PAINTED PETALS

Hello.

Yay!

Today was a good stamping day.

I think I'm finally getting to grips with these painted petals.

Here's my entry for this week's 

Inspired by Challenge

It took me a while to think how to re-create the large, white, bloom,

from the inspiration picture.

In the end, I went with the palest inks I have, 

and I missed out a stamping layer,

so that more of the white base would show through.

I love those green leaves.

They were a budget find from The Works 

 6 different leaf dies for £4

We do love a bargain   :o)

Inspire By

supplies

mft - painted petals

mama elephant - labeled messages

avery elle - postage stamp die

versacolor - narcissus, bisque    memento - rose bud

distress oxide - walnut stain

SUPERSTAR

Hello

"Keep your eyes on the stars

and your feet on the ground."

              Theodore Roosevelt.

That's this fortnight's inspirational quote over at

Time Out Challenges

It had me reaching for this star, stamp set - an oldie, but a goodie!

Just for a bit of interest and added bling, some of the stars are

heat embossed with gold powder.

Time Out Challenge

supplies

clearly besotted - superstar

altenew inks - sea breeze, starlight, tide blue

wow gold embossing powder

mama elephant - labeled messages

avery elle - postage stamp die

VINTAGE ROSES

Hello.

It's the dreaded one layer card challenge at 

Less Is More this week.

So, I put away the embellies, and the layering dies

and concentrated on some stamping.

I was really happy with how these roses turned out,

cos I've always had problems with them.

I think success this time was down to investing in a set of six inks

(3 pink, 3 green) that match perfectly

and, using my stamping platform to line the stamps up.

I love the little rose bud at the bottom of the card.

This was made by simply stamping a leaf design in the rose colours.

A little trick I picked up from the picture on the back of the stamp set.

Challenge

Less Is More 

supplies

altenew - vintage roses, spring bouquet ink set

mft - handwritten happiness

LOVE YOU TO BITS

Hello

Me : Don't buy any more design paper. You already have a large box full and you hardly use it anymore.

Inner Me : But it's so beautiful  :o)

The inner me won. Ha ha!

I found this gorgeous paper pad at The Works, of all places.

And, it includes glitter and foil papers - how could I resist?

This was just one of those cards that did not photograph well.

The camera hasn't picked up the glitter on the paper,

and the heart, sentiment, and 'you' die are all popped up on foam tape

so it has much more depth than appears here.

Challenge

Simon Says Stamp

Anything Goes

Supplies

DP - The Works

Nested Heart Die - Spellbinders

Arrow - MFT Stamps Die

You - Sugar Pea Designs

Sentiment - Lawn Fawn, Smitty's ABCs

YOU'RE MY PERSON

Hello.

It's my Wedding Anniversary in July,

but I've made my card early this year

just in case my dh decides to whisk me away

on a romantic holiday. 

#Iliveinhope

I've played along at Inspired By again, this week.

This is fast becoming my favourite challenge,

cos it really gets my old grey matter going.

Are you playing along?

I took inspiration from the grid design and 

the white numbers on a dark background.

supplies

stamping bella - uptown girl ava / uptown couple brett and brenda

clearly besotted - basic banner

happy anniversary sentiment - papermania

copic markers

memory box - number dies    mft - in and out stitched square dies

ALL YELLOW

Hello.

We've had a gorgeous few days here, for the long Easter weekend.

The sun has been shining and, everybody and their uncle, have been out mowing their lawns. 

:o)

I have been wracking my brains to come up with something for this week's challenge at Inspired By

The theme is 'Earth Day.'

I didn't have any map/atlas/globe/watering can stamps,

so in the end I went with the inspiration photo's colour palette.

Blue, green and a good splash of bright yellow.

I kept it simple and only coloured one bloom,

and I was going to stop there, but I ended up using my Zig brushes

to add the blue, watercolour wash background.

This is where I normally mess things up, and they end up in the bin,

 but I actually really like how this turned out.

Challenge

Inspired By

Supplies

mft - brilliant blooms, panted petals

simon says stamp - thoughtful messages

zig clean color real brush markers

versa color ink - canary, celadon

SWEET BUNNY

Hello.

The sun is out today,  and it's going to be a lovely sunny Easter,

so I'm sharing this spring bunny card

that I made for my niece.

I used the Spring Mood Board over at the 

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge for inspiration.

I concentrated on the green/pink colour combo,

blue cloudy sky,  grass, bunnies, and flowers.

Supplies
MFT - Sweet Somebunny (coloured with Copics) Cloud and Grass Stencils
Happy Birthday Blend.
Altenew Inks - Fuchsia, Limeade
Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Twisted Citron

RAINY DAY CUPCAKES

Hello.

Don't you just love the idea of a rainy day party?
As soon as I saw that theme at Inspired By I thought of cupcakes.
You can't have a party without cupcakes, right?

I attempted some water colouring.
It does NOT come easy to me.  This was my 3rd try.
I'm pretty happy with it, but still fighting the urge for everything to be neat and precise.

Inspired By Challenge

I also tried to stick to a similar colour palette, 

using blue, green and pink.

It turned out little brighter than I really wanted, 

but I found it tricky mixing the paints.

Supplies

Simon Says Stamp - Savor Sweet Cupcakes.

Sentiment - Mama Elephant, Labeled Messages.

Mix of watercolour paints and Zig Clean Color Real Brish Markers

SUNSHINE YELLOW

Hello.

The sun is shining today, and spring is in the air
so I couldn't resist playing along with the {PIN}spirational challenge

I loved the sunny, inspirational picture (below) and for my card I focused on

the yellow background with a central, white, embossed sentiment.

For some interest, I added a border of simple flowers stamped in grey, a die-cut arrow and a few random sequins.

{PIN}spirational Challenge

Supplies

MFT - brilliant blooms, together forever,

Distress Inks - hickory smoke, mustard seed

Wow white embossing powder

TAKE TIME TO RELAX

Hello

I'm having a go at the dreaded CAS card today.
I try to keep my cards pretty simple on the whole,
but a full on CAS card is always a struggle for me.

I'm following the 'shine a light' theme at Less Is More,
so I created a little sofa scene, with the light coming from the lamp.
I think I kind of overdid the 'glow' from the lamp a little,
so I need to research how other people do that.

And now I'm sitting on my hands to stop myself from adding any extras to the card :-)

Less Is More

Supplies

Clearly Besotted - Time To Relax, Shine Bright

MFT - Little Buddies

Altenew Inks - Fuchsia, Lime

INSIDE TUNNEL CARD

Hello.

My eldest dd, Maria,  turned 30 yesterday.
30 ?? Eek!!
How did that happen?

I wanted to make her birthday card a bit more special,
so I went for this Inside Tunnel design.

(video with step-by-step instructions, from the amazing Jennifer McGuire Ink)

Here's the inside tunnel view.
This creates a fabulous 3D area where you can place your stamps.

The little bird on the left is attached to the side with a  narrow strip of acetate,
so he does a little flutter as you open the card.
Cute.

 I kept the front kind of plain,

using the squares that were cut from the inside, 

with a mix of sentiments and some balloons.

Here's a close up of the inside,  just to show all that 3D effect.

Challenges

SSSW Challenge

Animal Antics

Supplies

MFT - loveable leopards, clouds stencil, in and out stitched squares

WPlus9 Unforgettable 

SugarPeaDesigns - 'You' die

Copics.  Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers

Avery Elle - Numbered Balloons Dies