Snowy Umbrella

Hi there everybody.  This is a card I made for my husband using the cute Hedgies from Penny Black.  This image is part of the set called Jolly Friends.  Not the greatest of photos again taken in the evening under my daylight lamp.  In order not to get the flare off the silver mirri it has to be taken to one side of the lamp and then the side away from the lamp looks a bit dark.

Used To Make This Card:

Penny Black Jolly Friends Stamp Set (not easy to find at present).
Versafine Smokey Gray Ink.
Distress Inks - Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn, Walnut Stain and Picked Raspberry.
Adirondack Inks - Sunshine Yellow and Stonewashed.
Marianne Embossing Folder - Snowflakes.
Crealies Nesting Dies with Dots (not available here at present).
White Card.
Silver Mirri Card.
Cosmic Shimmer White PVA. 

I started with a piece of white card on which I stamped the image using Versafine Smokey Gray ink.  I then coloured the image using the inks mentioned above applied with a waterbrush.  To get the paler colour for the body of the Hedgie I mixed a little pink into the yellow and added a little brown.  The hands and feet I added more brown to make them a little darker.

I cut this piece with one of the rectangle dies and then embossed with the snowflakes, and in order to cover the rectangular shape I had to extend it a little.  I then used the next biggest die to cut the silver mirri mat and I adhered the topper to the mat.  I then adhered this to the white base card which started out as an 8" x 8" card and cut a piece off the side and the top to frame the layer nicely.  It ended up approximately 7" x 51/4".

I finished with the White PVA on the umbrella, on the ground around the Hedgies and I added some extra dimension to the snowflakes in the coloured area.  I then die cut the sentiment from some silver mirri card.

That's all for today but I'll be back again soon.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Winter or Christmas.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Merry Christmas to All

Hi there.  This will be a fairly short post as the tag was featured in this post here.   I decided to make a card of it and layered it up on a snippet of white card embossed with the freebie Poinsettia Embossing Folder I have used recently, and then on to a snippet of gold mirri which was die cut with one of the Crealies Rectangle Nesting Dies with Dots which I used on the last post.  This was then adhered to the base card, again an 8" x 8" card cut down to suit.

I decided to adhere it at a jaunty angle and it didn't need a sentiment as the tag is covered in greetings.

I would like to thank everyone who takes an interest in my little corner of blogland and wish you all

                        A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY HEALTHY AND 
                                           WONDERFULLY CREATIVE 2017.

Vintage Bauble Part 2

Hi everybody.  Well I thought I would follow up the previous post with another go I had at the Vintage Bauble but this one did not include any inlaying of fiddly little bits..lol.  It did however use up the leftover piece of the bauble.  I used the inner pieces on the last post and all I had to do was to die cut this piece with the edger die.  Sorry the photo isn't the best, but it was a very gloomy day and, like the last post, I did it under the daylight lamp I have, but I think it would have been better with all the other lights switched off as the left had side has caught the more yellow colour of the overhead light.

Used on this card:

Creative Expressions Vintage Bauble Die.
Snippets of Silver Mirri Card.
Poinsettia and Holly Frame Embossing Folder (Magazine Freebie last year).
Crealies XXL 44 Rectangle Nesting dies with Dots.
Britannia Sentiment Die.
Embroidery Thread.

As I have mentioned having used the inner pieces I then used the edge die to cut the die out.  I then cut the under layer with the same die using a snippet of silver mirri card and I also cut the bauble hanger from a snippet of the silver mirri.  Luckily the blue piece had the Stick It adhesive on the back so it stuck down onto the silver mirri fairly easily and only needed some little dabs of glue, and  I then adhered the hanger on top.

Using a new (NBUS) set of pierced rectangles, or as they say with dots, I cut out two different sizes, the smaller from a snippet of white card, and then a slightly larger from silver mirri.  I then used the Poinsettia Embossing Folder on the white layer and stuck the bauble in place.  I used a length of silver embroidery thread (all six threads) threaded on to a needle and pushed it through with the needle just under the hook of the hanger and at the top of part of the flourish and fixed it at the back with double sided tape.  I then adhered this layer to the silver layer.

I finished by adhering this to the base card.  I have a 8" x 8" white base card and I cut it so it framed these two layers nicely.  I think it ended up somewhere in the region of 7" x 5 1/2".  I have already posted the card so can't be precise.  Lastly I added the bow from the silver embroidery thread stuck
with Glossy Accents which sticks really firmly, and then added the die cut sentiment using up the last snippet of the blue coloured card left over from the bauble.

Thank you for dropping by today and I'll see you soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 260 and 261 where we use our snippets of paper and card etc.
Happy Little Stampers December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Sparkle.
AAA Cards Challenge  - No 80 Silver.
CAS-ual Fridays Challenge - No. 163 Christmas and Hanukkah.

Vintage Bauble

Hi to you all.  Here is another Christmas card using an inlay technique which was supposed to follow something I saw Jennifer McGuire do but my bauble has lots of very small pieces and wasn't a good choice for the technique and I ended up doing it differently.  I might have another go at some point with a simpler one, but I certainly won't be doing it with this one again as it took rather a long time and a lot of patience to get all the little pieces in place.  Sorry this is not a good photo.  The weather has been so dark and gloomy so I took the photo under my daylight lamp but I think I should have turned the other lights off because there are some horrid yellow light reflections, and no chance to do it again as the card has been posted.

What I used for the card:

Creative Expressions by Sue Wilson Die Set - Vintage Bauble.
Snippets of White Card. 
8" x 8" White Base Card cut in half horizontally. 
Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers and Faded Jeans.
Silver Mica mixed with a little water in a spray bottle.
Crafters Companion Nordic Christmas Embossing Folder.  (not easy to find at the moment) 
Silver Embroidery silk.
Die cut sentiment using Silver Mirri Card. 

I cut one of the small sized baubles using a snippet of white card and coloured it using the Distress Inks applied with blending foam.  I used the Picked Raspberry at the top and the Peacock Feathers at the bottom meeting in the midddle and blending to give a purple colour.  I stuck this to another snippet of white card ready to have the pieces inlaid.

I cut a second bauble from a another snippet of white card backed with Stick It adhesive and which I had coloured with the Faded Jeans ink using blending foam, but this time only used the inner die.  I carefully removed the outer edges and most of the infill pieces stayed in the die, probably because of the stick it on the back which helped to keep them in place.  I carefully teased off the sticky backing from each of the pieces in the die and laid the die down over the outer edges stuck to the card and gradually, using pokey tool, pressed them into place.  It proved very difficult to remove the backing from some of the very small pieces but I got there in the end and luckily didn't lose any of the pieces.  Some did fall out of the die but I managed to pick them up with my pokey tool and pushed them into place.

At this stage the bauble was standing proud, so I got another snippet of white card and cut it to the width I needed but left it longer, and then using just the outer die cut a hole for the bauble to fit into.  I then embossed with the Nordic Embossing Folder and placed this over the bauble and marked where I needed to cut it to fit the card, and then stuck double sided tape around the bauble shaped hole and pressed this around the bauble to fix it in place.

I then found a piece of silver embroidery thread and using the complete thickness (six threads) I threaded it on to a needle and pushed it through to the back of the top of the bauble and fixed with tape on the back and took it over the top of the card and fixed that at the back too.  I then adhered this to the base card using double sided tape.  I then made a little bow with another piece of the embroidery thread and stuck it with Glossy Accents which sticks nice and firmly.

I finished with a sentiment cut from Silver Mirri card, and I added some WOS to the inlaid pieces to give them more sparkle.  I also added some gold pen dots to the embossed pattern and also some silver snowflakes.  I was pleased with the finished card but what a performance!!  In order to do the technique the way Jennifer McGuire does it here you need to use dies with large open spaces and no miniscule pieces..lol.

Before I go I would like to introduce Nancy who is my latest follower and you will find her blog here.  I'm sure a lot of you will already know her as she is on the Design Team of the CAS Mix Up and Watercolour Challenges run by Loll and Bonnie.  If you haven't seen her blog before do go and take a look, you won't be disappointed as there is a great variety of wonderfully creative inky creations.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll be back soon.
                                                                                                                                                             

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers December CAS Challenge - Favourite Technique or Product (Inlaid Die).

Robin on a Branch

Hi there.  I had this Penny Black image stamped from the other day when I made a tag.  My first go was with Versafine Smokey Gray ink and I decided to use Gold Embossing Powder instead and as this one didn't get used I decided to make a card with it, which is what you can see here.

For the card I used:

Penny Black little bird from a set called Jolly Friends.
Verve Stamp Set Pinecone Christmas.
Simon Says Stitched Square Die. 
XCut Sentiment Die.
Snippet of White Card.
Snippets of Silver Mirri.
Adirondack Stonewashed, Espresso, Lettuce, Bottle and Sunshine Yellow Inks.
Distress Ink - Stormy Sky.
Lyra Aqua Markers.
Cosmic Shimmer White PVA. 
Stick It Adhesive. 

Using a snippet of white card I stamped the branch, foliage and pine cones from the Verve stamp set using the Espresso ink for the branch and pinecones and Lettuce and Bottle for the foliage as I wanted a little variation in the colour tone I added the lighter colour and then a bit of the darker colour to the stamp.

I cut it out using the largest stitched die and then added the Stonewashed ink and darkened with Stormy Sky round the edges and added a few light clouds with a mask I cut to shape blended using one of the Clarity Blending brushes.  I decided to add a bit of yellow to the centre to warm it up a bit.

I then coloured in  the little bird with the Lyra markers and cut the image out.  I adhered it on to the branch using Pinflair Glue Gel.

I finished by adding some White PVA to the robin's hat trim and bobble, and then some on tree branches and cones and also the falling snow.   I found a snippet of silver mirri which I matted the topper on to before adding to my white base card, and another silver snippet for the die cut sentiment which I backed with the Stick It.

Before I go I have a new follower to introduce, it is Liv, otherwise known as Swissie, whose blog you will find here.   She is a very clever all round crafter and she has a lot of very pretty knitted items on show at the moment, and I'm sure she would appreciate a visit.     

                                                                                                                                                          
Thank you for stopping by my blog today and I'll see you soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 259 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Artistic Stamper December Challenge - Christmas.
Country View Challenge December - Christmas.
Twelve Days of Christmas Cards Challenge - with Kylie and Friends.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Let There Be Snow.
CAS Mix Up December Challenge - Stamping + Sponging + Your Choice.  

Hibiscus and Leafy Frame

Hi all.  I  was lucky enough to be chosen the winner of the October Stamping Sensations Challenge and so was asked to create a card for the December Challenge which is entitled Floral Fancies.  

I found a snippet of white card and embossed the Apple Blossom Leafy Frame and coloured it with Distress Inks and a waterbrush.  I used Mowed Lawn and a touch of Walnut Stain added to the green for some shading.   I adhered this to the white square base card.

I then used another snippet of white card and stamped the Apple Blossom Hibiscus flower image twice using Versamark and heat embossed with WOW Opaque White Embossing Powder.  I coloured the flowers with Picked Raspberry and a bit of Seedless Preserves DI, and then coloured the leaves with Adirondack Sunshine Yellow and the Mowed Lawn and Walnut Stain DI.  I fussy cut the two flowers out.

I then cut a sentiment mat with another snippet of white card using the second largest die from a Spellbinders set called Captivating Squares, and stamped a sentiment from the same freebie set using Versafine Smokey Gray Ink, and whilst it was still wet I covered it in WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and heat set it.  I added the sentiment mat and adhered the flowers using some Pinflair Glue Gel to give them some shape and dimension.

I have really enjoyed being a Guest Designer for Stamping Sensations,  so thank you to Brenda for asking me, and please go and take a look at all the beautiful cards from their Design Team which will I am sure inspire you to enter a card this month.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll be back soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 258 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Addicted to Stamps and More - No 222 Make Your Mark.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Grand Sunset Sails

Hi there everyone.  I needed to make a masculine card very quickly for a family member and so I went with my Couture Creations Grand Sunset Sails Embossing Folder which I have had for quite a long time but haven't used all that much.  Unfortunately as with other CC folders they come and go and so not easy to source now.  This card also gets my vote for the longest time to make an easy card.  Everything that could go wrong did go wrong...lol.  I will explain later.

For the card I used:

Square White Base Card.
Snippet of Blue Card.
Snippet of Silver Mirri Card.
Snippet of Dark Blue Card.
The Couture Creations Embossing Folder.
Versamark Ink.
WOW Metallic Silver Embossing Powder.
Distress Ink Faded Jeans.
XCut Best Wishes Die.

The technique I used here was the inking up of the folder with Versamark before embossing it and then adding the Embossing Powder and heat embossing it.  This particular folder has a lot of positive and negative on both sides of the folder so wasn't easy to choose but in the end I inked up the inside of the front using a brayer which helps to keep it on just the areas where you want it.  After embossing I added the powder and heat set it.  I have to say it wasn't totally covered but I decided it just had a slight random look, but after thinking about it for a bit I decided to brayer the Faded Jeans Ink on to the other parts of the scene which brought out more of the detail and seemed to finish it better.  I did cut it down a bit and mounted it on to some dark blue card before mounting that on to my white  base card.

I finished by adding the silver die cut sentiment which I had backed with Stick It adhesive.

If you are short of time or just plain bored please feel free to miss this bit......

Well, I thought I had finished but then realised after it had been sitting whilst I ran an insert off the computer, that I had mounted the scene upside down on the card.  At this point I had about 15 minutes to make the post which luckily is just a short walk away.  I tried to pull it apart but wrecked the base card, partially wrecked the backing card and slightly tore the scene itself.  Well as you can imagine the air was blue and I thought well how am I going to get this in any state to send at all, having by this time missed the post.  I ended up by starting with a new white card, stuck back the bit that had ripped from the topper, and I managed to stick back the bits that had torn from the back of the card it was mounted on to, and at this point I used some extra bits of tape on the back of the topper to help flatten it a bit, before remounting it, although it was looking a trifle bedaggled by this time.  I decided to stick it to the new card and see what it looked like, and readded the sentiment which luckily came away from the old card base without any damage.

I hate to throw anything away and after it had sat a while, it began to settle and as you can see from the picture above it looks OK.  I just wanted to make the point that it is possible to save something even when you think it is beyond repair!  On reflection it would have been better to just cut the whole thing round the edge and leave it on the piece of white base card, especially as I had used double sided tape which when you want it to stick doesn't, and when you'd rather it hadn't stuck so well proves to be a tough customer...lol.  It went in to the next day's post so was probably received late but better late than not at all.

Before I go I want to introduce who I believe to be a new follower called Sue whose blog you will find here.  Without a photo they don't join the front of the queue of faces and it was only when I realised my number had risen that I did some investigating and came up with this lady so please do go and visit her wonderful blog as there are lots of lovely things to look at.   If this isn't the correct blog then perhaps Sue you can let me know and I will give you a shout out.

Thank you for visiting today, and I promise my next post will not be so long winded.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 257 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
WOW Embossing Powder November Challenge.
The Male Room - No 49 ???Scapes - This is a seascape of sorts so hope this fits the brief.  (Honourable Mention)

November Rudolph Days Challenge

H there everybody.  This is the last Rudolph Days Challenge for this year which is run by Mo over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo and I have enjoyed being on the Design Team so thank you Mo for asking me.  I found a technique on Jennifer McGuire's blog which I thought I would try.  It is a technique for using versamark on your dies and dry embossing them and then heat embossing to bring out the thin lines of the die.  See how to do it here.

Used on the Card:

A freebie Marianne Creatables Bauble die, I think it came with a magazine last year.
An embossing folder from Crafters Companion called A Little Bit Nordic, this is its first outing.
Versamark Pad and Pen.
WOW Opaque White Embossing Powder.
Distress Inks - Festive Berries, Fired Brick, Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles.
A spray of Silver Mica Powder and some water.
Snippets of White and Dark Green Card.
Stick It Adhesive. 
Britannia Sentiment Die.

I started with the Distress Inks smooshed on to a snippet of white card using the water/silver mica spray which gave the finished piece a lovely shimmer, which probably doesn't show up terribly well in the photo.  I did darken the edges with extra Pine Needles using some blending foam. 

After drying with a heat tool I used some talc to dust my die and also the background before using the Versamark on the die and dry embossing it.  I then heat embossed using the white embossing powder.  I then used a Versamark pen for the thread and also heat embossed with the white powder.  I did give the whole piece a final spritz with the mica spray.  I then layered this on to a snippet of green card.

I found another snippet of white card and embossed it with the CC folder and coloured with the Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles Distress Inks.  I did have to cut it down a bit as I wanted to have a nice band of white base card showing round the edge.  I then layered this on to a snippet of green card.

I finished by layering up on to the white base card and die cutting a sentiment from a snippet of dark green card which I first covered with Stick It adhesive.

I did have one or two dry runs at the technique which takes a bit of practice but Jennifer does explain it very well and I think the result looks quite pretty.

Thank you for looking at my blog today.  I'll see you soon.

I am entering the following challenge:

Uniko Challenge No 38 - Christmas.

Twelve Tags of Christmas

Hi everyone.  Loll Thompson has been running her Twelve Tags of Christmas event, and this is the third year she has hosted it.  I'm afraid I have missed the twelve days but she keeps it open for a week longer to allow the stragglers like me to enter.  It was a little hurried and flurried but I got there in the end.

For the tag:

Snippets of White Card.
Snippet of Dark Green Card.
Penny Black Jolly Chant Stamp. (doesn't seem to be available anywhere in the UK at the moment)
Little Bird image from Penny Black Stamp Set Jolly Friends.  (also difficult to find in the UK)
Adirondack Sunshine Yellow Ink.
Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers.
Versamark Ink.
WOW Metallic Gold Embossing Powder.
Lyra Aqua Markers.
Sweet Dixie Die - Leafy Scroll 2.                                           
Piece of Sheer Lemon  Ribbon.

I started with a snippet of white card cut to shape.  I then stamped the background script using Versamark Ink and WOW Gold Embossing Powder, and then smooshed with the yellow and turquoise inks.

Using another snippet of white card I stamped the little bird using the Versamark and the gold embossing powder.  I then coloured it using my Lyra Aqua Markers.  It could be any bird but I made it a robin as they are what I always think of for Christmas.   I then fussy cut the image.  I used a micron pen to add the eye and darkened the beak and accentuated the wing, and I also took the pen round the edges to define it so that it would show up better against the background.

I cut the Leafy Scroll from a snippet of dark green card, and I decided to cut it into two pieces so it fitted on the tag better to place the little bird.

I adhered the bird and the leafy scroll using some Pinflair Glue Gel.

Well that is all for now, but do go and take a look at all the fabulous tags that Loll and her friends have made for this wonderful twelve day event, and there is still time to make and enter a tag yourself.

Thanks for visiting today and see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenge:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 256 where we use our snippets of card and paper.
Uniko Challenge No 38 - Christmas.

Musical Birthday

Hi all.  I needed a quick birthday card for a friend's birthday.  I thought it might be fun to use this old fashioned gramophone, although as he was born in the same year as myself, and I don't remember seeing any horn gramophones,  I'm sure he won't remember them either, but I thought it was fun with the music coming out of the horn.

For the Card I Used:

The player, music score and individual notes are from the set of freebie stamps.
Distress Inks - Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Stormy Sky and Memento Sweet Plum.
Versafine Smokey Gray Ink.
WOW Clear Embossing powder.
Spectrum Noir Dark Grey and Brown Pencils.
A mixture of Silver Mica Powder and water in a spray.
Sakura Silver Gel Pen.
XCut Numbers dies.
Britannia sentiment die.
Stick It Adhesive.
Snippet of white card.
Snippets of Silver Mirri Card.
An 8" x 8" card cut down the middle horizontally.

I started by smooshing with Peacock Feathers and Sweet Plum ink on to a snippet of white card.  When this was dry I stamped the music score stamp twice using Smokey Gray ink.  Whilst it was still wet I used the Clear EP and heat set it.  I then made a mask using a post it note and stamped the horn gramophone making the music appear to come out of it.  I then stamped the random notes and  I shaded the gramophone using the grey and brown pencils.

I decided to add some more colours into the background using the Mowed Lawn and the Stormy Sky inks and some blending foam.   I used the grey pencil to shade and ground the gramophone, and I also blended some of the Stormy Sky ink underneath it too and round the edges of the piece to draw the eye in more.  I used a mica powder spray to add some more sparkle and it also added texture where it lifted the ink.

I then die cut the numbers and the sentiment using snippets of silver mirri backed with Stick It Adhesive and stuck them in place.  As a finishing touch I used the silver pen to highlight the notes, and then stuck this finished piece to the white card base.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I will be back again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 255 where we use our snippets of paper and card.
The Male Room - No. 48 Science.  (Emile Berliner invented the Gramophone in the 1890s.
Cuttlebug Mania - Music.  (I use a Grand Calibur) (Runner Up)

Poppies For Remembrance

Hi there everybody.  As today is Armistice Day here in the UK I decided to make this poppy card.   I adore poppies because they are so bright and pretty, and there is nothing so beautiful as a field full of them, but also they are a symbol of remembrance. 

For this card I used:

An 8" x 8" white card cut in half horizontally.
A Memory Box Row of Poppies die.
A Sue Wilson Petite Striplet Tiled Squares die. 
Crafters Companion Textures Embossing Folder - Distress.
Pieces of White, Black, Green and Red Card.
Sentiment.

I started by embossing the white card base with the Distress EF.  I cut the solid background striplet die from a piece of black card and then cut the open die from a piece of white.  As I wanted to have a black edge I cut round the open die by hand leaving a narrow band around the pattern.  If I had used the outside edge with it none of the black would have showed round the edge.

I then cut the poppy die twice, green for the stems and buds, and red for the flowers.  I also fiddled with one of the buds and inserted a little red so it looks as though it is just beginning to open.  When placing on the card I decided to bring the stems together instead of having them in a row.

To finish I added a silver sentiment.

Thank you for visiting today.

I am entering the following challenges:

CAS on Sunday Challenge - No. 95 Flowers.
Happy Little Stampers November Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
The Flower Challenge - No 2 Occasion.

Purple and Gold Chess

Hi there.  I was determined to enter the Less is More Challenge this week which is a colour theme using Purple and Gold.  I also had a male birthday card to make, so hey presto, I managed to combine the two.

Used on the Card:

Chocolate Baroque Art of Chess stamp.
Die-Namics Basic Stitch Lines Die. (doesn't seem to be available in the UK at the moment)
Memento Grape Jelly Ink.
Gold Mica Powder.
Britannia Sentiment Die.

I found a snippet of white card and cut it to just a little smaller than my white square base card and stamped the background chess board using the Grape Jelly ink.  I masked a bit of the stamp as I didn't want it to be too large on the card, and after stamping I used the same ink to shade the pieces on the board, and bits of the background, as you can see.  I wasn't quite sure about the colour which is rather a pinky purple, but the only other colour I had was an Adirondack Egg Plant ink and that I felt was rather dark.  I did add a bit more of the Grape Jelly using my waterbrush which darkened and shaded.

I then decided to use some gold mica on selected bits of it to incorporate the gold, and I mixed some of the mica powder on my glass mat with my waterbrush and applied it to the stamped image.  I tried taking photos from other angles to see if the gold would show up better but couldn't seem to catch it,  and the fact the light is not so good this time of year doesn't help.  In real life it is quite nice and sparkly.

I felt that it lacked something so I used the double stitched line die from the Die-Namics set round the edges of the stamped layer and adhered this to the card.  I then found a snippet of gold card on which I used Stick It adhesive, die cut the sentiment and adhered it to the finished card.

Thank you for taking a look at my blog today.  See you soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixies Crafty Workshop - Week 254 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Happy Little Stampers November CAS Challenge - Metal/Faux Metal.
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes.



*Shown in the December Reader's Gallery over at Chocolate Baroque.

IndigoBlu October Challenge Reminder - Monochrome

Hi all.  I was so excited to have been chosen as one of the Top 3 over at IndigoBlu and as a consequence they asked if I would be a Guest for the October Mid Challenge Reminder.  The challenge for October is Monochrome, so I chose to use reds and oranges, and their Peony Dinkie stamp which is beautiful. 

I started by stamping the flowers three times on to a piece of white card using Versafine Smokey Gray ink.  I then coloured the three flowers using a waterbrush and Distress Inks in Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade and Adirondack Peach Bellini.  I started with the palest colour which is the peach which I used all over, then the spiced marmalade for lighter shading,  and finished with fired brick to deepen the shading.  I then fussy cut the flowers out.  I decided to heat emboss the flowers with Versamark and WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I did this twice to build a nice shine which probably doesn't show that much in the photo but in real life gives the colours more intensity.

For the background I shaded with the three colours using blending foam and darkened round the edges with a bit more of the Fired Brick DI at the end.  I then did some ghosting.  This is a fairly new to me technique which I tried on a recent card.  I sprayed the Peony stamp with some water and pressed down on to the background for a few seconds to allow the water to lift the ink.  I then used a piece of tissue to soak up the loosened ink.  As the stamp is quite detailed it only lifted it quite lightly but then I stamped over the top with Fired Brick DI to give the flowers definition.  I did lift a little more of the ink with a waterbrush to add a few extra highlights, and also spritzed some water lightly over the background too.

I found a piece of white lace which I coloured with the Fired Brick DI and after it had dried I adhered it to the centre of the background before gluing this to the front of the square white base card.  I then placed the flowers using Pinflair Glue Gel for dimension and decided that I would die cut the tag from a piece of vellum using the smallest die from a Spellbinder set called Labels 8 Decorative Elements.  I stamped the sentiment using the Fired Brick again.  I then adhered it by one corner just under the flowers using the Pinflair Glue Gel.  I decided to finish with a few sequins which were white and so I coloured them with a red Promarker.

I kept to just the three colours so the tones would all work together for this monochromatic theme, and although this colour combination is not one I use often the fiery brightness of these tones seems apt for this time of year.

Thank you for dropping by and do go and take a look at this latest IndigoBlu Challenge as there is always lots of inspiration from their wonderful Design Team, and a great prize each month for the winner, as well as a Guest Designer spot at the start of a new challenge, or a guest spot mid month if you make the Top 3.  So get out your IndigoBlu stamps and be lucky! 

See you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Take It Make It Challenge: November - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Shine Bright Like A Diamond.  (The flowers are shiny and also the added sequins)
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Thinking of You.
The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge.
The Flower Challenge - No 2 - Occasion.

Multi Heart Anniversary

Hi everybody.  I made this anniversary card for family members a while ago but have only just got round to showing it here.  For this one I have used a couple of dies by Sue Wilson Die from Creative Expressions called Heart of Hearts and Congratulations.   The scalloped edges were cut with the largest square die from a set by Tonic.  The last thing I used was a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder called Divine Swirls, which doesn't seem to be available anywhere at the moment, although the swirls don't show up very well in the photo.

I started by cutting the black layer with the Tonic scalloped square die using a snippet of black card.  I laid it down on the card approximately where I wanted it to be and cut it roughly to shape.  I then placed the heart die, the smaller of the two outside edge dies and cut the heart out of the black card.  I then embossed using the Divine Swirls and ran it through a second time to extend the pattern.

I then cut two hearts using the same die, one from a snippet of red card and one from a snippet of white.  Using the multi heart die I cut out the little hearts from the white heart.  I then layered up the white on top of the red.

To finish I cut the sentiment from another snippet of red card which I backed with the Stick It adhesive.

After layering it all up I cut a few more hearts of various sizes using the leftover adhesive backed red card and placed these randomly as you can see.

Thank you for looking at my blog today.  See you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 253 where we use up our snippets of paper and card etc.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Thinking of You. 
Inkspirational Challenge - Black + One Colour.

Holly Wreath

Hi everybody.  Well, here we are nearly at the end of October and the clocks going back this comng weekend...ugh... hate the thought of all those dark nights!  I decided that I need to crack on with my Christmas cards so here is one to show you today.  I used a couple of new dies which I bought fairly recently, both Sue Wilson ones, the Snowflake Mini Striplet and the Holly Branch.

For the holly I decided on slightly unconventional Christmas colours using the marbling technique with snippets of black and white card and White and Bronze Acrylic Paint which worked reasonably well.  The colours turned out a little muted, obviously the white paint in there wasn't going to do anything on the white card, so I added some more bronze with a brush.  At this point I though that it might be nice to have some totally Bronze coloured pieces to mix in, so I painted some white snippets with the Bronze paint.    

I then made the background using another snippet of white card, and die cut the striplet three times across the card and attached this to the white square base card.  I found a left over snippet of black which had been cut with a circle die some time ago, I keep a plastic box with all sorts of bits in.  I heat embossed a sentiment on to it using some WOW Copper Metallic Embossing Powder.  I then attached this to the centre of the card.

To finish I die cut the holly branches and cut them in half, and then using Cosmic Shimmer White Pearl PVA I made the berries.  They weren't totally successful as the holly die berries are like the leaves in that they are open, so the beads of PVA went slightly flat as they fell through the holes a bit, but there were too many of them to use gems.  I then adhered them round the circle.

Thank you for dropping by today, and I'll be back soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 252 where we use up snippets of paper and card etc.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers October Christmas Challenge - Embossing (I heat embossed the sentiment).
Happy Little Stampers October Anything Goes with Dies.

Blue Poppies with Marbling

Hi there everybody.  I decided to try my hand at marbling using shaving foam which entails spraying foam into a tray and adding either drops of acrylic paint or alcohol inks, or watercolour paints from a tube the pigments of which are very strong so you would only need a very small amount.   You then move the colours around using the end of a paintbrush or something similar and lay the paper face down on top of the foam for a few second.  After lifting you scrape away the foam to reveal the pretty pattern.   I did originally have it in mind to enter the CAS Mix Up Challenge but realised that I hadn't done any stamping but I enjoyed trying the technique out anyway.

I did as I explained above, using a snippet of white card and acrylic paints in yellow and blue which in places mixed together to make green.  I did make several pieces but to be honest the first was the best as even if you add more inks it doesn't take long for the colours to become muddy, and personally I prefer it when the colours look quite separate and clean.  I mounted this marbled piece on to another snippet of white card.

I die cut the poppies from yet another snippet of white card using a Memory Box die called Row of Poppies and then coloured them using the blue acrylic paint on the flowers adding the paint with a waterbrush and adding some extra colour over the top to make the bottom of the flowers darker to add shading.  I used my Distress Inks on the stems and buds, again using a waterbrush.   The colours were Mowed Lawn with a bit of Walnut Stain.

I die cut the sentiment using another snippet of white card which I coloured with Mowed Lawn DI and I backed this with the Stick It adhesive.

Thank you for joining me here on my blog today, and see you again soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 251 where we use our snippets of paper and card etc.
The Flower Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers October Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.

Autumnal Birthday

Hi all.  Well Summer is finally over and Autumn has definitely arrived now and the nights are getting quite chilly here.  There are quite a few Autumn challenges around at the moment and one is brand new.  It is CAS Watercolour Challenge being run by Loll Thompson and Bonnie Klass,  and is in addition to  the *CAS Mix Up Challenge which they already run and which this month asks for Stamping+Ghosting+Own Choice which in the case of my card below is either the die cutting or heat embossing.

The Ghosting technique is fairly new to me, and there are several ways of achieving this but I used water, i.e. removing ink by spritzing water on to the stamp and pressing down on to an inked surface.  I covered a snippet of white card with several different colours of Distress Ink, namely Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick and Walnut Stain, using a dry baby wipe as I happened to have one handy.  I then found a maple leaf stamp from a set by Hobby Art called Falling Leaves.  I spritzed it with water and placed it down on the inked card for quite a number of seconds before lifting it away.  This lifts some ink and makes a lovely pattern.  I repeated this randomly.  When I had finished I used a stitched square die, the largest in the set which is about 4" in size.

I found another snippet of white card and stamped two of the leaves using the Walnut Stain DI.  I made sure this was perfectly dry before adding several of the colours mentioned above to watercolour the leaves with, using a waterbrush.  When happy with the look of the leaves, and again when perfectly dry, I pressed them into my Versamark pad to coat them and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I repeated this again to give them a nice even shiny finish.  When using water based products to colour you should use a permanent ink to stamp with, but I took a chance and although a little of the detail was lost I just readded it with a pencil before heat embossing and it looks fine.

When I had adhered the background and the leaves to the white square base card I added a sentiment stamped with Adirondack Espresso ink.

Thank you for dropping by my blog today.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 250 where we use up our snippets of card and paper etc.
Addicted to CAS Challenge - Watercolour.
Penny Black and More Challenge - Autumn.
Uniko Studio Challenge - Autumn (no twist though).
Happy Little Stampers October Mixed Media Challenge - Nature.
Happy Little Stampers October Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
CAS on Sunday - Heat Embossing.
Stamping Sensations October Challenge - Autumn.  (voted winner by DT - so pleased!)
Rubber Dance October Stamp Challenge - Fall (in Love with Autumn).
Casual Fridays Challenge - 158 - 1 in 8.  (I have six leaves whole/partially stamped in the background and two whole leaves as the focal image.
*I am thrilled to have been chosen as one of the Outstanding Designs over at CAS Mix Up.

Hummingbird and Lilies

Hi there everybody.  Guess what, I found another great set of freebie stamps with an embossing folder.  They came with a Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine and are by Apple Blossom and I must say that for freebies are very good quality.  There are a couple of flowers, a lily, an Hibiscus with some leaves, and a few sentiments and the pretty Hummingbird.

The colouring throughout was done with a set of Lyra Aqua Markers.  I found a snippet of white card and embossed with the folder and coloured all the leaves which is easier with the raised pattern but did take a bit of time, but I think worked quite well.  The technique I decided to used was to lay down the green on to my glass mat, and to lighten and vary the colour a bit I picked up the green on a yellow pen and then painted on to the leaves.  I managed to colour a few of the leaves before I needed to reload the pen from the glass mat.  When I had finished I blended a bit of extra colour, namely Memento Bamboo Leaves, around the edges before attaching this to my square white base card.

I then stamped the lily flower three times on to another snippet of white card using Versafine Smokey Gray ink and coloured with a peachy orange before highlighting with a darker more red shade.  I coloured the stamens with yellow and a little black added to the anthers, i.e. the bits on the end...lol.  I then fussy cut these three flowers which were a trifle fiddly cutting round the stamens.  One flower did end up with a few less when I inadvertently chopped them off but the hummingbird's beak sits nicely over the top fortuately.  I glued them to the corner using Pinflair Glue Gel for a little dimension.

I stamped the hummingbird on another snippet of white card and coloured with a yellow and blue stroked over the top to make it look more green and then blue and red on the wings and tail and also a little on the neck, and the end tail feathers were again the yellow with blue over the top.   Again I fussy cut and mounted it on to the card using the Pinflair.

I finished the card with a sentiment from the set mounted on to tag using one of the Spellbinders Floral Oval dies.  It just about fitted but I didn't want to make the tag much bigger so I stamped it very slightly on the slant to fit it on.  I again stamped with Versafine Smokey Gray ink and added some WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and heat set it.

Before I go I would like to introduce a new follow called Sue whose blog you will find here, and her creations are very varied and all beautiful, so if you haven't visited before I'm sure she would appreciate you popping in.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll be back soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 249 where we use our snippets of paper and card etc.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Inkspirational Challenge - Glamour.  I think that the Hummingbird is one of the most glamorous birds with its beautiful irridescent feathers so I'm hoping that this will fit the challenge.
Virginia's View Challenge - Focal Point.  I think the leafy frame draws your eye into the focal point which is the bird and flowers.

Rudolph Days Challenge for September

Hi all.  Well, it's nearly the end of the month and the Rudolph Days Challenge is upon us again and it is my team's turn to do a card this month.  The challenge runs from the 25th to the end of each month over at Mo's blog Scraps of Life by Scrappymo, and there is always a lovely prize on offer to the winner so do go and check it out.

I have used a freebie set of stamps by Penny Black to make this card which I have had for some  time and the tree from it is one of my favourites.

I decided to try and make a triangular card to echo the shape of the tree and so I made myself a template.  This was a case of trial and error.  I started with a piece of copy paper and obviously the left hand side of the triangle has to be the fold of the card.  I folded the A4 copy paper in half and tried to place it with the fold in the right place and at the right angle, but I couldn't seem to make this work.   I then folded the paper with the fold at a slant across it and then by degrees cut the other side to match, and then evened up the bottom, and more by accident I feel, managed to get the shape right.  I wanted it to fit in the region of 6" but no bigger so it would fit into  6" square envelope, and amazingly and to my delight, it fits exactly.

My card was cut from a piece of white pearlescent card and then I cut a slightly smaller triangle from a snippet of silver mirri card and mounted this on to the base card.  I found another snippet of dark blue card and cut another triangle slightly smaller again and heat embossed the tree onto it using WOW Sparkling Snow Embossing Powder, and I added a sentiment, from the same set of stamps, underneath the tree, using WOW Metallic Silver EP.  To add some interest to the background I used a Marianne Snowflakes Embossing Folder.  I had to run it through twice to cover the shape.  I finished by adding this to the card.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.  See you again soon.








I am entering the following challenges:

WOW Embossing Powder Blog September Challenge - Anything Goes.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 248 where we use our snippets of paper and card etc.

In the Pink Anniversary

Hi there.  I made this card several weeks ago but have only just got around to showing it here.   I am using the Indigoblu Poppy Heart stamp that I used quite recently and decided to go with the white embossed look again but this time I have used the blended background technique which is becoming a favourite of mine.

This time I stamped and heat embossed on to a snippet of white card using WOW Opaque Bright White Embossing Powder.   I coloured the heart with inks and a water brush using Adirondack Pink Sherbet and Eggplant and  Shaded Lilac Distress Ink for the flowers,  and Memento Bamboo Leaves with a bit of the Eggplant added in to the green for the darker green shading.

I then blended Pink Sherbet and Shaded Lilac into the background using a blending tool making it darker around the outside of the heart.  I used a bit more of the Pink Sherbet through a mini Creative Expressions stencil called Shabby Harlequin and then using a Clear Wink of Stella pen I just highlighted the stencilling to give it a bit of a sparkle although this doesn't show up very well.  I then layered it on to a snippet of silver mirri card.

To finish I added some little silver hearts and a sentiment.

Thank you for stopping to look at my blog today.  See you soon.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 247 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
IndigoBlu August Challenge -  All Things Bright and Beautiful.  Sorry it is rather late!  I hope this fits the challenge as I have used lovely bright colours, and I hope you think it is beautiful.   (I am thrilled to have been chosen as one of the Top 3 for this challenge)  
WOW Embossing Powder Blog September Challenge - Anything Goes.
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge No 211 - Anything Goes.

Through the Porthole

Hi there.  Well here I am with another masculine card and using the Chocolate Baroque stamps with an underwater theme called Funky Fish and Steampunk Sea World.  I decided to look at the fish through a porthole and that's where I started.

I began with a snippet of white card and die cut a circle using the biggest die, which is 4", from a set by XCut.  I started by blending inks on to the circle using a blending tool.  I used Adirondack Lettuce and Stonewashed,  Mowed Lawn and Stormy Sky Distress Ink, and the Peacock Feathers was used mainly on the fish, nautilus and seahorse.  I think my sea has ended up rather more green than blue.

I picked a selection of fish stamps across the two sets keeping to the smaller sized stamps and made a pleasing scene.  To make the bit of greenery at the bottom I used the tentacles from what I think is a squid, inking just the smaller tentacles, which worked quite well.  I coloured with a waterbrush using the same inks as mentioned above but with some Adirondack Sunshine Yellow added in.  I did add some interest using a stamp by Creative Expressions called Bubbles, and then using the same inks as above, I darkened around the edges and then decided to take away some of the colour within the bubbles and around the fish etc by bleaching out with water, as I thought the whole thing was beginning to become too dark and heavy.

For the background I found a snippet of white card and embossed with a Sizzix Embossing Folder called Woodgrain, this comes as a pair together with one called Bricked.  I had to extend it  a bit to make it square.  I used Antique Linen DI to colour it with.  I mounted this on to my white square base card.

To make the porthole I took a snippet of black card and cut a circle slightly larger than the 4" one I cut originally.  To do this I scoured the kitchen to find something circular with the right dimensions and finished by using a holder for my kitchen utensils and pencilled around the base.  I cut this by hand and then cut out the centre by using the largest XCut circle I used earlier but this time pencilling round the inside of the die so that when cut out it was a fraction smaller to cover the edge of the original circle.  Note to self, I MUST buy some more circle dies so that this process is less labour intensive and gives a better finish! The XCut dies are a great basic set which I bought several years ago and have used quite a lot, and I also have some stitched circles, but both sets have about five dies and they have an inch in between each die which for something like this doesn't work.

To finish the porthole I found some little round dots which I stuck on and coloured with a silver Sakura pen which has a glitter finish but looked OK for this.

I decided to embellish with an anchor die, one of three, which go with a set of Lawn Fawn stamps called Float My Boat, but the die works fine on its own, and using another snippet of black card I cut the anchor, and using my pokey tool I made a hole in the top big enough to take the twine which I doubled, twisted, and wrapped round the anchor and then stamped a sentiment on to a snippet of white card using Black Archival Ink, and cut it into a tag shape with a fishtail, and coloured using the Antique Linen DI and a little Black Soot DI.

To finish I adhered the scene and the frame and then added the anchor and sentiment tag which,  with hindsight, would have looked better with a smaller sentiment so it would have cut into a smaller tag, and I'm not sure that I like the colour tone I ended up with, but hey ho it's done now and I will stop being picky Pat..lol.

Thank you for joining me here today and I will see you again soon.









I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 246 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Stamp It.
Cuttlebug Mania - Anything Goes with die cuts.  (I cut the image circle and anchor using a Grand Caliber.
Penny Black and More - Add  A Sentiment.
Stamping Sensations - One for the Boys.
*Shown in the October Chocolate Baroque Reader's Gallery.