'He is Risen' part of the sentiment.

 

Here's a close up of the lilies, coloured with Arteza watercolour brush pens, an SU marker, coloured pencils and a white acrylic paint pen. Get me, going all multimedia!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Allsorts where Sarah's optional theme is Keep it Simple; also Word Art Wednesday where Anything Goes;  Triple B Challenge wants to see Birds, Blooms and Butterflies and I'm joining in with my bloom; Beautiful Blossoms Challenge also wants to see flowers as the focal point of our cards.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I know the question burning on your lips: Did the golden girls get any eggs today? Well no, but they DID get the next best thing - some cheese hidden in egg boxes! They have to get them open to access their treats and they have very different ways of doing this.

 

Eva's way is slowly and methodically getting the lid open - she knows the cheese is going nowhere and likes the anticipation.

 

Lulu is more of a 'rip the box to shreds' kind of girl. She wants the cheese and she wants it NOW! But then it's all over so quickly, she can't quite remember it... is there any more?!

 

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to sample some posh little eggs that my OH bought from a high class chocolaterie on his travels. He knows the way to my heart!

Sending hugs,

Birds of a feather

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Where has the week flown off to? Very little crafting has taken place and my fingers have been feeling quite naked without their usual coating of ink! That was remedied today as I scrolled through Challenges for Days and was instantly inspired.

 

To start this card, I watercoloured a pale green square directly onto a thick cardbase (I've found that as long as I don't use too much water the card doesn't buckle.) I topped this with a circle of vellum, diecut with a Waffleflower nesting die, then added some stamped and fussy cut flowers from The Greetery's Fleur Expressions. The birds are from Robin and Wren, also from The Greetery, and also stamped and fussy cut. 

 

I had fussy cut the birds without a white outline but decided they needed one so, instead of starting again, I glue-dotted the birds to a snippet of white card and fussy cut around them. I quite like the dimensional look it gives them. I positioned them so they look as if they're having a nice chat so decided a Hello sentiment from an Altenew set would be appropriate :)

CHALLENGES

Narelle's beautiful sketch at Freshly Made Sketches was my starting point for this card, along with The Card Concept's gorgeous inspiration photo and colour palette - I have made a Clean and Layered card. I'm also playing along at Allsorts where the optional theme this week is Fur or Feathers, as well as The Snippets Playground where Miss requires us to make a project using snippets. I forgot to take a photo of my snippets but the vellum was a small offcut and I stamped and fussy cut the birds and flowers from white snippets as well as the sentiment.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I love watching the busy little garden birds, fluttering about gathering nesting materials and preparing for their families but, meanwhile, the pigeons are like drunken nightclubbers behaving disgracefully and disturbing the peace!

 

Here's a portly chap cooing sweet nothings into the ear of a flighty miss. Hmmm! Be off with you or I'll release the Beige Beasts!

Sending hugs,