An ill wind

Hello crafting friends!

We've all seen someone struggling along in the wind and rain with an umbrella that is supposed to protect them from the elements but that has turned into a monster with a will of its own. I thought it would be a great illustration of being there for a friend whose life has turned upside down with troubles. Come and see:

I made a windy, stormy background with the swirl from Merry Christmas To All from Stampin' Up - I always said that was an all-year-round set! The swirl was stamped with white craft ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder, then distress ink was blended from the corner of the card panel towards the centre of the card. You can see that better if we zoom in:

Do you like the brolly? It's from another Stampin' Up set called Under My Umbrella. I would buy a flowery number like this like a shot if I saw it in the shops! To make it I stamped the umbrella outline in black ink, made a mask with a sticky note using the coordinating punch, and stamped the smallest floral image through it. The design was coloured using water-based markers - which are fine for small areas. The umbrella handle was stamped in Stazon black ink so that it would stand out over the embossed background and the little handle grip was punched out using the punch.

I thought this sentiment would work well with my stormy scene. It's basically saying 'when life turns your brolly inside out, I'm here for you' which, come to think of it, would have been the PERFECT sentiment!

Delighted that this card was a Festive Fave!

And very proud to have won at Inspire.Create with this card too!

CHALLENGES
I'm playing along with AAA cards, which wants to see cards with an image in one corner; Inspire Create, where Movement is the theme; and Festive Friday where I've chosen Blue, Green and Friendship Sentiment from the inspiration list.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Forgive me for being obsessed about my broken oven, but an exciting new development has arisen. A part has been ordered which will hopefully restore the oven to its former efficient glory but, in the meantime, I've discovered from reading the manual that the top part, which I've always thought was just a grill, can also function as an oven! Pepperoni pizza - here we come!!!

Have a happy weekend!

Hugs,

When Stampin' Up inks get the blues

Have you seen the latest Less is More challenge? It's all about the colour blue - and the lovely Lizy Bartaby from my team is sponsoring this week too! I got all inky for this one using two of my favourites blues and the emboss-resist technique. Come and have a look:

I've gone with a simple layout that I use often, with a textured panel to add interest and a scene cut out with my 2 1/2" circle punch layered on top.

The clouds are stamped in versamark using a splatter image from Stampin' Up's brilliant Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. I heat embossed them using clear embossing powder before stamping the trees from  Lovely as a Tree over the top with stazon ink. The trees were stamped again on a post it note and I cut the foreground away from the sky to create two masks. One was held over the foreground while I smeared my Coastal Cabana ink pad over the sky area and the other over the sky while I dragged the Pacific Point pad over the foreground area. I was trying to recreate a screen print style so I chose slightly crazy colours!

The sentiment is from the Express Yourself set which is full of phrases and words in this beautiful flowing style. This is one of the exclusive hostess sets, which are usually available with orders over £150 but members of my Stampers 6 club also have the opportunity to get hold of them for free. If you're interested in joining my club, click here for more information.

Here's what you'll need to make this project

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Lovely as a Tree, Express Yourself

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Pacific Point classic inks, black stazon ink

Card stock: Whisper White smooth and core'dinations

Other: Versamark, Clear embossing powder, heat tool, 2 1/2" circle punch, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

I'll definitely have the winter blues this week as it's nearly the end of the holidays. As my children are getting older I don't see as much of them as I used to as they have their own things to do, but the house always seems quiet when they go back to school. There's one more day before real life starts again though so, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the cinema!

See you tomorrow,

Clockworks in black and grey

Over at Dynamic Duos this week the colour palette is a minimal Basic Black and Basic Grey and there's the optional additional challenge of making a male card. As if that weren't enough, I notice this week's Paper Players challenge is to make a one-layer, CAS card. So, never one to shrink from a tricky moment, here I am picking up the gauntlet... Come and see what I've come up with:

I chose Stampin' Up's wonderful Clockworks stamp set to make my card. This is one of those sets that is so easy to layer you could almost do it with your eyes closed! (But you'll be glad to know that I didn't!)

I started by making a card base with Naturals White - it has lots of speckles which I thought would work well for a masculine, collage-style design. Using sticky notes to mask off strips, I alternated sponging and stamping to form a background and then built up the elements of the pocket watch using my trusty stamp-a-majig to get everything where I wanted it. The watch was coloured by sponging Basic Grey ink through a mask made with a circle punch.

A few cogs were added to the design and the sentiment was stamped in versamark and heat embossed with black embossing powder. Finally, the centre of the watch face was decorated with a pearl coloured with a black permanent marker.
Edited to add: Thanks to Jane for pointing out that my pocket watch is obviously from Topsy Turvy land as there's an 8 where the 12 should be... I can't tell you how carefully I stamped it there using my stamp-a-majig!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Clockworks, Made for You
Ink: Basic Grey, Black stazon
Card stock: Naturals White
Other: Versamark, Black embossing powder, heat tool, 1 3/4" circle punch, Basic Pearls, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

Yesterday, my daughter found my youngest son at the hall mirror making adjustments to his hair and felt he needed some encouragement. "I think your hair looks nice today," she said kindly. She needn't have bothered. "I know," said my son complacently. "It's looking better than it's ever looked before, ever!" Hmm. I think he may have been in the loo when the modesty gene was being handed out!

Do join me again tomorrow for a little punch art!