WITH SPRINKLES ON

Hello

It was our eldest, daughter's birthday yesterday.
And it was so strange not being able to visit her, to have a party, or even hug her.
She is a cardiac physiologist at Leeds Hospital
and is working hard to take care of her patients and stay safe.

STAY HOME :  PROTECT THE NHS : SAVE LIVES

I stamped and die-cut the ice-creams and lollies, and popped them up on a card panel.
For the background, I went a little crazy, and stamped the sprinkles everywhere!
You can never have too many sprinkles, right?

Challenge

Penny Black & More

***Anything Goes***

supplies

SugarPea Designs - Summer Scoop

Inks - Altenew, Baby Pink, Fuchsia, Maple Yellow,

Magenta, Lime

Versacolor Ink - Cyan, Cocoa

VersaMark

Hero Arts Gold Embossing Powder

ITCHING TO SEE YOU

Hello

I can't seem to concentrate on much at the moment, 
so for inspiration I've turned to my favourite sketch challenge,

CAS(E) this Sketch

I found this a tricky sketch,
 but thought I couldn't go wrong with a pop of bright yellow and a puppy :o)

supplies
mft - 4 legged friends with flowers from 'sow much cuteness'
copic markers

FREE HUGS

Hello

I think we could all do with an extra hug right now.
💓

I love designer paper pads,  but it's been a long time since I used any on my cards.

This seems as good a time as any, to drag that dusty box out from under my craft desk and start using them up.

The image was stamped once in fuchsia and turquoise inks, 

and then the fox was stamped and fussy cut, coloured with Copics and placed on top.

I added some lovely, glossy accents to the letters.

Challenge

Addicted to Stamps & More

supplies

altenew - hug me   and inks, fuchsia and turquoise

copics     white gel pen   

LET'S CHILL

Hello

I blew the crafting budget this month - why the hell not?
And, these ice lollies are from my new 'summer scoops' set by SugarPea Designs.

I kept my card nice and simple for the CAS(E) this sketch challenge, but I did manage to try 2 new tips that I picked up from the amazing Jennifer McGuire

You've probably all been doing these clever things forever, but if not give them a go... 

1. Each lolly only needed one ink colour. Stamping over your ink with Versamark gives you a darker shade. This is brilliant for layered stamps.

2. For the lolly sticks (for example) I usually stamp each stick, then place the die over the top, tape it down and cut it. Fiddly, yeah?

Instead, I die cut a template that I stuck down into my stamping platform. Then, I die cut all the sticks from white card, inlaid them into the template one at a time, and stamped them.

Does that make sense? 

I will definitely do my die cutting this way in future, it was so much quicker.

Challenge

CAS(E) this Sketch

supplies

SugarPea Designs - Summer Scoops

Inks - Altenew - Sea Breeze, Citrus Burst, Baby Pink

          Versacolor - Lime, Lavender, Bisque

VersaMark

FEEL BETTER

Hello

The latest Less is More challenge 
is a colour palette of red, raspberry and grey.

This was one of those cards that, for some reason,  proved really tricky to photograph.

IRL the raspberry frame has a lovely texture to the card, and it's popped up with foam all the way round.

My hippo was coloured with copics, and a little gold embossing for the sprinkles.

Challenge

supplies

clearly besotted - 'cooling off ' with sentiment from 'time to relax' and striped stencil

copics     wow metallic gold embossing powder

mft rectangle stax dies

HIPPO COCKTAILS

Hello

Just a quick and simple card today,
for this week's Inkspirational Challenge
where the theme is animals - real or magical.

I guess this cocktail, drinking hippo would fall into the 'magical' category!

He was coloured with a combination of copics and zig markers, then popped up onto a distress ink hillside.

Challenge

supplies

clearly besotted - cooling off and scene it more

mft - happy birthday script die

distress ink - twisted citron

copics and zig clean color real brush markers

RAINBOW ROSES

Hello.

I DO love flowers, but floral cards are my nemesis.

I have banned myself from buying any more flower stamps,
but every now and then, I dig deep into my stash
and try again.

I got all my inks out and played around with various colours.

A stamp platform is brilliant for this, it makes it so much easier to line up those layers and stamp multiple roses and leaves.

Some combos worked - others were binned filed :-)

Overall, I'm pretty chuffed with how my card turned out.

Challenges

Stamping Sensations

******Spring Florals*****

Watercooler Wednesday

supplies

altenew - vintage roses

sentiment from wplus9, modern anemones

mft - stitched rectangle scallop die

inks - altenew, spring bouquet, deep blue seas

          distress ink combos - mustard seed, spiced marmalade, ripe persimmon

          abandoned coral, barn door, fired brick,

          spiced marmalade, ripe persimmon, barn door

BEST HOUSE ON THE STREET

Hello.

Can you imagine who lives in that little, red, highlighted house?

It has piles of muddy boots in the hallway, 
a wet dog has smeared his nose all over the front windows,
there's a pot of Yorkshire tea on the kitchen table,
and a chicken roasting in the oven.

Best house on the street. 

In order to make my terrace stretch along the width of the card, 
and centre a house in the circle, 
I simply added another house, to the right of the row.
The circle frame hides the join nicely.

Challenge

CAS(E) this Sketch 

supplies

clearly besotted - scene it more, coloured with copics

distress ink - tumbled glass, salty ocean, faded jeans

spellbinders nested circle dies

A FLOCK OF BALLOONS

Hello

It's another wet and wild, weekend, here in Yorkshire - 
even the dog doesn't want to brave the elements.
So, I ramped up the heating, shut myself in my craft room,
and got out some colourful inks.

Some of my balloons hadn't stamped too well so, at the last minute,  I covered them with a crisper die-cut, popped up with foam tape.

I think this made the card look much better - giving it more depth and a bit of interest.

Challenge

CAS(E) this Sketch

supplies

clearly besotted - make a wish

distress inks - tumbled glass, pickled raspberry, peacock feathers, mustard seed, twisted citron

winnie and walter - big bang confetti

PRETTY PATCHWORK

Hello

This week's challenge at Inspired By is all about Pretty Patchwork. 

Hmmm...  the thing is, I needed a card for a guy - so I went with shades of blue.
It's still kinda pretty though, right??

I die-cut my squares and coloured them with zig brush markers.

Then I cut them in half, and stuck them back together into squares - mixing up some of the shades.

Hopefully this has given it more of a 'patchwork' feel.

Challenge

Inspired By

supplies

mft - in and out stitched squares, handwritten happiness

zig clean color real brush markers

COOL BIRTHDAY

Hello.
I confess!
I did something with this card, that I've never done before.
I cut up a stamp!
Is that even allowed? :o)

The 'Happy Birthday' was one stamp, and  - let's be honest - 
I couldn't be arsed with all that masking,
so I simply cut it into two with a craft knife!
I don't regret a thing. 
It worked perfectly.

Have you ever cut a stamp up?
How did it work out for you?

Challenge.

CAS(E) this Sketch

supplies

clearly besotted - make a wish, cooling off

lawn fawn - stitched rectangle     mama elephant - just hatched

altenew ink - spring bouquet     copics