The Male room

The challenge at the Male Room this time is to use newsprint. I thought that rather than paper piecing part of this image from Art Impressions, I would stamp and colour the whole thing on some newsprint. I don't dislike the effect, but I had to use  little acrylic paint to make the white sections white! The remainder is coloured with alcohol pens. 

CAS on Sunday

A short while ago I was lucky enough to win the challenge at CAS on Sunday!

Following this I was asked to be their Guest Designer for the challenge this week which has the theme of WATER!

I made this card to send to a friend undergoing chemo and radiotherapy. The results have been very painful for her and so this card was to try to cheer!

It's a Paper Smooches image with an added splat stamp which I thought looked rather like a wave!

The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

Addicted to CAS has the challenge of Blue, so this for that too!

Going nautical

There's a sketch challenge at Just Us Girls this week!

My version uses an anchor die from My Creative Time within a die cut from Simon Says Stamp. A touch of DP and a Hero Arts sentiment and that's it!

Addicted to CAS - BLUE

This next card is for a couple of challenges.

A Day for Daisies and CASology each have the theme Plaid.

I paper pieced some Pink Petticoat paper onto the chicken and added a computer generated sentiment.

Now to work out a design for some orders of service for my DIL's sister's wedding!

Lucky Dip at Less is More

We have a Guest Designer this week at Less is More so do pop over there to see what Elaine has produced.

I have only managed one card this week as we have had our two grandchildren with us, so we have been rather busy!

The challenge is to use Mists or Sprays!

This background was made by squishing flowers from the garden between two pieces of card in my Cuttlebug machine. I love this technique, but this time, when dry and removed of debris, I spritzed the card with Cosmic Shimmer to give a bit of added sheen.

The butterfly is from a Memory Box die, the foliage from Wplus9 and the sentiment from Hero Arts.

Other challenges - Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

A Sketch from Less is More!

We have a Sketch at "Less is More" this week and here it is!

Simplicity itself !

My first card uses up lots of bits that have been hanging around. I used part of the box which my Kindle came in (the card with the letters on), some hessian, a little cardboard for the feathers and a sentiment I must have made ages ago and not used. The white space on this one is the sacking!

I used one of my new MFT dies to cut the lower section of this one, added some DP from Pink Petticoat and a couple of tiny hessian hearts. As with  the previous card the front panel was cut with SSS stitched rectangles.

This last one is my personal favourite.

Again I was using up bits and pieces. I saw the paper in the drawer and decided to use the anchor die to team with it. It's from Creative Time dies who sadly do not ship to the UK. 

More details on the LIM Blog.

 I just read on their website that they DO now ship to the UK!! 

This one fits in with the nautical theme at Time Out too!

Our grandchildren will be with us again this coming week, so we will probably be going out for lots of  'Mysteries'. We used to do that in holiday time with our own children and they loved it too! I wonder where we'll get to? It's a Mystery!

New Baby

There's a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and I wanted to make a card straight away.

I embossed the lower panel with a Stampin' Up embossing folder as it always makes me think of the weave of a baby blanket.

The transition between to two parts of the card is made with a MFT stitched scallop border die.

The paper pieced image is from IO and the sentiment was cut with Tattered Lace and SSS dies. I tried several colours for the sentiment, but none was quite right until I tried the black.. I'm not keen on using black on baby cards, but as I had stamped the onesie in black, it was the only choice which looked half decent. In the end it I think that it does make it pop!

Trying to come up with a design

I love the simple sketch at CAS(e) this Sketch

(Clearly Besotted Background and sentiment, Rubber Stamp Gallery bird.)

...however I had several attempts at coming up with a design  which pleased me and I'm still not sure which I like.

All of these cards are based on the same basic layout.

Stampin' Up background embossed in gold. Simon Says Stamp flower spray die-cut and Waffle Flower sentiment.

The sentiment on this one started a lot higher, but with a few failed attempts at different things, the front panel got shortened and this is how it ended up, The background is embossed with a Stampin' Up EF, the flourish iand sentiment are from MFT.

Even this one is based on the same sketch, yet they all look different. Stampin' Up lorry, Clearly Besotted sentiment, MFT scallop.

I'm not sure which I prefer... do you have a favourite?

Sweet Mermaid

This sweet little mermaid is a freebie from A Day for Daisies and I couldn't resist entering the current challenge, which is to use sequins. I bought these tiny, tiny sequins on eBay not really taking proper note of the actual size that I was purchasing... they are about 2-3mm...absolutely titchy and are really tricky to pick up. However they are really pretty.

This little lady was coloured with Mirage pens with a little glamour Dust added to her tail and bows. The sentiment is computer generated.

Congratulations

This week's challenge at "Less is More" is the theme Congratulations!

This new baby card was made with an Impression Obsession image, gently coloured, cut out and mounted on some embossed card which I think looks a bit like a baby blanket. It's from a Stampin' Up folder. The front panel was cut with Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangles.

Lots of inkiness here with over-stamped butterflies from Stamplorations and a Memory Box diecut!

It's simply Aqua Tint inks dropped onto a craft mat, spritzed with water and then a print taken from it.

Memory Box butterflies here, again with a print from Aqua Tint inks as the backing panel!

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

This week has flown past and I just realised that I hadn't blogged a card all week! Must be getting old!

Have a good weekend!

Love of sailing

My son recently celebrated his 39th birthday and this is the card I made for him.

He loves sailing and would love to have another boat, so this is the next best thing... a picture of one!

The die is from Poppy Stamps, cut several times, inlaid and layered with the cut from the original Stampin' Up stamping placed on top!

It's for the  TRAVEL challenge from CAS on Sunday!
Plus the Anything Goes challenge at Seize the Birthday

This card uses the sketch from CASe this Sketch once more. This time with a border 

embossing folder from Cuttlebug, flowers from Simon Says Stamp and a sentiment from Papermania

It's also for the Anything Goes challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More

Getting back into the groove.

Since my recent holidays, I seem to have been completely behind! 

I have just managed to make a card for this week's Less is More challenge which is for a one layer card with the theme the Eyes have it... so something with eyes!

Lots of scope you would think, but I was a little devoid of ideas!

Here is a little Mama Elephant pup, stamped within a masked area, which in turn was masked to dust the background with Distress Ink.

The sentiment is also Mama Elephant and the hearts are from Stampin' Up.

This is also for Simplicity One Layer Challenge #19 Strip down

I immediately thought of this little character from A Day for Daisies for this 'eyes' challenge... he has them a-plenty.

I simply coloured him with watercolour pencils and blended the colours with a water brush, over-stamping with a little grunge stamp and adding a layer of clear Wink of Stella. The eyes have the obvious touch of a little Glossy Accents.

The sketch follows that from CASe this Sketch

I watched a video of Jennifer McGuire doing various techniques for foiling. I was really impressed and the long story short is that I actually went out and bought a laser printer and a laminator. I have got one bit of foil which I tried out after setting up the printer, but it was not as good coverage as I would have liked. I'm not sure if it's the quality of the laminator (which was REALLY cheap) or whether it was my technique was wanting. Time will tell, so watch this space! I think a little more practice is required!

Back to crafting

 

It seems a while since I got down to making a few cards for challenges, and today I thought I might just have to chance, but I decided to upgrade to Windows 10, which was somewhat time-consuming and equally frustrating and probably a mistake. It seems that I no longer have the ability to scroll down a page using two fingers on my touch pad. I have searched the internet for a solution, which to date has been fruitless, however I still managed to make a card!

This was made with a scrap of card left over from some inky experiments which I decided to over-stamp with some butterflies and grunge dots and emboss in gold.

I cut the banner and the square with MFT pierced dies and added the die-cut Memory Box butterfly and  sentiment.

I thought a little Cuttlebug dry embossing added just a touch of texture to the banner. 

It follows the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches 

and is also for Casology Wings 

plus Addicted to CAS Banners 
and finally for Just Us Girls  Autumn (Autumn colours)

This is me in Spain last week about to go out for a meal to celebrate my 70th birthday. We had a fabulous time !

Masking x three

The CAS theme for Happy Little Stampers this month is 

MASKING
Here I have a card in which I have used 3 different kinds of masks although there are heaps of of other ways they can be employed.

I began by stamping the birds from The Rubber Stamp Gallery in black Versafine ink and then painted over them with a little rubber cement.

When it was dry I used sponge daubers to ink  the sea in various shades of Distress Ink, over a mask made from a ripped piece of Post It note. The horizon was made using a straight edged mask. I

die cut a couple of clouds from more post-its and then inked over them for the sky, softening the edges with a little more ink once the masks were removed. The sea was over-stamped with a SU Grunge splat stamp in a couple of shades of ink before the cement was removed from the birds using an eraser.

A faux stitched border and a die cut sentiment completed the card.

I think these birds are really cool!

Berry Colours

The first week of the month is always the time for a colour challenge at "Less is more". 

Here I combined a couple of my favourite techniques, emboss resist and inlaid dies.

The stamp is from the Rubber Stamp Gallery, clear embossed and inked with a variety of berry shade inks, including Rich Razzleberry, Aged Mahogany, Festive Berries, Fired Brick and Ripe Persimmon. A little over-stamping with the teazel stamp and some grunge dots completed the effect.

The dies are from MFT (border) and Poppy (thank you).

I don't know if you can see the layered inlaid letters a little better here!

It's always fun to do!