Springtime balloons

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I have new babies in my head at the moment and a combination of that and some of my favourite challenges produced this card:

 

It's not a new idea - I know The Greetery has a stamp set featuring flower-filled balloons and SU once had one filled with stars; but it was fun to come up with my own version using the Balloon Bash stencil from Uniko and some flowers and leaves from Stampin' Up and Waffle Flower that were out on my table. I started by stenciling the taller balloon in yellow ink and masking off the outer section with a sticky note mask. I was then able to stamp the flowers and leaves. Next came the pink balloon which I positioned over the yellow one. I sponged the ink very faintly where they overlapped so it would look as if the pink balloon was behind the yellow one. Again, I masked off the outer section and stamped flowers and leaves inside the balloon, using second and third generation stamping for a more faded look. 

 

The balloons were cut out using my sharp paper snips and I tied little cotton bows to the bottom of each. To assemble the card I die cut a white panel with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and attachde it to a card front. Finally, I stamped a sentiment in grey ink and popped the balloons up with dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in at Allsorts where Mervi's optional theme this week is Balloons, Cupcake Inspirations where the beautiful inspiration photo set me going and Day of the Month Card Club where they want to see us use Two of Something; my colour palette came from Color Dare #597 and since Color Hues have also got a Pink and Yellow theme this fortnight, I'm linking up there again.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm posting this photo especially for my pal Gundi at Papierelle. She is on the design team of Day of the Month Card Club challenge so she will hopefully be amused at seeing double!

 

My little twins - but which one is which?! Lulu is getting so fluffy these days that I sometimes get them mixed up!

 

Gundi has a pair of gorgeous dogs herself and if you like hearing about Eva and Lulu, you're sure to enjoy the antics that Kaito and Kamo get up to! Gundi is also a wonderfully creative crafter who makes cards and other fabulous projects so do go and check out her blog HERE - you'll be glad you did!

Sending hugs,

An Oxide Experiment

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I had some time to play today so I brought out my new distress oxide inks, a present from my youngest son. He is not only very good at getting me to waffle on about my latest craft enthusiasms, but is also a total nerd who became very excited himself when told about the reactive nature of these hybrid inks!

 

I know I'm late to the distress oxide party but I was particularly excited about the opacity of the ink. It means light colours show up on darker card, and this card was an experiment to see what would happen if I used the inks with a stencil. I chose a dark yellow card for my background panel and blended Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry inks into Uniko's Gerbera stencil. I added Squeezed Lemonade to the seeds in the flower centre and also sponged a little round the edges of the panel.

 

After that, I masked the flower and added some stamped lines (but wish I had used a tone on tone dark yellow instead of the black!) The sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Simply Said fits nicely in the lines though :) Before mounting the panel on a card base, I sponged Spun Sugar ink round the edges of the card front. The card was embellished with some delicate iridescent sequins from SU.

 

CHALLENGES

I used Hannelie's Yellow and Pink palette at Color Hues so I'm linking up there; also at the Stencil Fun Challenge where there's an optional theme of Spring/Flowers; The Sisterhood of Crafters' latest challenge is Showers or Flowers which amused me :D

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Drier weather has come at last and I am giddy with it! The golden girls and I are able to do longer walks and there's no need for any spa baths or even foot baths. What more could we ask for?

 

Perhaps, says Lulu, we could get a real puppy...? Don't tempt me Lulu, don't tempt me!!!

Sending hugs,

Floral notes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

There's a new colour challenge in Blogland! It's called AAA Colourful and is the sister challenge to AAA Cards and AAA Birthday which we all know and love. The challenges start mid-month and close on the 14th so there's time to join in. Come on you crafters - let's show some support!

 

I missed the first challenge but here is the mood board for this month and I couldn't resist these gorgeous colours. Here's what I made:

 

There was a discarded piece of white card that had been die cut with an Arch die on my table, so I stamped it with Waffle Flower's Poppy Hawthorn stamp set which was also out on my desk. (Do you think I should clear up?!) I coloured the flowers with Arteza  watercolour brush pens (also out on my table!!) and left the panel to dry.

 

Meanwhile, I trimmed a piece of Stampin' Up gingham DSP to size and glued it to a card base, adding a coordinating strip of card on the top. The dry floral panel was stamped with a sentiment and a line and secured to the card front with dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES

I'll be linking this card up at AAA Colourful :)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva has disgraced herself I'm afraid. We went for a walk at a location we haven't been to for a long time and she was so excited she had a little roll in something very foxy indeed. The drive home was a little er, 'fragrant' and I don't think my OH will be coming out with us again for a while! After a full shampoo and blow dry, normal nasal service was resumed, but Eva looked like this:

 

Sending hugs,

Home is where the heart is

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday and time for another Tic Toe Toe challenge board bursting with inspiration! The board is in the capable hands of Joanne this week and it came at a great time for me :)

 

I chose the top row Heart/House/Die Cut and made a card for my youngest son who, having graduated, has moved into a new house with a group of good friends he was lucky enough to meet in his first few weeks of uni. 

 

The medallion was made by layering up stitched circles in various colours, the central one edged with a Lawn Fawn cloud border die. The resulting background was topped with a die cut house from X Cut which was cut twice more from snippets of coloured card so that I could inlayy the windows and the little heart.

I cut a panel with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and stamped a sentiment from The Greetery's PreText Sentiments and WPlus9's New Home, leaving enough space to glue the medallion between them. To link the green part to the bold black words, I used a fascia image stamp from New Home - and then capered about feeling very pleased with myself!!

So, now it's your turn to get creative with Joanne's board - so many options! Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site and admire the sample the team has made to inspire you. When you are ready to share your own creation, you can use the Linky Tool you'll find at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge; I'm also joining in at the Die Cuts and/or Stencils challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Perhaps I should send my son a nice rug for his new home. How about this one I found just lying around the house...

 

Oh, wait!

Sending hugs,

A rainbow of new homes

Hello, crafting friends!

I'm excited to have been invited to be guest designer at CAS on Friday today after a win there with THIS card. The new challenge starts today and the theme is:

NEW HOME

I decided on a one layer design with lots of overlapping images and I used lots of masking techniques to achieve that! 

The first step was the sentiment. I wanted it to stretch across the card base, so I chose two sentiments, lined them up in my stamp platform, and masked off each part so that I could ink them different colours. Once they were stamped, I added versamark ink to the stamps (without removing them from the stamp platform,) stamped over the top of the colour and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

The next step was to stamp the row of houses from Scene it More by Clearly Besotted. I stamped with Memento black ink and used a cotton bud to carefully wipe away the ink on the sentiment. The houses were coloured using coloured pencils as these don't bleed through the card stock. For the last step, I stamped the houses again onto a stick note and trimmed around the roofs. This was used to mask off the houses while I inked in the sunshine using Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil.

I hope you'll join in with this challenge! The team are always incredibly creative so hop on over to the CAS on Friday blog and enjoy the inspiration. You'll find the Linky Tool there too where you can link up your own creation. I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I’m linking up with AAA cards where the theme is Two quarters with optional twist of Rainbow; also Day of the Month Card Club where the theme is Find a Rainbow Day.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Today I’d like to share one of my favourite photos of last year. It was taken on a wet day from the car where my daughter and I were talking very deeply and seriously. This amazing double rainbow suddenly appeared in the sky in front of us. It’s hard to capture the impact of a rainbow in a photograph but it was so huge and bright in real life, and it gave us such a feeling of comfort and hope. 

Sending hugs,

Tartan thanks

Hello, crafting friends!

I'm still pinching myself about joining the design team at CAS Colours and Sketches but we are starting our year of fabulous challenges today so I guess it's all true! We're kicking off with a fabulous colour challenge:

While I was making this 'moving house at Christmas card', it crossed my mind that the clapperboard stamp in WPlus9's New Home could be used to make plaid, so that's what I've done with these colours!

I trimmed a panel with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodle, masked off the bottom on the diagonal and sponged Pool Party ink over the top part. Then, using my stamping platform, I stamped fine lines in Cherry Cobbler using the Clapperboard stamp, and thicker lines in Bermuda Bay using a stamp from Uniko's useful Background Builders Classics.

Once I'd stamped my background I attached the panel to a card base and topped it with a large die cut sentiment - Bitty Thank You from Concord & 9th. This was cut from Cherry Cobbler card stock and heat embossed before being glued to the plaid.

What do these colours make you think of? Have a look at all the inspiring cards on the CAS Colors and Sketches site and link your card there too!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Allsorts where Ellie is also easing us in with an Anything Goes challenge; I'm also joining in at DiesRUs where Anything Goes (as long as it features a die of a brand the store carries.)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Making this card suddenly reminded me of a pair of pyjamas one of my boys used to wear as a child. I remember him coming downstairs to open his Christmas stocking looking like one of the Darling boys from Peter Pan!

He's quite a lot bigger now of course but still an absolute sweetheart!

Sending hugs,

When Christmas is a challenge

Hello, crafting friends!

I have two more cards to share with you before I sink into holiday relaxation mode!

CHRISTMAS ON THE MOVE

A friend of mine moved house this month. Can you even begin to imagine how stressful that must have been at this time?! After many ups and downs, she is finally going to be spending Christmas in her new home and I felt her Christmas card should reflect the move. This is what I came up with:

I adore stamp sets that feature houses, furniture or room sets, and New Home by WPlus9 ticked some of those boxes for me! I used the plank stamp to create a clapperboard background panel which I coloured with alcohol markers. The door was stamped, 'painted' blue, fussy cut and attached to the panel.

Then came the fun bit, adding the little details. There's a wreath for the door, and some pretty topiary which I planted in these nice modern pots. The sentiment is from Uniko's Background Builders Christmas and is so useful when you need something to stretch across a landscape card!

GRIEVING AT CHRISTMAS

I had news the other day that reminded me that not everyone is looking forward to a jolly Christmas and that bright glittery cards are not always appropriate. It prompted me to make this card.

I started by masking off the edges of a thick card base, then masking off the bottom with a torn piece of scrap paper. The area that was left was sponged with grey and pink inks to create a cloudy sky, then stamped with fir trees from Stampin' Up's Waterfront and Inkylicious' Spruce Trees. The torn paper was removed and I sponged in a bit of shading to the 'snow' in the foreground.

This sentiment is from a long ago retired Stampin' Up set called White Christmas which I felt expressed what I wanted to say. I doodled in a few birds to add some movement to the card and used my Posca white paint pen to add some subtle snow over the trees.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Thank you for all your company this year. I have been so grateful for my crafting hobby and for the friendship of my fellow crafters :) Eva and I wish you a very happy Christmas and hope for a brighter new year.

Sending warm Christmas wishes,

A birthday in the park

Hello, crafting friends!

It was my gorgeous daughter's birthday at the weekend and Eva and I made a card to help her celebrate!

I made a background by stamping the bench from WPlus9's New Home, then covering it with a mask made from a sticky note. I was then able to mask off, and sponge in, a sky and some grass. I added the tree from Stampin' Up's Sheltering Tree (and if you're reading this Gill, I bless you every time I use this set - thank you!) colouring the leaves with autumnal markers before stamping. I  added more leaves to the grass too before removing the bench mask and trimming the panel with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodle.

Now we needed a pup to sit on the bench. I nearly died from cuteness overload when I saw Clearly Besotted's new Holiday Huskies stamp set; the dogs have been drawn by a human who clearly knows dogs very well! Eva thought one of the huskies could pretend to be a golden retriever, only with pointy ears instead of floppy ones. She asked me to help her demonstrate the look and, since she looked very cute with her ears up, I stamped the dog, coloured her with alcohol markers and snipped her out before popping her up on the bench. The sentiment is from Concord and 9th's Enjoy it all.

CHALLENGES

This card was inspired by the beautiful colour palette at The House That Stamps Built (this is the challenge blog of Repeat Impressions Stamps and I enjoyed having a browse there too!) I'm also joining in at Animal Friends Challenge where the theme is Dog/Cat; I'm also sharing at NBUS (never before used schtuff) with my new Holiday Huskies and New Home schtamp schets - thank you for bearing with me Darnell!!!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

One of the dogs I walk has to be kept on lead at all times sadly, but she and I have made friends and we have lots of fun together. Once while walking her, I had a text that I had to deal with immediately, so I sat down on a handy bench. The little dog hopped up and sat solemnly beside me until I pressed send and continued our walk. I was amused by this so I sat down at the next bench to see what she'd do, and she came up and sat beside me again! It gave me the idea for today's card but, since my job is to be walking and not sitting about, I now use the benches (which are just narrow seats, no backs) as sort of agility equipment for her to jump over. She loves this :)

Sending hugs,