Spring

Today I am sharing a set of note cards that I made following inspiration from Gundi at the beginning of March. I saw her set of gorgeous spring flowers and thought, I have those digi stamps by Uniko, I am going to use them, and here you are:

I printed the images with a faint line onto hot pressed watercolour paper and painted them with my Zig clean colour real brush pens.

After trimming the image I used a black alcohol marker to frame them and the mounted them onto adorable scorable coated card.

Not sure why I didn't watermark a separate picture of the daffodil, but I think there are enough pictures on this post.

Finally after printing the stamp onto a paper card insert I placed each card in a gello bag, tied them with ribbon and gave them to my sister in law for her birthday. She always gets a set of note cards from me as she always expresses her appreciation of my cards - I do hope she is not just being polite!

I am sharing these at:

Uniko #64 - Signs of Spring

Craftlandia #6 - Spring

PS. Those digi stamps are free too, thanks Bev.

Supplies:

Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper; Adorable scorable coated card

Ink: Zig clean colour watercolour pens

Stamps: Uniko free digi stamps; Concord & 9th lace Leaf stamp set

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

Patchwork Squares

Today I have a card that I have made for this weeks Inspired By Challenge #IB166. I saw the photo and immediately recognised some of the fabric on that gorgeous patchwork bedspread. I have quite a large collection of fabric scraps and loads of Liberty Print Tana Lawn. I really enjoy using it on cards but haven't actually done so for a long long time, so here was my chance to change that.

If you look at the bottom left of the picture, the second fabric in from the left on the bottom row is the one I have used. As I have it in 2 colour-ways I  have used them both for my patchwork. I have just realised that my card also matches the sketch this week.

After ironing on some bondaweb to the back of my fabric I cut it with a small square die, carefully arranging it on a piece of card before ironing it onto the card. Then I used thin red ribbon to create the grid. The panel was then cut with a stitched die and mounted onto another piece of card. I coloured the edges red as I wanted it to match the ribbon and I didn't have any card that was the right colour. The match isn't perfect but it will do.

The bunny is a digi stamp (I can't remember where I got it) that I printed, coloured and fussy cut. My colouring is terrible so I am not showing you a close up today! I did it quite quickly while it was dark and didn't really look at it properly before I added it to the card, otherwise I might have tried to improve it! I cut a tiny oval from green spotty paper for him to stand on. I decided not to add a sentiment as I didn't want to detract from the lovely fabric, but it is an Easter card that I will be sending to one of my grandchildren.  Apart from my colouring I am quite pleased with this one and think I must try to use my fabric more often.

Instead of the card close-up I am sharing another photo from my Camelia, you can see how many petals it has and how it fades to white as it ages. It still has lots of buds but it has been a bit cold so some of the flowers outer petals have gone brown. None of the buds have fallen though, so I am still hopeful of a good display as long as it warms up a bit.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Card base - Adorable Scorable Mattastic

Dies: Waffle Flower nested squares and ovals; Claina Palmer - A6 stitched nested dies

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

A Little Box

Today I have an embossed box to share. Every month I intend to join let's squash it and every month seems to come and go without me getting round to it. This month is different though, they are asking for a box with floral embossing. I rarely make boxes but I thought I had the ideal embossing folder so made this:

The embossing folder incorporates the heart cut so this was easy to do. I just added some ink with a sponge and used sparkle pens, embellishments and gilding wax to add interest.

I filled this box with sweets and sent it to my granddaughter as part of her birthday present.

I am glad I have finally got round to joining the squash it team.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Adorable scorable A4; Stamping card

Ink: Catherine Pooler

Embossing Folder: free with Simply Cards & Papercraft mag

Dies: ?

Other: Gelly Roll sparkle pens; gold embellishments; gilding wax

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

Inspired by

I needed a good luck card and got my inspiration when I saw this card by Michele of I Card Everyone.

I have this little tiny heart balloon die that I thought would make a good 4 leaf clover. I stuck each heart on a small circle of white card and added some embroidery floss as the stalk/balloon string. I dry embossed the green panel with the confetti cover plate as I wanted it to fit nicely behind the white panel, but I am not sure that it made much difference to the look of the finished card.

The silver mat gives it a nice sparkle when the light catches it and I have used one of Michele's favourite techniques and debossed the green mat with a cover plate. Thanks for all the ideas Michele, I think your cards are fabulous.

I did make another card with this balloon die, with the intention of entering this months Twofer challenge, but after I had made it, I realised that although the two cards were for different occasions and looked quite different the  design was almost identical!  I will have to wait for another occasion to share that one.

Sharing this one at:

The Inspired by challenge - Lucky rainbow. I was inspired by green, lucky and glover

Supplies:

cardstock: Concord & Ninth Parsley; Silver sparkle paper; Stamping card

Ink: Versafine onyx black

Stamps: Sentiments, My Favourite Things and Uniko; Panda ?

Dies: Hero Arts Flower Confetti; Altenew dotted scales: heart balloon ?

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

March CAS Mix Up Reminder

It is reminder time over at CAS Mix Up. This months challenge is watercolour, our host is Bonnie and the theme is print making with die cuts. Our guest designer this month is Ros so be sure to pay her a visit and see her wonderful cards. But that is not all this month, it is also the challenges 5th Birthday and there are prizes.

The white sheet poking out is the card insert.

I did struggle a bit with this one, I kept having ideas but the finished card either wasn't watercolour, wasn't CAS or it didn't really match the theme of print making properly. I am not really sure that this card does but I thought I would go with it anyway.  The butterfly was die cut 3 times from watercolour paper and stacked and then inked generously and spritzed with a water before stamping it to create the watercolour image.

This is quite an easy way to produce a mirror image, which is worth remembering.

The butterfly on the sentiment strip is the one used to create the framed image. I coated it with glossy accents before adding it to the sentiment strip. I added some clear drops to the card to try and pull the 2 elements of the design together. I am not sure if that has worked as they don't show very well.

I made a second card with this butterfly

Which do you prefer?

I am sharing this second card at:

Day of the month card club #25 - Learn about Butterflies Day. they are also celebrating their second anniversary

I hope you will find time to join us and help us celebrate this milestone, you have until the 24th. I am looking forward to seeing your print making.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Card base - adorable scorable, butterfly die cut - watercolour paper, white stamping card, brown coloured 300gsm card

Ink: Distress ink - aged mahogany and candied apple

Dies: Butterfly from The Works, frame die - Lawn Fawn, Border die - Spellbinders

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

Intricate Die Cuts

Popping in quickly again to share a couple of cards that I made a while ago and have just seen the perfect challenges for them.

1.

After using the die to cut the panel I lightly embossed a piece of card so I could see the impressions and then coloured it with alcohol markers before positioning it behind the panel.

Sharing at:

Less is More #438 - Baby

Addicted to CAS #193 - Shapes

2.

I just love doing inlaid die cuts and also love the detail on this cover plate, but even I wasn't going to inlay all these little pieces! Just doing these 2 pieces on each shape took a long time, but it is so satisfying and I love the result.

Sharing at:

Mix it up challenge blog #47 - Anything goes + inlaid die cut

Supplies:

Card 1

Cardstock: Smooth white stamping card, adorable scorable coated card for the base

Ink: Spectrum Noir alcohol markers

Stamps: Uniko

Dies: Claina Palmer nested doily

Supplies:

Card 2

Cardstock: Smooth white stamping card, adorable scorable

Ink: Spectrum Noir alcohol markers

Stamps: My Favourite Things

Dies: Crafters Companion art deco

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

Dies and Stencils

Just a quick post today to share this card:

I stamped the tulip outline with a stamp made from the die with craft foam. That was masked and the stencil background was created with 2 different stencils. The other elements of the tulip were die cut from a smooched piece of watercolour paper. The sentiment was cut from the same piece. The panel was mounted on a piece of really sparkly silver paper and then onto the base card. Sorry my picture doesn't show the sparkle.

I am sharing it at:

Addicted to Stamps ans More #400 - Die cuts and stencils

Stamplorations March Stencil Challenge - Always anything goes

Happy Little Stampers March Stencil Challenge - Anything goes

Supplies:

Cardstock: Smooth Stamping card, silver sparkle paper, adorable scorable coated card

Ink: Distress Ink

Dies: Pretty Quick Tulip

Stencils: AALL & CREATE  #96 and #112

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

Monochromatic Colouring

The sun shone for a few hours today so I went out in the garden and did some pruning, it definitely makes me feel better, but it will be short lived and wind and rain are coming :(

I have two cards to share today, both are stamped and coloured with alcohol markers. You can find a shaker card that I made with this stamp and die set here. I love the way they look so different.

This one was made for my sister who had a knee replacement op recently.

I am sharing it at Stamping Sensations - monochromatic.

This second card was made in exactly the same way except that I clear heat embossed the stamping after colouring it. Unfortunately you can't see the shine that has given it on the photos. This card is still waiting to be sent to someone.

I am sharing this one at We love Chocolate Baroque - we love....

I love colouring (which I don't do often enough) and heat embossing.

I was pleased with these and can't choose between them, which is your favourite?

Supplies:

Cardstock: Mixed media paper and 300gsm photo mounting board

Ink: Versafine onyx black and toffee. Spectrum Noir alcohol markers

Stamps: Tonic Studios Happy Hibiscus

Dies: Waffle Flower A2 layering dies and A2 between layering dies

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