You'll always be my friend

Good morning card makers.

We've a brand new challenge starting at Cardz4Galz to inspire you.

This time our theme is -

CATS or KITTENS

I struggled to think what I had in my stash to cover this theme as it isn't one I find myself going to really. Then after talking to my friend about it, I remembered an old Penny Black wooden stamp. 

So here is the end result.

I decided not to include the rose arbour around the cats on the original stamped image and turned it into a friendship birthday card with this fun sentiment from Do Crafts. After stamping I coloured the pooches with Copics, then fussy cut them out sitting on a branch. On a die cut panel, I inked some Tumbled Glass DI in the top right, placing the cats on pads over it and stamped the sentiment to the middle left. Inside is a plain Happy Birthday.
 Simples.

So why not pop over to Cardz4Galz and see what other feline inspiration the rest of the team have come up with then have a go and join in, we'd love it if you did.

I'm joining in over at:-

         

                                        Birthday                               All creatures Great and Small                         

Playing with alcohol and dye inks

Good evening. Welcome to a post to announce the start of the brand new challenge at ATSM.
This week it's our photo inspiration and here's my interpretation.

This is the photo



I love the purpley blues of these petals or are they feathers? It's all down to your own interpretation.  You could use the colours, the petals suggest flowers or perhaps they are feathers then its birds or a simple ombre background could be for you. The rest of the team have come up with a wonderful array of different takes, I went with the colours and a flowery theme.
I was seeking inspiration, when I remembered the alcohol ink theme at CAS Mix Up. I don't have any inks but I do have Copic markers and reinkers, so went in search of inspiration. I watched a few of the links kindly listed by the team as well as some linked by You Tube and discovered I really needed some Yupo paper or some other non porous substrate.
One lady suggested glossy photo paper which I did have somewhere, but after searching high and low I only found some textured stuff, not what I wanted. Anyway delving further, I discovered that I could use Isopropyl alcohol, which my hubby uses to clean metal, to dissolve dye inks to create something to smoosh my paper in, so off I went to play.

Alcohol Inking Technique using Dye Inks by Shari Carroll (5:56)

After a bit of trial and error, I created a panel which I then wondered what to do with. A little more research brought me to another link courtesy of the DT at CAS Mix up

Inlaid Die Cutting with Alcohol Inks by Catherine Pooler (4:47)

After watching the video, I remembered the sketch at CAS(E) this sketch and my card was born!

I cut a circle from the panel, then die cut a flower head from a Sizzix set and then again in some twinkly white glitter card. I replaced the glittery flower head into the circle and placed it on pads on a panel of white card. I then realised that my white panel was a tad too small for the design so added a thin strip of the glitter card to the inner edge, before gluing over a strip of the alcohol panel. The sentiment from LOTV was stamped in Versamark then heat embossed with white EP and cut using a MFT Blueprint banner die.

So what will you be inspired to create? We'd love to see what you come up with, so why not join us this week.

I'm joining in over at:-




My choice - Die cuts

LOTV Cricketer

Morning all.

Not sure what has happened to the summer. The past few days have been positively chilly, except strangely this past weekend! Since I've retired from playing sport I don't have to worry so much about the weather but thought about the probable backlog of tennis matches and the abandoned cricket fixtures, as I walked the dog around the cricket field near my son's last week. The grass on the wicket was definitely still a lovely shade of green, which suggests plenty of rain and little play of late!

Anyway over at Cardz4Guyz our new challenge starts today and we have a fun challenge for you. Any subject you like but we need to see -

FANCY FOLDS

So all the different types of folded card or perhaps even something folded on it. I used an 'Upright Z fold' style to make this.

This is what it looks like from the side.

As I said earlier, cricket was on my mind, so I decided to make this card using the LOTV cricket stamp. 

The folds are quite easy, here are a few simple steps.

1. Cut an A4 in half length wise, set aside one half

2.With the other half, fold at 148mm and again at 223mm

3. Fold valley then mountain to create the profile above

I cut a panel of white card with a MFT stitched rectangle for the front from white card and inked the edges with Salty Ocean DI. The embossed back panel was first cut from white card with a larger MFT die and then run through my Big Shot inside a Cuttlebug EF. Before sticking the panel down, I inked around the back of the base card with the Salty Ocean.

After stamping and colouring my cricketer I cut him out with another MFT die and created a panel from some scrap card to stamp my greeting on. Using my small letter dies I cut the 'CHRIS' from the same scrap and using Copics coloured them to match. The stamped element is from the HLS set Doodled Flowers. I made a cricket ball from a Craftwork Cards card candy, adding some dashes in white gel pen for the stitching.

To create the button to stop the card collapsing, I cut a few circles with punches and coloured them, shaping the top one to represent a cricket ball as before. It also covered up my brad which attached the rest to my base card. Be careful when gluing the front panel down as you only need glue on the bottom half of your panel!

OK, that's about  it from me, please check out all the other 'fancy fold' cards from the team here and why not join in.

I'm joining in over at:-

Don't have SU inks but hope Salty Ocean DI, Salmon red and Pea green Copic counts

   

name and/or number                      Boys will be Boys

Happy Anniversary

Evening folks.

It's time for another challenge over at HLS Anything Goes with Dies.

Here's my card for your inspiration.

It's over a year now since the inaugural HLS craft retreat. It was a great weekend with lots of crafty time with fellow minded crafters. We all got stuck in and there was lots of swapping of techniques, stamps and dies. My MB Glorious Gardenia got a lot of love and web buying activity amongst some of the attendees and it was this project by Sarah of Sazzle Dazzle Crafts, that inspired this card, together with the latest challenge at CAS Watercolour and Allsorts. We have another coming up in November up in Manchester and I can't wait to see everyone again. I wont get to see everyone as some are attending the Swindon one a week or so later.

I started by making my red panel, using my watercolours and some rock salt. On a piece of HP watercolour paper I washed in a couple of reds and then added the salt crystals. The large crystals of the rock salt absorb the water and some of the colour to create an interesting texture. Don't be too keen to remove the salt as it is best left to dry fully. After carefully removing the salt, I added the die cut Gardenias. I trimmed the panel and then mounted it on a slightly larger panel of black card. 

I struggled with the sentiment as the anniversary sentiment I wanted to use had a different font for the happy and I wanted to use the same, so I decided to hand print it to match up. Using a v pale ink I stamped the Anniversary part then sketched in the happy, then inked over the whole with a black fine liner. It brought back a few memories of teaching the kids to layout printing for posters etc., drawing planing lines and spacing marks.

OK, that's it from me but be sure to check out the rest of the team and join in.

I'm joining in over at:-

Colours of your flag (England)

Have a hoot on your birthday

Good morning folks.

I finally got my birthday meal out last night, the temporary filling has been fine so far, hope it makes it 'til Monday when they replace the old filling and rebuild the tooth.

Over at the Alphabet challenge blog we have a brand new challenge. This time around the alphabet we've made it to -

K for KINETIC CARDS

So a card or project that moves in some way.

I decided to make a tag slider card for my old neighbour whose birthday it is soon.

As regular readers may remember, I always try to incorporate an owl into Audrey's card, it's a long standing joke between us that started over 10 years ago. This latest image is courtesy of a brand new stamp from Daisy Mae stamps, by Clare Rowlands. She used to make the Molly Bloom ones and then went quiet for awhile before this new release. 

The mechanism was made from a panel of NitWits DP printed on white card following this technique  here. I'd made one a long time ago at craft class but after searching online I found this simple explanation. 

The colour choice is quite masculine but it references the colours of the Owls, Sheffield Wednesday FC, an English soccer team which she supports. You might even see some caps like the owl is wearing at their matches!

I stamped the greeting to be revealed with a mix of Paper Smooches and Woodware greetings and the tag has a freebie greeting- Many Happy Returns of the day, stamped in black.

For more moving inspiration, check out the rest of the team here.

I'm joining in over at -

Congrats on your Wedding Day

Morning all. 

Busy week here on the blog, this time it's the brand new challenge over at Cardz4Galz.

Our theme for the next two weeks is

PRETTY PASTELS

Here is my interpretation of the theme to inspire you.

I used the Adore You set from Altenew, an old Cuttlebug design die cut sentiment and the stamped greeting from HLS (Simply Said) The blooms were stamped onto some MM paper them embossed with white EP, watercoloured with Distress inks and then fussy cut, the same with the leaves.

On a die cut panel I added a pale wash of the same pink colours used on the petals, Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry, then added the bouquet, raising a couple of the flowers up on pads for a little bit of dimension. The 'on your Wedding Day was stamped on a scrap of the same base card card, then I used the smallest banner die from MFT Blueprints #27 to cut out the banner.

For more pastel inspiration please check out the rest of the team here.

Joining in over at:-

Believe

It's time for a brand new challenge over at ATSM. 

Here's my card for your inspiration.

Yep, this week it's 

I couldn't resist just one more Santa card, especially as CAS-UAL Fridays is dies only, no stamps!

After cutting out the 3 part die set, I coloured Santa's hat and his face using Copics and placed him on a panel of dark purpley blue card from the stash. Out of a scrap of white card I cut the STAMPlorations 'Believe', then inked it with Versamark and dunked it into some gold EP and when cooled down added it to the panel, then that was trimmed and mounted onto a white base card. 

Simples.

For more fab holiday inspiration check out the rest of the gang here.

I'm joining in over at:-

Challenge # 11 - Anything Christmas Goes

                                                    Anything Goes option of Gingerbread

A Brand New Baby

Morning all.
I went back to the dentist yesterday and they put in another temporary filling as the old one lasted less than 24 hours! Apparently my bite is not square and is putting too much pressure on the tooth, hence the break. So I'm to have the old filling replaced and the tooth built back up, lovely. I'm back next Monday for that delight!
Anyway in the meantime we've a brand new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz. This time our theme, chosen by me, is

TINY FINGERS, TINY TOES

So we'd like to see baby cards for boys! Here's my take.

I usually add teddies to my baby cards but this time I decided to use a Mama Elephant stamp set I won a while back and not had an opportunity to use until now. Using the sketch at CASe this Sketch and theme at Less is More, I stamped the small items from the set on a panel of white card, colouring them with Copics. The top panel I cut with an Avery Elle pierced border die and then glued over the stamping. A greeting from the same set completes. Having used a die cut and blue and baby theme, I can also link up at The Paper Players!

We'd love to see your projects over at Cardz4Guyz over the next two weeks, so why not join in.

Joining in over at- 

    
Die-cut/ baby/blue                                                    

No stamping Happy Birthday

Morning all.

Just a quick card today and a rather appropriate one.

Today is my birthday and we should have been out and about but the weather and a broken tooth put paid to that and our meal out is in the balance as eating is not easy.

Anyway I rang the dentist first thing and after  explaining that the Monday afternoon appointment was too far off, they said they would ring back later.

So while I waited I played in the craft room making this CAS card without any stamping, MFT small letters and pierced rectangle. Marianne balloon and part of a Happy Birthday die from The Range, possibly X-Cut. 

CASology are celebrating their 5th birthday so I decided to use their cue word BALLOON and LIM's no stamp challenge together with AAA's rainbow challenge for my inspiration. The balloons were coloured with Copics after the letters were die cut and I added some strings with a black fine liner.

I'm back from the dentist now with a temporary filling and an appointment for Monday with a locum dentist, as ours has sadly broken her ankle! Hopefully it will stop the ouch when drinking until they can sort it out. Think I will leave the celebratory meal until the temporary filling is a bit more settled.

Joining in over at-