Five

Hello,
This card was a long time in the development stage, it was for my youngest granddaughter, and I struggled to come up with an idea. I have this thing where I think I am no good at doing cards for children.

I had decided that I was going to make a shaker card but that is as far as it went, then I acquired a new 'with love' circle die from Crafters Companion and a set of stamps called 'smiling' by Penny Black, so the card grew from there. I have an ambition to acquire more Penny Black stamps but for now this set is one of two I own.

The background is an embossing folder with distress ink brayered onto the folder. The little bear is coloured with alcohol markers and fussy cut.

I stamped and heat embossed the doily on the card base (getting it positioned right was a challenge) and I filled the shaker with a mixture of sequins and die cut 5's.

To make the card special, I added a paper insert. The bear is fussy cut but the balloon is stamped on the paper. I also added an image to the envelope.

Despite the creative process for this card being rather slow and ponderous, I was pleased with the end result. Unfortunately I wasn't able to give the card in person, but I am grateful that the post is still working, I think the birthday girl liked it.

I am sharing this card at:

 Penny black Saturday Challenge - anything goes with an option to think spring.

Addicted to Stamps & More #382 - Make your Mark

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

Hilary
xx

Winged Things

Hello,
Just a quickie to share this card that I made a while back:

This stamp, by John Next Door, is long so I stamped it across the spine of the card after masking and inking the background.

I promised Gail that I would try and enter this months challenge at Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #95  the prompt is winged things so I think the butterflies qualify.

I am also sharing at Case This Sketch #365. It is not an exact CASE so please disregard if it is considered not to fit the criteria.




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

Purple

Hello,
I feel like I am a bit more organised today, don't know what has happened, but it means I have another card to share.

Everything I am making at the moment seems to be purple for some reason. The die cut on this card is cut down from a cover plate by Crafters Companion. I coloured the little pieces with alcohol markers and then inlaid them, this is one of my favourite techniques, it is very fiddly but also very satisfying, as long as you keep calm while you are doing it. Once the inlaid pieces were in place I added 2 layers and then filled the spaces with glossy accents and left it to dry. A 4th layer was added to give a clean finish.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment twice because I wanted to maintain the symmetry. The base card is adorable scorable matt. I don't know how long they have been doing a matt version but I have only just discovered it and it is great.

You can see the stained glass effect on this close up although the lovely mauve colour looks grey. We had just had a snow shower when I took this photo. I think they were the first snow flakes I have seen this year and it is the end of March, I hope it warms up soon.

I am sharing this card at:
Time Out Challenge #158 - Lot's or a little purple
Perfectly CAS #7 - Die cuts

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

Shine

Hello,
Todays card was made a while back when I was experimenting with deco foil transfer gel duo and stencils, I have finally got round to posting it.

The stencil is by Altenew and the rose is from Uniko. I think it was a grey day when I took these photos but at least you can see the shine of the foil. I am trying to practice my colouring and I think I might be making slow progress. They say practice makes progress so more practice is one of my ambitions while we are all stuck at home.

I am sharing this at:

AAA Birthday Game 11 - Flowers

Colour Crazy Challenge - Anything colouring goes

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

The Card Virus

Hello,
Today I am joining in with Gundi's Card Virus Challenge, what a good idea it is. She is encouraging us to send cards while we are all forced to avoid social contact during this virus outbreak. It feels so strange, but making cards will keep us distracted and busy. So let's do it.

Actually I had already sent this card to Gundi for no particular reason other than to be friendly and show her my appreciation, so I thought it was a good card to share here.

I made this with the free gift from Simply Cards and Papercraft Issue 202. I cut the fern and then used the negative space as a stencil using Catherine Pooler inks. I also inked the die cut and then covered it in versamark and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed too.

Let's see how long the card virus takes to travel round the world.

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

March CAS Stencil Reminder

Hello,
Today I am here to remind you that there is still plenty of time to join us for the March CAS Stencil Challenge.

This months prompt is heat embossing:

This is such a great technique that you really must give it a go, if you haven't already.

My main image is a stencil by Clarity Stamp, I inked it with DI's and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. To give the flower a bit more definition I outlined it with a fine liner pen. I then used a background stencil by aall & create which I inked with DI worn lipstick ensuring that I faded it out over the card.

The sentiment is by Uniko which I heat embossed in black. I have decided that in future I will stamp sentiments first and then heat emboss with clear embossing powder as I think it gives a cleaner finish (bet I don't remember that!).

To finish I cut the panel with a scolloped die and placed a few sequins. I do like the effect of heat embossing with stencils and it is so easy to do so I hope you give it a try and join us here.

I am also sharing this at Stamplorations March CAS Stencil Challenge

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

Hilary 

xx

New Home

Hello,
Last week my cousin finally moved into her new home around 18 months after purchasing it. They had to strip it out and virtually rebuild it to get it how they wanted. Anyway, it meant it was time for me to make a new home card:

The inspiration came from this card that I found on Pinterest. I just happened to have the same house die which is from Xcut Dinky Die range. I added some colour behind the windows and heart with alcohol markers, stacked the die and filled the holes with glossy accents. I am very pleased with the finished card and am also pleased that I have finally managed to use kraft card with good effect. I need to make the most of that feeling as it doesn't happen often!

I am sharing this card at:

Die-Cut Divas - Anything Goes

HLS - Anything Goes with Dies

Stamplorations - CAS challenge anything goes

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

March CAS Stencil Challenge

Hello,
Time for another challenge at CAS Stencil, our March challenge is hosted by Viv, she has asked us to use our stencils to heat emboss. There are links to several videos demonstrating this technique if you are new to it. This month we are very lucky to have Cat of Cat Luvs Paper as our guest designer (I just love her cards), so do head over and have a look.

I have't really used this technique much before but I have decided that I really love it. It is very easy and very effective and the best bit is that if the embossing doesn't cover very well you can just put the stencil back a do another layer.

My stencil is by Clarity Stamp, I inked it first with Distress Inks, then I inked with versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Once the suns rays were embossed I cut a circle from a post it note and inked and then embossed the sun. The blue was blended on after the embossing.

The sentiment was stamped with versafine onyx black and then clear embossed. I put a thin black strip under the image just to add some definition and mounted it on a coated card base.

Here is a close up, so you can see the shine:

 I hope you will join us this month as this is such a good technique, but don't forget to keep it CAS. I shall look forward to seeing all the entries in the gallery. Here is the link.

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

February Card Chain Challenge

Hello,
Today is reveal day over at Card Chain Challenge. This month my card went to Tina in Slovenia, do go and check out her blog.

I tried to follow the sketch option this month but I also used watercolour as one of the technique options.

My card:

I have used Curly Q's background stamp by Whimsy Stamps, gold heat embossing and Brusho watercolour paints. I spritzed the finished panel with silver Cosmic Shimmer to give a shine. The background stamp was stamped again on pearlescent vellum and diecut with a small heart and mounted on some white paper. The sentiment is written with my Scan N Cut. Finally the panel is mounted on blue adorable scorable coated card.

I was lucky enough to receive this lovely card from Jo:

Apart from being a stunning card it has some lovely sparkle on it just to enhance the frosty feel.

If you haven't ever joined in with the Card Chain Challenge I would highly recommend it. It is so nice to receive a wonderful handmade card in the post from places all over the world.

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