Colouring Book

Afternoon folks.

Just popping by to announce that there is a blog hop and linky party over at STAMPlorations.

A while ago it was National Colouring day and we announced the launch of Color Blooms, a colouring pad for card makers and other artists. Today we invite you to see what the STAMPlorations team have done with it and then join in!

For my project I took this page from the book and used Copic alcohol markers to colour.

From this page I cut a panel to make my background for this card.

I used a few other STAMPloration goodies Crazy Double  Running Stitch Rectangles, Happy die cut andBallons and Banners birthday, and little bit of vellum and black card to complete.

For more inspiration and all Ts and Cs check out the STAMPlorations site

Then why not join in?

I'm joining in over at -

No toppings!

CAS at ATSM

Hi and welcome to a post to announce the start of a new challenge over at ATSM.

This week our challenge for you is -

CAS

Easy peasy, anything goes so long as it is CAS!

Here is my inspiration.

I know it's a Christmas card, but you did read correctly, CAS is the theme.

Over at Less is More they want us to use peel-offs, you know those things you had before a die cut machine and dies were soooo expensive. Anyways, I was flicking through my copious stash of the things when I found some slightly different ones. These are double sided sticky!. Yep, I bought them well over 5 years ago after a demo and never used them. So they were perfect for the challenge but they were Christmas themed. I'd forgotten how to use them but with a little trial and error I made the above card. The top sticky surface was covered with some coloured film, also from the stash that I've had for more years than I care to remember! (I used to decorate T Shirts with a special glue and this foil, picked up at a Craft Fair in Sheffield.) I then peeled off the stickers and adhered two to a die cut panel and a third to a small scrap of card and fussy cut it, before popping it up on pads. The mount around the top panel was made using some fine double sided tape and the scraps of foil. I topped off each tree with a adhesive stone from HLS.

OK, that's it from me please check out the rest of the DT for more fab CAS inspiration.

I''d like to join in over at -

Use a sticker, sticky label or peel-off

Never used the foil on a peel-off!

Something beginning with ........

Morning all.

Well the Bank Holiday weekend finally came through with the weather in the end. We've had a lovely couple of days, sunny but not too hot. I've been in the garden sowing seeds in the old onion bed for winter salads. I'm still waiting for the rest of my raised beds, but there's no rush so Al can take his time.

Anyway, good weather makes for hasty crafting so that I could fulfill my DT obligations. When I stuck like that I always scan the challenge blogs for inspiration as I did here with this offering. This week at Cardz4Guyz our theme is -

SOMETHING BEGINNING with F 

Farms, flowers, fantasy, family came to mind but eventually I went with -

FISH

Here is my card.

My final choice was down to the latest sketch over at CAS(e) This Sketch.

I stamped a load of little fish  and then mirror stamped a few more, colouring with Copics then fusy cutting them. I added a googly eye to the finished fish before gluing then down over an inked background with a few water splashes. The sentiment comes from the same set which was free in a mag many years ago!

OK, that's all from me. For more 'F' inspiration, please check out the rest of the DT here.

Why not join in, we'd love to see hat you come up with.

I'm joining in over at -

    
Clean and Simple                                  No DSP

Another Swindon purchase!

Morning all. After a gorgeous end to the week yesterday, the Bank Holiday weekend looks a bit patchy, weatherwise. Never mind the latest challenge at Fantasy Stampers should cheer you up it's -

SUNSHINE COLOURS

Simples, just use a traditional stamp to create a project in the colours of summer! You've got a whole fortnight to enter, so get your thinking caps on. Here is my inspiration for you.

This was made using a purchase from the craft shop, Snazzy's, some of us met up in before the HLS retreat in Swindon last month. I saw them and couldn't resist, along with a few others I might add!

They are a multilayered stamp that build up the dimension with each successive layer and this is their first outing so perfect for Darnell's 7th NEBUS Challenge which starts today. I used a range of yellow DI's including, Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and Scattered Straw, I think for the flower heads and Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron for the leaves.

The greeting was a Wplus9 stamp and a die cut courtesy of  Sarah (Sazzle Dazzle) who loaned me a couple of her word dies while we were on retreat, not sure of the make. I cut quite a few in white so this was coloured with a black Copic marker for this. It was great that a lot of the girls brought their favourite stash as well as their Snazzy's purchases, with them and were very happy for us to borrow, so thanks Sarah. The background between the flowers was also coloured using a couple of Copic markers before the panel was cut using a MFT stitched rectangle and placed on a white base card. A few dew drops were added as a final touch.

OK, that's it for me, please check out the rest of the DT for more inspiration and join us.

I'd like to join in over at -

      

I thought of Vincent - Don McClean, first as it's about Van Gogh and he painted Sunflowers!

However, the song title that really matches is, Sunflower - Lenny Kravitz.

Cute Mouse

Morning all.

This morning the postman delivered a regular monthly magazine and I was so amazed to see it was the October issue. OCTOBER, surely not, we are still in August, but looking at the calendar it is well into the last quarter. My doesn't time fly when you are having fun!

Anyway, as it's Tuesday its time for a new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.

This week our theme is -

INCLUDE A FURRY FRIEND

Now I had a long discussion with my daughter over what constitutes fur, I would limit it to small furry creatures, mice, rabbits etc.. However the rest of the family seems to think that that is too narrow a group, so it's over to you to decide. Trawling through the stash, I did even contemplate a rather furry monster! So here is what I decided on in the end.

He is a cute little mouse from a free Country Companions set from DoCrafts. He's been in the stash for years and its his first inking up!

After stamping, I coloured him with Copics and fussy cut him. A balloon shape was cut from a stitched rectangle panel using a large circle die and balloon die to give the tied opening. The string was part of a snowflake ornament die cut in white then coloured with a grey Copic pen. I tried using plain blue card for the balloon but it didn't look quite right, so I inked another rectangle with Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean DI, blending to get a lighter part where the light would hit. I then slipped it under the top panel. I masked off the bottom of the top panel and added some more Tumbled glass then masked that and repeated with Twisted Citron, adding a Create a Smile sentiment and the little mouse.

For more furry inspiration please check out the rest of the DT and join in. We'd love to see what you come up with.

I'd like to join in over at -

      

Balloons

STAMPlorations - a reminder

Hi bloggy friends, and welcome to a post to remind you that there is still time to enter the STAMPlorations sketch/theme challenge. 

Here is a little more inspiration for you!

This time I went with our theme of

but you could go with the sketch or both if you prefer.

I love my Copics and I LOVE this daisy stamp from the Bloom Sketches set. They look so crisp and clean, so versatile and easy to colour with any medium. So for this card I went with the colours at Can you CASe it? and the sketch at Sketch Saturday (Oops, I think I took a liberty with the relative sizes of the rectangular panels now I come to look again!) As you like it also want your fave flowers.

I have a small bowl of daisies growing on a table on the patio, that I can see from the snug. It really cheers me up to see their sunny heads turn to the sky.

The botanical name for these beauties is ARGYRANTHEMUM or marguerite daisies

These aren't mine, it's raining today, so I borrowed some from Google Image! I also have a tub of pink ones and did have some with white petals with yellow centers, as well as some wild Ox Eye daisies blooming in the wild flower meadow I'm trying to cultivate.

Anyway enough of the botany lesson, I stamped and masked three of the beauties and some leaves then coloured them with Copics. The leaves are not the correct ones but they are all I had to hand!

The sentiment from Balloons and Banners was stamped on a diecut banner and mounted on a scrap of kraft. I use a bit of kraft and green ribbon from the stash to finish the layout.

For more STAMPlorations inspiration check out the rest of the DT here, where you will also find all the Ts and Cs.

I'd like to join in over at -

Your favourite flower and why?

     

Box Card

Morning all. It's time for a new challenge over at Cardz4Galz. There were lots of fab entries to our monochrome challenge, pop over and check out to see if your project was hi lighted.

This time it was my choice of theme and I went with -

BUTTERFLIES and/ or DRAGONFLIES

Love seeing the butterflies on a drowsy summers afternoon flitting amongst the flowers and even better when I get buzzed by a dragonfly! We have quite a few darting around the edge of our ponds and even as far as the back garden! Anyway my daughter loves butterflies so it was a no brainer what to include in this pop up birthday card I made for her.

She loves purple, blues and turquoise as well so that dictated my colour choice.

I stamped and fussy cut a load of butterflies from my stash including some by Kaisercraft and Indigo Blu, onto DP and for the smaller ones I used an ancient punch. I think the butterfly panel was a freebie which I stamped in blue then heat embossed in clear EP and then inked the background with some DIs. The panels were mounted on some scraps of holographic card I've had in the stash for years, to add a little birthday sparkle. The butterflies were glued to strips of acetate then arranged in the box card.

OK, for more inspiration check out the rest of the DT over at the main blog and why not join us.

I'd like to join in over at -

   

Butterflies

French Marigolds

Hi and welcome to a post to announce the start of our Make Your Mark challenge at ATSM.

Here is my inspiration piece.

It's onelayer week over at Less is More with the theme of 'Use something French'. Well I wracked my brains and searched my stash and couldn't think of anything at all but then I went out into the garden to inspect the veg plot and saw my FRENCH marigolds shining forth under the tomatoes. I'd planted them as a companion plant until the rabbits ate them, but they are now look fab in assorted colours of lemon through orange to golden yellow and rust like this one. I plucked a well filled out bloom and brought indoors to help me get the colouring just right. The stamp is from a STAMPlorations set The Birds and The Blooms as is the sentiment. Just the job as they are this weeks sponsor.

I masked off a panel with Post Its and then stamped the blooms and used Copics to colour them. I did think of adding some embossed lines and/or a couple of framing lines but decided to leave well alone.

This week we are sponsored by -

who are offering a prize of 2 digital images to our winner.

Founded in June 2013, California-based STAMPlorations™ is owned and managed by husband-and-wife team, David & Shery Russ. From just a handful of stamps, we now have 100+ stamp designs, 4 stamp designers, our exclusive line of stencils, and 20 amazing crafters spread across 3 teams who constantly produce gorgeous projects featuring our products. Our clear stamps are perfect for creating CAS, one layer, and mixed media cards, and they can be combined to create a variety of paper crafts. All of our stamps are proudly made in the USA. Our clear stamps are made from the finest, non-yellowing photopolymer resin. Through our stamp line, we hope to encourage crafters of all ages and

experience levels to "Stamp with all your ART!" 

So no excuses not to join in this week!

For more inspiration please check out the DT

I'd like to join in over at -

One Layer week - Something French

Made in Swindon

Morning all. 

Back again with a card for the new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.

This week we would like to see your projects where the focus is on -

WORDS

The title of the post is a clue to when I made the panel for the card. It's a Brusho panel made using Turquoise and a tiny dot of Yellow spritzed with a watery mix of Prussian Blue Brusho over a white embossed LOTV sentiment. When I got back after the retreat Brusho was still very much to the fore!

The card really came together when I saw the latest challenge at CAS(e) this Sketch. I used a strip of DP I got while at Snazzy's Craft shop in Swindon and I added strips of silver and black to go under my panel. The sentiment just suited the curved die from Lawn Fawn and although not a slavish copy, I think it suitably inspired by the sketch!

After gluing the layout down on a piece of white paper, I die cut a panel with a MFT stitched rectangle and then popped it up on a card base I found while clearing up after the retreat had finished. No one was claiming it so, well it was a shame to chuck it! We also found a packet of stencils and stamps under the table but soon realised it belonged to Lilian who had only recently left so Kylie and I, hot footed it out of the door and found her, Sue and Kathy in the car park still loading up the car, so tragedy averted!

That's it really from me but for more inspiration please check out the rest of the DT.

I'd like to join in over at :-

On your Christening

Good morning folks.

The summer is rushing on and it's been a whole 4 weeks since my last post for CardsundMore, so that means a new challenge, which is -

PINK and GREEN

These are two of my favourite colours, so lots of ideas for this one, but as my daughter requested a christening card for Sunday I made this using a LOTV stamp and one of my fave layouts.

The DP under the edge of the top panel is from NitWits and fits the brief perfectly, being a patchwork of pink and green! Hope its not too pink Nich!

I kept the colouring pretty subtle o the image before fussy cutting and mounting on pads over the layout. The ribbon was a scrap of white I coloured to match using the blunt end of a Copic pen used for the flowers. The greeting was hand written as my graphics program threw a wobbler!

So pretty simple in the end. For more info and inspiration please check out the rest of the DT.

I'd like to join in over at -

Anything Goes with a stamp

Summer at the beach

Morning all!

I can't believe it's been a whole two weeks since my Swindon adventure but as it's time for a new challenge at Fantasy Stampers it must be.

This week our theme is -

At The Beach

Now my card was started for another DT challenge post, but the one I made for this post didn't have enough stamping on so I swapped them around as the theme was more or less the same. I guess you can work out which one I mean by looking at the background for this one and the cheeky chappie!

For this card I used a stamp by a now defunct company, Paper Pretties that I won a few years ago over at Creative Inspirations, I think. He was stamped in Memento black then coloured with Copics before fussy cutting him out. The background was made by inking with DI, Tea Dye and Salty Ocean and adding the foam with an embossing pen and white EP. The panel was cut with a MFT die and glued flat on the base card. I stamped the greetings, LOTV, on black embossed with white EP and adhered them flat. It looked a tad empty so I added a few dew drops to complete.

That's about it then from me. For more inspiration please check out the rest of the DT.

I'd like to join in over at -

         

     Holiday                                              Anything Goes

Sea, Sunshine and Summer Holidays

Whoohoo!

Evening all.

Just popping by to post a card I made for the birthday of an old friend and ex- neighbour.

It's a bit of a longstanding joke that the cards I make for Audrey are owl themed, mainly because of her allegiance to Sheffield Wednesday FC, nicknamed  the Owls.

I made one quite a while ago but can I find it?

Well I just had to make another, so here it is.

I used the layout from this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge, using the blue and white colours of  The Owls! The owl here is from Paper Smooches Chubby Pals and I also included a few hand drawn leaves. Everything was coloured with Copics before fussy cutting. The frame and base card were embossed with a CC texture folder, the frame cut by extending a MFT square die cut frame. The sky was a scrap of DP from the bits box.

I needed it to be a bit of a quick make as it needs to get in the post as its here birthday next week and to get to the post box from home is a major expedition!

Anyway say it quietly, but she will probably be across at the other side of the steel city watching the red and white wizards on Saturday as Wednesday are away this week. Audrey is mad keen on watching sport and will even go to non league matches if the major teams haven't got a match.

I'd like to join in over at -

 

Wishing You Sunshiny Days

Good morning all.

Another week has passed so it's time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.

This week our theme is -

AT THE SEASIDE

Here is my card for your inspiration.

I used the colours from Less is More (Brown and Blue) and the layout at CAS on Sunday for this card. I went for a more deserted beach theme after talking about holidays on the Northumberland coast with a friend last week.

Using a left over die cut circle, I masked and inked the scene with Tea Dye, Salty Ocean and Tumbled Glass DI, as well as the horizontal banner. The grasses from Stampin Up's Wetlands were added with some Memento Rich Cocoa and the spray and ripples were added by inking with a Versamark pen and embossing with white EP. I drew a few birds freehand with a brown fineliner and stamped a greeting from an IO Sunflower set in the same Rich Cocoa. I went with a linen textured base card and a kraft panel die cut with a pierced rectangle MFT die to finish.

For more seaside inspiration please check out the rest of the DT here.

I'd like to join in over at -

Challenge #288 Colour -  Blue and Brown