Thinking of You

Morning all, did you watch Glastonbury at the weekend? 

Saturday we had our daughter and family minus eldest who was on Scout camp, over for a belated birthday tea, so no time then but I made sure I watched the Yusuf/Cat Stevens set on the Pyramid stage on Sunday. He might be 74 but he still delivers the old favourites with aplomb. It took me back to the early 70's, sat in my bedroom endlessly playing Teaser and the Firecat, Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman and Catch Bull at Four! His lyrics always had something to say and are as relevant now as they were then, but I digress!

As it's Tuesday it's time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz. This week our theme is:-

CLEAN and SIMPLE

My favourite style, though when I came to make my card, I struggled, so many ideas and nothing to pin them down! Anyway a quick squiz at some challenges out there brought me to this. 

I used a layout from way back and the cute LOTV Jame's Peeking. After printing him off, don't get me started on the trials of our home printer, I coloured him with Copics and fussy cut. Not sure what is up with the printer but it's not doing it properly, printing that is, so I went back with a black fine liner and neatened him up!

On a panel of white card I used a Sizzix EF to create my background and before adding it to my A6 base card, I added a couple of strips of scrap DP to the top and bottom. James and the sentiment, also LOTV, were added to complete.

So where will the theme take you? CAS is a great way to go for a masculine card as you can get away without adding any frippery that you might be tempted to add on a feminine card. Share it in our gallery and if you need more inspiration, check out the rest of the team here.

Joining in over at:-

 

Dads and/or Lads

Color Hues #66

Good afternoon. I can't believe we are half way through June already! The summer solstice is just next week and then it's all down hill to Christmas!! 

Anyway, it's time for a new colour combo at Color Hues and this time we've got a really cheerful pair that shriek SUMMER! Here's my take.

I've used the peony from Altenew's Happy together for this. I did want to use my Uniko peony as it's one of my favourite flower images but for some reason it wasn't in it's right place so had to make do with this stamp. After I'd finished my card the set turned up of course!!

I love peonies, so blousy but sadly they wouldn't put up with the heat in my plot so I will have to make do with the image instead. I have fond memories of them growing in an aunt's garden when I was a child, lovely deep pink and pale pink ones too.

When I first got the stamp set as a prize from The Flower challenge I made a similar one, only that time I used pink watercolour for the bloom and bud. This time I took my cue from Therese Calvird and went with a white bloom on yellow. My image was stamped with Altenew Industrial Diamond, my first stamping with black looked too stark, and added shading with W Copic markers, mainly W4, 2 and 1, with a tiny bit of W7 for the deepest shadows. The image was then fussy cut and mounted on a panel of smooshed yellow. I added a mix of Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey onto my craft mat and dragged a piece of card through the ink, drying between layers until I was satisfied with the coverage then cut it out with one of the Hero Arts Infinity rounded rectangles dies. 

The sentiment is from Uniko, one of the ones I made awhile ago, white EP on black and mounted on a slightly larger circle of white. The finished panel was then added on pads to a white, textured linen note card.

So that's it from me but please check out the rest of the team here along with our GD the fabulous Michele Ferguson.

I'm joining in over at:-

BA Inspiration at Uniko

 Good morning, time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz. This time our theme is:-

FATHER'S DAY

My daughter is always asking for a couple of cards for the boys to give to their dad for Father's Day, so this was the perfect excuse to make one and here is one of them. I used products from Uniko so this post is also combined with a BA post for them here.

 I'd seen Jennifer McGuire use sentiments to create fab cards so thought I would have a go.

Looking through all my Uniko Simply Said Blocks, I took an assortment of suitable phrases and stamped them onto white card in the colours of Liverpool FC, my Son in Laws favourite team! I know they usually play in red but their away kit is this dark teal colour and the emblem is always yellow/gold! The inks used here were from Altenew, Maple Yellow, Galactic Stream and Heart Beat.

Once I'd stamped a variety of sentiments, they were trimmed down and arranged across the corner of an A6 top fold base card in some kind of logical sequence! I tried not to have two colours overlapping so sometimes the logic had to go out of the window! The sentiment blocks glued down, I trimmed back the overhang and added a thin strip of red card to neaten up the top edge, stamped the greeting from Nautical Treasures and added the die cut letters to complete.

For a totally different look, you could change the sentiment blocks used to create a birthday or thank you card. A simple change of colours would also give you a different look, simply choose the recipients favourite colours, they don't have to be for a football team! The possibilities are endless.

For more Father's Day inspiration check out the rest of the team here. 

Guesting at AAA

Good morning. I'm sharing a card today as Guest Designer at AAA Challenges. Here's my take on their brand new challenge.

Everything beach covers a hell of a lot, so there's plenty to get your teeth into here. 

For my card, I went with sand, sea bathing and ice cream!

This image is a really old stamp that a friend lent me many years ago. It's from Molly Bloom and no longer available as the company has moved on to different things. I've had the image in my to colour box for some time, so it was definitely time to use it!

Colouring Molly with Copics before fussy cutting, I put her to one side whilst I inked the beach for her to stand on. A little bit of Tea Dye DI for the sand, Salty Ocean DI for the sea and chunky EP for the foamy water's edge. A few lines of white gel pen suggests waves, over which I simply added Molly with her ice cream and a few squiggles of black fine liner to replace the detail lost when I fussy cut her out. The sentiment is from LOTV.

So that's it from me but please check out the rest of theme over at AAA and why not join in? Just don't forget to make it CAS!

Joining in over at:-

No topping this time

Something for the girls

Birthdays

Happy Birthday Angie

 Good evening. As it's a new month there is a new challenge at HLS Birthday, where it's always always anything goes. Here's my card for your inspiration, made for my SiL's birthday.

I stamped the STAMPlorations Cup full of Blooms #3 image in black and used Copic markers to colour the flowers and cup. Once coloured, I fussy cut the blooms and cup, laying them on pads over a white panel embossed using the STAMPlorations Circles all Over Texture Coverplate. The sentiment from Carved Flowers, also STAMPlorations, was stamped in black. 

The completed panel was then mounted on a slightly larger piece of card, edged with one of the purple Copic markers used in the posy and finally added to a 5 x 7 white base card.

So that's it from me but be sure to check out the rest of the DT here, then why not join in?

Release Day and Blog Hop @ Uniko

It's release day at Uniko and as per tradition we are having a blog hop and giveaway!

So for your chance to win, don't forget to leave a comment as you hop along to see what the BAs have come up with for this release.

Here's my first card using the Bauhaus Blocks stamp set.

I used 3 of the 5 grid stamps to create a Piet Mondrian style card, perfect for the males in your life. This is a square card but I could have used all 5 stamps and created a rectangular panel. The 3 panels were stamped in black then coloured with Copic markers before being trimmed and added to a panel of black card leaving a small amount of the backing showing. The sentiment is from my favourite Doodle Flowers, I tend to create a batch of them on neutral panels once I've got the stamps set out, use one and save the others for later! This time white EP on black, then mounted on white to match the coloured sections.

I said earlier in the week that I love the new layering stencil and this card is another example, using DOx in Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade and Wilted Violet. This is cut from a larger panel and attached to a die cut white panel and onto a 41/4"square base card.

The sentiment this time is from Yes You, the wonderful stamped and heat embossed with white EP on black and fussy cut, the you are, yes you added on strips.

OK, I know this is overload but here is another of the stencil panels, this time in a palette of blues, Altenew's Lapis Lazuli set, and another of my Doodle Flower sentiment panels.

This is a great masculine colourway, use as a whole or as a part of the panel.

Finally I have this card made using the Flower Power #4 stencil and the sentiment from Pure Florals -Peony.

To start, I took a panel of white card and attached the stencil whilst I inked through with Picked Raspberry DOx. I then removed the stencil and repositioned it so that the petals were in between the first set and inked again with the DOx. I used a firmer hand over the center and edge of the flower to create a sense of shape and dimension. The stencil was then removed and I inked lightly over the whole panel without the stencil to get rid of as much white as possible.

Using a couple of the stamps from Flower Power #4, I stamped in Seedless Preserve DOx to create a center, then added a sequin for a bit of bling! 

The sentiment, Sending, was stamped, heat embossed and fussy cut and the many thanks added on a white strip. A few sequins and gems complete.

So that's all from me for today. For the chance to win don't forget to leave a comment here before you hop along for the chance to win the whole release!.

 Anita

Bev

Izzy

Julie -that's me

Steph

Vinita

Color Hues #65

Good afternoon. It's a new month so it's time for a new colour combo at Color Hues. 

Earlier today I helped launch a new layered stencil set by Uniko and 

as I still had it out when thinking of making a card for this challenge, I decided to use the new Color Hues colours to create a panel for this card.

I used the new stencil set Bauhaus Blocks from Uniko (available from tomorrow @9am BST) to create this panel using Altenew's Aqualicious for the Aqua and Heartbeat and Pink Pearl for the reds. The panel was trimmed and mounted onto white card then added to a matching A6 red card base. A sentiment from the same release from Uniko was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with white EP.

Quite a simple layout, the time was spent inking the different layers of the stencil.

So where will these new colours take you? We'd love to see you in the Color Hues gallery. For more inspiration, check out the rest of the DT and our GD here.

Introducing Bauhaus Blocks Layering Stencil

Good morning. It's the final day of introductions at Uniko and today's is a doozy. I have to say this layered stencil set, Bauhaus Blocks is so much fun to play with. Here are just a couple of the ideas I came up with.

This first card uses the full stencil and then some! I used some DOx inks (Picked Raspberry, Twisted Citron, and Salty Ocean) and covered the whole of an A6 panel of white card. I love this bright combination of colours, I love the contrast and they totally reflect how I was feeling when I was colouring the stencils! I'm not sure that pastel colours would have the same impact, perhaps I should go away and have another play!!

The finished panel was die cut ready to add to a base card when I realised that I hadn't squared it up so had to think how to use the panel after all the hard work. Simple answer, I die cut it again at a jaunty angle and the error disappeared! The sentiment, Bauhaus Blocks, was stamped on a tag and slipped under the bottom edge.

Still using the same colours with the addition of Squeezed Lemonade, this second one just uses one of the three stencils and only one element of that! 

I simply inked in the lines from one of the stencils and rotated it around the central point to create the pattern. The sentiment is from yesterday's intro, Bauhaus Blocks, heat embossed with white EP on black and the inked panel was die cut using an MFT square die. Simply mounted on a 41/4" square card, it makes a fun thank you card for my daughter's stash for the end of the year.

What do you think of this release? I've loved playing around with it, especially this stencil! Looks like the rest of the team have too, check them out here.

Tomorrow is release day so don't forget to join us for our release day blog hop.

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Brights or pastels

I chose Brights!