Introducing Skull and Cross Buns 'Brush Hearts'

Hi guys

Today I'm sharing some makes using a brand new stamp set recently launched by Skull and Cross Buns, just in time for Valentine's Day, Brush Hearts.

Here it is...

I had a little play with it last night and here are my makes...

I started with a panel of pale grey card stock slightly smaller than the card base and die cut a heart off the edge.  I lined up the panel on my card base and stamped the red heart through the aperture and heat embossed with clear powder (apologies, the photo doesn't pick this up).  I finished by stamping the sentiment in black and mounting the panel on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax
• Ink: Versa Color - Camelia; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss
• Grey cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #63 - CAS

Dream Valley - Challenge #171 - Love

Masking and stamping for my second card...

I die cut a heart from a piece of copier paper and secured it over a panel of white cardstock.  I gently blended some pink Distress Ink in from the edges of the heart and then stamped three different heart images from the set in three different colours.  The sentiment and lips were simply stamped before adhering the panel to the base on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry; Versa Color - Misty Mauve, Amethyst, Rose Red; Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

Daring Cardmakers - Masking

Penny Black and More - January Challenge - Something New (stamp set)

Sweet Stampin' - Valentines/Love

I embossed the background with dies on my third card...

I started by embossing a red panel of cardstock with some stitched heart dies.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white.  The hearts were heat embossed in a pearl powder onto vellum which was wrapped around the panel, and adhered flat to the card base.  The embossing and pearlescent embossing can be seen more clearly below...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White, White Pearl
• Vellum and red cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Inkspirational - Challenge #153 - Word Prompt - Attachment (I attached vellum)

Alphabet Challenge - 'V' for Vellum

Thanks so much for popping by.  Why not pop over to Skull and Cross Buns and get this fab set in time for some Valentine makes, and have a browse of the rest of the store too.  If you are someone who prefers rubber stamps to clear, there's a fantastic range of rubber stamps to chose from, and they are excellent quality, so why not treat yourself!

Hope to see you soon, enjoy the rest of your Sunday :)

AAA Cards CAS Game #107 - Guest Designer!

Good morning!

After a recent win (yay!) I'm delighted to have been invited to Guest Design over at AAA Cards!  It's all about CAS (clean and simple) cards so right up my street :)

Here are the details for the next challenge, starting right now, and you can find the main challenge post here.

I used the cue word in the relaxed sense and came up with this...

I started with a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card base and die cut a circular aperture, this would then allow me to work out where I needed to stamp on the card base.  I stamped the sloth on the branch image and coloured him using coloured pencils.  I made a mask from a post-it and then gently stencilled the clouds behind him with Distress Ink.  With the mask still in place I stamped the leaves.  I finished by stamping the sentiment on the top panel and popped this up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Die: Hero Arts - Circle Infinity Dies
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Hung Up On You; Leafy Accents; Hunkydory (sentiment) - free set with a publication
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Olive, Green Tea; Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass
• Stencil: MFT - Mini Cloud Edges
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos

Challenge entries:

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - For Men

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Add a Sentiment (Clearly Besotted)

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #63 - CAS

Thanks so much for popping by, and a big thank you to AAA for having me.  I hope you'll join in this two week challenge.

Less is More Challenge #363

Hi there

It's time for another fresh new challenge over at Less is More and the challenge for this coming fortnight is our regular One Layer challenge, and we are looking for...

Don't forget, we have a brand new sponsor for the month of January, Skull and Cross Buns, so please do play along for a chance to win the monthly prize!

I have two cards to share with you this time, the first using stamps from our sponsor...

This was super simple to make, and it took me about fifteen minutes whilst waiting for last night's dinner to cook!  I blended some Distress Ink through a dotty stencil in a pale grey/blue.  I then used the foxes stamp in my MISTI and stamped with two different shades of orange/brown to create a kind of ombre effect.  The hearts are part of the same rubber stamp and these were stamped in red.  I finished by stamping the sentiment in black and adding a tiny gem to the flower.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Altenew - Halftone
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Foxes in Love, Brush Hearts (sentiment)
• Ink: Distress Ink - Weathered Wood; Versa Color - Paprika, Brown, Cardinal; Versafine - Onyx Black

My next card, although it looks pretty simple, took a lot longer to make as I'm still getting to grips with my Faber Castell Polychromos...

I stamped the image in black ink and coloured with my pencils.  I'm still getting a 'feel' for these pencils and don't currently have any blending solution so I spent a good amount of time trying to build layers of colour on the heart.  It's far from perfect but I'm pretty happy with the result.  I finished by curving a clear sentiment stamp around the heart and stamping in black ink.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Lili of the Valley - Odd Dog: Squidgy Heart; Clearly Besotted - Petite Plushies (sentiment)
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Add a Sentiment (Clearly Besotted)

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #63 - CAS

STAMPlorations - January Theme and Sketch - Stamps and Curves

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog.  My teamies have created some super cuties this week over at Less is More and please do pop over to their personal blogs where they may have even more inspiration for you.  

Hopefully you're liking that the challenge is now fortnightly and gives those of you with busy lives a lot more time to play along.  I'm looking forward to your cute creations and don't forget it's one layer week!

Uniko Challenge #45 - Guest Designer!

Good morning!

After being super lucky and winning the last challenge at Uniko, I'm thrilled to be the Guest Designer for their next challenge starting today!

Below are the details for the next challenge and you can find the link to the main challenge post here.

Over the New Year I was suffering with a flu bug and lovely Bev at Uniko was wonderfully sweet and sent me a gorgeous card along with one of her beautiful stamp sets, just to cheer me up.  Thanks once again, Bev, you're an absolute gem, and such a thoughtful and generous gift.

And as this challenge is 'Something Old, Something New', I've used the stamp set here as my something new :)

I started by embossing a panel of white cardstock with a diagonal stripe embossing folder I've had in my stash for years, I believe it is now retired.  So that was my something old.  I sliced a section out of the panel and stamped the sentiment and heart directly onto the card base in the diagonal gap created.  The embossed panels were then popped up on fun foam and to finish I added a tiny clear gemstone to the heart.  I never know which is the positive and negative side of this embossing folder, but I love both sides anyway!

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder: Stampin' Up - Stylish Stripes
• Stamps: Uniko - Big & Bold Hugs
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Cardinal
• Gemstone from stash

Challenge entries:

Simply Create Too - Challenge #134 - Use Embossing
CAS on Friday - Challenge #124 - Love/Valentine
Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #63 - CAS


Thanks so much for visiting today, I hope you get a chance to play along.  I'll be back with you tomorrow morning to introduce the next challenge at Less is More.  Hope to see you then!

Muse Challenge #248 - Sunny Florals on Teal

Hi there

I'm here to kick off the first challenge of 2018 over at Muse and I'm delighted that it's my turn to be your designer.

The idea of the Muse challenge is to use the designer's creation as inspiration for your own project.  You can use any element(s) to inspire you, e.g. colours, theme, technique, layout, etc.

In recent months I've been inspired by many cards that Yana Smakula has created using coloured pencils on dark cardstock, so wanted to have a go at this myself using my Polychromos, and I'm really pleased with the result.

I chose teal cardstock as my base and stamped the sentiment and florals in VersaMark before heat embossing in gold.  I then coloured the flowers and leaves with my coloured pencils before trimming slightly and adhering the panel to my card base.

Here's a closer view...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Sincerest Thanks, To You With Love
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos
• Coloured Cardstock: From an assortment by Stampin' Up

Challenge entries:

Simpy Create Too - Challenge #134 - Embossing
Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #62 - Flowers
Just Us Girls - Challenge #422 - Anything Goes
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes





Thanks so much for visiting today.  I hope my card will inspire you to play along at Muse this week.

Less is More #362

Hi guys, and a very Happy New Year to you!

I'm here to introduce the first challenge of 2018 over at Less is More and we're changing things up a little this year.  The challenge will be changing to 2-weekly.  For full details about the challenge please do pop over to the main challenge blog.

Ok, let's get to it, and this time it's a Colour challenge...

And to kick off our new challenges of 2018 we also have a fab new Sponsor for the month of January, Skull and Cross Buns Rubber Stamps.  I've recently joined the Design Team for Skull and Cross Buns and the lovely Emily Fox creates superb quality rubber stamps and also has some great little sets of clear photopolymer stamps too.  As well as the website, Emily also sells her stamps at Not on the High Street, and also has an Etsy store.  Emily is offering a prize to one lucky winner who participates throughout January so why not play along?

Ok, onto my cards, and as much as I love purples, it's still the colour that my camera hates for some reason, the colours always look more blue than they actually are.  For both of my cards I've used almost all stamps by our January Sponsor.

Here's the first...

I started with a gentle blend of Distress Ink through a stencil to lightly cover the centre of the card base.  I then stamped a few clusters of the leaves and hibiscus flowers directly on the card base before stamping the banner sentiment and die cutting with it's co-ordinating die.  A few clear sequins were then added to finish off the card.

Materials used:

• Stencil: MFT - Fishnet
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Tropical Party; Clearly Besotted - Mini Basic Banners (and co-ordinating die)
• Ink: Distress Ink - Milled Lavender; Altenew - Morning Frost, Lavender Fields, Midnight Violet, Deep Iris, Soft Lilac
• Accents: Little Things From Lucy's Cards - Sparkling Rainbow Sequin Mix

And for my second I used a Christmas lights stamp to create a celebration card...

On a panel of white cardstock I repeatedly stamped the string of lights in black ink and coloured with ProMarkers.  I die cut a curved edge and adhered the panel to the card base.  I coloured a strip of cardstock using one of the ProMarkers and adhered the purple trim, also cut with the same die, to the edge of the panel.  I used another of the ProMarkers to colour another scrap of cardstock and then heat embossed the sentiment in white and popped this up on 3D foam.  To finish I added some detail to each of the bulbs using a white pigment ink pen.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Christmas String of Tree Lights, Tropical (sentiments)
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; VersaMark
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Snow Drifts
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Accents: Signo Uni-ball pen - white

Challenge entry:

STAMPlorations - January Challenge - Theme and Sketch - 'Stamps and Curves'

Thanks so much for dropping by.  Please do take a moment to pop on over to the main challenge blog, my teamies are sharing some wonderful creations this week.  

Apologies for the delay with my first post of the year, I've had a horrible flu bug for the last week which really took hold of me so I've been out of crafty action.  Fingers crossed I'm over the worst of it and I can now start 2018 properly!