Allsorts Guest Designer

Today I am lucky enough to be guest designer over at Allsorts week 716 where there is a new challenge for all sorts of crafts every Saturday. This week the theme is:

** Wings**

Allsorts is a challenge that can be any craft, not just cards, but I am afraid I have just made another card! The 18th is also reminder day for We Love Stamping so I have 2 posts publishing this morning. I did consider combining them, but decided against it in the end. Find my We Love Stamping post here.

I have recently had a play with my alcohol inks and created a few backgrounds, so I used one as the starting point for this card. I have had this scribble circle die for a while and I think I have only used it once, so decided that it would work here. I actually used 3 dies on my white front panel, the scribble circle, a debossing die and a scallop edge die. I always find it a challenge to get the placement right if I am cutting something out of my panel. It isn't perfect this time, but close enough, I think.

My panel is propped up on some foam tape and the top 2 layers of my layered butterfly were heat embossed, so that it has a nice shine. Sorry you can't see that in the photo. I cut the stamped butterfly out with my scan and cut and cut an extra 2 so that I could layer it. the first piece I coloured with the yellow ink before sticking it to the card. the second piece was layered behind the butterfly to give it a bit more strength and then I glued it onto the base piece just down the centre of the body. This means that the wings can be bent up to give dimension on the card front. Unfortunately the photos don't really show that either!

The die cut sentiment is backed with a waste piece of the AI panel and a few metallic pink embellishments were added to finish it off.

I hope to see you in the Allsorts gallery this week. I know there will be lots of butterflies.

I am also sharing this at:

Time Out #232 - 9th birthday, anything birthday goes

Supplies:

cardstock: White 300gsm cardbase; yupo paper; white 225gsm white card

Ink: Alcohol ink various colours and pearl mixative; Catherine Pooler sauna, mandarin spice and peppermint scrub; versamark

Stamps: Hero Arts CL867

Dies: Altenew dotted swirls bebossing cover die and essential sentiment strips; Poppy Stamps scribble circle; Lisa Horton tatty layers, pretty tickseed panel

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

We Love Stamping Feb Reminder

Today is the 18th so time for a reminder for our current challenge over at We Love Stamping. The challenge where you can showcase your stamps and your skill at using them.

It is also Saturday, the day I am honoured to be a guest designer over at Allsorts, which means I have 2 posts publishing this morning. I did think about combining them but decided against it in the end. Find my Allsorts post here.

This month our theme is:

**Anything stamping with the option to use a stencil**

Today I have another NBUS stamp that was a gift from a very special friend. I am so glad to have used it finally.  When I first invested in some Catherine Pooler re-inkers last year I played around using them to create backgrounds on glossy photo paper. I now have a whole stack of these in different colours, so I expect you will see them used on more of my cards in the months to come.

I took one of these backgrounds and added ink though a waves stencil to get the look of water. the jellyfish was then stamped in versamark and white heat embossed. I have found that stamping on this glossy surface is fine with versamark, but not so easy with ordinary ink as it tends to stick and then it pulls off the colour. I did stamp it twice and got a bit of a shadow on some of the tendrils, but I don't think it matters much.

I used another of the backgrounds for the sentiment strip. I think it is a slightly different look for me and I am pleased with it.  The glossy cardstock gives it a really lovely shine, but you have to be careful putting it through a die cutting machine as the surface will mark easily. 

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month the it has been kindly donated by Highlight Crafts and includes a Crown and Glory stamp set and a Little Tweet die. Why don't you head over to the challenge blog to check it out? The prize winner is selected randomly and in addition the DT will choose one entry to join us as a guest designer for a future challenge.

I hope I have inspired you to join us this month, all you have to do is follow the prompt and ensure stamping is the main focus on your card. The challenge will close at noon (UK time) on Wednesday 1st March.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

I am also sharing this at:

NBUS #47 - second entry this month

Alphabet Challenge - W is for water

Supplies:

Cardstock: Glossy photo paper

Ink: Catherine Pooler

Stamps: Stampendous cling jellyfish

Stencil: Dreamweaver

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

Happy Birthday Uniko

Today I have a special birthday card to help celebrate Uniko's 11th birthday. I do have quite a few Uniko products in my stash, which haven't been used for a while, so I thought I should get them out and change that. Here is the card I came up with:

I didn't really have a plan for this, I just decided what stamp set I wanted to use and started creating. I began by inking some smooth white cardstock with distress inks spun sugar and victorian velvet. When I was happy with the coverage I sponged milled lavender through the gerbera stencil. I didn't want it to be too dark. I finished the background by stamping the French script in Memento London fog ink. The panel was die cut and mounted on some mat gold embossed card.

The gerbera flowers and leaves were stamped and cut with the matching dies, arranged on the panel and glued down. The stems were glued and foam pads added to the flower and leaves to give some dimension. The wishing you (from the same stamp set) was stamped and heat embossed before cutting out and positioning.

To finish off I added some ranger enamel dots and stamped the insert and the envelope with the flower. The message inside reads -  a very special birthday. I enjoyed making this, but now it is done I am not sure about the colours. What do you think?

It is snowdrop time in my garden hence a little peak of some in my pictures.

I am sharing this at:

Uniko celebrating 11 years

Stamping Sensations - Anything stamped

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

Inspirational #283 - Use Stencils

Seize the birthday #255 - no topping

Supplies:

Cardstock: Strathmore Bdristol smooth; Hunkydory adorable scorable coated card; mat embossed gold card

Ink: Distress Ink spun sugar, victorian velvet and milled lavender; Catherine Pooler sugared lavender and seafoam; Memento London fog

Stamps: Uniko pure florals gerbera; Uniko large background French script

Dies: Matching dies for the gerbera stamps

Stencil: Uniko pure florals gerbera

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

We Love Stamping February Challenge

Today is the first Sunday of the month so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping. The challenge where you can showcase your stamps and your skill at using them.

This month our theme is:

**Anything stamped with the option to add a stencil**

I would like to welcome out guest designer Helen this month, I hope you have time to pop over and see her.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to walk, so I couldn't resist this stamp when I saw it. I have stamped it in a dark brown ink, but it looks black, even in real life, and clear heat embossed it. But, before I did that I blended the background and added the sun rays with a stencil.

It was actually quite a challenge to get the stamping right and then to get the embossing right. I am not sure whether it was the ink the new stamp or stamping over the inked background, but eventually I got it to a point where I was happy with it.

Then it was just a matter of trimming the panel, matting it onto a piece of embossed gold card and mounting it onto a dark cardbase.

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month the it has been kindly donated by Highlight Crafts and includes a Crown and Glory stamp set and a Little Tweet die. Why don't you head over to the challenge blog to check it out? The prize winner is selected randomly and, in addition, the DT will choose one entry to join us as a guest designer for a future challenge.

I hope I have inspired you to join us this month, all you have to do is follow the prompt and ensure stamping is the main focus on your card. The challenge will close at noon (UK time) on Wednesday 1st March.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

I am also sharing this at:

NBUS #47 - the forest stamp and sentiment are NBUS

Allsorts week 714 - I love walking

Ellie's Crafty Wednesday Challenge February - Anything Goes

Supplies:

Cardstock: Hunky Dory adorable scorable coated card; Strathmore Bristol smooth

Ink: Catherine Pooler

Stamps: Spellbinders forest silhouette STP-080

Stencil: Clarity Stamp

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

January Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the Card Chain Challenge big reveal. This month 25 card makers took part and I sent my card to Carol in the UK. 

This month I used the colours, the sketch and the friendship theme, although the sketch got inverted because I cut my panel wrong!

I don't think I matched the candyflosss colour very well, it looks too peachy and I think it clashes with the bright pink, but I decided not to mind. I hope Carol doesn't either.

I told you that you would be seeing that embossing folder again, well here it is inked in a bold colour. I inked it quite heavily and got this mottled look, which I actually quite like. You get a smoother look by lighter inking and building it up in layers. I used my Catherine Pooler inks to colour the cardstock for the other 2 colours.

I was very lucky to receive this really cute card from Michaela  in Austria:

Thanks Michaela

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

Supplies:

Ink: Catherine Pooler pucker up, it's a girl, glam

Embossing Folder: Spellbinders flower frenzy E3D-048

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