Easter blessings

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Today I'm showing you one of this year's Easter cards which uses up snippets of very old paper and card, and a ruined card base, and uses an interesting ink technique!

 

I used the back of a ruined card base to create a panel. I stenciled a 'glow' on it using Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil sponged with yellow ink. I wanted to depict the crosses of Jesus and the two criminals but didn't have stamps, so I used the edge of a piece of card dipped in an ink pad to create them - sometimes you just have to be a bit resourceful!! - then filled in with a brown marker.

 

The 'green hill without a city wall' (which always confused me when I sang it as a child!) was cut out from an offcut of some very old SU paper using an oval die from a nesting set. I added a snippet of contrasting paper at the top and cut the whole panel to size with a stitched rectangle from Heffy Doodle.

 

For the sentiment, I cut a small oval from the panel and replaced it with another oval stamped with the word 'Blessings'. The large Easter die cut is from The Greetery and was cut from a snippet of card which matched the hill paper. The card was finished with an assortment of sequins and enamel dots.

 

CHALLENGES

I used Amy's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for this card so will link up there; Krafty Chicks has an All Occasions challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More has its Any Occasion challenge going on so I'm joining in at both.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When you have a dog that has lived four years of her life in another household, you really don't know how they'll react when they come across something new. Today, we were walking up a lane when a horse and rider came round a corner. Eva was right beside me and I put her on lead immediately; Lulu ran towards the horse - eek! BUT...  I called her, she turned on a sixpence and ran back to me. I was able to pop her on lead and walk past the horse and rider with a cheery remark about the weather. Eva is great around horses but I didn't know about Lulu and I was SO proud of her!

Sending hugs,

Have faith

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Come and join me for a bit of embossing folder fun!

 

 

Today's card uses a folder from a Stampin' Up set of two called Floral Affection. (You can see how I used the other folder on THIS card - very different.) After many years of not having any embossing folders I am really enjoying using them in all sorts of ways :) Anyway, I embossed this vine image onto a snippet of white card that had been cut with an oval die. Once it had been embossed, I trimmed it into a label using a square die. This did flatten the embossing a little but I'm fine with that.

 

I used a blender pen and inks to colour the vine image and added a beautiful sentiment from Perfect Timing by Reverse Confetti. To add a bit of dimension, I stamped two flowers from Uniko's Background Blocks, Layered Modern Floral, and fussy cut them, glueing them to the centre of each of the vines. To finish, I attached the label to a card base and embellished the centre of the large flowers with enamel dots.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Shopping Our Stash where I was bowled over by the gorgeous jewel tones in the inspiration photo and couldn't wait to use all the colours! I'm also joining in at Allsorts where Dena's optional theme is Embossing, wet or dry; also Can You Handle the Pressure where EFs must be used and where there is an optional theme of Vines/Greenery; It's a CAS week at Just Us Girls and Nancy wants to see us Just Use the Centre of a Card, so I'm playing along there too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

So November has suddenly happened when only two minutes ago it was March, I'm sure of it! I almost daren't look in my Christmas card stash box because I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anywhere near enough cards in it. I'm going to have to put my thinking cap on and come up with some amazing designs which can be made up in batches in mere minutes... watch this space!!

Sending hugs,

Easter chicks

Hello, crafting friends!

Easter cards are on my mind this week and the sketch YoonYoung has prepared for today's new challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches is perfect for one. Here's the sketch:

And here's what I came up with:

First I cut an oval out of a card panel with a die from a nesting ovals set. I planned to decorate the oval and I wanted all the focus on that, so I kept those verticals from the sketch simple by scoring lines on the back of the card panel with my score board before attaching it to a card base.

To decorate the oval, I sponged in a blue ink sky, then used the Sunny Day stencil from Clearly Besotted to add texture to it. The daisy-strewn grass was die cut from a snippet of designer paper. I thought it would be the perfect scene for some chicks to play in, so I stamped, watercoloured and fussy cut some and let them loose! The oval was inset into the oval space left in the card panel and I added a banner-style sentiment popped up with dimensional pads. 

Are you ready to join in? As always, my team mates have some great ideas to inspire you with, as well as PJ, this month's special guest designer. You can see their samples here at the challenge site and you can link up your card there too. 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge where the theme is Three Of A Kind; also  Inkspirational where Pia has chosen Fur or Feathers as the theme - my little chicks will feel quite furry but their feathers will come in soon! I chose my colour scheme from Color My Heart Color Dare's Tic Tac Toe challenge 436, going for the right hand column, Mint, Sundance and Fern. I'm also playing along at a new-to-me challenge: Creative Crafting Uncles where the theme is Easter.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva and I have been gardening. In reality, I have been gardening and Eva has been carrying the offcuts about and depositing them in places I don't want them to go!

I have cut the grass and done my best to get rid of all the weeds and now we're indoors the birds are having a proper old knees up out there! Cutting back some of the more vigorous plants has revealed areas of nice damp soil that is presumably teaming with grubs for them to eat :)

Sending hugs,

Birthday sunshine and flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

When you need to make a card right now, a sketch is a great starting point - and Julie has come up with a great one for this week's CAS Colours and Sketches challenge!

I love how versatile this is. You can use it as it is, or flip it as I've done and moved the oval up a bit!

The oval shape on my card was achieved by trimming a panel with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodle and cutting an oval aperture in it with a nesting die. I masked off the edges of the card base underneath the aperture and sponged yellow ink into the Sunny Day stencil by Clearly Besotted.

The aperture was just the right size for the birthday wishes sentiment from Avery Elle's A Tag For All. I glued that in place and then embellished the oval with leaves and flowers from Stampin' Up's Wreath Builder die set. TIP: I filled the hole in the centres of my blue flowers with the centres of some yellow ones I also cut. This is a fiddly task but I found that placing the flower onto a glue dot, then adding the centre made life easier. You can then peel the whole flower off the backing paper and apply it wherever you want it.

Are you ready to join us with your take on this sketch? As always, there's lots of wonderful inspiration from the CS&S team at the blog, and our lovely Guest Designer Valérie, and you can link up your entry there too. Don't forget to keep your  design clean and simple with plenty of space. I can't wait to see what you make!

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

This card was chosen as the Emerald winner at Color My Heart Color Dare!

CHALLENGES

I took colour inspiration from Color My Heart Color Dare's tic tac toe challenge, choosing the column on the right: Avocado, Canary and Bluebird; there's a Birthdays theme at Addicted to Stamps and More this fortnight, so I'm playing along there; I'm also joining in with the Anything Goes theme at Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge; and the Anything Goes option at Seize The Birthday.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I  don't know what on earth I'm doing making such a springlike card! In reality, Arctic winds are flinging flurries of bitter little snowflakes against the windows and every time I leave the house I say "I'm going out, I may be some time." In another life, we might have cheered each other up with coffee get togethers or a cosy games evening. Le sigh. I have decked my house out with potted daffodils instead. Go away winter! Only spring now!

Sending hugs,