Off for a Spa treatment

I'm off for a Spa treatment this afternoon, followed by a Champagne tasting dinner at our club this evening and a stay in the hotel overnight...mmmm lovely!

I'd better get this posted quickly.

Here is a card I made today using my new die from Simon Says Stamp. Isn't it the greatest!

I used the sketch and picture inspiration from Fusion

...and the theme of Over the Edge from Casual Fridays

I filled the gaps in the hearts with scraps of DP from my drawer. I believe the Red spotty paper is from Cuddly Buddly, the pale spotty one from Pink Petticoat and the manuscript from an old piece of music.

The sentiment is computer generated and mounted on a shortened Spellbinder die-cut.

I'd better pack a bag for this evening!

DIY Chevron Mask

This card was inspired by Day 3 of the online Stencilling course I enrolled in.

It called for a chevron mask, which I didn't have, so I went about making one for myself.

I used my Silhouette Portrait, to draw it and cut it from acetate so that it can be used over and over.

To begin with I spritzed a piece of card with a goldish shimmer and then when dry applied some embossing paste through my home-made mask. Whilst still wet I tapped a little gold Perfect pearls over it.

The leaves from Clearly Besotted were stamped onto vellum and embossed with WOW Sea foam white EP and die-cut.

The butterfly is from Memory Box and painted with a little white Perfect pearls powder mixed with water.The sentiment is from Paper Smooches embossed in gold and cut out with a slightly extended Framelit die. A few pearl and it was done. 

I quite like it but it took me quite a while to execute!
Silhouette Challenge - Anything Goes

CAS on Sunday - Lovey Dovey (as this is a Wedding/Engagement card)
Muse - The foliage, the central  focus element and the use of chevrons are in line with the Muse this week!

Stenciled

I saw on my friend Sherry's blog that she was attending an online class on Stencilling! We have two ells in this country!

The cards she was producing were stunning and she told me I could apply at any time to join...so I did!

This is a card I made today from a stencil I made on my Silhouette from a free download file which I could access because I was a class member. I tried something new for me and that was to see if I could cut acetate on the Silhouette... it worked like magic and so I used these stencils for my card.

I have actually cased a card made on the course...needless to say my fingers are very inky now!

I drew the template for this one on my Silhouette and then cut it from acetate to use as a mask. I'm sorry it's not a brilliant picture. The butterfly is from Memory Box and the tag, cut from Vellum, is from a Sizzix die. The sentiment is embossed in WOW Sea foam white from a Stampin' Up stamp.

These are fun classes!

Contrasts

At CASology the cue word this week is Contrast

I decided to show the contrast between the stark white of the card, preserved with the clear embossed foliage image against the inkiness of the background colours!The stamps are by Unity.

The sentiment is computer generated!

CASology

Sketch Time at "Less is More"

We have a really simple sketch this time at Less is More and here are a few cards using it!
I love this Canada goose from the SU Wetlands set. I've had it for a while but this is the first time it has felt any ink on it and I really am pleased with how it stamps. 

The edges of the edging layer of card has been coloured with the same Copic which I used to colour the grass. 

Here is how I managed to cut out a die-cut circle without cutting off the goose's head!

The protruding part is cut out with either scissors or a craft knife before the die is placed around the image, so  that it can be lifted above the die and therefore will not get cut!

This one is a simple stamp from Cart-Us.com. I think it's really sweet!

Computer generated sentiment again.

More Stampin' Up stamps here, for a really CAS Wedding card.

It's embossed in silver which sadly doesn't show up to well on this pic. Photography is not one of my strong suits!

I hope that lots of you will join in with this challenge again this week and thanks so much for all the lovely comments I received last time!

New Baby

The theme at Less is More this week is for Baby Cards.

It seems that there is always a need for those.

I saw on Facebook today that my nephew had posted that he and his wife are expecting their first child after trying for over 8 years! I am completely thrilled for them. I just hope that all goes well with the pregnancy.

The baby is due in August! It will need to be a very special card for that little one!

Papertrey Ink giraffe and a little gingham DP.

The heart die was from Simon Says Stamp and the little onesie a £1 stamp from the NEC. I think it's Inkadinkadoo. I coloured the ribbon with a Copic to match the backing card.

Here is the little boy's version of the giraffe. 

In order to cut the stamped image with the matching die, I first use the die to cut an aperture in a 'Post It' note. I place this around the stamped image, evening out the space around it and then pop the die into the gap and cut the card with the piece of Post it note in place. It works pretty well!

Simplicity itself... with a few die-cuts. Memory Box and Tattered Lace.

A Silhouette cut file waste made the onesie in this card.
Addicted to CAS has the challenge 'NEW' this week, so this is for that challenge too!

This is the actual file ! It's a cute onesie isn't it!

I hope everyone enjoys this challenge...and thanks for the comments!

Yellow

The challenge at a Day for Daisies is to use yellow! There's quite a bit of it here.

The image was a freebie on their blog, I just love it!

Short and sweet!

CASology has the cue word DOT.

My card's dots are rather subtle... they are the music notes which are peeking through the circular aperture.
The butterflies are Memory Box with a base layer of my Squished flower paper. gently twinkled with Glamour Dust.

Sketch time

I saw this sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and as it is one of my all time favourite layouts, I decided to make a couple of cards using it.

Both cards use a flower stamp from Katzelkraft, which I must admit to having had for quite some time without it ever being inked. Now that I have seen it stamped I shall probably be using it a whole lot more.

The first also has a little text from SU French Foliage overstamped, together with a little Gorgeous Grunge stamp too. The edges of the card pieces have been gently distressed using a file.

I had looked at the challenge from Dynamic Duos this week and found myself subconsciously using the colours suggested for this week's Challenge.

Keep it Simple request the use of text this week, it's for that too!

This second one uses the same sketch, but also incorporates the technique demonstrated by Mynette at Technique Time Tuesday.

The image is stamped onto three separate pieces of card, placed on top of each other gradually decreasing in size, which are then taken apart mounted and put back together again!

It's quite fun!
I was cased by Shana!!

One Layer Hearts

This is a really simple card. A stamped Stempelglede heart with a sentiment from Magenta, which I thought matched rather well. They are both stamped with SU Smoky Slate ink.

Here are Stampin' Up hearts embossed in twinkly red powder and a Magenta sentiment embossed in Black Glint powder.

What a cute Penny Black kitty in a heart mug... coloured with Copics and with a sentiment from Paper Smooches.

Here is a pretty heart wreath from Inky Doodles, with a similarly shaped heart stamp from Clearly Besotted, which I stamped and masked, then stamped again. They are coloured with Copics and gently twinkled with Glamour Dust. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday!

Bubbles

CASology has the theme of 'Bubbly' for their challenge this week!

In fact my first thought was of champagne... funnily enough... but then I remembered that I had this terrific die of bubbles from Memory Box. Actually it's called Loopy Rings, but I think it looks like bubbles!

The other dies I think are also from Memory box but the word 'Be' may be from Simon Says Stamp.

I simply added a few pearls to the tendrils and I was done!

Soon be the weekend!

Pretty in pink

Here is a card made for a friend to give to his wife Joy. He requested flowers and something pretty in pink. I hope this fits his expectations!

It's made with a few die cuts, the flowers and leaves from Memory Box and the sentiment panel from Spellbinders. I managed to get the computer generated sentiment in a close colour match to the Copic pen shades I used for the foliage.

I followed the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch

Addicted to CAS Die Cuts

Happy New Year!

Another New Year and with it, hopes for a bright future!

The theme at Less is More this week is 

Blues!

This card is simplicity itself.

I took a small panel and inked the snowhills, masking with a piece of torn Post It note, using Bashful Blue ink applied with a sponge dauber.

The trees and the sentiment are from Darkroom Door, stamped using Weathered Wood Distress Ink..

I then merely chopped the image into three and mounted it on another piece of card!

More masking here, this time with an image from The rubber Stamp Gallery with some additional stamping from SU  Gorgeous Grunge and the grass from Technique Tuesday. The sentiment is from SU Petite Pairs.

The last one is simply die-cut scraps!

I think the 'Thanks' stamp is from Simon Says Stamp.

We are looking after our grandchildren this weekend. I'll be taking them back to Bath on Monday as Daisy will be back to school on Tuesday!

Happy New Year Everyone!