Be Bold. Be Beautiful

Happy New Year Crafters.
I hope you've all had a lovely holiday time with friends and family.
Here is my first card of the year. I've gone for something bright and bold.

The budget will be tight again this year, so that means revisiting some of my less used stash. This bloom die is a good example. I'm not great with flowers anyway, but this is also one of those stamps that I just can't get to give a crisp, clean image, no matter what I try. Learning to live with it not being perfect is a challenge for me :o)

Challenge
Color Hues

Red and Purple

altenew - bold floral drape

colorado craft company - citrus berry cupcake
distress inks - festive berries, wilted violet

Bling It On

Hello.
This is NOT the year to hold back on the bling! 

I've been admiring these full panel, shaker cards for a while, and now was the perfect time to give one a go. I started by making my card front in the usual way, with my car packed with cute critters, loaded with gifts, on a die-cut snow background, and layered onto the blue card. Then I popped this inside a thin cello bag (I get mine from The Works) and added all my bling.
Ok, I went a bit crazy with the bling - using sequins, some super, glittery Diamond Dust, and some powdery/snowy Flower Soft in polar white.
Then I used ds tape to attach this to my card blank. Because I used a thin cello bag it's really easy to fold over the sides and tape it in place.
Voila - a super, cute, full of fun, shaker.

 We're not going to mention the snow and glitter that gets trapped INSIDE the car!! :o)

Challenge

Addicted to Stamps and More

This is my 2nd entry - is that allowed?

mft  - special delivery, cute caravan, beast friends (tree)

copics    Avery elle - falling snow die
Pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle
diamond dust,   polar white flower soft

Birthday Road Trip

Hello.

Before I share my card with you today, I want to say a big thank you to everyone that sent their best wishes for my mum. Unfortunately, mum passed away in hospital last Sunday. In some ways it's a relief, as the dementia was making it increasingly difficult for mum to remain at home, but it's still hard.

We managed to get a funeral booked for the 22nd and right now, I'm consoling myself with thinking of my mum and dad being together again.

As always time in my craft room is a big help. Focusing on tiny die-cuts and colouring calms the mind.

Here's my car, all loaded up and setting off on a birthday road trip.

Challenge
Addicted to Stamps and More

mft - special delivery, cute caravan, party animals
pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle
avery elle - falling snow die
copics

A Whole Lot of Happy is Coming Your Way

Hello.

Loaded down with suitcases and presents this car is chugging slowly up the hill - I hope it makes it without losing anything!

I inked up my background with that gorgeous violet colour, and attached some white snow banks. Then I added my packed car, making it's way up the hill, and completed the scene with a few trees and some falling snow.

It's my first time playing along with the Global Design Project and I just have time to get my entry in. Check them out for some amazing inspiration from their design team.

mft - special delivery, cute caravan,  snowglobe sentiments
lawn fawn stitched hillside borders
distress ink - wilted violet and evergreen bough
concord and 9th - tiny trees
copic markers

Bark the Herald Angels Sing

Hello.
Red sky at night, shepherd's delight.
And I was delighted with how this rich 'festive berries' sky turned out.

The caroling pups were fussy cut, coloured with copics and added to that red background, I also squeezed in a Christmas tree behind them. For the 'snow' I usually splatter some white paint, but this time I just used my white gel pen - super quick and easy to do.

Inspired By Challenge

(I've used the red, green, brown and grey)

clearly besotted - howl it's christmas, coloured with copics
distress ink festive berries
pinkfresh studio diagonal stitch rectangle, mft - sttitch scalloped basic edges

Driving Home for Christmas

Hello.

I'm so behind with my Christmas cards, that I thought I would make a few together. Don't be fooled by the CAS design of these though, they took me all afternoon to die-cut, colour and make up.

I chose pink, blue, red and green for my car colours, and used a panel of the same colour for some easy layering.

It was fun putting these together and  I mixed and matched the critters, presents and suitcases to  the families that these are for. I even managed to squeeze a christmas tree in there somewhere :-)

Challenge

CAS Christmas Card

mft stamps - special delivery, cute caravan, beast friends, snow globe sentiments

copics, pinkfresh studio diagonal stitch rectangle

Home for the Holidays

Hello.

Just a quick post today, with a simple card. My brain is on a go slow. My mum was taken into hospital 2 weeks ago with a stroke and pulmonary embolism. We found her on the bedroom floor. The dementia is making treatment more difficult. It's tough.

It's nice to get half an hour in my craft room, where I can focus on die-cuts and glitter, and forget about the everyday for a while.

sorry about the rubbish photo, irl this card really sparkles! 

Challenge
 Inspired By 

wplus9 - neighbors coloured with copics

concord and 9th - tiny trees stamped in distress ink, lucky clover

avery elle falling snow die, stickles glitter - star dust, mft - snow globe sentiment

Winter Wonderland

Hello.

I'm back in my comfort zone today, with a little, winter scene.

I really love background dies, with a stitched edge. I think they add such a pretty and subtle detail. Here I used a diagonal stitch rectangle and some stitched hillside borders. Then I added my die cut trees and popped up my animals with foam tape.

I wasn't brave enough to stamp the sentiment right onto the card, so it's on a little strip instead. 

To finish, I added a few snowflakes, and some glitter to the trees.

Inspired by Challenge

I was inspired by... the white background, the green trees, the reindeer and snowflakes and the black sentiment

wplus9 - winter wonderland / concord and 9th - tiny trees / distress ink - festive berries, vintage photo, lucky clover / altenew ink - evening grey / lawn fawn - stitched hillside borders / pinkfresh studios - diagonal stitched rectangle / stickles glitter - star dust

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

It's All About The Trees

Hello.
This week I splashed out on my first turnabout stamp. At first I thought it was kind of pricey but, in this set, you get the turnabout stamp, 5 separate trees, 2 sentiments and a few other elements, so you do get a lot for your money. That's how I sold it to myself anyway :o)
Here's my first attempt with the turnabout.

I didn't have one of the turnabout jigs, so I just used the alignment guide that came in the set, to place the stamp in my platform, and it worked fine. My head is now buzzing with possibilities for this set, colour combos, monochrome, embossing - I NEED more time in my craft room!!

Challenge

Addicted to Stamps and More

concord and 9th - tiny trees turnabout
pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle
distress ink - fossilized amber, faded jeans, salvaged patina

WIP Temperature Chart

Hello.

Today I'm sharing something a little different. A temperature chart.
 I've wanted to make one of these for a long time. There are some amazing quilts and cross stitch designs all over Pinterest. However, I can't quilt, and my budget wouldn't stretch to all those embroidery supplies, but  I can STAMP! So I created my own chart with a tiny flower stamp. 
I used the small stamp so that I could keep it A4 size for framing.

I used my Zigs to create a colour chart, -2C to 30C+, each colour representing 2 degrees, so 17 colours in all. Then I  keep a record, in my bullet journal, of the daily temperature at 12pm and simply colour the flower in according to my chart.

This is a fun little project, and I've enjoyed doing it. There are definitely things I would change next time though.

• I would take more care stamping the flowers - they go a little wobbly towards the end, but hey, I guess that's the handmade look, right?
• I would change the colours a little. It would be nice to see more reds/oranges in there,  so I would make those come in at a lower temperature. 
• I'm not sure about using 12pm for the daily temperature. I might switch that to the highest daily temp.

Challenge

Love to Craft

November Anything Goes

flower stamp from mftstamps, sweet somebunny
zig clean colour real brush markers