Happiness is ...

This week seems to have passed by so very quickly and as for February - where did that month disappear to??  The year seems to be speeding by but at least it means that Spring is on the way - lots of sunshine today but it is very windy.

I started my weekend by creating a card for this week's challenge at "Less is More"  where the theme is 'This makes me happy'.  There are many things that make me happy - my family, my friends, sunshine and lots more.  However there is one other thing that makes me happy and that is having the time to craft, time to try out new techniques or revisit old ones. So this card combines my love of getting messy with inks, one of my favourite stamp sets (Uniko Studio - Gerbera) and for once mastering the 'ironing-off' embossing technique.  You can't help but be happy using these vibrant colours!

My original plan was to create a card using the Bokeh effect which seems to be 'on trend' but the image I chose was too large (and my dream was greater than my skill level).  So this is what happened:

I stamped the first gerbera and heat embossed using clear embossing powder and then coloured the whole of the panel with Dried Marigold distress ink.  Once the first layer was dry I stamped and heat embossed two more gerbera and then covered the panel with Spiced Marmalade distress ink.  When this layer was dry I stamped and heat embossed two further gerbera and then covered the panel with Ripe Persimmon distress ink.  When all was dry out I ironed off the embossing between pages of a telephone directory.  This is how the panel looked:

All I needed to do then was to decide how to use the panel - I can't tell you how long it took me to decide what to do with it!!  I think I'm happy with how it turned out!

I'm going to enter it in to the following challenges:

"Less is More" Week 213, This makes me happy

Uniko Studio Challenge 18 - Birthdays

Virginias View Challenge  #13 - All things embossed

Enjoy!

Pastel shades ...

Since my last post the time seems to have vanished and I have not had time to pick up a piece of card or a stamp! (I have managed to do a little knitting though!).

I ended half term week with a visit to family in Lincolnshire I even managed to teach my mum a couple of inking techniques that she hadn't used before - it is always fun to craft with someone else.

I have managed to put a card together this afternoon for the challenge over at "Less is More" - the theme is WINGS.  I dry embossed the card using a stencil, lightly coloured the flowers and stitched on two butterflies - there are some embossed damsel flies in the background I hope these show up in the photographs.

I used
Distress Inks - Spun Sugar, Seedless Preserves, Picked raspberry and Peeled Paint.
Imagination Crafts Stencil - Wildflowers
Memory Box - Pippi Butterfly die

Enjoy!

Distressed heart ...

Good afternoon!  It's unusual for me to be here on a Monday afternoon but this week is half term holidays for the schools and as I work in a school office that means that I'm on holiday for a week!  More time for crafting (and housework?) and spending time just chilling!

For those of you that follow my blog or popped by on Sunday for a visit will know that I had a lot of trouble creating a one layer card involving an embossed heart (here).  This card has been created using the heart that I inadvertently cut out of the card yesterday turning the disaster into a "happy little accident".

From one layer to mulitple layers - old book paper, natural hessian, cream hessian, ink splodges, card stock, and a metal button along with the stamped, coloured and embossed heart!! In fact there is nothing one layered about this!

I'm going to enter the challenge at Mixed Media Card Challenge blog



and the STAMPlorations monthly challenge



Enjoy!

With love ...

One Sunday, two cards!  This card was far less of a problem than the first one I did today - I guess it helped that I used the same techniques.

I had hoped that the tags would have more of a 3D effect but they do look better in real life - I really need to brush up on my photography skills.  

I love sentiment stamps and filling shapes with words.  Sometimes when I don't have any idea of where to start this provides a mind distracting starting point - while I'm thinking about placing the words I stop trying to think about a card design!

Anyway less chat more show.  Here is my second One Layer Love card:

The angle of the photograph has distorted the shape - it is a 6" square!

I will enter this in the following challenges:

"Less is More" Challenge Week 211

Addicted to CAS Challenge # 57

Edit:  Popped back to link up my card to the challenge at AAA Cards (thanks to the heads up from Loll Thompson [a brilliant card maker who's blog is well worth a visit - Stamping with Loll]).  The challenge is Orange and CAS.

Enjoy!

One more heart ...

This card has been an absolute nightmare - this is my third attempt!  Here is the story ...

First time - I masked the heart, stamped the flowers, coloured the flowers, stenciled the background and all was looking good.  Then disaster struck I placed the heart die on the card to emboss it, I put it through my Big Shot and cut the heart out!!  Not what I wanted as this was to be a single layer card!!

Second time - I masked the heart, stamped the flowers, coloured the flowers, stenciled the background and all was looking good (sounds familiar!). I placed the heart die on the card to emboss it and put it through my Big Shot.  All was good the heart was still in the card - success I thought but no the pressure had welded the masking paper to the card! As I removed the masking paper I also removed the top layer of the card!!

Third time lucky!! This is the final card:-

I had this week's challenge at "Less is More" (One Layer with Love for the theme) in mind when I started this card.  That's why it was important for the heart to stay in the card!! There is an upside to the first disaster as I do have a completed heart to use on another project!

I used:
Derwent Inktense pencils
Clearly Besotted Many Messages Stamp set
Uniko Studio Beautiful Blooms II (part of this week's new releases)
Versafine Black Onyx Ink
Crafters Workshop Mini Chicken Wire Reversed stencil
Cosmic Shimmer Clear Texture Paste
X Cut Nesting Heart Dies
... and lots of patience and determination!!

I will also enter the challenge at Addicted to CAS Challenge  #57 with the code word MASK.

I'm going to end this post with some exciting news - one of my cards has been Showcased over at "Less is More" - if you're interested you can see the card here.  Thanks to Chrissie and the Design team.

Enjoy!

Follow your heart ...

My second card for the day - the pity is that I didn't manage to complete it before darkness fell so the photographs are not as good as earlier.

This is another card involving a stitched heart.

This card is a bit of a first for me as it actually features washi tape!  I own quite a lot of washi tape but have never used it on a card, up until today the only thing I've used it for has been to hold a die in place before running it through my Big Shot or for securing a stencil!!

For this card I used:

Sizzix Heart Framelits
STAMPlorationsnSubway Art Builders DARE
Stampin Up - Heart Mask, Riding Hood Red Ink and Paper Piercing Pack Essentials
Golden Gel Modling Paste.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

STAMPlorations Sketch Challenge #27



The Mixed Media Card Challenge #8 - the theme is Love with the optional twist of buttons - I've had these tiny star buttons in my stash for years - it's great to be prompted to use them!

Enjoy!

Pink Butterfly ...

Beautiful sunshine and blue skies, still cold but there is something about the sun that brings out the smiles!

My first card today features two new dies - Pippi Butterfly from Memory Box and Stitched Tags from Lil'inker.

I stamped some card stock with gorgeous grunge stamps and picked raspberry distress ink before die-cutting the butterfly.  I also die cut a butterfly in some plain white card and using the negative pieces created a "butterfly shadow" - this was very fiddly but I quite like the effect.  I then die cut two tags - one in grey and one in some card stock coloured with picked raspberry distress ink.  Added a small bow in paper twine and a few splatters of ink on the card base, finally added a sentiment (using pumice stone distress ink) and all was done!

I'm going to enter the following challenges:

"Less is More"  This week they are celebrating Four years of challenges, great achievement - congratulations to the founder Chrissie and her brilliant design team.  This week it is a colour challenge - Pink and Grey.

TIME OUT challenge The current challenge is to CASE this card by Kylie of Addicted to Stamps 


Enjoy!