Ice Lolly Heaven

Hello.
Yikes - it's hot! I put the thermometer in my craft room yesterday (my conservatory) and it went off the charts at  40C+  That's bloody hot for Yorkshire :o)
Needless to say, I decamped to a cooler room to make this card.

I  can't get the hang of water colouring, but I have some gorgeous, vibrant, watercolour, ecoline brush pens and I really wanted to use them. I saw this easy technique to try and it worked a treat.
I used the brush pens straight onto my stamp, spritzed it with water and stamped. Simple!

On my first attempt some of the colours got a little muddy, so I kept a white strip between them and that worked better. If you wanted you could easily fill that white area by using a small brush, but I liked it that way.

If you follow me on Instagram pop over and check out my reel. It's the first proper, card making video I've done. Not perfect, but it was kind of fun. And I have a new respect for those card makers that video their process :-)

Challenge

Addicted to CAS 

I've gone for some tangy, tropical ice lollies  - I could just eat one right now!

sugarpea designs - summer scoops
ecoline brush pens
pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle, warm buff ink

Hey Winter

Hello.

Does everyone find it hard to do 'random' snowflakes, or is it just me?

I have to force myself to put down the white gel pen, otherwise that bear would look like he's in a massive snowstorm!   :o)

I've followed this week's sketch at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - using that cute bear instead of the circle. 
Does anyone remember Craftwork Cards? They're not in business anymore, but I used to buy little coloured circles from them - like card sequins -  that they called Candi.  Anyhoo, this card sentiment was one of theirs too, and I found a packet of them at the bottom of my Christmas box. I really wanted to use it, so I hope the challenge DT will forgive my sentiment being out of place.

Challenge

52 Christmas Card Throwdown 

SugarPea Designs - Hey Winter - coloured with Copics
Distress Ink - Salty Ocean
Stitched hillside borders die

From little seeds, Grow Mighty Christmas Trees

Hello.

Do you keep all those snippets of designer paper?

I confess, I recently gave away most of my papers because I just never use them, but I did keep a small selection, even the teeny, tiny pieces.

This is a great way to use up those pieces.

Here, I've used a tiny, tree die, but this would work just as well with any small die in your stash.

The trees are popped up with foam pads for a little dimension.

 Snippets Playground Challenge

#433 Christmas in July 

mft - beast friends / snowglobe sentiments
pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle

Believe In The Magic Of Christmas

Hello.

Happiness is... getting out your Christmas stamps.

I think two thirds of the stamps I own are Christmas ones, and I'm always happy when I get them out and have a rummage. This year I'm starting early, with this old, but super cute stamp from Lili of the Valley.

This image is so cute, I don't think it needs much in the way of embellies. All I did was colour it with copics and then pop up the frame with foam tape.

Maybe, before I send it, I'll add a touch of glitter to those stars.

Challenge
ABC Christmas

N is for New, O is for Old

This was an old stamp from Lili of the Valley.
(I think you can still get it as a digi image)

Lili of the Valley - Joseph and Mary, coloured with copics
Sentiment - mft snowglobe sentiments
frame made with mft rectangle stax dies

Love Birds

Hello.

It's my Wedding Anniversary today - 37 years!! What's the gift for that?

Copic markers?     ;o)

Here's the card I made for my dh...

I just love this pretty songbirds set, and it was on my desk from my last card, so that's what I went with.

I used a stencil for the distress ink background, but left an area behind the birds white, so that they would show up better.

Challenge

Addicted to Stamps and More

pinkfresh studio - songbirds on branches, coloured with copics
altenew watercolor stripes stencil, with broken china distress oxide ink
sentiment from my favorite things, woof pack

Everything Is Peachy

Hello.

I'm excited today to be joining along as a guest designer at the Color Hues Challenge.

Nancy runs a fabulous challenge and there is always lots of great inspiration to be had from her talented design team. This fortnight they'd like to see Peach & Grey.

I think that recently something has just clicked with this colour challenge for me. I've been approaching it in a different way. I know it sounds like the opposite of what I should do, but now I'm not totally focusing on the colours. I just make the card I want to make, and work the colours into it. 

Take this card - if I was thinking peach and grey, I probably wouldn't have thought of birds and leaves.

Does that make sense to anyone??

How do you approach a colour challenge?

Color Hues the Color Challenge

I hope you'll find time to play along with us. I can't wait to see what you come up with.
And if you need any inspiration check out the amazing work of the Design Team 

pinkfresh studio - songbirds on branches / perfect sentiments
mft - stitched rectangular scalloped frame
copics

Songbirds on Branches

Hello.
Just a quick post this morning.
I have my spot on the sofa booked, and snacks at the ready,
for this afternoon's Wimbledon semi-finals     :o) 

I have to say thanks to the super talented Michele for this card.
I saw her use this stamp and just fell in love with it. Thanks for the inspiration, Michele.
Here, I've used just one of the branches for a Less is More card.

This was also my first time using embossing paste. Oh wow! How much fun is it? I love it and it works so well for snow, giving some lovely texture to the card. I think I need to be a bit more generous with it though - the distress ink colour shows through a little bit.

Challenge

Less is More

pinkfresh studio - songbirds on branches, perfect sentiments
pretty pink posh - snowfall stencil
distress ink - salvaged patina
copics

Good Book : Cozy Nook

Hello.
Hope you are enjoying the weekend. I think I am on the last day of this rotten cold. Honestly, I don't think I have ever coughed so much. I'm relegated to the spare room.
At least in the craft room - which is my conservatory - it's nice and warm, and I had another play with these brilliant room dies. They are so much fun.

This card is for my brother, and the red and blue theme suited him perfectly.
I die cut all the tiny pieces and stuck together those ones that needed it eg: the furniture legs, the picture frames, the books etc. It's a fiddly job, made even harder when the dog likes to jump on the chair if  I get up, and eat anything he can reach!! This time he managed to eat a couple of die-cut books before I caught him  :o)

Then I stuck down the elements onto the background, where I had already added some 'wallpaper' and the sentiment.

***check out my Instagram, if you want to see a quick reel of how this was put together***

Challenge

Color Hues.
I definitely had to join in with this challenge, as the DT were playing along with the fabulous
Michele Ferguson and there's an option to add stars and stripes into your project.

Red and Blue

mft - take a seat / fundamental furnishings / decor and more 

Have A Wild Birthday

Hello.
Today I have been down a Pinterest rabbit hole  :o)
When I saw the 'tropical' theme at Time Out Challenges, I headed over to there for some inspiration.  Wow! This is a great theme. I loved all the lush, vibrant colour combos. I NEED to try them all.

For now, I went with this blue to orange blend and a jungle feel.

I started by blending my panel with distress inks and sprinkling some water drops.

Then, I die cut my leopard image, coloured him with copics and popped him up with foam tape.
For the canopy of leaves, I die cut the end of that branch several times and added some flat and some popped up leaves, for a bit of interest.
Finally, I scattered a few dew drops around and added a white embossed sentiment.

Challenge

Time Out 

mft - loveable leopards     sentiment from party penguins
distress ink - wild honey,squeezed lemonade, cracked pistachio, salty ocean

It's Not Where You Go, It's Who You Travel With

Hello.
Today I'm sharing a super, quick card, for the Less Is More Challenge.

I stamped the image straight onto a card blank, and coloured it with copics. For the background I added some very faint stenciled clouds (they don't show up great on this photo), and then stamped a sentiment.

Job done.

Challenge

Less Is More

stampabilities - snoopy and his sidecick, coloured with copics
mft - cloud stencil with distress ink, tumbled glass

Colour all the Flowers

Hello.
It's hard to find time to craft right now, so today I wanted a reasonably quick make, but I also fancied a bit of colouring. This cover plate die was perfect.

I die-cut the cover plate, popped out all the leaf pieces, and attached it to my card blank. Then I coloured the leaves in, and inserted them back into their spaces. I die-cut a second cover plate, coloured the blooms and popped them up with foam tape. Then I added a little bling, some white pen, and a birthday sentiment.     (Check out my Instagram reel for a quick video).

I used my ecoline brush pens for this, because they give a wonderful, vibrant colour. I can't wait to try this with the reds!

Challenge

Color Hues

pinkfresh studio - ornate floral die
concord & 9th - make a wish
ecoline brush pens - green / forest green / sky blue light / ultra marine light