Christmas Greetings

Another Christmas card this time using a Heartfelt Creations border and greeting stamps both from the 2014 Christmas collection. I've left this one fairly simple and not used any of the papers just a plain white background matted onto some red card. I coloured the flowers with Adirondack Cranberry ink and a damp brush and used a Distress Marker in mowed lawn for the greenery. I've also decoupaged the flowers and painted some gold mica powder into the centres.  The greeting was stamped with Plum Archival ink and cut out with Spellbinder die on white card with a duplicate behind in red slightly off centre to give a shadow.

Thanks for looking, I hope you like what you see.

I am entering this card into the following blog challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps - Holiday
Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments - Use Die Cuts
Stamping Sensations - Simply Christmas
Crafty Calendar - Christrmas\
A Little Bit Crafty - Clean and Simple
Krafty Hands - Christmas Cheer
Penny Black - Anything Goes

Traditional Christmas Colours

This is another of my Christmas cards made with the lovely Heartfelt Creations Christmas papers.  The greeting is a Justrite Stamp cut with a Justrite Die.  I've stamped the greeting onto some cream card with Plum Archival ink and backed it with some red card.  The flower is cut from card I've coloured red with a pointsettia die and the leaves I've cut from some of the green papers.  The flower is edged with gold glitter and I've used gold around the edges of the card and the candle although I don't think that shows up too well on the photo..

I'm entering this into the following blog challenges:

Rubber Dance - Gold, Red and Green Traditional Christmas
Kraftyhands - Christmas Cheer
Crafty Calendar - Its All About Christmas
Stamping Sensations - Simply Christmas
Crafty Sentiments - Use Die Cuts

Thanks for taking a look.

Santas stuck in the chimney

This is a little stepper card I've made using a Justrite snow and stars background stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with clear powder and then inked with Faded Jeans and Milled Lavender Distress Ink.  The Santa in the chimney is a digistamp coloured with Promarkers and the footprints and words are the free Visible Image stamps free with the latest Craft Stamper Magazine. 

I am entering this card into the following Blog Challenge

Divas by Design - Let it Snow

Thanks for looking

Christmas Candle

I've been busy over the last few weeks making Christmas Cards whilst recuperating from my operation.  This is one of my favourites from this year's Heartfelt CreationsChristmas collection of papers and stamps.

The papers are from the Heartfelt paper pad and the central image has been stamped and coloured with Distress Inks. I cut some of the flowers from the papers and decoupaged in the top left corner and used some Stickles glitter glue around the edges of the papers.

I am entering this card int
o the following blog challenges
Crafty Sentiments - 2 or more papers
Crafters Cafe - Anything Goes
Through The Craftroom Door - Anything Goes

Autumn

Hi, this is a card with an autumnal feel using a set of 3 Maple Leaves from Clarity Stamps and a mixture of Adirondack inks in Cranberry, Lettuce, Butterscotch, Terracotta and Ginger and Spiced Marmalade Distress ink to create the lovely autumn colours.  The sentiment is also from Clarity.

I am entering this in the following blog challenges

Ladybug - Autumn/Halloween
Through The Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
Divas by Design - Anything Goes
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps - Clean and Simple (I hope this fits the theme)

All your comments will be welcome.

Seasonal Gift Tags

This is my entry for the October
 Clarity Stamp Blog Challenge on the topic of Seasons
Kraftyhands blog challenge - Tags

I had the original idea to use seasonal plants very early on but it took a while to come up with the final version on gift tags, somehow it didn't look right on a card.

So here we have Spring daffodils stamped 3 times using a post it mask and coloured with Promarkers.  There is a little Mica powder on the centres and the 2 small bees are stamped also using a Clarity stamp.

For Summer I used the Clarity floral strip coloured again with Promarkers.  I've used Glossy Accents for the little ladybird to make it stand out.

Here they are in a more close up shot.

The Autumn tag has been made with the Clarity Maple Leaf set of stamps and Adirondack inks in Butterscotch, Cranberry, Lettuce, Terracotta and Ginger. There are Glossy Accent dots on the leaves for dew drops but I'm not sure you can see that much detail unfortunately,.

Finally Christmas had to be the lovely Clarity holly ad ivy stamp and Robin again coloured with Promarks.  There is some glitter along the leaves and red glitter berries to give a frost look.

Again here is a closer view.

I hope you like these tags,  Your comments will be very welcome.

Lilly Rose

This little stamp set came free with a Papercraft Inspirations Magazine and I thought it would be just right for my Granddaughter's 3rd birthday card.  I used some Card-io Majestix flower and leaf stamps to crease the background with pickled raspberry and green distress inks and matted that onto white card with an embossed pattern on it.  I've used a spellbinders die for the main image which is coloured with Promarkers and the 2 little butterflies are coloured with some cosmic shimmer mica powders and water.  There is a lot of stickles glitter on this card both around the edges and on the centre of the flowers but its difficult to see that in a photo.

I am entering this card for the following blog challenges:

Country View Challenge  - Sparkles and Shine
The crafting Cafe - Think Pink
Fussy and Fancy  - Lots of Pink

Crafty Calendar - Bingo - Flowers, Pink and Sparkle

Your comments will be very welcome thanks

A postcard

I'm working on increasing my small collection of Justrite Stamps, they have some fantastic sets and they stamp beautifully well worth the investment I think.. This is my latest acquisition and I've really enjoyed using it the hardest part was deciding on the colour scheme.

I made my first card with the postcard stamp yesterday by stamping with Archival black ink onto some cream card.  For the flower I used water and a brush to apply Adirondack Peach Bellini and Worn Lipstick Distress ink for shading, Shabby Shutters and Crushed Olive for the leaves. The butterfly is Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and the butterfly on the top left has been cut out, coloured and glossed with glossy accents.  I shaded the card with Antique Linen Distress ink, die cut some leafy swirls and stamped some Dreamees flower stamps for embellishment. These flower stamps are lovely as well, this is the first I've used them.  I stamped with Versamark then heat embossed with different embossing folders to try out different effects.  I can see me playing with these a lot when I've got a bit more time.

The background paper is from the Lili of the Valley Antebellum paper pad matted onto a complementary card.  Finally I used some Stickles glitter glue around the edges and on the flower.

I hope you like the finished card, any comments will be very welcome thanks for looking.

I am entering this card for the following challanges:
Crafty Boots Challenge - Postcards
Crafty Calendar Challenge  - Anything Goes
Artistic Stamper Blog Challenge - Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door  - Anything Goes

Whimsical Water-Bleaching Technique

Hi, I am entering this card into the August Craft Stamper Magazine Challenge for which I needed to choose a technique from one of the 2014 Craft Stamper Magazine issues.  I decided to have a go at the Whimsical Water-Bleaching technique shown on pages 38 and 39 of the September 2014 issue by Rikka Kovasin.  Distressing backgrounds is something I've only dabbled with before and I really wanted to have a go at this and the results are below.

Using some coated card I blended Pickled Raspberry and Wild Honey Distress inks. I then spritzed water onto the Creative Expressios Rose background stamp.and stamped onto the inked card lifting off some of the ink which I then stamped onto a separate piece of card and I've used that piece for the central panel.  The dress is another Creative Expressions stamp coloured with the same Distress Inks using some cut and dry foam and a bit of masking to make sure the pink roses stood out from the yellow background.  The roses around the bottom are from Indigoblu, I stamped twice onto coated card with black Archival ink, coloured with the same Distress inks and cut out to frame the bottom edge.

To assemble the card I used some black card to mat the background onto.  I cut an aperture with a Spellbinders Die and used some mounting foam to raise the background up.  I cut out the dress and adhered it to the card inside the aperture and used Pinflair glue to attach the roses at the bottom corner.  Finally I used a Justrite die to stamp the sentiment onto with Black Archival, the sentiment is also from Justrite.

Thank you for looking, your comments are welcome.

Get Well Roses

Hello again, this is my second card created using the Clarity rose stamp. For this card I've also used the Clarity Vase stamp and one of their stencils.  The sentiment is from Justrite.

To make the card I inked through the Clarity Stencil with some Barn Door Distress Ink and Memento Pool to create the background and matted this onto some red cardstock.  I stamped the vase in Black Memento coloured with a mix of Pastel Blue and Pastel Green then masked off before stamping the bunch of roses 3 times, masking off after each stamping to fill the case.

The roses and leaves were coloured with promarkers, Poppy and Ruby for the roses and Lime Green and Pear for the leaves.  I stamped with sentiment with Black Archival but wish I had clear embossed it as well as it doesn't stand out quite as much as I would like.  I finished off the card with some red ribbon and made a little bow out of the same ribbon.

I hope you like the finished card, any comments you leave will be very welcome.

I am entering this card for
 the ABC Challenge - Use Ribbon, Roses and Red.
Fan-Tastic Tuesday - Anything Goes

Roses

Afternoon Bloggers

For this card I used the Clarity Rose stamp which I acquired recently.  Using  Black Archival ink I stamped
the rose onto watercolour card and coloured  with Distress inks, a brush and some water. using Pickled Raspberry for the pink roses and Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey for the yellow rose.  For the leaves I used Shabby Shutters and Forest Green. I die cut the image with a Spellbinder Die lightly shaded with Pickled Raspberry and then matt  this onto another mat cut from a Spellbinder Die shaded with a heavier application of Pickled Raspberry ink.  The background is Squeezed Lemonade overstamped with  one of the Clarity Club Stamps using  a third generation of Pickled Raspberry ink..  Finally this was matted onto another card shaded with more Pickled Raspberry.  The sentiment is from the Clarity Happy Stamps stamped with Black Archival and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I hope you like the finished card, any comments you make will be very welcome.

I've been playing with several ideas for this Rose stamp and decided to enter this version for the following Challenges:

 Clarity Stamp Challege 18 - Feminine
Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes
Craftig from the Heart - Anything Goes

Al Fresco Bicycle

This is the first of a few cards I've made using the lovely Craftwork Cards Al Fresco paper pad which I've had for a while now awaiting time and inspiration.

I found some dark pink glossy card to mat the background papers onto and cut a Spellbinder shape mat for the bicycle and a fancy edge at the right side of the background.  I die cut some flowers and bunting from the Al Fresco papers and a leafy swirl and leaves from plain white card and coloured with Pro Marker Pastel Green.  There is quite a bit of stickles glitter on the flowers that doesn't really show up on the photo here.  Finally I added some pearls to the die cut flowers and a sentiment..

I am entering this card for the following blog challenges

Fussy ad Fancy - Bingo Board - Pearls, swirl and flowers

Sew Pretty

Today's card is one I made using a free set of vintage stamps from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine and matching papers.

To make this card I used contrasting papers for the background added some stitching around the edges with a black pen.  The sewing machine has been stamped onto a die cut shape and the ruler, button and scissors have been stamped onto separate card and cut out.  The scissors were also heat embossed with silver embossing powder before cutting out.

I am entering this card for the following blog challenges:
Paula Holifield Crafts -Sew What
Allsorts Challenge - Favourite Things
Fantastic Tuesday - Anything Goes
4 Crafty Girls - Anything Goes

Violets

I've seen a number of examples of Justrite Stamps and Dies used on TV recently and been keen to try them out, they do some lovely designs. I added to my small collection when I went to the Summer Crafting show in Doncaster recently and this is the first card I've made using both stamps and matching dies.  The stamps I have are a mixture of rubber and the clear polymer variety and they are beautiful quality and stamp a very clear image. I believe the dies are made by Spellbinders so also good quality, worth the investment.

This is a card I made for my daughter's birthday on Monday.  I've used purple and cream cardstock, the background is embossed with a Stamposaurus Stencil through the Grand Caliber and some purple ribbon and beading have been used around the bottom.  I made the flowers on the ribbon  from Craftwork Card Candi coloured with Dusty Concord Distress ink and glued together to form, what I hope looks like, a violet flowerhead. I've added a small yellow gem to the centre of each flower.  The flowers and leaves around the mainimage are made using a Dreamees Stamp set (also a recent purchase) and some more Dusty Concord ink. The main image is the Violette Vintage Labels Justrite Stamp  coloured with both distress markers and promarkers. I hope you like the finished card and any comments you make will be very welcome

I am entering this card for the following blog challenges:
Ladybug - Favourite Colour
Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes
The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes
Crafty Boots - Flowers
Crafting at the Weekend - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps - Make your Mark
Crafting from the Heart- Anything goes
Through the Craftroom Door

Blue "Tights"

Hi, its been a great week for crafting, too hot to do anything more energetic or to be outside for long the only thing to do it sit under the ceiling fan and craft.  This card is made using Clarity Stamps and stencils.  First I will explain the title, a few years ago my husband and I were on a coach tour in Tenerife and the Tour Guide kept referring the Blue Tits as Blue Tights so I am afraid that name has stuck with us ever since.

So I stamped the Blue Tits/Tights and Bird Feeder through the Clarity Oval Framer stencil in black Momento ink and coloured with promarkers.  Masking off the images I placed the leafy swirl stencil behind the oval framer and brushed Stonewash ink over to create this subtle background.  I removed the masks and covered the oval with the oval aperture insert stencil and stamped the Cherry stamps (a Clarity Club Stamp) randomly around the edges using second generation ink.  I coloured with Worn Lipstick and Shabby Shutters Distress inks using water and a brush.  Brushing some more Stonewash Aderondack ink around the edge of the card created a little shadow and finally some complementary darker blue card was used to mount the finished picture onto.  There is one small Blue Tit on the bottom of the aperture which has been cut out, covered in glossy accents and attached with glue so its a little raised.  I hope you like the finished card as much as I do, any comments are extremely welcome, thanks for looking.

 

I am entering this card for the following Blog Challenges

Clarity Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes
County View Challenge - Stencil It
Ladybug Crafts Challenge - Summer Blooms
Stamping Sensations - Summer Blooms
Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
Crafty Girls - Anything Goes

Handbags and flowers

I made this card for my daughter for her birthday recently.  It took me ages to get started with this as I couldn't decide on the colour scheme or design and had to rush to finish it in time but I'm pleased with the end result.  The handbag stamp and sentiment stamp are both by Lili of the Valley. The main image has been stamped onto a spellbinder die cut from white card and coloured with Promarkers and Mica Powders using a water brush, unfortunately you can't see the shine in the photo it looks better in real life. I edged the topper with some Adirondack Peach Belini. I cut a second spellbinder die in in a shiny teal coloured card and slightly off set it behind the topper to give a shadow effect, and used the same card to back the sentiment.  The background is centura pearl card embossed with white snow Wow Embossing powder and the border is embossed with Teal Wow Embossing powder. Finally it has been matted onto some teal card with white dots. I finished off the card by making some flowers and foliage cut with dies ad coloured with promarkers.

I am entering this card for the following challenges

Lili of the Valley - Use 2 LOTV stamps
Ladybug Blog Challenge - Summer Flowers
Crafting from The Heart - Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy Blog Challenge - Its all about the girls
Crafty Girls Blog Challenge - Anything Goes

Beach Huts

Another card using the Craftwork Cards Harbour Boulevard paper pad.  The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley and the bunting is from a stamp set I've had for some time that I think came with a magazine.  I've used a spellbinder border die under the beach huts , the idea was it looks like waves, some Faded Jeans Distress ink for the edges and stickles glitter glue along the edge of the border and the bunting..

I am entering this card for the following blog challenges:

Addicted to Stamps Challenge Blog - Holiday
Crafting from the Heart Challenge - Anything Goes

Nasturtiums

This is a little thank you card I made recently using a Craftwork Cards shaped card and some liquid pearls dotted around the edge.  The Nasturtiums are from Woodware stamped onto a spellbinder shape and coloured with promarkers. The thank you sentiment is from Clarity.

I am entering this card for the following challenges:
Ladybug Crafts Blog Challenge  - Summer flowers
Stamping Sensations Blog Challenge - Summer Blooms

Seaside Greetings

I've been playing with the fantastic Craftwork Cards Harbour Boulevard paper pad over the last couple of weeks and made a few cards with a summery feel.. The papers are thick enough to cut out the anchor and bird and mount with foam pads.  The shells are cut from one of the pages and covered in glossy accents.  I've used some string to wrap around the anchor and across the border on the bottom of the picture.  This is as birthday card for a family member, hope they like it.

I am entering this card for the following challenges

Crafty Cardmakers challenge - under the sea (hope this fits as anchors and shells are found under the sea)
Crafting from the Heart Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments Blog Challenge - Anything Goes
Fantastic Tuesday Blog Challenge - Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door Blog Challenge - Anything Goes
Divas by Design Blog Challenge - Things with Wings
Crafty Girls Blog Challenge - Anything Goes

Another 90th Birthday card

This is a card I made for my sister to give to our Dad for his 90th birthday last week. The bird table topper is an image from a Jane Shasky From the Heart of the Garden CD..  The background papers are from a LOTV Nitwit Country Gent paper pad.  I've used a mixture of stamps for the sentiment which is stamped onto a JustRight Vintage Label die and the fancy border is a Spellbinder die.

I am entering this for the following challenges
Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
Ladybug Crafts Challenge - Something for the Boys and/or use your dies

Fathers Day

Its amazing how some cards can take forever to make because I keep changing my mind or trying out different ideas that I'm not happy with, whereas this card took no time at all.  I think I'd got the idea in my head and it all came together to make something I was happy with.

So for father's day I made this card using all Clarity Stamps. The Kingfisher was stamped onto some white card and coloured with a mixture of distress markers ad promarkers.  I made a mask for the bird and stamped the end of the branch again to extend it behind.  For the background I used a brayer and Momento Teal Zeal ink and a screwed up piece of paper to create a water texture.  For the wording I used the Clarity letter stamps and matted both the words and Kingfisher onto some complimentary coloured card.  The white background has been created by embossing a piece of  Centura Pearl card with the clarity swirl mask, my most recent purchase at the Doncaster Stamp Magic show.

I am entering this card for the following challenges
 Clarity Stamp Challenge - Masculine
Country View Challange - Only men allowed
Ladybug Challenge - something for the boys and/or use your dies
Ooh la la Creations Challenge - Fathers day/Male
Stamping Sensations - Animal Antics
Fussy and Fancy Challenge - Things with wings
Crafting from the Heart - anything goes

A 90th birthday card

I`m turning over a new leaf here and trying to blog more often. However I've not had much time to make anything to blog over the last month as I've been getting out in the garden at every opportunity, tidying up and getting bedding plants into pots and hanging baskets.  I`ve got hopes of being able to get out there and finish the job sometime soon if it ever stops raining!

In the time I have had I`ve had this little project on the go.  Inspired by a tutorial in the June Papercraft Inspirations magazine on how to make a 3D card I`ve made this for my Dad for his 90th birthday a week on Saturday.  Its just a bit of fun, made from a mixture of papers I`ve collected over the years and stamped images, mostly, using Clarity stamps with the exception of the birdhouse which I think was a free gift in a magazine some time ago.  This is the front - see further down the work of art inside!

Well you probably can`t see the 3D effect too clearly on the photo but it looks good in real life. Hope he likes it

New picture

Thought it was time we had a new photo, just been to the hairdressers and thought the hairdo was worth a picture.

Birthday flowers

Hello everyone on this lovely sunny April Monday.  I've not had much time for crafting this weekend as its mainly been taken up Ebaying some things to make a bit of extra cash to spend on more crafting items.

Here is card I made recently for my Mother in Law's birthday using Lilli of the Valley floral and sentiment stamps, spellbinder dies and  papers from the Nit Wit Promises paper pad. The flowers have been stamped and coloured with promarkers and I've made the flower embellishments and used dies to cut out the leaves.

I am entering this card for the following blog challenges
Lilli of the Valley  - 10th birthday
Vintage Stamping Vintage Stamping - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - Dies and Punches
Sweet Stamping- Flowers
Allsorts - Spring Blossoms

Monochrome Ducks

Monochrome is the theme for the April Clarity Stamp blog challenge.  I've already used these silhouette duck and sapling stamps using shades of blue but for my entry to the challenge I've used shades of pink/red.  Using the arched window stencil and Clarity Card I created the background by brayering Aged Mahogany for the ground and Worn Lipstick Distress inks for the sky.  The duck and saplings have been stamped with Archival Plumb ink. For the border I've stamped the large sampling tree with worn lipstick around the edge and matted onto some dark red card.

I am entetring this card into the following challenges
Clarity Stamp Blog Challenge - Monochrome
Vintage Stamping Challenge - Anything Goes
Paula Holifield Blog Challenge - Birds and Bees