Love Coffee

Hello,

Today I have a card for the Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Hop. I haven't participated in this before but I have seen so many wonderful entries that I thought I would have a go. I made the card at the beginning of the week and have just realised that if I don't get on with this post I will miss the deadline, that would be typical!

The coffee cup is a digital stamp by Stamplorations which I haven't used before so I thought this was a good opportunity to bring it out and practice my colouring. I used polychromos and gel pens. The leaves are outlined in a sparkle pen so it has a bit of shine to it in real life. The background is an embossing folder by Spellbinders and the sentiment was done on my computer.

Wow my entry was number 1317!

As the digi stamp and embossing folder have received their first outing on this card I am also sharing at NBUS #14

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

 Hilary

xx

Mandala

Hello, 

Today I am joining Mia to help her celebrate the 3rd blogaversary on her blog Craftartista. She is one of the friendliest bloggers I know and the artwork she displays on her blog is definitely worth a look as it is very varied and very skilled. I decided that I should join her in her celebrations so I downloaded one of her 15 free Mandala digital files and made this card.

One of the positive things about digital files is that you can resize them. I made this one small enough that I could centre it on the card, I coloured it with watercolour markers and gel pens and fussy cut it out. I wasn't particularly happy with it centred on the card so I offset it as you see, but then I wasn't particularly happy with that either! I think I should have made it bigger and set it off the edge in the corner, but anyway it is done now. Sometimes there are just too many decisions to make, it seizes me up!

The background die is by Spellbinders, I cut it from gold paper and mounted it on a sandy yellow/gold card base. The sentiment is heat embossed on vellum. I wanted the focus to be the mandala so I kept the sentiment fairly neutral. To add a bit of nice detail I printed the mandala on an insert and also on the envelope and added a few gold highlights with the gel pen.

I have been trying to learn a bit more about taking decent photos, so have gone a bit arty in my first picture. Not sure that is has worked.

Anyway I wish Mia a very happy blogaversary. You have until 31st May to join her.

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

Hilary 

xx

Watercoloured Galaxy

Hello

As this is the last month for the old format of the CAS challenges, I decided that I must make an effort to share a card in all 3. My last one to enter today is CAS Watercolour where the prompt is night sky. Another reason for entering is that I have done a water colouring class on Skillshare that had an exercise to paint a galaxy. I often skip the exercises in classes but this challenge gave me a good reason not to.

I have found myself feeling very distracted recently, my mind seems to be in lots of places at once so I struggle to concentrate and focus on one thing. It means I keep making stupid mistakes, so taking the time to focus on one activity has helped (a little).

My galaxy is an A4 sheet and so far I have made 3 cards from it:

1.

2.

This one has a coating of clear shimmer on it as does the one below.

I am sharing this at:

HLS Anything Goes with Dies May challenge.

Stamplorations May CAS Challenge

  

3.

 

I have always been intimidated by enamel dots, sequins etc as I could never work out how to place them, but I think I might get a bit bolder now after watching Cathy Zielske on You Tube, she gives some very clear tips in one of her 10 minute design chats. I was so enthused that I had a go with this card. Has it worked?

I am sharing this one at:

cardz4guyz #245 Sketch

The Paper Players PP 491 Clean and simple, men in mind

Finally this little succulent is rooting happily in a glass vase and looking rather pretty, so I thought I would share the image with you. I hope it makes you smile.

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

Hilary 

xx

Gesso Resist

Hello, 

Today I have a card for CAS Mix Up May challenge which is hosted by Linda. she has asked us to use the gesso resist technique, plus stamping plus your choice. I have never used this technique before and as I have a tiny bottle of clear gesso I had no excuse, so here is my effort:

I used a stencil (not used before) and painted the gesso over it onto a piece of white card. Once the gesso was dry I brushed distress ink all over the panel. I kept to a monotone palette so I could also enter Seize the birthday #190. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed. I have decided that I really like the effect you get with this technique and must remember to try use it again. As the stencil is NBUS I am also sharing at NBUS #14.

As I only used half the panel, I made another but this time I added contrast.

I also tried out the gesso with a stamp, the effect is quite subtle but still good. I again used a blending brush to apply a slightly darker shade of orange, and this time I used a complementary colour for the card base and sentiment.

Here is a close up

       

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

Hilary 

xx

May CAS Stencil Reminder

Hello,
It is reminder time over at the CAS Stencil challenge blog and I am honoured to be your host this month. The theme that I chose is layered stencilling. Greta is our guest designer this month, her cards are well worth a look.

If you are not sure where to start with this try having a look at the videos linked on the blog. you can create all sorts of looks with this technique. My reminder card has a different look to it as I only used one stencil, but I rotated it and used it again. I ended up with a lovely gingham effect, so I thought it would make a good table cloth.

You can see that I made 2 panels in 2 colour ways here, I decided to use the monotone one and save the other for another day.

The stamp and sentiment are from a Penny Black set called 'from the garden'. This was fussy cut and painted with the same colours. I actually made 2 of these cards as I didn't put any splatters on the first one (I love splatters, but am terrified of them too), so I decided to make another and brave the spatters! Much to my surprise, it worked but now I am worried that I have compromised the CAS status of this card! The shadow is drawn with a pencil.

Do visit the blog and see all the inspiration we have for you and I shall look forward to seeing your entry, just click here, you won't regret it as this is such a cool technique and makes really good use of your stencils.

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

70th Birthday

Hello, 

Today my card is for Stamping Sensations say it with flowers:

This is made with a turn about stamp by Crafters Companion which, after several attempts, I got an impression that I was content with. I won't say pleased because it is not perfect. These stamps can be so frustrating! I used memento ink which gave this lovely bold look. I didn't want to detract too much from the background so I stamped and heat embossed the numbers on vellum, fussy cut them out and coloured them from behind with alcohol markers. The letters are die cut from shiny dark red card which the panel was also mounted on.

Although this is very bold and imposing, I think it works, I hope you think so too.

I am also sharing this at Watercooler Wednesdays C271

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

Hilary 

xx

Dahlia

Hello,

Today I have a quick post to share this card that I made some time ago but haven't posted until now. When I saw that the code word for Addicted to CAS was flower, I wondered if I had something already made that would fit, as so may of my cards have flowers of some description on them.

I found this:

The flower is a dahlia stencil by Uniko, as is the sentiment and heart stamp, the heart circle frame is by Catherine Pooler.

I hope you like it.

I am also sharing it at:

Addicted to stamps and more #389 - CAS

 

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

Hilary 

xx

Twofer

Hello, 

Today I am entering Darnell's Twofer #27 with the prompt 'Flowers'. I can't remember the last time I entered this challenge so I thought it was time for me to get my act together. Plus the prompt word suites me very well this month. I was looking for something to make a tag from in my bag of backgrounds that haven't found a use yet, and I found one that I liked, quite why I didn't like it when I made it I don't know (it is the things that I don't think turned out very well that often end up in this bag). It featured a lovely background stamp by My Favourite Things called bundle of blossoms, which is one of my favourites and I hadn't used it for a while, so that was my decision made about what flowers to use on my cards.

This is the card made from the panel I found in my stash, it was made by heat embossing the stamped image in black and sprinkling it with brusho powders and water.  When it was dry I highlighted elements with a gold gel pen. I made it into a sympathy card by using a Waffle Flower postage stamp die to cut the window from a piece of black linen effect card, heat embossing the sentiment and stacking the die cut poppies.

I am also sharing this card at:

MakeMy Monday #122 Tone on tone background

Happy Little Stampers Anything goes with dies

My second card was made by heat embossing with Wow gold pearl embossing powder onto Lawn fawn pearlescent vellum. It gives a lovely shimmery effect. Whilst my first card is a metric A6 this one is an A2 size so that the stamped area covers the whole card front. I thought about framing it, but I wanted the flowers to feel as though they went on forever so I resisted that urge. I kept it simple by just adding the butterfly and Happy Birthday sentiment. As the front of this card is vellum, I backed it with a piece of acetate, hung it over a paper insert and attached a piece of heavy weight card to the back. It sounds strange but it does work, I rarely make top folding cards as I struggle to get them to stand up properly.

You can see the detail of the stamp in this picture and the lovely pearly gold embossing.

This card is being shared at:

AAA Birthday #13 Things with wings

Use your stuff #397 Flowers and/or butterflies

     

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

Hilary 

xx

May CAS Stencil Challenge

Hello,
Last week was hard for me, but now we are in a new week, a new month and have a new challenge to get you motivated. How are you doing?

Anyway, down to business, this is my first time hosting a challenge, so I do hope you will join me and my fellow design team members for our  May CAS Stencil Challenge. The theme this month is layered stencilling and you can find links to a few helpful videos demonstrating the technique on the challenge blog. You can make some amazing effects just by layering stencils on top of each other.

We are really lucky to have Greta as our guest designer this month. Do check out her wonderful cards.

For my card I started by taking an A4 sheet of hot pressed water colour paper and ended up with this:

I really enjoyed making this. I started by inking several different stencils randomly over the paper, then I used brusho paints to add colour. When that was dry I used texture paste with a Funky Fossil stencil (the round shapes) and a Kaisercraft crackle stencil that Loll gave me. I coloured the paste blue before I used it and just filled in the gaps. You just keep going until you are happy with what you have created. To give the panel a nice finish and to seal it, I gave it a coat of mod podge gloss.

The next stage was the hard bit - trying to work out how to use my panel to create a CAS card! It took a while, but here is what I came up with:

I used a stitched square die to cut the shape, mounted it on blue card and heat embossed the hello several times in blue embossing powder.

If you look carefully you can see some of the stencils used.

I actually made 4 cards and 2 tags from this A4 sheet. Here are the other cards:

Do let me know what you think and I hope I have inspired you to join us here, I shall look forward to seeing all your creations in the gallery and visiting you for a closer look.

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