Happy Birthday

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to have a card selected as the winner over on the Male Room Challenge, following which I was invited to be a Guest Designer for one of their challenges and this is it!

Needless to say that this theme is just up my street!

My card was made following our recent holiday in Antigua, where we stayed in a super little cottage in Cocobay, with Adirondack chairs on the deck overlooking our pool and the sea. We spent many happy hours on those chairs, reading, enjoying the the weather and the view. As soon as I got home I searched to see if I could find a die of an Adirondack chair and found this one from Impression Obsession. It is triple stacked, adhered over a patch of  'sand'  from a stamp from Stamplorations and embossed with some old Distress Embossing powder, which melts to a rough, matt finish.  I don't believe that it is still produced.

The seagull is by Memory Box and the sea elements from Charlie and Paulchen.

I hope that we can return to Antigua before too long, the people are so welcoming, we loved it!

 

 

 

Ahoy!

Recently I was fortunate enough to win a challenge at CASology and was subsequently invited to be a Guest Designer and now is the time for that to happen!

The challenge is WINDY

My very first thought was of a stamp that I have of a boy with a kite, but despite taking it off the wood block, I still couldn't get a clear image of every part of the stamp, so out came this old SU stamp... also on a block, but it worked rather better. I also found the little quote  stamp in a set I had with no name printed on the carrier sheet (I hate that). I remember that I bought it on one trip to Ally Pally. 

I had a fancy for doing one of these flat knots as an embellishment, I always think they look rather nautical and they also lie pretty flat for mailing. I think I may have to try to do a video to show how they are done.  

Here is the video

The twine I selected to use was somewhat off white and looked dreadful against white cardstock, so I opted for this ivory hopsack textured card from Papermill Direct.

My son loves sailing... I have used this image a few times for cards for him!

 

Merry Christmas

Recently I was fortunate enough to win a challenge at 52 Christmas Card throwdown, which came together with the invitation to be a Guest Designer for them. So here I am with a card for their colour challenge which this time is 

The red in my version is minimal to say the least. but where would \Rudolph be without his red nose! The deer die is by Gummiapan, I don't recall the origin of the tress, but they were coloured with Distress Oxide Inks.

I made a video on how I colour die-cuts here. https://youtu.be/_fv0SL4-2B4

The sentiment is a foil plate from Spellbinders... I couldn't resist playing with my new toy... a Glimmer Hot Foil machine!

 

May Your Christmas Dreams Come True

Here we are in my final week as Guest Designer at Just Us Girls. It has been such fun, with terrific challenges each week. Those who know me of old, know that my style is extremely Clean and Simple and this week's is no exception. The theme is to use PLAID, and as usual I have used just a very little of it, I think this came from a free pull-out of papers from a craft magazine.

I chose lots of star embossing dies for the background from Creative-Depot.de and added the scrap of plaid to a hanging star, with more stars and a touch of ivy... something that is used to decorate homes at Christmas time in the UK... so with the the (wishing) stars and the Christmas foliage, I chose the sentiment to combine the two, from Simon Says Stamp.

 

Happy Birthday

This is my second card for the challenges at Just Us Girls this month, where I have been invited to be Guest Designer once more. 

The challenge this time is to have an inked or sprayed background. Whilst sitting pondering what I might make, I found myself looking at a piece of kit that I haven't used for a very long time. I'm not sure where I got it but I think it may have been Stampin' Up, as I used one of their watercolour markers in it. It's called a Spritzer, but it works like a diffuser, which basically puffs a gust of air across the tip of a marker, (by squeezing the bulb,) which leaves a kind of splatter of ink on the page.

I cut it to make a background panel for the pansy die-cut by Alexandra Renke. I used a cutting die to emboss the horizontal band and added a couple of die-cut charms to some baker's twine.

Card making gives me an inordinate amount of pleasure, which is only increased by the fact that it is shared with so many like minded crafters all around the world, whom I am delighted to call my friends! Let's hope lots of them join in with this challenge!

 

Wine

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to win a challenge at Just US Girls and was subsequently invited to be their Guest Designer for January!

The first of the challenges is entitled Beverage

Here is the first of my submissions. 

Sadly for everyone, Bugaboo Stamps, a digital image company, ceased trading. I have many of their images, which are such fun... they appeal to my sense of humour enormously. Although the sentiment is from the company I made it in a different font ( Amolina Boutique) adding it to the frame for the image. It's simply coloured with Copic Markers.

The start of a New Year  always brings hope, and this year I think that we need it... I hope that we will soon be able to think of Covid as a thing of the past. Stay safe and well everyone, and Happy New Year!

 

Time Out Guest Designer

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to have a card selected as the winner at Time Out Challenge and I was subsequently invited to do a Guest Designer Spot and here it is!

The theme of the challenge this time is NEW

Anyone who knows me, knows that my card style is Clean And Simple, although the kinds of technique I use tend to be somewhat eclectic. Having said that a real favourite of mine is using dies... I must have thousands of them and yet I still seem to be acquiring more. The one by Memory Box used here is getting its first outing and so that is my NEW thing for this challenge. I used it in a different orientation to that on the packet, because I wanted to put the sentiment in that particular corner. The background was made by smooshing some card into a little Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink and water on my glass mat and just dabbing with a paper towel. (It's supposed to look a little like sky!)

I don't remember the make of the sentiment, although I have a feeling that that may be Memory Box too!. The berries were made from pearls which I had coloured with a Copic marker.

This challenge is being sponsored by Uniko, so with a stamp set of your choice, plus a chance to be a Guest Designer for the winner, that's a really good reason to join in the fun as their products are awesome.

I don't do New Year's resolutions any more, but my husband and I have both returned to Slimming World as lockdown inactivity has taken its toll. SO far I have lost 10lbs, so we are heading in the right direction!

 

Be Merry

This is my last session as Guest Designer at Stamps & Fun = Creativity

The theme for my last session is Colour of Christmas.

To me Christmas is Red and Green.... and white of course. 

Red for lots of reasons... Rudolph's nose, Santa's suit, the robin's breast (because he stays with us all through the winter), poinsettias and berries from lots of plants which see the birds and other creatures through the winter.

Green for the Christmas tree and other evergreens which we bring indoors to decorate our homes. 

Anyway, enough waxing lyrical, here is my card with a couple of jolly polar bears (from MFT) wearing their warm woolly scarves in Christmas colours.

The 'merry' is from Papertrey Ink and the 'be' separate letters from a Memory Box alphabet.

 

Merry Christmas

Here is a card for the reminder post for the challenge at Christmas Craft Creations where I am doing a Guest Designer spot. The theme is Fun Folds

I kinda made this one up!

I just fancied something a little different. I made  gatefold cards for my daughter's wedding invitations, and they fastened with a ribbon, this one fastens by the fact that I made a double edge so that the right hand flap slots into the left hand edge.

I simply cut a second scalloped strip which I aligned and adhered behind the front one, leaving a gap for the right flap to slot into.

The little fox is from Create a Smile, the sentiment from Poppy Stamps and the tiny sprig of holly an old favourite stamp by Stampendous.

Be Merry

Another week, another Guest Designer card for the challenge at Stamps & Fun = Creativity

You might guess from this card that the theme is SNOWFLAKES. I am quite partial to White on White cards, but the problem arises when it comes to trying to photograph them. I tried various backdrops, but couldn't seem to find anything to enhance the image. I hope you can see it! I triple stacked each snowflake and double stacked the sentiment. Each flake has a pearl in the centre.

TIME OUT Challenges

Simplicity is what I love!

 

Merry Christmas

Recently I was lucky enough to have one of my cards selected as the winner at Christmas Craft Creations and was invited to be a Guest Designer for their current challenge!

As you can see the card is a little different from my usual makes and that is because this challenge is to make a Fun Fold Card!

This one is a centre step card and the problem came with working out some measurements which would fit UK  cardstock sizes and have the correct dimensions to fold properly.

This is what I came up with. (Sadly not exactly to scale)

The measurements down the centre are the distances between each fold.

The solid lines are cut lines and the dotted lines are fold lines.

These cute polar bears are from MFT and I added a bunch of die cuts to complete the picture!

Just Us Girls 

 

Hello

Another week as Guest Designer at Stamp & Fun = Creativity

This time the challenge is to use Grey plus 1 other colour. Here I chose grey and green. The little elephant is a die from The Works and I think he's a real cutie, I believe the leaf that he is holding is from a die set The Works too.

After I had cut him out, I stamped him with a crackle stamp in Versamark to make his skin look a bit crinkly. I coloured the leaf by daubing with Distress Oxide inks.

It would be great if you could join in with the fun too, we'd love to see you there.

 

Good Luck

Another week, another challenge at Stamps & Fun = Creativity and another occasion for me to be a Guest Designer.

The theme this time is Lantern! I guess that at this time of year most people would think of a Halloween lantern... a pumpkin hollowed out and card to make a face, but I don't generally make Halloween cards so I thought I would do a Chinese lantern instead.

To make this one, I heat embossed a WOW background stamp in Gold onto a piece of red card and then I die cut an oval and put it through my paper rippler or corrugator or whatever the piece of kit is called. Actually I think it's called a crimper. Then I grabbed two tiny rectangles from a small part of a complicated die for the top and bottom of the lantern and then added a loop at the top. I didn't have any black thread, so I coloured a piece of stripy thread with a black marker.

I cut two fish tail banners and dry embossed the top one. The sentiment, from Clearly Besotted was also heat embossed in gold.

Despite all, I think it does look quite like a lantern!

 

Hello

It's time for yet another Guest Designer appearance at Stamp & Fun = Creativity and the theme this time is to use your favourite stamp.

This is a tricky thing for me to do. as I have a lot of favourites, but Penny Black's chickens are some of my all time favourites. This one called Totally Excited is just priceless!

I die cut a Sizzix background redolent of chicken wire and placed the chicken as though she was  fluttering out to greet us... hence the sentiment.

There must be lots of you who have a really favourite stamp, so why not join in the fun?

 

Danke Sehr

This is the second in the series of Guest Designer spots that I am undertaking for the challenges at 

Stamp & Fun = Creativity

As this is a German site, I tried to find a German link and this stamp from Lawn Fawn just fit the bill.

The challenge this time is  Colour of Autumn

For this card I dropped splodges of alcohol ink onto photographic paper and when dry, die cut the foliage sprigs. I dry embossed a twiggy image for a base panel and added the simple sentiment.

Job Done!

It would be great if you could join in the fun. They'd love to see you there!

Addicted to CAS - Autumn

Dies R Us - Anything Goes

 

Formal Birthday

I entered a challenge some time ago and was asked if I would like to do a Guest Designer Spot, so this it the first of those occasions at Stamps, Fun = Creativity!

This week it's 

ANYTHING GOES

This card came about because I was asked to make a card for someone who is always very particular about his appearance and is always smartly dressed even at breakfast. I have made a dinner suit card once before and it was tricky trying to remember what I did! Basically I cut a couple of black rectangles and scored and folded and trimmed until I had the lapels. I cut a strip of double stitched white card for the button placket and used a die to cut the bow tie. The waste (holes) from a border die gave me the buttons.

 

Merry Christmas to You - Guest Designer at Christmas Craft Creations

Guest Designer

I love making Christmas cards and for several months I was a designer at Christmas Craft Creations. During that period we were asked if any of us (designers) would like to design a sketch for a future challenge. From those submitted, this one, drawn by yours truly, was selected as the winner. Since then I have since stepped down from the team, but Charlotte (Lady Joyful) graciously asked if I would like to be the Guest designer for this particular challenge. Thank you so much Charlotte,  I am delighted to do so.

Of course much licence may be taken with the shapes etc, but the overall look of the sketch should be recognisable.

Recently there was a sale of dies at an online craft store and I bought a bunch of them... not that I needed any more. However I couldn't resist these stylistic mountains and trees from Poppy Stamps. The sentiment is from Memory Box. The top half of the backdrop was dry embossed with a snow embossing folder from Sheena Douglass, which sadly is no longer available. I decided to put a little Memory Box glittery star in the sky, but that was sheer indulgence on my part!
DO join in the fun... it's so good to have all your Christmas cards prepared in advance, avoiding the mad scramble at the last moment.

 

CHEERS

This is my final week as Guest Designer over at Just Us Girls and I have so enjoyed it!

The challenges have been great fun and it was wonderful to be amongst such a fab team of designers.

This week's challenge is Anything but a card!

I can't think why, but my first thought for this challenge was a wine bottle tag.... I wonder what the psychologists would have to say about that?

The particular bottle that this tag is encircling is one of my favourites... a wonderful Chardonnay!

Cheers everyone!

 

Have a lovely day

It's week three of my Guest Designing spot at Just Us Girls and this time it's a colour challenge.

This is the first outing for my Concord & 9th Sketched Dots Turnabout stamp. I used SU Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate and Barely Banana inks. I think I must be a bit of a messy inker as I had to wipe the stamp between the dots as I had managed to get ink on the gaps and I was worried that if I pressed too hard I would get smudges on the print. (SU stamp pads are quite large... that's my excuse) Fortunately it worked well!

I had recently ordered some teal card from Paper Mill Direct, which is where I source all my cardstock and so wanted to use it for this project. Hence the die cuts and the mats.

Colour challenges are always interesting, why not give it a go and join in the fun!

 

The sun will come out tomorrow

When my daughter was small, she loved the film Annie. The song which is quoted on this card was one of her favourites and I think that the sentiment is very upbeat and it's an attitude I have had all my life. If today is not a good day... then tomorrow will be better!

I cut a stencil from Mylar using a die to do the raindrops. I simply dabbed some Versamark through the stencil ... I did think of leaving it to dry but decided to add a little clear embossing powder for a little extra shine. The sentiment was computer generated in 'Are you serious' font.

I won a challenge at CAS on Friday a little time ago and so this time I have a Guest Spot with them.  I feel very honoured.