Happy Birthday Allsorts

Today I am sharing a quick card that I made recently with a new BetterPress plate from Spellbinders. As Allsorts are celebrating a special birthday, I thought it was the ideal time to share it. I can't pass up the chance to win one of the amazing prizes on offer either!

I pressed the image onto hot pressed watercolour paper with Betterpress mulberry ink and painted the flowers with watercolour pens. I also used a Gelly Roll sparkle pen on the flower centres and the buds to give a bit of sparkle (sorry the photos don't show that).

I inked the edges of the mat in the same mulberry ink and mounted the panel onto an orange card base. A few sequins finished it off. I used transfers to add the foiling on the insert.

I am quite pleased with this one. Simple and effective. I also really like using my press plates for foiling and have made several foiled cards with this one. The only trouble is, my Gemini Foilpress is playing up. I think the connection is loose and it often doesn't want to heat unless I fiddle about with it. I think too much pulling the hot plate in and out of the machine has compromised the connection - not sure what I will do about it. It appears that the machine is no longer available in the UK.

Here are a few more cards made with this press plate:

This one is foiled in gold with a gold metallic watercolour background

This one was pressed onto textured paper with Brilliance pearlescent ink (rocket red gold). I used my favourite embossing folder for the insert and envelope.

The other colours in this photo are pearlescent lavender and pearlescent lime. These inks work really well with the Betterpress and have a great shine. I have made 8 cards with this plate so far - pleased with that!

I am sharing the first card at:

Allsorts #781 - Happy Birthday Allsorts

Seize the Birthday - anything goes

NBUS #62 - my second entry this month

Addicted To CAS #258 - Code word Flower. I hope my embellishments don't compromise the CAS nature of this card

 

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

We Love Stamping May Reminder

Today is the 18th so time for a reminder for the current challenge over at We Love Stamping. The challenge where we love to see you using your stamps. 

Lynn has chosen our theme this month:

**Vintage or Anything Goes **

As I said at the beginning of the month, I find vintage a real challenge and have decided that if in doubt, make it brown! I hope it works. I have used a set called Thankful for Friends by Pinkfresh Studio that I recently bought with my birthday money. I splashed out on the stamp, hotfoil plate, stencils and matching die. I have just used the stamps and stencils on this card. You will see this set used several times over the next couple of weeks. Hope you don't get fed up with it.

I stamped the flower in a dark brown Catherine Pooler ink (macchiatto I think) onto kraft card and I used the stencils and a blending brush to colour it. I am pleased with the effect from the white pigment ink. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed. I used my go to Lisa Horton scalloped edge die to cut the panel and mounted it on a mat after I inked the edges with the same dark brown CP ink.

Actually, before I did that I used the ink to add splatters. I am trying to be braver and use splatters more on my cards as they terrify me, but I also really like them (when others do them). I used the foil plate as a mask because I didn't want splatters on the flower - that worked well at least. After mounting it onto a kraft card base I added a few gold embellishments.

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month there are 2 prizes. 1 from Lisa Horton Crafts consisting of a coordinating embossing folder, die and stencils and two dies from Highlight Crafts. 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 a top three for special mention.

I hope I have inspired you to join us this month, all you have to do is ensure stamping (including digi) is seen somewhere on your card front, it no longer needs to be the main focus. Please also mention the products used. It would be great if you could join in with our theme, but anythings goes is always an option if you are out of ideas. The challenge will close at noon (UK time) on Wednesday 29th May

Finally we have a special treat in store for our June challenge as it will mark 15 years since it began. The name has changed once or twice along the way, but it is still the same stamping challenge. Thanks to Brenda for all her hard work to keep it going. To mark the occasion there will be a special bumper number of prizes, so don't forget to call by. The challenge begins on the first Sunday in June.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

I am also sharing this at:

NBUS #62

I have been away on holiday for a few days so I am a bit behind with my blog visits. I will do my best to catch up over the weekend.

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

Old Stamps and New Techniques

Today I have two cards to share that were inspired by this card by the lovely Ashwini and also by the group of seven card makers who are showcasing the elegant writer by speedball this month. I just happened to receive some as a birthday gift this year so have been wanting to use them. These 2 things coming together inspired me to make the 2 cards I am sharing today.

Ashwini's post reminded me that I have the stamp set that she used (fancy flowers by MFT). Her card was enough inspiration for me to get it out and make these cards.

I used my new stampwheel (another birthday present) to mask and stamp the flowers onto hot pressed watercolour paper with versafine onyx black ink. Once the stamping was done I drew in the stems and used my elegant writer to go over the outside lines of the flowers. Then with a wet brush I pulled the wet ink out to colour the background.

Once the background was dry I decided to do the same with the flowers. I just played around with the marker and water until I was happy with the look. I then used a gold sparkle pen to add some detail. I fussy cut around the flowers to create the edge and mounted them onto a black panel that I had embossed with a butterfly folder by Darice. I used a white pigment ink and a foam blender over the butterflies, but it didn't work terribly well so I then went over them with a white pencil.

I used some liquid metal in orange gold for the splatters (reasonably pleased with them) and a foiled sentiment (Spellbinders). The card was then finished off with a few gold gems around the sentiment and on the butterflies.

I made the second card in exactly the same way but instead of using the elegant writer on the flowers I just coloured them with my zig clean colour real brush pens. The sentiment is a Spellbinders pressplate. I used oval dies and mounted it onto a coloured cardbase. No splatters on this one just a few tiny gems.

I am pleased with how these turned out so I want to thank Ashwini for giving me the prompt to use this stamp set and my elegant writer. I like the effect and think it is a great way to do a background.

I actually bought this stamp set at the MFT shop in Florida in 2017. It was when I was first getting into stamping and card making and I realised that the shop was within driving distance of out holiday destination. It was such a treat. I am so glad my John agreed to drive me. I bought my Misti there too. Sadly that was the last time we went to Florida (we used to go every year). I think it is unlikely that we will go again now, so it is nice to remember it. I even have a photo of the shop.

I am sharing the first card at:

I had intended to share it at Seize the Birthday #282 - Off the edge, but unfortunately I missed the deadline!

Group of Seven Cardmakers - Elegant Writer

I am sharing my second card at:

The Flower Challenge #91 - colour your flower

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

We Love Stamping May Challenge

Today is the first Sunday of the month so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping. 

Each month a member of the design team will be selecting a theme to reflect their own individual style of crafting or favourite themes. On the remaining months we will continue as before with a general theme along with an anything goes option, as previously.

Lynn has chosen our theme this month:

** Vintage or Anything Goes  **

I don't recall ever making a truly vintage card before. I really don't consider it my style, so this was a challenge for me. I searched my stamps and found this old Spellbinders stamp and die set. I thought this young lady had a suitable vintage feel so I stamped her in gold metallic ink onto kraft card. I am sorry about the pictures, it is almost like one of those holographic images where you see it differently if you move it in the light. The gold stamping does give it a nice shine if you get the angle right. I added a little bit of colour to the image with my polychromos pencils.

I thought book pages give a very vintage look so I tore a page out of the book I keep for this purpose (I have a special book, but I think I have only used it once before!) and used some brown ink and a stencil to give it that vintage feel. It was cut with a frame die by Lisa Horton and mounted on some gold paper before mounting onto a dark brown card base.

The insert is kraft paper and the envelope is white. You can see the image more clearly on those.

The sentiment is from a different stamp set, but I thought it went quite well. I used a few little rose gold embellishments to finish. I am not sure what I think about this one. It certainly isn't one of my favourites, but then it has pushed me outside my comfort zone, that's always a good thing.

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month there are 2 prizes. 1 from Lisa Horton Crafts consisting of a coordinating embossing folder, die and stencils and two dies from Highlight Crafts. 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 a top three for special mention.

I hope I have inspired you to join us this month, all you have to do is ensure stamping (including digi) is seen somewhere on your card front, it no longer needs to be the main focus. Please also mention the products used. It would be great if you could join in with our theme, but anythings goes is always an option if you are out of ideas. The challenge will close at noon (UK time) on Wednesday 29th May.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

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

April Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the Card Chain Challenge big reveal. This month 32 card makers took part and I sent my card to Marianne in Greece. I think it is still on its way!

 I have used the colours, friendship and something I was given from all the options on offer.

I was very lucky to receive a special birthday package from Gundi which contained a whole pile of transfer foil and some Crafters Companion transfer designs. You can see on the photo above that I have used some on the insert for the card. I have not used transfers before and like everything, there is definitely a knack, but I have been going a bit transfer crazy and using them on loads of cards. Thanks so much for your generosity Gundi.

I created my background with an ALL & Create stencil and Catherine Pooler ink and foiled the sentiment directly onto the panel, after I had cut it with a Lisa Horton die. Unfortunately the friend plate moved, but I decided it didn't really matter and actually I quite like it at an angle. It foiled cleanly which is the main thing. I have used some, new to me, coated card from PaperMill Direct, which I really like. It foils beautifully, takes ink well and looks good with the BetterPress plates too. It also come in 2 different weights and is reasonably priced. I shall definitely be buying some more.

The flowers are a set by Pinkfresh Studios. I used the foil plate, stencils and matching die. I do love this set and have used it several times - always a good thing.

I finished it off with a few sequins and matted the panel on some cardstock that I had inked with CP crushed violet ink before mounting it onto a coloured card base.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Viv in UK. Unfortunately my picture doesn't do it justice at all. It is really beautiful in real life.

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

I am also sharing this at Allsorts - week 778 use a stencil. I have used 4 stencils. One on the background and 4 on the flowers.

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