You're so Special

I've had this Indigo Blu stamp for ages... years I guess... and it has never before seen ink. In fact it is a largeish background stamp, but here I just used the top bit to make an 'along the edge' card for AAA Cards.

There are some great expressions on these little guys' faces and I decided to highlight just a couple of them and add a sentiment from Sugar Pea Designs. There are so many sentiments in this set (Everyday Sentiments) and I find them really useful.

Yesterday we ventured out for a walk in the sunshine along the front at Lee on the Solent. Lots of people had the same idea, but there was plenty of room for everyone without encroaching on anyone else's space. Apparently some National Trust grounds have had to be closed today as so many ventured to them yesterday. We are fortunate to have a garden where we can sit in the better weather and get a little fresh air. Some of the Spring flowers are just emerging!

  Stay safe everyone!

Daisy

I hope everyone is OK and not running short of essential supplies. We have managed one week of our own company and are still smiling! I had a long chat with my neighbour yesterday on WhatsApp, we were just checking that all was well with each other! Now that the better weather is approaching hopefully we'll be able to chat over the garden fence!

Here's a little flower to cheer the day, I think that the backdrop almost looks like a field of flowers... with a little imagination!!

The background is in fact a print from acrylic paints off my Gelli Plate. Whilst I was making a mess I took a load of prints in various guises, which will doubtless be appearing from time to time in future.

The flower I believe is a Simon Says Stamp die cut, then cut with a Framelit and then added to an embellished square cut with a Pink Fresh die.

CAS Mix Up - Acrylic Paints

I did begin by adding a stamped sentiment from Sugar Pea Designs

...but I didn't like the way it didn't lie flat... I should have either glued it directly onto the card or reinforced the tag with extra layers, anyway it had to go! Fortunately it left no mark!

Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes

Addicted to CAS - Circle

Christmas Spirit

The challenge at Christmas Kickstart this time is 

Christmas Cheer AKA Alcohol!

I love the images from Bugaboo and having coloured this one I wondered what sentiment I should add, I thought that this one seemed somewhat appropriate!

When making computer generated sentiments, I try to match the weight of the font to the line of the image and the character of the subject matter. Here I used  Mahoni Free. I set my computer to see the page at 105% which makes the image I see on screen, the same size as a sheet of A4  (the size card I cut my card bases from). SO having coloured and cut out my image, I can hold it up against the screen of my computer and see if I like the placement and move the text around in text boxes to fit. All very technical ... NOT! But it works.

Stay well everyone!

Leafy Birthday

I don't seem to have had lots of inspiration lately, but finally I've produced a card which I think is OK.  I used a die by Alexandra Renke cut from a piece of card which had a print of some smooshing, using Inka Gold and Aquatint inks. I couldn't find one tiny piece of leaf when doing the inlay and  so decided to leave another piece out to make it look intentional! Behind the aperture is a download of some newsprint. The sentiment is from Avery Elle.

It looks like we may be 'confined to barracks' for 4 months as we are both over 70. Fortunately I have crafting to fill my time and hopefully the weather will improve so that we can spend some time in the garden. I hope that the supermarkets will have sufficient grocery delivery slots for everyone!

Here are the challenges which I am linking this card to.

Seize the Birthday

The Card Concept

Color Throwdown

CAS Watercolour

Simon Says Stamp

Use Some Green

Stay Well Everyone!

Happy Anniversary!

I really enjoy colouring die cuts in various ways. Here I used some watercolours to add interest to this pansy die cut by Alexandra Renke. I also stamped a Gorgeous Grunge stamp in the background and added a simple narrow frame also coloured with watercolour. The sentiment is from Avery Elle.

It's my DT card for Perfectly CAS where the challenge is to use die cuts.

Do come and join in the fun!

Simple, simple, simple

Here is a very simple card... a simple die cut, a simple bit of inking with a simple birthday sentiment!

Addicted to CAS 

Happy Little Stampers

Time Out

Stay well everyone!

Gold Embossing

Here I combined a few challenges.

I made a stencil from a die using vellum and then inked through it onto black card and embossed in gold. I found an odd snippet of manuscript card in my left over card drawers and so utilised the sketch from Fab Friday... I had to alter the positioning a little because of a) the tiny back sentiment strip and b) the position of the staves on the manuscript die cut. I hope this is permissible. I would have liked to use the sketch exactly, so I may do another card for that.

My son and family should have been flying to friends in the States for a skiing break in Maine today, but their host found himself in quarantine (with flu like symptoms) and so they have had to cancel and remain home... not very happy bunnies! Not very happy for their friend either!

               CAS Stencil                      

 Fab Friday Sketch        

 ABC Christmas

       Embossing & Gold  

Just US Girls

 

Winter flowers

Here is a card for the challenge at CAS Christmas, which this time is to include Winter Flowers.

My card is mainly die cuts coloured with Distress Inks. I think that the flower is from Britannia Dies. For the centres, I coloured a piece of card with an alcohol marker before cutting out with a snow scene die which gave me lots of irregular, tiny dots. I think they look quite natural as flower stamens or whatever they are.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts and I embossed it in yellow EP on the tan card. Its colour didn't show up, so I did it again stamping first with white ink, this actually showed up as yellow, but in fact I preferred my first effort, so that is what I used on the card.

My garden is showing signs of lots of Spring flowers, I think that they are some of my favourites... all fresh and new and a herald of brighter days to come.

A bit more luck

Going through my supply of dies, I came across this little trio of shamrocks, which I believe are by Alexandra Renke. I keep my dies on A4 magnetic sheets in theme boxes, so all the packaging is stored away in a separate container which is simply stuffed. I really should employ a definite means of identification for my dies. I write on the back of some with a Sharpie if they are large enough! The ones I use frequently I can remember, but for some it's a question of rummaging through the packaging box or looking them up on the internet. 

I coloured the die cuts with AquaTints and a squidge of water. The background I sprayed with a diffuser. My granddaughter was asking what the tool was and so I let her have a blow!

The base card is quite similar in texture to watercolour paper which is why I used it for this card, however as it is so bumpy it's sometimes difficult to get a good impression from stamping, so I ran the piece of card through the Big Shot prior to stamping, to flatten it a little and so make  stamping the sentiment, which is from Clearly Besotted, a little more effective.

CAS Watercolour

My mojo has taken a bit of a battering recently... I have started on so many projects, only to have them end up in the bin as they didn't turn out as I had hoped. Hey ho, I'll press on in the hope that sometime soon, something will work out as I envisaged. 

Warm Wishes

The Christmas challenge at HLS this month is as ever Anything Goes but with the optional addition of a Beverage.

For this card I began with a kraft card base and used diecuts in white with tiny coloured accents (the centre of the heart and the liquid in the cup)!

The sentiment is from Cutplorations and the other die cuts from Memory Box.  The 'steam' is actually a die cut from a needle and thread set, but I think it works quite well chopped up and used as vapour!

This makes me think that maybe I haven't used kraft card for too long a time, I rather like it!

DO join us for this challenge, it makes such a difference to have a supply of Christmas greetings to hand when December comes around!

Good Luck

I loved this little chap from SSS from the very first time I saw him... I do have his rather larger chum too, but this one is my favourite.

Here I coloured him with Brushos.. after die cutting, I sprayed the bits of card for his clothes with water and tapped on some Brusho greens. I love to see how the colour moves around. I did some scarlet for his nose and left his beard pristine! When dry I stuck the bits to the base die-cut and covered with some Nuvo Crystal glaze.

I dry embossed a Cuttlebug Border EF across the front panel and added a sentiment from Sugar Pea Designs.

I used the layout from CAS(e) this Sketch

and the theme from CAS Watercolour

Gelli

The challenges at CAS Mix Up always stretch my range of techniques. Some are new to me and some ones which need revisiting!

The challenge this time is to use acrylic paint.

It also happens to be their 4th Birthday Celebration! Where has that time gone to?

Happy Birthday CAS Mix Up!

When I think of acrylic paints my first thought is to use my Gelli plate (which hasn't been used for a very long time).

So I now have lots of bits of paper and card with gelli prints on!

For this card, I mixed up some orange and blue to make brown and then added a smidge of metallic gold, before mixing with a brayer. I took a Stampin Up Gorgeous Grunge stamp to pick up some colour from the plate and stamped it to make this background. I took another print from the plate before rebrayering. Next I popped a die cut foliage spray onto the plate and then took another print. This coloured the die cut on this card and also provided another background with negative space where the die cut had been... for later use!

The sentiment is from Avery Elle.

There is actually quite a nice golden glimmer in places on this card which sadly does not appear in evidence on the photo.

SO for this card I used Acrylic Paints, Gelli stamping and printing, diecutting and heat embossed stamping.