Uniko Challenge

Morning all.
The months are whizzing by, mid summer has gone and we are heading towards high summer.
It's time for a brand new challenge over at Uniko.

Here is my inspiration for you based on our new theme.

My garden is just coming to it's full glory, the plants after having a hard time during a very dry April, have relished the rain of recent weeks and are lush and full of promise. The soft muted colours of Spring are slowly making way for the vibrant ones of high summer.
Last autumn I decided to create a new herbaceous border out of a rather tatty piece of lawn against the neighbours fence. The grass was marked out with a hosepipe and then the OH sprayed it off, I slowly dug over the new bed due to a rather wet winter and added some lawn edging, before planting my small nursery of plants that I had accumulated from garden visits, seeds and a bargain bucket at a favourite garden center, most of which are now flourishing. One of my favourite plants are the Hemerocallis lilies, I've never grown them before but I love their bright colours.
So when I saw the theme, I just had to use the Pure Florals Lily stamp set.

I chose a bright blue base card to reflect the sky on a hot summer day and the bright pinky orange colours of my new lilies.

To start, I stamped the large lily bloom with Altenew Morning Frost onto Mixed Media paper, using their Maple Yellow and Coral Blush inks to watercolour in a no line technique. Detail was added with my Zig watercolour pens before fussy cutting the lily.

On a strip of black card I stamped the greeting from Pure Florals-Peony and heat embossed it with gold EP. The gold 'Sending' die cut was threaded with the black strip and then glued down under the bloom which was added with foam pads.

OK, that's all from me for the mo but please check out the rest of the team and our wonderful GD Anrushee for more inspiration here.

Joining in over at:-


Anything but white



   
                                                   In the Garden

Christmas in July

Morning all, Tuesday again so it's time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.
This week our theme is:-

NO PATTERNED PAPER

I think the best route to go down for this is a CAS design, which is also my go to style for masculine cards!
I used a couple of challenges for inspiration to make this.

AAA would like to see a made in minutes card with option of a Christmas theme and The Male Room are into sports for theirs.

What is quicker than a CAS design? Well having the odd bits and bobs around in the scrap box!
The skier from LOTV was already stamped but the doggy to the bottom left hadn't stamped properly so it had been put to one side, it just needed colouring and the doggy cut away! The white panel was in the scrap box as was the snowdrift which was left over from a previous card. All I had to do was use a pre folded Memory Box card base which was sitting in my card base box, add a Uniko greeting and pop the skier up on pads before popping the whole thing on the base card. As I had cut off the snow from the original, I added it back freehand with a black fine liner, simples! Another card for the Christmas stash.

For more masculine inspiration please check out the rest of the DT here and then why not join in?

I'm joining in over at:-

     

Union Flag

Morning all.

It's Tuesday again, so it must be time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.

This time we have a colour theme, just in time for those of you in the US celebrating the 4th July.

RED, WHITE and BLUE

When I first read the theme, the union flag popped into my head, not being American, and then I remembered the old Mini, Ria in Butterflies had, that had the flag on the roof! I wonder how my mind works sometimes but once I had that image there it was difficult to jog it loose! So here is my slightly off piste take on the challenge.

I used the MFT die set Joy Ride as it reminds me of a mini and sketched in a Union flag onto the roof section, colouring with Copics. I have called it the Union flag as I seem to think that the flag that flies over buildings is the Union Flag not the Union Jack, that is what it is called when flown on ships.

Anyway, I assembled the rest of my red Mini die cut pieces, added a clear plastic window and then thought about incorporating it into a card.

I looked at using DP but in the end I sketched in the horizon and a road onto a piece of paper and created a landscape for my car to sit in. The clouds were created using an MFT cloud stencil and Salty Ocean DI and the green was a mixture of Twisted Citron in the distance and Mown Lawn DI in the foreground. A dark grey Copic marker and white gel pen complete the road. I know he's driving down the middle of the road but I'm sure you will excuse the liberty! My finished panel was trimmed, then glued to an A6 side folding note card.

For more masculine inspired creation in red, white and blue, pop over to the Cardz4Guyz blog and check the rest of the team out.

I'm joining in over at:-

     

Happy 40th Nich

Morning peeps and Happy Birthday to my wonderful daughter.
Sadly her 40th birthday bash is on hold and she's having to work today, teaching in a special school, but I'm sure her two fab sons and supportive OH will make it as fun a day as possible.

Anyway, I wanted to make her a card to cheer her up as well as saying Happy Birthday, so here is her card using her fave colours.

I couldn't use flowers for this as she's not a great fan but she loves a butterfly and sparkle! Therefore I used Uniko's English Country Garden stamps and matching dies to create this floating frame card.

All the details on the make can be found on my Brand Ambassador post over at Uniko.


Joining in over at:-


Just the photo

May you never outgrow bubbles

Good morning peeps.
Its Tuesday and I know that because its time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz. Must admit that days are blurring and the OH even asked me what day it was on Sunday! If it wasn't for my calendar of DT posts, I would be well and truly lost!
This time our theme is:-

SHAKER CARD

I did struggle at first with ideas for a masculine shaker but eventually I came up with this.

I used a MFT peekaboo die set to cut the apertures and cloud edge before adding the cheeky bubble chicks from Stamping Bella. The pic at Inkspirations also lead me down the yellow chick route!

The shaker elements were made by layering the while cloud panel with an acetate one and two fun foam ones. I did use just one layer of foam at first but it was a little too shallow for the bugle beads to move around. I used these beads as they reminded me of tiny bubbles and they have been in my stash since my daughter started dancing over thirty years ago! They are probably older than that because they were given to me by an aunt who used them for my cousins ballroom dresses! Also, they are a little less feminine than sequins. The background cloud DP is a scrap of NitWits from the bits box.

There are lots more masculine card ideas from the rest of the DT here, so why not join in?

The idea of using these cheeky chaps also came from Darnell's Twofer challenge where bubbles/ circles are the theme. So whilst the chicks were on my desk, I decided to turn them into penguins and make a Christmas card. I've made them into robins on baubles before here and here, but thought footy playing penguins would be fun too, so bubbles became soccer balls this time.

I'm not sure what the style of card is called but it allows the card to stand quite solidly without it being too complicated to construct. The idea of chicks being penguins was introduced by the fab Faye on one of her Copic colouring classes and I've not really explored this avenue before! The background was made by inking the folded base with a cloud stencil and Salty Ocean DI. The snow drifts were cut with a die and then covered with a glaze of clear Wink of Stella and then added. Sadly the shine doesn't show up in the pic! 

After colouring with Copics, the penguins and 'bubbles' were fussy cut and added to the card. The background looked a little too un Christmasy, so I added some tiny punched snowflakes and some freehand movement lines below a couple of the balls with a fine liner. The stamped sentiment is from Uniko.

Here are both of the cards together.

That's all from me for the moment, see you all later!

I'm joining in over at :-

Let's hear it for the boys