Sunday 23 December 2018

Merry Everything

Just stopping by with my last Christmas cards of 2018 made using My Favorite Things stamps :)


Now I'm not entirely sure what is wrong with Blogger but just lately every uploaded photo is becoming blurred and I can assure you, its absolutely clear in real life and on my computer screen :(

This card features a lovely jolly Santa leaping for joy with his reindeer looking up at him and smiling, coloured with alcohol markers.  I've used a TH brick wall stencil tea dye Distress Ink, added a sentiment embossed in white.  I've used a Clearly Besotted stamp set to get the red diagonal stripes on the bottom. 

Challenge Links...

Sweet Stampin - Anything Christmas
Watercooler Wednesday - Anything Goes




The second card is from one brother to the other and features the sweet penguins from Stacey Yacula which I've turned into brothers holding flippers, coloured with alcohol markers.  I've used the same Clearly Besotted diagonal stripe stamp, matted onto white cardstock.  The circle die has been embossed with a snow folder and lightly inked with blue, finished off with a small Christmas sentiment.

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year 

Challenge Links...

As You Like It - Anything Goes
Time Out - Inspired by Words (I chose family and the word Brothers)
CAS on Sunday - Make a Christmas Card





Saturday 15 December 2018

Happy, Merry, Joyful Christmas

Wrapping up the last of my Christmas cards, just one more to go then I'm swapping craft for festive baking :)

  

I've used a Stamplorations stamp embossed in gold and coloured in with alcohol markers in traditional Christmas colours.  The sentiment is from a Stacey Yacula MFT set, I think its the penguins set.

I've added a generous helping of gold paint splatters and the sequins were a must after Miss Clever Cloggs here splashed the card with two big splodges of diluted paint, urgh!

Challenge Links...

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Christmas
CAS on Sunday - Make a Christmas Card
Time Out - Joyful
Addicted to Stamps - Make Your Mark







Saturday 8 December 2018

Merry Chris-Moose!

I've finally got my hands on this happy moose from Your Next Stamp... Yay!


I started with the background stamp from Winnie & Walter and thank heavens for stamp platforms because this needed stamping multiple times to get a crisp even image.  The moose was coloured with alcohol markers and cut using the matching die with a few highlights added with white gel pen.


The sentiment is from the same set and embossed in clear after stamping in black and I love that its big, bold and really matches the image.  I've added a little Wink on the background swirl.

This one is for my eldest and I plan on making a second one for my youngest, possibly in blue to give him a wintry feel :)

Challenge Links...

Inkspirational - Designers Choice, Anything Christmas
Inspired By - Peppermint
Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes
Double D - Run Run Rudolph (or a moose in my case)
Freshly Made Sketches 








Saturday 1 December 2018

Monochromatic Bells

As much as I love traditional Christmas colours, I opted for a monochromatic card this time using Altenews Bells and Bows stamp set.


To start with I chose a selection of grey inks and with a stamping platform stamped all three layers working from light to dark.  For the bows I used the darkest grey from the bells and black as the final layer.  Both bells have been clear embossed and a touch of Wink is on the bows.


Thanks to the dull whether the 'Merry' on the top photo looks black when in reality its been heat embossed with silver, only the words above and below are stamped in black.  To finish I attached to a black card base with foam for a small amount of dimension.

Challenge Links...

Freshly Made Sketches - Took a little artist licence :)
Inkspirational - Anything Christmas 
Color Throwdown - Black, White, Grey & Silver





Wednesday 28 November 2018

Happy Christmas

I love making Christmas cards now the big day is fast approaching and today I'm featuring this cute little guy...



The day before I started this card I was messing about with shaving foam, photo paper and reinkers to create a few festive marble effects and I've utilised one of them on this card.

I used the super sweet MFT Holiday Penguins designed by Stacey Yacula coloured with pencils and a few white gel pen highlights as well as a bit of sparkle for his hat.

The card base is textured red and I die cut the 'happy' from the satin photo paper I'd made the day before.

The Christmas was just stamped and embossed in white, before assembling my card I masked off the bottom area and added some white paint splatters to the top half.



I love the way the marble effect came out, I was aiming for a peppermint swirl design and of course I enjoyed getting very messy with shaving foam... still very much a child at heart :)

Challenge Links...

Fusion - Sketch/Christmas Chair (I used the red and white theme from the cushion)
Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes Christmas
Sweet Stampers - Christmas
Watercooler Wednesday - All About Holidays
Tuesday Throwdown - Inspiration Photo (I used the red and white theme)









Monday 26 November 2018

White Dinkie Tree

A very quick post today, together with an easy peasy one layer card.


For this one I used a sweet dinkie Christmas Tree from IndigoBlu embossed in white and the baubles are coloured in with pink, blue and green pencils - those colours always seem to  be popular around Christmas time.  Finished off with a favourite sentiment :)

Challenge Links...

Less is More - One Layer Holiday
Addicted to Stamps - CAS 
That's Crafty - Winter Wonderland




Saturday 24 November 2018

A Gift for You

Well its my final week being Guest Designer at Just us Girls and I've had a wonderful time so I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone over there for having me.

So onto the challenge which is a photo inspiration week with a a trolley filled with lots of shiny presents all ready for the big day.



I knew right from the start when I saw the challenge list that I wanted to use Altenews Bells and Bows stamp set and turn my card into a gift.

I only used two of the layering stamps to create the bow so that the white was visible as if the light was catching it.  I used the first layering stamp (the full coverage one) to be able to heat emboss it with clear powder.  To get the depth of green I had to use Tim Holtz stamping platform as I'm totally rubbish at lining anything up.

I added some matching green satin ribbon which I pick up from a Haberdashery store as its so much more cost effective than buying top brands and they wrap it up and pop in it a little paper sweetie bag which reminds me of a time that has been lost.



I also went digging in the bottom of my stamp box and found the perfect sentiment, which I stamped onto a tiny stitched tag and heat embossed in silver and added a bit of furry silver twine to compliment the silver of the trolley.

I do hope you'll stop by, be inspired and have a play as its the last challenge from Just us Girls for 2018 as they're taking a break for the month of December and the photo inspiration is perfect for getting those Christmas cards made :)



Challenge Links...


Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes optional Ribbon
Fab 'n' Funky - Christmas 
Inspired By - Christmas Packages





Saturday 17 November 2018

Have a Super Birthday

Goodness me, its already week three at Just us Girls and its a colour challenge.  The ladies would like you to use Yellow, Orange and Turquoise.

Recently my eldest celebrated his birthday so I incorporated the colours into a card for him from his brother.



I started by stencilling the background in yellow and orange then used Versamark to add some clear sparkle embossing powder.  The cat is from Clearly Besotted Caped Cuties set just coloured with alcohol markers in greys through to black.  The balloons are from MFT Birthday Bears set, die cut out and popped behind the cat.

The sentiment is from the Caped Cuties set and the brother is from another Clearly Besotted set with matching dies.



A close up of the sparkle on the sunburst background.  

These colours are so cheery to work with and it would be great to see how you interpret the challenge, so why not pop along to see lots of gorgeous inspiration from the DT :)



Challenge Links...

Tuesday Throwdown - Playing Dress Up
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes/Topping Clean & Simple
Watercooler Wednesday - Occasions



Saturday 10 November 2018

Merry Christmas

Todays card is for week two at Just us Girls and its using bleach on your card.


When I first saw the challenge I knew I wanted to use a very old wooden stamp with swirls and holly but I wasn't prepared for how frustrating it was going to be.  I masked off a strip and coloured with Festive Berries distress ink and then the fun began.  Firstly I wet the stamp with a good spritz of bleach, dabbed off the excess and stamped onto the panel.  Now I've discovered if you spritz with too much bleach you loose the definition of the stamp and if you remove too much you get nothing at all.  After many,  many attempts I finally achieved the bleached effect I was after, thank goodness!

The card looked a little too bland so I added a Prima poinsettia flower with some greenery just to lift it.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts, stamped and then embossed with clear sparkle.





Saturday 3 November 2018

Guest Designer - November at Just us Girls

Excited once again having been asked to Guest Design at Just us Girls for the whole month of November and there are some fab challenges coming up.

We're kicking the month off with the theme 'Music' and I've opted to use the new Caroling Newtons stamp set from Newtons Nook.



I've watercoloured these using a limited colour scheme to keep it CAS.

The sentiment is one of my absolute favourite stamps to bring out over Christmas and I thought it suited the little kitties purrfectly - no apologies for that pun, it was totally intended :)




To finish off I added a sprinkling of snow from an unbranded embossing folder, a few musical notes and some Stickles for the hats and pompoms.

I do hope you'll stop by and be inspired by the Design Team.



Challenge Links...

Christmas with the Cuties - Wrap up Warm
The Holly and Ivy - Anything Goes Christmas 

Saturday 27 October 2018

Guest Designer at Less is More - WHOOP!

Super EXCITED... A few months ago I was lucky enough to win the Pets Challenge over at Less is More and imagine my surprise when I was asked to Guest Design.  Yeah I had to think about it - for about 1 nano second :)




The theme is Dimension and this is the card I came up with.


Firstly I used texture paste through a Tim Holtz brick stencil onto white cardstock, left to dry overnight.  I die cut the leaf and using red, green, yellow and brown inks blended the colours to represent an Autumn leaf.  The 'thanks' has been die cut and inked the same then matted onto two layers on black cardstock.


For added dimension I've used Crackle Accents and once dry rubbed Distress Ink over the cracks, the leaf had a natural curl so its only adhered with a little glue in the middle.

And that's my take on the challenge, so why not pop over and be inspired by the Design Team.


Challenge Links...

Fusion - Fall Porch
Time Out - Inspired by Words
CAS on Friday - Autumn/Fall or Halloween






Tuesday 23 October 2018

You're How Old?

Regular followers of my blog probably know its my husbands birthday on the 31st October and as such I like to make him a birthday card with a twist of Halloween.  This one has been made for my son to give him.



I've used You Rock stamp set from Clearly Besotted and coloured the little dinos in traditional Halloween colours, its pretty simple with just a little bit of masking and as far as dinosaurs go... these are more cute than ferocious little fellas.  To finish I added a little strip of patterned paper from MFT.

Challenge Links...

Sunny Day Crafting - Always Animals
Sweet Stampin' - Chevrons or Stripes
Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes


Saturday 20 October 2018

Birthday Stripes

I've made todays card for someone special whose two favourite colours are black and yellow. 


I started by using Altenews watercolour stripes stencil and used a black dew drop ink with specks of gold running through it.  The 'happy' was partially coloured yellow to give an ombre feel and triple cut to add dimension.  The balloon is from Sugar Pea Designs and the stars are clear embossed after inking in black.  I slightly messed up the cut of the balloon but hey its handmade, mistakes are art - right?


I couldn't resist adding a bit of sparkle to the 'happy' to match the shine from the stripes.  The 'birthday' was from Lawn Fawn.

Challenge Links...

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes 
Double D - Stripes & Dots
Lets Craft and Create - Anything Goes (optional paper strips)