A Birthday Without Cake Is Just A Meeting

Say hello to this 'celebration squad' girl. 
Another year older, and ready to eat her bodyweight in cupcakes!

This was really fun to put together, and there are so many different combinations to play with.
I had this in mind for someone, so I tailored the look to hers.

Challenge

Freshly Made Sketches

• concord and 9th - celebration squad dies
• concord and 9th cardstock - buttercup/sprout/honeysuckle
• distress oxide - cracked pistachio
• versmark ink / wow white embossing powder

Deck The Halls

 Isn't this bear cute? This is one of those stamps that has really stood the test of time. I bought him back in 2010, and here he is, getting his annual inking up o:)

I followed along at Freshly Made Sketches, just flipping the sketch and making one edge a little softer.
After inking, I splattered some water around, and then overlaid a star/snow stencil and used some white paste. The little bear is stamped and coloured with copics.

It's hard to tell on these photos, but I raised that middle panel onto foam tape, so it's much more 3D IRL

Freshly Made Sketches

• Lili of the Valley bear stamp, coloured with copics
• distress oxide - salty ocean
• spellbinders all the stars stencil, with white embossing paste
• sentiment from colorado craft company - on the lookout

Time Spent Amongst Trees Is Never Wasted Time

Quote: Katrina Mayer

Hello. Today I'm sharing another colour combo with my turnabout trees.

This stamp is definitely a challenge for me - choosing a colour palette is hard! What I've discovered is that, instead of choosing 4 colours, I can stick to just 3, and still get a lovely effect. This means that my first and last stamping are in the same colour.

For the sentiment I had some printed vellum sayings from The Works, and I adhered one of these to a piece of coloured card and popped it up with foam tape. Then I just added a few red gems for that little bit of Christmas bling.

Challenge

Stamping Sensations

********Christmas********

concord and 9th - tiny trees turnabout stamp.   distress inks - festive berries, iced spruce, salvaged patina.    pinkfresh studio stitched rectangle die.     the works - vellum sentiment

As Cute As ABC

Hello.
I took the plunge last week, and bought some Clearly Besotted stamps - 
WITHOUT dies!!  Eek!
I really couldn't resist them, but I'm going to have to
brush up on my fussy cutting skills.

I stamped and fussy cut my letters, coloured them with copics and
attached them with foam pads to a distress oxide, stenciled background. 

Then I found a sweet sentiment that was just perfect for 
what I needed.

I don't want to jinx it by saying too much, 
 but I think I've finally found a white pen that really works!!
This is a Uni-ball Signo Broad pen.

Challenge

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

Anything Goes, with the option of Slimline

Supplies

clearly besotted - cute as abc

mft - sunray stencil

altenew sentiment - hug me

distress oxide - fossilized amber

copic markers

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

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.

LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED

Hooray!
It's September.
This time last year I was getting ready for my youngest daughter's wedding.
We had an amazing time.
The wedding was on the Thursday, and on the Friday we all moved into a little cottage, next door to the village hall. We decorated the hall and marquees ready for the blessing and merriment on Saturday.
Then had a hung-over clean up on Sunday afternoon ;-)
It was perfect.

Oh, did you come here for the card :-)
Here it is ...

I die-cut my panel and then stamped the sentiment, embossing it with gold powder. IRL the embossing is really pretty.
Then I stamped the blooms and leaves in distress oxides. I LOVE how beautifully these inks stamp.
Finally I added a few gold sequins.
I really like how this turned out. A modern card for a modern couple.

Challenges

Watercooler Wednesday

Supplies
Wplus9 - Feathers and Florals
Dsitress Oxide Inks
Lawn Fawn - Violet's ABCs
MFT - Stitched Scallop Edge Rectangle

JUST MY TYPE

Hello.
Are you playing along at Muse this week?
Kim has a fabulous pineapple card as our inspiration.
This one really got me thinking and I had a good rummage through my old stash.
I came up with this, little used, typewriter stamp from Hero Arts.

This was a super quick and easy card to make, and a style I might try again
 if I can just shut up the Virgo in me whispering "it's not neat" "it's too messy" blah blah...  ;-)

I started with my die-cut panel and then stamped the typewriter and sentiment.
I smooshed some distress oxide ink onto an acrylic block and then just painted it on with a brush.
Then I just scattered a few sequins and attached the panel to my base card with foam pads.

Muse Card Club

Card by Kim Heggins

Inspiration 

• scalloped edge border
• one main image
• yellow and green colour combo
• sequins

Supplies

Hero Arts - Typewriter Notes

Distress Ink - Fossilized Amber, Cracked Pistachio

MFT - Stitched Scalloped Edge Rectangle Die

For A Child

Hello.
Here I am with my second card as Guest Designer for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

I hope you'll play along this week -

Simon Says Stamp has lots of amazing goodies and
you could win a fabulous $50 gift voucher to spend in the store.

Here's my card for this week's challenge,

where the theme is

FOR A CHILD

This week Neat & Tangled goodies are being showcased.
You don't have to use them to enter the challenge,
but if you have them, we would love to see them.

I asked myself  "what do kids like on cards?"
and I came up with - colour, cute animals, and their name.
I threw in some interaction, and here's my card...

I started with my usual MFT stitched scalloped rectangle die
that I inked up in distress oxide, broken china
I used MFT surf and turf dienamics to cut the slider piece from the centre of the rectangle.

This cute fox is from Altenew, hug me and I die-cut him, coloured him with Copics 
and popped him into the slider channel.
I added some clouds, so the fox looks like he's floating in the sky,
and then the name, using MFT stitched alphabet dies

HOME SWEET HOME

Hello.
I have a craving this week, and I blame Less is More  ;-)
Their challenge is 'Tropical Fruits', and seeing all those cards in tangy colours
has made me desperate for  Opal Fruits.
Remember them - before they were Starburst?
I don't know how long I can hold out.

Here's my own 'tangy' card.

I needed a New Home card and thought it would be fun to use this chair stamp with tropical colours.
I die-cut my scallop edge rectangle and then stamped the centre piece using distress inks, before re-attaching the scalloped edge.
Then I popped it up with foam tape onto my card base and added the embossed sentiment.
Very quick and simple.

Challenge.

Less Is More 

Tropical Fruits

Supplies.

Clearly Besotted - Time To Relax

Sentiment - Avery Elle, Home Sweet Home

Distress Oxide Inks - Cracked PIstachio, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber

MFT - Scallop Edge Rectangle Die

I RUFF YOU

Hello.
It's my wedding anniversary today.
32 years.
(obviously I was VERY young when we got married)    :0)

Here's the card I made for my hubby.
Love him to bits.

Over the years I've done all the usual hearts and flowers, and sentimental cards, but this time I went for something more simple, with a cute twist.

I masked off my inside panel with tape, and used distress ink to make the stripes.
I LOVE this iced spruce colour.

 I added my doggy and some plants, popped them up on foam pads on a couple of die cut rectangles.
One of the rectangles is cut in gold metallic card, which has a lovely glossy shimmer, and to complement it, I scattered a few gold sequins.

Challenge

House of Cards

Stripes and/or colour inspiration.

This time I just went with the stripes.

Supplies.

MFT - Four legged friends and cactus from llama love, coloured with Copics

Stitched scalloped edge rectangle die and stitched zig zag rectangle die

Lawn Fawn - stitched rectangle die

Distress Oxide - iced spruce

STRIPES

Hello.
Here's my card for this week's Muse challenge.

This card took me a whole morning to get right.
On the first attempt, I managed to rip the card peeling off the masking tape.
Attempt No. 2 looked great, until I looked down and realised I had spelt 'BIRTDAY'  -  Duh!

On this last try, the letter dies moved a little in my machine... but it all adds to the 'handmade' look.   Right?

I masked off some stripes on my card panel, blended on some distress oxide inks, and splattered them with water drops.

I die cut my letters from the panel, and also from some foam sheet. 

The letters were stuck on top of the foam ones, and then inlaid into the space.

I added a 'happy' sentiment and a few clear dew drops.

Muse Card Club Challenge

I LOVE Tracey's card.
So perfectly CAS, but with lots of colour and interest.
Something I find really hard to get right.
I'm always adding something else to my CAS cards, and then they're not CAS anymore!!

I took inspiration from Tracey's colours and her inlaid die cuts.

Supplies.

Distress Oxides - Broken China/Cracked Pistachio/Fossilized Amber/Fired Brick/Worn Lipstick/Wilted Violet

MFT - Stitched Scalloped Edge Rectangle/Stitched Alphabet

Mama Elephant - Labeled Messages

Dew Drops

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY?

Hello.
Oh my gosh - how cute is this little chameleon?
Now that I'm finally getting to grips with how to colour him,
it's dawned on me that he can be any colour combo I like.
Maybe I'll try pinks next, for a girly card :-)

Included in this chameleon set, is the little 'splash' stamp.
I used it with distress oxide inks, and slightly overlapped them for a pop of colour.
I have a feeling this little stamp is going to be used A LOT !

Challenges.

Seize the Birthday

Simon Says Stamp

Anything Goes

Supplies

Your Next Stamp - One in a Chameleon, coloured with Copics

MFT - Stitched, scalloped rectangle and stitched scalloped basic edges

Lawn Fawn - Violet's ABCs

Distress Oxide Ink - spiced marmalade, fossilized amber