BLUE MOON

Hello

The middle aisle of Aldi called to me this week -
and I bought a cheap (£6.99) set of acrylic paints.
The trouble is, I've never used them before, and I'm not really 'arty'
so I was amazed when I managed to create this swirly background.
Go me :-)

I started by adding a separate splodge of white and blue paint onto a paper plate.
I mixed in a little water and started a small circle on my panel with white,
then I gradually kept added a little more blue into the white, swirling as I went along,
until I finished with the darkest blue.
Not perfect, but I love the look it created.

I know I need to practice the snow splatter - and also find a way to do it so that it doesn't cover the card, my desk, my hands and my clothes in tiny white spots :-)

Challenges

ABC Christmas 

S is for Snow and/or T is for Teal

Merry Little Christmas

Anything Christmas Goes

Supplies
MFT - Rectangle Stax 1, Ina and Out Stitched Squares, Stitched Scallop Basic Edges, Oh Christmas Tree, Beast Friends
Acrylic Paints. Copics

OH CHRISTMAS TREE

Hello.

I finally dragged my box of Christmas stamps and glitters out from under the table
rummaged through them, and then left them on my desk for a few days.
Nothing really leapt out at me.

So, I turned to the  Muse Christmas Visions Club for inspiration and they didn't let me down.

Muse Christmas Visions

Isn't Kimberly's card just the cutest?

I focused on...

• a trio of trees
• CAS design
• simple sentiment

Supplies

MFT - Rectangle Stax 1, Oh Chistmas Tree

Clearly Besotted - sentiment from Christmas Pudding

Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers, Festive Berries, Tumbled Glass

ARTY ANEMONES

Hello.

This week's Muse card is a real stunner, but eek! it's flowers,
so I'm definitely out of my comfort zone.

I stamped up my blooms and leaves and then coloured them with bold Copic strokes -
trying to replicate Tracey's gorgeous, arty stamping.
I love how this weird colouring turned out... :-)
but the whole thing nearly went in the bin because I just couldn't get it to look balanced.

Then, I spotted a die-cut, square window piece on my desk and putting that over the top of the flowers made them stand out more (does that make sense?).

I finished with a stamped sentiment and some flicks of a white gel pen.

Muse Card Club

LOVE LOVE LOVE Tracey's card.

A real stunner

I focused on   

• the flowers/leaves stamped in black
• bold stamping with no overlapping
• minimal colouring in orange, teal and grey

Supplies.
WPlus9 Modern Anemones
MFT - Rectangle Stax 1, In and Out Stitched Squares
Mama Elephant - Labeled Messages
Copics

WHOO LOVES YOU?

Hello.

Have you been over to the Muse card club challenge this week?
There's a stunner of a card from Anita.
It had me wracking my brains to come up with something though...

I used a birch tree stamp for my background - trying to replicate Anita's gorgeous, gradient colour by inking and spritzing - but that just ended up with a big splodgy mess.
So I stuck with solid colour and some added glitter.

The glitter is there - honest!
It just tries to hide when I get the camera out.

Muse Card Club Challenge

I focused on...

• bold stripes of colour, with added glitter
• solid black image
• CAS design

Supplies
Clearly Besotted - Into the Wood Again, You're a Hoot
MFT - Rect Stax 1, In and Out Stitched Squares, Bundle of Baby Clothes (heart)
Distress Oxide Ink - Wilted Violet.   Glamour Dust.

BOW CHICKA-HUAHUA

Hello.

Here we are in September,
and I'm sharing a fun card I made for my daughter and sil's 2nd wedding anniversary.

I just love these cute chihuahuas,
and it's been killing me to hold on to this set for a month,
just so that my daughter wouldn't see them before I made this card.
There'll be no holding me back now - I'm all over them :-)

I stuck with a CAS style, and just die cut the chihuahuas and coloured them with Copics.
I added one of the fun sentiments from the set, and a die-cut balloon.
I admit - I cut and coloured about 4 of those balloons until I finally got one I was happy with :-)

Challenges

Addicted to Stamps and More

Watercooler Wednesday

Supplies.

Hero Arts - Fiesta Time

AveryElle - Numbered Balloons Die

Copics.    MFT - Rectangle Stax 1

BIRD-DAY WISHES

Hello.

Gosh - it's been over 6 weeks since my last card and
getting back into my craft room is hard.
I've forgotten everything...   :-)

Time to turn to my favourite challenge at Muse Card Club
for some inspiration.

As you can see, I kept things nice and easy, with some 'happy birds' and leaves,  coloured simply with Copics, and popped up on foam tape for added dimension.

Muse

Supplies
WPlus9 - Happy Birds
MFT - Rectangle Stax 1 and sentiment from Party Animals

YOU'RE OLD

Hello.

Phew... it's a bit cooler here today.
Thank goodness.
I am not a sun worshipper.
Give me a good old Yorkshire, cold, dull, drizzly day anytime :-)

This week was my brother's birthday,
and he hit his milestone 60th.
Eek!!
Obviously he's a lot older than me  ;-)

I went for a lovely, bold colour with this barn door red, and then die cut my sentiment.

The little critters are popped up on foam tape,

and I tucked in a few sequins for a little touch of bling.

Challenge

Seize the Birthday

with the optional toppings of sequins

supplies

mamaelephant - 3 amigos

mftstamps - rectangular stax 1, happy birthday to you die

distress ink - barn door

TWEET

Hello.

It's my 33rd Wedding Anniversary this month. Yikes!
Obviously, I was very young when we married  :-o)

Here's the card I made for hubby.

Over the years I've probably made every type of anniversary card - 

romantic, funny, traditional, rude :-) , CAS... etc.

This time I went with cute and fun.

My inspiration came from Steffi's pretty card, over at the MUSE Challenge.
focusing on the central, striped heart, and the pink border.

Supplies.

WPlus9 - happy birds

MFT - peek-a-boo striped heart die, rectangle stax 1

Copics

LITTLE BUDDIES

Hello.

I'm playing with the 'little buddies' set again today -
it's just so damn cute.  :o)

My inspiration came from Muse card club, and the cutest card from Kim Heggins.

I just love those layered pups.

It's definitely one of my 'go to' designs, but if you don't have an all-in-one stamp, all that masking can be tricky.

I took the easy way this time - and just layered up some die cuts :-)

It's hard to tell from the photo, but this card has lots of dimension.
The frame, and little boy are popped up on double thickness foam tape.
Then, the first row of pets have one layer of tape, and the back ones are stuck flat.

Muse Card Club Challenge

I focused on...
1. the black frame
2. layered pets
3. the placement of the sentiment

Supplies.

mft - little buddies, rectangle stax 1

copic markers

HAPPY BARKDAY

Hello.

We've just had a new addition to our family.
My nephew has had a bouncing baby boy - Theo Arthur -
who came in at an eye watering 11lb 7oz.

So, I had boys on the brain when I got into my craft room today,
and I inked up this cute 'little buddies' set.

I played along with the MFT Colour Challenge.

MFT Challenge 

Supplies

mft - little buddies, rectangle stax 1

distress inks - tumbled glass, mustard seed

copics

BLOOM

Hello.

Oh, I'm so jealous of you crafters out there that can watercolour.
You always make it look so damn easy, but I really struggle with it.
I persevered today, and I'm going to give myself an 'A' for effort   :0)

Tracey's pretty, card over at the MUSE challenge, was my inspiration.

I focused on -
the central flower design
the birthday sentiment
the grey background

Supplies.
wplus9 -  modern anemones
mft - handwritten happiness, stitched rectangle scallop frame
various distress inks
altenew - stripes stencil      colorbox - whisper grey ink