NEIGH, OINK, MOO

Hello.

Apparently it's Spring -
and we got a little bit excited in North Yorkshire this weekend,
when the sun came out.
It seemed like everyone, their Aunty Mary, and their dog, was out for a walk  ;-)

We strolled past a petting zoo - so it seemed apt that I reached for some
'party animals' when I got into my craft room.

I used stitched squares to die-cut the apertures in my card panel and then stuck it -  wonky -  onto my base card.
Of course, when you stick something down slightly wonky, normal ds tape turns into industrial strength superglue and refuses to be re-positioned.
Why is that?

My animals were coloured with Copics, using the challenge colours,
 then popped up on foam tape inside the apertures,

Challenge

MFT Color Chllenge #90

Supplies.
MFT - party animals / in and out squares / calm and cozy chevron dp
Copics

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MOO

Hello.

This new 'Party Animals' set, has been sitting on my craft desk for over a week now, and I finally got time to get in there today and ink them up.

This is the result.

I'm trying to add more colour to my cards, but also keep them quite simple with plenty of crisp, white space.
Does that make sense?   ;-)

I die cut my stitched square and used distress inks for the background. Then layered up my birthday cow, banner, presents and sentiment with foam tape.
At the last minute, I inked around the edge of my base card in twisted citron, just for that extra pop of colour.

Challenge

Muse Card Club

How adorable is this week's Muse card from Kim Heggins?

I focused on...

1. black and white animal

2. balloons

3. birthday sentiment

4. green border

Supplies.

mft - in and out stitched squares / stitched scallop basic edges / party animals

distress ink - tumbled glass / twisted citron

copics

UNDERCOVER YETI

Hello

I've combined my two favourite stamp sets here,
for this UNDERCOVER YETI card.   

Can you spot him?    ;-)

I keep seeing these all-in-one stamps, of groups of cute pups and cats, and even bunnies,
so I decided to create my own little gang of pups, with a yeti thrown in for fun ;-)

It took a little masking as I went along, but was easier than I thought.
I used ordinary post-it notes for the masking and found that you don't need to cut out the whole pup, usually just the head, or one side will be enough.

I coloured them with Copics,  added one of the cute sentiments and my scalloped edge.

Challenge

Penny Black & More

Feature a Creature

Supplies

MFT - Stitched scallop edge rectangle die. Four legged friends. Beast Friends

Copics.

BEST MUM

Hello.

This Sunday is Mother's Day, here in the UK.
And today I'm sharing with you the card I made for my mum.

Instead of struggling with flower stamps, I went for a pretty, feminine background.

This was my first ever attempt at a bokeh technique.
I love it!

If you haven't already, you should give this technique a try.
It's much easier than I thought, and there are some great videos out there, showing how it's done.

This is the basics of how I did mine.

I taped down a piece of watercolour paper, and gave it a brush with water.
I chose a few distress inks, and smooshed them onto my acrylic block.
Then I lifted the colour off with a brush and dabbed it onto the watercolour paper. Continue doing this until the paper is covered.
You can keep the colour light or add extra ink for darker shades.
Allow to dry (or use a heat gun).

Then I used my nestie circles to create a circles template, with a piece of plastic packaging that I found in my craft bin!!

I placed the circle template over my now dry, inky panel, and used white ink to make the circles, moving it around randomly, and overlapping some circles.

This gives such a pretty effect and it's definitely something I will try again.

Challenges

Watercooler Wednesday

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday

Girl Power

Supplies.

Distress Ink - Pickled Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Seedless Preserves

MFT - Stitched Alpha Dies

Nested Circle Dies

Mama Elephant - Labeled Messages

BARTENDER POOCH

Hello

I'm excited today to be joining the awesome CASology team
as this week's Guest Designer.

And the cue card this week is : ABSTRACT

Yikes!  I definitely found this one a challenge :-)

In the end I decided to go with the dictionary definition of abstract,
rather than a more arty abstract style.

Abstract : existing in thought, or as an idea, but not having a physical or concrete existence.

I hope my Bartender Pooch qualifies as abstract.  :-)

I used an old Bartender Edwin stamp I have from Magnolia,
masked off the head, and stamped onto my die cut panel.
Then I added the dog's head from MFT stamps, popped up on foam tape,
for some added dimension.

I've just noticed that, because of the slight bow in the stripes on the shirt,
my dog looks a like he has a little pot belly. Ha ha ha!
He better get down to the gym  :o)

I hope you'll join in the challenge this week.
I can't wait to see where this cue word takes you.

Supplies.
Magnolia Stamps - Bartender Edwin.
Lawn Fawn - Stitched Rectangle
MFT - Four Legged Friends.   Mama Elephant - Labeled Messages
Copics

EAT CAKE ALL DAY

Hello.

I'm sitting in my conservatory today, with a large mug of tea and
some chocolate chip cookies,
enjoying the view of the snow covered garden.

I do love snow - especially when I don't have to go out in it   :-)
but it's caused a fair bit of disruption to travel etc, here in Yorkshire.
I hope everyone affected by it is keeping warm and safe.

I'm waffling... 
here's my card for this week's CASology Challenge

The cue word this week is FIT
and I've gone with a dictionary definition -
be of the right size, shape, or number to occupy a particular place

I used the inlaid die technique, to fit my inked letters
 into the space made from my Happy Birthday To You die.

Then, to keep things CAS, I just added an extra sentiment and my pieces of cake - chocolate red velvet, if you're wondering    :o)

Supplies.
Hero Arts - Eat Cake All Day
Avery Elle - Postage Stamp Die
MFT - Happy Birthday to You Die
Distress Oxide Ink - Worn Lipstick
Copics.   Glossy Accents (on the cake icing)

SKETCHY FLOWERS

Hello.

Yay! I think I've done it.
I may have finally found a set of blooms I can work with  :o)

I get myself into a pickle with those 2/3 step stamping flowers,
but the easy, sketchy style of this set seems to suit me more.

This is my entry for this week's MUSE card club challenge.

I found that, when I stamped my black outline over the colour, my black ink bled a little.
This might be resolved if I allowed the coloured ink to dry first, but I'm too impatient for that.
So, I simply clear embossed the black outline before adding colour  ;o)

The blooms and leaves were then die-cut and popped up with foam tape.

MUSE

I took inspiration from Bunny's dimensional, die cut blooms and leaves, on a black background.

Supplies.
MFT - Sketch Flowers.
Various Distress Inks.
Sentiment from Winnie & Walter, Big, Bold & Party.