HLS Stockport

Hi peeps.

Just stopping by to share a card I made at the latest Happy Little Stampers retreat in Stockport, England, earlier this month.

It was so good to meet up with old blog friends and meet new ones. We even had one older lady who just Googled craft in Manchester and joined us for a little crafting fun on the back of the result. She knew no one but was quite happy to sit and chat and learn some new techniques from out leader Kylie! She said she would never do anything unless she went out of her way to meet new people, what a fabulous attitude she had. Anyway if you get the chance to join a HLS retreat soon you wont be on your own, and wherever it is based you'll have a fab time, we all did!

One of the projects we made was a light up card using Chibitronics LED lights. They are so easy to use once you get your head around where the lights need to be.

This is the second one I made using just one little light.

You can see from the left inset pic that to light up the card you press the middle of the greeting. It shows up really well in the dark as you can see from the right hand inset.

Kylie has done a YouTube demo here, so if you are interested just pop over there for all the boring circuit details!

My snowflake die was from Sweet Dixie and the sentiment is from Uniko.

Now three of the ladies from Less is More were at the retreat and although we didn't know their latest challenge is very appropriate! You kept that secret very well indeed ladies!

Joining in over at:-

    

   

The electricity goes round the circuit to light the bulb!

Snow People

Morning all.

Busy week in the craftroom but just one more card to share before the weekend.

It's time for a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog. We've almost got to the end of the alphabet so it's -

S for SNOW PEOPLE

For this challenge I knew exactly the stamp to choose, my LOTV Snow Family.

Something a litle diffeent with 2 scalloped circles as a card base, you have to remember to get a least 2 of the scallops at the bottom to act as the base so it stands upright, before glueing them together!

On another circle, I stamped my family, baring in mind what I said above, then coloured with Copics and fussy cut the top part away. The sentiment, MFT and Uniko were added and then put to one side.

Two more circles of card one white, one black, were cut using graduated dies to leave the white and black edge. On the white one I added some DI in Faded Jeans and stamped some tiny snowflakes in Stormy Sky DI over the top. After edging my card with more Faded jeans I added the layered background and the family up on pads. Some dots of Versamark and white EP complete the snowy group.

For more inspiration check out the rest of the girls here.

Joining in over at:-

  

     Christmas                                 Christmas is Coming

     

                                                         AG Christmas

Good Friends

Morning all.
It's time for a brand new challenge at Cardz4Galz.
This time Amy has chosen the theme of-

CUPCAKES

Here's my card for your inspiration.

Apologies for the poor photo but light has been hard to find these last few days!

I used the layout at Sketch Saturday and the colours at Color Throwdown.

Instead of putting the bear image in the oval, I put him where the heart is on the sketch and stamped the greeting in the aperture.

My strip of DP, from the bits box, is red with orange spots and the background panel is embossed with a free EF which I popped up over a white base card.

The cupcake carrying bear is from a Forever Friends set from DoCrafts, coloured with Copics and fussy cut. The sentiment is a free one from a mag many many years ago!

That's about it from me for the moment but for more inspiration check out the rest of the girls here.

Joining in over at:-

Bear Hugs

Vintage CASe

Hi and welcome.

The weather has warmed up a little here, temps in the teens 'C but with the warm front has come wind and rain and overcast, dark days. I've had to have the lights on in my craft room all morning and trying to take photos is a little problematic, so please excuse the quality of images!

I've been having a great time watercolouring these last few days and after seeing a video by Sandy Allnock about vintage watercolour flowers, I thought I'd have a play as the OH was out playing last night!

My starting point were the autumnal colours over at Altenew and their Painted Flowers stamp set.

To start, I smooshed some Antique Linen DI in the top left corner, then planned where the blooms should be. I used a layout from this card and the end result is so different despite the same stamps and layout. Although the colours are quite bold the watercolour technique gives a soft effect.

I stamped the solid part of the stamp in Mustard Seed DI, then washed some water over it to blend out the edges of the ink, then added the next layer in Rusty Hinge DI, blending as I went, followed by peeled paint for the large leaves. The outline stamp was added with Vintage Photo DI and the rest of the spray was filled in with small stamps from the set in Vintage Photo DI. I left them uncoloured except for the tiny buds which I coloured with the Mustard Seed and a tiny spot of Rusty Hinge. A few coppery orange sequins were added along with a die cut thanks cut from gold linen effect card and a sentiment from the Extra Special set in brown.

Joining in over at:-

  

Warm Birthday Wishes

Evening all. Just popping by to announce the start of the latest challenge over at ATSM. This week our challenge is -

CAS

So keep it simple! One image, little or no embellishments or layers.

Here is my card.

I used the theme over at the Paper Players for my inspiration, using this Stamping Bella, Quinn and her boots image. It's it's first outing and just the thing for a winter birthday card.

After stamping and colouring with Copics I took a red top fold card and cut the borders with an old MS edge punch that is a little stiff to work, but I persevered! To stiffen up the card I slipped a panel of blue card behind the red. The sentiment, a mix of STAMPlorations and Woodware stamps, was stamped in black and some Sprinkled Sugar Stickles were added to the mounds of snow. 

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

I'm joining in over at:- 

    

CASeing Susan

Morning all.

It's time for a brand new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz. This week our theme is:-

REINDEER

Here's my card.

I struggled to find a reindeer stamp, must have had a clear out earlier in the year, but then remembered this one.

My inspiration was this card by Susan at Less is More.

For my CASE, I kept with the Santa theme with the sentiment, free in a mag, and coloured the holly and rudolf's nose to match the elf's clothes. After fussy cutting Rudolf, I cut a pierced window in a panel of linen effect card and let him peek through. The whole panel was then mounted on a matching base card. I added a few dots of Glossy accents to the berries and glazed his nose as well.

I must apologise for the poor quality of the photo as the light has been pretty poor this weekend!

A quick and easy card to make and Rudolph could be swapped for other similar images.

So what will you make? We'd love to see what you do.

Joining in over at:-

One Layer Watercolour

Hi, I've been absent in blogland lately, what with a new Grandson and the get together organised by Kylie of HLS. We had a grand time catching up with old friends and meeting new crafters for the first time. My gorgeous Grandson has been in my thoughts since his arrival just over 4 weeks ago, Kylie and I were exchanging Nanna photos at the retreat as well!

Anyway I was meaning to share this card last week but with Seb coming to visit with his brother, Mum and Dad, I forgot so here it is now.

After seeing the fab watercolour cards my Mimi on the Penny Black site, I was encouraged to have a go at using that watercolour style.

This street lamp is a really old Flowersoft stamp that reminds me of the lamp post graveyard we passed on the way to the bus stop after visiting my Grandma as a young girl. All the old gas lights were slowly being replaced by electric ones in the older parts of Sheffield, the Victorian ones not converted were destined to be dumped in the councils street furniture depot!

The tree stamped three times is from a Penny Black set and the greeting was free with a magazine last year.

Joining in over at:-

One Layer Christmas card

Tiny Leaves and Brusho

Morning all.

The first frosts arrived this week and the leaves are finally falling around here so winter is not far away. This week at Cardz4Galz we celebrate the seasonal festival of -

THANKSGIVING / GIVE THANKS

Here is my card

I used a brand new die, Poppy Stamps 'Narrow Tree Triptych', that I got at the May Port Sunlight stamp festival. It was waiting for a moment just like this!

To start I sprinkled some Brusho onto a panel of watercolour card and spritzed it with water. When fully dry I die cut the panel. I had already cut a panel of cream card and a scrap of brown card with the same die. Then came the tricky bit, piecing it all back together again!

The sentiment from STAMPlorations was stamped in brown and embossed with clear EP and using tiny leaf stamps I added the falling leaves in autumnal colours.

Job done.

For more thanks inspiration check out the rest of the team here then why not join us.

I'm joining in over at:-

   

Anything Fall

Berry Kissed

Evening all.

It's time for a brand new challenge over at ATSM, this week it is -

MAKE YOUR MARK

So your project needs to be coloured, stamped, embroidered or even drawn by you. What will you do? I went down the coloured route for thsi watercolour style Christmas card.

I bought this Penny Black stamp at Port Sunlight last month. I've wanted to try this style of w/c effect stamp for awhile and chose this Berry Kissed stamp because of it's versatility. I could be coloured in different ways from autumnal to winter tones.

I tried to use it first without my Misti but didn't get a good look, so perhaps you do need one to be able to over stamp to get the correct depth of colour. The Misti makes it so much easier!

There are lots of examples online about how to use these type of stamps so I won't bore you with the details here, suffice to say that after finishing the sprig of berries, I carefully washed in a mixture of Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch and then before it was fully dry sprinkled chunky white EP (Stampendous Frantage, chunky white embossing enamel) over the top then heated it to set it. The dampness holds onto the EP so when you put your heat gun on it doesn't blow away! The end result is a snow like effect. The panel was then trimmed down and as I didn't want to stamp on the finished panel, added a vellum wrap embossed with my sentiment in gold.

So for more inspiration pop over to the main ATSM page and go Make Your Mark.

I'm joining in over at:-

    

Mele Kalikimaka

Morning all. 

The days are certainly getting shorter and the evenings that little bit colder as November takes a hold

and shops are slowly becoming more Christmasy as the Halloween and bonfire night displays are packed away. So the latest challenge over at Cardz4Guyz is quite appropriate -

O CHRISTMAS TREE

Here is my card showing that CAS is one way to go when thinking of  cards for the fellas in your life.

I've used a simple embossed resist technique for this, using Stampendous' World Christmas stamp. On a piece of white card, I stamped with Versamark before heat embossing with a white EP with added glitter. A simple watercolour wash of Mown Lawn DI over the dry panel brings the tree to life.

The trimmed panel was mounted on a scrap of red and then on some fun foam over a plain white base card, simples. This would be great for batch making too.

For more inspiration check out the rest of the team here and why not get going with this years Christmas card stash.

I'm joining in over at:-

my choice is watercolour resist

     

Guesting at Penny Black and More

Good morning folks. 

I'm here early on a Sunday morning as I am guesting over at Penny Black and More!

This week the theme is -

FLOWERS

I don't have too many PB flowers but I think that a poinsettia counts.

Here is my card using one from the Christmas Wonders set.

I started by stamping it onto a panel of black card then embossing with white EP. I stamped another onto a panel of w/c paper and using DI's washed in some reds and oranges. The finished flower was then fussy cut, except the area around the center, more of that later.

I happened to have a pre cut panel of vellum in the bits box, so decided to use it as a base for my sentiment cut from a scrap of gold mirri card using an old die of unknown make. The vellum knocks back the brightness of the base panel and allows the red flower to shine, I think. Once the coloured image was glued to the vellum, I added some grey colour with my Zig pen and it makes it look like I fussy cut the middle of the bracts! Did you know that the red 'petals' are actually modified leaves and not petals at all, the flowers are the really small yellow centers, very insignificant. A few red gems complete my design.

Joining in over at:-

Clean and Layered?

Love the red poinsettias with the gold

Christmas or non Christmas and why

(I only have Christmas flowers from Penny Black!)