In The Garden

Hello,
Just a quick post today to share something that is a bit different for me. I bought this succulent border stamp by Brutus Monroe with my birthday money because I love succulents and have many succulent pots and also because I want to improve my colouring skills.

Here is my first effort with this amazing stamp:

I painted it with my Zig Clean Colour brush pens. The sentiment is stamped in black but then heat embossed to give it a shine.

I am sharing at:

Time Out #159 - Garden and library I have painted the garden and have a library of books on succulent gardening to help make it possible.

The Artistic Stamper - In the garden

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

Happy Easter

Hello,
I really should have posted this card yesterday but, as so often happens, my day ran out before I got to it.

I do love turnabout stamps even though they drive me made because they are always hard to get lined up properly, regardless of what you do!

This stamp is from Crafters Companion and it has such pretty spring like detail on it, I thought it was perfect for an Easter card. I used Catherine Pooler inks and wrote the sentiment on vellum with my scan n cut. I used vellum because I didn't want to cover up the fabulous background. The little bunny is a free download from Clearly Besotted, which I coloured with alcohol markers. The little heart is a die cut that I smothered in enamel accents.

I made it in 2 colourways and sent them to my daughters. which is your favourite?

I am sharing this at:
1. Watercooler Wednesday C266 - All about occasions
2. The Flower Challenge 43 - spring/autumn
3. Pixies Snippets Playground #375 - the little bunnies were stamped onto snippets of white card.

    



I do hope you were able to enjoy a peaceful Easter despite all the anxiety that surrounds us at the moment.

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

Lucky day

Hello,
I am feeling a bit guilty because despite us all being in lockdown and some terrible things happening with the virus, I am feeling lucky, just for a change. The simple reason is that I have won a couple of random draws recently and received the Pure Florals, Gerbera Stamp set by Uniko (thanks Bev) in the post the other day. I have also recently had a birthday so it means I have some new kit to play with.

This stamp set is just gorgeous so I wasted no time in using it.

I stamped and heat embossed the flower on vellum and coloured on the back with polychromos. the spotty washi tape was laid on some copy paper and cut with Waffle Flower nesting postage dies (also new). The centre of the frame was cut from multi media paper and smooched with pink and yellow DI. The sentiment is from the same set and heat embossed. The flower stem was tucked into the frame but the petals are not stuck down which gives a bit of dimension.  The panel was mounted on matt-tastic adorable scorable card.

I am sharing this card at:
1. Uniko #58 - spots and stripes
2. Inkspirational #210 - spring
3. Addicted to Stamps & More #384 - clean and simple



Of course I had a lovely stripy and spotty panel left so I made this:

The message inside this card says 'a very Happy Birthday'

I am sharing this one at:
1. AAA Birthday #12 - Dots and/or stripes
2. Seize The Birthday #187 - Spring Fling
3.Case This Sketch #367

Finally I shall share them both at:

NBUS #13











Phew, I don't think I have ever linked to so many challenges with one post before.

I am hoping I am sending a little bit of luck your way.

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

April CAS Stencil Challenge

Hello,
Today is the launch day for the April CAS Stencil Challenge, this month it is hosted by Cathy and the theme is gilding flakes.

Out guest designer this month is Mac and if you haven't come across her cards before you are missing an absolute treat. Everything she does is just amazing, so please check her out.

I am not very experienced with gilding flakes and have only recently added some to my stash, so this challenge has helped me learn how to use them. I think my reluctance to buy them was because they can be quite messy to use, but I decided to get over myself and have a go.

After watching the videos that are linked on the challenge block, I set to and made a number of cards.

I really went for the bling with this card and so it was hard to photograph. The stencil is called petal burst by Sweet Dixie, after covering a 6x6 piece of card with double sided tape, I stuck the stencil down and filled the stencil gaps with gilding flakes. Once I was happy they were well stuck I removed the stencil and covered the remaining sticky area with fine glitter. You really do need a fine glitter for this technique to work well.

                                       

I managed to cut 4 shapes from my 6x6 panel. You can see what I did with them in the pictures below.

I hope I haven't dazzled you with all the bling but sometimes it is nice to be blingy! I look forward to seeing your creations in the gallery this month. Stay safe and well.

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

March Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Hello,
It is the 2nd of April so it is reveal day for the March Card Chain Challenge, this month I used the theme of Flowers and the technique of embossing for my card. I usually just use the layout prompt but have decided that I should ring the changes a bit.

I made the background by inking the daisy embossing folder with Catherine Pooler Lime Rickey ink before running it through my die-cutting machine. I did that 2 or 3 times to get a good coverage of ink, but each time I did it a little more ink got transferred onto the daisy flowers. In the end I decided I liked it so carried on. I saw this technique used recently by Lisa at I'm in haven (I think her cards are just amazing) and decided to give it a go. Lisa has achieved a much cleaner affect with the ink and I realised she used a brayer to apply it which I didn't do (so that's my lesson learnt!). I cut the daisy flowers from a background that I found in my folder of spare bits and I drew over the embossed lines on the die-cuts with a sparkle pen.

I was quite pleased with the end result. The card was sent to the lovely Dee in Kenya and I received the beautiful card below form Mia in Greece. She is a wiz with digital card making which is something that I have never tried.

I would highly recommend joining in with the Card Chain Challenge as it is just wonderful to make that physical connection with fellow card makers around the world.

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