Poinsettia ...

Another day, another Christmas card!  At this rate of production I should have this year's cards finished by June 2017!!  I really need to find a design that I like that is simple and I can make quickly - I like this one but it's not that quick to make.

If you follow my blog you will see that red and gold seems to be the flavour of the year for cards!  I heat embossed the image with gold and then water coloured the flower.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, cut the panel and adhered the flower with foam adhesive to add some dimension.

I used:
UNIKO - Pure Florals: Poinsettia
Distress Ink - Festive Berries
Gold Embossing Powder
Versamark Ink

I'm going to enter the following challenges:

 "Less is More" #300 Celebrations and Festivals

Addicted to Stamps and More #217


Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge


Enjoy!

Rainbow flowers ...

Time to share my second card for the day ... back to my birthday card stash!  A colourful collection of flowers for this month's UNIKO challenge - the theme, in case you haven't guessed, is to use rainbow colours.  I love using the rainbow colours it saves me having to decide which colour to use!

I used:
UNIKO  Flower Power #6
             Flower Power #3
             Simply Said
Versamark Ink
WOW Bright white embossing powder
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
Distress Inks - Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Mustard Seed and Wilted Violet

Enjoy!

Season's Greetings ...

I've had a very hectic couple of weeks with little time for card making.  The time has been largely spent with family - initially in Lincolnshire with my parents and then in Edinburgh visiting my son.  It was my first trip to Edinburgh such a beautiful city and  lovely to spend time with my favourite son.  Now I have the weekend to get myself back into work mode - it has been the half term holiday from school this week so it is back to work on Monday!  Today I have made time for card making.

This is the first card I would like to share with you:

A straightforward card inspired by this week's challenge at "Less is More" the theme is "Celebrations and Festivals".  It is their 300th challenge - congratulations to Chrissie and her design team!  As I need to get my Christmas cards made I decided this was a good excuse to get making!!  The card is all about stamping, masking and heat embossing using:

STAMPlorations - Christmas Bell Medley Stamp Set

Versamark Ink

Distress Ink - Festive Berries

WOW Clear Embossing Powder

Cosmic Shimmer Bright Gold Embossing Powder

As I've used STAMPloration stamps I'm also going to link up to their Never Ending Anything Goes Challenge:

Enjoy!

Theme and sketch inspiration ...

October seems to be passing quickly but you still have time to join in with this month's Theme and Sketch over at STAMPlorations.  Hopefully my card might just inspire you to join in and have a go:

The images on this card are taken from a panel that I created by sponging distress inks onto the back of a stencil I then spritz it with water before placing on a panel of water colour card. Once dry I stamped the daisy image using versafine onyx black ink - this is the panel before I attacked it with a circle die!

Hopefully I will inspire you to join in with the challenge:

I used:

CUTplorations - Amazing die
ARTplorations - Daisy Dance stencil
STAMPlorations - Bloom Sketches stamp set
Distress inks - Festive Berries, Ripe Persimmon, Candied Apple and Spiced Marmalade

Enjoy!

Pretty insects ...

Butterflies and lots of white space ... today's card for this week's challenge at "Less is More". This week the theme is insects - lots of choice you might think but the only insects that appear in my stamp stash are butterflies and dragonflies.  I thought about creating my own spider with a finger print but a quick look at the inspirational designs from the design team and I realised I was too late - Anita had already created a spider with what looks like a finger print but it may be a stamp.  Do pop along to Anita's blog as she prodcues some amazing designs.

Anyway less chatting, here is my card:

I began by stamping and heat embossing some butterflies in white over a panel of card.  I also stamped some background stamps onto a piece of card to add delicate colour before die-cutting the butterfly.  I die cut two more butterflies in red card to add depth and a touch of colour.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto some vellum before assembling the card with a thin red border to pull the design together.

I used:
UNIKO English Country Garden Butterflies
STAMPlorations - Mixed Media Elements and Mixed Media Grunge
Distress Inks -  Festive Berries and Spiced Marmalade
WOW White Embossing Powder and Platinum 
Sweet Dixie Butterfly die

Enjoy! 

Imagine ...

A quick post this evening to share a card for this week's challenge at "Less is More" - it is One Layer week with the theme of 'Dreams'.  This is my entry:

I was at a paper craft fair at the weekend and when I saw this quote I knew I just had to have the stamp!!  It is just so about me ... I dream and imagine sheer brilliance but can't always replicate it when I'm wide awake!  On a positive note ... I do keep trying!  I couldn't believe it when I arrived home after a weekend away and saw what the challenge was at "Less is More" - Dreams!

Enjoy!

First Guest Design Post ...

This is my first post as a member of the STAMPlorations Guest Design Team ... I hope you will be inspired by me to join in with the challenge.  

My card is all about the sketch:

I stamped the squares from first and then cut out the middles to create three windows.  On a scrap piece of card I stamped and heat embossed the buttercups before water colouring using Zig Clean Colour Real Brush markers.  I positioned the buttercups onto the card base and then adhered the 'window' panel using foam adhesive and added a sentiment.

I used:

STAMPlorations:  Buttercups and Butterflies

                             Bloom Sketches

                             Artsy Tribal Doodles

Pop along and join in the challenge - you will be very welcome.

Enjoy!

Christmas Design 3 ...

I'm on a bit of a roll now with Christmas card designs ... this is my third and at the moment my personal favourite.  Some stamping, masking and die cutting!

The card is at a bit of a jaunty angle!!

I firstly stamped three poinsettias masking as I went before I die cut 'Happy' from the card.  I die cut an additional three 'Happy' in black to create a shadow and additional depth to the letters.  Stamped 'Christmas on a scrap of card and used some foam adhesive to add dimension.

I used:
STAMPlorations:  Christmas Bell Medley
Distress Ink - Festive Berries
Versafine Onyx Black
Dienamics High Rise Alpha Dies

I will enter the following challenges:
AAACards #74


Addicted to Stamps and More #213


Enjoy!

Christmas Design 2 ...

This card is my second in my quest for a card I like that is easy to replicate ... this one fits the easy to replicate criteria but I remain unsure!

I began by stamping two pieces of card with background stamps and distress ink - I wanted to create some delicately coloured card to die cut the snowflakes from.  I die cut loads of snowflakes - some I stuck and stacked together to add dimension. Adhered the snowflakes direct to the card base and popped the sentiment up on foam adhesive to add dimension.  I could make quite a few of these as I do have a lot of snowflakes!!

I used:
STAMplorations - Mixed Media Elements, Mixed Media Grunge and a sentiment from Christmas Bell Medley
Distress Inks: Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet.
X Cut Mini Snowflakes

I'm entering the "Less is More" Challenge - a colour challenge this week with "Turquoise and Lilac".

Enjoy!

Christmas design ...

I have very few Christmas cards ready for this year so decided this morning to get my brain in gear and to find a design that I could easily replicate ... I don't think I've found it yet.  The first card was quite time intensive as it involved my latest obsession of iron off embossing - so lots of time waiting for ink to try and lots of ink blending.

I used:
Uniko Stunning Snowflakes
STAMPlorations Christmas Bell Medley (sentiment)
Distress inks - Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid lagoon and Wilted Violet
Versamark
WOW Clear embossing powder
Lawn Cuts Stitched Rectangle Die

I'm entering this weeks challenge at "Less is More" - as it is the start of the month we are back to a colour challenge, this week it is 'Turquoise and Lilac'.

I need to say a big thank you to the "Less is More" design team as they chose to showcase one of my cards!  I'm delighted and honoured to be chosen - Thanks.  This is the card:



Enjoy!