Show and Share

Today I thought I'd start an occasional post (maybe monthly) when I show some of the cards that have inspired me and share my take on this initial spark.

First off is this card here and below from Aimes (Amy Wanford) who was herself inspired by the work of someone else.  Such a stunning CAS card!

 

And here are two cards that I created in a similar style.  Just love the contrast between the background colour and the white die cut, especially on the purple card.  I'd been wanting to use this Spellbinders D-Lite floral border die for a while and this seemed the perfect opportunity. Also I couldn't resist adding the tiny butterflies. 

 I found the inspiration for my next cards when taking part in Uniko Studio's August release blog hop - not a difficult thing to find as it was just bursting with ideas.  It was Ardyth, their guest designer, that particularly caught my eye and I was soon hooked on her amazing and talented style. Her Christmas card found here and below is so stunning in its simplicity that I just had to give it a go.

 

I dug out some very very old wooden stamps that were my first ever stamp purchase and then got hidden away as I couldn't think how to use them - well that's changed now! I added a few sequins to help the flow of the card and I was well pleased with the result.

Having got the Christmas card spirit it was necessary to make another card.  So I used Ardyth's birthday card shown here and below as the basis for my card.

 

For my card I used a sheet of Christmas paper cut into strips and then added a tiny bit of bling scattered between. The banner is a stamp and matching die from Clearly Besotted, another brilliant source of ideas and inspiration.

Well that's about all for this first show and share, hope you enjoyed looking.

Jane

New day 6b

This is my second post today and I'd like to share a scrapbook page with you that I really really love. The photo is a quiet moment of one-to-one time I had with my oldest grandson and I know I will always remember these few moments together whenever I look at it.

I used the  August layout challenge from Sarah's Cards and the colours from Colour Q.  I rotated the layout to suit my landscape photo and re-positioned the title to balance the page. I found a sunshine stamp in my stash and used it on the bottom right card in place of the sun from the layout. I started my journalling on the hexagon paper and continued it on down to the white card to help the flow of the page.

The colours are quite dramatic with the contrast of red and yellow, but the grey and white seem to ground these colours nicely. I love the cushion from the colour pallette picture and used a yellow border round my grey background to pick up on the yellow frill round the cushion. 

   

Supplies:
Paper: tiled paper from Dolls House Emporium (left over from my doll's house roof), hexagonal paper is ep Country drive & scraps from my stash
Dies: Cuttlebug stamp die, Xcut circle die
Stamps: Technique Tuesday, Bring on the sun by Ali Edwards; Kaisercraft, Rememebr this moment
Inks: Memento, rhubarb stalk, dandelion, London fog
Embellishments: washi tape, paper clip from my stash

Thanks for looking.

Jane

New day 6

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. First off I just have to tell you that two of my cards have been featured on Uniko Studio's Saturday Show. I find this very exciting and it's really lifted my spirits this morning.  There are other amazing cards to be seen there and I am honoured that mine have been included. So make sure you pop over to their blog and soak up all the lovely inspiration to be found there.

Today I'm sharing two scrapbook pages I've completed since the family went home, both with favourite photos from their visit.

The first uses the sketch and colours from The Memory Nest. There was an awful lot going on in this sketch and at first I wasn't too sure about how to tackle the circles down the right hand side.  I tried placing twine and strips of paper to link my stars, but they both seemed too dominant and drew the eye too much, so I eventually decided a sprinkle of paint splats worked best linking the stars without overshadowing the photos.  Photos are always my prime reason for scrapbooking and I like them to take precedence on a page.

 

Supplies:

Paper: ep, All about a boy & Times & Seasons, + scraps from my stash

Die: Xcut, stars

Ink: Mister Huey color mists, dark calico

 Alpha: AC thickers, ERIC

Embellishments: twine & buttons from my stash 

 

My second page I'm putting on a separate post in line with the challenge requirements.  Hope you'll find time to look at both.

Thanks for looking.

Jane

New day 5

So this morning I woke up early just as if the grandchildren were still here and looked out to grey rainy skies.  Time to boost my mood with a bright Fabulous card!

The new Uniko Studio August release package has arrived and yay! They're just FABULOUS! Spent a lovely evening playing around and know these stamps and dies are going to be used over and over.

The card I'm sharing today uses the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the colours from Color Throwdown. As soon as I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to use the flower die for the three circles and thought it might work well with one of the background builder strips placed behind the cut out.  Loved the colours and decided to repeat them in the sentiment and then mounted the die cut strip on the pink and darker blue colours which I was unable to match with my inks.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Background Builders Flower Power, All Occasion Sentiments #3

Die: Uniko Studio Graphic Flowers Time

Ink: Memento, tangelo; Adirondack, sail boat blue, watermelon

Thanks for looking.

Jane

New day 4

It was good-bye to the grandchildren this morning and an early start as they needed to be on the road by 6:15am to travel to Liverpool to get the morning ferry back to the Isle of Man. The weather is suitable gloomy to match my mood and a visit to the dentist hasn't made things any more cheery.  So a scrapbook page using a photo from their visit was needed to make me smile through my sadness.

I love this photo of William running up and down the garden in the early morning sunshine so completely involved in his imaginative play that he didn't even notice I was taking photos.  Usually it's "let me see" straight away - definitely a child of this everything instantly generation.

I used this hexagonal based layout from Sketch Saturday as I wanted to make the photo the focus your eye went to immediately and thought this more unusual shape was just the ticket. I did consider adding the journalling to the banner strip, but wasn't sure I would be able to fit in everything I wanted to say, so I went for the safer option of journalling straight on the page. I matched my colour choices to William's pyjamas and fishing net and I'm really pleased with how this page turned out

 

 

Supplies:
Paper: American Crafts, craft cardstock; October Afternoon, cakewalk
Alphas: American Crafts, thickers subway; ep, a perfect summer
Ink: Mister Huey's Color Mists, opaque white, plum thumb, dark calico, sunshine
Embellishments: stickers & buttons from my stash

Thanks for looking.

Jane

New Day 3

Hello everyone. I'm up bright and early this morning and have made three cards already.  Just couldn't wait to get my hands on my new stamps from Clearly Besotted, nearly ripped the postman's fingers off when he delivered them yesterday.

The first card I made using the colours from the Clearly Besotted challenge for August. Such a pretty colour combo and good to use different colours to see how they look.  I stamped the outline image over some paper that had the three pinks from the challenge and then fussy cut them out before placing onto the stamped stalk and leaf. I added a drop of glossy accents to the black middles of the poppies.

I liked the colours so much I more or less stuck to them for my next card, but this time I used the solid stamps and added some highlights with my promarkers.  Love the almost fabric feel to this card.

Finally for my third card I reverted back to my go to colour of purple and changed the shape of the card to a square.  Once again I stamped on patterned paper and fussy cut the poppies - I rather like the effect this gives.

Supplies:

Card 1: 
Stamp: Clearly Besotted, Remember
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black, bamboo leaves, London fog
Paper: Dovecraft, Eastern Promise
Embellishments: Glossy accents

Card 2:
Stamp: Clearly Besotted, Remember, Uniko Studio, Flower power #2 sentiment
Inks: Memento, rhubarb stalk, bamboo leaves, London fog, tuxedo black
Paper: Uniko Studio, free digital paper
Pens: Flexmarker, vermillion, Promarker, olive green
Embellishments: Glossy accents

Card 3:
Stamp: Clearly Besotted, Remember; Uniko Studio, Floer power #2 sentimant
Inks: Memento, London fog; Versa Color, 17 violet
Paper: First Edition, Daydream
Embellishments: Glossy accents
 
Hope you like them and thanks for looking.

Jane

New Day 3b

I've pulled out my favourite Doo Lally Pip stamp for this week's CAS(E) this sketch challenge.  I think I've said before that this image reminds me so much of one of my daughters-in-law and I love the tall thin shape of it.

I thought I'd stick to a simple black and grey colour combo with just a hint of brilliant pink. I stamped the background flowers using second & third generation ink and added a sparkly shimmer dot to the middles.

 

Supplies:

Stamp: Doo Lally Pip, Hopeful Harriet feelin good

Ink: Memento, tuxedo black

Pens: promarkers, cool grey 2,3,4,5; flexmarkers, vermillion, blush, dusky pink

Embellishments: Papermania, adhesive shimer dots

Thanks for looking.

Jane