Stencilled Let It Snow

Hi there

Sharing more festive multiples today and this design was super simple.

I chose to use more of my pearlescent square cards from my stash for these and chose stencilling again as it's so quick to get a production line going.  I made ten of these in total.

I chose a snowflake stencil with lots of detail and picked out three shades of dye ink.  I've never ink blended on pearlescent cardstock before so wasn't sure how well it would work but they turned out fine.  I laid the stencil in roughly the same position on each card front and added ink in three shades in the same areas of the stencil each time, so there was no need to clean it off throughout the process.

I then found some pearlescent silver cardstock in my stash and used that to cut the die cut sentiments.  These were adhered flat so the cards had no bulk for posting.

Here is the full set...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Crafters Companion - Glittering Snowflakes Collection: Snow is Falling
• Ink: Distress ink - Salty Ocean, Dusty Concord; Altenew - Volcano Lake
• Die: Stamplorations - Let It Snow Phrase Die

So there you have it, simple and quick to create.  Thanks so much for visiting, I'll be back again, hopefully tomorrow, to share the remainder of my Christmas makes.

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 :)

Muse #161 - Sending Hugs

Hi there

I'm proud to be your designer once again this week over at Muse where this week's challenge is just starting.

I hope you can gain some inspiration from my card this week and join in with the challenge.

I purchased a new flower die recently so wanted to put it to use on this card.  I love the inlaid die technique but this die was REALLY fiddly!  I persevered and got there in the end!

I started by using two shades of Brushos, sprinkled them onto some card and spritzed with water.  When dry I die cut a section using a pierced square die.  Next I die cut the flower branch once in deep red cardstock, and again through my die cut panel.  I covered a second die cut square in adhesive and began piecing the design back together, inlaying the red flowers through the square.  This was then adhered flat to my card base and the sentiment stamped below in black.

Materials used:

• Ink: Brushos - Orange, Brilliant Red; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Squares; Crafter's Companion (Signature Collection by Sara Davies) - Trailing Flowers
• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Doodled Flowers
• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - Game #62 - Anything Goes
Daring Cardmakers - Oriental Theme (this die cut has the appearance of Cherry Blossom)
Creative Card Crew - Challenge #110 - Die Cut
Addicted to CAS - Challenge #85 - Inlaid Dies
CAS on Sunday - Challenge #80 - Flowers

Thanks so much for popping by today, your visits are always so appreciated :)

Weight Loss Motivation

Hi there

This morning I have something a little different to share with you.

I've had a constant battle with my weight for as long as I can remember so anything that can give me a little more motivation is very welcome.  I wanted something that would allow me to see my weight coming off.  After a disastrous few months I'm back to where I started, AGAIN, so I thought now was a good time to make something that would be visually appealing.

I bought two clip top jars recently for this purpose but they looked a little bare and boring.  And as I now have a nice sparkly new kitchen I decided to decorate them to co-ordinate with my kitchen textiles (as close as I could!)

The jar on the left has a tag saying 'Empty Me, Slowly but Surely' and is filled with glass nuggets, each one representing half a pound of the weight I need to shift (yes, I have a mountain to climb!).  After years of yo-yo dieting I know that 'slowly but surely' is the way to go so thought I would use this as a reminder.  Hopefully, each week I will be able to put at least one nugget into the other jar.

To make these I printed the two statements onto white card using a font I downloaded called 'Frosting for Breakfast' - haha not a good idea in these circumstances!  I then die cut four tags, two from the printed statements, and two from kraft cardstock.  I then stamped the flowers and leaves in colours to co-ordinate with my kitchen textiles.  I adhered the stamped tags onto the kraft tags at an angle and then finished by tying these around my jars with some red organza ribbon.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Paper Smooches - Reflections
• Ink: Memento - Lady Bug and Rhubarb Stalk; Versa Color - Olive, Evergreen and Pine Cone
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Rounded Tag Die
• Cardstock: Anna-Marie Designs - Super Smooth Printer Card; Neenah - Desert Storm
• Ribbon from stash

Challenge entries:

Paper Smooches SPARKS - April 5-11 Challenge (Wk1) Anything Goes

The Paper Players - Challenge #239 - To 'Die' For

Crazy 4 Challenges - Challenge #276 - Put a Bow On

Fingers crossed I can make progress this time.  Matt and I decided not to buy Easter eggs this year so at least I won't be eating up chocolate for weeks!

Thanks for your visit today, I hope you have a lovely Easter Monday everyone.

Birthday Daisies

Hi there

I'm back with a quick post to share a card with you.  I'm almost back to normal at home, just some cleaning and tidying up to do before I can get my craft space back properly, but I managed to grab a little space to make this one today.

I stamped the daisies in VersaMark ink before heat embossing with white embossing powder.  I then picked up some orange and green Memento ink with a waterbrush and coloured in the centre of the daisies and the leaves.  The sentiment was stamped in the same orange ink.  I die cut the images with a stitched rounded rectangle die.  The panel was popped up on 3D foam and I then rounded the corners of the card base to finish.

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Neenah - Desert Storm
• Stamps: Stampin' Up - Both Way Blossoms; Clearly Besotted - Many Mini Messages
• Ink: VersaMark; Memento - Tangelo and Cottage Ivy
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rounded Rectangles
• Tools: Tonic corner rounder

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - Game 33 - Orange U Glad UR CAS

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #139 - Clean and Simple
ShowCASe your Style - Challenge #9 - CAS Birthday
Uniko Studio - Challenge #18 - Birthdays


Thanks for popping by.  I'll be back fairly soon to share some photos of why I've been in a mess and unable to create!

Precious Baby Boy

Hi folks

Today I'm sharing a card I made for an order for a friend.  The little chap concerned made an appearance into the world about 6 weeks early so I had to make this one ahead of time! :)

Apologies for the dark photo, I took this at about 7.15am today and the light wasn't great but I had to pass the card on today.

I couldn't wait to use my new stamp set by Clearly Besotted Stamps, Baby Love.  There are some lovely images in this set and I think this little pram is just adorable.  I was also itching to use my new pack of MFT Die-namics Fishtail Flags Stax.  I've seen these used all over blogland but everywhere I looked they were either really expensive or sold out.  I dragged my chap around a local craft shop a few weeks ago and he thought I was completely bonkers when I let out a little shriek from the corner of the shop where I found a little pack just for me!  *little claps*

I had all the elements stamped and cut out and was going to use a square card base but I just couldn't find a layout I liked so I decided on a landscape layout in the end.  I'm not entirely happy with it as it looks a little busy, sometimes I start with a layout idea and other cards just sort of evolve.  The pram ended up looking a little lost so I sparkled it up with some Stickles for a bit of bling.  Boys do glam too right?! :)

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Baby Love
• Ink: Versa Color - Baby Blue; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels One; MFT Die-namics - Fishtail Flags Stax; Xcut Nesting Dies - Circles
• Cardstock: Crafters Companion - Neenah Classic Crest Card (white); Docrafts - Boofle 6" x 6" Designstax (blue gingham)
• Glitter Glue: Stickles - Star Dust
• Ribbon and gems from stash

Hopefully be back soon as I hope to find time to make a couple of challenge cards in the next day or two.

Thanks for popping by as always.

CAS(E) this Sketch #28

Hi there

I've only ever entered one challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch so when I saw this week's sketch I wanted to have a go as I love the layout.

I had a shuffle through my stamps and decided to use a stamp set I've had for years, it was one of my very first stamp purchases and hasn't seen the light of day since I've been blogging.  Its the Perfectly Clear 'Window Box' set by Stampendous.  I combined this with a few extras (hearts and sentiment) from a couple of my sets from Clearly Besotted Stamps and came up with this card.

 

This is the fabulous sketch we were given to work with...

I stamped the images using Impress ink then coloured with Promarkers.  I then had my first experience of using Glossy Accents...wow, I'm addicted, this stuff is fantastic!  I used this to highlight the hearts and then added some black gemstones to the flower centres.  I framed the card on a black mat to bring it all together.

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Crafters Companion - Neenah Classic Crest Card; Card base and black card from stash
• Stamps: Stampendous - Perfectly Clear 'Window Box, Clearly Besotted Stamps - Many Thanks (hearts) and Paired Up (sentiment)
• Ink: Impress - Jet Black
• Promarkers: Poppy and Cocktail Pink
• Accents: Ranger - Glossy Accents; Hobbycraft - 3mm Adhesive Gems

Right, I'm now starving as I got into crafty mode as soon as I came home from work and haven't yet had my tea!  Off to raid the kitchen :)

Thanks for popping by and as always I really appreciate any comments :) xx