Have a lovely day

Here's another go at using a home made stencil. I made this one some time ago before I discovered Mylar sheets. I used acetate and cut the design with my Silhouette Portrait.  I kept the die-cut in the die before I used the stencil, so that I would have a narrow white border around the balloon. The first one I tried, had some of the long bars of the stencil right next to the die, which masked and gave an odd shape to the balloon, so I tried again and positioned the stencil so that there would be a little colour all around the edge, even if it was only a touch; it outlined the balloon more definitively.

CAS Mix Up

CASology - Outside

Fab Friday

Addicted to stamps and More

 

Be Merry

I have always enjoyed following a sketch, as long as it is not too cluttered... there are some challenges where more is decidedly more  and that's just not my style. Today I spotted this sketch from 

CAS Colours and Sketches

This one is definitely my style.

I used an svg file from Silhouette, to cut the little penguins, and popped them onto a snowy backdrop with a little Christmassy sentiment. I simply cut the base shapes in black and then the rest in white, colouring the beaks and feet with Copics. I love the embossing folder used for the snow, it's by Sheena Douglass but is sadly no longer available.

ABC Christmas K kids

Merry Little Christmas - Anything Goes
The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Goes

 

Birthday Mermaid

Here is a little card I made with dies that I have had for ages but never got around to using! They are by Alexandra Renke. I began by stamping the dots in Soft Slate ink using a really favourite old set from SU called Gorgeous Grunge. I inked the coral/weed with some Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink using a soft blending brush.

I dug out these dies for the challenge at AAA Cards

For a challenge such as this I would tend to go for a unicorn  or the like but then I remembered the little mermaid. I think my only other encounter with a mermaid was seeing the one sitting on a rock in the harbour in Copenhagen!

I think I used about a third of the surface area for this card so hopefully it will be acceptable.

My second card today is for the challenge at CAS on Friday

FOOD

Among my dies, I found two different tops for a cup cake and one base... I'm not sure which topper goes with the bottom, but in fact I did use both. I rather liked the zig zag top of the cake case, but if I let any of it show, it would have looked as thought icing was floating, so I cut down one of the toppers to act as the cake peeking between the the icing and the case. Although cut from kraft card, I did add a little Distress ink to add definition to the case. The icing was sprinkled with Glamour Dust. Just looking at the die I used, I think it may actually be an ice cream, but if it is I don't know where the cone is. I think it looks OK here though! Needless to say I don't remember the make of the dies, I do remember that the original cup cake dies were a gift from a fellow team member when I was running Less is More! Thanks again Susan!

 

Merry Christmas

This is rather an unusual colour choice for a Christmas card, but I am rather partial to lots of shades of kraft card and so when I saw that the challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown was to use this colour, this is the card I came up with. 

In fact I decided to combine it with the challenge at CAS Christmas , where the theme this time is Foliage and Berries.

The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes

Merry Little Christmas - Anything Goes

I  used an ivory base to complement the kraft die cuts. The foliage is from a die called Silverdale from Memory Box. It is stacked 3 times and mounted over a frame cut with Framelit and Presscut dies. I stamped this in Versamark using a wood plank stamp from IO. I lightly brushed a little Empire Gold Gilding Wax from Pebeo onto some edges of the leaves and the sentiment panel and added some Nuvo Crystal drops to the berries. The sentiment is from Memory Box.

I just discovered that Amazon Music has compiled my own personal playlist from tracks that I have chosen to play frequently... it's brilliant... all my favourites without having to keep selecting! I'm obviously not too old to keep learning new things!