Hearts

Hello,
Today I have managed to find time to finish my cards for this months Twofer #23 with the prompt of hearts.

For my first card, a valentines card, I have used the hexagon cover plate die from Concord & 9th again. This time I layered it 3 times to give the dimension and I used my alcohol markers to colour the hexagons and insert them back into their spaces in the die (that was a fiddle, you definitely need patience). I filled the spaces of 2 rows with Nuvo Crystal Glaze and let that dry before adding 2 more die cuts. The hexagons under the crystal glaze were actually painted with a gold paint pen but some of them look more green. I think that must be the light reflecting on the glaze.

My heart which is common to both cards is by Creative Expressions. I heat embossed it in gold, fussy cut it and then coloured the flowers with the same colours already used. The sentiment was heat embossed in white on a snippet of white card that I coloured with my marker pen. The message inside reads on Valentines Day.

The card has quite a nice shine which shows up better on this picture:

For my second card I stamped the heart 5 times on pearlescent velum and heat embossed it with gold pearl embossing powder. My original idea was to offset the flower so it was cut off at the edge but it didn't really work, I think because the hearts are a bit big, so I decided to centre it. I originally just stuck it down in the centre but the edges curled up too much so I stuck the edges down and then got annoyed with myself because you can see the glue! It is not stuck down all round so there is some dimension. The central flower is a button that had a loop on the back which I cut off.

Again you can see the shine and dimension better here:

I also wish I hadn't added the to you message as I don't think it adds anything. Anyway it is all a learning curve.

By the way, as it is quite dark in my craft room in winter, I am having to take my photos in the conservatory which is where my succulent and cacti collection are housed during the winter. As they are all around when I take the photo some have been finding their way into the pictures recently. I hope you like them.

I am also sharing the first card at Pixies snippets playground #369

I am off to watch Call The Midwife now.

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

Hilary 

xx

CAS Stencil Reminder

Hello,
I am back today to remind you that there is still time to play in the January CAS Stencil Challenge, the prompt this month is use a new stencil:

The challenge is celebrating it's first birthday so there is a prize this month:

The winner will receive a $25 GC to Simon Says Stamp and there will be a random draw from all eligible entries for another $25 SSS gift card.

2 very good reasons for entering I think.

My new stencil this time is from Funky Fossil called circle burst. I thought it was apt for New Year. I created a square on my card front using post it tape and inked the stencil with Distress Oxides. The sentiment is heat embossed in gold and I added some tiny gold embellishments to finish it off.

                                      

Thanks for visiting, I hope I have inspired you to join in our current you can see more inspiration  here

I am also sharing this at:
Stamplorations - January CAS Challenge
A Place To Start - Anything Goes, optional twist - CAS
Perfectly CAS - One Layer

           

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

Something New

Hello,
Today I have 2 cards to share, they are both made with a new die that I have just purchased courtesy of a gift voucher for Christmas. I have told myself that in order to justify the expense (it was very expensive) I have to make at least 10 cards with it before I put it away.

The good news is that it cuts beautifully and the bad news is it is a real fiddle to stick down and to manage all the little bits. I suppose from that perspective it suites me fine!

My first card is for my younger daughters (39th) birthday:

The die is called hexagon designer dies from Concord & 9th and the flower stamp is from a Kaisercraft set called elegance. I water coloured and fussy cut the flowers and added a few splatters with a white paint pen. The sentiment is heat embossed on pearlescent velum (another recent purchase which I love).

I am hoping that this card is still considered to be CAS because the background is white on white and just adds texture but if I am wrong please disregard my entry to the CAS challenge.

Challenges

CAS Watercolour - cool colours

Die Cut Divas - new things

Card 2:

This time I cut the die from metallic paper and mounted it on a white card front. The circle stamping is my favourite turnabout stamp from Concord & 9th called All Season. The sentiment is hot foiled onto pearlescent velum with my Scan N Cut machine (which I got fixed).

Challenges
Your Next Stamp - Shades of blue
Allsorts week 554 - Say it with flowers

 

Next time I use this die I might try a bit of inlay or perhaps a shaker card, we'll see.

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

Flower Border

Hello,
Today I really should be writing thank you cards but I always put that job off and prefer to spend my time making them not writing them!

Anyway here is the card I am sharing today:

I have used partial die-cutting to create this border from a die called Flower Burst by Spellbinders. I wanted the border to fill the card front so I needed to cut it twice. As ever this was a bit of a fiddle to achieve, not because it is hard to do a partial cut but because this die just does not like releasing the paper once it is cut. Eventually I sorted it by using greaseproof paper.

I added the little dragonflies but thought it still needed something else so I came up with the ladybird from a stamp set by My Favourite Things and stamped the sentiment on the base of the flower panel to finish it off.

I am sharing this at:

CAS Mix Up - I have used partial die-cutting + Stamping + colouring (a tiny bit)

Time Out #152 

Happy Little Stampers - January CAS Challenge Wings

    

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

Mondrianesque

Happy New Year
I am excited and nervous in equal measure today, as it is my first ever post as a member of a design team. I was very very honoured to be invited to join the CAS Stencil Design team by the wonderful Loll who makes the most gorgeous CAS cards. Despite being quite daunted by the prospect, there is no way I could refuse.

Today the CAS Stencil Challenge blog is celebrating it's first birthday so there will be a prize:

The winner will receive a

$25 GC to Simon Says Stamp 

and there will also be a random draw for another
$25 GC to Simon Says Stamp

The prompt this month is:

Our Host is Nancy

Our guest designer is Arlene

In theory this should not be hard for me as I have been very busy buying new stencils (I think I have a good excuse now), but in reality this card took a long time to come right. I do hope it will gets easier as the months go by.

I have called this post Mondrianesque as my card is inspired by the famous geometric designs of the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. Even if you haven't heard his name you will recognise his work which has a fresh modern feel even though he died in 1944 at the age of 71. 

Do you remember the Mondrian dress from the 1960's? I don 't directly remember it from the 60's as I was still a child, but the design has become iconic since then. Coincidentally I saw the front cover of this weeks Radio Times has a picture of the cast of Call The Midwife wearing one and there is an exhibition featuring it at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Paris at the moment.

Here is my card:

I very nearly gave up with this as it proved more tricky than I thought it would. The stencil is called gridlock by Sharon Callis, I thought it would be perfect for this design, but it proved to be hard to keep the card clean and yet saturate the spaces with bold colour. In the end I stuck the card down well and masked round the space I wanted to add colour to. I then wiped the ink directly onto the card, filling in the edges with a small blending brush. Once that was done I had to create the black lines - first I traced the edges of the stencil with a fineliner pen, then I removed the stencil and used thin post it tape to mask the white areas. I then filled in the lines with a jet black alcohol marker but unfortunately the ink bled a little, so I went round it again with a ruler and a fineliner to tidy the edges up. This still isn't perfect but good enough.

I cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die, mounted it on some craft foam and added it to the card front. As we are celebrating the challenge birthday I added a birthday sentiment. I also thought the design would be good for a male card.

Here is a picture of the Mondrian dress to remind you:

What do you think? I do hope you like it and it inspires you to take part in our challenge this month.

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