Happy Sunday!!

Although I have had a couple of weeks off work there has been very little time for crafting and blog visiting.  My daughter has been home from Uni and we have been so busy, she drove home yesterday, so today a card!!!!  I have followed a sketch over at the Hero Arts Blog but I am not sure I am pleased with the end result, my hand shook a little when adding the sentiment and it has a slight ghost image.  Never mind, its a card and hopefully I will have more time next week!

Colour Challenge..

I had planned to do lots of crafting this week but although I am on holiday from work I have not had a lot of spare time.  I did however find time to have a try at this colouring technique that Betsy Veldman featured on her blog and I used it to make this card for The Lily Pad colour palette challenge.  A fun technique to do although I found that the flower leaves needed more definition so I coloured a little with my distress markers.

Hopefully I will get more time to play at the weekend.

How Green is your Spring!!

A flickr friend Marcy is hosting the challenge this week over at Our Creative Corner   the challenge is to make something for spring using green as the main colour.  I had some time in between gardening today to play along with the challenge using my latest stamp, "Meadow Silhouette from Hero Arts.

I have again used Distress stains and inks to coat my stamp before spritzing with water and stamping, it creates this beautiful watercolour effect which I love.  I have then cut the image out with a spellbinder die.  The background image is the Hero Arts large flower stamped in Memento Green and then distressed with Bundled Sage.  Next I stamped the Simple Frame over the top and cut out the middle section.   I then stamped my base card with the frame.  The central oval is attached by a couple of brads, I decided not to stick it completely down as I like the way it is lifting at the edges.

I am also going to enter this in the new challenge over at "A blog named Hero".

Heres wishing you a great Easter, its so nice to have a long weekend.... Have fun!!

Butterflies.

If you are looking for my Lily Pad Blog Hop post please go here!!

I have a box of butterflies cut out and ready for use on cards, I often sit in the evening cutting them out while watching the television.  Yesterday while they were spread across my desk I had an idea for this card.  The top three butterflies are pop dotted on the wings for more dimension.

This card is for the current Hero Arts Challenge for  "Shaped Cards",  The challenge over at "A Blog Named Hero" as I used my favourite  Antiques Engravings set and also the Simon Says challenge which is using your favourite tool (definately my Sizzix Big Shot!!!).

There's a new challenge Blog in cyber land!!!!

If you are looking for my Lily Pad Blog Hop post please go here!!

I am thrilled to say there is a new Challenge Blog called "A Blog Named Hero"  and as the name suggests its all do do with everything Hero Arts and a love for all there amazing products.  As you can imagine I became a follower straight away as I LOVE their products and an honestly say 90% of my stamps are Hero Arts. I have purchased a few other brands but always go back to my favourite company.

The first challenge has been set and its to use your favourite stamp or product on a card, this was a hard one as I love so many of their stamps but I realize that my most used set  is the "Antique Engravings" clear set.  The butterflies are so beautiful and I have used them in various forms on so many of my cards.

Here is the card I have made, sorry for the dark photograph but I had a little trouble with the shine on the butterfly.  The background is stamped using a variety of distress inks and The London Background stamp.  The central panel is the Meadow Silhouette inked with various Distress inks and stains and stamped onto a piece of music patterned paper, I have then layered it up onto some cream card and then purple card. Lastly I have added my Gold embossed butterfly, the pearls have been coloured with a gold Pilot pen.

As this card has flowers on the image I am also adding it to the Lily Pads "Flower Challenge"

I am on two weeks holiday from school now so looking forward to lots of crafty time.

The Lily Pad Birthday Blog Hop!!

 Welcome to the Lily Pad Cards’ First Birthday blog hop!

I am thrilled to have been asked again to join in with the Lily Pad blog hop, as I was there at the start last year, and I have really come to enjoy all the fun challenges that the amazing design team set each month.

There are three fabulous  prize packages to be won with a total retail value of over $300.   These prizes will be awarded by random draw. There are two ways to be eligible for the prize drawings. You can “like” us on Facebook, but if you do not have a Facebook account, you can also be eligible for the drawings by leaving a comment on the Lily Pad Cards blog. To better your chances even more, leave comments on the other blogs participating in the hop. For each comment you leave, you'll get your name entered again! (but only one comment per blog, please.  The blog hop will be open for one week - that means that everyone can leave comments for a chance to win prizes until 12:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, April 8.

 You should have arrived here from Tara’s gorgeous and inspirational blog .

Here is my Birthday card for the hop, rather than make a first Birthday card I decided to have one pretty flower on my card.  I cut the flower petals with a sizzix die and then joined them all together with a brad.  Next I soaked the flower with water and squashed up the petals to give more dimension.  When dry I spritzed with shimmer mist and glued a pearl and then some small seed beads to the center.   The background paper is from BasicGrey and the stamp I have used is from Penny Black.  To stamp the image I used distress ink and Distress markers.  To finish off I have added twine and a charm.

Now you need to Hop to Karen's blog for the next stage of your journey.  Thank you so much for visiting and have fun hopping!!!!!!

My Blue Phase!!!

 My favorite colours are pink, red and orange but just lately I have been drawn towards blues and greens (so unlike me!!)  Here is my Blue Phase collection!!!I have made three cards over the past few days  using some distress stains and inks.

The first is using the Large Blossom Stamp from Hero Arts with the London Background stamp that lovely Linda sent me.  Thanks again Linda!!  The central panel has also been sprayed with shimmer mist so it has a lovely sparkle in real life.

This card is for the Lily Pad challenge and the Simon Says Challenge "Anything goes"  Its also a last minute entry for this months Hero Arts Challenge.

 This second card is inspired by all the lovely "Wonky Rectangle" cards that Donna has been making, once I saw the die on her blog I knew I had to buy it, love the unusual shape for cards.

Its been a very inspirational time lately, after seeing this beautiful card that Franziska created I spotted the stamp she used on ebay and managed to get it at a bargain price!!  I love the water coloured effect you can create with these Silhouette style stamps.

Thank goodness its Friday tomorrow school closes now for a two week break, I am so looking forward to having some me time!!


P.S.  I forgot to add some really exciting news The Lily Pad is holding a fabulous week long Birthday blog hop starting on Sunday 1st April.  Be sure to check in on the fun as there will be PRIZES!!!!

More flowers and some deer!!

 I decided to dig out an old stamp and make a card for the flower challenge over at The Lily Pad.   This paper  art stamp is so pretty I really must use it more.  I have inked the stamp with my Distress Markers stamped and then shaded lightly to give a bit more depth.  The card base has been run through the Swiss Dots embossing folder and I have then added some seam binding to match the red flowers.

 Next I stamped over with  the Envelope Pattern and  Bundled Sage ink, I also distressed the edges with the same ink before pop dotting it to my card base. I shall also add this to this months Hero Arts challenge.

 We had a beautiful weekend here and on Sunday decided to go for a walk in nearby Petworth Park,  I was thrilled to get these shots of the deer.  Usually they are quite shy, but this time I was able to get quite close to them

 I love their stunning antlers!!

Another term is nearly over at school and we break on Friday for two weeks, I am so looking forward to some relaxing time, lets hope the beautiful weather holds.

Flowers

 I have found a bit of time this afternoon to make two cards for the current Lily Pad Challenge "Flowers" .  I have been having fun with my new Distress Stains and the Poppy Background from Hero Arts, one of my old favorites.  The top card is a window one, I was inspired after seeing this beautiful card that Virginia created.

The second card  is really simple, I stamped the image with my stains and added the PP and punched edge plus the twine to finish.

Its a beautiful day here in Surrey and I am off to sit in the garden for a while, hope you have a fun weekend.

Dreaming of Summer!

Just a quick post with another card using Distress Stains to create a water colour background, I love the soft effect and very simple to do.  To finish off I have just added some gold embossed grass.
I might make a set of these as as Thank You cards, the perfect little gift!!