Colour notes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Have you joined in with the colour challenge at The Flower Challenge this month?  Why not give it a go? 

 

All you need to do is create a floral card using these colours. I love this palette and couldn't wait to make another card using it.

 

Believe it or not, my clean and simple note card was made with a balloon stencil and a Christmas stamp set as well as my favourite leafy stencil! Love stretching my craft supplies!

 

I took a thick card base and started by sponging pale blue ink into the circular balloon from Uniko's Balloon Bash stencil, masking off the balloon tie bit with a sticky note.  The sentiment, from The Greetery's Pine Blossom, was stamped in the centre. There are two sizes of leaf on Uniko's Nature's Treasure stencil and I used them both, positioning them above and below my sentiment circle and sponging with green ink.

 

I used water-based markers in pinks and peaches to ink up some of the pretty flowers from the Pine Blossom set. Once they were stamped, I blended the colours with a colourless blender pen, adding detail with a green coloured pencil and a white paint pen. Finally, the flowers were fussy cut and attached to the leaf stems.

Okay, now it's over to you! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge challenge blog and check out the amazing samples the design team has made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own floral creation, use the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with the latest Beautiful Blossoms challenge with this card.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Thank you for bearing with me during this busy time when I'm still not finding much time for crafting. Eva's paw is taking its time healing so I am still walking the pups separately, as well as looking after this beautiful lady:

 

But I do have another post going live later on today as it's my turn to be on the Tic Tac Toe Challenge team. It's like waiting for ages for a bus and then a load of them turn up all at once!!

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,

Stenciled love

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy days are here at last as not only is it a warm and sunny spring day here in the heart of England but we also have a brand new challenge at The Flower Challenge for May!  

 

 

This month we'd like to see you add colour to your blooms - and I have a feeling this might be a popular one! Regular readers of my blog will know that I have become addicted to my Arteza watercolour brush pens and although they were jumping up and down shouting 'pick me, pick me!' I turned my head away and opted to give my alcohol markers an airing!

 

I used Uniko's Pure Florals Rose stencil, using a light coloured marker to outline part of it, then masking it off and flipping the stencil over to get a different shaped rose behind the first. I used Stampin Up Blends in peaches and pale corals to colour my roses, building up the intensity gradually. It was a lot of fun but I confess, I'd forgotten how long it takes compared to watercolour markers!

 

I added some leaves using another Uniko stencil called Natures Treasure, then added a birthday sentiment from the Greetery's Scripted Sentiments and a couple of green enamel dots. Before attaching my panel to the card base, I swiped coral ink over the edges of the card front. I often do this as it reduces layers and means I can easily get the colour I want.

Right, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog and check out the amazing cards the rest of the design team have made to inspire you - there is some incredible talent on this team I can tell you! When you're ready to share your own creation, you'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I stenciled my roses Off the Edge of the panel and am joining in at Seize the Birthday where that's Shirley's theme; The team at As You See It want to see our least used colour in their Mission Impossible challenge! I have never, ever used peach in my crafting but having recently acquired SU's Pale Papaya (I know I'm a bit late to the party!) I'm giving it a whirl here :)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Now that the sunshine is here, it is the perfect opportunity to search the garden for wildlife! Here in the undergrowth, for example, is a rarely seen Basking Land Shark...

 

 

... oops, my mistake! It's Eva!

 

 

Can't a girl have some privacy while she's sunbathing?!

Sending hugs,

Writing with love

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's a Tic Tac Toe Challenge Thursday today and I can't wait to show you the board Betty has come up with to get your creative juices flowing! 

 

I was excited by the left hand column CAS/Foliage/Metallic which gave me the perfect opportunity to have a little play with some new goodies that arrived recently :)

 

My starting point was making the fountain pen using the Greetery's new Pen Pal die. I cut the barrel of the pen and the lid out of a glossy magazine cover (look at me recycling!) and the trims from gold mirror card. You can see how shiny the pen turned out in the photo below :) The designer paper, a snippet of an SU paper gifted to me by a lovely friend, coordinated beautifully with the pen. I glued it to a card base and trimmed the edges.

 

The 'with love' from the Greetery's Scripted Sentiments was stamped directly onto the paper and card base. The 'on your birthday' comes from the same set and was stamped and trimmed into a banner. The leaf is a favourite stencil from Uniko, Natures Treasures, and was inked with a couple of shades of green ink. After assembling the card, I added a couple of green enamel dots to pull everything together.

 

Right, so now it's your turn! Here's how to play: First, hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog and check out the amazing inspiration from my team mates; Second, choose a row, column or diagonal and create a card using the suggestions; Third, use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the challenge post to link your creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

The Pen Pal die and the Scripted Sentiments were new so I'm sharing this card at Darnell's NBUS Challenge where we show off our Never Before Used Schtuff; I used a stencil so will link up at the Stencil Fun Challenge; Simply Clean and Simple wants to see CAS cards and their optional theme is Pink so I'm joining in there; and AAA Cards are looking for CAS cards with an optional twist of Birthday so I'm joining in there too!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I can reveal that I am officially fed up with winter now. No matter how many pink cards I make, life is just:

 

Please send sunshine and lollipops!

 

Sending hugs,

Big card for a big birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

One of my neighbours was having a big birthday so we all clubbed together for a gift and I was so excited to be asked to make a card for us all to sign to go with it. Come and see:

 

The card is a sheet of thick white A4 card, scored and folded in half, so it is twice the size of the cards I'm used to making - and that was a lot of fun! I cut a card panel with a large stitched rectangle die by Christina Griffiths and sponged in an inky background. I clapped wet hands over this to create movement and  texture and left it to dry.

 

To build up a background for my toadstool and leaf scene, I used inks and daubers and three stencils: Berry Branch by the Greetery and Uniko's Tiger Print and Natures Tresure. The leaves, from Fall Foliage by Reverse Confetti, were left overs from another project and the mushrooms are gorgeous textured die cuts from the Greetery's Toadstool Garden, coloured with ink and daubers. Everything was glued in place, the panel attached to the card front and, to finish, I stamped a sentiment from Uniko's Birthday Sentiments.

 

 

I made a little gift bag too, out of some Stampin' Up designer paper I've had for many a year! I added a tag cut with an arch die, and sponged and stenciled using the same elements as the card.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenge where Anything Birthday Goes; Ellie has chosen the theme of The Great Outdoors at Allsorts this week, so I'm joining in there too; I'm also playing along at November's Stencil Fun Challenge where Leaves are the optional theme.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The clocks have gone back here which means the evenings are drawing in earlier and I'm finding it really hard to adjust to the dark this year. Anyone else? Off to make a hot water bottle and curl up with a rug over my knees...!

Sending hugs,

Delicate rose

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Today I'm joining my Tic Tac Toe Challenge team mates for a wonderful new board of inspiration devised by Felicita:

I immediately went for the right hand column CAS/Sentiment/Stencil - you know I can never resist a bit of stencil fun!

 

I chose two of my favourite stencils, both from Uniko, Pure Florals Rose and Nature's Treasure. I wanted to see if I could follow the line of the rose with the curve of the leaves and I'm pleased with the way it turned out. 

 

I started with the large leaf from Nature's Treasure, sponging pale green ink into it with a dauber. The stencil comes with the leaf mask as well, so I taped that over the image while stenciling the rose in peach ink. I used the smaller leaf at the top to balance out the colours and, after removing the leaf mask, added colour and detail with coloured pencils. Finally, I stamped the birthday sentiment from Altenew's Birthday Greetings and added some clear dots for that 'fresh as the morning' look!

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog and check out the amazing 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 when you're ready to share your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with The Flower Challenge where the theme this month is to use a CAS style to showcase your flowers; I'm also playing along with Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where anything using stencils goes; and the Stencil Fun Challenge where the optional theme is birthdays.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My daughter wanted a bohemian style wedding so she shunned the more traditional roses and lilies for a handful of wild flowers! I was a bit dubious about this at first ("Nothing says 'I do' like a bunch of dead flowers," I said sarcastically) but she wanted to try, so I agreed to give it a practice run. Wild flowers and grasses had been specifically grown for this event so we were able to choose a selection. I then made a posy, cut the stems to length, wrapped them in water soaked kitchen roll and wrapped them tightly in clingfilm. This was then covered in jute twine and finished with a pretty bow.

 

Aren't they pretty? And just exactly what she had envisaged! We put the bouquet in the fridge overnight and carried it about in the heat of the next day and amazingly, they stayed fresh! So we were able to go ahead on the night before the wedding and pick flowers for the tables and to create the bouquet, which my daughter whipped out of the fridge just before walking up the aisle!!

Sending hugs,

Hello Rose

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's a Tic Tac Toe challenge day today and I am the board maker this week! I've tried to give you loads of inspiration options so do come and play with us :)

 

I've gone with the diagonal from bottom left: Foliage/Any Sentiment/Flowers because I really wanted to try out an Altenew layering die set that came in a bargain bundle I found!

 

To make a background for the rose, I positioned Uniko's Natures Treasure mask over a card base then masked off a margin top and bottom. Blue ink was sponged to a fade and then the stencil part of Natures Treasure was used to colour the leaves.

 

I  die cut the rose and leaf layers from white card and coloured the resulting shapes with inks. I used the same ink for all three layers of the rose but varied the pressure for each, creating quite subtle changes in colour and some texture on the base layer courtesy of my sponge! I used the same technique on the leaves before adhering the layers together. To finish the card I arranged the rose and leaves over my background and embellished with a few sequins.

 

The beautiful swirly sentiment is from the Arched Sentiments stamp and die set by The Greetery - I couldn't resist! 

 

This card was made with snippets from my overflowing white card box. It always feels great to use some of it up :)

 

Okay, it's your turn to take the Tic Tac Toe Challenge! Which row or column will you choose? Or will you opt for one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the challenge site where yyou will find loads of inspiration from my team mates and our special guest designer Karen! You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Die challenge where Anything Goes; It's also my homework for The Snippets Playground so I'll be hopping over there; also Just Add Ink where I've chosen Masking and Foliage from the Just Choose Two menu.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva has a new bestie! To my great joy, I have been asked to walk a beautiful three year old Golden Retriever who, I was warned, was 'a little wild.' Her behaviour turned out to be angelic compared to Eva's at that age, so I said I'd be happy to walk her as long as the owner didn't mind if she returned a bit tired, wet and bedraggled. The deal was struck and I introduced the golden girls with great success.

 

So now while Eva teaches Luly to swim and to engage in shockingly unladylike behaviour, I get to laugh at their antics, pick the burs and seeds out of their fur and towel them down afterwards. Result!

Sending hugs,

The one layer Birthday bird

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Saturday burst of inspiration courtesy of Addicted to CAS! The code word today was chosen by the oh-so-talented Marie, who has delighted us all by returning to her roots as an Addicted to CAS designer!

 

I was so pleased to see this code word as I can't resist a bird stamp and it gave me a chance to use one from a set that I hadn't inked up before :)

 

This gorgeous little layered wren comes from Robin and Wren by The Greetery, and I teamed him up with a leaf from Uniko's Nature's Treasure stencil. It's a very simple one layer card - I smooshed a little pale blue ink on a card front, sponged the stencil with two shades of green and added detail with a brown pencil, stamped the layers of bird and finished with the sentiment.

 

Okay so now it's your turn! Do fly over to the Addicted to CAS challenge site to check out the wonderful inspiration from the team and then you can use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post to share your own creation. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple with plenty of white space... we can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up at Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenge where Anything Goes and with the Anything Goes option at Seize Your Birthday; I'm also joining in at Cardz 4 Guyz where Melanie's theme is Use A Stencil.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I was out on a walk the other day when I spotted a very rare bird. Here she is...

 

... the Golden Retriever bird in full flight!!

Sending hugs,