Thanks for Everything

Hi there

Firstly, apologies for not having posted for a few days.  I've got a horrible cold so my mojo hasn't been very 'with it' for a few days so I decided to have a little sort out of my stash instead.  I WILL make everything fit in my cupboard if it's the last thing I do!  I've taken stuff off shelves, shifted them up and down a notch, then decided things didn't fit as well as they did before so removed stuff, shifted shelves back.  But I think I'm just about there now, for the time being anyway!

Today I am sharing something very different for me.  Yesterday afternoon I was feeling a bit better so decided to have a play with my Brushos.  I bought a small set a few weeks ago so thought I'd see what they were all about.  I blended a few colours with some water onto a paint palette and this is what I created.  At first I hated it and almost threw it in the bin but once it had dried I actually quite liked it so I cut it down and layered it up into this card.

It's actually quite scary how much pigment is in these colours so I watered them down quite a lot and then took a brush and splattered some orange, green and yellow onto some dry watercolour paper, trying to keep the splatters in a tree shape (more difficult than you think!) and also trying not to cover myself in the process!  I then watered down some brown and painted in the tree trunk and a few branches, blending the splatters around a little.  Then I had to be patient and wait for it to dry.  Next I stamped the sentiment in dark brown pigment ink, I decided on pigment as I wasn't sure how dye ink would react on watercolour paper.  I then cut it down and matted it onto some orange cardstock before adhering to a kraft card base.

Materials used:

• Brusho Crystal Colours - Yellow, Orange, Leaf Green and Dark Brown
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Many Thanks
• Ink: Versa Color - Pinecone
• Cardstock from stash

I would like to enter this card at the following challenge blogs:

CASology - Week 116 - Splatter

Let's Craft and Create - Challenge #97 - Autumn

{PIN}spirational - Challenge #125 - Any Kind of Project

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz - Challenge #250 - Autumn

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use Watercolours

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #93 - Anything Goes CAS

AAA Cards - Game #24 - Autumn Colours

That's all for now guys.  Still feeling a bit yucky but hopefully my mojo will be back in full swing soon.  Have a happy Sunday :)

Addicted to Stamps and More #116

Good morning

Well, here we are, back around to Wednesday again which means that Addicted to Stamps and More has a brand new challenge for you.  And we have an easy peasy one for you this time which is...

Anything Goes!

Go ahead and create using anything you like, we'd love you to share it with us!

Our sponsor this week is Rick St Dennis and the prize being offered to our winner is 3 digis!

Here's my DT card using one of our sponsor's images...

Halloween cards are something I very rarely make and I felt a little out of my comfort zone making this one but on this occasion I thought I'd have a go at colouring this fab little image.  I printed off the digi and coloured it using ProMarkers and FlexMarkers.  Not the best colouring, I really need to build up my collection to give me more shading options!  This was then die cut with a rectangle die and framed with some thick green vellum.  I chose a black card base and stamped some silver stars on one side and then used a silver gelly roll pen to create the vertical line.  I embossed the sentiment in silver on purple cardstock and then had a play with my new bow die in orange to echo the orange bow ties in the image.  I used some dotty embossed card for this to add a bit of interest.  After some popping up on 3D foam my card was finished.

Materials used:

• Digi Image: Rick St Dennis - Flying High
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Happy Days and Many Thanks
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - Silver
• Embossing Powder: Rubber Stampede - Silver
• Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Classic Rectangles Large; Frantic Stamper - Small Solid Bow
• Cardstock and vellum from stash
• Coloured with ProMarkers and FlexMarkers

I'd like to enter this card at the following challenge blogs:

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #129 - Clean and Simple

Oh La La Creations - Challenge #166 - Use a Bow

{PIN}spirational - Challenge #125 - Any Kind of Project

Without Words - October Challenge - Boo!

My teamies over at ATSM have some great cards to inspire you this week, a lovely mixed bag and as the challenge is 'Anything Goes', why not come and join us and share your creations.

Thanks for visiting, as always :)

 

Have a Fabulous Birthday

Hi guys

I hope you're all having a relaxing Sunday

I'm popping by this afternoon to share a card which I've made, taking inspiration from a wonderful card made by Kimberly Weiner who is the Guest Muse at Muse Challenge this week.  I've also managed to combine a few other challenges with this one too.

Here is my card...

Here is Kimberly's gorgeous creation...

I loved the colours Kimberly used but with the ink pads in my stash I was struggling to come up with something similar.  So instead I stamped the floral image in VersaMark and then heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I then water coloured, taking colour directly from the tips of my Inktense pencils with a wet brush.  As the colours with the white outline were quite soft, I continued with a bold sentiment but used grey ink instead of black.  I then popped the panel up on 3D foam strips.  So I've taken the colours, the floral image and the layout as my inspiration.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up - So Very Grateful; Clearly Besotted - Flight of Fancy
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - Sky Gray
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Watercoloured using Derwent Inktense pencils

I am also going to link this card up at the following challenge blogs:

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #129 - Clean and Simple
Time Out Challenges - Challenge #15 - Stamping
613 Avenue Create - Challenge #92 - Anything Goes
STAMPlorations - October Challenge - Stamps & Embossing
AAA Cards - Challenge #23 - CAS/Watercolour


I hope you've all had a lovely weekend and managed to find some crafty time.  There was certainly a lot going on in blogland yesterday during World Card Making Day!

If I find some more time I may be back with another card for you later.

Bye for now

To The Best Mum

Hiya

Well, I'm back as promised with the card I made this morning.

This is for my mum's birthday next week but I had to get a wiggle on as it had to be mailed to France.  Mum very rarely accesses the internet so hopefully she won't see this before her special day!

I've used more new products on this one too, I'm having great fun playing with my new goodies!

I used my Ink Dusters (yes, again!) to blend the ink through this fabric effect stencil onto some white cardstock and then stamped the flower image over this in black before die cutting the panel.  I adore this flower stamp, I've seen it used a few times in blogland so when I saw it at one of the craft fairs I just had to have it.  I then combined two stamp sets, both from Clearly Besotted, to create the sentiment and finished off by popping up the panel on 3D foam strips and adding some Doodlebug Sprinkles.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Dutch Doobadoo - Fabric
• Stamps: Penny Black - Dreamy; Clearly Besotted - For Everyone and The Best
• Ink: Memento - Grape Jelly; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Inkylicious Ink Dusters
• Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Reverse Wonky Rectangles
• Doodlebug Sprinkles - Lilac

Challenge entries are as follows:

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #49 - Stencil

Fantasy Stampers - Challenge #20 - 'Here Come The Girls ' (feminine/girlie project)

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #129 - Clean and Simple

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #91 - Anything Goes

Time Out Challenges - Challenge #15 - Stamping

{PIN}spirational Challenge - Challenge #125 - Any kind of project

Right, nothing more to share at the moment and I really must get back to sorting out my stash as it's gradually taking over my flat! :D

Take care

Happy World Card Making Day!

Hi guys

As most of you in blogland will know, today is World Card Making Day.  I hope you are managing to fit in some crafting wherever you are today :)  I've just been catching up on my Blogger reader and was thrilled to discover I've one last week's challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch with my little bunny card, here.  To win this is amazing as I was in awe of so many of the entries, it's made my day!

I planned to do lots of crafting today but so far I've been trying to have a good sort out of my stash, trying to organise it better.  I did make a card this morning, mainly because I had to get it in the mail by lunchtime, and I'll share that one with you a little later.  I then found a little space on my table so took a break from sorting and made this next card.

Apart from the ink I used to stamp the leaf and sentiment, everything else I used was bought last week at a local craft fair and used for the first time today, I'll explain all the products below...

I wanted to keep this one really simple.  I stamped the leaf in Memento ink.  I then used my new Inktense pencils and blended these with a little water.  Next I stamped the water droplet in the same ink as the leaf.  The stamp is a cluster of water drops but I just inked up one.  I tried to lift some of the colour so it would appear lighter through the droplet but once Inktense is dry there's no shifting it!  So it doesn't look exactly as I intended but by adding a touch of detail with a white pigment ink pen to lift it slightly, it looks a lot more realistic.  I then stamped the sentiment and was going to add a few ink splatters but decided to keep it super simple and let the leaf be the main focal point.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Inkylicious - Aspen Leaves and Water Drops
• Ink: Memento - Potter's Clay and Rich Cocoa
• Coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils
• Accented with Uniball Signo white pen

I would like to link up at the following challenge blogs:

Less is More - Challenge #192 - Colour challenge 'Autumn's Bounty'

One-Layer Simplicity - Challenge #10 - Turning to Fall

Let's Craft and Create - Challenge #97 - Autumn

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Autumn

Craft-Room Challenge - Seasonal Colours

That's all for the mo, I hope to get more crafting done and will be back to share the card I made this morning.

Bye for now

Friends Forever

Hi guys

I've got less than half an hour to spare to enter this week's Less is More challenge where the recipe is 'Mostly Words'.

My ink dusters were still to hand from my last card so I had another play with them tonight and created this card...

I started by laying the stencil over my card base and blending the pink ink with my Ink Dusters.  The sentiment was stamped in black and a mixture of pink and white sequins were adhered around it.

Materials used:

• Stencil: MFT Mix-ables - Checkerboard
• Ink: Memento - Rose Bud; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Stampin' Up - Stacks of Wishes
• Inkylicious Ink Dusters
• Doodlebug Sequins

I am also going to link this card up at the following challenge blogs:

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #129 - Clean and Simple

Virginia's View - Challenge #8 - Clean and Simple

Amended to add to:
Time Out Challenges - Challenge #15 - Stamping (thanks Sandie!)

Right, off to link up!  Thanks for popping by, I hope to see you again soon.

Winter Glow

Hi there

Well, after my run of posts early last week I've been a bit quiet again but during that time I took a trip to the Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts Show and purchased some new goodies and I've used a few of my new items on today's card.

I've been making cards for years but have never had the tools to try ink blending so one of my purchases was some Ink Dusters by Inkylicious.  I may have been a bit adventurous using them for the first time through a stencil but I wanted to use this new stencil so I could enter the latest challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch.

So, apart from the sentiment stamp and the ink, everything I used here is new to my stash...

I cut a white cardstock panel and stuck down and masked the stencil, with the bottom part masked with a ripped piece of post-it note.  I then used my Ink Dusters to blend the orange glow and the night sky.  As always, I have a problem photographing blues and purples and this is actually more of a purple tone in real life.  With the stencil still in place I stamped the trees, some using second generation stamping.  I then removed the stencil and stamped the bunny and sentiment in the foreground.  I initially wanted to just use the stencil to create some interest but I think here it gives the effect of looking through some tall trees at a forest in the distance.  My ink blending is far from perfect but for a first attempt I'm really pleased with the result.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Memory Box - Texture Wave
• Ink Dusters by Inkylicious
• Ink: Memento - Tangelo, Grape Jelly and Paris Dusk; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Card-io Combinations - Winter Walks (tree) and Christmas Scenery 2 (rabbit); Clearly Besotted - Sweet Little Sentiments

I would like to link this card up at the following challenge blogs:

CAS(E) this Sketch - Challenge #94

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #129 - Clean and Simple
Brown Sugar - Challenge #113 - Anything Goes
Time Out - Challenge #15 - Stamping
{PIN}spirational - Challenge #125 - Any Kind of Project


Thanks so much for visiting and I hope to put some more of my new goodies to use very soon :)