October Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the Card Chain Challenge big reveal. This month 29 card makers took part and I sent my card to Majda in Slovenia.

I looked at the options this month and didn't find any inspiration so I decided to stick with friendship and fall from all the options on offer. I thought I had chosen appropriate fall/autumn colours, but now I look at the finished card, I am not so sure!

I decided that I wanted to use my new favourite turnabout stamp by Concord & 9th. It is called bouquet turnabout and it has 2 turnabout stamps in the set. 1 for the stems and 1 for the flowers. This means a total of 8 different colours, providing you use a different colour for each turn. Of course I did, as what's the point of a turnabout if you don't use all the possible colours?

The inks used are all Catherine Pooler. The stems are stamped in martini, skylight, spruce and seafoam. The flowers are stamped in pink champagne, rouge, ginger and glitz. Glitz was used for the sentiment panel, mount and to ink the edges of the background panel. Maybe choosing a different colour would have kept it looking more autumnal? I am not sure. The sentiment is from the same set and the embossing folder is called dimpled by Spellbinders.

I am quite happy with this card even if I didn't manage to use many of the options this month.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Joanne in UK

She even enclosed a little gift - thanks Joanne.

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

I decided to stamp another panel whilst I was about it and used a different colour for the highlights (pink champagne). It looks quite different doesn't it?  This one was a birthday card for my sister.

I put the embossed panel on the other way round too.

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

Happy Little Flowers

Today I have a cheery little CAS card to share.

These little flowers come from a cover die by Concord & 9th called posies inlay die. I love these little flowers. I cut them from 3 different colours and then pieced them together finishing with glossy accents in the centre. I have used Memory Box pinpoint flower plate on the background panel. I inadvertently stuck it on upside down, but I bet you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't told you! The sentiment is by Uniko and was stamped in CP rocking red and heat embossed.

I am sharing this at:

Inkspirational #378 - Clean and simple

Addicted to CAS #318 - Happy. I think the colours make this a happy card

Of course I had loads of flowers left over so I made 2 more cards.

The additional dies used on this one are by Craftaddiction UK

The sentiment is another from the Uniko simply said sentiments, the border die is an old one by Spellbinders and the frame is by Heffy Doodle.

I have had several weeks of being quite busy with trips and events in addition to having my wrist in plaster, so have got a little behind with my blog visits. Thank you to everyone who sent me best wishes. My plaster has finally been removed and I am now in the process of getting my wrist to work normally again. It is currently quite swollen and sore, but is getting a little better everyday. Plasters might be good for healing bones, but they are no good for keeping joints healthy. I am doing my exercises religiously and am sure it will be back to normal soon. Thanks again for all your kind thoughts and cards.

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

September Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the Card Chain Challenge big reveal. This month 29 card makers took part and I sent my card to Linda in Michigan.

This month I used the colours and the sketch.

I also used the friendship them, stencils and tone on tone inking.

I am pleased that I bought myself a new large sticky mat because it has enabled me to ink blend through a stencil one handed. I am now just over 5 weeks into my confinement in a plaster cast and can do much more, but when I made this card, life was quite challenging as I could do very little with my left hand, so I was pleased with my ink blending through these stencils.  Two stencils are used to make this pattern. They are by Stampin Up and were a gift. I used 2 colours for the stencilling and the heart. Catherine Pooler flirty fuchsia and be mine. The little labels are by Craft Addiction UK, as is the slatted heart die. The sentiments are embossed into the labels, see the close up below. I was tempted to use a fine liner to help the words stand out, but I knew I wouldn't manage it one handed. Especially as it is my writing hand that is incapacitated. I used CP bellini ink for the peony colour and embroidery thread for the scarlet.

Considering my current disability, I was pleased with this one.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Ellie in Illinois

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

I am going to be away for a few days from today, so apologies if it takes me a few days to visit the reveal.

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

Special Day

Today I am sharing the birthday card that I made for my eldest daughter who's birthday was in June.

I started with my favourite embossing folder by Spellbinders which I inked with Catherine Pooler twilight ink. I was pleased with how it turned out and really like the look.

The flowers are a set called go for it by Pinkfresh Studio. I have the press/foil plate, stencils and the matching dies. I foiled them onto glossy card stock and used the stencils to add colour. The sentiment strip is from the BetterPress set called birthday wishes sentiments. The panel was mounted onto white card then onto a grey cardbase.

I was pleased with this one. Hope you like it too.

I am sharing this at:

Seize the birthday #334 - Add a sentiment strip

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

Dusty Blue and Brown

Today I am sharing a card that I have made for a specific challenge. That is such an unusual event that I thought I should share it even though I am not that happy with the finished product. Actually 2 products as it one of those designs that leaves you with 2 cards.

Colour Hues are asking for dusky blue and brown, an unusual combination that I decided I would like to try. I used a cover die by Concord & 9th called empire inlay card front die and cut it from 2 colours. I used Catherine Pooler ink in stone blue and over coffee to colour my paper before cutting. I love doing inlayed die cutting but quickly realised that it was going to be quite a challenge to do it all one handed.

The pieces in the middle diamonds didn't fall out easily so I decided to leave them in and put double sided tape on the back and inlayed sections with the other colour. I had recently purchased another Concord & 9th stamp and die set called bouquet turnabout stamp set, which included the hexagon stamp, die and happy birthday. I coloured another piece of white card with both inks and stamped, heat embossed and cut the sentiment. I thought theses hexagons fitted well in the centre.

The stamping was done in the opposite colour but it turned out looking black on both colours. I finished them off with a few metallic looking gems.

There are lots of small errors on these cards, mainly because I am working with only one completely functioning hand, but I hope they are not too noticeable and I am pleased that I can still craft a bit, as long as I am careful.

Here is the other colour way:

As everything on these cards is NBUS, I am also sharing it at NBUS #90

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