Sweetheart Anniversary

Hi guys 

Just popping by quickly today to share an Anniversary card I recently made.

It's a really simple design but it took a while to make...

First I stamped the heart image in grey ink and then coloured in the flowers and leaves with Copics.  I placed the cardstock back into my MISTI, used some anti-static powder to remove any cling and then re-stamped over the top with VersaMark ink before heat embossing in white.  Next the image was die cut onto a square stitched panel before adhering to the card base on fun foam.  The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed onto a die cut strip and adhered over the top.

When I placed the image back into my MISTI the cardstock must have been very slightly out of position from the first inking so the embossing isn't covering the grey in places but I'm still happy with the result.  

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - My Sweetheart, Mini Messages
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; VersaMark
• Coloured with Copic markers
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White
• Dies: The Works - stitched square; Clearly Besotted - Stripped Die Collection

Thanks so much for stopping by, your visits and feedback are so appreciated.

40 Sensational Years

Hi there and Happy Good Friday, everyone!

Today I'm sharing a commission card I was asked to make by an old work colleague, for him to give to his wife on their Ruby Wedding Anniversary last weekend.

This card is A5, so larger than the normal A6 cards that I make.

I began by embossing a piece of white cardstock with the hearts design which was then matted onto some deep red cardstock.  I then heat embossed the Happy Anniversary in silver onto a strip of vellum and wrapped this around the panel before securing on the reverse and adhering to the card base.  Two hearts were then die cut from white and red card, and one stamped and also heat embossed in silver.  These were adhered offset and I added a ribbon bow and some clear gems to finish.

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder: Creative Expressions - Heart Strings
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Happy Anniversary; Uniko - Classic Numbers
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax

That's all from me today, I'll be back tomorrow morning to share details of the next Less is More challenge.

Less is More Challenge #384

Good morning

Starting over at Less is More today we have a Colour challenge for you.  I'll get straight to it and show you the cue card...

As always, please ensure your entries are clean and simple.

Our generous Sponsor for this month is Happy Little Stampers so please do play along in our November challenges to be in with a chance of winning a prize.

Joining us as a Guest Designer this week we have the wonderful Angie of Cimba Creative Fun.  She was our September winner and is a regular participant at Less is More.  Please do pop over and take a look at her gorgeous card for our colour challenge theme.

Right, onto my cards, and I have two for you this time.  Here's the first, using copper, gold and silver and stamps by our fabulous sponsor...

For this card I chose a teal coloured base and used that for my stamped panel too.  I used metallics for the rest of the design.  I began by first stamping the holly and heat embossing with copper embossing powder, then stamped the berries, added the embossing powder and brushed away any parts of the image which crossed over onto the holly before also heat embossing in copper.  I then painted the images using a mix of mica powder and water in silver and gold.  I then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in silver before die cutting with a pierced square die.  Something else was needed so I die cut the same square from some gold cardstock and offset the panels before popping up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Merry Kissmas
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Copper, Metallic Silver
• Mica Powder: Honey Doo Crafts - Silver Sparkle; Ranger Perfect Pearls - Heirloom Gold
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Squares Stax
• Cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #317 - Make Your Mark (painted with mica powders)

Stamping Sensations - November Challenge - Get Ready for Christmas

Happy Little Stampers - November Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes (CAS)

My second card is one I recently made for my boyfriend's parents who were celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary...

For the main panel I ran this through my Big Shot using a great little embossing folder.  It creates a horizontal banner towards the top and an embossed heart and a border along the bottom.  I heat embossed the sentiment in gold and attached the panel to a slightly larger piece of textured gold cardstock flat on the card base.  I mixed some transparent texture paste with gold glitter and spread this through a heart stencil and left it to dry before die cutting with a stitched heart.  I cut the same heart from the same gold cardstock I adhered to the base.  All that was left to do was adhere the hearts, one popped up on 3D foam, and a little bow made from gold organza ribbon.

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder:  Xcut - Banner
• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #7
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts
• Texture Paste: Ranger - Translucent Matte
• Accents: Nuvo Glitter - Light Gold
• Ribbon and cardstock from stash 

Thanks so much for visiting today.  My teamies have some great examples which you can find over on the main Less is More challenge page, here.  So, unless you're super organised (unlike me!) why not use this challenge to add some Christmas cards to your stash using metallics?  I really must get a wriggle on with mine, time seems to be passing so fast, Santa will be on his sleigh before I know it!

Anniversary Bunting

Hi guys, Happy Saturday

I thought I'd pop back today to share another of those anniversary cards I made a few weekends back, to build up my stock.

All the cards I made that day have since been grabbed by my mum and my auntie so I'm back to zero again! lol

Although not intended for a Golden Wedding Anniversary, this one could be used for that very purpose because of the gold and white theme...

I bought this bunting die ages ago but it was still waiting for its first use.  I cut one in white and one from some gold cardstock.  I adhered the white die cut flat to the card base and then adhered the little gold hearts taken from the gold die cut and adhered these in the little negative spaces.  A pretty simple idea but believe me, they were fiddly!  I then stamped and heat embossed the Anniversary sentiment in gold and die cut it with the co-ordinating die.  I stamped 'happy' in black and then adhered the word die cut on 3D foam pads.

Materials used:

• Dies: Joanna Sheen - Bunting; Clearly Besotted - Happy Anniversary
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Happy Anniversary
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - March Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

Use Your Stuff Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope to share more this weekend.

Muse Challenge #256 - Light Teal Anniversary

Hi guys

The designer rotation at Muse means it's back with me to provide the inspiration card for you this week. 

I use white so much but wanted to use a colour as the main focus this time.  Hopefully there are a few elements to inspire you to play along with this one.

I chose to use this lovely teal colour cardstock as a starting point.  I then stamped the leafy flourish in a co-ordinating ink and die cut it with a stitched heart (yes sorry, it's that heart again!).  Next, I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark onto a vellum strip and heat embossed it in silver.  I adhered the heart to the coloured cardstock and then wrapped the vellum around and secured on the reverse.  To finish, I added a few smooth silver gemstones to the stamped image.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics assortment
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Mr & Mrs; Crafter's Companion - Special Day (Together Forever)
• Ink: Altenew - Volcano Lake; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax
• Vellum and gemstones from stash

Challenge entries:

My Time to Craft - Challenge #365 - Monochromatic

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you can join in this week :)

Pastel Floral Anniversary

Hi guys

Tonight I thought I'd share another of the Anniversary cards I made for my stash last weekend. 

I love how pretty this one turned out and it was fairly easy to create too.

I started by die cutting a heart aperture (sorry, it's that heart again!) from a panel of white cardstock.  Before I created the rest of the heart detail I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in platinum.  I then die cut the Gardenia flower and placed it behind the aperture, adhering the edges to the reverse of the panel.  Behind this I secured some glittered patterned paper.  The panel was then popped up on fun foam onto the card base.

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax; Memory Box - Gorgeous Gardenia Outline
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Mr and Mrs
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Platinum
• Patterned Paper: By Decotime - unknown name

Challenge entries:

Just Add Ink - Challenge #397 - Just Add 'H' (heart, heat embossing)
Cards in Envy - Give It Some Heart
Inkspirational - Challenge #154 - Aperture
Happy Little Stampers - February Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies
Creative with Stamps - Challenge #23 - Heart
Aurora Wings - Challenge #64 - Bingo (Glitter / Die Cuts / Layers)






Thank you so much for stopping by :)

Hot Pink Anniversary

Hi guys

I was sorting through the cards in my stock box recently and realised the one genre of card I don't have any of is Anniversary.  So I made a few for my stash, and then my Auntie promptly bought two of them so I now need to make more!

Here's one of them, I'll share the others in future posts.

At the time, this was one of those cards I wished I hadn't started as it took a lot longer to create than I thought it would.  But I do think it has the wow factor, while still looking very simple.

I started with a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card base and die cut a heart aperture in the centre.  I then laid it over the base and marked with a pencil where the aperture would be.  I then used a tile background die and cut this once from white and also from some glossy hot pink card I had in my stash.  I adhered a section of the white die cut onto the card base and then filled in the pattern using the waste from the hot pink die cut.  Although this die looks symmetrical, I can assure you it isn't!  Some of those little 'drop' shapes are different sizes, so after some choice language coming from the area of my craft desk, I did finally fill in the gaps!  Next time I'll try to keep the die cut and waste intact rather than just popping them out willy nilly :D

To finish I popped the panel up on 3D foam and then added a black sentiment strip with the sentiment heat embossed in white.

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax; Hobbycraft Intricut - Circle Tile Background
• Stamp: Altenew - Vintage Roses (sentiment)
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - CAS Game #109 - Die Cuts Only (stamped sentiment allowed)

Alphabet Challenge - X for Xtra Special Occasion

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #279 - CAS

My Time to Craft - Challenge #364 - Love is All You Need

Inkspirational - Challenge #154 - Aperture Card

Happy Little Stampers - February Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

Cards in Envy - Love You So Much

Thanks as always for your visit, I appreciate each and every one of you coming to my little space in Blogland x

Muse #210 - Happy Anniversary Birds

Hi there

It's whizzed around to my turn to be your designer again over a Muse card challenge.

This is the card I made for my brother and sister-in-law for their first wedding anniversary.  I hope there are plenty of elements you can draw inspiration from so that you can play along with the challenge; the layout, colours, dry and wet embossing, vellum, stitched panel, image coloured with pencils.

I heat embossed the sentiment in white onto a strip of blue vellum which I wrapped around a panel of cardstock I embossed with a hearts embossing folder.  This was adhered flat to the cardbase.  I then stamped the images, coloured with pencils and die cut with a stitched rectangle die before popping up on 3D foam.  To finish I added some Glossy Accents to the water splashes and the water in the bird bath.

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder: We R Memory Keepers - Next Level 'Dotted'
• Vellum from stash
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Bird Bath; Altenew - Vintage Roses (sentiment)
• Ink: VersaMark; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangles
• Coloured with coloured pencils
• Accents: Glossy Accents

Challenge entries:

House of Cards - April Challenge - Feather Images and/or Colours

Just Add Ink - Challenge #353 - Just add Critters

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I look forward to seeing your interpretations if you get a chance to play along this week :)

Less is More Week #306

Good morning

At Less is More this week can you believe it's time for another One Layer challenge?!  And we have an interesting one for your one layers this week...

Outlines

I should have been using this as an opportunity to make more Christmas cards as I'm still way behind with the amount that I need, but no, I went with a Thank You and an Anniversary!  I'm so helpful to myself, lol!

Anyhow, here goes with card number one where I used an outline style font...

I used some watercolour cardstock as my card base here and watercoloured a central area with three colours of Distress Ink.  Once completely dry and prepped with my anti-static powder tool I stamped the Thanks in VersaMark and heat embossed in white.  That was it for this one.  The card is a little warped from the water and the heat embossing so I'll need to place it under something heavy for a while longer.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch; VersaMark
• Stamp: Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments #6
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entry

CASology - Challenge #227 - Space

And now for my second card which has a few outlines..

I started by embossing my card base using a stitched heart die.  I then stamped the pebble couple before masking and then stamping the bench.  Next I chose a 'happy' in a shadow outline font which I stamped in red to match the enamel heart I added above, and then finished off the rest of the sentiment in black.  So I have the outline image, the heart outline and the outlined 'happy'.

Materials used:

• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax
• Stamps: Inkwell Stamps - Pebbles Allsorts; Wplus9 - Whole Lotta Happy; Clearly Besotted - Happy Everything (anniversary sentiment)
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Camelia
• Accents: Enamel heart from stash

Challenge entry:

Penny Black & More - December Challenge - Black and White Plus One

My teamies and I would love for you to join in and play along this week.  They have also created some wonderful cards this week so please do take a minute to visit their personal blogs if you can, in between the madness of the Christmas preparations!

Hope to see you again soon :)

Going Dotty!

Hi guys

Happy Saturday!  And another Saturday means it's time for a new challenge over at Less is More.  And this week it's the turn of another Recipe challenge which is...

Polka Dots

Please remember to keep your creations clean and simple.

And before I share my cards with you I'd like to introduce our fab Guest Designer for this week's challenge, one of our regular LIMettes, the lovely Kay Wallace.


I have three cards for you this week, here's the first...

I started by adhering some polka dot paper to my card base.  I then took a panel of white cardstock and used a stitched rectangle die to partly cut the panel to create two stitched edges.  I stamped the sentiment in black before adhering flat over the patterned paper and added three Doodlebug sprinkles to finish.

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: Papermania - Spots and Stripes Pastels
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangles
• Stamps: Altenew - Painted Greetings
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Accents: Doodlebug Sprinkles - Cupcake, Bumblebee and Lilac Collections

Challenge entries:

Creative Card Crew - Challenge #109 - CAS

Crafty Catz - Challenge #317 - Stitching (real or faux)
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes (not topping option this time)

I decided on a very classic layout for my second card...

I started by die cutting a pierced square from some white cardstock.  After removing any static with a powder tool I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark before heat embossing in gold.  I then stamped the balloons and strings, one onto a co-ordinating die cut which was mounted on 3D foam.  The square panel was then adhered to the card base on 3D foam strips.

Materials used:

• Die: MFT-Dienamics - Pierced Squares
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - It's Your Birthday, Got Your Number
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - Pacific, Mint; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich

Challenge entry:

Color Throwdown - Challenge #385 - Teal, Aqua, Gold

And my third card I have made for my boyfriend as we are celebrating another year together tomorrow...

I die cut various hearts from three shades of polka dot glittered cardstock and adhered these overlapping onto a panel of white cardstock.  I then simply stamped the sentiment in turquoise and black before adhering the panel to the base using 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Dies: Lawn Fawn - Hearts
• Coloured Cardstock: Kanban - Sherbert Pips
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Happy Anniversary
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Turquoise

Challenge entry:

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #418 - To Die For

Thanks so much for visiting today.  I look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery this week and I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend. 

Less is More Week 251

Good morning

It's time for another new challenge at Less is More.  We are back with a theme challenge this week which is...

Numbers

Please remember to keep your creations clean and simple

So, I'll get straight to it with my samples...

I stamped five balloons in blue shades and die cut with their co-ordinating dies.  I then positioned them roughly where I wanted them and marked under each one with a pencil.  Further down the card I marked a central point then drew in the 'strings' with a fineliner pen.  The balloons where then adhered in place and the sentiment was stamped onto a panel, die cut using a stitched rectangle die.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Make a Wish; Paper Smooches - Birthday Sampler
• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Make a Wish; MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangles
• Ink: Versa Color - Cyan, Baby Blue, Royal Blue

Challenge entry:

Crafty Catz - Challenge #302 - Shades of Blue



And my second card...

I die cut a heart and embossed the sentiment and numbers with silver embossing powder.  I cut a smaller heart from a post-it note and placed this onto the white cardstock panel so I could blend out some distress inks, keeping the rough shape of the heart.  The embossed heart was then adhered onto the panel on 3D foam, as was the panel to the card base.

Materials used:

• Die: X-Cut - Nested Hearts
• Stamps: Uniko - Classic Numbers
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver

Challenge entry:

CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #145 - Precious Metals

Thanks so much for popping by, myself and my teamies would love for you to join us this week and we can't wait to see you in the gallery.