Friday Focus

Have you seen the photo inspiration over at Inkspirational? Bit of a you're not going to be able to resist me one - and I haven't!

I was really struck by the way those blue flowers dominate the pale sofa and tried to bring that out in my card.

The rose stamp was a gift from my pal Barb and I stamped it off the edge of the bottom corner. then I die cut the sentiment strip from the card and inserted a plain strip - sort of like the sofa.

Supplies:
Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts, Roes are Red
Ink: Mmemnto, Danube blue
Die: MFT Die-namics, stitched rectanglar word window

 Thanks so much for your time today, hope you'll come back again soon.  And keep crafting!

Thursday Thoughts

It's sketch week over at Less is More and I do love a sketch - sort of gets me off to a quick start with one decision already made for me.

And as you would expect from LIM it's a beauty to help you stay CAS.  Here's my card:

I started by creating a couple of masks for that delicious curve and then broke out my new SU colours for the stamped flowers. Knew I was going to go mad for these colours as soon as I saw them - looooove the pinks!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU, Blooms & Wishes, Touches of Texture
Inks: SU, powder pink, berry burst, fresh fig; Memento, pear tart

That's me all done and dusted for today, hope you liked my card. Thanks for your visit, always much appreciated.  And keep crafting!

Wednesday Words

I've made a card for the CASology Challenge that had the cue card - HOUSE. Too late to join in the link up, but I'm sharing here anyway.

 Well it was a simple decision to check out the cute little fairy houses in Lavinia Stamps shop, the hard bit was just to choose one.

I went with a digital stamp which has the enormous bonus of not only being immediately available but also being able to be resized to suit the purpose.

Once printed I coloured the house and added a stamped sentiment, then blended distress inks around it.  Have I said how pretty and cute this fairy house is? Yeah thought so!

I added an enamel dot to the door to feature the handle a bit more - it was sort of disappearing into the dark shade I used to colour the door.

Supplies:
Stamps: Lavinia Stamps, Freya's House; Uniko, Home Sweet Home & Simply Said
Inks: Memento, tuedo black; Ranger distress, worn lipstick, shaded lilac, scattered straw
Pens: Promarkers, pink carnation, blossom; Graphmaster, 37 pastel yellow, 49 barium yellow, 99 bronze
Embellishment: SU, enamel dot, sweet sugarplum

I'm so pleased you visited my blog today, thanks so much and come again soon.  And keep crafting!

CAS Colours & Sketches #229

Here I am hosting the final CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge for June and it's a sketch. It seems very fitting that this is the last challenge of the month as it will also be my last challenge as a DT member of CC&S. So I went with a favourite layout that I've used in the past, hope you'll enjoy using it too.

Here's my card:

I've stuck to nearly all one colour with just a few pops of blue in the flower centres.

And the scripty sentiment is one of my all time favourites too.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU, Blooms & Wishes
Ink: SU, cherry cobbler
Die: MFT Die-namics, stitched basic edges 
Embellishments: Doodlebug enamel dots, blue jean asst. 

It's going to be so much fun seeing what you all do with my sketch, I've already enjoyed looking at the DT cards - HERE.

A massive thanks goes from me to you, both for looking at my blog today and for all the fun I've had with you all at CC&S. 

And keep crafting! 

Monday Moments

Today I'm using some of the wonderfully me patterned paper that just happened to fall into my shopping bag last time I went out! And as Simon Says Stamp want patterned paper for their Wednesday Cahllenge I'm linking my card up there.

Here's my card with that stunning use of my favourite colours - sigh!!!!! And it's a big big ask for me to actually cut into such a pretty paper, I would much rather just sit and look at it!

Not sure now that I've actually cut it that I'll ever give this card away, destined for my craft shelves I'm thinking.

So simple to make, just a die cut a little bit of stamping and some sequins. Think I may use this idea with some brusho colours another day.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Simply Said Birthday
Ink: SU, elegant eggplant
Paper: FSC, Wild Flower
Sequins from my stash

Thanks so much for your time today, thrilled to have you visit my blog. And keep crafting!

AAA Cards - #93 Words Take Centre Stage

I'm delighted to be here today with my card for the new CAS challenge at AAA Cards where the theme is one I love - making the words on your card the main deal.

And a brilliant opportunity to use this wonderful stamps quote again. Love, love, love what it says and how appropriate it feels for me.

Just thought I'd dress it up a bit with some beautiful flower stamps and pretty colours!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bee Crafty, WORDage Beautiful Things; SU, Blooms & Wiashes, Touches of Texture
Inks: SU, rich razzleberry, pink pirouette, mint macaron

And I'm so loving what the rest of the AAA Cards DT have chosen for their words - go check them all out HERE.

Thanks for looking today, lovely to have your company. And keep crafting beautiful things!

Saturday Slot

I'm feeling all sunny and bright today and have made a card to celebrate Addicted To Stamps and More's 5th birthday. That's a really amazing achievement to have a challenge running that long and I just had to join in and play along.

And I've made my mark by trying out some new graphmaster pens I was given by my good friend Barb. There may just be an expensive purchase coming up!

I did a bit of masking and stamping to get the line of cosmos down the centre of the card and then had a lovely time colouring them in.  

And I'm loving this window die - a recent purchase at the Stamp Magic Show in Doncaster - can't seem to stop using it.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Pure Florals Cosmos
Ink: Memento, tuxedo black
Die: MFT Die-namics, stitched rectangular word windows
Pens: Graphmaster, 37 pastel yellow, 49 barium yellow, 99 bronze; Promarkers, cool grey 1, peach 

Thanks for dropping by today, I'm really grateful to have shared some of your precious time.  And keep crafting!

Friday Focus

Today I'm playing along with the Stamplorations monthly Theme and Sketch Challenge.

  

Although it's not necessary to use both the sketch and theme I'm a bit of a one for making things difficult for myself and always want to include everything from a challenge. So the stamping bit was easy, but the family bit had me thinking. Eventually I went with a sentiment quote that I thought was a good fit, masked off the bottom circular shape and stamped it once in black and then several more times a bit paler by stamping off onto scrap paper first.

I used the same colours as the flowers from the sketch to stamp and hand cut the butterflies, picking up on the graduating sizes. I only glued down the middle of each butterfly so that I could lift the wings and create a dimensional look.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stamplorations, Winged Things; Inkylicious, Momwents Memories
Inks: SU, real red; Memento, bahama blue, rose bud, grape jelly, tangelo, tuxedo black
Promarker: cool grey 1

And before I go I just want to give you all a heads up on a terrific way to be in with a chance to win some Stamplorations goodies in their wishlist linky party. All you need to do is visit the Stamplorations website - HERE and create a wishlist - now that's so easy! - and then share it on their blog link up - HERE. Of course I've added a few things to my wishlist - HERE - and you can find all the details about how to join in the fun - HERE.

I'm thrilled that you spent some time here today looking at my blog, thank you.  And keep crafting!

Thursday Thoughts

Just popping in very quickly today to share a card I made for my DIL that's going into the Less is More Challenge to personalise it.

Here's my card:

I personalised it by adding her name to the flower centres.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Fun Flowers, Garlands Galore, Simply Said Birthday
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black, Bahama blue
Promarkers: azure, cool grey 1, primrose, buttercup
Embellishments: enamel dots MME & SU

Thanks for looking, I really appreciate it. And keep crafting!

The Male Room - #63 Fireworks

Today is to be my last gig as a DT member at The Male Room. And what a fitting challenge theme - always good to go out with a bang!

Well I don't have any firework stamps so I had to be a bit inventive. The gorgeous grunge I'm sure you'll all recognise, but the starburst is actually one of the layers that make up the poinsettia from the Uniko Jingle Bells stamp set. I'm always saying how versatile Uniko stamps are and I think this just proves a point!

Once I'd done all the stamping in the riot of colours that you get iwht fireworks exploding I die cut a double stitched rectangle to one side and then inlaid it back into the base card.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU, Gorgeous Grunge; Uniko, All Occasion Sentiments #6, Simply Said II, Jingle Bells
Inks: Kaleidacolor, Berry Blaze & Riviera; Versafine, onyx black
Die: MFT Die-namics, double stitched rectangles

Now make sure you go visit the rest of The Male Room DT for more inspiration - HERE. Well this will be the last time I say that last sentence so all I need to do now is say thanks to everyone at The Male Room for having me and to Deborah in particular who works tirelessly behind the scenes.  It's been fun and I've learnt loads.

Great to have you visit today, huge thanks winging your way.  And keep crafting!

CAS Colours & Sketches #228

It's time for a new colour challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches and this week's picks are from Patricia.

As I don't have any metallic inks in my stash I went with embossing powder instead and created a strip to use down the side of my card.

I stamped a butterfly in each of the two other colours and then heat embossed their markings with the same metallic powder.

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, A Better You
Inks: SU, dapper denim, peekaboo peach; Versamark, clear
Embossing: Honey Doo Crafts, copper classic

So now it's over to you and tiome to get your creativity unleashed. Hop on over to CC&S for more DT inspiration on how to use these colours.

So pleased you dropped by today, made me feel special.  And keep crafting! 

Monday Moment

I do like to smoosh with watercolours don't you? So of course I couldn't resist the CAS Challenge at HLS - right up my street!

The other Sunday while I was at The Stamp Magic Craft show in Doncaster I was instantly drawn to this unicorn - just jumped right into my basket! So sweet!

I choose two that I thought would melt together nicely and inked them onto a large acrylic block and sprayed it with water. Then I smooshed a large piece of watercolour card around on top. It's always such fun to lift the card and see what's happened and I was pleased to see how pretty the colours looked together.

I stamped the unicorn and leaf stem and then added a bit more intense colour using promarkers and an enamel heart. I die cut the stitched circle round the unicorn and also on the card and then inlaid it back into the space. And of course the whole thing had to be sparkled up with Wink of Stella!

Supplies:
Stamps: Neat & Tangles, Magical Day
Inks: Ranger distress, picked raspberry, spiced marmalade; Memento, tuxedo black
Die: MFT Die-namics, Inside/Out Stitched Circles
Promarkers: peach, pink carnation
Embellishments: Wink of Stella; SU enamel heart flirty flamingo

Thanks so much for visiting today and I hope you have a magical day.  And keep crafting!