Delightful Daisy

I was delighted to be invited to join in with the challenge at Addicted to CAS as Guest Designer and I couldn't resist making another daisy card. This is to say thank you for the invitation!

I made the panels by stamping an IO Cover the card stamp with Versamark and then adding a wash of watercolour in gradually deepening colours as I went down the image.

I cut out several of the flower images and layered them adding the complete leaves and petals to the bottom layer only.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted, het embossed in white. I had to extend the die cut for this to accommodate the length of the words. I simply cut from one end, went part way through, then turned the sentiment around and removed the die, repositioning it around the other end of the sentiment, and cut the rest of the way, making sure that the notches matched up.

Addicted to CAS - Daisy

For a guy

I bought these shoe dies on the  internet some time ago and haven'y got around to using them until now. It's a little odd in that there is a right and a left for the top part of the shoebut the other parts... the sole and the front, there is just one piece, so that after cutting, I had to run it through the Big Shot to flatten the edges of the diecut to use it in the opposite orientation. I used an embossing tool to go around the edges of the die cut too, to try to make it look a little more like the one cut in the correct way.

I laced a little skinny ribbon (the ones I cut out of blouses and sweaters etc) through the eyelets and popped the shoes up onto dimensional pads.

The sentiment was computer generated.

Make My Monday For A Guy

Proud Granny

There are a lots of people who make me very proud, but two very special ones are my daughter and her daughter! My daughter has achieved enormous success in her career, despite struggling during her early education. She worked tirelessly to achieve a First Class Honours Degree and has gone from strength to strength in her career in Human Resources.

Daisy, her daughter.... and my older granddaughter, will be moving to senior school in September and has secured a place at The Royal High School in Bath. This is an independent school for girls. Last week I took her to get her uniform.... there's heaps of it needed. There seems to be quite a lot of sports kit!

She was very excited to try it all on! She'll probably be fed up with it soon enough!

I prefer the colour of hers to what I had, my High School uniform was Brown and Cream and I used to have to wear a brimmed velour hat too... a bit like Miss Marple!!

Anyway the card I have made for Daisy has a picture of her school on the front. Apparently the school was approached when they were seeking a location for Hogwarts, but the school declined the request as they thought it might be a little intrusive.

I took a photograph which I converted to a pencil drawing and printed out recessing it behind the front panel. I added Daisy's name and in Word Art made the arched sentiment for the banner.

I had to fiddle around with my SSS double stitched dies in order to make them fit the image and the name. For each aperture I used a larger die and cut from both ends to reduce their sizes. These dies are probably the most used of all the dies in my collection ... and there are quite a lot of those!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

BACK TO SCHOOL

Lots of squares

Happy Sunday to you all!

Here is a simple card, made after watching a video of Jennifer McGuire using watercolour backgrounds. For this one I used some pan watercolours onto wet watercolour paper and watched the transformation as the colours mixed ad mingled. Jennifer was using liquid colours but this seemed to work quite well too. 

I used a SSS daisy die surrounded by a Framelit square die-cut, which in turn was on a larger Framelit square, which was mounted within an MFT debossed pierced square. The card itself is square of course and although it has a few layers it is still very much CAS. I added a few tiny pearls to the centre of the flower.

I thought I would enter it in the challenge at Your Next Stamp, a blog I have only just come across. The challenge this time is Lots of Squares!

I thought of putting  a sentiment on the front but decided to stamp inside instead, as I thought that a sentiment either stamped directly on the card or on a label would interfere with clean the lines of the design.

Baby Elephant

Here is a card for a couple of challenges. I used the sketch from  CASe This Sketch

And the photo inspiration from Just Us Girls

The cute little elephant stamp is from Stamplorations. He was gently coloured with a couple of shades of Promarkers. The strip of paper is from Pink Petticoat.

It's your day

Here is a card for the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches

The butterfly in the sketch reminded me of these images from Stamplorations, which until now had remained unused, but I think they are really fun. I coloured the wings with wet on wet watercolour and added a few  NUVO crystal drops once the paint was dry.

The background die cut is from Sizzix and the sentiment from Alley Way stamps.

Yesterday was my birthday and today is my son's... 43 years ago he was the best belated birthday present I ever had!

He looks a little different today... maybe not quite as much hair!

New Die

Just recently I received a new bunch of dies from SImon Says Stamp and I simply love this daisy!( I seem to be doing lots of daisies recently...It's my granddaughter Daisy's last day in Primary School today so maybe I have her on my mind!)

I simply cut it together with a square Framelit die and put a little print from a stencil behind it. I think the delicacy of the print suits the delicacy of the flower. The ink is very shimmery as I added some Inka Gold paste to the mix for the print. The sentiment from Hero Arts is stamped with Brilliance Ink in Pearlescent Sky Blue.

It's for a couple of challenges.

AAA Cards

CASology

 

I have to say that the Shimmer in this card is rather subtle, merely because there's not a lot of it!!

Just one image!

I just came across this Sheena Douglass stamp which had been sitting forgotten in a storage box for many a year and I really love daisies... it may have another outing very soon! I coloured it with watercolour pencils and a water brush. The sentiment is from Alley Way stamps and is a great reassuring statement. I didn't want the image to feel too harsh so instead of stamping in black I used SU's Basic Gray!

AAA Cards has this challenge!

Here is a card for the challenge at Christmas Kickstart where the challenge is to have Festive Things with wings!

This little Penguin from Poppy Stamps is wearing his Santa hat and looks pretty festive! He was coloured with Copics and I added a little Fun Flock to his pom pom and hat band. The sentiment is from Penny Black. The dies used are from MFT.

We'll be picking up our grandkids from school today at the beginning of their summer holiday. They will be staying with us for a few days  and then later in the holiday they'll be back again for a longer spell! We used to take them on 'Mysteries'  ... an outing which would be a surprise, but after taking them  to somewhere that they were not too keen on, I decided that they will have to do the research and find out where they would like to go... so now we go on 'Discoveries'!

CAS Perfectionist

What a grand title!

Recently a Wedding card  of mine was selected for the CAS Perfectionist spot at Addicted to CAS.  I was really thrilled to be asked to do a GD spot as the result of that selection. .. so here I am with a card for their latest challenge.

The theme this time simply has the code word  DAISY!

I was delighted that this was the theme for my week as my older granddaughter is DAISY!

Here I simply cut some Cuttlebug daisies (part of the Hippy Chick Alphabet set, which I guess is now long defunct) then coloured the centres and reinserted them into the diecuts. I mounted each one on a pierced square die from MFT and lined them up in three  rows with my T ruler. To give a little dimension I popped the daisies onto foam pads. I find the simple symmetry pleasing!

It will be great to see all the different interpretations of this simple codeword, so why not join in the fun!

Floating Die Cuts

I really enjoy watching videos from Jennifer McGuire, she always has fresh ideas and ways to extend my range of techniques. Here is a pair of cards which I made after watching her video about making cards with 'Floating Dies'. Thanks to amazon Prime i only had to wait a day to get my roll of Press 'n' Seal, the product needed to do this technique.

I used a coordinating stamp and die from Clearly Besotted. I cut a foliage spray from a piece of card and then placed the die cut, still in  position in the piece of card, in my MISTI. I placed the stamp over the diecut and inked it up with Lucky Limeade ink from Stampin' Up. I then proceeded to cut many more die cuts and each time placing the cut piece in the gap of the original piece of card in my MISTI and stamping, using that card as a jig.

I arranged the stamped die cuts over a piece of card the same size as the card front. When I was happy with the arrangement I covered it with a piece of Press 'n' Seal and die cut the aperture and the edge at the same time. It cut the Press 'n' Seal, the card and the diecuts all at once.

I carefully removed the card from the  the back of the diecuts leaving them temporarily adhered to the plastic. I then added dimensional pads to each of the leaves, before laying them back over the cut card front. Once stuck down I peeled off the Press 'n' Seal and Hey Presto apparently 'floating' leaves. I stamped the sentiment from Penny Black and embossed in gold before sticking the panel onto the front of the card.

This technique always gives you a Twofer, so the centre section which was cut, forms the basis of another card. I simply cut a larger frame from Framelits to surround the leaves. As there were tiny fragments of diecuts on this piece I decided to merely stick them straight onto the card instead of letting them float. So after removing them from the card on which they were cut, I glued the them, placed them in position and stuck them to the card front and then removed the Press 'n' Seal.  The bits were too small for dimensional pads... even cut down pieces! I popped the frame on to pads instead.

The sentiment was cut twice once in white and once on gold and layered to stretch across the frame.

Jennifer explains it all beautifully on her YouTube post so if all this is gobbledegook, do check out her video.

After all this, it's my contribution for Darnell's  Twofer Garden Challenge!

Well leaves grow in gardens don't they!

We're off to see our granddaughter in Bath Theatre School's  production of Aladdin this afternoon, should be fun!

Hooray

I just received a package of goodies from Simon Says Stamp, among which were the sentiment and vented star dies used here. I'm not sure of the make of the ribbon and stars and haven't been able to find the make online... I guess I'll have to rummage through my die packaging. I keep my dies on magnetic sheets in A4 plastic cases according to their subject matter and so file away the original packaging, but it takes a lot of going through to look for and determine the manufacturers, often it's quicker to look online.

Anyway I thought that this card fitted quite well with a couple of challenges.

Just US Girls - Sentiment

Case this Sketch

Watercolour Tilley

My son has a birthday approaching and I never know what to get him. This time he gave me a hint. For many years he has had a Tilley hat, to which he is enormously attached. Although it looks a though it is on its last legs he wants to keep it. (It could be exchanged for a new one as they have a lifetime guarantee, but he's just too sentimental about his old one to lose it.) SO his present this time is a spanking new one... just the same model as the old one, but more presentable! So for his card I decided to do an image of his hat. I drew this one and watercoloured it ... I think it looks reasonably like the real thing!

The theme at Addicted to CAS is Heat so this image is definitely for that!

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted

Christmas in July

For this challenge, I looked for one of the smallest Christmas stamps in my collection, as the brief from AAA Cards is to leave maximum white space. This little wood mounted stamp is from Stampendous, coloured with alcohol markers and cut with a MFT pierced die. The embossed surround on the card front, was made with the next size up of the same set of dies.

I think that this is a potential for mass production as two runs through the Big Shot, one stamp and a little colouring completed the task! The stark simplicity really pleases me.

To give some idea of perspective... the die cut square is about 2.5 cms or 1x inch square.

The Holly and the Ivy Challenge!

The Male Room - Christmas in July

She thought she could, so she did!

This card was a bit of an experiment. I made it for the challenge at CAS Stencil which is Alcohol Ink / Alcohol lift. As my friend of many years Anne Ray says... "Alcohol really does give you a lift!"

Anyway for this card, I thought that I would try NOT to use YUPO paper, NOT to use Alcohol Lift ink and NOT to use a commercially produced stencil... I did however use alcohol ink!

To begin with I cut a stencil with a Sizzix flower die from a piece of vellum. I used a piece of the smoothest card in my arsenal and added a few drops of various blue toned alcohol inks and some blending solution onto it. Because this card is more porous than Yupo it dried quite quickly. I then put my 'stencil' over the card and used Stazon Stamp cleaner fluid dabbed onto a piece of paper towel to lift some of the ink through the stencil. It worked reasonably well and gave a somewhat hazy outline but I really rather like the effect!

I used the actual vellum die cut as a bit of an overlay and the glue I used to stick that, makes it somewhat translucent.

The sentiment is from a set by Clearly Besotted.

Now you may see the reason for my post title.. things like this don't always work out, but this time it did!

PS Big WELCOME to Viv on the Design Team at CAS Stencil... what a great addition to the team. well done Viv!

CAS on Friday Use a Stencil

CAS Mix Up Alcohol ink lift

PS Just saw that I had already added three cards to the Mix Up challenge so this one can be ignored!!!!

Snowflake

Here is a card for the challenge at CAS Christmas, which is simply entitled Snowflake

For my card I decided to make a shaker card to use some beautiful jewels, sent to me as a prize. I cut the Memory Box snowflake from the front panel of my card and put a piece of OHP acetate behind the aperture. I cut two snowflakes and layered them over the acetate, into the space on the front panel. I then surrounded the shape with little dimensional pads on the reverse side of the panel and dropped the jewels into the gap.I always used to get into a pickle trying to place the window accurately onto my card front once it was filled with jewels or sequins or whatever, so now I put another piece of acetate over the shape to keep the shakey bits contained. Then I can turn it over to place accurately on the card front. I placed a piece of  a print from a stencil background I made some time ago behind the snowflake to add just a little interest!

It was a little fiddly, but fun to do!

More alcohol inks

This is really such a fun technique!

A few drops of alcohol ink onto some Yupo paper, a dash of blending solution and watch the magic happen. When dry, I stamped onto the paper with a Local King stamp of Bluebells... (I'd forgotten I had it and it's so delicate, I love it)  using Alcohol Lift Ink. 

I dabbed away the excess lift ink with a paper towel before gently buffing to bring out the design a little more.

Before cleaning the stamp, I stamped it onto some fresh paper and the ink I'd removed from the Yupo and transferred to the stamp made another image! Here's the card I made with that.

The challenge at CAS Mix Up is for the Alcohol lift technique, so this is another card for that.

I used Stampin' Up Pacific Point Ink to stamp the sentiments; it complements the colours of the alcohol inks really well.

Here's another using the same combo of inks as on the first card. Somehow I forgot to do a secondary stamping with the ink I'd lifted from this one. I think I was foolishly thinking that the sentiment would come out in mirror image which of course is crazy, it would just be a regular stamp and not a kiss technique, so I missed my chance there!

CAS Challenges

When I was looking for something else, I happened upon  this stamp from Rubberneckers, which immediately made me want to do a background for the challenge at CAS Mix Up, which is to use Alcohol Lift Ink!

I used drops of three shades of green alcohol ink om some YUPO paper and then added a little Blending solution an mix up the colours and allow them to mingle. I inked the stamp with Alcohol Lift in and stamped onto the paper once is was totally dry. after dabbing any excess ink with a piece of paper towel I buffed the leaves with clean paper towel, lifting the remainder of the ink. I love the effect it gives.

The sentiment stamps and dies are from Clearly Besotted and I decided to raise the words on dimensional pads for a little more interest.

Alcohol Lift, Stamping, Die Cutting.

Meanwhile over at CAS Watercolour Challenge, a celebration for my lovely friend Darnell's birthday is taking place and she is being presented with heaps of bouquets of flowers!

Mine is a simple bunch of tulips, from stampin' Up, gently coloured with watercolours. I love to watch the reaction of the pigment with the water as it doe its 'thing'!

As she is such a special lady I may have to try another one for her, I must have a rummage through my stamps!

Happy Birthday Darnell.

Christmas Sparkle

The challenge at Happy Little Stampers Christmas as ever is Anything Goes and this time with the option of adding Sparkle!

For this card I began with a metal stencil from Sweet Poppy and after taping it to my piece of card, I applied some Pearlescent White Embossing paste, also from Sweet Poppy.

After removing the stencil I sprinkled over some Glamour Dust Gold powder and allowed it to dry. I did toy with the idea of adding a sentiment but in the end opted to leave it as is. It is really twinkly and lots of individual flakes catch the light at different angles.

It does seem odd making Christmas cards at all times of the year, but when the festive season comes it's so good to have a ready supply of cards to send to friends and family. I can thoroughly recommend making Christmas cards ahead of time and Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge is a great place to display your creations.... so do join us!

ABC Christmas 

N - No peeking

and

 O - Ornament