Masculine Birthday.

I am still trying to use up some of my paper stash, this time with a male birthday in mind.  For the background I have stamped my new London stamp onto some BasicGrey "Porcelain" paper and distressed the edges, the car is also stamped onto Basic Grey and then cut out.  I have also added some map scraps to lift the colours a bit, the card looks brighter in real life but I can't seem to get a good photograph.

Just a short post tonight, I have had a busy day and need to chill out in front of the fire, hope you have had a good day and thanks for stopping by.

Using up a paper stash!!!!

There is a great new challenge over at The Lily Pad to use patterned paper, now I have a secret I am a hoarder of patterned paper pads, I fall in love with the pretty papers buy the pads and then can't bear to use them.   This is the perfect challenge for me and I am going to try and make a few cards, then I won't feel guilty about buying more!!!

This cards background paper is from the gorgeous pad by BoBunny called "et cetera" all the papers have words or music printed on them.  For the flower I used some BasicGrey, the flower image is stamped twice and then pop dotted in place.  I have also glued on some seed beads to represent the stamens.
This is also for the Simon Says challenge "Anything goes".

There is another football match on the TV today so I am going to get some more crafting time, I am going to hunt through the rest of my papers!!

CAS ual Friday Challenge

Its a cold day here in Surrey so while hubby is watching the football I have had time to play in the craft room!!  This is a card I have made for the CAS-ual Friday challenge, which this week is a sketch challenge. The the image is created using my favourite technique, emboss resist.  I have used Old Letter Writing and Spiced Marmalade distress ink.  The Hydrangea is stamped using the same ink.

Hope you are having a fun weekend.

Black and White!

I wanted to have a go at the new challenge over at the CAS-ual Friday blog, the theme this week is "Black and White" much as I try I my mojo left and I couldn't think of a thing to make.  After flicking through my scraps bog I found this tag that I was going to use at Christmas and just didn't get around to finishing it.  Hence the rather late for this year Christmas card.  Never mind with seventy cards to make each year you can never start too early!!

Sorry for the poor photograph but I won't get chance to take this in daylight before the challenge closes.

After adding the ribbons and buttons I have mounted my tag onto a white card and then added the sentiment and gems.  The village scene is actually embossed in white glitter powder so the card has a really beautiful shimmer.

Hope you are having a good week , I have the day off tomorrow and have planned lots of things to do!!

Weddings!!

I need a wedding card and wanted to try something a little different than I normally make.  I am hoping that this has a more modern feel to it, as  its not my usual shabby chic wedding design!!
I am really into masking at the moment as it gives the cards a cleaner look... The cloud and car stamps are from Hero Arts and the hearts are just punched out of red card, I have pop dotted two of them for more dimension.

This is another card for the Hero Arts "Love and Kisses" challenge.  I'm off to make some Brownies now, yum can't wait!!

Virginia's new challenge!!

 Over at The Lily Pad they have three new DT members (Congratulations Ladies)  they also have a new challenge set by the lovely and very talented Virginia.
This is my CAS one layer card inspired by the photograph below.  I found an old Hero Arts stamp called Floating Hearts which seemed the perfect name, as the photograph looks like beautiful "Floating Hearts"



Sorry for the short post, my DD is home and there's lots to chat about!!

More Valentines!!

 I have been asked at work to make a basket of  Valentine cards, so I have been busy getting some together. These both fit this months theme over at Hero Arts which is "Love and Kisses".   I have used the Classic Fabric background stamped in black and then distressed with Pumice Stone for part of the background.  The other half is Canvas Stripes stamped with Versacolor Cardinal Red. The hearts has been white embossed with Old Letter and then rubbed with the same Cardinal ink.

I have really just changed the shape for the second card  and made this mini version.  This card also qualifies for this months Die Cut Divas challenge "Love is in the Air".

So glad its the weekend, we have had such a busy time at work this week and I need some chill time!!   Also my DD is home from Uni for the weekend and I am looking forward to having a girly chat.  Hope you all have a great weekend.

Clean and Simple!

Its been a while since I had time to enter the CAS-Friday challenge but at last I have had a little free time to play with my stamps.  This weeks challenge is to use scallops, as you know I love to create shaped cards so here is a scalloped circle card using my new Etched Flower stamp from Hero Arts.

This was a really easy card to make, for the background I used one of my old multi coloured red ink pads and just swiped it across the paper to make the light to dark effect. I then stamped the flower image with Barn Door Distress ink.  Next I coloured in the image using the same ink as a water colour.  I love this new flower stamp, I know its going to be really versatile!!

Here is another quick one layer card using the same stamp, this time the background is created using copic markers and Alcohol Blending Solution, such a pretty effect. The image is stamped in Black.

Hope you are all having a good week.

Lily Pad Chipboard Challenge.

For my HERO ARTS BLOG HOP post please go here.

And for the Tiffany Doodles Blog Hop go here.

I have made this card for the current challenge over at the Lily Pad Blog, the challenge is to use chipboard on you card... As you can see its a Valentine card so I will also enter it into the Die Cut Divas monthly challenge.

I found the chipboard piece amongst my ever growing box of embellishments, I felt it was a little pale so  stamped with Fired Brick distress ink and then embossed with Embossing Enamel.  The ink didn't take over the whole piece but I quite like the green showing through. The background music stamp is from Hero Arts .  I then just added some rolled flowers, die cut leaves (thank you Linda) and the ribbon.

Wow its been a busy week this week with all the excitement of both the Hero Arts Blog Hop and the Tiffany Doodles Hop,  I would just like to thank everyone for stopping by my blog and leaving such lovely comments I really appreciate it.

Tiffany Doodles Blog Hop!!

 If you are here for the HERO ARTS BLOG HOP  please go to the post below.


Thank you for joining us at Tiffany Doodles for our first blog hop of 2012! We're so glad you're here! It's ALSO the second anniversary of Tiffany Doodles!


You're going to find lots of inspiration along the way, from some very talented ladies. Be sure to leave each of them a comment by Sunday the 15th for your chance to win something of your choice! That's 19 chances to win! All winners will be announced on the Tiffany Doodles blog Wednesday January 18th.

You should have arrived from Donna's fabulous and inspirational blog,  If this is your first stop, please go back to Jessica's blog so you don't miss anything!


My first card is made using "Dahlia with Oval"image, I have printed the image cut it out and then coloured with distress inks.  Next I stamped with versamark and coated in embossing enamel then heated and repeated the process three times.  After the image was dry I cracked the enamel to give this cracked cameo effect.






































My second card is using the second image from the same set, I have printed the flowers onto some BasicGrey Paper and then coloured with TomBow markers.























The image I have used for both my cards is "Dahlia with Oval" A very versatile and pretty image.

I hope you're feeling inspired! Before you hop over to Anette's Blog remember to leave a comment for your chance to win!

You have three days to leave your comments or create a card (Tiffany is giving away the entire January release and all you have to do is create a card or project using one of her images) to win Tiffany's awesome digis!
Thanks for hopping along with us, we look forward to seeing your creations!

Hero Arts Blog Hop!!

Hello friends... I'm so excited and honoured to be part of  this  Blog Hop with the brand new 2012 Hero Arts Stamps and it's such fun joining up with past Hostesses for the week long Hop. 

 It's now Wednesday so we are half way through and I have got to say I have been blown away with all the amazing creations the Hostesses have come up with.......

 
You should have arrived here from my hostess sister  Linda's fabulous Blog ...... If you  find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog.  Also please report any broken links to Tami.


Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!



As you probably already know Hero Arts are my favourite stamps and I am afraid I got rather carried away so this post is quite long!!!!

 My first card is using the Newspaper Background (S5601) to create a mock parcel with thank you label. The card base is also stamped with Envelope Background (S5507) and the thank you label is part of Greetings Set (CG414) which I have stamped and embossed onto some paper distressed with blue and green inks .  I made the sealing wax dot with fimo and a stamp from the Carte Postale set (CL535) The butterfly has been stamped three times and then pop dotted up for more dimension.

My next project is a small pocket notebook with the second stamp from the Greetings Set (CG414).  I made the notebook using scrap paper, then created the hard covers using stiff card covered with paper stamped with Newspaper Background (S5601).  The pages and covers are stitched together using Hero Arts Twine. I then stamped the Greetings stamp onto some card distressed with blue and green distress inks making sure to mask out the "Greetings" word so that I could add the "Just a Note" message from Everyday Sayings (CL342). Finally I added some buttons and a gem.

 Now for a masculine card, which I find hard to make but this new Vintage Car (G5544) stamp is perfect for the job, I have used the new London Background (CG424) applying different distress inks to the stamp and then spritzing with water before stamping onto paper.  I then added more distress ink with my daubers. The sentiment is from the All Occasions (CL272) set.


 Next up two cards using the Etched Flower (CG480) I really love this new stamp, they look like poppies to me so have coloured the flowers red using my distress inks as watercolours. I also added some Glossy Accents to the centres of the flowers.  The background is a really old Hero Arts stamp that I was lucky enough to find on ebay.  The sentiment is from Say It All (CL584).

This is my last card for today's Hop, another simple card using Etched Flower (CG480), I first stamped and embossed in white Old Letter (CG197) and then distressed the card with Worn Lipstick distress ink.  Next I stamped the flower using Fired Brick distress ink and then water coloured the image using the same ink. The sentiment is from Say It All (CL584).

Sorry for the long post but I have had so much fun with these new stamps!!

I am the last person in today's Hop so don't forget to drop by the Hero Arts Blog tomorrow for the next instalment!!

Thank you so much for visiting today I hope you have had fun!!

90 Minute Scramble!!

Yesterday evening the Hero Arts Flickr group ran another 90 minute scramble challenge.  These are always fun but as its usually Saturday evening for me I am not always able to take part.  Well yesterday we had nothing on so I was keen to Scramble!!

Karen set the challenge this week and it was to stamp onto patterned paper,  straight away I had lots of ideas in my head but none seemed to work, my desk got messier and messier and my mind went blank.  I then found my new Etched Flower stamp from Hero Arts and stamped it in black onto some Basic Grey paper after cutting out the image I was pleased with the result so just the background to make.
I had just finished making this card with the masked background so decided to do it again.  I masked with low tac masking tape (I have found that its still quite sticky so rub the tape over my jeans to take off even more stickiness) Stamped the Old Letter Writing stamp with Old Paper distress ink and then distressed with the same ink. You then have to carefully remove the tape. Just added the flowers, some pearls and a sentiment and hey presto finished within the 90 mins.  Great Fun!! just a huge mess to clear up LOL.



Hope you are having a great Sunday.

 

P.S. Be sure to drop by my blog on Wednesday as there is something very exciting happening!!

Getting my mojo working again!!!

I have been feeling some what under the weather for the past 10 days and consequently my mojo disappeared completely :0(    At last I am beginning to feel back on form, so a spot of card making was called for!!   This new cling from Hero Arts is so versatile I decided to have another play with it.   First I masked the edges of my card with low tac masking tape and stamped and embossed the image in white.  I have then just water coloured with my distress inks. 

Glad I am feeling better for the weekend as I have a secret mission to complete, more later!!   Hope you all have a great weekend.

Second Installment of my favourite cards for 2011!!

Here is my second half of the year favourites selection.   This is July's choice more butterflies and flowers I am afraid, a card and a set I made for my friends birthday.

This is Augusts choice and as you can see they are Lavender bags that I made with the harvest from my garden in. I had a idea after seeing lots of lavender products in the south of France whilst on holiday. I was really lucky when Judy came to my rescue with this gorgeous stamp, perfect for the task. I have just coloured the image with Copic Markers (They work great on fabric)..

The card is a paper pieced image from Tiffany Doodles, like most crafters I find masculine cards quite difficult.

September and a card for a Moxie Fab challenge, not much stamping on this one but I am pleased with the result , also another card set.  Love making these as they are great gifts for friends.

Octobers are both cards I made for a Lily Pad sketch challenge, I was lucky enough to win with the top card and received some fabulous new stamps to play with!

These two are my November choice, I love the green and black combination of the top card (really must use it more!!!) and the second card is a CAS one, I am really not a CAS person but have been trying it more and more this year!

Lastly my two for December although only one is a Christmas card, the top wreath card is again a CAS design and I was really lucky to win with this card over at The Moxie Fab Blog in their button challenge. 

My village stamp is a new one in my collection, after seeing Franziska and Jacqueline use it so well over at the Hero Arts flickr site I added it straight onto my wish list.  Clare saw a discussion thread about our wish list stamps in a  flickr thread and offered to send it to me. You can imagine how thrilled I was with it. 

I really love being part of the Hero Arts flickr group, I have made many friends over the last couple of years and am constantly inspired by all the work showcased there.  The ladies are a truly talented bunch and I am really thankful that I stumbled across it while surfing the net !!

Thank you all for all your lovely comments on my blog and heres looking forward to another creative and fun year!!