No Stamping

Today I am sharing  a card (or 3) I made from a recently purchased layering stencil.

This layering stencil is by Studio Light and it is a cosmos flower. I used my Catherine Pooler inks and masked the flower so I could add a little ink to the background. 

I used oval dies for the panel and finished it off with a die cut sentiment and a few sequins - very easy.

So easy that I made 2 more in different colours.

Which is your favourite?

I am sharing the purple one (because it is my favourite) at the following challenges:

Sparkles #165 - no stamping allowed

Through the purple haze #205 - Use buttons and/or flowers

Beautiful Blossoms #6 - mood board, my second entry this month

Try it on Tuesday - summer blooms

NBUS #51 - my second entry this month

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

June Means Roses

Today I have a card I made specially for this months Flower Challenge because they are asking for favourite flowers. My favourite flowers in June are roses so I made this card:

Although this card was quite easy to make it was beset with a few problems (just when I thought I would be quick!) mainly because I decided to use my scan n cut to cut out my stamped roses. My mat wasn't sticky enough so my card kept moving and messing up the cut. Of course I ended up stamping and cutting more than once and kept having the same problem. I was using my nice and expensive Strathmore Bristol card too! 

In the end I decided to settle on just the 3 pieces you can see on my finished card. I have now re glued my mat so next time it should work better - she says hopefully.  

I decided to paint my roses bright pink and used my zig watercolour pens. I then arranged them on the oval background which I had diecut and foiled with the hello sentiment. At least that bit went well and the hello ended up in the right place.

Speaking of roses, thank you for all the lovely comments on my roses from my last post. Today I am sharing a close up to show how busy the bees are. Can you see the huge balls of pollen on the bees back legs?

Supplies:

Cardstock: Strathmore Bristol Vellum; Hunkydory matt-tastic card for the base

Ink: Zig clean colour real brush pens

Stamps: Uniko Pure Florals Rose

Dies: Positively Papercraft, oval; Memory box pinpoint leaf

Hot foil stamp: Spellbinders hello friend sentiments

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

We Love Stamping June Reminder

Today is the 18th so time for a reminder for the current 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 goes with the option of CAS**

Todays card was made with another birthday gift (thanks GerJanne). I think this little silhouette flower stamp is just gorgeous and perfect for this style of card. I haven't made one of these for a while and yet they are one of my favourites and so easy to do. I started by cutting my panel with a scalloped rectangle and then I embossed the panel with a smaller die and masked the edges before blending with distress inks. With the mask still in place I stamped the flower in black and then clear heat embossed it.

I removed the masking tape and then decided that it could do with another layer of clear embossing. This led to my little blunder, can you see it? I forgot to replace the masking before stamping with versamark ink. I decided to just carry on and ignore it. The card was mounted onto a coloured base and a few little sequins added to finish it off. It was then sent on it's merry way to GerJanne in The Netherlands. I hope she forgave me for the mistake.

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month there are 2 prizes from Oakwood, essentials collection (trimmer, scissors, tweezers, cutting blade and glue rollers) and a House Mouse stamp. 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 28th June

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

I am also sharing this at:

NBUS #51 - my second entry this month

Beautiful Blooms - Anything goes with flowers

Triple B June Challenge - Blooms

Just to follow up on the picture from my garden the other day - the roses are out now so here they are. I have to take time to appreciate them when they are in flower as there are times when I am pruning them that I would happily dig them up. They are ramblers and are a challenge to keep tamed!

On this picture you can see that they are on either side of the garden.

I am hoping we will get some rain today.

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

Birthdays at Allsorts

It's Saturday morning so it must be time for a new challenge at Allsorts and today I am delighted to be joining the lovely DT for this weeks challenge, which is all about birthdays.

This card is going to a very special lady who celebrates her 90th birthday later this month. She really is quite incredible, she lives alone and is still driving. 

I have used a technique demonstrated by the group of seven cardmakers in April. Every month I see what they have made and intend to join in their linky, and every month I run out of time. At least I have made a card using the technique from April which was alcohol inks on gelli plate.

I used a small round gelli plate and 3 different AI colours (can't remember which now). I pulled the print and then traced round the edge of the print with a fine pen before masking the edges and stamping the image. I really like this stamp, it is by Impression Obsession.

I die cut the panel, numbers and sentiment from some dark brown card, mounted the panel on the same card and then attached the panel to a coated coloured card base. It was finished with a few sequins.

At first I thought this was a bit dull and not terribly cheery, but I actually really like it and I hope Pat does too.

Oh, I almost forgot, I splattered it with some bronze mixative so it has a little shine. I am terrified of splatters as I always think I am going to mess things up. Although these are very fine, I was quite pleased with them.

What do you think?

I hope you will find time to join the Allsorts team this week. Everybody makes birthday cards so you need a good excuse not to.

We have finally been getting some sunshine in my neck of the woods. If you look closely at the photo you can see me enjoying a moment in the shade. I always have a big hat on when I am outside. My husband takes good photos and surprised me with this one. He has made the garden look lovely. You can see some of my succulent pots, and my rambling roses are in bud. They will be in full flower in a couple of weeks. I hope so anyway, as they are desperate for some rain.

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies:

cardstock:  Strathmore Bristol Smooth; Hunkydory adorable scorable coated card

Ink: Catherine Pooler over coffee; Alcohol inks and bronze mixative

Stamps: Impression Obsession F16352

Dies: Numbers, Docrafts; Words, Concord & 9th; Frame, Lisa Horton

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

One Layer Cards

I have actually made some one layer CAS cards. I saw the current challenge at Less is more and decided to have a go. It is such a long time since I made a one layer and I haven't made many really CAS cards recently, so I sat down and made 3.

I wanted to blend some ink onto my card so I chose to use Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper and masked the edges.

Card 1

I stamped the little daisy in green ink and then used the ink to paint it. I added a little shading with a darker ink. Before removing the mask I splattered the inked area with the green ink. I thought it needed a little bit more interest and thankfully the splatters weren't a disaster.

You can see the shading better on the close up.

This one is going to colour throwdown #745 - yellow green and white.

Card 2

Exactly the same, but no shading. I changed the colours and the stamp. I didn't want to use black for this lovely iris, but I am not sure that the orange works terribly well. My irises are in flower at the moment and looking stunning.

This one is going to addicted to CAS #239 - one layer

Card 3

This one is 2 stamps the frame and the daisy flower. The frame is stamped in brown ink and I used several shades to stamp the flower to give it some depth. I used a felt tipped pen to add the dots inside the frame because I thought it need a little more interest. The sentiment is stamped with the same brown ink, but it looks darker.

This one is going to Less is more #484 - One layer, flowers

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

We Love Stamping June 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 goes with the option of CAS**

This card was made with two items I received as special birthday gifts and the sentiment says it all. I was so thrilled to receive them. My inspiration for this card came from Chrissie Stokes as she makes the most amazing CAS cards and often uses dies to emboss her panel. I started by cutting my panel with a stitched rectangle die and then embossing it with a stitched square die. I find that the main challenge doing this is to prevent the card getting marked by the die cutting plates. It is especially difficult with this coated card, that I love. I do keep a special top plate but it still gets marks from the dies even if it isn't used for cutting. I also use a thin paper shim between the die and the plate, which helps. This one came out reasonably well, but if you look closely you can see a mark. Rubbing a silicone bone folder over the card can help lesson marks too.

The little hearts die (part of a set from the lovely Gundi) does not have border so I first foiled it in gold and then used a square nesting die to cut it so it fitted neatly within the embossed square.

The layered flower (a gift from the lovely Cat) was stamped and cut with matching dies and the sentiment was cut from a waste piece of foiled card. I finished the card with a few little clear drops on the leaves. I think I might have overdone them, but never mind. Thanks so much Cat and Gundi for your wonderful support and generosity.

Recently my cards have moved away from what I consider my more normal CAS style, which I have enjoyed. I have been wondering if my style is changing as time goes by, but I suspect that is normal. I will always love a good CAS card though. I was pleased with this one. I hope you like it too.

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month there are 2 prizes from Oakwood, essentials collection (trimmer, scissors, tweezers, cutting blade and glue rollers) and a House Mouse stamp. 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 28th June

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

I am also sharing this at:

NBUS #51

Four Seasons - Anything goes Summer

Supplies:

Cardstock: Hunkydory adorable scorable coated card; white stamping card

Ink: Catherine Pooler

Stamps: Altenew mini delight smile blooms & matching die

Dies: Stitched rectangle square die; heart die by Love 2 Craft; Altenew essential sentiment strips

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

May Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the Card Chain Challenge big reveal. This month 34 card makers took part and I sent my card to Joanne in the UK.

I used the colours, the sketch and the friendship theme and came up with this card:

My background was foiled in gold with a cover plate die and the heart was also foiled with a die after I had coloured some glossy white paper with an ink refill and some water.

I then coloured some of the hearts with a dark navy alcohol pen and some with a gold glitter pen. The sentiments were foiled on glossy paper and coloured with the same blue ink. They look like different colours, but I think the difference is the paper, as I already had one of them prepared and when I swiped the ink over it, it was much darker. I think the dark one was glossy photo paper and the heart and hello you was on coated card from Clarity Stamp. I definitely used the same ink. I didn't want to do the sentiment again, so I decided it didn't matter. Just shows what a difference paper can make.

The panel was mounted onto pearlescent gold card and the insert was pearlescent gold paper. I foiled part of the heart die onto it for a co-ordinated look.

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

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 'drive in' refill

Hot Foil Stamps: Spellbinders mini sincere sentiments

Dies: Creative Expressions background collection wavy lines; Positively Papercraft lots of love

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