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:-

Warm Winter Wishes

Afternoon peeps.

I'm here this afternoon to remind everyone that there is still time to enter this month's CUTplorations challenge. Here is my inspiration card for you.

It's based on this photo.

Last time I used an inked panel for my card and the rest of it was used to make the background for this card. Waste not want not!
I cut it from the panel using the smallest of the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies , then using the Warm Winter Wishes phrase die, I cut away the middle, replacing the purple with a previously cut white one. Saving all the extra bits from my purple panel allowed me to fill in the gaps around the phrase and then for extra depth, I added another die cut in white but this time colouring the dot over the eye with red Copic and some Glossy Accents before glueing it all in place.
I added some extra detail in Wilted Violet DO with the snowflakes in the VIGNETTE-Christmas-Block set. Sadly this is now on the retired list but you may still get it at 50% off!
The finished purple panel was then mounted onto a white rectangle cut with the middle Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, and a slightly larger pale grey panel before fixing to a white base card.

So what will inspire you? We'd love to see what you make.
Check out the rest of the team here and then join in!

Joining in over at:-

Simply Create Too - CAS

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

Thankful

It's that time of year again. Over at STAMPlorations we are having our Giving Thanks blog hop and wish list linky party to celebrate the launch of a brand new set of stamps.

Here is my card using Dee's Thankful and Blessed set

I chose the succulent element, stamping it onto w/c card and embossing the black outline with clear EP. The foliage was then coloured with watercolour washes before fussy cutting it out. 

On a panel of white card, I used the middle crazy double running stitched die to make a mask from a large Post it and then I placed the plaid maker stencil over the aperture and inked it with Weathered Wood DI. On a scrap of black card I stamped the sentiment and embossed with white EP and glued it at the bottom of my stencilled panel. 

From a scrap of kraft card I used a die to cut a shape which looked something like a bowl and placed the cluster of succulents in it and then glued that to the stencilled panel. 

My base card is a smokey grey to match the soft grey of the stencilling.

There are lots of prizes on offer as you hop along and join in. All details about the hop start and Ts and Cs can be found here.

If you would like to hop along, either start off at the STAMPlorations blog or continue to the next stop on the hop which is Trish Latimer of Craft Stamper Magazine. 

3rd Annual STAMPlorations Giving Thanks Blog Hop & Wishlist Linky Party Participating Designers

1. STAMPlorations blog

2. Deepti Malik

3. Melissa Chipperfield - CASology

4. Carol Mayne

5. Christine/Craftyfield

6. Kathy Schweinfurth

7. Becca Cruger

8. Debbie Owens - Cupcake Inspirations

9. Sue Nagata

10. Stephanie Severin

11. MariLynn DeGroot

12. Julie Beech

13. Trish Latimer - Craft Stamper Make It, Take It

14. Terri Koszler

15. Jerrie Mead

16. Ina Grehan

17. Melissa Lane

18. Sandie Munro - Time Out Challenges

19. Wei Wei Wang

20. Tanja Kabel

21. LauraJane Head

22. Monica Taylor

23. Sarah Platt - Less Is More

24. Karola Rehnstrom

25. Sanna Lippert

26. Chris Dring

27. Elaine Place

28. Jane Taylor - AAA Cards

29. Monika Skinner

30. Maria Fischer

31. Cornelia Wenokor

32. Dana Warren - Coffee Loving Cardmakers

33. Amy Almeida

34. Helen Gullett

35. Nonni Niskanen - Time Out Challenges

36. Shery Russ

There is also a Thanksgiving Sale from November 15 to 30 to go with the Giving Thanks hop. For this sale, you will be able to buy stamps, stencils, and dies (except for those in the new release and retiring categories) at 40% off, the 40% off code can be used only once per customer. 

If you leave a note in your order (or email Shery) and mention my name (e.g., I was on Julie's blog looking at your Giving Thanks hop post and decided to order). you can choose a free word/phrase die (up to $10 value) and have it included in your order (no minimum order). 

For products in the New Release category, you can get them at 20% off by using my DT discount code and you get a freebie  if your order is at least $40).

So what are you waiting for?