Champagne Anniversary

I have several anniversary cards to send in the next few weeks and I had a left over digi stamp which I printed off quite a while ago, one of a set I bought from Beccy's Place and the set is called Girls' Night.  I decided to colour it with my Polycolour Pencils by Koh-i-Noor, bought recently whilst away on holiday and which I really love.  They leave a lovely sheen and the colours are quite pretty too.  There are only twelve but perhaps I will add some colours in the future.

I started by colouring the image and then fussy cut it out.  I then added some Sea Green Brusho to a piece of white card to fit a 6" square card with about an inch around the edge and spritzed it fairly lightly and when dry I used a Leonie Pujol heart embossing folder just to add a bit more interest to the background.  I had to emboss it twice to cover the piece of square card.  I finished the card with a sentiment stamped on to a label shape using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink, to which I added a bow attached to the glass hand drawn using a Black 01 Micron Pen.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:-

Beccy's Place August Challenge - Anything Goes using any of Beccy's digital images.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 688/9 Anything Goes (option: create your own background).
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Emboss It.
Can You Handle The Pressure? - Anything Goes (no twist).

Giveaway Result

Hi everyone.  This is just a quick post to announce the winner of the giveaway of some papercraft items, a stamp and an embossing folder and also the magazine they came with.  There were only two people who expressed an interest and the winner is ......LIZ - Crafty Sunflower.  I will be in touch with you tomorrow Liz to get your details. 

Joy To The World

Hi there everyone.  I have a card for the Rudolph Days Challenge run by Mo over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo and it runs from the 25th to the end of each month.  I have used a very old set of Hot Off The Press stamps which were a freebie eons ago and also a Sue Wilson die from her Festive Collection called Joy which I have just bought from a local shop and is having its first outing.  They don't have a terrific range of dies, mainly those by SueWilson and they are mainly ones which have been out for quite a while.  This one was there when I visited the shop several months ago and I resisted the temptation to buy it but it was still there this time so it had to come home with me..lol.  

I started with the 'Joy' die, just the word and flourish outline, there is another die with the separate letters which you can use on their own or together with the outline die.  I cut it from a snippet of white card and then I embossed it with WOW Silver Glitter Embossing Powder, a couple of layers to build it up a bit.  I then found another snippet of white card to which I added some Brusho Powders using Ost. Blue and Violet, two of five new colours I bought whilst on holiday and used for the first time here, and then added the large snowflake using Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink and I also added some blended around the edges.  I then made the under layer of the background using another snippet of white card and a smaller snowflake from the set randomly stamped, again using the Blueprint Sketch DI, and also added the sentiment which I came across on another freebie set and which completed the phrase which was handy.  This time I used ordinary Silver Metallic EP.

Thank you for taking a look at my blog today and I'll see you again soon.  Just a reminder that the giveaway finishes tonight at midnight..you will find here.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Snippets Playground Challenge - Christmas in July using up our snippets of paper, card etc.
NBUS Challenge - No. 40 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge No. 120 Anything Goes.
Merry Little Christmas Challenge - No. 45 Anything Christmas Goes.

Bismark Birthday

Hi there.  I was tidying up my working space and came across a digi image which is one by Mo Manning which has been sitting waiting to be used since before Christmas when I made this card here and I ran this extra one off but it never got used.  It is actually a Christmas image but I think it works OK as the only slightly Christmasy thing are the trees on the scarf.  I coloured it with some new pencils I bought whilst on holiday which are Polycolour by Koh-I-Noor and I think for the price they are pretty good.  

As you can see it was a simple card with just a matted layer behind the image and the added sentiment stamped using Versafine Majestic Blue Ink heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope I'll see you again soon.

P.S.  If anyone is interested I have a giveaway here which I will be keeping open until midnight on the 31st July but sorry only for followers or regular visitors living in the UK, so please check it out. 

I am entering the following challenges:

TGIF Challenge - #tgifc378 - Just a Few of My Favourite Things (I love cute animals and colouring).
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No 434 Any Occasion.
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday Challenge - July - Anything Goes (no twist).
Seize the Birthday Challenge - No. 243 Colour Challenge/Anything Goes (no topping).

Giveaway

Hi everyone.  I bought a Paper Crafter magazine earlier in the year Issue 172 which had a Docrafts Papermania Summer Florals set of note cards and floral greeting cards and some matching double sided papers, as well as toppers, tags and sentiments and also a lovely floral stamp and an embossing folder which measures 5" x 2".  They had also included a set of stamps by Sheena Douglass which I subsequently found out were originally a giveaway with a Crafts Beautiful magazine in November last year, which was what prompted me to get it, and these I am keeping.  To be honest I don't do much actual paper crafting and as they are good quality and very pretty summer florals I thought that someone else would appreciate using them, so I have taken some photos of the packaging and the contents and will leave this on here for a week or two so that if anyone would like this and you leave me a comment and also let me know if you would like the Paper Crafter magazine as well which does have some related articles, and I will draw a name out and send them to you.  I'm sorry but just those that are in the UK please, and preferably someone that already follows or at least visits me on a fairly regular basis. 

Thanks for your visit today.  I have now decided that I will keep this open until midnight on Sunday 31st July.

Hole In One

Hi everybody.  Sorry to have been rather quiet lately but we have been away for nearly three weeks with a couple of nights in Shropshire near Ludlow, then two weeks on Anglesey in Wales and finished with a three night stay in The Wirral so we could visit Chester and we also visited New Brighton and Southport as they were places hubby used to visit as a child..mind you I don't think they are quite the same now as they were then but it was good for him to reminisce a bit...lol.  I did manage a few visits but with less time to spend got rather behind so will try and catch up over the next week or so.  We only arrived home yesterday evening and are still in the sorting out phase.  The heat was rather sapping in the last couple of days with temperatures in the mid 90s but we managed to see quite a bit.  When hubby sorts his hundreds of photos out I will select a few to show. 

A masculine card to show you today for a friend who is a regular golf player so got out some sport related stamps which came with Craft Stamper Magazine over a year ago but naughty me they are only just getting their first outing.  There were only three which related to golf..a flag in the hole and a golf ball,  and also a silhouette male golfer, so those were what I used. 

I started by cutting a piece of white card just a little smaller than my DL card and placed the four images using my stamp platform and used Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink which I then heat embossed using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then added some Mowed Lawn Distress Ink using a blending tool around the golfer and extended it softly above the sentiment, and then I made a negative mask and blended more heavily on the green and then added some Candied Apple DI to the flag.  I finished by adding some Salty Ocean DI to the sky, fairly lightly, though in real life it looks darker than in the photo.  I then decided to blend a bit more green ink around the green too.

It's not a very exciting card but I thought using a DL shape would give the impression of the ball going a distance to the green, although the ball does look quite large against the size of the hole..lol.   Thank you for coming to see my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping July Challenge - Anything Stamped with the Option of Hot Sunny Colours.
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - Any Occasion.
NBUS Challenge - Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff. 

Our 40th Anniversary

Hi there everyone.  It's our 40th anniversary and I decided to use a new to me technique for hubby's card which I found after watching Marion Emberson using embossing powders which she calls embossed pouncing.  I used some red and silver sparkle and also a holographic embossing powder and some Pebeo Silver wax, and also the lattice stamped heart from a Chocolate Baroque set called Geometric Trading Hearts.  I used Scarlet Red, Brilliant Red and Orange Brushos for the background and finished with a number made using a piece of scrap white card and the Red Sparkle Embossing Powder (two layers).  You also need some baking parchment to sandwich the powders in between before heating and pouncing with the heat tool.  You do have to be careful to make the pouncing movement quite quick so that the tool does not overheat.  It becomes clearer when you watch the video.

I made the heart as seen on a Marion Emberson video here and I kept clipping away bits until I was happy with the look.  I then reheated it and added the lattice pattern which probably doesn't look like it but it gave it some added texture, and then I added the silver wax rubbed over the surface and when reheated it did shrink one side and left some holes but I thought it looked OK like that.

For the background I just sprinkled the Brusho powders and added some water, sparingly and left it to dry.  I then added just a fine sprinkle of the WOW Silver Sparkle EP and very carefully heated it from underneath until it melted enough for me to go in on the top, and in real life it does have a lovely bit of sparkle but unfortunately doesn't really show in the photo.  

I finished by adding the number from the piece of Red Sparkled Card and stamped the sentiment using a Versamark Red Satin ink heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss EP.

Before I go I would like to introduce and thank two new followers, first Crafty Linby, whose blog you will find here, and Jeanne H. who you will find here.  Some of you may already know them but if not I'm sure they would love you to visit.  Thank you for your visiting my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

P.S. Just an apology...I am using an older laptop for the next couple of weeks and I have found I have a problem trying to comment on any blogs which have the new style of comment box..i.e. the ones with just a line and not the old style box to put the comment in.  I click to start typing and nothing happens, so if you don't hear from me that is why.  If anyone knows of a way to fix it please let me know.

P.P.S. Ignore the above as I seem to have fixed it by using Chrome instead of Firefox.  Read up a little bit and at the moment all is working fine.