February 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 Julia in USA.

 I used the theme option of flowers and friendship and the product options of stencil and twine.

I bought this set of layering stencils by Spellbinders in their December sale and have enjoyed using them, although you do need to do some masking if you want the leaves and stems to be green. There are 4 stencils in the set. I started out thinking I would also use the 3 colour options this month, but that went out of the window as I realised I was going to use more than 3 colours.

I used Catherine Pooler inks and coloured the edges of the mat in blue (something borrowed). I finished it off by adding two twine bows and some silver embellishments. 

I was very pleased to hear from Julia that it arrived within a week. That is so much quicker than my recent experience of sending mail to The States. This time I added the customs form to the back of the envelope. If there was only a card in the envelope I hadn't been including the form. I am wondering if that is a mistake, so I will be including it from now on and we will see if it speeds things up.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Joanne in the UK

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 12 years of Uniko

I have wanted to participate in the Uniko 12th Birthday Linky and today I finally found enough time to make a quick card with some of my large collection of Uniko products. The linky closes at the end of the month so I am just in time.

I wasn't sure what I would make, so I had a look through my Uniko stamps and chose this one which is the large background tropical paradise stamp. I stamped it is VersaFine Clare green oasis ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I am sorry that neither of my photos show the shine from the embossing.

I then coloured the leaves and the background with my Sharpie pens and mounted it onto a mat that I had inked with the green oasis ink. The happy birthday sentiment is from layering Bauhaus blocks stamp set. The card base is Hunkydory adorable scorable coated card.

These days I always add inserts to my cards that I usually decorate with a coordinating stamp. I haven't done that for this card yet so technically it is not completely finished, but I don't want to miss the link up deadline.

I hope you like it. Thanks Bev for the 12 years of wonderful Uniko products.

As the sun was shining the other day, I took a few pictures of the plants in my conservatory. I thought you might like to see them. Although they are not your classic tropical house plants, I thought they complement my card. They are mainly echeverias and aeoniums. They do love the sun.

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

We Love Stamping February Reminder

Today is the 18th so time for a reminder for the current challenge over at We Love Stamping. This year the design team will all be selecting a monthly option 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.

It is my turn this month and I have chosen:

** Romance/Anything Goes **

After struggling to come up with a theme for this month and then my first card, I decided to stick with the same stamp and make my card look different. This time I stamped the Spellbinders Floral Love stamp onto kraft card with white pigment ink.

I wanted to have a soft feel to the finish so I coloured it lightly with my Polychromos pencils. I cut it out with a heart die and used my favourite embossing folder for the background.

The sentiment is foiled and I finished it off with a few white pearls. What do you think? It is very different form my first card that you can find here. I think I am quite pleased with it. Mainly because I love that embossing folder and it looks great in kraft.

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month there are 3 prizes from AALL and Create, A 5 stamp set, DL stamp and stencil and A6 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 a top three for special mention. From now on any seasoned stampers (not digital) interested in being considered for a Guest Designer spot should add GD against their name when entering the challenge. We will select a guest designer form those names and the DT will still select their top 3.

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. 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 28th February

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

I am also sharing this at:

The Flower Challenge #88 - Add a heart

Cut it up #297 - Have a heart

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

We Love Stamping February Challenge

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

This year the design team will all be selecting a monthly option 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.

It is my turn this month and I have chosen:

** Romance/Anything Goes **

First let's welcome our guest designer this month Helen.

To be honest I couldn't think of anything and chose romance because it is February and people will be making Valentines' Day cards. I have to admit that I am not a great one for romantic cards so when I was trying to come up with ideas for my DT cards I did wonder what possessed me to chose that theme. Of course it was too late to do anything about it so I had to come up with something.

I think this card is unusual for me for a number of reasons:

1. It is square. I have quite a collection of square card blanks and I have decided that I must try to use them.

2. It is large. Six and a half inches to be precise, which is really big for me. I had to use 2 quite large mats to fill the space. Normally if I mat something it will much narrower than this.

My stamp is quite an old Spellbinders rubber stamp set called Floral Love. I am pretty sure it is an old set but it is new to me. Found it very cheap somewhere and I can't resist a bargain. Anyway, it was time for it to be used so I stamped it with CP Uptown ink onto Strathmore Vellum paper and coloured with Polychromos pencils. I used the vellum paper because it has more tooth and I wanted the textured look, which you can see on the picture below.

The stamp set consists of the heart and 2 smaller flowers, which I stamped, coloured and fussy cut. I added them to the heart to give some more dimension, The panel was cut with Spellbinders hemstitch circle dies and backed with some mat red metallic card.  I then embossed another piece of the vellum card and matted it twice. The card base was white but I inked it with CP Uptown to match the stamping. I finished it with some tiny green gems and a foiled sentiment.

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month there are 3 prizes from AALL and Create. An 5 stamp set, DL stamp and stencil and A6 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 a top three for special mention. From now on any seasoned stampers (not digital) interested in being considered for a Guest Designer spot should add GD against their name when entering the challenge. We will select a guest designer form those names and the DT will still select their top 3.

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. 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 28th February

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. 

January 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 Carol in UK.

I used the layout and I tried to use the colours.

I also used the options of paint, ink and splatters

I started by cutting the oval from my panel and inking it with CP uptown ink. I used a white acrylic paint pen for the splatters. I then cut my panel with the scalloped die before embossing it with my favourite embossing folder. The bird, foliage and flower are by Alex Syberia. I cut them all from scraps of white card and coloured them with CP ink. Now I have re-inkers, I find colouring the card very easy. You just need to ensure the pad is very inky and then swipe it over the card. It can be a bit messy tough, so you have to make sure your fingers are clean before handling other elements. Of course, I know that  through bitter experience!

I used a silver sparkle pen on some of the diecut elements, which you can see on the close up. The sentiment is a hotfoil plate by spellbinders. I foiled it with some mauve foil. Finally the panel was mounted on a coloured card base that I think matched quite well.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Pat in Texas. Isn't it lovely? I have that little heart tree die. Pat has taken the time and trouble to inlay all the tiny pieces and then she has fussy cut it out. It looks absolutely perfect, even close up. Thanks for going to all that trouble Pat, it turned out brilliantly. You have also inspired me to get that die out and have a play.

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.