August Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the Card Chain Challenge big reveal. This month 26 card makers took part and I sent my card to Jo in UK.

This month I used the colours and the options of lace and friendship.

My card base is stone coloured matt card and my pewter and tan are metallic card. The lace die is by Sizzix (Tim Holtz 664181) and the hello die and sentiment is by Spellbinders (a little hello sentiments designed by Lisa Horton).

I made a stencil with the die to decorate the insert and the envelope. You can just see them in the first photo. The picture below shows the shiny metallic cardstock.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Linda in Michigan. Thanks Linda.

If you would like to take part in the next card chain challenge, you have until 6th to sign up here

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

Celebrating 50 Years

Today I have a card I made for my cousins' 50th wedding anniversary. It is such a special achievement that I tried to make her and her lucky husband a very special card.

I used lots of dies and hotfoiling for this one. It took a while to make, but I was pleased with the end result. The nesting circle frame dies are by Clarity Crafts and I cut them from a matt gold and white card and alternated them. These dies can be quite challenging to cut so there was lots of time spent on that. I am afraid I seem to have lost the packaging for the central die that has cut the hearts out and I can't remember where I got it. The numbers are by Concord & 9th and the flower is by Pink Fresh Studio, I used matching stencils to colour it.

I created the insert and decorated the envelope by using the matching cut out dies by Clarity Crafts. I then used pink paper to back them.

Sadly my first marriage ended after 14yrs and I have only reached 10 on my second marriage, but we have been together for 30yrs. Still a long way short of 50 though.

I am sharing this at:

Addicted to Stamps and more #524 - any occasion. Thanks Carol for reminding me that I had this card ready to share.

Unfortunately I had a little accident yesterday (Tuesday 25th). I was walking with my husband and I lost my balance on the edge of the kerb and fell. I have broken my left wrist (I am left handed) and am now in plaster for at least 4 weeks. I am feeling very useless and stupid bearing in mind that I generally walk around 5 miles a day quite happily. Hey ho.....

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

Yellow and Orange

Today I am popping in to share a card quickly. When I saw the current challenge over at Colour Hues #139 is asking for yellow and orange, I knew I had just the thing for it.

I have to admit that it is a while since I made this card, but it hasn't been shared yet. In fact I only ever share a minority of the cards that I make. Not sure why, except that time always runs out for me, and I am  not good at making things for specific challenges, so I wait until I have something that fits. Anyway these stencils were a gift from a lovely blogging friend over in the States. They are by Stamping Up and I am happy that the current colours hues challenge has reminded me that I have them, as they really are rather cool. This is the thank you card that I sent to my generous friend as I knew that yellow is one of her favourite colours.

The thanks die is by Alex Syberia Designs and the 'so much' is from Yana's special sentiments hot foil set by Spellbinders.

Os course, as many of you will know, I will often make more than one. This time my second offering is a vibrant pink. I even hotfoiled the so much in pink! I hope you like them.

As these stencils were NBUS I am sharing this one over at NBUS #89

I know that I haven't posted much recently, but you might just see me again in a day or 2. We will see.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

July Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the Card Chain Challenge big reveal. This month 26 card makers took part and I sent my card to Kathy in the UK.

I used the colour option (sort of) the theme of friendship and the technique of ink blending

I started by blending Catherine Pooler ink in it's a girl (pink) and glitz (gold). Once I was happy with it I chose this stencil by crafters workshop, which is one of my favourites and hasn't been used for a long time. I used a slightly darker pink called part dress over the stencil and then cut the hello and friend (dies by Tonic Studios) from my panel. I wasn't sure how I was going to raise the letters but in the end I decided on some craft foam. I haven't used it on my cards for ages because it isn't recyclable, but I still have some stock so thought it was worth using. I cut the words from some grey foam and mounted the panel on it too. After I had finished the card, I realised that I needn't have used it under the panel too as it made my card a bit thick, which meant a more expensive stamp, but at least it wasn't going abroad this month. In this country letters cost more to post if they are more than 5mm thick. This is a major reason why I keep most of my cards quite flat.

I spritzed the panel with some silver shimmer spray to add some interest, inked the edges with the darker pink and added 3 little gems. The cardbase is adorable scorable coated card, but it is kraft coloured. Not that you can see much of it.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Gail in Canada. I love it. Thanks Gail.

If you would like to take part in the next card chain challenge, you have until 6th to sign up here

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

Sending all the happy

Today I have an eclipse cas card to share. When I saw that Loll had brought back the CAS Mix Up challenge, I was determined to join in.

I needed a card for a 17yr girl who has her birthday in August, so I decided to make the number 17 the eclipse element.

I have used the stamp set called flower field stamps by Christina Werner with Concord & 9th. This is a large 6x8 inch stamp, so not appropriate for a CAS card. I therefore used a circle die to cut a section after I had coloured it with the matching stencils. I used my nesting circle dies to cut a mat gold frame and small number dies also by Concord & 9th to cut out the numbers from the image. I stacked them 3 times. The flower centres and little bee (from a different stamp set) were coloured with sparkle pens.

I hope you can see the eclipse OK. I took the photo above at an angle to try and show it better, but I am not sure it has made much difference, you can, however, see the shine from the gold card and sparkle pens.

The sentiment is from the same set. In retrospect I wish I had stamped it directly on the card front, but as I have the matching dies I used them. I wanted to add a little bit of bling so included a few teeny tiny gems around the sentiment and the numbers. I hope I haven't ruined its CAS credentials.

Thanks to Carol of Inkyfingers for giving me the inspiration for using this stamp.

I am sharing this at:

CAS Mix Up July Challenge - eclipse

Seize The Birthday #330 - One or more numbers. The sentiment inside the card reads 'on your 17th birthday'

We Love Stamping July Challenge - Summertime

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it.