Craftlandia Challenge 19

Welcome to Craftlandia challenge 19 run by the wonderful Mia of Craftartista.

Our theme this time is:

Sun and Seashells

or 

Anything Goes

Our very generous sponsor is:

Conjurer of Dreams

The prize is 4 digital sets of your choice.

That is a very special prize so please head over to the Etsy store to see the range

of digital designs that Kim (the owner) has in the store.

My card uses one of our sponsors images of a beautiful blue sea and beach full of shells.

I didn't want to detract from the amazing image so I printed it onto glossy photo paper, trimmed it a little, edged it in black and mounted it on a glossy paper panel that I had cut with my Altenew dotted scales debossing cover die. I edged this with black glossy card too. The sentiment (from Heffy Doodle) was heat embossed in white onto the same glossy black card. 

I can just imagine gazing into the sea whilst sitting on that beach admiring all those very special seashells. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to happen as we don't have any beaches like that around here, but I am pleased to say that we have now had a couple of warm sunny days, hooray. We have had a long of cold winds and rain. 

One bonus is that if the weather is bad, it can mean more crafting time so please head over to Mia's blog to check out the rest of the DT inspiration and join us for Craftlandia 19.

I am also sharing this at:

The day of the month card club - National seashell day

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. It is a very special challenge this month as we are celebrating 15 years of this special stamping challenge.  This means that there are some very special prizes on offer.

Brenda has chosen our theme this month:

**Fabulous Florals **

or anything goes

I think I told you that I got a stampwheel for my birthday didn't I? Well, one of the first things I tried it with was my favourite turnabout stamp from Concord & 9th. Of course once I was on a roll I didn't just do 1 card, but 7. I really enjoyed doing all the stamping, but turning them all into cards took ages. I have decided to share them all with you here.

They are all 4inch square and use Catherine Pooler inks. I mixed up the backgrounds a little.

The mats were inked with one of the CP colours.

The inserts were stamped with leafy wreath from Stamps by Chloe.

The backgrounds are made with various coverplates

The sentiments are a mixture of hotfoiling, BetterPress and die cuts.

The edges were inked with one of the colours

I conclude that the Stampwheel is excellent for turnabout stamps. It remains a challenge to get them lined up properly, but once you have you can just keep on going!

Don't you just love all the colours? Which is your favourite?

Both my daughters gave me very special birthday presents this year so I made these into a set of notecards and gave them to my younger daughter as a special thank you for her special gift. I made another set with different turnabouts for my elder daughter. Perhaps I will share them soon.

Don't forget we are celebrating 15 years this month so do go and check out the special prizes on the challenge blog. The prize winner is selected randomly and in addition the DT will choose a top three for special mention.

Here is a glimpse of the fantastic prizes on offer:

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 3rd July.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

I thought I would leave you with a picture of my very verdant looking garden. All the rain has definitely made it grow. I managed to catch it when the sun shone for a few minutes. I am very pleased with how it is looking at the moment. The roses smell amazing too, they will be gone soon, so I need to appreciate them while they last. In a few days all the while petals will be covering everything. June is definitely a special time in my garden.

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 31 card makers took part and I sent my card to Viv in the UK.

From all the options this month I have used the colours, the theme option of friendship and the technique option of stencils.

I started by ink blending CP be mine and grape crush onto a panel of coated card (Papermill Direct). I really like how this card takes ink. Once I was happy with my panel I foiled the oval dots in gold (Spellbinders) and then the flower (PinkFresh Studio). You will be fed up with seeing this flower soon as this is the 4th card I have made with it. I was pleased with how the foiling took on top of the ink. I used the matching stencils to add more colour to the flower and then wondered if I could lift ink off with some water. The answer was, yes, you can. I just wish that I had thought of it before I used the stencils, but never mind. That's a lesson learned for next time. I used the stamp and grape crush ink for the insert and envelope.

The sentiment is from the matching stamp set and I heat embossed it in gold onto the same card, cut it with an oval die and matted it onto another oval that I had coloured with grape crush. I did the same with the main panel after cutting it with one of my Lisa Horton dies. I am very pleased that I have discovered a better way to keep my panel unmarked when it goes through my die cutting machine. I have quite a supply of thin acetate sheets that I used to used for presentations (before the days of powerpoint). The acetate is better than copy paper for protecting the card. My plates are very messy.

I finished it off with a few little gold gems.

I was very lucky to receive these gorgeous cards from Dagmara in Poland. Aren't they gorgeous? The Zebras relate to a very rare condition that she suffers from that I have been learning about. It is such a challenge and a constant worry for her. I am so pleased that she is able to get so much pleasure from card making and she is a stunning colourist as you can tell from the photo of her cards. Thanks for signing up behind me Dagmara. I have learnt a lot from you.

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

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

Celebrating 15 years of WLS

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

It is a very special challenge this month as we are celebrating 15 years of this stamping challenge.  This means that there are some very special prizes on offer.

Brenda has chosen our theme this month:

**Fabulous Florals **

or anything goes

Our guest Guest Designer this month is Betta. I hope you get a chance to check out her creation.

I decided to use the same stamp and stencil set that I used in my last DT card (PinkFresh Studio thankful for friends). I hope nobody minds. If I make more than one card with a new stamp set when I first get it, it is a good sign that it will become a favourite. I think this one is suitably different. You can see it here if you are interested.

I stamped the image and then used the matching stencils to colour it and then used some gold paint for some splatters. I do think I am getting braver with my splatters these days. I don't expect it will last!

I cut the panel with a Nellie Snellen die and mounted it onto a coloured cardbase. The sentiment (Spellbinders) is foiled.

Three tiny gold gems finished it off. Simple.

Don't forget we are celebrating 15 years this month so do go and check out the special prizes on the challenge blog. The prize winner is selected randomly and in addition the DT will choose a top three for special mention.

Here is a glimpse of the fantastic prizes on offer:

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 3rd July.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

Here is another I made using the foilplate this time:

I will be back later today with my card chain challenge card. Guess what set I used? That's 4 cards so far. I really like the foiled image, I hope I can get my foilpress to work next time - it is still playing up.

I am sorry if I haven't been visiting everyone much this week. Life has been busy and now I am feeling very tired. I must be getting old, I don't seem to have so much stamina these days. Anyway, I will try and catch up soon.

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