Always in our thoughts

I just saw a sketch which really appealed to me at Colours and Sketches

I love the gentle inky look to it even though it's really only a diagram, but I wondered if that was the effect that the artist was thinking of when drawing it.

SO.... I found a scrap of foam sponge and simply dabbed a background with Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink, I then used the same ink to stamp some splatters and a couple of leaf sprays from Clearly Besotted, which I cut with the matching die.

The sentiment is from Avery Elle.

 

Thinking of You

I have been wanting to use this Macra-Made for you die by The Greetery for some time. I cut everything from white card and coloured the pot with a little Distress Oxide ink at the sides and then spritzed with water to let the colour spread. The leaves, which were from some tiny dies whose origin I can't place, were also coloured with a couple of shades of DOI and again spritzed. To give the pot a 3D appearance, I put a dimensional pad behind the centre and stuck down the sides. The sentiment from Sugar Pea Designs, was heat embossed in silver EP.

Addicted to CAS - Nature

AAA Cards

Allsorts - Anything Goes

Thinking of you

Downstairs there is a hive of industry as three chaps are on their knees laying my new floor through the hall, dining room and kitchen. I can't wait to be back to normal. Our living room looks like a furniture depository as we have crammed everything from the kitchen, hall and dining room into it! I can't wait to be using my new kitchen, there are just three more doors to arrive (I changed my mind about a couple of layout choices and so some new doors had to be ordered), apparently they have arrived in stock and can be fitted as soon as the floor men have finished!! Phil and I will be heaving a great sigh of relief that we have our house back to ourselves...

..but in the interim, my craft room is my escape!

Here is a card for the challenge at Just US Girls

There is some amazing inspiration from the DT and I chose to use the tulips plus the circle of leaves as my starting point!

Time Out

CASology Comfort

Hopefully we'll soon have our house back to ourselves!

Thinking of you

A card for a couple of challenges.

CAS on Friday want to see a musical reference and AAA Cards have an Along the edge challenge.

 I haven't gone for the optional  twist this time, as I wanted to use this old violin stamp from Rubbadubbado, and it doesn't have a die to match so I cut it by hand.

We are now into the third week of being without a kitchen. It is being painted as I type, we are waiting for a couple of cabinet doors, as I changed my mind about the layout a little so another couple of doors had to be manufactured. On Friday the quartz will be fitted, swiftly followed I hope by the installation of the hob and the sink and taps. We will then have a couple of days grace before the floor is fitted, after which we will probably retire to a darkened room to get over all the upheaval!

Hopefully the end is in sight!

 

Thinking of you

Here's another attempt for the challenge at CAS Mix Up to print using die cuts.

Congrats and many thanks again on your special celebration, it's quite a milestone!

Here I used some either Poppy Stamps or Memory Box leaf dies  (not exactly sure which). I slopped a little Peeled Paint  and |Forest Moss Distress Oxide Inks onto the cuts, and spritzed both  the paper and the die cuts with water before taking a print.

The panel was cut with an MFT fishtail die, cut part way from both ends to make it rectangular rather than have the pennant shape. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

Addicted to Stamps and more Die-cuts Stencils

Frustration

Don't you just love technology!

This morning I discovered that I couldn't send emails from my phone or laptop! Receiving was fine, but not sending! I rebooted, re-set, re-everything I could think of to no avail. 

A main reason for the frustration was the fact that I send pictures from my phone to my laptop via email... usually it's the quickest way of going about it... but not today. Eventually I managed to send it via an icloud email address which I didn't really know that I had, but found it on my phone.  I'm going to have to investigate further, but for the moment my pressing problem has been solved. This is the card I made today, which ironically I was thinking was rather serendipitous, as the embossing folder exactly fitted the piece of card I had cut (not measured) and the die I used to  back it was exactly the right dimensions... there the luck ended.

The embossing folder is from Lifestyle crafts and the sentiment from Clearly Besotted.

I followed the sketch from CASe this Sketch

I'd love to get to the bottom of why I can't send emails from any of the three addresses (Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo) I have on my phone, I have folders full of sent items which actually haven't gone anywhere!

If anyone has any ideas of what can be done to sort out my difficulty, I would be delighted to hear from you!

 

Poppy?

Poppies are a symbol of remembrance!

I don't really think that this flower die is supposed to be a poppy but I thought it looked poppy shaped, so I coloured it appropriately with Distress inks. I cut it first with a larger circle die, but it seemed to overpower the size of the card base, so I re-cut it with the next size down. Although the die cut practically fills the circle, I still prefer the proportions of it on the card.

Fusion card Challenge

It's another beautiful day, we had a lovely walk through the local pathways for our daily exercise and now it's nearly time for preprandials!

Cheers!

Thinking of you

Here is another card for the CAS Stencil Challenge which is to use Gilding Flakes.

I used a Sizzix die to cut a stencil from vellum and then applied Versamark through it. After removing the stencil I added Stamp 'n' Bond and heat set it.

I sprinkled on the remains of some gold and some green Gilding Flakes which were mainly dust, but they seemed to work well enough for most of the stencil. As I wasn't too happy with the complete thing, I decided to cut it down and just use part of it! The filigree layer of the butterfly was cut from one of the less successful areas.

It was difficlt to know what to do about the embossing for the sentiment in order to have it tone with the gilding, so I mixed some silver and gold embossing powder together and I was pleased with the end result.

I am waiting for a pattern for some surgical scrubs to arrive, it's on its way apparently.  I have dug out some fabric from the loft which was been stowed away for years (some was bought in the US in about 1978) it's fabulous stuff so hopefully I'll be able to make some up jolly ones and then offer them to any takers. My son (a GP) is well supplied apparently so I'll have to see who would like them! Let's hope the pattern comes today!
Crafty Calendar - Add a Butterfly

Masking

The challenge at Perfectly CAS this month is Masking

I haven't done any masking for quite a long time and I tried a few different things.... most of which left me feeling underwhelmed. For this card I used some Blockhead stamps (again these haven't seen the light of day for ages, until very recently). I don't feel too badly about this one. I left some space at the bottom of the card for a sentiment and was really pleased with the way that this one fitted the contours of the images (a pure fluke that the two things worked together). I had searched through my sentiments however to see if there were any which would fit well. I think it's from Clearly Besotted, but there's no manufacturer's name on the carrier sheet.

I made this one first but wasn't to keen on the flatness of the 'white space', although I like how the leaves turned out!

I hope that you will join us and try your hand at CAS.... lots of lovely white space, no matter what the colour!

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.

Red & Black

On several of the cruises that I have been lucky enough to take, there have been some watercolour classes. These happen on sea days  and sometimes it's difficult to decide just what to spend one's time doing. On the last cruise I did, the watercolour class definitely won, as problems with my knee meant the line dance class was no competition! Having said that,... classes DO help, but they don't make up for lack of talent. I learned a few techniques, but applying them is a whole other matter.

Here I used an old stamp from Magenta, on watercolour paper and clear embossed the outline. I wanted the vase to look shiny! I mixed a little red and grey and dropped the colours onto the petals and leaves respectively and tapped a few splats over the whole image.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted, die cut from the watercolour paper and stacked several times over black die-cuts, which adds a little to bothe the dimension and the effect.

This weekend I acquired a new stamp platform. This one avoids the need for adding or removing the foam sheet adapter to accommodate  cling or clear stamps. It has a spring mechanism which means that you just push it down further to stamp the clear stamps. It also has no edges so that larger pieces of card  can also be accomodated. It comes with two magnets which are already in little holders which makes moving them around a much more simple operation!

SO far I'm delighted!

CAS Watercolour Challenge

Addicted to stamps and More

CAS Watercolour Guest Designer

Loll and Bonnie must put in hours of work to make their Challenge Blogs so informative, interesting, stimulating, challenging and downright fun!

The Watercolour challenge this time is to use Cool Colours and I am simply delighted to have been invited to be a Guest Designer for this challenge

CAS Watercolour Challenge

For my card I began by stamping a My Favorite Things background stamp with Versamark and embossing in Silver.

I then spritzed it with water and added some sprinkles of Brusho powders and spritzed some more, dabbing with a paper towel and adding more powder and water until I got an effect which I liked. I then dried it off with my heat tool.

This kind of card always makes two versions.... the negative and the positive. I cut the SSS Tulip die from the centre of the coloured, embossed  card and then three or four layers from white card, which I stacked and then inlaid the coloured sections from the first cut. 

This is the card which I made with the remaining die cuts. I recessed the tulip die-cut and added a dry embossed backdrop for it, to add a little interest. I chose a folder with similar lines to the die cut and the original stamping. Not quite so CAS as the first card but still has fairly clean lines. The frame is mounted on dimensional pads.

Maple leaves

It seems amazing that the CAS Watercolour Challenge is celebrating its 3rd Birthday. Where has that time gone?

Happy birthday everyone!

              

I love the Maple leaf and I have quite a few dies in my stash, today I chose this stitched trio from Poppy Stamps.

I started by using Brushos to add some autumn colours but wasn't too happy with the result, I was about to toss them out but decided to keep going with adding colour, this time with Spectrum Noir Aquatints and a little more water. I quite liked the effect but couldn't help smearing just a touch of Brilliance Gold ink over the top.

The grid stamp is from Stampin' Up and the sentiment from Clearly Besotted.

LAst weekend we were ar the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London for a performance of Agrippina by Handel. We were celebrating a friend's birthday and had supper in the Balconies Restaurant before the performance, having the final course between acts. It was fabulous!

Here are the three wives of the party having a pre dinner G&T!

This evening, the lady on the right of the picture, myself, together with our respective husbands will be travelling to Wimborne to join in with a Come and Sing Dream of Gerontius. That should be fun too!

Pink Fresh

Another spot of die cut colouring!

This time with alcohol markers.

I took the colours from the challenge at JUGs

I began by cutting out the Pink Fresh dies and colouring them with markers. It's not incredibly evident but the red is in the centres of the blooms, now partially obscured by the pearls which I decided to add at the last minute. The simple sentiment is from Altenew. I  love the combination of grey and pink.

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!

Texture Paste

A little time ago I dug out some texture paste to use for one of the challenges at CAS Mix Up and since then I have wondered why it remained in the drawer for so long untouched!

Here I used some Pearlescent White Embossing Paste by Sweet Poppy, through a Craft Workshop stencil. I sprinkled a few shades of Brushos onto the stencil before removing it.

The stencil itself looked pretty good so I took many prints from it, by activating it further with a few spritzes of water. Now I have lots of backgrounds in hand! 

I cut the aperture with an MFT Peekaboo square and added a sentiment from Clearly Besotted. Sadly I don't recall the make of the bird die which I double layered for added dimension.

It's for the challenge  at Just Us Girls - Texture Paste

Here is a card made from one of the prints from the stencil.

After lifting the stencil from the card, I spritzed it with water, which activated some more of the Brusho powder, then placed it onto another piece of card, using a piece of paper towel over it to add pressure. I was really pleased with the watery, ombre look. Some die cuts flowers from Alexandra Renke and a simple sentiment from Hero Arts completed the card.

CAS Mix Up - Ombre

CAS Watercolour - Blue