One layer sprigs and splatters

Hello, crafting friends!

 

When I get Christmas or birthday money, I immediately run my inner eye over all the craft items I could treat myself to! How about you? This year, after Christmas, I splurged on a some of my favourite stamps and dies from The Greetery (Seven Hills Crafts is the exclusive Greetery retailer in the UK. You're welcome!) Fleur Impressions was one of the stamp sets:

The set contains beautifully drawn roses and other flowers which feel beautifully romantic when used in clusters together. But when I was having a play the other day, I came up with a design using just one of the flower sprigs. I stamped the design from the bottom, filling in either side, and leaving a space for a birthday sentiment.

 

To make the flower sprig you stamp the stalk and leaf image, then you stamp the flowers, then finish with a detail stamp  - and everything is really easy to line up.

 

The sentiment is a favourite from Clearly Besotted which fit perfectly in the space. I used a waterbased marker to add yellow centres to the flowers and splattered some matching ink for some extra movement.

CHALLENGES

Beautiful Blossoms has a lovely blue floral mood board and I'm linking up there, and also at their birthday celebration post - congratulations on your first birthday ladies! Glenda's Topping at Seize the Birthday this month is Splatters so lots of fun to be had there too! The stamp set I used is Never Before Used Schtuff so I'm joining in at Darnells NBUS challenge. I'm also playing along with the Anything Goes option at Allsorts this week.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My neighbour has been having a clear out and hesitantly asked me if I needed any dog towels. I think she was a little taken aback by the enthusiasm of my reply! But it has rained for the last day and a half and that's all it took for the countryside to flood again. One day I'll come in and try to take my wellies off, only to find that they are welded onto my legs!! The girls are not complaining of course...

 

... the fun Water World play park is back - YAY!!

Sending hugs,

Birthday dahlias

Hello, crafting friends!

We have an exciting new challenge for you at CAS Colours and Sketches today! Whenever there's a fifth Tuesday in  any month, we bring you The Double - that means we inspire you with both a colour palette and a sketch :) Come and see what Bhavya, this month's host, has come up with:

I thought I'd go floral with these colours, bringing out Clearly Besotted's Perfect Dahlias, which made the perfect shape for the sketch.

The flower cluster was stamped onto a panel using a neutral ink and I added colour with coloured pencils in the challenge colours. The blue is faded out in the background but is not very obvious in the photo! The sentiment, from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, was stamped, trimmed into a flag shape and popped up on dimensional pads.

I had the idea of cutting the panel to size with the Spellbinders Hemstitch frame but made a complete mess of it! To save it, I tried trimming the panel down further with my guillotine which resulted in this sort of postage stamp style edge. I matted it onto a piece of Rose Red card stock which emphasised the edging and there - I kind of liked it!

Ok, so now it's over to you! Do hop over to the CAS Colours and Sketches website and take a look at the fabulous samples my teamies have made to inspire you. You will also find the Linky Tool there so that you can link up your own creation. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm playing along with The Paper Players where Jaydee has come yup with a tic tac toe board - I've chosen the first column Feminine/Birthdayy/Florals; also Watercooler Wednesday where Cathy is hosting the All Things Feminine theme; and Allsorts where Tracy has chosen a Clean and Simple challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

While I was taking photos of this card my lovely assistant was keeping an eye on me...

... just in case I SHOULD decide to get a snack out!

Sending hugs,

The tangerine dream

Hello, crafting friends!

You may not have noticed but I haven't been around lately. This is because I've had my lovely daughter to stay and we've been doing all sorts of fun things. I still haven't worked out how to get more than 24 hours into a day, so crafting has taken a back seat, but I waved goodbye to my daughter yesterday evening, and have caught up with the chores, so I had a little play today. Come and see:

It was really hard to photograph this card so I hope you can see it okay! I took a piece of Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie card stock and the matching ink, and did a little bit of masking and stamping with Perfect Dahlias by Clearly Besotted.

And then I got out my watercolour pencils and set to work colouring the flowers. I didn't use any water with them, just used them dry, choosing a mix of white, yellow, orange, rust and brown and building the colour up from light to dark. I haven't done this for ages and it was SO much fun watching the image appear out of the card stock! I finished off with a sentiment by Simply Said Blocks by Uniko which I stamped with Stazon black ink, snipped out with paper snips and mounted on a foam strip.

CHALLENGES
I'm joining in with The Rainbow Card Challenge, where the colour palette is a scrumptious Tantalizing Tangerine; also Inkspirational, where the theme is Painting or Colouring; CAS on Friday wants to see CAS cards using any colours other than white/vanilla this week; and I'm also linking up with The Flower Challenge where the theme is Summer/Winter flowers (depending on which hemisphere you live in!)

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Having my daughter to stay was like having a fun holiday! We visited the grounds of a National Trust property and had tea and cake there; we've gone on country walks with Eva; sat outside a coffee shop sipping coffee and chatting; visited the shops in the evening when they were deserted; watched silly films; sewed, looked at Pinterest together and talked about crafting; had socially distanced glasses of fizz on the green with neighbours; cooked together... and generally did the kinds of things we do when things are normal, only with safety in mind.

Eva LOVES the company of her 'smooth sister'. Here she is 'helping' her with a phone call!

What have you been up to this past week? Would love to hear about it in the comments below :)

Hugs,

Geo framed Dahlias

Hello crafting friends!

I'm thrilled to bits to be guest designing with the Tic Tac Toe team today! There are some VERY talented designers at this challenge and you'll find some amazing inspiration there. You're sure to be nudged into action by this week's fun tic tac toe board too:

I went for the middle line across for my card - Pink, Twine and Gold.

The card started off with a card panel cut with a Heffy Doodles stitched rectangle die. I watercoloured a subtle pale pink background onto it and layered it with three gold hexagon shapes, cut with one of the frames from the Sissix Geo Floral Frame die set. A piece of twine was tied to a corner of one of them.

The flowers are from Clearly Besotted's Perfect Dahlias. I coloured them with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, fussy cut them and added them to the frames. I added a block sentiment before attaching the panel to a card base and finished with a few black faceted gems.

Now it's your turn! You can choose vertical lines, horizontal lines or diagonal lines from the tic tac toe board, create your show stopper and link up here. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

CHALLENGES
I'm linking up a second time with Just Us Girls, where the Frame It challenge has caught my imagination; Also joining in with the CAS week at Addicted to Stamps and More; And also playing along at Festive Friday where I've chosen Flowers, Green and Pink from the inspiration list.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Yesterday, I drove my youngest son to his university hall of residence to collect the rest of his things. Bless him, he wouldn't let me lift a finger to help. He settled me in the car with a novel and rolled his sleeves up, lugging bags and cleaning up his room, handing in keys and clearing his mail box. On the way home he regaled me with (highly edited I'm sure!) stories about his first year. He has discovered nostalgia!

Hope you are safe and well!

Hugs,

Dotty flowers

Hello crafting friends!

After a day in the garden with blue skies, sunshine and bright flowers, I began to feel quite holiday-ish - even if I was just weeding! So when I went indoors to make a floral birthday card, I reached for the bright colours. Come and see:

I started this card by pasting a piece of striped green designer paper onto a card panel. I stamped over this using a flower from Uniko's You Are, Yes You (a really useful little set that I notice is currently in the sale.)

I stamped the flower heads again on bright dotty papers, cut them out and placed them over the stamped ones. The detail on the flowers make this stamp perfect for paper piecing. The papers are ancient Stampin' Up ones, but dots and stripes never go out of style!

Once everything was glued in place, I cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodles, attached it to a card base and stamped a birthday sentiment at the top.

CHALLENGES
There's a Dots and Stripes theme going on at the Uniko challenge and also at AAA Birthday, so I'll be linking up there; They're celebrating Occasions over at Watercooler Wednesday and I'm entering my birthday card there; and last, but definitely not least, I was totally inspired by the gorgeous bright colours at The Colour Throwdown this week.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I’m enjoying walking with Eva on these beautiful mornings although this morning I was shouted at by a man who was concealed in the trees taking photos of ducks! I had let Eva off lead as there was apparently no-one about, but she spotted him at once and was naturally intrigued about what he was doing crouching in the undergrowth. When she saw he was communing with ducks she became very excited and wanted to join in. He was NOT impressed.*

*No hidden men or ducks were harmed in the morning walk.

Happy Good Friday to all who celebrate Easter and wishing you a happy weekend. Don't forget to stay safe.

Hugs,