Sunshine celebrations

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's time for another Tic Tac Toe challenge, and this time, the board has been devised by Linda! She's opted for some lovely seasonal ideas.

 

I went for the diagonal from top left: Sunshine/Free/Blue to make a masculine birthday card.

 

The background was made by masking off a rectangle on an offcut of white card and stenciling a sunburst using yellow inks through Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil. I trimmed this out with a stitched rectangle die and mounted it on another offcut of white card, trimmed to be ever so slightly larger than the sunshine one and swiped with blue ink. I sponged a card base with paler blue ink and attached the sunny panel to the card front.

 

The banner is from Concord and 9th's Hello Sunshine stamp set. I stamped it with blue ink twice on more offcuts of white card and stamped and heat embossed one of them in red with a sentiment from Uniko's Floral Vines. I sponged both with pale blue ink and snipped them out with paper snips, cutting just the central bit of the sentiment version to pop up over the whole banner. A few colourful enamel stars finished the card.

Okay, now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog to check out all the beautiful cards the rest of the design team has made to inspire you. Choose a row, column or diagonal from the board and create a card, then link it up with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge blog post. We are looking forward to seeing what you make!

 

CHALLENGES

I'm off to the Snippets Playground with this card as I used lots of offcuts of white card to make it;  I'm also linking up with The Male Room, which is challenging us to make Mixed Media masculine cards; and Allsorts, where Sarah's optional theme is Summer Days.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

While I was getting this post ready, the golden girls were romping about playing with each other. They play pretty boisterous games, taking it in turns to be hunter and prey. I am always impressed with the way they look so fierce with all their jaws exposed but never hurt a hair of each others heads (or bodies come to that!) Lulu is younger and more agile but she never takes advantage, always deferring to her big sister.

 

I stopped typing for a minute to see if I could get a photo of them playing but they immediately stopped...

 

 

... and Eva made this "WHAT?!!" face at me! Lulu looks very submissive in this photo but do not be deceived! She will be up and fighting as soon as I have stopped interfering with my silly photos!

 

Sending hugs,

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,

The colour of sunshine

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday and time for another round of crafting Tic Tac Toe courtesy of the Tic Tac Toe Challenge! Joanne is on Board Duty today and what an inspirational board it is:

 

I've gone for the diagonal from the top left: Letters/Yellow/Sunshine and made a card to bring some sunshine into a friend's life :)

 

I started with a yellow card base, left over from an old card kit. The Sunny Day stencil from Clearly Besotted was positioned over it and yellow ink stenciled into it for a tone on tone look. I found some coordinating washi tape that needed using up and made a border with it, then stamped a favourite Reverse Confetti floral stamp at the bottom in black ink and coloured it with yellow alcohol markers.

 

The sentiment is my 'letters' part of the board. I was excited to put a current Uniko sentiment with an older Clearly Besotted one which is a lovely wavy shape. To add a bit more interest to my card, I trimmed one corner with a Corner Rounder, then stamped the flowers and leaves again on a scrap of white card, coloured them, fussy cut them and popped them up on dimensional pads. 

Okay, so now it's your turn! Which row or column has grabbed your attention this week? Or is it one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog to check out the gorgeous samples the rest of the team have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation with us. Have fun! We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

In the Color Dare Challenge #562, you get to choose whether to use 1, 2 or 3 of the three colours shown. I opted to use the yellow and team it with black; I'm also joining in with the Stencil Fun Challenge - not going for the optional Butterflies theme; I'm not going for the optional Butterflies at Allsorts either but I will link my card up there; It's the first outing for this charming floral set so I am sharing at Darnell's NBUS Challenge too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I am such a fan of the colour yellow. It is the colour of sunshine, positivity, warmth and happiness. There is a good reason that there are so many famous yellow logos! I was given a bunch of beautiful, deep hearted yellow roses the other day, and they lift my spirits every time I look at them!

 

 

I hope they have the same effect on you today :)

Sending hugs,

A young Man's 18th birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Those special birthdays are coming thick and fast around here. Today's card is for a young man, a friend's son, who turned 18 AND got his exam results all on the same day! He did really well and is all prepared to zoom off to uni, but first, we got to crack open some fizz and toast him with a few bubbles!

 

To make the card, I masked off the edges of a card base, positioned Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil (a big favourite!) over the top and sponged yellow ink into it. Taking the stencil away, I added a bit more sponging over the top part to balance out the sun at the bottom.

 

The sentiment was stamped in red ink with 'Wishing you a happy' from The Greetery's preText Sentiments, and 'birthday' from Uniko's Wild. The name and the number were made from some left-over letter and number stickers I bought many years ago to create a title on a photo album. I finished the design with some red and yellow enamel dots for a celebratary feel! This card was for his birthday but I was able to write a message inside congratulating him on his uni place too.

CHALLENGES

The Red and Yellow challenge at Color Hues inspired this card so I shall link up there; I'm also joining in at AAA Birthday and Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenges, where Anything Birthday Goes; also The Male Room is looking for masculine cards featuring spots and/or stripes, so my sunshine creates stripes and the enamel dots are good for spots!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I told another friend about the young man's birthday and his success, and that we were invited round to help celebrate before he went off to celebrate further with his pals. "I'd better not tell him that this adulting malarkey isn't all it's cracked up to be," I said. "Oh no," she agreed. "Don't grow up! It's a trap!"

PS. If you subscribe to this blog and you received an email with no pictures this morning, I do apologise! We'll put it down to Human Error shall we and move on!!

Sending hugs,

A drop of golden sun

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday and welcome to a fabulous new challenge at Addicted to CAS! Helen is at the helm for the next two weeks and she has chosen this code word:

 

Shades of one colour are always fun to work with aren't they! In a bid to bring a little brightness into my life, I've gone with shades of yellow and a sunshine motif for this note card.

 

After masking off the edges of my card base with low tack tape, I sponged pale yellow ink into Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil, using a slightly darker ink towards the bottom of the card. Once the tape was removed, I added a sentiment.

 

 

First, I stamped the word 'sunshine' from Concord & 9th's Hello Sunshine stamp set in a darker yellow ink. Then I cut the word 'hello' using a die from Funky Fossil and coloured it ombré fashion with alcohol markers before gluing it above the word 'sunshine'. A few shiny enamel dots and the card was done.

Okay, now it's your turn to come up with a clean and simple monochrome card! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog and check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to link up your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at  Addicted to Stamps and More where the theme is Die Cuts and Stencils; at Try It On Tuesday, the challenge is to Use A Stencil so I'm joining in there; and also last but not least, Lil Red Wagon's challenge is to make a Clean and Simple project.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The weather is still a little erratic in the heart of England but we have had some sunshine and it is looking green and lush out in the countryside. Here's a photo of my second favourite golden girl springing out of the undergrowth...

Always full of the joys of spring that one - whatever the season!!

Sending hugs,

Birthday bits and bobs

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I got right back in to the crafting saddle today, and had a nice canter round the Craft Square Metre! Hmm. It needs a bit of clearing out if I'm honest, but I'm much more interested in crafting than a clear out (anyone else?!) so I had a look in my snippets box and pretended that using up 3 items was a full-on Marie Kondo!!

Here are the snippets I found - all had been cut but not used. I made myself a nice cup of coffee and had a little think about them:

 

And here is the result of that thought process:

 

The die cut is supposed to be a musical stave from The Greetery's Noted die set, but I like the little bit of movement and texture it gives behind the arch aperture. The floral sprig is from WPlus9's Hello and Thanks stamp set and has been hanging around in my snippets box for two years! It seems to have held up quite well but I added a little bit more colour to it and snipped away any untidiness on the edges.

 

I decided to stencil a hopeful sunburst on the card base using an arch stencil as a mask and my well-used Sunny Day stencil from Clearly Besotted. The sentiment is from Altenew's Birthday Greetings set, coloured to match the leaves on the sprig with a coloured pencil.

 

I glued the elements together on my stenciled and stamped card base, popping up the arch on dimensional pads and pulled the colours together with some pink enamel dots.

CHALLENGES

I'm rather late but, since I was already in the saddle, I galloped through the Snippets Playground gates just as they were closing on their Anything BUT Christmas challenge!!  I'm also celebrating Double D's Birthday where they theme is Anything Birthday Related - Happy 7th birthday ladies and congratulations!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

January is doing its usual grey and murky thing but with extra rain this year. The river has burst its banks but I can tell you that the Golden Girls don't mind at all!

 

We cross a little footbridge to get to the river walk and when they realised that the footpath was now a paddling pool they both looked at me with the fondness and appreciation usually reserved for chicken in my pocket. I honestly think they believe that I laid it all on for their enjoyment!

Sending hugs,

Joy to the world at Easter

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's a Tic Tac Toe challenge kind of a day today and I hope you'll be inspired to come and join in with us! Joanne has gathered some versatile elements together on her board this week:

You could make any kind of card with these ideas! I've had Easter on my mind and thought the right hand column would be a good start. Here's what I came up with:

I started by making a stenciled background on a white card panel. I sponged yellow ink through Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil, and added green ink to the bottom of the panel through the grass section of Funky Fossil's Scenic Borders stencil. The panel was cut out with one of The Greetery's Nordic Frame dies and I trimmed a vertical section out of it to make it fit my A6 card before glueing the two sections together onto a card base.

The join was covered with a cross which I put together with pieces cut out of a plank DSP by Stamping Up. The palm leaves and flowers are from Stampin' Up's Wrapped Flowers dies.

 

I have Easter sentiment stamps but I wanted something joyous to go with my cross image. In the end I pulled out The Greetery's Banner and Bough Christmas stamp and stencil set, stenciled a banner with blue ink and stamped the 'Joy to the world, the lord has come' sentiment leaving out the word 'come' and adding in the word 'risen' with a black fineliner. It's not exactly seamless but it works if you don't look TOO closely I think!

So now it's your turn to get creative! Which column or row will you choose? Or will you go for a diagonal? Do  hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog and check out the amazing samples made by my teamies and, when you're ready, yyou'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can share your card with us. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with The Snippets Playground - the flowers, leaves, cross and banner are all snippets; I'm also joining in with Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where anything goes - there's LOADS of stenciling on this card; and also Happy Little Stampers Die challenge where anything goes - the frame and the flowers and leaves are die cut.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It really IS true that British people talk about the weather all the time, but that is because the British weather is totally unpredictable and is always doing something crazy. At the moment for example, Spring has arrived ludicrously early when we were expecting winter to carry on for at least another month! Some people are wearing shorts and sleeveless tops (that's me - it's hot when you're walking dogs!!) and others are still bundled up in winter coats and boots! But almost everyone is smiling and ready to talk about the unusual weather and you've got to love something that brings people together like that :)

Sending hugs and wishing you sunshine,

Blooming in the sun

Hello, crafting friends!

 

What a pleasure it was today to have a rummage through my older stamps and come up with a pretty floral birthday card using inspiration from some favourite challenges :)

I used a long-ago retired Stampin' Up set called Butterfly Basics that I used to have when I was a demo, and that a very good friend found and gifted to me last year (thank you so much lovely!) I started by masking off the side and bottom of a thick card base and sponged yellow ink into Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil. The long stamp from the set was used to create a strong vertical and horizontal axis.

I stamped the flower on a piece of scrap card, coloured it with coloured pencils and fussy cut it. To tie the flower into the background, I used the red pencil to add a shadow to the darker red stamping too.

 

To work out the position of the sentiment, I first positioned the flower on the card front without glue.  Using a stamping platform, I stamped the sentiment several times for a nice crisp black finish and then glued the flower in place.

CHALLENGES

I used Linda's fabulous sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches, so I shall link up there; I'm also playing along with Allsorts where Brenda has chosen an Anything Goes theme with the option of adding a stencil; and last but not least, I'm finally managing to join in at The Paper Players where my friend Joanne has come up with a fun tic tac toe board to inspire us - I chose the centre row CAS/Flower/Birthay.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

This is the time of year I look out for flowers on my walks. There's not much blooming in the countryside (apart from bloomin' mud!) but in the parks and gardens there are bulbs beginning to come out as well as some other brave plants. Look at these wonderful snowdrops I found on a local walk that uysed to be a railway line! 

Eva is trying to eclipse them with her beaming smile and I might be biased but I think she has succeeded!!

Sending hugs,

Hello summer

Hello, crafting friends!

Before I share my card today I just want to let you know how to carry on or how to start getting my posts delivered to you via email.

SPECIAL DELIVERY

I've decided to use follow.it to deliver my posts to you instead of Feedburner which you probably know by now that Blogger has discontinued. If you already get my posts via email, you won't need to do anything as the new service should transfer seamlessly; if you're new here and would like to get an email when I post a new project, just fill in the subscription form in the side bar :)

I really want to thank everyone that has written to ask about this. I can't tell you how it warms my heart to know that you enjoy reading my little blog!

CARRY ON CRAFTING!

And now, onto a zingy little project using my favourite colours!

I started this card by positioning the Sunny Day stencil by Clearly Besotted over a card panel and sponging pale yellow ink into it and blending to a fade. The papers are old Stampin' Up ones that I'd cut into long strips for a project and then didn't use. I trimmed them to size and cut a ribbon tail into one end of each before attaching them to the panel. The panel was then trimmed neatly with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle.

The 'great summer' sentiment, from Scene it More by Clearly Besotted, was stamped directly onto the orange strip, using a stamping platform for accurate placement. I added a 'Hello' from Perfect Sentiments by Pinkfresh Studio, stamped and snipped out, and some little flip flops from Hero Arts' Beach and Sea, decorated with tiny orange gems.

CHALLENGES

I've been thinking about the inspiration photo at Inspired By for ages - love those polka dots and gorgeous bright colours! I used the great sketch at Fab Friday so I'm joining in there too; and last but not least, Eva and I are skipping over to the Snippets Playground in the hope that Miss Di has the paddling pool out!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We're celebrating another birthday in our family this week and I'm hoping the flip flops, summer sentiment and bright colours might encourage the sunshine to return. Fingers crossed!

Hugs,