Thursday Thoughts

So who can guess which brand of stamps I'm using today? If you've been following my blog you'll know, but for those of you who have just popped by the answer is - Clearly Besotted.  I'm obviously besotted - clearly!

Today's card is for Less is More and it has to be a one layer card - so stamping straight onto the card, scary! They've also got a twist to use shadow stamping.  I had a little practice with yesterday's card and really like the effect that stamping the same image a second time, but a little to the side, gives. I used to do a lot of second and even third stamping, but usually spaced out to give depth and not up close to create shadows.

So here's my very simple little card:

We have another 

ONE LAYER CARD

challenge for you this week!

The proviso for your cards this week is to have evidence of

Shadow Stamping. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besottef, Pretty Petals, sentiment from Pretty Petals Plus

Inks: Memento, bamboo leaves, lilac posies, grape jelly

Way back in February we visited a garden full - and I mean seriously full - of snowdrops.  It was one of those bright chilly winter days when you begin to hope Spring might be on its way.  You could even kid yourself it was warm enough to sit outside a while, provided you got the exact spot out of the wind, but in full sunshine - then when you try you realise it's still a bit of a jump too far to actually do it.

Well I finally got round to scrapping this visit.  It was a weekly challenge over at Shimelle's blog that got me going.  the theme is to journal about a place and use the layouts shown as a starting point.  So that's what I did and here's my much simpler, more me page:

And I used the new Background Builders Vines stamps from Uniko Studio.  Never thought my first play with them would be on a scrap book page, but they just seemed so right. such a very very pretty and very very versatile set.

Supplies:
Paper: Collage Press, Grayson Hall
Stamps: Uniko Studio, Background Builders Vines#Inks: Memento, rhubardb stalk, summer sky, peanut brittle, cottage ivy
Alphas: Simple Stories, Handmade Hoilday
Punch: ek success, notebook border

So that's all from me today, thanks for looking.

Jane
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Wednesday Words

Can't seem to stop using my newly acquired Clearly Besotted stamps at the moment.

Today's card was made using the sketch from Sketch Saturday and a bit of an experiment with shadow stamping in preparation for a card I'm sharing tomorrow.

I wanted to keep my card clean, so chose to emboss white card for the background part of the sketch and the circle.  I then went for two good strong contrasting colours to give the flower a little pizzazz and used the sentiment tag in place of the star.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals Plus

Inks: Memento, lilac posies, bahama blue, bamboo leaves

Dies: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along; Spellbinders, standard circles small

Embossing: Crafts Too, fancy lattice

Punch: Xcut, corner rounder

Embellishments: doodlebug sprinkles, blue jean assortment

Just discovered that I've made the top three at CAS Colours & Sketches. Yay!! Big, big thank you!

 

Thank you for visiting my blog today, hope you enjoyed what I created.

Jane

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Tuesday Talk

Just one little card to share today, but it does use my fabulous new Clearly Besotted stamps, my all time bestest colours and a pretty sketch from Unscripted Sketches.

Unscripted have a 5 year blog-iversary on at the moment, with links to all the DT's blogs, so a great time to pop over and check them out. (Even more reason if you're in the US as there are prizes to be won!)

 

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals Plus & Pretty Petals

Inks: Memento, lilac posies, grape jelly

Die: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along

Embellishments: doodlebug sprinkles, cupcake assortment & spring assortment; white hemp twine from my stash

Short and sweet today, but comes with a big thank you for looking.

Jane

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Another Monday Moment

Whoops! Published today's two posts the wrong way round. Scroll down for the first post.

Finally today I'd like to share my take on the April Challenge No. 1 from The Memory Nest.

The twist here was to do something you have never done before or out of your comfort zone. Well I can't begin to tell you how much this sketch was out of my comfort zone.  Just way too much going on and all those different angles.  For ages I couldn't even see where to begin, but I persevered and think I've made it in a compromise between my usual style and the sketch.

Although I do occasionally feature my husband on my scrapbook pages it's not something I do very often, so it's an almost match for the 'something you've have never done'  bit of the twist too.

 

Supplies:

Paper: AC, kraft cardstock

Stamps: Technique Tuesday, Beautiful bu ali Edwards; Bo Bunny, Oh Snap

Inks: Memento, rich cocoa; Mister Huey's Color Mist, dark calico, opaque white, plum thumb

Alphas: ep, country drive & little boy; Websters, little story tellers

Journalling cards from my stash

Thanks so much for stopping by today and if you have time to comment I'd be thrilled.

Jane

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Monday Moment

The weather was kind over the weekend, so my garden is looking a little tidier now.  But I still found time to do some crafting once the sun had gone down.

So a card and a scrapbook page to share today.

First up the card.  I used the layout from CAS(E) this sketch and the theme from Time Out - a birthday card with men in mind.

Out came my box of Clearly Besotted stamps and my favourite blues and green  male colour inks and in no time at all the card was done.  I just popped the 'happy' sentiment up onto pads and outlined the 'birthday' with sprinkles to focus the eye.

  

TIME OUT - Challenge 3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

with the optional twist of a Masculine Birthday.

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Superstar & happy sentiment from Fresh Flowers; Uniko Studio, birthday sentiment from All Occasion Sentiments #2

Inks: Memento, Danube blue, bahama blue, pear tart

Embellishments: doodlebug, sprinkles blue jean assortment

I've been taking my photographs with a different background, trying to emulate all the blogs I visit that have much clearer sharper photos. I've also been experimenting with the watermark I put on my cards and this is its first showing. Think I'm liking both, what's your view?

 

Saturday Scribbles

Hi everyone.  Just a quick post today before I get settled in for a weekend of sorting out the garden.

The card I'm sharing today was made using the CAS Colours & Sketches layout and my new Clearly Besotted stamps - beginning to be a bit of a favourite among favourites!

I took a bit of artistic licence with the sketch and turned the three squares down the side into circles.  I tried several variations on squares, but maybe because of the roundness of the flowers on the tree none of them looked right.  So after several attempts finding their way to the bin I settled on the embossed circles.

So here's my card:

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Design A Tree
Ink: Memento, pistachio, rhubarb stalk
Embossing: Cuttlebug, swiss dots
Punches: Woodware circle, Xcut corner
Embellishments: Stickle, star dust; button & twine from my stash

Thanks for calling in today.  Have a fun filled weekend!

Jane
 ***

Friday Focus

A trio of Easter cards to share today.

The new Spring challenge over at Clearly Besotted gave me the perfect excuse to break open one of my newly purchased stamp sets from their April release.  Then I found these yummy colours at Color Throwdown - reminds me of sugared almonds.

 

So that's where I started with my new stamps and those gorgeous pastel colours.

The main image of the stamp came together really quickly and I knew I wanted to use the banner for the sentiment.  But the Easter stamp was too large and I really liked the font, so a way had to be found. At first I tried a circle punch that fit nicely around the stamp, but it slipped when I was pressing down and one edge turned out straight.  That gave me the idea to straighten the other side too and as I liked the result I stuck with this happy accident.

A very simple and CAS card which I found quite appealing.  So I made another in a different colourway:

And then, as I often do, I made another:

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals, Fresh Flowers
Die: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along
Inks: Card 1 - Memento, cantaloupe; Ranger Distress, bundled sage
         Card 2 - Memento, rhubarb stalk, pistachio
         Card 3 - Memento, dandelion, tangelo, bamboo leaves

Wonder which is your favourite colour combo?

Thanks for dropping by today, your visit to my blog is greatly appreciated.

Jane
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