Friday Focus

A tag card to share today.

It's a double challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch this week as they've joined up with a new challenge blog at Tag You're It. So I've used their layout and a tag, but I'm also entering my card into CASology's theme of stripe and The Male Room's theme of using pink.

                 

The first thing I did was to die cut a stitched tag and then out came the Gorgeous Grunge stamps again.  I double stamped them to give two tones of the same colour.

My pink element is the sprinkle of hearts using just one half of a Clearly Besotted stamp and once again double stamped. Can you see where I caught the edge of the stamp by the grey sprinkles? I decided not to re-stamp as I thought it sort of matched the grungy style anyway.

Next I stamped the sentiment thinking the 'me' and 'you' would represent the two figures from the sketch. I then stamped a trio of open hearts to highlight and draw your eye towards the sentiment.

 

I finished off by stapling a ribbon to the tag and attaching it to the base card with foam pads.

Supplies:

Stamps: SU, Gorgeous Grunge; Clearly Besotted, Design A Tree

Inks: SU, tempting turquoise, melon mambo; Memento, London fog

Die: Lil'inker, Anytime Tags

Embellishments: ribbon from my stash; mini staple

Thanks for dropping by today, your visit is much appreciated.

Jane

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Thursday Thoughts

Thought it was time to break open the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set again, but this time I'm using a different set of colours from Less is More's current challenge.

 

There are so many butterflies in my garden at the moment it seemed fitting to jazz my card up with one of Uniko Studio's English Country Garden stamps. 

So here's my card:

And a closer look at the lovely quote:

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, English Country Garden Butterflies; SU, Gorgeous Grunge

Inks: SU, tempting turquoise, wild wasabi, daffodil delight

Embellishments: doodlebyg sprinkles, Spring asst; Wink of Stella, clear

A bit short and sweet today - still busy visiting my dad but at least he's only the next street away recuperating in a care home for a week or two.

Thanks for looking, your time is appreciated.

Jane

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Wednesday Words

Do you remember this card?  

Well it turns out it was a winner at Color Throwdown.

And even more amazing than that I now get to be a guest designer there for today's new challenge!!

Such awesome colours!  They were great fun to work with and since there is a school theme to the pictures I went immediately to my apple stamp from Clearly Besotted. I stamped this on card, cut it out and mounted it onto pads so that it would be the focal attraction.

Next I got busy stamping the border strips leaving just enough space between the two diagonal strips to stamp the sentiment separated by tiny hearts.

I then added a horizontal banner using stampin' write pens to ink up the stamp, attached the apple to it and finished off with a trio of pearls.  All the hearts and the apple also got the usual sparkle treatment with Wink of Stella.

Oh and the Good Luck is for DT member Lori Tecler to send her my best wishes on her new position as kindergarten teacher.

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Diagonal Stripes, An Apple A Day, sentiment from Geometric Style, heart from Design A Tree, Journal It tag & matching die
Inks: SU bermuda bay, real red; Memento, London fog
Embellishments: Habico pearls, opulent asst; Wink of Stella, clear

Just need to say a big THANKS to Color Throwdown for this exciting opportunity and also to all of you for visiting my blog.

Jane
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Tuesday Talk

A very simple little card to share today made for the double challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches.

 

Of course I didn't have the exact colours but rumaged through my stash and matched up as best I could. 

I used the explosion stamp in place of the main circle on the sketch and then added the movement splashes where the three little circles are. And I quite liked the card just as it was, but felt it needed a little more pizzazz and worked on adding dimension to the middle of the explosion.

The addition of a die cut grey spiro circle, a mustard button & loop of twine and a turqoise sprinkle dot and I was more satisfied. So to finish off I added a sentiment, sparkled up the explosion, added a border strip and rounded the bottom corners.

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, EXPLOSION

Inks: SU, Bermuda Bay; Memento, cantaloupe, London fog

Dies: Xcut, spiro circle; Clearly Besotted, Tag Along

Punch: Xcut, corner rounder

Embellishments: doodlebug sprinkles, day to day asst; Wink of Stella, clear; button & twine from my stash

I'm also sharing my first of the month day in my life pages today. They're a bit short on photos this month. I'm thinking all the hospital visiting is getting to me and I completely forgot to take photos, so I've journalled a bit more than usual - which I actually think is not a bad thing.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today.  Hope you'll come back tomorrow when I've a bit of an exciting share.

Jane

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AAA Cards Game 14 - PLAY

This week we're inviting you to PLAY with watercolours - such a hot trend at the moment. And I'm loving the purple and turquoise colour combo on the game card!

 

For my inspiration sample I made a mini card that could be used as a gift tag attached to a thank you or just because type present for someone in your life.

 

I started by preparing my watercolour background in hot shades of pink and orange.  I used an acrylic block, applied ink to it and then spritzed it with water before stamping onto watercolour card. I know you're probably all pros at watercolours, but just in case someone is new I can't stress how important it is to actually use watercolour card.  I tried standard card for my first attempts and ended up with a muddy looking ugly mess - just had to bite the bullet and buy the proper supplies!

Once the background was dry - the one big downside about watercoloured backgrounds if you're impatient like me - I then stamped the butterfly and sentiment in a contrasting turquoise. I love this colour clash!

The butterfly was then well sparkled with Wink of Stella which looks so pretty in real life but doesn't show at all in photographs.

I added a band of ribbon and a trio of sprinkle dots before matting it all onto black ribbed card - another striking colour contrast.

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, English Country Garden Butterflies; Clearly Besotted, sentiment from Design a Tree

Inks: SU, tangerine tango, melon mango, tempting turquoise

Embellishments: doodlebug sprinkles, blue jean asst; Wink of Stella, clear; ribbon from my stash

So now it's over to you. Can't wait to see all your ideas and if the response is as good this time as in July I'll have a bumper fun time hopping round all your blogs.

Thanks for visiting today. Enjoy having a PLAY!

Jane

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Saturday Slot

A quick post today to share a card I made for several challenges.

The sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches, the colours from Color Throwdown, the theme of Celebration with an optional twist of butterflies from Time Out and since I only used Uniko Studio stamps I'm making a second entry into their Anything Goes challenge. Whew! That's the most challenges in one go I've ever achieved!

                       

So here's my card:

It's been a while since I've made a 5" x 7" card, but I thought this particular layout suited this size really well.

I've done my best to match the colours from my stash, but no matter how many SU inks I buy I never seem to get any nearer to having a whole set!

Here's a closer look at the butterfly which has been well sparkled up but not showing that well in the photo.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, English Country Garden Butterflies, Flower Power # 2 & #3, All Occasion Sentiments #2, Background Builders Squared

Inks: Kaleidacolor, Caribbean sea; Adirondack, watermelon

Embellishments: Wink of Stella, clear; twine & btton from my stash 

Thanks for dropping by today. Enjoy your weekend and maybe stop by tomorrow for another watercolour themed challenge at AAA Cards.

Jane

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Friday Focus

Another Friday, another month and another weekend looming! Wonder what you've got planned? A little crafting for me, maybe some crochet and reading and hospital visiting to see how my dad is progressing.

Today I've made a card picking up on the theme of RAINBOW from CASology.  I love the sentiment on the stamp I used on this card. It makes me realise that I did just what it says about a year ago when I raked up my courage to start this blog - and look how far I'm come now! Blogland is such a positive, supportive place to be a part of and if any of you are still teetering about getting started - just do it!

 

So to get the rainbow colours onto the stamp I used Stampin' Write pens apart from the indigo which was Memento  - a bit tricky but I just managed by using the very tip of a dewdrop pad.

I've kept the rest of the card really simple and it made itself in minutes! Don't you just love the bright doodlebug chevron paper? It's one of those papers that I wish I had a whole pad full of just that design.

Supplies:

Stamp: Joanna Sheen, Words One

Inks: SU stampin' write, real red, pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, old olive, pacific point, rich razzleberry; Memento, grape jelly

Die: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles

Paper: doodlebug, take note

So pleased you found time to visit my blog today.  Thanks, it's much appreciated!

Jane

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