CAS Watercolour challenge - sunflower

This is my entry for the CAS watercolour challenge for Sunflower.

I've used a stamp set that came free with a magazine. I used wateringcan ink to stamp a sunflower in the background. I stamped and coloured with bottled aquatints the images and then fussy cut before I mounted them with foam onto the card.

Friendship

The challenge on AAA cards is for "Friendship". I love this sentiment from a Sara Davies set and think it fits for sending to a friend when they need a little reminder.

I made the background using a stencil of lots of squares and re positioning it several times so that it gave a plaid background with distress oxides inks. Then I cut it out with a pierced die and added the die cut butterflies.

Mermaid tag

I've been trying to make this tag on and off all last week! When I realised the Allsorts challenge was for two weeks it gave me a little breathing space to get it finished.

I've used a Julie nutting mermaid stamp and die. Her scales are actually a tile advert from the back of the Waitrose supermarket magazine! I just thought they were perfect. I used some SU paper for the sea and sand. The stamps and seahorse die are from a magazine freebie and I used a nail varnish marble paper I had made to cut some of them out. The others are cut from an oxide background I previously created.

I'm also entering this into
the Countryview challenge for Sun, Sea and Sand.
a second entry in The Library Challenge for the book The Little Mermaid.

I spy with my little eye something beginning with "B" at Penny Black & More challenge

Our new challenge over at Penny Black and More is I spy something with my little eye beginning with..."B",lots of scope for you there.

For my DT card I chose to go with B is for Blooms! I've used this Festive paper pad from Penny Black and not a bauble or tree in sight! I love the bright colours and decided it was perfect for paper piecing the bloom stamps. They are from Penny Black 30-155 Blooming Garden.

Our sponsors this month are Penny Black, Crafts U Love £15 voucher and Inkylicious stamps. I do hope you can join us over at the challenge for fabulous prices and wonderful inspiration from my teamies.

July Rudolph Day - in August!

Here is my card for the July Rudolph Day challenge on Mo's blog. Mo is running a little late so that is why it is in August lol!

Nice and simple card from me, this is a stencil and I just put gold sparkle paste through it - done!

AAA cards CAS #120 Somewhere over the rainbow

When I saw the challenge on AAA cards a little rainbow die I won last year came to mind - so this is it's first outing. I did attempt some rainbows last year here using a method I had seen on Jennifer McGuire and they took me ages - this little die was a little quicker but not by much lol! 

I had to cut the die several times and of course in the process got the same colour more than once. I did try and place it to use the least amount of card. But I still had these snippets left over, all cut from snippets too. So I made another couple of cards. I actually liked this Hello card the most, although it is not strictly a rainbow as the colours aren't right.

Totally not a rainbow!

As I used snippets I'm also going over to the Snippets Playground to share there too. I've still got some die cuts left, but I decided this was enough for the moment lol!

5th Birthday at The Male Room Challenge

It's The Male Room Challenge 5th Birthday today! So our challenge to celebrate is a simple "Birthday"! (suitable for a male of course!)

For my DT card I have used two Sheena Douglass sets of stamps. One is the City in the clouds and the fireworks come from the urban collection.  I heat embossed the fireworks with two different gold powers. The sentiments are from a Happy Stampers set.

I used Distress oxides to create the background and then bleached out the clouds and with some faux bleaching created some clouds higher in the sky too. I edged with black soot DI ink and the border is from Leonie Pujol - I just extended it with the help of the MISTI.

Thanks for looking and hope to see you at the challenge with your male birthday cards.

The Little Mermaid

I recently acquired this pre-loved Penny Black stamp and looking for an excuse to use her when I saw the new Library Challenge was "The Little Mermaid" - how perfect for a literal translation of the book title.

I used some aqua green and sand coloured velum for the background. A free embossing folder with sea shells was again just right for the vellum. I've added a few nuvo stars in wonderful mermaid colours. The sentiment is a tiny stamp I am using over and over again as it is just so neat. It's by Gummiapan from Swedish House Crafts. The final backing paper is a wave pattern from my stash.

Bubbly fish for Swedish House Crafts Design Team

Hello everyone I'm here today with my latest Swedish House Crafts DT make.

I've made a fishy card with the Laserowe bubbly fish. I think it's perfect for sending a message. I've chosen to use Happy Birthday with the Gummiapan line art sentiment die and the little worn ringed star stamp fits in there too!

I wanted to make this a fun card and the Live Love Laugh die from Gummiapan is perfect, and with a little adjustment fits inside the circle too. I used the Maja Life By The Sea 6x6 paper pad for the die cuts and to back the fish. I also cut two strips from different papers for the background. The distressing is already on the papers - isn't it cool?

I used the "waste" heart from the Live Love Laugh die for the third circle. I also thinks it looks a little like a fish tail peeking out from the sea. 

Links to products I used:

Laserowe bubbly fish

Happy Birthday Gummiapan line art sentiment die

Gummiapan worn ringed star stamp

Gummiapan Live Love Laugh die 

Maja Life By The Sea 6x6 paper pad

Thanks for looking today and don't forget the sale in the store here.

Hollywood Wives

I've used Debbi Moore cdrom Diamonds & Lace to create this card. You can't really see it on the photo but I used an aperture card and put acetate behind it to create a "film strip" with the hand draw edges. It's also a large card at 10 x 9 inches.

Behind the acetate I put various elements with a clear sparkle pen over the parts that sparkle. On the front of the card I added the sentiments and the lady with the car. I added a coloured film strip and some embellishments. Finally I added for extra bling some CE Hexagons and diamond dust on the edges of the drawn film strip.

I'm entering this card into The Library Challenge - inspired by the title of the book Hollywood Wives. I'm also entering into the current CD Sunday challenge for Anything goes.

An update on my Windows 10 fiasco - I got it all back! I found that the pc had helpfully created a new profile for me and my stuff was all under the old one. So together with my external hardrive all is back to how I had it before - phew!

Colour your die cuts

The challenge on CAS Mix Up Card challenge is to Colour Your Die Cuts.

I keep the background I make and on looking through the decided this pink and orange combo one I did with brushos would look good using a die cut. I used the Chloe stem as I haven't had it out for a while and the sentiment is from a Spellbinders set called birthday cake.

It looked a little too CAS so I used some blue aquatint watered down to splash over the background.

Splash Watercolouring

You know when you see a card challenge and think - "yes - I will enter that". Then the next thing you know it closes in a few hours! - Yep, it's what happened to me - twice! So there will be two posts in short succession today.

This is the first card using the splash watercolour technique for CAS Watercolour challenge.

I used a few distress oxides to make the background using the technique. Then stamped onto the top - adding just a few touches to the seahorse to make it stand out more. The stamps are all freebies from magazines.

Beverages for Twofer card challenge

These are two cards I made for the current Twofer challenge. I've used a Penny Black image on the first one with a die cut mat. I have to say that I really wished this said "tea" instead of coffee for me, but I had to buy it anyway as I love the design

.

Then I tried to be clever! Using the tea cup as a sunshade on this second card. I couldn't find a stamp small enough for the beverage so I had to hand draw it together with a blanket that she has snuggled down into lol!

Mojito Time at the Beach for Swedish House Crafts DT

Hi, I'm here today with my latest Swedish House Crafts DT make.
It's inspired by my recent holiday at the seaside. Have you tried lolly stick art yet? It's so easy and looks effective too.

Just use ordinary wooden lolly sticks - mine are extra large ones. I used Distress oxides and dragged the pad over the wood in various colours to get the effect. Then glue the edges together and wait until dry to decorate. 

I used the Gummiapan Hen Net Stamp, worn grid stamp and mini worn ringed star stamp to add interest to the background. The Roxstamps Memories die is just perfect for me to capture the feeling I am after. I used Denim & Friends wood 12x12 paper to cut it out.

Of course you are on holiday, so a little Mojito cocktail is in order! I stamped and cut around the stamped image of Majito by Gummiapan. Using promarkers to colour and then added glossy accents over the top to look like glass.

To make the sign for the beach I used Crafters Companion textured embossing folder wood grain. I used the ink pads to drag over and then cut out the post and sign. The wording and butterflies are cut from Mister Tom's treasure borders paper.  I added a little coloured PVA glue for nails. I added a little sparkle pen to the butterflies too.

I used one of the Laserowe foto cams and again dragged the oxide ink pads over it. Behind it I placed a little clock cut from Mister Tom 6x6 Treasures pocket watches. It may seem a little early for cocktails - but then if you are on holiday..........

The sentiment is from Pion Design - Images of the Past, Legends of the Sea and was just the perfect finishing touch for my lolly stick art. I gently inked it with the same colours I used on the background to co-ordinate it with the rest of the piece.

I really enjoyed making this and I now have a lovely reminder of our holiday too. 

Links to products I used:
Gummiapan Hen Net Stamp
worn grid stamp 
mini worn ringed star stamp
Majito by Gummiapan
Roxstamps Memories die
Denim & Friends wood 12x12 paper
Mister Tom's treasure borders paper
Crafters Companion textured embossing folder wood grain
Laserowe foto cams
Mister Tom 6x6 Treasures pocket watches
Pion Design - Images of the Past, Legends of the Sea

Challenge #90 at The Male Room - Include an unexpected item

My second post today! This time it's for the new challenge at The Male Room and we would like to see "Include an unexpected item on your card".

I decided you don't often see a "To do" list on a card! I thought this Penny Black stamp was perfect to create my to do list. I used Kraft card and stamped the image colouring with Distress crayons and metallic pens. The items on the list are from a Penny Black set called "summer fun" and the little stars are from a Clearly Besotted stamp set.

For the List heading and the sentiment I used this little stamp set below. It's from the shop Tiger and Ithought it would come in handy for a card and so this is its first outing.  I really like the quirky font. I didn't use the ink pad which came with it though as I wasn't sure how good the ink would be.

My card base is a pre printed one from Docrafts. It even comes with a nice envelope.

Thanks for looking and hope to see you over at the Challenge.

mid month reminder for Things with wings at Penny Black & More

A reminder about our Things with Wings challenge over at Penny Black & More challenge.

For my DT card I used a stamp from the 12 Days of Christmas stamp set. I masked the bird and then stamped it four times. I think this is going to be very apt for a certain someone who is always on their phone! I then coloured with promarkers, metallic pens and a clear sparkle overlay for the birds.

The background is one I made with some alcohol inks and blending solution onto stamping card. I then matted and framed using gold mirri card, adding a Lawn Fawn die cut sentiment.

Thanks for looking and hope you can join us over at the Challenge.