Happy Anniversary

Evening folks.

It's time for another challenge over at HLS Anything Goes with Dies.

Here's my card for your inspiration.

It's over a year now since the inaugural HLS craft retreat. It was a great weekend with lots of crafty time with fellow minded crafters. We all got stuck in and there was lots of swapping of techniques, stamps and dies. My MB Glorious Gardenia got a lot of love and web buying activity amongst some of the attendees and it was this project by Sarah of Sazzle Dazzle Crafts, that inspired this card, together with the latest challenge at CAS Watercolour and Allsorts. We have another coming up in November up in Manchester and I can't wait to see everyone again. I wont get to see everyone as some are attending the Swindon one a week or so later.

I started by making my red panel, using my watercolours and some rock salt. On a piece of HP watercolour paper I washed in a couple of reds and then added the salt crystals. The large crystals of the rock salt absorb the water and some of the colour to create an interesting texture. Don't be too keen to remove the salt as it is best left to dry fully. After carefully removing the salt, I added the die cut Gardenias. I trimmed the panel and then mounted it on a slightly larger panel of black card. 

I struggled with the sentiment as the anniversary sentiment I wanted to use had a different font for the happy and I wanted to use the same, so I decided to hand print it to match up. Using a v pale ink I stamped the Anniversary part then sketched in the happy, then inked over the whole with a black fine liner. It brought back a few memories of teaching the kids to layout printing for posters etc., drawing planing lines and spacing marks.

OK, that's it from me but be sure to check out the rest of the team and join in.

I'm joining in over at:-

Colours of your flag (England)

Have a hoot on your birthday

Good morning folks.

I finally got my birthday meal out last night, the temporary filling has been fine so far, hope it makes it 'til Monday when they replace the old filling and rebuild the tooth.

Over at the Alphabet challenge blog we have a brand new challenge. This time around the alphabet we've made it to -

K for KINETIC CARDS

So a card or project that moves in some way.

I decided to make a tag slider card for my old neighbour whose birthday it is soon.

As regular readers may remember, I always try to incorporate an owl into Audrey's card, it's a long standing joke between us that started over 10 years ago. This latest image is courtesy of a brand new stamp from Daisy Mae stamps, by Clare Rowlands. She used to make the Molly Bloom ones and then went quiet for awhile before this new release. 

The mechanism was made from a panel of NitWits DP printed on white card following this technique  here. I'd made one a long time ago at craft class but after searching online I found this simple explanation. 

The colour choice is quite masculine but it references the colours of the Owls, Sheffield Wednesday FC, an English soccer team which she supports. You might even see some caps like the owl is wearing at their matches!

I stamped the greeting to be revealed with a mix of Paper Smooches and Woodware greetings and the tag has a freebie greeting- Many Happy Returns of the day, stamped in black.

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

I'm joining in over at -

Congrats on your Wedding Day

Morning all. 

Busy week here on the blog, this time it's the brand new challenge over at Cardz4Galz.

Our theme for the next two weeks is

PRETTY PASTELS

Here is my interpretation of the theme to inspire you.

I used the Adore You set from Altenew, an old Cuttlebug design die cut sentiment and the stamped greeting from HLS (Simply Said) The blooms were stamped onto some MM paper them embossed with white EP, watercoloured with Distress inks and then fussy cut, the same with the leaves.

On a die cut panel I added a pale wash of the same pink colours used on the petals, Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry, then added the bouquet, raising a couple of the flowers up on pads for a little bit of dimension. The 'on your Wedding Day was stamped on a scrap of the same base card card, then I used the smallest banner die from MFT Blueprints #27 to cut out the banner.

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

Joining in over at:-

Believe

It's time for a brand new challenge over at ATSM. 

Here's my card for your inspiration.

Yep, this week it's 

I couldn't resist just one more Santa card, especially as CAS-UAL Fridays is dies only, no stamps!

After cutting out the 3 part die set, I coloured Santa's hat and his face using Copics and placed him on a panel of dark purpley blue card from the stash. Out of a scrap of white card I cut the STAMPlorations 'Believe', then inked it with Versamark and dunked it into some gold EP and when cooled down added it to the panel, then that was trimmed and mounted onto a white base card. 

Simples.

For more fab holiday inspiration check out the rest of the gang here.

I'm joining in over at:-

Challenge # 11 - Anything Christmas Goes

                                                    Anything Goes option of Gingerbread

A Brand New Baby

Morning all.
I went back to the dentist yesterday and they put in another temporary filling as the old one lasted less than 24 hours! Apparently my bite is not square and is putting too much pressure on the tooth, hence the break. So I'm to have the old filling replaced and the tooth built back up, lovely. I'm back next Monday for that delight!
Anyway in the meantime we've a brand new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz. This time our theme, chosen by me, is

TINY FINGERS, TINY TOES

So we'd like to see baby cards for boys! Here's my take.

I usually add teddies to my baby cards but this time I decided to use a Mama Elephant stamp set I won a while back and not had an opportunity to use until now. Using the sketch at CASe this Sketch and theme at Less is More, I stamped the small items from the set on a panel of white card, colouring them with Copics. The top panel I cut with an Avery Elle pierced border die and then glued over the stamping. A greeting from the same set completes. Having used a die cut and blue and baby theme, I can also link up at The Paper Players!

We'd love to see your projects over at Cardz4Guyz over the next two weeks, so why not join in.

Joining in over at- 

    
Die-cut/ baby/blue