Inspired by.....#1

Hi guys

For a while now I've been taking notice of things around me day to day and thinking 'those colours look great together' or 'that design would look great on a card'.  So, I've decided to start my own little series of posts on my blog where I've been 'Inspired by' something I've got at home such as packaging or an item in my home, or out and about where I plan to start taking quick pics on my phone so I can return to them later for inspiration.  Basically like Pinterest I suppose but I wanted to get inspiration from around me rather than online.  My job involves sitting at a computer for most of the day so I wanted to gain ideas as and when I see them rather than spending even more time on my laptop surfing the internet.

So, here is the first card I'm going to share with you...(apologies for the dark photo, I'd lost most of the daylight by the time I took this so had to use my daylight lamp)

and this is where my inspiration came from...

 

A REALLY PRETTY LOO ROLL!

 

 

I had this particular stamp in mind when I saw the design but its smaller than I hoped it would be.  For my first attempt I tried paper piercing to create the grid but it overpowered the design so for my second card I used simple diagonal score lines.  A few gems and a yellow border finished off the card.

 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Wild Rose Studio - Flower Doodles; Clearly Besotted Stamps - Paired Up (leaves), Flower Arrangement (sentiment)
• Ink: Versa Color - Cyan, Fresh Green
• Cardstock: Base card from stash; Southfield - Premium Pure White Glass Smooth 200GSM; Papermania Premium Textured Cardstock
• Gems: Anita's Gemstone Wheel - Gold and Silver

 



No doubt I'll get inspired by more weird items as I go about my day to day business!

Thanks for popping by and it will be great to hear what sort of things have caught your eye and made you think 'oooh, that would look great as a card!'

Bye for now

Butterflies and Bling!

Hi guys

I'm back tonight to share a card I made for a very good friend and work buddy.  She loves pink, glitter and butterflies so I thought this little creation would be perfect for her :)

 

 

 

 

This card took ages to make, I was faffing around for ages with it!  I'm still not entirely happy with the scalloped panels but overall I think it turned out ok.

 

I started with a pearlescent card base as I thought this would itself add a feeling of bling.  Once I'd sorted the panels I then stamped some pale pink vellum (it looks white here but it is in fact very pale pink) with the polka dot stamp from the Clearly Besotted Stamps 'Building Blocks' stamp set, using silver ink.  I then die cut the butterflies from the stamped vellum and curled them slightly using my pokey tool to give them some definition.  Next came the frustrating part, my gemstones wouldn't stick to the vellum, must be something in the metallic ink, so I had to adhere each one using extra glue dots.  I then added more bling with the pink gemstones and used the same silver ink to stamp the sentiment.

 

I used three products from the Clearly Besotted Stamps range so this is my second entry in the current Clearly Besotted Challenge which is 'Seeing Spots'.

 

This will also be a second entry for this week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays which is Polka Dots.

 

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Pearlescent card base from stash; Kanban - Sherbert Pips (pink)
• Vellum: Anita's - Plain Pastel Vellum
• Dies: Spellbinders Edgeabilities - Classic Scallops; Clearly Besotted Stamps - Butterfly Wishes
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Building Blocks and For Everyone stamps sets
• Ink: Versa Color - Silver
• Gemstones from stash

 

Thanks as always for popping by and I always appreciate your comments.  Hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep tonight as it seems a little cooler, last night was unbearable.  I hope you're all coping with this sticky heat.  I adore the sunshine but the heat just knocks me out!

 

Bye for now

 

 



 

A Little Bundle of Joy - Baby Boy

Hello there

This is the first of three posts sharing cards I made last night for an order.  All were requested to be CAS cards.  The first was for the arrival of a baby boy...

 

 

I started with a square card base.  I stamped the image and sentiment and then die cut to create a fancy white mat.  I then die cut the blue background using a larger die from the same set.  I then tied some organza ribbon around the two layers and popped it up on 3D foam.  Finally I rounded two of the corners with some decorative scissors to mirror the corners of the die cut mats.

 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Anita's - wood mounted floral pram; Personal Impressions - Mix and Match
• Ink: Versa Color - Baby Blue; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels One
• Cardstock: Kanban - Sherbert Pips (blue); white cardstock from stash
• Tools: Fiskars - Corner Edgers 'Rounder'
• Organza ribbon from stash

I'll be back shortly with the next post, thanks for taking the time to visit :)

Less is More - One Layer Week 115 - Take 2!

Hi there

I'm back with another entry for this week's challenge at Less is More, to create a One Layer Card inspired by a film.  And yes, I'm still creating stood up in my kitchen!

This was my third attempt for this card.  I tried two different variations before I was happy with this one!

I stamped the bag, cake and shoe with VersaMark ink before embossing with silver embossing powder.  I was going to colour them in but in true Less is More mode, I decided to leave them just outlined.  I had a slight problem with the card warping after using my heat gun.  No matter how hard I try to emboss quickly without having the gun too close, it still manages to warp the card so I had to put the card under a pile of heavy magazines to straighten back up!

Here is a close up of the embossed images:

So, what film does this represent I hear you ask?

What does every girl long for....bags, shoes, love and of course, cake!  The film is...

What Women Want

 

 

My last card was based on a film starring Mel Gibson which is why this one then sprung to mind.  I'm on a roll now, perhaps another film will pop up in my brain before the deadline! :)

 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Inkadinkado - wood mounted stamps (bag and shoe); Anita's - wood mounted stamp (cupcake); Clearly Besotted Stamps - Many Thanks set (heart); Sentiment wood mounted stamp (brand unknown)
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - Rose Red
• Embossing Powder: All Night Media - Silver

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend guys and thanks as always for stopping by, I appreciate the support :)

 

 

 

 

Muse Challenge #4

Hi guys

Just a very quick post from me tonight to show you a card I am entering into Challenge #4 over at the fab Muse blog. 

Here is my interpretation of this week's card...

 

 

and a closer view...

 

 

 

I was drawn to the colour scheme although used muted, softer hues and also took inspiration from the vertical lines and white space.

 

I stamped and coloured the image directly onto the card base and then used a border punch to edge some pale green vellum which I then used as an overlay, adhered to the rear edge of the card fold.

 

This is the lovely Muse card designed by Therese Calvird, from which we were to draw our inspiration...

 

 

 Materials used:

• Stamps: Wild Rose Studio - Flower Doodles stamp set
• Ink: Impress - Jet Black
• Promarkers: Orchid and Soft Green
• Vellum: Anita's Plain Pastel Vellum Pack
• Punches: Hobbycraft - Ribbon Camomile; Dovecraft - Daisy Corner
• Gem: Papermania - Glazed Gems (Iridescent)

 

 

Thanks as always for visiting today.

 

Neet x

 

Muse Challenge #3

 

Hi guys

I've no idea why I'm up so late tonight but I was feeling crafty so decided to have a go at the latest challenge over at the Muse Card Club.  For these challenges we are asked to draw inspiration from a card created by one of the Muse designers.  This week's card is designed by Laurie Willison and after our dull and dreary winter I really love the cheery Spring feel of this card.

The first thing that sprung into my mind was that I wanted to make a gate-fold card. 

I took my inspiration from the panels and the Spring colours.  I wanted to include a Spring floral so I decided to use a tulip stamp.

This is what I came up with...

 

 

 

 

 

 



I used an Impress inkpad in Jet Black to stamp the tulip but decided it would probably be too harsh so this was the second impression I took.  The sentiment was from a clear stamp set so I curved it to follow the contour of the leaf.  The whole card turned out a lot brighter than I intended, but now that I think about it tulips are actually bright yellow not a soft yellow so I've changed my mind and like the final result.

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Papermania - Tall Gate-fold card; Green embossed cardstock from stash (unsure of brand); Kanban 300gsm Brilliant White Cardstock
• Stamps: Anita's - Tulip (wood mounted); Marion Emberson Designs - It's all in the Words set
• Ink: Impress - Jet Black, Versafine - Onyx Black
• Coloured with FlexMarkers
• Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Classic Rectangles Large
• Ribbons and gems from stash

Thanks for visiting, I really to appreciate you taking the time.

Right, I'm off to bed!

Neet x