FLOATING FLORALS

Hello.
I've been struggling to find time to craft this week,
but when I saw Anita's gorgeous card at MUSE, I really wanted to play along.

This was a quick make for me. I stamped my florals onto my die cut,
heat embossed them, and then used distress inks to blend a background.
I attached a 'happy' sentiment in black card and popped up the 'birthday' on foam pads.

Muse Card Club

The inspiration I took from Anita's card was from the embossing,

the pink and orange colour combo, and the added splash of black.

I'm not sure what happened with my embossing.

I used a clear embossing powder to try and get a more subtle effect,

but it came out white!!

Maybe that's just the powder I'm using. or is it the Versamark??!!

Supplies.

WPlus9- Feathers and Florals

MFT - Sticthed Scalloped Rectangle Die / Brushstroke Birthday Greetings

Mama Elephant - Labeled Messages

Distress Inks - Pickled Raspberry / Spiced Marmalade

TINY HUMAN

Hello.
Having a little fun today, with a new baby card.

I'm always on the look out for cute, punny sayings to add to my cards

and I came across this baby one on Pinterest.  

It made me smile.

This was such a simple card to make. 

Mostly, just stamping and die-cutting my elements and adding them with foam tape.

The 'human' is die-cut, partly inked and then sprinkled with glamour dust.

Challenge

Addicted To Stamps & More

I love this style for a nursery - grey chevrons and mint walls -

and that's the inspiration I used for my card.

Supplies

WPlus9 - Friends for all Seasons, coloured with Copics

MFTstamps - Calm and Cozy Chevrons DP / Stitched Alphabet

Lawn Fawn - Smitty's ABCs / Stitched Rectangle Die

Versacolor - Mint / Scarlet            Glamour Dust

FLOWER POWER

Hello.
Eek! You're killing me over at Muse Card Club - another flower card ;-)
But, how could I resist Jenni's inspiration card. So pretty.

Here's my take on it.

Method.

• Die-cut stitched, scalloped rectangle. Ink centre and add water drops (I used a toothbrush!)
• Die cut one sentiment from foam and one from card. Partly ink the card sentiment and stick them together. (I have to do it this way because I find that a sandwich of card and foam just will not cut all the way through). Use a glue pen on the top half of the sentiment and cover with glamour dust.
• Stamp flower stems. Die cut the sentiment on your inked card panel. Cover the back with tape and then press your glittered 'happy' in place.
• Stamp and die-cut blooms and leaves. Attach with foam tape. 
• Stamp 'birthday' sentiment and attach with foam tape.

Muse Card Club Challenge

Supplies

WPlus9 Feathers and Florals.

MFT - Stitched Scalloped Rectangles, Brushstroke Birthday Greetings

Mama Elephant - Labeled Messages

Distress Ink, Spun Sugar.   Versacolor, Pink.   Memento Angel Pink,New sprout, Pistachio.

Glamour Dust.

MARBLING MAGIC

Hello.
Just trying something very different today,
and creating my own background with nail polish marbling.

It's an easy process.
I used a small plastic container with a little water in the bottom,
added some drops of polish to the water, and swirled them with a toothpick.
Then I dipped my paper in.
It was a bit hit and miss for me (more miss really)
and I ended up with just 2 usable backgrounds from about 6 attempts.

The other problem I had, was that the paper was very warped from the polish.
I put several books on it overnight and it did flatten quite a bit.
I also taped it into my die cut all around the edge, to keep it in place.
Perhaps water colour paper would work better than my normal crafting card.

I've tried to capture the pretty metallic sheen that you get from the gold polish,
but the camera hasn't picked it up too well.

Challenge.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Use your favourite tool

My favourite tool, without a doubt, is my Big Shot.

I would be lost without it and I probably use it on every card I make.

Supplies.

Nail Polish in Black, and Metallic Gold.

Sentiment - Mama Elephant, Labeled Messages

MFT - Stitched Scalloped Border Die

SYMPATHY BLOOMS

Hello.
So, what's your least favourite stamps to work with?
Mine has to be flowers.
I am rubbish at flower cards, but I do love seeing them.

I searched for some blooms and leaves that looked easy to use,
and came across this Wplus9 set.
Yay! I made a half decent flower card :-)

During the process of making this card, and stamping about 100 leaves and blooms, 

I finally discovered where my problem lies.

It's colour.

I really struggle to get the right colours and matching shades, for all the elements,

especially with my limited supply of inks.

I think I need to follow some colour-combo challenges for a while.

Challenge.

Simon Says Stamp

Fantastic Florals

Supplies.

WPlus( - Feathers and Florals

Mama Elephant - Labeled Messages

MFTstamps - Stiched Scalloped Border Die

Inks - VersaColor  - Turquoise, Laurel Leaf.  Memento - Dandelion, Gray Flannel.

DRINKYPOOS?

Hello.

Sharing a fun card with you today,

for the challenge at MUSE card club.

As soon as I saw Tracey's terrific muse card, I knew I would be playing along.

This style of using random stamps as your background works so well.

You can use the 'main' stamps in sets, or all those extra little ones, to great effect.

Here, I went with a more regimented placement of my drinks.

Hope the photo below shows you the dimension better.

All the drinks and extras are die-cut and popped up with foam tape.

MUSE Card Club Challenge

Supplies

Clearly Besotted Stamps + Dies, Raise A Glass

Sentiment - Lawn Fawn, Violet's ABCs

Inks - Hero Arts, Color Lights by Lia + MFT Sour Apple and Ripe Raspberry

MFT - Stitched Scalloped Border Die

PUSHMI-PULLYU

Hello.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone 💗
I have a fun card to share with you today.
When the idea for this Pushmi-Pullyu popped into my head, I thought I was hilarious!  😊

To make my pushmi-pullyu I stamped 2 llamas back to back and quite close together.
Then I joined them up with a black fine liner and fussy cut them.
They were coloured with Copics and I added a little top hat to the 'guy' llama,
and a couple of packs (which help to hide the join).  :-)

I attached them with foam tape to a distress inked heart and my inked background.

The sentiment was heat-embossed in white and then sponged over with blue ink.

Challenge

MFT Card Challenge

Supplies

My Favorite Things - Llama Love + Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Dies

Sentiment - Clearly Besotted, Say It In Style

Top Hat from Mama Elephant, 3 Amigos

Heart Nestie Die

Distress Inks - Pickled Raspberry, Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar

BLUE OMBRE

Hello.
The emboss resist technique, that I used on my last card, was such fun
that I had to give it another go.
This time in blue, with a 'thanks' sentiment.

One of the great things about this technique is that you don't need a huge range of distress inks.
This was made using just one blue ink.
You just apply less ink and pressure, where you want the colour to be lighter.

You can check out the full video of this technique at Jennifer McGuire's blog.

Excuse the photo.

It's a really grey, rainy day today so I thought I would use a grey backdrop

to get my card to stand out more.

Urgh! Looks kinds green doesn't it?

Challenges

Cute Card Thursday

Lace or Frills

Mftstamps - Lace Background  Stamp + Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Dies

Distress Ink - Mermaid Lagoon

Lawn Fawn - 'Thanks' Die     Glamour Dust

OMBRE LACE

Hello.
Today I'm sharing an ombre style, emboss resist card,
with inspiration from the awesome Jennifer McGuire

I would definitely recommend watching the video for this style.
Usually, if I try something 'arty' like this, it ends up in the bin,
so I am thrilled with how this turned out.

I used a large, lace background stamp from MFTstamps.
A tip I picked up from the video is that, once you've inked your stamp with Versamark, it's easier to press your card onto the top of the stamp.
Then sprinkle with white embossing powder and heat set.

I had a little trouble with the sentiment.
My sandwich of card and foam with Stick It, just would not cut through cleanly.
So I ended up die cutting them separately and then sticking them together.

I cut out the sentiment on my embossed panel, place some ds tape over the back,
and then pressed my 'congrats' into the space.
Just remember to keep all those tiny little pieces from the embossed panel, that need to be put back in.

Challenge

The Card Concept

LOVE AND ROMANCE

(Classy and elegant style - hopefully! )

I made this as a wedding card, but looking at it now I think I could use it for

an anniversary, or maybe a new baby girl.

And, in real life, the glitter on the sentiment is so much prettier.

My Favorite Things - Lace Background Stamp and Stitched Scalloped Border Die

Distress Ink - Pickled Raspberry, Spun Sugar

Lawn Fawn - Congrats Die

Glamour Dust. Stick It. Foam Sheet. White Embossing Powder. Glue Pen. Versamark

SPRING NINJAS

Hello.
I've been wanting to play along at the MUSE challenge for a few weeks now,
but I don't 'do' flowers.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE flower/botanical cards, but they are my nemesis.
This week's card by Anita was so pretty I had to give it a try, but with ninjas :-)

I've followed the overall design of Anita's card, and tried to stick to similar colours.

The sentiment was the tricky bit for me. 

I inked a line of pink on some card, and then die cut my 'birthday'.

Then, for extra dimension I stuck it to a 'birthday' die-cut from foam sheet.

Lastly, I used a glue pen on the bottom of the letters and sprinkled on some glamour dust. (Much prettier than this photo captures).

To attach it, I die-cut the sentiment from my ninja panel, covered the back of the aperture with ds tape, and then pressed my sentiment into the space.

MUSE Card Challenge

AND, I've now ordered what I'm hoping are easy peasy flower/leaf stamps,

so watch this space :-)

Mama Elephant - Tiny Ninjas, Labeled Messages

MFT - Stitched Scalloped Border Die and Brushstroke Birthday Greetings Die

VersaColor - Lagoon Blue, Lime, Pink, Canary.

Glamour Dust.

PAWTY TIME

Hello.
Hope you're all having a great weekend.
Today I'm sharing a fun card with you - Pawty Time :-)

I inked up my card panel and splashed it with some water drops (a bit heavy handed today).

For the sentiment, I put a line of distress ink on a piece of card and then placed my letters along it and die cut them. 

They are attached with tiny pieces of foam tape (tricky, but worth it).

My dog is die cut, coloured with Copics and his scarf is paper-pieced.

Challenges.

Seven Hills Crafts - Colour Challenge

I went for the 3rd combo - using 2 shades of green and the orange.

Just Us Girls - Word Week

Addicted to CAS

MFTstamps - Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Die and Stitched Alphabet Dies

Avery Elle - Happy Howlidays   Distress Ink - Cracked Pistachio

'Time' Stamp - Clearly Besotted, Make A Wish    Party Hat - WPlus9 Unforgettable

DP - Lawn Fawn, Let's Polka Mon Amie