Awesome circles ...

I've been trying to sort my craft stash this afternoon but it is so easy to get distracted and that's exactly what happened ... instead of sorting I created!  It all began when I came across some pieces of "experimental" alcohol ink backgrounds in vibrant pinks, oranges and yellows ... this is the result:

I love the vibrancy of alcohol inks but I'm never sure of how to use them ... so far all I've done is create "interesting" backgrounds!  I punched out a number of different sized circles and adhered them to some card stock - some flat to the surface and others using foam squares.  I die cut the sentiment five times in black card to give it more dimension.

I also wanted to join in the celebrations for Becca's, The Damsel of Distressed Cards, 30th Birthday celebrations.  Becca creates amazing cards using mixed media techniques which I would love to emulate ... I just struggle and my cards always seem to end up just clean and simple.  Becca has set up a challenge to celebrate her birthday with this mood board:



Hopefully I have captured the mood ... Happy Birthday Becca.

I'm also going to enter the Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge at STAMPlorations as the Awesome die is on one of the new CUTploration dies ... it also seems approriate as Becca is one of their designers.

Enjoy!

Paper cutting ...

A quick post to share a card that I made yesterday afternoon.  The inspiration for this card came from a beautiful card that my son sent me for my birthday yesterday - I'll include a photograph of the card for you to see.

This is my take on the card

I started by stamping the flowers and leaves which I then water coloured using distress inks. Then the fun began - using a craft knife I carefully remove the white spaces between the blooms and leaves, leaving them attached to the main part of the card by creating a square around the image.  I added a pierced border and pierced detail in two corners.  Stamped the sentiment and that was that.

This is the card from my son:

The whole of the image on the front has been cut out - far more detail than I could manage but hopefully it shows where I was coming from!!

I used:

STAMPlorations - Floral Bliss
UNIKO - Natural Treasures I
Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry and Twisted Citron.

I'm going to enter the following challenges:

STAMPlorations July CAS




Penny Black and More July Challenge - Anything Goes with a stamp.

Enjoy!

Stacked gerbera ...

Another post, another card ... this time back to the gerbera!

I stamped and masked the gerbera to create this stack of flowers and then water coloured them with distress inks. I then trimmed the panel and fuzzy cut part of the flowers then attached it to the card base with foam adhesive to add dimension and finished off by stamping the sentiment.

I used:
Uniko Pure Florals: Gerbera
Simon Says Stamp - Handwritten borders
Distress Inks - Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Dried Marigold, Mustard Seed and Squeezed lemonade.
Versafine Onyx Black

I'm entering the following challenges:

AAA Cards #69


Uniko Challenge #34


Enjoy!

Believe you can ...

Wow! Another hot and steamy day in this part of England! ... where would we Brits be if we didn't have the weather to talk about.  School has finished for the summer so in between family responsibilities I hope to find time for lots of crafting! 

To start the ball rolling this is a card I've created for the current CAS challenge at STAMPlorations - the theme for July is "Anything Goes with the optional colour twist of Orange".  This is my contribution with the colour twist.

This is a simple card designed to encourage the recipient to believe in themselves ... a sentiment that I really should abide by but, as the saying goes, "it's do as I say not as I do!"

I used:

STAMPlorations Eclectic Forals and Typographia: Encoragement.
Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade, Dried Marigold and Ripe Persimmon
WOW Gold Embossing Powder

I'm entering:

STAMPlorations July CAS Challenge


Also, the Never-Ending Anything Goes challenge


Enjoy!

Welcome, welcome ...

Excitement time again!  I've been asked to Guest Design for the new challenge at Addicted to CAS ... it is always an honour to win a challenge and then to be asked to Guest Design is the icing on the cake!!

The them for the challenge is:

I got a bit carried away with myself and created two cards.  The first card is all about type:

Take some letter dies and distress inks and the result is a simple but to the point card!

The second card is all about cute!

Equally as simple - this time a stamp and distress inks!

Thank you to the team at Addicted to CAS for inviting me to join them for a challenge.

Enjoy!

Sizzling pink and purple ...

A quick post this morning before I head off for a quick visit to Lincolnshire!

I love it when a couple of challenges fit together as if they were made for each other - when one card so easily fits.  This week at AAA Cards they would like us to use 'one stash favourite' - if you've been following my blog or are a regular visitor you will know that I am obsessed with the Uniko Gerbera stamp set so it seemed a natural choice!  Also this month the challenge set by Bev at Uniko has the theme of ... Flowers ... another great reason to use this stamp.

The colours are more vibrant that the photograph shows

I stamped and white heat embossed the gerbera across a piece of card before water colouring the blooms with distress inks.  I then selected part of the image and die cut a panel.  I then die cut a piece of vellum and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment.  The vellum is only attached by a few spots of liquid adhesive behind the lettering - this adds some dimension as the edges of the vellum panel lift up.  The panel was then attached to a card base using foam pads to add some more dimension.

I used:
Uniko Pure Florals: Gerbera
Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet
CUTplorations (STAMPlorations new dies) Stitched Rectangle Dies
Kaisercraft Clear Stamps - Today

The challenges are:

AAA Cards #69 


Uniko Challenge #34


STAMPlorations The Never-ending Anything Goes Challenge
As I've used one of Sherry's new CUTplorations die set I thought I would enter this ongoing challenge that showcases STAMPloration products.

Have a great day and keep cool!

Enjoy!

Stars, stars, stars ...

Repetition is the theme of the week ... repetition is the theme of the week!  Just in case you haven't guessed already the theme of this week's challenge at "Less is More" is Repetition.

I began by die cutting the stars and then stamped the stars onto the card base (having marked where the die cuts were!!). Added the sentiment strip and put the card together using foam tape to add dimension and interest.

I used:
Clearly Besotted: Superstar stamp set and coordinating dies
Distress Inks - Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, Chipped Sapphire and Wilted Violet.

I'm entering the following challenges:

"Less is More" #285 - Repetition

STAMPlorations July Theme and Sketch Challenge


Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes challenge with dies


Enjoy!

Sewing Weights ...

I love sewing and working with textiles but I had never heard of using weights to keep your pattern in place on your fabric when cutting out.  Recently on the Great British Sewing Bee (a UK TV programme) it seemed that most of the contestants were using weights ... I decided that if it was good enough for these contestants maybe I needed some and should make a set.  I thought about a colleague who is leaving our school this summer and decided a set would make a nice leaving gift ... I know that she sews but if she doesn't use them for sewing maybe she could learn to juggle!!

Here they are:

They are approximately 3 inches in size and are filled with plastic pellets.  The fabric is a beautiful linen with sewing and haberdashery images on it.  I only bought the fabric at the weekend at a craft fair from a lovely shop called Button Moon their stand was beautiful and full of fabulous fabrics and wool - I could have spent a fortune!!  The biggest surprise of all is that I've owned the fabric for less than a week and have already used some of it!!

Enjoy!

One moment in time ...

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you may know that I work in the office of a local primary school ... it's a busy time of the year for schools as we move towards the end of the school year and to the start of the long summer holidays.  It always makes me think of how fast life is passing especially as July is my birthday month as well!!  It seems appropriate that this week's challenge at "Less is More" is all about time.  
I've created one card already but came across a quotation stamp that I thought was apt as it talks about 'moments'.

This is the card:

To me it is all about time ... hopefully it is to the ladies at "Less is More".  It also acts as a timely reminder to me that I need to 'live every moment' and to stop waiting for tomorrow!!

I used:
Uniko Background Builders: Triangulate
Distress Inks - Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Tumbled Class
Kaisercraft Way of Life
Versafine Onyx Black

Enjoy!

Flower time ...

Just popped by to share a card for this week's challenge at "Less is More" - it is one layer week with the theme of TIME.  This is all I could come up with:

Sorry about the glare ... at least it highlights the embossing!

It's not the most exciting design!  I used:

Stampin Up Flowering Fields Stamp Set
Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Carved Pumpkin, Crushed Olive and Twisted Citron.
Cosmic Shimmer Gold Embossing Powder
PaperArtsy JoFY 09 

I've been lucky this week ... Addicted to CAS picked me as a winner of a challenge.  It's always exciting to win a challenge - thanks to the design team for choosing my card!  This is the card that won:



Enjoy!

Flower Fields Tag ...

Another day, another card for another challenge!  This time I've moved away from the rainbow to more delicate colouring and a softer look.

Stampin Up Flowering Fields

I stamped and embossed a whole strip of card with the different stamps from this set and then water coloured the flowers with distress inks.  I then die cut a section using a tag die (leaving some behind for a future card) added a smaller die with a sentiment on it.  I've  adhered it to the card base with fun foam and adhesive to add dimension.

I used:

Stampin Up Flowering Fields
Clearly Besotted Many Messages
Distress Inks - Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade and Carved Pumpkin
Lil'Inker Designs Stitched Tag Dies
WOW Platinum Embossing Powder

I'm entering the following challenges:

AAACards  #68


Penny Black and More July Challenge Anything Goes with a stamp

Enjoy!

A Colourful Goodbye ...

No I'm not going anywhere!!  I was asked to create a goodbye card ... so that's exactly what I did!  A colourful one at that ...

I began by stamping the panel with the stars in all the colours of the rainbow.  I then die cut 'Goodbye' from the centre of the panel and three more times from scrap card - these I adhered on top of each other to add depth before placing them back into the main panel.  The panel was then adhered to the card base on some fun foam to add further dimension.

I used:

Clearly Besotted - Super Star stamp set.

Distress Inks - Festive Berries, Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, Chipped Sapphire and Wilted Violet

Dienamics High Rise Alphabet Dies

I'm going to enter Virgina's View Summer Challenge

and

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge #28 Anything Goes

Enjoy!

Dragonfly ...

We are officially half way through 2016 ... where has the last six months gone!  The summer is here and now all we need in the UK is the weather to go with it!!

I've had a free day today so I spent the day crafting!  I've been able to make a number of cards.  This is the first I have to share:

Dragonfly stamp by Sheena Douglas

I heat embossed the dragonfly twice onto vellum and then coloured them both from the back with Zig real brush markers I adhered them together down the body.   I used the stencil with some paste to add texture to the background before adhering the dragonfly on top of some silver thread to add more interest.  A simple sentiment and the card was done.

I used:

Sheena Douglas Stamp Set - Dragonfly Dance

Versamark

WOW Platinum Embossing Powder

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

Golden Modeling Paste

ARTplorations Tribal Weave Stencil

I'm entering the following challenges:

Mixed Media Card Challenge #25

Hopefully the heat embossing and silver thread gives enough sparkle!!


CAS Mix Up Card Challenge
I've stamped, embossed, coloured with markers and used molding paste and thread to add texture

Addicted to CAS #91

Enjoy!