Welcome Spring

Hi there.  I made this card for a lovely lady and a good friend whose birthday was this week and decided that as we are now officially in Spring I would use these new stamps which I bought recently from Chocolate Baroque which include these pretty Daffodils and a sweet bird on a flowery branch.

I started by smooshing the background - what a lovely word - which basically means putting ink down on a piece of acrylic sheet, spritzing with water, and then laying your card on top to transfer the ink, drying with a heat tool,  and continuing in this way until the desired coverage is achieved.  I used a snippet of white card and Distress Inks in Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass, Mustard Seed and Shaded Lilac.

I stamped the bird on the branch and then the Daffodils stamped and masked several times to fill the space.  In order to get the flowers as close as possible to the bird image I placed a piece of paper over the nearest branch so I wouldn't stamp over it.  With rubber stamps there is a certain amount of guesswork and I inadvertently cut off the edge, but with the use of my Spectrum Noir pencils with which I coloured the images I made the edges look fuzzy and faded into the distance which luckily worked quite well.  I have the Primary and Essentials sets and I love these as they are quite waxy and work well over a watercoloured background.  I did try to make the background colours tie in with the colours I would be using for the images and tried not to make the background too dark.

I have some Tsukineko cling mount (Di from Pixie's Playground has kindly told me it is called Tack n Peel) which works like cling for rubber stamps and sticks permanently to a large acrylic block and means you don't have to mount every stamp.  It has worked well but it has got discoloured with the inks which have gradually built up so it is getting difficult to see through it for placement, and although I wash it regularly stamps don't cling as well anymore.  Anyway the inevitable happened and a couple of times the stamp fell off as I was stamping so I covered the bad bits with little flowers over the top using some snippets of white card.  The air was a little blue but I got there in the end, so note to self GET IT SORTED!!

Finally I mounted it on to two different snippety offcuts of green card and then mounted that on a square white card.  The sentiment is a Britannia Die.

Thank you to everyone who stops to take a look, I really do appreciate your interest.

Pat  x

Darnell at djkardcreations has a new NBUS (never before used schtuff) challenge, and she has been very generous in offering five $25 vouchers for any US company of the winner's choice.  Congratulations on having over 800 followers Darnell. 
   
                                                   
The other challenges I wish to enter are:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 169.  Where we use up our snippets of paper, card etc.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
The Artistic Stamper - Spring is Coming.

Graffitti Sentiment

Hi all.  Sorry it has been so long since my last post but I seem to have had such a lot of things going on lately which have taken me away from cardmaking and left me rather lacking inspiration, but I have kept up with the comments and looking at what this talented community has been getting up to,  and I do mean to do better!  I made this card with the Addicted to CAS challenge in mind, which is to use green, but now I have finished it I think it is probably not CAS enough.  Anyway it is intended for a birthday later in the month and I am sure there are other challenges which it will be fit for.

I used Tim Holtz  Bricked embossing folder, but first I inked a snippet of white card using Distress Inks in Mowed Lawn, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed using the 'smooshing' technique which seems to be very popular and this lady Betsy is very good at it, and you can find her here.  This is similar to the acrylic block technique but uses a piece of acrylic sheet to mix the inks and water on and makes it easier if you want to make a larger background.  I used Distress Inks Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade and did the process several times until the card was adequately covered.   I dried the card with my heat tool and then embossed using the Bricked EF.  I had to run the card through twice and matched up the pattern as well as I could in order to cover my square piece of card.  

I stamped the Clarity stamp, which is one I received through the Clarity Stamp Club, using Adirondack Inks in Lettuce and Bottle.  I stamped with the Lettuce first and then stamped it again using the Bottle just round the edges.  I moved it down a little to get a shadow effect which gives it a looser look.  I then used my Spectrum Noir pencils to bring out the letters and add a little shading.

I finished by making the Ivy using a Creative Expressions die by Sue Wilson called Trailing Ivy, using snippets of light and dark green card.  Unfortunately the dark green looks more blue then green in the photo.  I also used a snippet of the same dark green card for the sentiment which was made with a Britannia Die which allows you to make a Birthday and a Christmas sentiment so is very useful. 

Thank you for looking at my blog today.

Pat x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 168 where we are on a mission to use up our snippets of paper and card.
Virginia's View Challenge - All Things Embossed.
Country View Challenges - Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations - One for the Guys.

Misty Morning

Hi there everyone.  I have a male birthday coming up and it is always difficult making cards for men. I got out a few stamps including a NBUS set from Claritystamp which consists of a windmill, long grass, and long grass flower heads.

I started with a snippet of white card 41/2" square, and stamped the long grass at the front to frame the scene using Adirondack ink in Lettuce which I added all over the stamp first, and then Bottle which I dabbed on in places to break the colour up.  I then added the water using some blending foam and a slightly curved piece of paper to mask, and some Adirondack ink in Stonewashed, and starting at the edges I built up the colour, keeping it darker round the edges and lighter in the middle.  I then cut a piece of scrap paper with larger curves for the hills and the same greens that I used for the grasses.  I used the curved edge of the scrap paper to form the hills starting with the Lettuce and then adding the Bottle for some darker areas and shadows.  I then very lightly added another couple of hills in the background but literally using just the ink which was left on the blending foam.  I finished the scene by filling in the sky using Adirondack Stonewashed and a very little Adirondack Faded Jeans.  I used another piece of scrap paper with two or three smaller curves and moved it randomly around dusting the colour on to give lighter and darker areas, and then I went over the whole sky with a bit more Stonewashed to even it all out, but with a bit of variation so that it wasn't too flat and uninteresting.  I used a bird from a set of stamps by Sheena Douglass over a darker patch which I couldn't seem to blend away so the bird disguises that a bit.  Being a picky person I also see that there is rather a definite line in the right hand hill where I added another hill over the top and didn't smooth the ink out enough, but I think in real life it doesn't show as much as it does in the photo, and it is in the post now so too late!  The trouble is sometimes I get impatient and try to add the colour too quickly which leads to an irritating blob, so I say 'steady as you go' when adding colour, it doesn't always work though.

You will notice that I didn't use the windmill in the end because as the scene progressed there didn't seem to be anywhere where it would fit in, so no windmill this time.  I also decided the grass looked better without any of the leaves or flower heads.  I mounted this on to a snippet of dark green card and then on to a white square base card and then added a sentiment to finish.

This is the first scene like this that I have done recently and Mr Mojo stuck around so it went quite well.  When completed I decided that the colours were quite soft and it reminded me of the early morning before the sun has burnt the hazy cloud away, so misty morning it is.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 166 where we use up all our leftover paper and card etc.
Stamping Sensations - One for the Guys.
Seize the Birthday - Masculine.
Happy Little Stampers - Sponging.  I sponged the ink on using blending foam.
Country View Challenges - Anything Goes.

Christmas Star Wreath

Hi there.  It is Rudolph Day again and I have made a card with that in mind.  It is now being run by Maureen at  Scraps of Life by Scrappymo and it runs from 25th until the end of the month.  I also took into account the theme over at Merry Monday which is Stars, and the colours are from the photo below for the challenge at Inkspirational, and it also fits the sketch over at Happy Little Stampers.

I decided to try and make my own embossing plate for the background of my card and I used a snippet of good quality acetate and a NBUS  set of stars from XCut the smallest die.  I randomly cut out the stars one at a time across this 6" x 6" acetate sheet.  This did take a bit of time as I had to pass it through two or three times for each star in order for it to cut through, and I wasn't sure that it would actually emboss, but luckily it did work as you can see here using a snippet of white card to emboss it on to.

I also used the same sized die from the XCut set for the wreath and using snippets of white, black and silver mirri card, I heat embossed the white ones with WOW Sparkling Snow, and the black with WOW Black Sparkle Embossing Powder.   I finished the card with a piece of silver ribbon which came as part of a prize from Debby over at A Scrapjourney, and the sentiment is from a set of Indigoblu stamps which I stamped using Black Archival ink which I then heat embossed with WOW Clear EP. 






I have a new follower who is Connie and you will find her blog here.  She is a lady of many talents, so please go and take a look.


Thank you for coming to visit today and I hope you have a good weekend.

Pat x

I am also entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 165.   Using up snippets of card and paper.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - No Rules.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Feb. 2015 - Anything Goes.

Fuchsia Birthday

Hi there everyone.  I originally made this card with the Time Out Challenge in mind, which was to case a card by Kylie, and you can find her post here but unfortunately I have just checked and the challenge has closed.  At the moment cardmaking and I are not good friends as nothing seems to have been going right lately!  Anyway here is my card and Kylie's card is on the right.  

I used the fuchsia leaves, flower and buds from a Clearly Besotted set which I got free with a magazine recently.  I stamped the leaves first on to a snippet of white card using Memento Bamboo Leaves Ink and then added the fuchsia flowers using the same green on the top of the flower and the rest of the stamp I stamped with  Addirondack Eggplant Ink and then masked the flowers and added the buds using the Bamboo Leaves .  I then coloured the flowers with a waterbrush using the Eggplant and some Distress Ink in Picked Raspberry,  and then the buds with Bamboo Leaves and  I got out a few of my Spectrum Noir pencils and added some extra shadows and highlights.  I think the buds would have looked better with less green and a little more of the open flower colours but I did add a little pink from one of the pencils to change the colour a bit.

My twist on Kylie's card was to use a woodgrain embossing folder for the top half instead of the stripes, and a piece of ribbon instead of a couple of embossed lines.  I also decided to make the topper a banner shape and then I added the sentiment  on the bottom of the background layer.  I did wish that I had added the sentiment before putting the card together because needless to say it didn't stamp at all evenly so I stamped it again on another snippet of white card and cut all round the edge of it and attached it over the top.  It probably would have looked better if I had made a mat out of it but because the sentiment was quite large there wasn't really the room for it so did the best I could.  I think I should have deconstructed it but suspected the topper would probably be ruined in the process and the thought of starting again didn't really appeal greatly.   I also managed to mark the topper so decided to get creative with a few pearls.

I hope I am over this cardmaking slump.   I'm sure I am not alone in going through a bad patch of creativity and nobody wants to listen to me bleating on endlessly about it, so thank you for visiting today because as always your interest is very much appreciated!

Pat x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 164.  I used two snippets of white card, and a snippet of ribbon.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Add A Little Texture.
Happy Little Stampers - CAS Challenge - Embossing.
Penny Black and More - Anything Goes except a digi.
Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes.
Addicted to CAS - Mask.

Floral Heart and Rose

Hi All.   As this is the season of hearts and flowers, here is another romantic offering.  I have become a member of the Claritystamp Stencil Club,  which is now running alongside my Stamp Club membership, so every month I receive a new stamp and a stencil to have a play with.  I got this in January but have only just got around to having a play with it.  I also used a rose stamp which was part of a freebie set I recently got with a magazine and added the sentiment and small butterfly which were also part of this set.

The stencil has the positive and the negative and I laid the negative over the card and placed the heart into it to add the Distress Ink.  My grey ink has decided to dry out so I used Black Soot but applied it very lightly so that it wasn't too dark.  I removed the inner piece and then added some Adirondack Pink Sherbert Ink to add shadow to the white areas and also used pink round the edge too.

The freebie stamps are by Clearly Besotted  and I stamped the rose using a snippet of white card and coloured the flower with Picked Raspberry DI using a brush and a little water, and some Mowed Lawn DI for the leaves, sepals and stem, and after it was dry cut it out.

I finished by adding the sentiment and a little butterfly which came with the same set.  I used second generation ink for the butterfly and added a little pink using a Spectrum Noir pencil.  After adding the rose to the card I decided to add Glossy Accents to make it stand out better, and I also added a little extra pink to the flowers and some of the leaves too, and a little grey pencil round the outer edge for definition.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Pat x

I am entering the following challenges:

Less is More are celebrating their 4th Birthday with a Colour Challenge using Pink and Grey.  Many congratulations to the team .
Pixie's Crafty Workshop where we use up our snippets.  I hope I am allowed to go through the gates as I have only used one little snippet of white card.
Cas-ual Fridays - Challenge 136 to use some watercolouring.  I did watercolour the rose with inks so hope this is ok for the challenge.
Simon Says Monday Challenge to use red and pink or just red or pink.
Sweet Stampin' - Add a Heart.


For some reason my blog has suddenly decided that I have extra followers.  For a little while there has been a discrepancy of one but now all of a sudden it appears to be three. Now I don't think I have anyone new or that I have actually lost anybody, but if you should notice that you should be there and now you are not please let me know.

Hearts and Butterflies With Love

Hi there.  Here we are at the start of another month and a month closer to the start of Spring.  I know I shouldn't wish my time away but this time of year seems to make my card making grind to a near halt and I seem to spend more time thinking and looking than actually doing, and when I do 'do' nothing seems to go smoothly.   I am not totally pleased with the finished result but at least it's a card.  Right, that's enough of that moaning and groaning, so here it is.

I based the card on this week's Freshly Made Sketch but unfortunately I have missed the deadline for entries, but anyway this is the sketch.

For the background I used three different Jennifer Ellory patterned papers from a freebie pad which came with a magazine a while ago.

For the topper I used a snippet of cream card and cut a circle using a set of Xcut Circle Dies into which I embedded the red and blue hearts.  The red heart was embossed with a Craft Concepts Embossing Folder More Dots, and the blue heart with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder D'Vine Swirl.  To embed the hearts I cut and embossed them first using  a set of heart dies from Nellie Snellen the smallest of the straight edged hearts in the set.  I then used the die to cut the first heart shape in the cream circle.   I put the first heart into place and put the heart die onto the first heart and then cut again which took a piece out of the first heart and cut the shape into the cream circle at the same time.  I placed the blue heart into the space and glued it all together with the paper doily behind.

To finish I added the sentiment which was part of Sue Wilson's Framed Noel die.  There are four different words round the frame, and I had experimentally cut them out when having a play before Christmas and they had been sitting on my table ever since.   I thought the 'love' was perfect for the card so I also used a little butterfly, which I cut out of one of the patterned papers, to embellish the sentiment, and an extra butterfly of my own design, embossed with the More Dots EF.  I used some  Pearl PVA to embellish them and also used some on the blue heart and in two of the corners of the square white card.  This last idea was initiated by the fact that I managed to get some of the Pearl PVA on to the bottom left had corner of the card so I thought this might cover it sufficiently.  I didn't get the dots terribly straight, and I managed to smudge one of the dots at the top too so left a mark there as well,  but it did sort of work.  I told you it hasn't been going well lately ..lol. 

Thank you for looking today.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Butterfly Challenge - No. 23 Butterflies + V is for Valentine.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 162 where we use up our snippets of paper and card etc.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - H is for ....  in this case 'hearts'.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.