Pine blossom - not just for Christmas

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I'm back with a reminder that you still have time to join us at The Flower Challenge with your floral thank you cards!

 

I've brought out The Greetery's Pine Blossom set to make a Christmassy thank you card which has a kind of folk art vibe about it :) 

 

I started with a kraft card base. Distress oxides are my current favourite inks and I knew they would look lovely and vibrant stamped directly on the kraft. Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean and Abandoned Coral all worked their magic - and I will definitely be using this technique more often! I stamped the flower cluster on the top of the card base using my stamp positioner, then flipped the card base round 180 degrees before stamping again for a perfect mirror image.

 

To create the illusion of layers, I held a smaller panel of card in the centre of the card front and sponged round the edges with brown ink. The sentiment is from MFT's All Occasion Sentiments, stamped on a snippet of kraft card, fussy cut and popped up with dimensional strips. To finish, I added details to the flower clusters with markers.

 

Now it's your turn! Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog and admire the fabulous designs my team mates have come up with to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own card with us, you can use the blue Linky button at the bottom of that post. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Allsorts and We Love Stamping where there are Christmas themes, and the Anything Goes option at Stamping Sensations. Also joining in with the Anything Goes challenge at Triple B with my blossoms :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm delighted to report that Eva's paw is looking better and better and she is back to giving her fluffy sister a hunting partner to be reckoned with!

Here she is with an expression on her face that we like to call 'Noble Dog'!

Sending hugs,

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,

Spring in the meadow

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Spring is really on its way now and I am so inspired by all the pretty colours in the garden. There are lots of card challenges celebrating flowers and spring too so I rolled up my sleeves and joined in.

 

This fabulous floral is from Waffleflower's Bouquet Builder 3 that I was lucky enough to find as a bargain recently. I stamped the large image off the edge of a panel of watercolour paper that I'd trimmed with a Hemstitch die from Spellbinders.

 

I used a lightish neutral coloured ink and then coloured the image with Arteza watercolour brush pens - yes, they were out on my table again!

 

The sentiment is such a pretty one from The Greetery's Pine Blossom - a set that just keeps on giving in my opinion!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Addicted to CAS where Toni has chosen Bloom as her word prompt; also Little Red Wagon where Chrissy's theme is Florals; Sarah is hosting Allsorts for a two week challenge and has opted for an optional challenge of Keep it Simple; Cathy wants to see Feminine cards at We Love Stamping, and Spring is in the Air at Stamping Sensations, so I'm also joining in there too. Finally, as this floral stamp is Never Before Used Schtuff, I'm twirling over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I did ask the golden girls if they'd like to watch me do some more crafting this afternoon but they decided they'd rather go for a long muddy walk instead. I know who is in charge in this house so I doffed my cap and scurried off to fetch the leads!

 

Here they are, fresh out of the river! They don't look very cheerful do they, but the expressions on their faces represent pure concentration because they know that when I've stopped mucking about with cameras, I am going to be saying those beautiful words that every pup longs to hear:

"Are you hungry?"

Sending hugs,

Floral mail

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another fun challenge at The Flower Challenge! This month it's hip to be square as our theme is to make a square card featuring those gorgeous florals.

 

It's hard to believe it's March already and that here in the UK, we'll be celebrating Mothers Day on the 10th of this month. How fun to open an envelope and find a card inside featuring another envelope bursting with pretty flowers!

 

I stamped and fussy cut the flowers from The Greetery's Pine Blossom - which is a Christmas set but when has that ever stopped me?! Next, I cut the envelope from Mama Elephant's Botanic Envelope die set, as well as the Inside and Out leaves dies from The Greetery, which I sponged with green inks. I arranged the flowers and leaves inside the envelope and stamped it with a Mothers Day sentiment from Uniko. 

 

For the background, I stenciled a panel using blue ink and Funky Fossil's Fancy Trellis stencil, then layered a piece of thin mustard envelope paper over it. To finish, I positioned the flower filled envelope in the centre.

Right - now it's over to you! Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog to see all the wonderful samples made by the talented design team, then come up with a creation of your own feasturing flowers on a square design.  When you're ready to share your card, you can use the Linky Tool which you'll find at the bottom of the post. You have until the 25th to join in - enjoy the challenge!

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in again at Allsorts with this envelope of spring flowers as Lorraine's theme is Spring; Spring has also sprung over at the Four Seasons Challenge so I'm linking up there too; I'm also linking up at Inspired by where I was inspired by the inspiration photo with its gorgeous envelope of blooms; and Color Dare #590 where the trio of colours are Lagoon, Clover and Honey Butter.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We've been spoilt with some moments of sunshine in the last few days, but cloud is building up again as I type and I'd better get those golden girls out before it rains! They have caught on to the fact that I always seem to be looking for water at the end of a walk and have enthusiastically joined in with the task of finding it:

 

Not sure if they read the memo all the way through though...!

Sending hugs,

Stamping stamps!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Back in the summer, I was so busy I had no time to craft and even less time to blog! I did, however,  find time to buy the Waffleflower Postage Stamp Collage die which made my heart beat faster on its release! Of course I only took it out of its wrapper in December (can anyone relate?!) and it has not disappointed. I had so much fun making this card and I think it might have been my favourite of the year!

 

There are stencils you can get to go with this die but I just used the die itself as a stencil, sponging blue ink into the stamp shapes, and it worked perfectly well! Then came the fun bit: I used a couple of new-to-me Greetery sets (Pretty Postmarks and Pine Blossom) to design my own postage stamps, adding script and other images for a collage effect. The Christmas Blessings sentiment came from Uniko's Peace on Earth set.

 

American frame dies are made for US A2 cards, but I usually just trim a bit of the height of my cards to make them work. On this occasion, I had a little lightbulb moment! I remembered a retired Stampin' Up set (Butterfly Basics) that had an airmail pattern stamp on it, and stamped it in red as a frame around three sides of the card base.

 

 

I was really pleased with that final touch - and isn't it amazing how many stamps and dies from different eras and different companies work perfectly together!

CHALLENGES

The die set and two of the stamp sets are Never Before Used Schtuff, so naturally I will zoom over to Darnell's NBUS challenge to share. PS. I'm very proud to have a card from last month showcased there! I'm also joining in with Stamping Sensations where we are asked to use Favourite Colours - I love all colour but this is a favourite Christmas combination; We Love Stamping has a Winter Flowers and/or Foliage theme so I'm also linking up there.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I've always loved hearing the sound of the letter box before Christmas! There are always some exciting cards to open or parcels containing gifts that need to be wrapped. After a few unhappy incidents when Eva was a puppy and chewed up the post, I taught her to gather up the mail and bring it to me. She was rewarded handsomely for this and has been a keen helper ever since. But his year, we've had another pup in the house of course! Eva wasn't prepared to give up her task but Lulu watched carefully and then decided her job would be to give a wuff to alert everyone to the fact the post has arrived. Oh dear, this is NOT something I feel should be rewarded! I have a long list of training that will begin in the new year!

Sending hugs,