BA Inspiration at Uniko

 Good morning folks, it's my turn for a little bit of BA inspiration over at Uniko with a pair of Christmas makes.

All the details can be found on the Uniko blog.

This card I made after seeing the latest sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches.

As you can see, my card is portrait rather than the landscape format of the sketch.

To start, I used a circle die to emboss my panel, then cut a mask from a Post-It using the same die.

I then added the mask over the embossing and stamped the holly leaves and evergreen foliage. I stamped the holly berries and a couple of pine cones and used the dies to cut them out. The evergreen bough was coloured in with a couple of green pencil crayons as were the veins on the holly leaves for extra interest.

Removing the mask, I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and embossed in gold EP before adding the berries and cones with glue.

Check out the Uniko blog for details of my other card.

Joining in over at:-

Leaf Fragments

Well good morning.

This is the last of my posts for my GD spot at JUGS, it's sad in a way because I've had the best of welcomes from the team, so thank you all for your lovely comments over the last few weeks.

So to get down to it, here is my final card.

It's based on the photo on this week's cue card.

Just over a week ago there was very little leaf colour in the hedgerows, just oodles of haws, cherry plums and crab apples but the other morning the field maples had a definite autumnal colour to their leaves. The horse chestnuts down the road have lost most of their leaves but the conkers are still holding firm and the oaks are shedding a few acorns here and there, I thought that with all the heat and lack of rain that autumn would be early but it seems not.

I've used Leaf Fragments dies from Tim Holtz and Sizzix, I was bought these for Christmas a couple of years ago and this is their first outing! I rummaged in my bits box for some gelli plate panels to use but found a couple of textured ones with a hint of glitter that I made at some time ago, not exactly sure what I used, it was probably something to do with those girls at CAS Mix up!! There's definitely some Brusho and glitter and some sort of paste, anyway one of the pieces was just right to cut out a few leaves. I added some DI in Vintage Photo to one side and some Mustard Seed DI to the other before adding them to my panel from the bits box, to which I had added some plasterboard scrim tape for texture, left over from our build, it's lovely stuff and adheres with out glue! The finished panel was then added to an A6 base card with foam tape and the sentiment from Altenew added.

So where will the picture cue card take you? The GD have some fabulous example to inspire you over on the JUGS site, so why not join in?

Joining in over at:-

Sparkle and Shine                                                            

#42

Distressed Dry Embossing

Good morning crafters. It's time for a brand new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.

This week our theme is:-

DISTRESSING

Here's my take on the theme.

I used an embossed panel that I created a few months ago, being inspired by my friend, the very talented Loll Thompson, and had in my stash. It was made using a very old Cuttlebug EF and some green mirror card, that I distressed by sanding back the raised areas with some fine grade sandpaper to reveal the core. I used an MFT die to cut out a portion and added it to a white A6 note card. The greeting from an unnamed set, was stamped in red above the panel, simples, it would be great for mass production as it was so easy to make!

For more ideas on the theme of distressing, why not check out the rest of the DT here and join us? 

Joining in over at:-

Favourite Metallic or Glitter card

I do like a bit of glitter but not the mess! Mirror card is tricky to photograph but the distressing has taken a lot of the shine off and I love the technique with the mirror card.

Happy Birthday Alison

Morning, I'm back with another card for my GD stint over at JUGS.

This week we have an autumnal colour scheme for you and here's my take.

I made this for my best friend from school, whisper it quietly but it's been 55 years since we first sat next to one another in class 1G! I can still remember the old fashioned temporary classroom with it's ancient desks in regimented rows and our maths teacher Mrs Hall striding up and down between, teaching us negative numbers!

Anyway, we may be separated by miles, we've both moved around the country and life in general has got in the way over the years, but when she phoned the other day it was just like we were back at school, good friends can just pick up after any length of time apart!

So I decided to make this card as her favourite colour is orange which fits with this weeks colours, just two mad old birds having a giggle, I wont say which of them is me!!

The background panel from my stash, which was from a batch I made awhile ago using some Uniko birthday sentiments. I did try using an orange panel but it didn't quite work, even after the addition of some Vintage Photo DI! The ladies, Ai, were stamped coloured with Copics and fussy cut before adding them to my background. The sentiment, also Ai, was added on a strip of cream card to match the 5 x 7 base card.

So what will you do with the colours, we'd love to see your takes, there's lots of inspiration from the girls over at JUGS.

Joining in over at:-

Favourite Tool, product or embellishment

A difficult one but embellishments are certainly out, then it comes down to either my MISTI or my trusty small scissors. I love to fussy cut but also the MISTI enables you to create backgrounds like this! If push came to shove, I'd plump for scissors, just so versatile. I can never get matching dies to cut accurately so fussy cutting is best and cheaper!!!

Color Hues #49

Afternoon folks.

We're over halfway through the month of September already, I can't believe it! Anyway that means we've a new colour combination at Color Hues. Here's my take on the very autumnal colours.

With the dry summer we have had, I thought that the leaves on the trees would be well into autumnal mode by now, but none of it, there's very little colour in the hedges, except for the berries that is.

So for this challenge I decided to use an Impression Obsession Sunflower layered stamp set for my card. I bought it when layered stamps were quite a new thing but I find it rather tricky to use compared to others on the market, there aren't enough location points, especially on the flowers, to line up each layer. It's for that reason that I don't use it much but this time I persevered and after a couple of tries, came up with this, the result gave an most lifelike effect.

To begin, I smooshed some Fresh Lemon ink from Altenew onto a panel of mixed media paper and allowed it to dry. Then I stamped one of the sunflowers, using Altenew's Maple Yellow, Honey Drizzle and Memento Potter's Clay, Rich Cocoa and Espresso Truffle. I cut a mask from a Post-It using the baser layer as a guide and stamped a second. The leaves were then stamped using the same mask and the darkest yellow and lightest brown, I only used two of the four layers for a subtler look.

My sentiment is from an Altenew set and was cut from the leftover smooshed panel. The yellow inner I left as was but inked the shadow with a mix of Potter's Clay and Rich Cocoa.

To finish, I added my sunflower panel to a slightly larger panel of card inked with the same inks as the shadow, added the sentiment and popped the lot up on pads over an off white base card.

So where will the colours take you? We'd love to see your designs in the gallery, and if you need more ideas the rest of the DT and our TWO guest designers have some fabulous ideas here.

The Monster Mash

Good evening, time for a new challenge at Perfectly CAS. 

Here's my take.

I must admit I'm not a big fan of Halloween but when I saw the challenge at the Male Room, I was inspired to make this card, using the song Monster Mash as my starting point.

It's very simple, a couple of googly eyes, strips of torn copy paper and a sentiment from Create a Smile.

The black panels were added over the 'mummy' with pads to complete.

So where will the cue card take you this month? We'd love to see your takes in the Perfectly CAS gallery.

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

Joining in over at:-

Monster Mash by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett and the Crypt Kickers

Merry Everything!

Morning all, we've got our granddaughter's baptism this weekend so its going to be a busy one but before that, I'm back again with an early morning post for the latest challenge at JUGS. Here's my take on this week's cue card.

You can make of that what you will but I chose repeat stamping of my sentiment, love the way it wraps around, framing the central Santa image.

To start, I stamped my MFT Santa on an A6 panel of Copic friendly card and then again on a Post-it note to create a mask. I fussy cut the Post-it image and fixed it over the outline on my base panel. Next, I selected a sentiment from the same set and stamped it in black. Using my MISTI, I was able to move the panel up and down evenly to stamp each of the green sentiments, Altenew's Parrot ink, before removing the mask and colouring Santa with Copics.

For more REPETITION inspiration, check out the rest of the JUGS team here and join in!

Joining in over at:-

Cricket Take Two

Good morning card makers, it's time for a brand new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.

This week we are featuring cards for men that feature:-

SPORTS or HOBBIES

I chose sports for my card. I shared another cricket themed card a few challenges ago which I made in good time for my son's birthday but as I'm prone to do I put it away somewhere safe and then couldn't find it so had to make another! If I do find it I suppose I can use it next year!!

My second take on the cricket theme uses the same LOTV image but a simpler layout.

After colouring the image, I fussy cut him out and then concentrated on the background.

The DP is NitWits from the bits box, printer still playing up, the green I cut with that same MS grass edge punch and layered over the cloud DP, inking the top section with some Mowed Grass DI for a bit of depth. The cloud is an MFT die cut and the sentiment is Wplus9.

Both the DP and cloud die cut were added to a panel of white copy paper before being cut down to fit my 5 x 7 base card. The cricketer was popped up on pads and the grass I cut off from the original was put back free hand. A cricket ball made from a shaped circle die cut with a few white gel pen dashes, added with a foam pad and a few movement lines added freehand.

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

Annabelle on her bicycle

Good morning card makers.

I'm posting early on a Saturday morning as I'm guesting over at JUGS for the month of September, thanks for asking girls!

Here's my first card using this weeks cue card.

I had a look through my stash to find a suitable stamp and came up with this older rubber stamp from Lili of the Valley, Annabelle on her bicycle. The basket is full of her cute pup in this case!

My printer is playing up at the moment as you can see from the rather patchy DP in the background, so I'm stuck with using up scraps of DP in my stash until I can sort it out. The sky and checked strips, with a little added Copic marker are NitWits, as is the grass, which I cut using an ancient MS border punch!

So after colouring the stamped image and fussy cutting it out, I put it to one side and concentrated on the layout. I had a panel of linen effect card that was creased, so I cut that away and from what was left I cut a circle from the middle and then ran it through my Big Shot with the same large circle EF I used for my card yesterday, this time I used the reverse. A couple of strips of Copic coloured card to pick out the colours in the image were added to the bottom with clear tape. A couple of scraps of green NitWits DP punched with the grass edge punch were glued behind the opening. On my base card, made from some of the same linen effect card, I added the cloud and checks DP, to which I also added some of the same Copic colour as the strips as there wasn't any showing, adding the top panel on pads. A sentiment strip was added then Annabelle on pads to complete.

So how will you interpret the cue word? We'd love to see you in the JUGS gallery this week.

For more inspiration check out the DT here.

Gardening with Bling!

Good evening, time for a brand new challenge at HLS Birthday and as always it's-

ANYTHING GOES

Here's a card I made for a friend of my daughter's who loves gardening and bling!

I've used a Lili of the Valley image and some NitWits DP, including the pink backing paper. I got my MS grass edge punch out for the grass, this time white card coloured with Copics like the image.

The sentiment is also Lili of the Valley and I blinged that and the watering can up with some tiny, silver diamante crystals. 

I went for a square shaped card for a change and my embossed panel was made using an EF whose manufacturer I forget but it has been very useful over the years!  

So why not join us for the new challenge and it's so easy being an AG one!

There's lots more inspiration over on the HLS blog.

Color Hues #48

Good afternoon. It's the first of the month so time for a new colour combination from Color Hues. It's also our 2nd birthday so we are joining forces with our sister challenge Seize the Birthday to celebrate!

I can't believe we've been going 2 years, it only seems like yesterday that Nancy asked if I was interested in joining the team! 

So for this challenge you not only have you to use the colours below but we'd also like you to make a birthday card to help us CELEBRATE! 

After you link up a card for this challenge make sure you over to Seize the Birthday and link up with them as well!  This challenge and their challenge will be like any other, as each Challenge blog will pick its own winners! 

Here is a direct Link to Seize the Birthday for you! 

OK, here is my take.

When I saw this combination, I thought straight away of a card I made using Stamping Bella's Audrey loves her make up here but then I decided to use this 'young' lady from Art Impressions instead as I'd only recently used Audrey for another colour combo! 

I love these Ai images of ladies of a certain age and the snarky sentiments that come with them.

This one is from Sassy Laugh Lines but I've used a sentiment from another set, Sit Back Laugh Lines.

After stamping, colouring with Copics and fussy cutting, I put her to one side and prepared my background, a snippet of DP from NitWits with the leaves coloured with a Copic marker to match the theme, printer still playing up, and a couple of scalloped edges cut from a scrap of white card. The base card is navy for a change! I added the panel to it and a few Pretty Pink Posh lime green sequins and the sentiment strip completes.

So what do you think of this combination? We'd love you to post in our gallery this time, but don't forget to make it a birthday card.

For more navy and lime inspiration, why not check out the rest of the team here?

Joining in over at:-

Feminine