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

Come On, Shake Your Body, Baby, Do The Conga

Hello.
Top marks for me, for perseverance, today. This card drove me crazy!
I finished it - but it was really beyond my skill set.

I attempted a layered style, shaker card. 
(If you want to see this technique done properly check out the video from the amazing Carly Tee here)

Each panel is die cut with a nested heart, then inked up and layered, one on top of the other.
I struggled with the acetate. My Stazon ink pad was completely dry, so I ended up stamping with Versamark Ink, then using black embossing powder and heat setting it.
When I came to attach this final layer, I thought I was being oh so careful, only to find some sequins stuck to the right hand edge. Argh!
I manage to prize them out with a craft knife, and do a botched seal up, but it still looks a bit wobbly there.

Challenge

AAABirthday

• colorado craft company - conga line
• do crafts - nested hearts
• versamark ink and wow black embossing powder
• heat resistant acetate sheet
• copic markers
• distress ink - worn lipstick, carved pumpkin, peacock feathers

Let Us Sew, Let Us Sew, Let Us Sew

Hello.
My first foray into card making - back when dinosaurs roamed the earth - was with cross stitching.
So it was really nice to get back into some stitching, using this gorgeous die from Spellbinders.

I went for a cool, blue theme with some added gems for a bit of sparkle.
This is a great little project to do whilst watching TV.

Challenge

Moving Along With The Times

spellbinders - stitch fanfare

sentiment - concord and 9th - tiny trees
wow white embossing powder 

A Winter's Tale

Hello.

Vellum, is the challenge at Less Is More this fortnight. Hmm... it's not something I use often, so I went off down a Pinterest rabbit hole - and ended up none the wiser ;o)

In the end I opted for a very simple, vellum overlay, very pretty IRL, but a bit of a bugger to photograph!

This is one of those cards where a stamping platform really comes into it's own. It allows you to make sure that you're images line up perfectly.

• die cut 2 panels. 1 in white card, 1 in Vellum
• stamp both with Versamark ink and white heat emboss
• colour the image on the white card (I used Zig watercolours for that soft effect)
• stamp a sentiment
• line up both panels onto your card base, punch a hole through the layers and add a brad

 The Vellum panel pivots on the brad to reveal the soft, watercoloured image below.

Challenge

Less Is More

One main image with lots of clean space
Minimal layers
Minimal embellies

Quick and easy

• woodware stamp - a winter's tale
• wow white embossing powder
• zig clean color real brush markers
• brad

Autumn Leaves Are Falling

Hello. Do you love colouring? I seem to have rekindled my love for copics, and I had fun colouring this pretty, wreath with some autumn shades.

I'm not the best at colouring. I have no real idea of where to put shadows, or highlights, but I'm learning to just let go and enjoy it. Easy to do when you have such a pretty image to work with. After colouring I added some white dots (went a bit crazy with them!), some little gems,  and, at the last minute, I squeezed in that little blue bird.

Challenge

Inkspirational

clearly besotted - ring around autimn, coloured with copics
wow  - metallic gold embossing powder
pink fresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle

Christmas Blooms

Hello.I was in the mood for some colouring today, so I got out my copics and these winter flowers. If you've visited before, you will know that I really struggle with flower cards, I just never quite know how to arrange all the elements - I was happy with how this came together though.

Once my flowers were  embossed, die cut and coloured, I stuck them onto a dark blue card panel, and snipped off any overhanging pieces. Some of these pieces were great for tucking back into the design and making it look a little fuller.

I finished with a gold embossed sentiment and some OTT white gel pen dots :o)

Challenge

The Flower Challenge

simon says stamp - winter flowers coloured with copics
wow gold embossing powder
mft - snowglobe sentiments

FLOWER HUGS

Hello.
It's no secret that flowers are my nemesis.
But I do love them.

Here I've tried something different - to avoid colouring them  :o)
I have stamped and embossed these blooms and leaves onto coloured card.

I've used a touch of copic marker, in similar colours to my card, for a little bit of shading.
Then I simply layered up the blooms around my sentiment.

Inspired By Challenge

• mft - brilliant blooms
• neat and tangled - journaling alphas
• wow - white embossing powder  

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

Let's Build A Snowman

Hey everyone, hope you're enjoying the long weekend.

Here's one of those cards that refused to photograph well.
I must have taken 50 snaps of it, in 3 different rooms of the house- and it's still not good.
IRL the green is more this colour and the snowman is very sparkly!!

I started my card by following the sketch over at LIM, but ended up making a few changes along the way.
First of all, I stamped my background onto a rectangular card panel.
My snowman was stamped in white and then embossed with glitter, before being die-cut and attached with foam pads.
The rectangle didn't quite look right, so before I attached my snowman, I used a large oval die to round off one edge.
This meant that the sentiment wouldn't work on the left, so I stamped it in the centre of my base card.

Challenges.
LIM - Sketch.
52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Glitter & Bling
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Sparkle & Shine
Crafty Calendar -  Anything Goes

Supplies.
WPlus9 Hearfelt Holidays, Stamps and Dies.  Memento Dew Drops - Angel Pink, New Sprout
Memento Brilliance  - Moonlight White.         WOW Embossing glitter - Sparkling Snow
Oval Nestie Die.  Tree Stamp - Kanban Crafts.  Sequins/Gems.