Shades of two colours

Hello, crafting friends!

 

What a lovely time I've had partying with the talented team at Seize The Birthday for the last two months. Today, I get to play with them one more time as their Surprise Party Guest and it's a really fun Topping this time:

And if you had to look at that word twice I want you to know you are not alone! To explain, Dichrome is a bit like Monochrome, ie shades of one colour, only it's shades of TWO colours. Here's what I came up with:

We're still stuck in the middle of a grey winter here in the heart of England so I delved into my floral stamps box to cheer myself up, and reached for some hot pinks and greens.

 

 

I stamped these pretty peonies from Clearly Besotted's On Your Day in a pale green ink and coloured them with alcohol markers. They were masked off while I sponged a paler green into Funky Fossil's Trellis stencil, offsetting it from the floral image to give a layered look.

The panel was trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and mounted onto a card base. I lined the sentiment up in my stamping platform and stamped it repeatedly in a dark green ink, then finished up with  a few gems.

So now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Seize The Birthday challenge site and admire all the wonderful samples on display there. When you're ready to upload your own creation, you'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post. Have fun won't you - and remember, if you don't fancy the Dichrome challenge, you can make a card for the Anything Birthday Goes option :)

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this birthday card up with The Flower Challenge where the theme this month is Occasions; Addicted to Stamps and More have a Birthdays challenge this time so I'm also playing along there; Ellie has chosen a theme of CAS with the option of Elegance at Allsorts and I'm hoping my card is both! And last but not least, it is with great sadness that I saw that the Watercooler Wednesday challenge is closing its doors so I'm heading over there to say goodbye.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I had to make an emergency dash to the dentist yesterday and oh my goodness am I in agony today! Hopefully it will all settle down soon but in the meantime, I hope you'll excuse me - I have a sofa to arrange myself on with a golden retriever-shaped hot water bottle!

Sending hugs,

A purrfect birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

Happy Saturday! And it's a very happy Saturday today because it's time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS! Let's have a look at the code word for the next two weeks:

So plenty of scope there. Think of all the animals out there big or small, wild or domesticated! I've chosen a cat (much to my golden retriever's outrage!)

Cats love the sunshine don't they, so I positioned Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil over the corner of a thick card base and sponged yellow ink into it.  I gave my cat a nice lawn by masking the top of the card off with a piece of scrap paper and sponging a green ground over the bottom of the card.

Then came the fun! I chose a cat from Funky Fossil's Cat Silhouettes and positioned it on my ground. I sponged black ink into it and added detail with a black coloured pencil. I thought my cat would enjoy a garden, so I used markers to ink up a floral stamp from Stampin' Up's Corner Bouquet and stamped flowers in the foreground. The card was finished with a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's On Your Day

Okay, it's over to you now! We would love to see your CAS creations. The team has some fabulous cards to show you, and we also have the wonderful Jen Mitchell as our special guest, so hop on over to the Addicted to CAS blog and prepare to be inspired! 

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with the birthday celebrations at Time Out Challenges with this card. Congratulations to their lovely team on seven years of inspiring us all to get creative! I'm also linking up with Seize The Birthday where Lindsey has chosen Make A Scene as the Topping :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Spring has sprung here (at least for a few days!) and I've been tidying up the garden and clearing the weeds that always seem to spring up at the side of the house where the footpath goes. That's a public area and cars drive past, so I can't let Eva just join in as she does in the garden. She really wants to be where the action is though, so I use a double length lead which I fasten around my waist so she can 'help' me but won't stray far from my side.

Here's a photo of some early spring gorgeousness! These crocuses are the palest mauve which look stunning mixed with the bold yellow celandine - but of course the star of the show is Princess Eva with her happy smile! (I'm just trying to distract her from the cat card!!)

Sending hugs,

A pretty celebration

Hello, crafting friends!

I was delighted to be invited to be Guest Star Stamper at The Color Throwdown this week - and when I saw the colours I was double delighted!

Aren't they dreamy? Even without the photo, these are definitely wedding colours to me. 

I started the card by cutting down a card panel with one of Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside Border dies. Holding the Trellis Background stencil by Funky Fossil over one half, I inked into it with versamark ink and heat embossed with gold. The two pieces of the panel were then put back together and trimmed to size with a Stitched Rectangle die by Heffy Doodle.

To decorate the background, I stamped some pretty flowers from Clearly Besotted's On Your Day, coloured them with alcohol markers and fussy cut them. They were arranged with some die cut leaves from Mama Elephant's Botanic Envelope die set. I added a tiny glimpse of sparkly gold under my flowers and glued everything in place.

The finishing touch was a never-before-uysed sentiment die that I picked up for pennies in a sale at The Range.

What do you think of the colours? Do they excite you as much as they did me? The samples from The Color Throwdown team have me drooling every week! Check out their inspiration at the challenge blog and you can link up your card there too.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at CAS Mix Up Challenge where Nancy's theme is Stencil Heat Embossing; I'm also sharing it at the NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) Challenge too, where I'm showcasing that Congratulations die.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When I married (all those years ago!) I wore off-white velvet, trimmed with gold braiding, and carried a bouquet of yellow roses and autumnal foliage. I tended to wear autumnal colours in those days - golds, browns, oranges, and olive greens. 

Then, autumnal colours - Now, sugared almond colours

Interestingly, almost 30 years later, I tend to wear a very different palette of colours. My daughter has told me I dress like a sugared almond - but in a good way, she added hastily!

How about you? Have your colours changed?

Sending hugs,

Checked circles and peonies

Hello, crafting friends!

It's the start of another weekend and I'm hoping for a calm, uneventful one, with plenty of time in the Craft Square Metre! I have a pretty floral birthday card to show you today.

To get this card started, I cut three circles in a card panel using three different sizes of circle punch. Then, laying it against the card base, I lightly traced around each circle with  a pencil as a guide and masked off the edge of each. Blue ink was sponged through Funky Fossil's Arched Window stencil on each circle to create a checked pattern.

Once the masks were removed, I gently removed the pencil with an eraser and glued the panel over the stencilling. The peonies are from Clearly Besotted's On Your Day, stamped, coloured with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and fussy cut.

I layered my flowers over the circles, popping the top ones up with dimensionals. The birthday sentiment was made from WPlus9's Silver Bells and the word 'Birthday' from MFT's From Me To You and I finished the card with green sequins.

CHALLENGES

Circles is the theme at the Flower Challenge this month - and I couldn't miss their 4th birthday celebrations could I?! Congratulations ladies! I'm also joining in at Seize The Birthday, where the optional topping is Texture but I'm sticking with Anything Goes; and Allsorts where it's Celebration Time this week; and a last minute entry to We Love Chocolate Baroque where Anything Goes (thanks for suggesting Brenda!)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The crafty reorganisation has gone well I think. My aim was to have everything to hand but, because it's in the living room, either hidden or arranged in a way that is pleasing to the eye. OH did notice it but his only comment was 'That's colourful!' so I'm taking that as a sign of approval!

Here's a photo. My beloved Spectrum Noir markers and Stampin' Up inks and card stock are out on display (with room to spare to expand my collections!) Stamp sets, embellishments and other colouring media hidden away in boxes and baskets. 

Hope you have some fun crafty time this weekend! Sending hugs, 

The pleasure of peonies

Hello crafting friends!

After the masculinity of the last couple of posts, I'm going for some unabashed femininity today! Come and see:

One of the pleasures of the month of May for me is watching the buds of my peonies ripening until finally, the plant bursts into flower at the end of the month (just in time for my birthday - thank you Mother Nature!)  That was the inspiration for this card.

I started by masking off the edges of a card panel, laying a cloud stencil across it and inking with Tumbled Glass distress ink. The flowers are from Clearly Besotted's On Your Day and were stamped, coloured with alcohol markers, fussy cut and popped up on dimensionals. The card was finished with a sentiment from the same set and a sprinkling of gems.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD
I was delighted that this card won a Team Pick at the TicTacToe Challenge!

CHALLENGES
I'm linking up with the TicTacToe Challenge where I chose the Pink, Flowers and Clouds column; the beautiful sketch came from Hand Stamped Sentiments; I'm also joining in with CAS on Friday's Use Your Favourite Flower Stamp challenge. I have a large collection of flower stamps (haven't we all?!) and they're ALL my favourites!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Come and have a look at the peony - I think it might flower a little earlier this year. Here's one of the buds:

Here's another bud - my BEST bud!!

Thanks for popping in to visit me today. Hope you are keeping safe and well.

Hugs,