Thinking of you

Today I have a sympathy card that I made for my brother in law. He recently very sadly lost a family member to motor neurone disease. She was only 55 and had 2 teenage children, such a horrible thing.

This is a one layer card, I started by masking the circle and blending distress inks. I left the mask in place and splattered black paint from a paint pen, then I stamped the flower spray. I just love this stamp. 

I added some colour with my polychromos to the open flowers that were over the inked circle, stamped the sentiment and added a few tiny black gems, one of which is a tiny heart (you can see it on the close up). As usual I stamped the envelope and insert too.

I am sharing this at:

CAS on Friday #211 - Favourite stamp

A Place to Start challenge 8 - August favourite style (CAS)

AAA Cards #195 - Along the edge

Supplies:

Cardstock: Smooth stamping card

Ink: Distress ink; Versafine

Stamps: Chocolate Baroque, Lords & Ladies; Uniko, simply said sentiments

Other: Derwent paint pen; Faber Castell polychromos

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

Christmas Kickstarter #53

Today is a very special day for me as I get to put on my Elf hat and join Jo over at Christmas Kickstarter for Challenge 53. What a surprise it was when Jo got in touch to invite me to join her as guest elf, I feel very honoured as I don't generally make many Christmas cards out of season. Although having said that I did post one recently! I am pleased to be getting into them a bit more these days as I used to find them a real chore, but Jo is helping me change that attitude. Thanks Jo.

It is a photo challenge this month and I have decided to show you my card before the inspiration photo.

Here is the inspiration photo, I have picked out the following elements: bauble wreath, red and white stripes and the merry Christmas. There is actually loads of inspiration to be had from this photo, the more you look the more you see.

       

I quickly decided that I wanted my focus to be the bauble wreath so I set about punching out loads of little circles from 3 different sized punches. I coloured the circles with alcohol markers and then coated them in glossy accents. I also cut a few from silver and gold card. Once they were all dry I laid out the largest circles onto a circle frame that I die cut for the base. I then arranged all the circles onto the base with foam squares and built up the wreath. I was quite pleased with the result but found that the colours weren't as vibrant once I had put on the glossy accents, but that was offset by the shine. The merry Christmas was die cut from the same coated red card as the base. A little red and gold ribbon finished off the wreath.

        

In order to give the background a bit more interest and to reflect the stripes I dry embossed the white panel with a scoring board after die cutting it to size. You can see the shine on the following picture

       

I do hope that the inspiration picture succeeds in inspiring you and look forward to seeing you in the gallery and visiting your blog. You have until the end of August to join us.

Supplies:

Cardstock: White stamping card; adorable scorable coated card

Ink: Alcohol marker pens

Dies: Stitched rectangle A6 die from Create a Smile

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

July Card Chain Challenge

It is reveal time over at The Card Chain Challenge, my card this month is a very simple one that I sent to Joanne in the UK.

 I used the sketch and tried to use the colours but didn't match them terribly well.

I made the background by cutting strips and using double sided adhesive sheets to stick them onto copy paper. I made 3 sheets and die cut them with a stitched frame die. I enclosed the 2 that I didn't use in the card. I hope Joanne manages to find a use for them. I did add some sparkle to the sentiment, but of course it doesn't show in the picture.

I was lucky enough to receive a card from the lovely Cat this month and as you can see it is a beauty. Thanks so much Cat. The light wasn't very good when I took this photo so it doesn't really do justice to the colours, they are much more vibrant in real life.

If you would like to take part in the August chain you have until the 6th to sign up.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Linen textured card

Dies: Create a Smile stitched rectangle A6; Docrafts hello sunshine

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

CAS Mix Up August

Today is 1st of the month so time for a new challenge over at CAS Mix Up. This month we are using stencils and Jenny is our host. She wants us to stamp through a stencil. I have found this one hard for some reason and have had several failed attempts. I think I keep picking the wrong stencil or the wrong stamp and it just didn't work for me, but I stuck at it and have come up with this card:

Before I tell you any more about my card  let me say we are welcoming 2 guest designers this month. Michele from I card everyone and Bobby from bits and pieces, two wonderful card makers so we are very honoured, welcome to you both.

For my card I used a piece of Bristol Board and grey ink to ink through my stencil creating an ombre effect. Keeping the stencil in place I stamped the diamond shapes across two sides then I used a stitched rectangle die to cut the panel to size, mounted it onto some grey cardstock also cut with a stitched rectangle die. I stamped the hexagonal flower, die cut it and attached it to the corner and then tucked the sentiment into the space left under the small panel. After some agonising I decided to add a few silver hexagons to finish.

You have until 24th to join us and don't forget to visit the blog to get more inspiration and some links to technique videos to help.

Don't forget to keep it CAS

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

I am also sharing this at:

krafty Chicks #570 week 5, anything goes.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bristol Board; Grey cardstock; White card base

Ink: Distress ink, speckled egg; Catherine Pooler, rocking red

Stamps: AALL & Create #208; Uniko background builder

Dies: Create a Smile, stitched rectangles A6; Hexagon die, free from magazine

Stencil: Carabelle Studio, hexagonal pattern

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

We Love Chocolate Baroque August Challenge

Today is the first Sunday of August so time for a new challenge over at we love Chocolate Baroque where the theme is

** Favourite Stamps **

Today is a busy day as I have 2 posts for my 2 design teams. I try not to post more than once a day but sometimes it can't be avoided. I am now back home and recovering (from exhaustion!) after having my grandchildren to stay and driving 2 of them home to Birmingham. I carefully timed it so I could visit the Festival of Quilts at the NEC and even though I told myself I really didn't need to buy anything, of course I did. I added to my (already large) collection of Liberty print tana lawn and added to my stash at the Artcuts stall. I really enjoyed looking at all the amazing quilts too. It was so nice to be out and about again.

As I am still relatively new to Chocolate Baroque stamps each new one I use is instantly my favourite as they are all fantastic. This is the first outing for celebration bouquet. I started by masking an oval shape on my panel and inking it with DI twisted citron and squeezed lemonade (love those colours). Once I was happy with that I stamped the image in versafine Clair green oasis. I let it completely dry and then coloured the image with my polychromo pencils.

The sentiment  (from the same stamp set) was stamped and clear heat embossed. I die cut it and then inked the edges before attaching to my panel with foam pads. The panel was propped up on some yellow craft foam to give a bit of dimension and to add a hint of yellow.

I always add an insert and decorate the envelope on my cards these days and you can see how they look in the picture above.

I hummed and harred for a while before finally deciding to add the orange enamel dots. I am still not entirely sure about them, but they are staying put now.

I actually made 2 cards, I started the one below first but smudged the green ink so abandoned it before realising that I could salvage it by the strategic placing of the sentiment. This one was made in the same way except I used toning alcohol markers to colour the flowers.

I can't choose between these 2, which is your favourite?

I do hope I have inspired you to take part in our challenge this month. don't forget there is always a prize and a chance to be a featured designer if you use a Chocolate Baroque stamp.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

There will be two Chocolate Baroque shows on The Craft Store on Friday 6th August at 9am and 1pm, one show will feature two excitingly different A4 stamp sets from new artist Fiona Randall and the second some beautiful Christmas stamps and new seasonal sentiments. I hope you will be able to take a look.

I will be back at 18.00 with a new challenge at CAS Mix Up.

I am also sharing card 1 at:

Moving along with the times #133 -  Summer colours

I am also sharing card 2 at:

NBUS #29 - This is the first time I have used celebration bouquet

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bristol Board; Adorable scorable coated card; 160gsm paper

Ink: Versafine Clair green oasis; Distress ink, twisted citrine, squeezed lemonade

Stamps: Chocolate Baroque celebration bouquet

Dies: Create a Smile stitched rectangles A6

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