Yellow and Grey ...

Wednesday already ... where do the days disappear to?  Today, I'm up bright and early to try and catch up with all the things I need to do ... I always seem to have lots to do and not enough time to fit it all in.

My first task is to share a card with you ... this is in response to the colour challenge at "Less is More" to use Grey and Yellow ... 

I'm sorry about the quality of the photographs ... the card does look better in real life (I would say that, wouldn't I!).  It is a simple card with a small amount of stamping and a die cut sentiment.

I used:
Simon Says Stamp - Perfect Shapes
Distress INks - Hickory Smoke, Squeezed Lemonade and Mustard Seed
Kaisercraft - Dictionary Meanings
CUTplorations (STAMPlorations) - Awesome die

I'm entering the following challenges:
"Less is More" #327


STAMPlorations


Thank you to the wonderful design team at The Male Room Challenge for choosing one of my cards for an "Honourable Mention" - I really appreciate the compliment.  Thank you - this is the card they liked:

Enjoy!

Happy Hexagons ...

It's Friday morning and I should be at work but instead I'm sat waiting for the boiler engineer to turn up!!  In fact this will be the third visit by the engineer  and I know that when he leaves we will still be waiting for him to come back again ... all the parts have not arrived!! It is so frustrating when things breakdown ... I have insurance to cover the cost but it does not cover the time off work waiting for engineers to turn up ... or the frustration!

Rather than continuing my moaning I'm going to share a card with you:

I created a panel of patterned card using distress inks and a background stamp and then die cut the hexagons.  The hexagons have been adhered using foam adhesive to add dimension.  The sentiment was die cut from a scrap of card that had been coloured with brushos.

I used:
Distress Inks - Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Mustard Seed.
Versafine Onyx Black
STAMPlorations - Distressed Damask Background

I'm entering the following challenge:

AAA Cards #89


Enjoy!

Black and Gold Wedding ...

As the weeks whizz by it is time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and this week we have a photograph to inspire you.

What catches your eye and imagination?  For me it was the balloons, black and gold and finally I thought it was all set for a wedding celebration - so I incorporated all of these elements into my card:

It is difficult to see the gold but trust me it is there!!  The sentiment is heat embossed with gold embossing powder and the balloon strings are metallic gold thread.  It's a bit of an unusual colour combination for a wedding card but it is beginning to grow on me.

I hope you will pop over to the challenge and take a look at the design teams beautiful cards - why not get your supplies out and join in with the challenge.

Enjoy!

CAS Mix Up Guest Design Spot ...

Good evening and how exciting is this ... I'm guest designer over at the CAS Mix Up for the May challenge - this is just one of the joys for being the March monthly winner!  I'm hoping to delight and inspire you all to join in with the challenge ... and the theme this month is:

This is my card:

I began by die cutting a small panel which I then stamped and heat embossed these beautiful rananculus flowers (one of the stamps sets I was able to buy with my winners voucher from Simon Says Stamp).  I loosely water coloured the flowers.  I splattered the background before stitching the panel to the card, added a sentiment and considered the card finished.

I used:
Simon Says Stamp - Sketch Rananculus
Distress Inks - Mustard seed, Dried Marigold, Carved Pumpkin, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn
UNIKO - Simply Said
WOW White Embossing Powder

It is a great challenge as it encourages the use of different mixed media techniques in a CAS kind of way.  Each month the designers create some fantastic cards to inspire us to join in ... why not pop along this month and have a look, even better why not enter!

Enjoy!

Wildflowers ...

It's been a busy week back at work ... too tired to create in the evenings ... so I just had too do something creative today but ideas were not coming very fast!  I did manage to create one card and created some base layers for a couple of tags.

This is the card:

I began by colouring a piece of water colour card using Distress Oxide Inks (my first attempt at smooshing with them).  I used the panel to die cut three wildflowers,  I die cut the same wildflowers from some black card, then die cut them from a piece of card and inlaid the black ones back into the negative spaces.  The coloured elements were adhered slightly offset so that the black could been seen and appeared to be the shadows.  I mounted the panel to the card base with a narrow piece of black down the edge to echo the shadow! 

Why all the shadows? well, this week's challenge at "Less is More" is all about Shadows!!

I used:
Distress Oxides - Wilted Violet and Broken China
Sizzix Tim Holtz Wildflowers dies

I'm entering the following challenges:

"Less is More" #326


TIME OUT Challenges #82 Theme - "Flowers with the optional twist of kissing"

Before I go I'd like to share this picture of a flower in my garden - this is the first of six Allium bulbs that planted in the Autumn.  I'm excited as this is the first to flower and each day it seems to get bigger and more beautiful.

Enjoy!

Graffiti Wall ...

It's an early start for me this morning ... it is the last day of my two week break from work and I need to make the most of it!!  I had planned to do so much during my time off ... and yet there still seems to be a lot left on the 'to do list'! 

I finished these two cards yesterday but ran out of time to share them with you ... another reason for getting up early!  The first:
 

The second

I first stamped three panels with a selection of words.  I then die cut the centre of one of the panels using a brick wall die.  For the first card I lined up some of the bricks onto the base and adhered some with foam to add dimension.  On the second card I lined up the 'mortar' grid from around the bricks an adhered it to the panel.  Both panels were then adhered onto a Kraft card.

I used:
STAMPlorations - Blossom Overture, Mixed Media Elements, Hello You, Old Type and Joyful
Distress Inks - Antique Linen, Hickory Smoke, Ground Espresso
Distress Oxide - Broken China
Marianne Design - Brick Wall

I'm entering the following challenges:

Inkspirational Challenge #133


The Male Room Challenge #58 - hopefully a brick wall counts as architecture!!


STAMPlorations


Enjoy!

Butterfly stripes ...

It has been a beautiful Spring Day today ... lots of sunshine and blue skies ... enough to make you smile and begin to believe that Winter has finally gone.  I've been out and about this afternoon in Oxford taking in the sights and sounds of the Oxford Folk weekend - this mainly involved standing in the sunshine watching Morris Dancers (English Folk Dancers find out more here).  I even managed to visit OVADA (Oxfordshire Visual Arts Development Agency) gallery to see an exhibition which included some works by my son.  So a fun filled afternoon but I did have chance to create a card this morning.

I die cut the butterfly out of the card base before ink blending the ombre stripes and then stamped the sentiment.  The detailed butterfly was cut from some black card stock and adhered to the inside of the card.  Then I did something very unusual for me - I added some enamel dots!!

I used:
CUTplorations - Flutter Zen 1 Layering Dies
Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch
Enamel dots - ancient and no longer attached to a label!!

I'm entering the following challenges:

"Less is More" #325


STAMPlorations Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge


STAMPlorations April Theme and Sketch Challenge


Enjoy!